Movie News, Reviews, and Discussion Super-Thread

[Bildi]

Finished In the Valley of Elah.

What a great movie.  Interesting plot, great pacing, a bit of mystery, and believable characters (despite having model-like Charlize Theron playing a small-town cop).  I didn't expect the movie to unfold as it did.  I loved Tommy Lee Jones' character, his demeanor and no-nonsense abruptness.

[Ichirou]

At least I know a good western when I see one.

I actually watched Unforgiven again rather recently. A lot of the dialogue remains bad to me, but I liked it a lot more. I can bump it to an 8/10

Definitely better than Avatar

Did you get a better understanding of the main theme of the movie?  I remember your original review, and it seems you missed a lot of the subtext and gave the movie a very cursory surface reading.  I would imagine now that you've seen more movies in the genre, your view of the movie changed.

[CajoleJuice]

[Barry Egan]

Pulp Fiction

I've seen this a couple times and didn't like it-- just like all of Tarantino's movies.  We had to watch it for a film class today and as I sat through it bored and aggitated, I thought to myself, "at least we'll get to have a good discussion afterwards about it and if I don't learn anything that makes me appreciate it more at least I can tell people I think it sucks."

Well, there was no discussion afterwards.  I guess the professor left halfway through for some reason.  So now you guys get to hear my opinion on it:

This movie sucks.  D+  I hate Tarantino and his obnoxious dialogue and I thought the use of racial slurs in film were cheap.  Also, I noticed that a young Samuel L Jackson and Will Smith have a lot in common.  I don't know who that insults, but I'm sure it's someone.

[CajoleJuice]

Much better than mine.

[Bildi]

I'm glad there's someone else on earth who doesn't like Tarantino's movies.

[CajoleJuice]

Have fun with your Wes Anderson movies

[Ichirou]

Pulp Fiction should've won that year.  It was really a gamechanger as far as the movie industry was concerned.  No other movie from the '90s seems more influential in retrospect.

[Robo]

Maybe Fight Club, but not in a good way.

[Great Rumbler]

[youtube=560,345]ec-8mD_BhrU[/youtube]

[youtube=560,345]I-7f7vVCqvI[/youtube]

[etiolate]

i enjoyed pulp fiction but it never struck me as awesome or at least not as much as everyone around me seemed to think of it as

Just not a big tarintino fan overall.  I haven't seen IB yet though.

[Bebpo]

i enjoyed pulp fiction but it never struck me as awesome or at least not as much as everyone around me seemed to think of it as

Just not a big tarintino fan overall.  I haven't seen IB yet though.

You will probably like IB a lot in that case. 

[Phoenix Dark]

Samuel L's speech to Tim Roth towards the end (the one that culminates with "I'm trying, Ringo. I'm trying real hard to be the shepherd") used to seem really profound to me when I was in college, but the more I really think about it, the hollower it seems.

Doesn't hold a candle to Jake Sully's speech about property rights in Avatar

[brawndolicious]

i enjoyed pulp fiction but it never struck me as awesome or at least not as much as everyone around me seemed to think of it as

Just not a big tarintino fan overall.  I haven't seen IB yet though.

You will probably like IB a lot in that case. 

well it's his worst movie imo because of just how much it takes itself seriously.

[Phoenix Dark]

IB might be his best movie

[Phoenix Dark]

Doesn't hold a candle to Jake Sully's speech about property rights in Avatar

Hell of a thing, killing a man. You take from him all he has, and all he's ever going to have.

This low gravity'll make you soft. When you get soft... Pandora'll shit you out dead with zero warning.

[Eric P]

watched Hot Fuzz for the first time since theaters last night and absolutely fucking loved it all over again.

i love all the various details like Bill Baily playing the twins.  One of them is reading books by Ian M Banks, whereas the other is reading books by Ian Banks.

[chronovore]

About just-over-halfway through Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd adaptation.

I've had this sitting on the shelf for months waiting to be watched.  Going to try to get to it this weekend.

Please post your impressions if you do. I'm still not sure if I liked it beyond the visuals and theme; I'll likely pick up the soundtrack at some point since I have a soft spot for musicals.

I started, but oh god it's not just based on a musical, it IS a musical!  I had no idea!  There are very few stage musicals that I actually like, and I pretty much always find movie-musicals boring.  I stopped altogether because after 20 minutes I started fast forwarding through songs - I'm going to have to reshape my frame of mind totally before tackling it again.

I'm not surprised; it's not just a musical, it's not just a depressing musical, it's not just a violent and depressing musical, it's a violent and depressing musical with comedy. It's perfect Tim Burton wank material, but it's not handled evenly. It's worth watching for the visuals, but I think I will check out the Angela Lansbury version if I get an itch to see it again.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Pretty much true, considering you got absolutely destroyed and are still rubbing your wounds. 

Did I really though? What really happened? Two sides went back and forth for awhile about a movie. Neither side convinced the other. But for whatever reason, there are more Avatar haters than people who liked it on this forum. At the very least, the Avatar haters are far more vocal than those who liked it (myself notwithstanding). So they got to cheer each other on and yell out "Annihilated!" every time someone on their side made a post that resonated with them.

The exact same arguments could have been made word for word on a different forum with a completely different perceived result. If the exact same argument had played out on GAF, for instance, the perception would no doubt be that I had thoroughly annihilated Willco and Ichirou (though both of them would probably have been banned before the argument got anywhere near as heated as it did here. Willco would have been banned for ceaselessly trolling a movie he hadn't seen, and Ichirou would have been banned for his ad-hominem attacks after I talked about Aliens. I probably would have been banned for my harsh words to Boogie around the same time, but that's a different story).

The point is that winners and losers in silly internet debates like this are entirely contingent upon the audience. Here, for whatever reason, the majority opinion on Avatar runs contrary to general public opinion and the critical consensus. But just because that is the case, I don't think it's accurate to say that I was "completely destroyed" or "annihilated."

Really, we should stop talking about this stupid "annihilation" shit. It doesn't help anything and only serves to encourage sensationalist posters like Powerslave.

[close]

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[close]

What are your favorite musicals, Chronovore?

I'm not actually all that familiar with the genre, but what I've seen, I tend to enjoy. I wouldn't count Sweeney Todd among my favorites. I'm also pretty plebeian in that I'm fully willing to count Disney movies in with broadway shows equally. So with that: Les Miserables is incredibly moving. Disney's Aladdin is a lot of fun to sing. Rocky Horror Picture Show is weird and not particularly timeless, but fun. Grease is exceptional; I know it nearly by heart. Oh, and I'm not immune to Tim Burton/Danny Elfman: Nightmare Before Christmas is on heavy rotation on my iPod, even the batch of cover versions they released a ways back.

I keep meaning to see Phantom of the Opera, but am not anxious to pay 100USD+ to see it in Japanese, Miss Saigon is on the list, but I've no idea when I'd have a chance to see it. Chicago keeps moving into "maybe next time" territory when I'm at the video store.  Are you into musicals?

[ManaByte]

Watching the Sleeping Beauty BluRay with the Lasseter, Maltin, and Andreas Deja PIP commentary.

  Lasseter

  1950's Disney animation in HD at the full 2:55 aspect ratio

[bud]

chrono, you forgot lion king!

[Great Rumbler]

Watched Cache last night and I liked it. The title sequence was awesome.

I've watched Cache and Time of the Wolf and both were really weird.

[chronovore]

chrono, you forgot lion king!

Akshully not much of a Lion King fan. I can't remember a single tune from it, except the big shout that starts off the main number. :-/

[Great Rumbler]

[youtube=560,345]L0AiN8vrn9Y[/youtube]

[ManaByte]

Spring 2012 Cameron is re-releasing Kate Winslet's boobies in 3D. 

[Mupepe]

Thank fucking God.  Too bad Avatar will be too far ahead by that point to have a rerelease put Titanic back in its rightful #1 position.

Kate

[brob]

Watched some Harry Potter earlier this week. First the Order of the Phoenix and then The Half-Blood Prince. I've read the books, but it's been so long I don't remember shit.

Phoenix was pretty alright, some fun school scenes and some fancy visuals. Harry was emo as shit though. The Half-Blood Prince on the other hand was weird. The sexual tension was so awkward and strange. As if who ever wrote it is so old that he/she doesn't remember what it's actually like. There was a scene were Harry was discussing how nice skin a girl has with his neanderthal friend and the dialog was absolutely trash. :x

Also I don't understand the magic in these films. Sometimes they pull the wildest spells out their ass, but then in other life threatening situations they just do the force push. 

To save some snob-cred I also watched Master And Commander, which was a fantastic film. Probably the baddest one armed kid I've ever seen in a film. Shooting bitches in the face point blank with a cannon and running up through the hole he made. 

[Great Rumbler]

Harry was emo as shit though.

That's about all I remember of Order of the Phoenix, which was the last Harry Potter book I read.

[brob]

Harry was emo as shit though.

That's about all I remember of Order of the Phoenix, which was the last Harry Potter book I read.

It was pretty fucking extreme actually. Like, yeah, I get it - people think he killed a dude and blamed a ghost for it, but shit... He's walking around the film being so pissy you'd think Dumbledore was extorting him for some demeaning s&m.

Whoever is casting these films also have a great knack for sticking the hottest girls in the smallest parts. And then they seemingly go out of their way to kill all the characters played by competent actors. :\ 

[ManaByte]

A VERY HAROLD AND KUMAR CHRISTMAS

- looks like it is happening
- we catch up a little bit later in Harold and Kumar’s lives
-takes place over the holiday season
- this could be a legit holiday movie
- the intent is to honor the holiday traditional style of movies
- Neil Patrick Harris is supposed to be in it

[Diunx]

Thank fucking God.  Too bad Avatar will be too far ahead by that point to have a rerelease put Titanic back in its rightful #1 position.

Kate

Actually Cameron said that the studio is interesting in rereleasing it this fall with extra footage.

http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/03/11/titanic-3d-coming-spring-2012-plans-for-a-possible-avatar-extended-cut-theatrical-rerelease/

[Bebpo]

Green Zone

Was supposed to see Alice in Wonderland this morning with my brother, but I convinced him to see Green Zone instead since Alice apparently is horrible.

Green Zone was entertaining until the last 20 mins when it got super generic and had a weak end.  Greengrass' shakey cam is up to personal tastes.  It's just as shakey and disorientating as the Bourne films and has the same impact to keep action scenes intense.  The cinematography is pretty nice; good grainy look on everything.  Damon is ok, support cast is meh.

Maybe worth a matinee.  Between The Hurt Locker, In the Loop and Green Zone, I'm good on movies from this war for a while.

[Great Rumbler]

2012

I only saw the last hour of it, but anything that wasn't some huge special effects scene was absolutely terrible. Especially "The Speech".

[Ichirou]

It's the perfect conclusion to the trilogy, IMO - 2001, 2010, 2012.  Watch them all straight through so you "get it."

[Mr. Gundam]

Getting drunk and rewatching Up in the Air and watching 2012 tonight with friends.

[Great Rumbler]

It's the perfect conclusion to the trilogy, IMO - 2001, 2010, 2012.  Watch them all straight through so you "get it."

It can't hold a candle to ID4.

[Phoenix Dark]

I posted a long review of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, but now I don't see it wtf 

oh well, I enjoyed it a lot, despite them butchering certain parts towards the end

[Bocsius]

I'm watching the Band of Brothers episodes. Not my first viewing, just my first viewing on Blu-ray.

I hope The Pacific turns out well. I guess I'll find out whenever the series hits Blu-ray.

[bork]

Saw Cop Out a few weeks ago but never posted about it.  It was a fun little 80's-era comedy cop-buddy movie wannabe. 

Today I saw Chasing Ghosts.  If you watched King Of Kong, remember the part about the Time Magazine photo shoot from 1982?  This documentary focuses on most of the people who appeared in that photo, so you'll get more Walter Day, Billy Mitchell, and some others from Kong, although presented in a different light compared to Kong, which has come under a lot of fire for making Billy Mitchell in particular out to be the bad guy.  Anyway, it's pretty much what you would expect...except for one segment. 

I was watching this while doing some work, and suddenly noticed a painting of a nude woman fingering herself on the screen.  So if you saw Kong, remember Twin Galaxies "official head referee," Robert Mruczek,   the guy who sits at home and watches VHS tapes of 15+ hour gaming high score attempts?  He says that besides his exciting hobby, he also is a fine art connoisseur...and then unveils picture after picture of comic book porno pin-up art.  The painting he showed at the beginning only cost him $14,000 to have commissioned.  Then it went back to the video game talk again.  

[chronovore]

A VERY HAROLD AND KUMAR CHRISTMAS

- looks like it is happening
- we catch up a little bit later in Harold and Kumar’s lives
-takes place over the holiday season
- this could be a legit holiday movie
- the intent is to honor the holiday traditional style of movies
- Neil Patrick Harris is supposed to be in it

I liked the first one but haven't found the second on shelves here yet. Was it any good?

[Mr. Gundam]

2012 was horrible. Good thing I fell asleep for a while, or I'd really feel like I wasted 3 hours of my life.

[Raban]

A VERY HAROLD AND KUMAR CHRISTMAS

- looks like it is happening
- we catch up a little bit later in Harold and Kumar’s lives
-takes place over the holiday season
- this could be a legit holiday movie
- the intent is to honor the holiday traditional style of movies
- Neil Patrick Harris is supposed to be in it

I liked the first one but haven't found the second on shelves here yet. Was it any good?

No. Don't watch it.

[Great Rumbler]

Universal Soldier: Regeneration

A surprisingly entertaining action movie. If you didn't know beforehand, you'd probably think this movie had been released theatrically. The action is clear and well done with a few truly exceptional scenes, it's well shot, has a great setting, great music, and the acting has some bright spots, even if the three main characters have very few lines, with the supporting cast doing a decent turn with their small roles. It's not the sort of movie that's going to get bogged down in plot or character development, but it doesn't really need to be. Despite it's very small budget, it gets a lot done.

[chronovore]

Sherlock Holmes - meh. Robert Downey, Jr. is very good but I'm not fond of Holmes being portrayed so eccentrically that he's pratfalling and generally the "fool" of the fool-and-straightman pair. Jude Law is without much personality, but inoffensive. Contrast with Legolas in the Pirates movies for "without personality -and- offensive." Rachel McAdams can't act. The Big Baddie, Lord Blackheart, er Blackwood, was visually pretty neat. I wasn't sure where they'd go with the black magic; it was fun to see a conspiracy movement have to face their own mythos, but otherwise it was unclear why Blackwood followed through in a way which would clearly be figured out by the one guy who wasn't falling for his schtick.

[Eric P]

watching Last Year in Marienbad.  This is probably one of the best non-horror horror films i've seen.

[Eric P]

today was movie overload.  watched Ponyo (yay), Chocolate (blah) and The Lives of Others (great).

[ferrarimanf355]

Finally saw The Hangover last night... and why wasn't this film nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars? It deserved a nom more than that Hurt Locker crap. 

[WrikaWrek]

The Collector - Movie buys so much goodwill in the 1st part, it's amazing. Then obviously, it turns into a shitty by numbers horror movie of the likes we've seen hundreds of, and is more worried in creating a possible franchise than it is in entertaining the audience.

Start fast forwarding in the final 10 minutes. Piece of shit, why can't these fuckheads just make a movie that works on its own, without trying to make a goddamn horror franchise?

[Great Rumbler]

Where the Wild Things Are

Not so much a kid's movie as it is a movie about being a kid, in the words of the director. I'd have to agree with that. Most kids will probably be bored by the slow pace, lack of rainbow-colored sights, and lack of low-brow humor. This is a movie for the older generation that can remember just how hard it was being a kid. Basically, the story is about a kid who feels misunderstood and unloved learning to cope with and understand his feelings. Maybe they could have done this or that different, or had a more focused plot or whatever, but I loved it as it is. Really good movie.

[Mupepe]

I watched the movie Angel Eyes last night...

holy fucking shit!  The ominous beginning to this movie makes it seem like it's going to be some kind of thriller and the dude cuts people up and eats them and J Lo is going to have to hunt and take him down.  But no.  It's some whiny shit love-fest.  It's the worst fucking thing I've ever seen.  Holy God!

[cool breeze]

In the Loop

Checked it out after people were mentioned it here.  Really funny movie.  I laughed way too hard at "difficult difficult lemon difficult".

[tiesto]

I saw Tim Burton's Alice... I can't explain it, but it really felt like it was missing something. The 3D was good, but fairly unnecessary. Also saw Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, which was extremely goofy and entertaining. Certainly one of the better kid's movies I've seen, I got enough laughs out of it.

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

Have any of you guys watched Pontypool?

yeah, its good shit.  Low budget and very Canadian, but pretty dang good.

[Bebpo]

Have any of you guys watched Pontypool?

I didn't like it, but I think it's worth watching.  I liked the story, just felt the pacing was too slowwwwwwwww.

[Bildi]

The Others - good atmosphere and pretty good twists at the end which I like.  Kept me interested all the way though.

American Beauty - I really had no idea what this was about but I found it a great film, the only thing was it felt a lot longer than it actually was.

The River Wild - I haven't seen this for probably 15 years but I remembered really liking it.  I still really like it. 
Kevin Bacon

[Bildi]

I'm curious about The Others because I've been told its basically Turn of the Screw.

I'm not familiar with Turn of the Screw, but from reading the plot summary on Wikipedia, The Others is definitely in a similar vein.

[Phoenix Dark]

There's some trickeration in the long shots, but they're stunning regardless. Amazing movie

[CajoleJuice]

I waited for the blu-ray and I'm glad I did. Movie is stunning.

[Phoenix Dark]

The cuts are hidden with some clever cgi. The making of doc briefly shows how they pulled it off. It's still fucking amazing, and iirc only a few cuts were taken

[Ichirou]

Agreed.  I even like Clive Owen in it, and I usually can't stand him (he's almost as annoying as Colin Farrell to me).

[Ichirou]

Christian Bale is pretty good, though...he's really hit or miss, but he was great in The Prestige, The Machinist, and 3:10 to Yuma.  I think it just depends on the character he's playing and the director he's working with.