Peter Berg has directed:

Very Bad Things a flawed but viciously funny black comedy, a fine first film
Friday Night Lights a terrific movie
The Rundown a good movie that is arguably the birth of Dwayne Johnson, movie star
The Kingdom a good movie with a great cast, the chemistry between Foxx and Cooper is wonderful
Hancock a criminally underrated movie that is a sly satire of superhero movies
Battleship not great, admittedly but hey I was entertained
Lone Survivor very solid action movie
Deepwater Horizon very solid action movie

Peter Berg, underrated, properly rated, or overrated? I vote underrated.

Masterminds was a disappointment... I always have very high hopes for the Hess's.
It wasnt extreme bad, but it certainly wasnt good.

Peter Berg is nothing but a hack. Now Robert Zemeckis, he's underrated.

Ooohhh...shots fired

Saw Deepwater Horizon. Eh was nothing spectacular. Once again proving Wahlberg has a tough time being the lead.

Storks - Expected this to have a high chance of meh based on the previews but I really enjoyed it. Obviously it's a kid's movie but there's plenty of jokes for the older folks to keep it fresh. Definitely recommend if you want a movie outing with your kids.

Creep - This was very disturbing and very creepy. Yeah the protagonist is a complete moron but that tends to be the case in most horror movies. Not really a spoiler but

Approaching The Unknown http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2674430/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_6

Pretty good space drama. Solid performance by Mark Strong who plays an astronaut/scientist on a one way mission to Mars, who slowly unravels after accidentaly contaminating his water supply.

None of those movies are even close to the very good range, but I like Peter Berg. He's fun with Buzz Bissinger on the FNL DVD commentary, I enjoyed him on that Jon Favreau Dinner for Five IFC series, and he was a lead in The Last Seduction, which may be the best neo-noir of the 90s.

I have a soft spot for handsome leading men who go into directing in their later years. I could name like 12 but we all know who they are.

Cast away

This is a flawed film, that is bolstered up because Tom Hanks is the best actor on the face of this earth. The movie's main flaw, is the saccharine sweet nature of all the characters involved. There is really no sense of conflict or resolution, because all the people involved are trying to do the right thing. The third act comes completely off the rails, and the movie's ending is trying to be whimsical, but instead is very frustrating.

Tom Hanks plays everyday man Chuck Noland, who works for FedEx troubleshooting problems, and focusing on time. He proposes to his super sweet girlfriend Helen Hunt on Christmas, jumps on a plane for work, and then we get to the central part of the movie.

His work on the island is stellar. He is a man who was obsessed with time, but now he has all the time in the world, literally, as his watchi is broken, and has to use his wits to survive his strange circumstances. It is obvious that he is no Eagle Scout, but his slow transition to the grizzled veteran of island life is wonderful to watch, as well as his interaction with his imaginary friend Wilson. The scene where he finds the portapotty thing that he uses as the sail is a nice homage to 2001 and was particularly memorable. They could've cut out the first and third act of the movie, extended the middle a bit, and I would've been completely satisfied.

Unfortunately, they don't stop there. He comes back (I don't think I need spoilers, as Zemekis was more than happy to reveal this in the trailors for the movie, but feel free to edit if you think that's too much), and then the question is, what happens between him and his fiance, who has moved on with her life with a husband and a kid. The movie is never dark enough to enter this territory, so this part of the film is completely unbelievable (even more so than surviving the plane crash, 4 years on an island, and a man made vessel expedition in the ocean). Their choices are so rational, that we don't really feel much pity, despair, or hope for them along the way.

This is also the only time that I can honestly say that I did not like Hanks' choices as an actor. When he tells Helen that he loves her more than she'll ever know, it's spoken like he's reading the lines from a cue card. It didn't carry any weight.

Then we get to the ending. His interaction with the woman at the literal crossroads of life, and his little smile at the end, are all a bit too much. It doesn't really make sense, and doesn't carry the gravitas that I think Zemekis was going for. In contrast, the end of Contact, where Jodie Foster gives her little smile after having a wonderful little interaction with the kids' field trip, carried a whole bunch of weight, and was a beautiful way to wrap it up. Even Forrest Gump, with the feather floating in the wind to bookend the movie, was a better ending than this. This was just sentimental BS, which didn't belong to a film that could've carried so much more weight.

It's still a good movie, but only because Hanks is that good on the Island. You can turn the movie on 20 minutes in, and once the ship sees him, you can turn it off. In fact, that may have been the better ending point for the movie.

There's an article about Berg in the new Esquire that compares him to PT Anderson, Wes Anderson, and the Coen Brothers. Lol. Guy makes halfway decent movies, but come on.

Cast Away is a fantastic art film for the first 2/3. It's like someone else made the last third and tacked it on.

lmao

He's much worse than the Coen bros, obviously. Berg hasn't made anything as good as Rushmore, The Royal Tennenbaums or The Grand Budapest Hotel, but he hasn't made insufferably twee garbage like the rest of Anderson's films either. I despise pretty much everything PTA has made after Boogie Nights but I know lots of people like his stuff, so whatever.

Saw "The Baytown Outlaws" with Billy Bob Thornton as a drug dealer holding Eva Longoria's godson hostage for money.

Made in the style of Smoking Aces,or a Robert Rodriguez flick.

No great performances or interesting plot devices,just a solid,shoot em up.

Don't think too hard about it,just enjoy it for grind house type fare.

Last third shoulda been about Wilson's return!

he acted in “Top Gun on the ski slopes”

ASPEN EXTREME

NEVER FORGET

Castaway was significantly better than the Martian... both were resoundingly trounced by All is Lost.

Castaway was great except for the last half hour. I wish Helen Hunt was all uhhhhhhhh sorry bro, kind of moved on, I'm married to the hot guy from Law and Order now, hit the bricks pal. The Martian was kind of annoying that they pretended that a dude alone on Mars for like 2 years would be able to maintain a cheerful attitude.

Just found this thread and have really been enjoying it. Hoping to get back into movies with all these great recommendations.

Queen of Versailles

Fantastic documentary from 2012 following a hotel tycoon and his family as they attempt to build the biggest house in North America. One problem, the financial crisis hits halfway through filming.

The movie takes a dramatic turn and offers a very interesting and unique perspective of the financial crisis. Somehow many of the subjects are oddly sympathetic and the human element of how people cope with hardship is fascinating.

Strongly recommend. 9/10

I just watached Magnolia for the first time.

What were the frogs suppose to mean?

the host 2007 korean- i liked mother and snowpiercer (same director) but this movie was mediocre as hell. i had high hopes after seeing all the reviews but the CGI was godawful it was sharknado levels, the satire wasn't particularly amusing to me aside from some parts, the action wasn't good, and there was hardly any suspense. very disappointed

Me too,I had heard all this hype about it and I never had seen much Korean film,so I thought it would be something.

I don't think I've seen another K film...way to go Host!

It means the director is a pretentious ass

The point, you missed it.