Movie News, Reviews, and Discussion Super-Thread

[Raban]

http://theinterrobang.com/simon-peggs-daughter-saved-star-wars/

If I'd been in Pegg's shoes, I'd have cried happy tears, too.

puppets

[Kara]

Why is Lacey Chabert forcing me to watch this filth?

Can it really be any worse than Lost in Space?

Besides, who doesn't want to watch a 90 minute commercial for Jesus Christ and Christian Mingle?

Can't wait for the JDate equivalent of this.

[Phoenix Dark]

Can't wait for the JDate equivalent of this.

Juris Doctor?

[Kara]

I always try and hit on Arab gals on my dating site and always get rejected straight up every time. They don't even know I could be Israeli yet.

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

Hey guys, guess what?  The biggest grossing non-English language movie of 2014 is this somewhat modest feudal era maritime war epic from South Korea.  The Admiral: Roaring Currents (AKA Roaring Currents) is playing in select American markets so I went and saw it. 


Its broken all box office records in South Korea (over one third of the country has bought a ticket to see it).  Its a South Korean historical epic that plays loose with the facts of what its actually depicting, so it fits in nicely with the likes of The Divine Weapon (way cheesier) and War of the Arrows (pretty dang solid, shares the same villain), in that its crazily patriotic with a dose of xenophobia and tons of carnage.  The South Korean equivalent of Braveheart, lets just say.  A film in essentially two acts, the first half introduces the players and sets up the dire odds facing the almost comically stoic Admiral Yi Sun-Sin, the second half being all about representing Asian naval warfare of 1597 as best possible.

I gotta admit, this movie was actually a pretty good time.  The actual ships-a-fighting stuff is pretty great, with lots of cannon fire and bloody close quarter engagements (yes, ninjas and pirates figure into the equation).  The film is so dang grim and committed to being a serious re-telling of a great national victory, that some of the sillier and over the top melodramatics end up being funny (like Braveheart).  Its not great art, but like this year's earlier Stalingrad, its self-seriousness doesn't necessarily detract from its entertainment value, and its intent on telling a historical story certainly doesn't subtract from its true purpose as an action delivery vehicle, of which it works quite well.

So come an getch yer Korean history right here folks!  Lemmie tell ya all about this battle that was totally radical, with tons of shit exploding and e-vile Japanese pirate/ninja/samurai drowning real good.  It'll make ya feel better about being Korean, and if you ain't, well you'll probably find the nationalism amusing and that don't hurt either.

[Boogie]

Besides, who doesn't want to watch a 90 minute commercial for Jesus Christ and Christian Mingle?

Can't wait for the JDate equivalent of this.

Well, it will certainly handle the comedy aspect better.   

[BobFromPikeCreek]

Oh they made a movie about the turtle ship? Had plenty of koreans tell me that story. Will watch.

[Kara]

idk, there's definitely going to be a Yenta (the character not the kind of sexist Yiddish word) joke in there somewhere because you know ha ha we make everything businesslike.

[Stoney Mason]

Watched a Million ways to Die in the West.

As expected it was terrible. It's Seth MacFarlane doing stand up comedy bits in a movie. And its as bad as that sounds like.

I also wasn't a fan of Ted but it was at least a credible movie by comparison.

[Kara]

Some poor soul is going to watch Luc Besson's Lucy while stoned someday and the last 20-30 minutes of that movie are going to melt their brain.

[Mr. Gundam]

Watched Winter Soldier last night. Much better than the first CA movie and the Avengers.

[BobFromPikeCreek]

The Guest was SO GOOD. Seriously, see it when it gets a wide release.

[chronovore]

http://space.io9.com/terry-gilliam-talks-about-the-message-of-zero-theorem-1635111154

Great interview with Terry Gilliam about the integrity of artistic vision.

[Madrun Badrun]

The Butler; pretty silly

The chick is super hot though in her black panther look.
https://www.google.ca/search?q=Yaya+DaCosta&client=firefox-a&hs=k86&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=rcs&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=8fYYVP2IL4O0iwLEvoCICw&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ
damn

[benjipwns]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/x-men-spinoff-deadpool-gets-734172

On Thursday, the studio announced that the movie will hit theaters Feb. 12, 2016. Tim Miller is set to direct the film, with Ryan Reynolds long rumored to star, although no deal is set. (Bets are that he will.)

spoiler (click to show/hide)

[close]

[Kara]

"Me llamo Piscina de la Muerte" still kills me e'ry time.

Danny Way penned, Ryan Reynolds voiced Deadpool movie.

[Beezy]

So I just saw The Guest which was fuckin hilarious and met Dan Stevens aka Matthew Crawley. 

[Stoney Mason]

Watched a movie called Coherence. Was very interesting. It's not something I could easily recommend. I don't know even if I think its a good movie technically but it was very interesting. It was very high concept. And it was a bit trippy. Not to give too much away if you aren't familiar with but its basically Schrödinger's Cat meets a dinner party meets paranormal activity meets Cube 2.

There are times watching it when I thought this is horeshit and other times where my mind was kind of bent in a good way. I think I have a soft spot though for movies that commit to being earnest with their premise and this movie is painfully earnest with its premise. I liked it. Enough to want to watch it immediately again after seeing it. But its the type of movie where if somebody else here said it was hokey and staged, I could totally understand that view too.

It's a movie built for a second viewing. I think I actually enjoyed it more the second time as I noticed things I didn't notice the first time.

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

watched two movies this week where the villain chucks a human heart at a guy while saying "Have a heart."

I give the slight edge to Dr. Giggles over Dreamscape, with Dr. Giggles having more really great medical puns and less regrettable 80's fashion.

[Eric P]

Flavia The Hertic.  Amazing film.  Not really a horror film despite it being full of gore and sexual violence.  More like an extreme historical drama about the Muslims conquering Italy and a nun whose displeasure with the patriarchal society of Catholicism leads her to join the Moors.  It's labeled Nunsploitation but it's not really exploitative in that giddy way something like say Alucarda is.  Very highly recommended.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xq7gmo_flavia-the-heretic_shortfilms

Electraglide in Blue - traffic cop wants to become a detective.  gets his wish.  everything goes to hell.  huge downer film.

Deep In the Darkness -doctor and his family move to a small town which is in the thrall of monsters.  tries to be dramatic about everything but the budget kind of limits it.  it's slightly different in its structure but ends on that indie horror film downer.  worth a watch? maybe?  it's nice to see an interracial couple in a small town without race being a huge problem in the film.

45 Minutes to Ramallah - uh, it's a buddy road comedy about Arabian Realities trying to smuggle their father's body back into Palestine so he can be buried in his childhood village.  It's fucking hilarious and dark.  It really reminded me of 80s comedies in its utter chaos.  Highly recommended.

[cool breeze]

Godzilla, the newer one.  basic structure and amount of godzilla are fine, but the main character and his family are so so boring.  if that's the movie, try and make the characters worth caring about.

[chronovore]

Terry Gilliam's The Zero Theorem. Amazing. Easily his best work aside from Brazil. If I understood more about christianity, I'd probably have liked it much more... or much less, if devout. It plays a lot of games with the structure of christianity, modern business, corporate takeover of our lives,  and privacy, both physical and virtual.

I bought it the day it came out; it went to digital release same day as its limited theatrical release. Apparently the distributor has made a mess of its release, which is really sad. Christopher Waltz and David Thewlin are both amazing -- Matt Damon's rather good as well.

[ToxicAdam]

Saw the Tina Fey/Jason Bateman (This is Where I Leave You) movie because I love those two in pretty much anything they do.

It's a strange movie. Lots of broad comedy/sex jokes juxtapositioned with real heavy middle-age drama bits. American Pie meets Parenthood.

I laughed quite a bit, but most of the laughs came from shock rather than a deftly crafted joke or scene.

[Quaker]

^

Kind of "funny" that they go through the trouble and expense of getting an ensemble of great actors together and hire the dude who directed...






 

(Those Museum movies are ok kid's movies, I guess.)

Terry Gilliam's The Zero Theorem. Amazing. Easily his best work aside from Brazil. If I understood more about christianity, I'd probably have liked it much more... or much less, if devout. It plays a lot of games with the structure of christianity, modern business, corporate takeover of our lives,  and privacy, both physical and virtual.

I bought it the day it came out; it went to digital release same day as its limited theatrical release. Apparently the distributor has made a mess of its release, which is really sad. Christopher Waltz and David Thewlin are both amazing -- Matt Damon's rather good as well.

Fantastic news. I want to like Gilliam but everything after Fear and Loathing has been disappointing as hell. I mean, Lost in La Mancha, a movie about him getting fucked over in the process of making a movie, is significantly better than anything he's made in the last 15 years.

Yeah, the release is really weird. It's been on Blu-ray in England since July.

[chronovore]

Yeah, it went VOD, but instead of just being rent-able, it was also for sale. I bought it sight-unseen, and I am happy that I did so because I can tell I'll watch it repeatedly.

People also complained about the ending being "chopped off," but I loved it. I kept thinking, OMG, I will be SO HAPPY if it ends right here... and then it did.

[Great Rumbler]

[Joe Molotov]

FEMA Camps being constructed in Obama's Amerca

[G The Resurrected]

Going to see Interstellar at Dolby soundworks studio in SF tomorrow! Can't wait

[Eric P]

Peter Dinklage has been cast in a film adaptation of Joe Lansdale's The Thicket.  Book is ok.  Relies of Lansdale's tropes and themes a bit too much for me as a long time reader, but for getting him out to a wider mainstream audience, this is a pretty good representation.

[Eel O'Brian]

i gotta say, vision looks a lot more faithful to the comic look than i ever would have expected.

no OG human torch connection, though

[BobFromPikeCreek]

Just watched Amour. You may know it by its alternate title God I Hope Assisted Suicide Is Legal Before I'm Old.

[Yeti]

The OG Human Torch showed up in Iron Man 2 if it makes you feel any better.

[chronovore]

The OG Human Torch showed up in Iron Man 2 if it makes you feel any better.

Really? I've seen that twice -- I have no excuses, and I'm not proud of it, but there it is -- and I've never caught that. Where?

[Yeti]

It was a small cameo during the Stark Expo

[BobFromPikeCreek]

Finally got around to watching The Sacrament. I love Ti West, but after hearing the ho-hum impressions I wasn't in much of a hurry to see it. Ho-hum was accurate. Sad seeing a dude who managed to develop an impeccable skill for tightly paced and beautifully shot slow-burn horror trade it all in for a pretty fucking by the numbers found-footage film.

[chronovore]

Eh. Maybe he wanted to give the found footage thing a send off before it wore out its welcome entirely.

Too bad he's a couple years late.

[Madrun Badrun]

[Eric P]

Ayoade's The Double is on Netflix now.  Worth a watch.

[chronovore]

The Karate Kid without Karate; Jackie Chan as Sifu not-Miyagi: I really liked it. I don't like just about anything Jackie's done from a Hollywood studio, I don't like Will Smith's son, and I don't like remakes, but this was pretty fun. I'm still not sure why Chan needed backstory added for his surliness, but he had good chemistry with his student. The bad-guy Sifu looked really cruel and arrogant. I halfway thought they'd add a fight between the teachers, but I'm glad the only fight shown with Chan is him beating up children.

Ghibli's Tales from Earthsea: I was excited about this when it was first announced, but never got around to watching it until recently. It's not really watchable. I got through about half of it, but gave up. It's tepid. Gorgeous scenery design, but everything else is bog-standard anime, no Ghibli flavor except character design. The son is not the father.

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters: Yup, that was a movie. The first half is pretty fun; I was prepared to enjoy the movie a lot, and had zero expectations, so when this medieval/mythic/fable Europe setting begins with sketches of missing children pasted on milk bottles, I was immediately ready for a goofy ride. The movie doesn't bother with euro accents, either; even Gemma Arterton adopts an American English accent for her role opposite Jeremy Renner. Stuff explodes, people get shot (yes, medieval shotguns... and tasers... and record players for that matter), and weirdly Deadite-looking "witches" descend and harass the local population. It is, however, oddly unsatisfying.

Actually, come to think of it, just a little more of a push, and this could have been Army of Darkness 2, with all the guns and quips, and explode-y bits. Add just a little more humor, shift the backstory just a hair so that Gretel is just some girl Ash saved, and it could work. Too bad.

[Madrun Badrun]

agreed with Tales from Earthsea

[TakingBackSunday]

Wanna go see Gone Girl badly.

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

Hansel & Gretel was disappointingly bad, as you really can see the fun movie underneath all the dreck that's there.  Plus it has the best practical effects and makeup any non Del Toro Hollywood film has put out in years.  A real shame that one.

I halfway thought they'd add a fight between the teachers, but I'm glad the only fight shown with Chan is him beating up children.

well now that you mention it...

Terry Gilliam's The Zero Theorem is a mess, but its the best kind of a mess.  A damn near incoherent, psychedelic ramble (with typically amazing production design) set in the future that's all about toiling away at an unfulfilling job, the anxieties and regrets of an aging man, and the existence or not of God and order in the universe.  Its also frequently rather funny and strangely moving, although your mileage may vary (the near empty theater I saw it in didn't have many laughs, and most of them came from me).  Yeah, its kind of weird, but its Gilliam weird.  So its well executed but perhaps just a bit off putting, particularly in some of its characterizations and its steadfast desire to not give out any sort of satisfying resolution.  Considering the themes at play, no mere movie can provide such answers anyway without devolving into some sort of empty, inspirational twaddle.

Terry Gilliam continues to be the anti-Tim Burton, refining his technique to become less and less commercial over time, but his films remain highly enjoyable even as they still seem distinct and similar to each other.  That's quite a trick he's pulling off, shame he can't do it more then once every several years (or whenever a financier who's comfortable flushing money down a toilet comes along).  Bonus points are awarded for just about perfect casting (Tilda Swinton continues to impress as a broad comic actor).

[Great Rumbler]

I liked Tales of Earthsea, although part of that may be because of how much I like the books and how much I absolutely hated that Scifi Channel miniseries.

[chronovore]

Actually, come to think of it, just a little more of a push, and this could have been Army of Darkness 2, with all the guns and quips, and explode-y bits. Add just a little more humor, shift the backstory just a hair so that Gretel is just some girl Ash saved, and it could work. Too bad.

Well there's already one in the works.

But it's been in the works, and denied as in the works, and admitted but shelved... so many times. I hope it's for real this time. I heard the rumor about a female Ash, which is pretty cool. I heard another that it ties together the new Evil Dead with the old Evil Dead/AoD continuity, and I'm like: "WHY?" -- AoD is all about cartoon physics and Bruce Campbell as a scoundrel antihero. Who needs more?

Hansel & Gretel was disappointingly bad, as you really can see the fun movie underneath all the dreck that's there.  Plus it has the best practical effects and makeup any non Del Toro Hollywood film has put out in years.  A real shame that one.

I halfway thought they'd add a fight between the teachers, but I'm glad the only fight shown with Chan is him beating up children.

well now that you mention it...

Terry Gilliam's The Zero Theorem is a mess, but its the best kind of a mess.  A damn near incoherent, psychedelic ramble (with typically amazing production design) set in the future that's all about toiling away at an unfulfilling job, the anxieties and regrets of an aging man, and the existence or not of God and order in the universe.  Its also frequently rather funny and strangely moving, although your mileage may vary (the near empty theater I saw it in didn't have many laughs, and most of them came from me).  Yeah, its kind of weird, but its Gilliam weird.  So its well executed but perhaps just a bit off putting, particularly in some of its characterizations and its steadfast desire to not give out any sort of satisfying resolution.  Considering the themes at play, no mere movie can provide such answers anyway without devolving into some sort of empty, inspirational twaddle.

Terry Gilliam continues to be the anti-Tim Burton, refining his technique to become less and less commercial over time, but his films remain highly enjoyable even as they still seem distinct and similar to each other.  That's quite a trick he's pulling off, shame he can't do it more then once every several years (or whenever a financier who's comfortable flushing money down a toilet comes along).  Bonus points are awarded for just about perfect casting (Tilda Swinton continues to impress as a broad comic actor).

Thanks for that Karate Kid scene. I'm glad they cut it. It's superfluous. It also adds another layer of Jaden "teaching his teacher," which is STUPID.

I can't agree with you that Zero Theorem is incoherent or rambling. I do agree that Gilliam is refining his technique. I was so impressed with the craftsmanship of the story and the possible gnostic leanings of the god structure it describes. I'm jealous you got to see it in a theater.

[G The Resurrected]

Saw Interstellar on tuesday, its a treat. By far the best drama piece Nolan has put together. I knew going in too much about the story and some thematic tones, but I still came away from it pleasantly surprised. Something really cool is one of the scenes was science fiction when conceived but due to new discovery's they believe they might be factual. Performances were great all around, but Mcconaughey steals this show. The version I saw deliberately left out the ending since its still in post production.

Had an amazing time viewing it in Dolby atmos "2.0" they are using 3d software to attach individual sounds and tracks to "objects" then staging them in time with the movie. This movie took 8 months of workflow to complete 4x as much as a 7.1/9.2 mix. There is an insane amount of details I could go into but that's more to do with the technical aspects of the movie. I got to meet some folks from double negative who worked on the vfx.

Can't wait to see the final cut. But I feel I got spoiled by the sound. Oh the Zimmerman is on fire in this. Some of his best work it became its own character like Inceptions score.

[Great Rumbler]

 

[D3RANG3D]

I rewatched the Karate Kid Definitive 80's version™ Mr. Miyagi totally ragequit when Daniel caught the fly with his chopsitcks on his third try.

[Mupepe]

I watched This Is The End. Really surprising. I laughed a lot.

It peaks in the first act but its still pretty funny.

[Yulwei]

Expected to watch for no more than 10mins before walking away but I ended up watching, and enjoying, the whole thing. 

[Madrun Badrun]

https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/516278642482380801

nice.

There was also a recent rumor that Avengers 3 will be a 2 parter.

[Mupepe]

Eventually everything is going to be a two or three parter. We are going back to the old ways except the movies are still 2-3 hours for each part. "its scrawled in blood. What does it say?  See you next Wednesday"

[Madrun Badrun]

I like long movies so what ever.  I think most good movies could be like 3-4 hours long.

[Mupepe]

I'd be fine with that. I would rather spend 4 hours in a theater than wait a year for the next part of a movie.

[chronovore]

MICHAEL MANN.

But movies about hackers are hollywood poison. POISON! :scared

[Quaker]

  @ that Boogie Nights tone.

[Joe Molotov]

Thomas Pynchon finally getting that Hollywood money. Now maybe we can get that Crying of Lot 49 movie we've always wanted.

[BobFromPikeCreek]

Feels kinda Coeny. I like that.

[Mupepe]

Now that looks fucking good

[Madrun Badrun]

looks good

[Rahxephon91]

Hope it's better then the awful 2nd one.