Movie News, Reviews, and Discussion Super-Thread

[Joe Molotov]

Got 63,550 on my first go.

[Phoenix Dark]

pedo

[Verdigris Murder]

I enjoy Eric Ps forgotten films posts.

[Bebpo]

Chronicle

UGH.

Solid/Good film, but did not enjoy this one at all.  It was SO DARK AND DEPRESSING.  The main guy was the most unlikeable creepy loser in the world.  The tone the film gave off from the very start was SOMETHING BAD IS GOING TO HAPPEN so every scene was just unnerving since the kids were generally fucking idiots and you knew something bad would happen at any moment.  The second half was just really  and fucked up.  I give it credit for the realistic take on the subject, but at the same time that realism made it pretty uncomfortable to watch.  Was probably the most disturbing film I've seen in a while and did not have fun watching this.

[Mupepe]

Chronicle

UGH.

Solid/Good film, but did not enjoy this one at all.  It was SO DARK AND DEPRESSING.  The main guy was the most unlikeable creepy loser in the world.  The tone the film gave off from the very start was SOMETHING BAD IS GOING TO HAPPEN so every scene was just unnerving since the kids were generally fucking idiots and you knew something bad would happen at any moment.  The second half was just really  and fucked up.  I give it credit for the realistic take on the subject, but at the same time that realism made it pretty uncomfortable to watch.  Was probably the most disturbing film I've seen in a while and did not have fun watching this.

All I could think about during this movie was George Sr. from Arrested Development and "Why are you so angry??"

[fistfulofmetal]

I thought the movie didn't go far enough in the "something bad is going to happen" direction tbh.

[Eric P]

I am now excited to see Chronicle.

I enjoy Eric Ps forgotten films posts.

thank you.  I am VERY eager to get my hands on BFI's release of Black Panther

[Mupepe]

Chronicle was surprisingly good.

[chronovore]

Chronicle

UGH.

Solid/Good film, but did not enjoy this one at all.  It was SO DARK AND DEPRESSING.  The main guy was the most unlikeable creepy loser in the world.  The tone the film gave off from the very start was SOMETHING BAD IS GOING TO HAPPEN so every scene was just unnerving since the kids were generally fucking idiots and you knew something bad would happen at any moment.  The second half was just really  and fucked up.  I give it credit for the realistic take on the subject, but at the same time that realism made it pretty uncomfortable to watch.  Was probably the most disturbing film I've seen in a while and did not have fun watching this.

I thought the movie didn't go far enough in the "something bad is going to happen" direction tbh.

"Just far enough" is more like it. Yeah, the kids were about as foresightful as their age would allow them to be, meaning "not at all," and it is clear that something bad is going to happen from almost the outset. It is pretty much all the live-action AKIRA I ever want to see.

I want to know what happens with the pink-haired girl that makes her revile Andrew so much. I mean, there's no way he wouldn't have been taping it, except that the camera is given to Troy or Matt. I saw it on an airplane, so maybe it was cut from my version?

[Mupepe]

I thought he

spoiler (click to show/hide)

threw up on her

[close]

[fistfulofmetal]

yeah. what mups said

i guess what i meant is that they didn't go far enough after he made his heel turn. i wanted him to do something really heinous. the events that followed were a little too tame for me.

[Mupepe]

Yeah the third act was the most disappointing because I wanted to see something truly amazing (diabolical).  But it was as close to live action Akira/DBZ as you can get without being terrible. 

[Robo]

Saw Prometheus over the weekend.  It's a gilded pile of dung.

[Mupepe]

YOUR FACE, ROBO!  YOUR. FACE.

[Lucretius]

I"m still trying to figure out the significance of the Lawrence of Arabia clip. Someone help me.

My thoughts on that after seeing Prometheus three times this past weekend:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I think David embodies Lawrence of Arabia's torn loyalties between the Britain and the British army on the one hand, and his friends among the Arab tribes on the other hand.  David has torn allegiances.  He is programmed to serve the humans, yet he also resents them (he often refers to the humans with a disdainful "you people").  His curiosity about the Engineers and their protean goop is in conflict with his loyalty towards the humanity.  David also embodies the opening quotation from Lawrence of Arabia.  "The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts."  Every time someone points out that David is less than human, you see David with a dry smile.  Weyland mentions David has no soul... cut to David smiling.  Holloway pointing out that David doesn't breath and doesn't need the helmet... David remains pleasant.  Holloway later trivializing the purpose of David's creation ("Because we could")... David smiles.  Not minding that it hurts.  David says, "Big things have small beginnings" while he has a droplet of the xeno-goop on his fingertip.  This is a quote from Lawrence of Arabia about the Arab uprising against the Turks, which Lawrence ends up fomenting.  David is also a glorified butler, but he, much like Lawrence, is often defiant in his manner of carrying out his duties.

[close]

After seeing the movie, three times, I'm sold.  I liked it more on each successive viewing.  A Director's Cut would be very interesting.  I really don't get all the hate for the film.

[Himu]

That's a fantastic analysis.

Also, Chronicle ruled.

[Lucretius]

I dug Chronicle.  A lot.  Don't know how much it would reward repeat viewings, but it was great for what it was.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

I saw Drive.  Awesome movie.  For some reason, it reminded me a lot of 80s movies and according to Wikipedia, some of the inspiration of the movie is derived from 80s movies.  Ryan Gosling is as awesome as other and Carey Mulligan was a good choice: cute but not hot, which is what you'd expect from someone who lives in a lower class kind of apartment.  Bryan Cranston was great as well.

I recommend it and its on Netflix so go watch it.

I also reserved a ticket for the July 20th premiere of The Dark Knight Rises in IMAX.  I'm cautiously optimistic about this one but I spent more money on worse things so I should get my money's worth.

[Great Rumbler]

I saw Drive.  Awesome movie.  For some reason, it reminded me a lot of 80s movies and according to Wikipedia, some of the inspiration of the movie is derived from 80s movies.

Yeah, there was definitely a lot of 80's influence in Drive. Like in the song that plays over the end credits:

[cool breeze]

I also reserved a ticket for the July 20th premiere of The Dark Knight Rises in IMAX.  I'm cautiously optimistic about this one but I spent more money on worse things so I should get my money's worth.

Same. 

For one second I thought about doing the 8 hour marathon AMC IMAX theaters are planning since it's only $5 extra, but no, that's too much.  Dark Knight Rises is worth it for the hour of IMAX footage.

[Robo]

I saw Drive.  Awesome movie.  For some reason, it reminded me a lot of 80s movies and according to Wikipedia, some of the inspiration of the movie is derived from 80s movies.

Yeah, there was definitely a lot of 80's influence in Drive. Like in the song that plays over the end credits:

The opening chase is heavily indebted to The Driver:

[fistfulofmetal]

The Caller.  This is a pretty original concept for modern horror.  It kind of feels like an old Twilight Zone episode until the end when the film gets a bit too "modern horror movie" compared to the rest of the film. 

http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/The_Caller/70181729?trkid=2361637

Good concept, pretty good execution of that concept, a few missteps here and there (I didn't like the husband character at all) and though the end goes over the top, i think that's mostly a failure in execution rather than in concept.

Worth a watch if you're a horror fan.

I would normally link the trailer, but the trailer gives way too much away.  Go in cold.

I was meaning to watch this for awhile and finally did. The setup is definitely the best part. It doesn't quite live up to that concept and doesn't bother exploring the questions that arise from the movies gimmick. however it's still pretty cool.

I felt the very end was a bit of a let down:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

At first i thought the movie implied she had her young self kill her husband (the flashback voiceover of her young self and the shot of her scarred hand) but i guess it think it's just that she herself killed him. the former is a much more interesting ending for me.

[close]

[The Sceneman]

Chronicle was such a stinker. It was pretty fuckin' funny though. I probably need to watch it again as I was kinda inebriated when I saw it.

 

[Bebpo]

Melancholia was so fucking bad, yet somehow I felt compelled to sit through the whole thing. 

15 min movie stretched out to 2 hours+ by the most pretentious fucking director I've seen in some time.  Stanley Kubrick you ain't Mr. Lars.  I should google to see if Jonathon Blow has written a 26 page review analyzing it.  First movie I've seen of his and yeah, what I went in expecting:

  X

What I got was:

X

...for two hours.  I felt sorry for every actor in that film for having to put up with Kirsten Dunst sitting around doing nothing but looking annoying to everyone for every single shot.  How hard would it have been to make an interesting personal drama about how a group of people and their lives are affected by the end of the world?  Instead Kirsten Dunst sits around being lame and talking about her magic bean powers while the guy from 24 keeps staring into a telescope.

Plus, even if you want to see this, you can skip THE ENTIRE FIRST HALF OF THE FILM and not miss a thing.  The first half is an interesting family drama, but it's just dragged out and the end result is simply Kirsten Dunst being derp derp derp. 

Just go read Hellstar Remina instead.  It's pretty trashy and isn't even that great, but it's basically the concept behind Melancholia except 10x better.

[Great Rumbler]

[Mr. Gundam]

Melancholia is pretty tame compared to his other stuff. I really liked it.

Breaking the Waves oh my god can things get worse? Yes, yes they can.

[Bebpo]

Melancholia is pretty tame compared to his other stuff. I really liked it.

Breaking the Waves oh my god can things get worse? Yes, yes they can.

And by "worse" do you mean "more boring and vapid?" or are you talking about dark & bleak?  Because I have no issues with the content of Melancholia, just with the presentation which was insultingly empty in substance.  Yes, people deal with depression and anxiety in different ways.  You have a 15-30 min movie in there, not a 2 hour one. 

The movie is nice looking, the acting is decent, and the score is solid.  But there's just so little underneath.  Feels like a huge waste of time.  You can be artsy and still be packed to the brim with substance like Malick or Kubrick.

Plus when you have Dunst as your main dramatic lead, you know you're going to have problems.  She is a very weak actress.  She does ok here, but she can't hold the film at all.  The girl who plays her sister does a much better job. 

[Mr. Gundam]

I thought Dunst was really good in Melancholia, to be honest. Hell, she won Best Actress at Cannes for it.

Time to blow Beb's mind:

Dunst received the Best Actress Award at the closing ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival.[34] The film won three awards at the European Film Awards for Best Film, Best Cinematographer (Manuel Alberto Claro), and Best Designer (Jette Lehmann).[35]
 
The US National Society of Film Critics selected Melancholia as the best picture of 2011 and named Kirsten Dunst best actress.[36] The film was also nominated for four Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards: Best Film – International; Best Direction – International for von Trier, Best Screenplay – International also for von Trier, and Best Actress – International for Dunst.[37]

Von Trier's other films are very dark, bleak and incredibly depressing. Dancer in the Dark and Breaking the Waves are good films but man oh man I never want to watch them ever again.

[Momo]

Prometheus - bitterly disappointing, just came back from the cinema.

[fistfulofmetal]

Movie of the year

[Great Rumbler]

Amazing!

[Joe Molotov]

Paul W.S. Anderson's magnum poopus.

[Momo]

oh my fuck

[fistfulofmetal]

the last one was awesome. when i said "movie of the year" i wasn't being sarcastic.

[Diunx]

Resident Evil two is the worst movie I have ever seen, haven't bothered with the other ones.

[chronovore]

I"m still trying to figure out the significance of the Lawrence of Arabia clip. Someone help me.

My thoughts on that after seeing Prometheus three times this past weekend:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I think David embodies Lawrence of Arabia's torn loyalties between the Britain and the British army on the one hand, and his friends among the Arab tribes on the other hand.  David has torn allegiances.  He is programmed to serve the humans, yet he also resents them (he often refers to the humans with a disdainful "you people").  His curiosity about the Engineers and their protean goop is in conflict with his loyalty towards the humanity.  David also embodies the opening quotation from Lawrence of Arabia.  "The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts."  Every time someone points out that David is less than human, you see David with a dry smile.  Weyland mentions David has no soul... cut to David smiling.  Holloway pointing out that David doesn't breath and doesn't need the helmet... David remains pleasant.  Holloway later trivializing the purpose of David's creation ("Because we could")... David smiles.  Not minding that it hurts.  David says, "Big things have small beginnings" while he has a droplet of the xeno-goop on his fingertip.  This is a quote from Lawrence of Arabia about the Arab uprising against the Turks, which Lawrence ends up fomenting.  David is also a glorified butler, but he, much like Lawrence, is often defiant in his manner of carrying out his duties.

[close]

After seeing the movie, three times, I'm sold.  I liked it more on each successive viewing.  A Director's Cut would be very interesting.  I really don't get all the hate for the film.

I greatly enjoyed your analysis. I hadn't taken it as far as you have, but I was at least wandering in that same direction. Thanks for those concise and lucid thoughts.

There are some great concepts in the movie, with the desire to "meet one's maker," and overcome one's deficiencies, aching for their approval. That portion of the film was very inspiring, and could have attained a philosophical level similar to Blade Runner's.

Unfortunately, it doesn't maintain coherency. It gets to the midpoint, and suddenly stuff stops making sense.

[Momo]

Unfortunately, it doesn't maintain coherency. It gets to the midpoint, and suddenly stuff stops making sense.

I'm hoping the Blu Ray cut will address the last half of the show and all the senselessness.

[Verdigris Murder]

Melancholia is pretty tame compared to his other stuff. I really liked it.

Breaking the Waves oh my god can things get worse? Yes, yes they can.

I remember trying to watching Breaking the waves, but got bored. His best film is definitely Antichrist.

Also in other MASSIVE news: I watched Paranormal Activity 3 last night. The mum was highly sexualised, which was unsettling, but was probably intentional. It's better that PA2, and had some good creepy bits until the end, when it sort of turned into The Last Excorcism.

[Groogrux]

The RE movies all follow the same template when it comes to the story: See Alice, see alice do something badass, mention plot from last movie and then completely disregard anything that happened in it, meet new characters and fight zombies, win fight against zombies but lose one of the new characters, the day is don- OH SHIT NEW ZOMBIE THINGY THAT MAKES YOU SAY OH FUCK! Fin.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

I Melt With You - I didn't really feel this one much.  To be honest, I can barely stand Jeremy Piven these days and I think that is a key reason why this movie didn't do much for me.  Otherwise it is an interesting premise: a bunch of middle aged dudes realizing that they're not the famous, millionaire gods they all envisioned themselves to be 20 years prior and how they react to that realization.  I will be honest in that I prefer this movie to other manchild comedies like Old School or The Hangover.  Jeremy Piven aside, I think this one is worth a watch.

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

I actually rather like them for being kinda-gonzo 90's comic book style action fantasies that really take their convoluted story and characters seriously.

Resident Evil 2 is still my favorite, for many reasons, but perhaps no more so then the finale involving a actually well staged mano-a-creature kung fu fight that is so inherently ridiculous in its attempt to be awesome that it actually becomes awesome.

If only every dumb, shitty movie had as much verve and (sometimes) panache the multiplex would be a more interesting place.

[Verdigris Murder]

I'm about 20 mins into Green Lantern, and theres a bit when he goes up to a boys bedroom. Is he meant to be the father or the gay uncle? Hopefully this will be explained.

25 mins Basically Martin Campbell is tripping. Mark Strong, talking to giant semen or something.

36 mins Hal Jordan is seriously gay, and the dance scene reinforces that fact. I can understand Campbell's need to massively reinforce the fact that Hal Jordan isn't gay, but it basically smacks of the 3 men and a baby gay-complex. HEY GUYS, IT'S THREE MEN SHARING A FLAT TOGETHER IN THEIR MID 30's and 40's THEY AREN'T GAY LOOK AT THE COOL PARTY WITH THE LADIES THEY ARE HAVING.

39 mins MC Martin Campbell tripping out again. The eyes aren't that bad if you don't fixate about it maybe.

50 mins Theres a sword fight.

[Great Rumbler]

Green Lantern is one of the worst super hero movies I've seen. Although I haven't seen Jonah Hex.

[Verdigris Murder]

Yeah. I pretty much gave up. His eyes being so damn close together.

[etiolate]

I just watched Thor. It was pretty bad.

[Verdigris Murder]

Thor was better than it should have been.

[Verdigris Murder]

Better than Ironman 2.

[Verdigris Murder]

Worse than Cap Ame

[BlueTsunami]

Prometheus. Loved the shit out of it but I think it'll be much improved on the written side with a directors cut assuming it got edited to hell. When I first read about plot holes I didn't realize some of the subjects brought up and characterizations would be picked up and dropped without being expanded on throughout the movie. Fortunately I'm not as analytical of the movie I'm watching as I watch it and the first time around so I was more moved by the prominent characters and the visuals. In that regard the movie hit me hard.

[Phoenix Dark]

why can't he do a good gangster movie 

[chronovore]

The visuals are basically flawless, except for the final pre-credit "reveal" creature. Other than that, the movie is seriously visual gold.

I am also hopeful about a director's cut, so I canceled my preordered blu-ray in favor of the inevitable DC edition down the line.

[chronovore]

[Bebpo]

Does the 3D matter at all in Prometheus? 

Would rather save the $3 if it's not like Hugo or Avatar where the 3D really makes a difference.

[TakingBackSunday]

I thought Prometheus' 3D was the least offensive 3D movie I've ever watched, and it actually enhanced the experience for me greatly.  The cool HUDs they used really looked cool.

Also, I really enjoyed the movie on its own.  I'm omg'ing at the obvious religious connections to Christ that I didn't realize until someone brought it up here.  Makes perfect sense why Gaf hates it 

Loved the visuals, soundtrack, and concept.  It's bogged down by some mism-mash of badly edited scenes and some poor dialogue.  BUT.  Director's cut is inevitable and I can't WAIT.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Wonder if they'll add more connections to the Xenomorphs

[close]

[Bebpo]

Ok, will go see it in 3D then.

[Momo]

3D is awesome Beb. Best 3D I've seen.

I was utterly disappointed in the movie, because I loved the premise, I loved the mystery, I liked the chars. They just didnt do enough to flesh out things, dropped plot threads, had plot holes,  scenes transition into unexplainable garbage from one place to the other. I hope the Blu Ray cut will make the scenes go together more coherently, also I feel a bit ripped off by the fact that the entire thing just felt like the basis of a trilogy and not a stand alone product.


Still love the promethues/alien universe though and loved to learn a bit more about it.

[Verdigris Murder]

I'm trying to watch Wrath of the Titans, but it's really not very good.

[Great Rumbler]

I'm trying to watch Wrath of the Titans, but it's really not very good.

Watch the original instead of the remake.

[Diunx]

:'(

[Bebpo]

Ok, so Prometheus:

As a standalone sci-fi movie...it's fine.

When it tries to connect to aliens universe/chronlogy/mythology...it's weird.  All the connections feel very forced, like they shoehorned an alien prequel into some story that was never supposed to be related to aliens. 

The problem is that if you just look at it as a standalone film it kind of makes you wonder what the point of making the film is.


It was enjoyable, but if I think about it, everything goes downhill.