Movie News, Reviews, and Discussion Super-Thread

[ManaByte]

Peter Jackson announced the cast of The Hobbit:

Martin Freeman is set to play Bilbo Baggins, the adventurous Hobbit whose adventures and discovery of the One Ring leads the story up to The Lord of the Rings.
Richard Armitage (MI-5 and Captain America: The First Avenger) will play Thorin Oakenshield, leader of the Company of Dwarves which sets off to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from a thieving dragon.

Aidan Turner (Being Human) and Rob Kazinsky (EastEnders) will play Kili and Fili, members of the Company of Dwarves.

Graham McTavish (Secretariat) will play Dwalin, John Callen (Power Rangers Jungle Fury) will play Oin; Stephen Hunter (All Saints) will play Bombur, and Mark Hadlow (King Kong) plays Dori, while Peter Hambleton (The Strip) will play Gloin.

Of Freeman as Bilbo, Jackson said that, "Despite the various rumors and speculation surrounding this role, there has only ever been one Bilbo Baggins for us ... There are a few times in your career when you come across an actor who you know was born to play a role, but that was the case as soon as I met Martin. He is intelligent, funny, surprising and brave—exactly like Bilbo and I feel incredibly proud to be able to announce that he is our Hobbit."

[Raban]

Martin Freeman is perfect. Dunno the other folks.

[ManaByte]

He's so perfect for Bilbo. Can't picture anyone else as him.

[Phoenix Dark]

Perfect Bilbo. Looks somewhat like Ian Holm too. It's going to be hard for me not to get excited now that things are coming together. I hope to god they do this right.

It IS NOT LOTR 2.0

[ManaByte]

TMZ explains what happened with the Mel Gibson cameo in Hangover 2:

Looks like it was your garden-variety peer pressure that torpedoed Mel Gibson's cameo on "The Hangover 2." Multiple sources connected with the production tell TMZ ... director Todd Phillips cast Mel in the role of a tattoo artist a month ago and that the entire cast and crew knew about it and were simpatico. The problem came three days ago, when a story leaked that Mel would be shooting a scene for the flick.  Our sources say the friends of some of the cast and crew started putting pressure on them to lodge sudden, last-minute displeasure with Phillips' choice. Our sources say some of the production people became belatedly upset because they were getting so much crap from friends, so they began objecting. One of the loudest, we're told, was Zach Galifianakis. There were other people in the cast and crew who also were making noise about walking off the set if Mel showed up.  Our sources say Bradley Cooper was not among the group who complained. So the day before Mel was supposed to shoot, Phillips pulled the plug. As one person connected with Mel told TMZ, "It's such hypocrisy. They cast a convicted rapist [Mike Tyson] but 86'd Mel."

[WrikaWrek]

Taken Identity, the sequel to Taken

http://www.firstshowing.net/2010/10/21/watch-liam-neeson-loses-his-identity-in-the-unknown-trailer/#comment-272926

[chronovore]

Good to know it's comparable to The Losers but better, I thought The Losers fell flat on its premise. I hadn't read the comic but it just seemed like there was so much potential lost in its own seriousness and contrived plot twist.

Yeah, that's pretty much my feeling as well. The Losers is movie is done up as a comic book, including comicbook performances. I really like Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and he can do grizzled heros with subtlety -- his portrayal of The Comedian in Watchmen is fantastic -- but that's not what they're targeting in that movie. In contrast, RED's portrayals of the other team members are nuanced and enjoyable while remaining comic-bookish.

[chronovore]

Taken Identity, the sequel to Taken

http://www.firstshowing.net/2010/10/21/watch-liam-neeson-loses-his-identity-in-the-unknown-trailer/#comment-272926

I'm not seeing the comment anchored in that URL, but the article makes no mention of it being a sequel.

[WrikaWrek]

Taken Identity, the sequel to Taken

http://www.firstshowing.net/2010/10/21/watch-liam-neeson-loses-his-identity-in-the-unknown-trailer/#comment-272926

I'm not seeing the comment anchored in that URL, but the article makes no mention of it being a sequel.

It's not...it just looks like it.

[Cheebs]

Perfect Bilbo. Looks somewhat like Ian Holm too. It's going to be hard for me not to get excited now that things are coming together. I hope to god they do this right.

It IS NOT LOTR 2.0

Bilbo no longer gets knocked out at the start of the big battle at the end and now its a huge The Two Towers/Return of the King epic sized battle. And there is a entire subplot of Gandalf and whatshisface the Brown fighting the Necromancer. That's all in the final script Jackson and co. wrote. So it will be much more LOTR like.

And knowing Jackson's love of long run-times I bet the final 2 part Hobbit film will be over 6 hours combined.

[ManaByte]

Having the main character knocked out for the entire film's climax may work in a artsy hipster movie, but not in a $500 million franchise tentpole they actually want people to see.

[Phoenix Dark]

Having the main character knocked out for the entire film's climax may work in a artsy hipster movie, but not in a $500 million franchise tentpole they actually want people to see.

I'm fine with that change. We see the battle anyway might as well have him there

[chronovore]

Tolkein-ite fans are going to shit a brick sideways over it, though.

[Cheebs]

They can have him be knocked out and still show the battle though.

I understand Jackson changing it. It fits with his style. He always made the battles in the LOTR movies more epic than they were in the books too. He seems to love doing these long extremely extended war scenes.

[Cheebs]

You gotta abuse the budget.

The budget for the Hobbit is 500 million. LOTR was 300 million and this is only 2 films not 3. He has a lot more money to waste.

[Mupepe]

Ugh.  The big battles were some of the most boring parts of the LOTR series.  They were way too long or were just done shitty.  They had cool moments of course.  But as a whole, the battles were totally underwhelming.  The ghosts at the end of the ROTK were   terrible the way they just ran over everything and made the whole battle so anti-climactic

[bud]

in retrospect, the battles were awful. they lose all their epicness when they zoom in on aragorn or whomever fighting one of the bad guys; you immediately realize that all those battles consist of nothing but 15-20 people max fighting it out.

i'm still bummed out they completely dropped saruman in rotk.

[Cheebs]

That's the one part of The Hobbit duology I am not looking forward to. Jackson has already said he is going to make the battle more epic than the book. So I already know to expect an overly long stereotypical Peter Jackson war scene. With one of the dwarves yelling one liners too of course, you know he is going to do that.

[ManaByte]

i'm still bummed out they completely dropped saruman in rotk.

What? No they didn't.

[Cheebs]

i'm still bummed out they completely dropped saruman in rotk.

What? No they didn't.

He probably means the theatrical cut.

[Robo]

RoboCop 4: RoboCopalypse in Robopopolis

[Great Rumbler]

Robots killing people? My kind of movie!

[bud]

i'm still bummed out they completely dropped saruman in rotk.

What? No they didn't.

He probably means the theatrical cut.

yeah. i've never seen any of the other cuts.

[Himu]

Ugh.  The big battles were some of the most boring parts of the LOTR series.  They were way too long or were just done shitty.  They had cool moments of course.  But as a whole, the battles were totally underwhelming.  The ghosts at the end of the ROTK were   terrible the way they just ran over everything and made the whole battle so anti-climactic

Remember when I would re-read The Hobbit and LOTR books in high school and you'd make fun of my LOTR love by calling Bilbo "Dildo Faggins"?  :'(

[Eric P]

Gaillo - Oh hey a new Dario Argento.  I know this won't be good but let's see what he's up to...


*one hour later*

let us never speak of this again.

[Joe Molotov]

Gaillo - Oh hey a new Dario Argento.  I know this won't be good but let's see what he's up to...


*one hour later*

let us never speak of this again.

That reminds me of my reaction to seeing "Mother of Tears".

[Eric P]

i'm amazed he roped adrien brody into this latest thing

[Robo]

Musta been tough, considering they outright lied to him and defrauded him in the process.

http://blog.moviefone.com/2010/10/18/adrien-brody-sues-dario-argentos-giallo/?_r=true

[Eric P]

I wish he'd succeeded in killing the project.  It was horrible.  Just so bland and predictable.

[cool breeze]

How to Train Your Dragon

Don't know the last dreamworks movie I've seen, but this was great.  Better than Up/10.

[EmCeeGrammar]

2001 is super boring. Yeah, I get it, space is supposed to be boring and mentally taxing and this contributes to blah blah blah. I don't care. You can try to justify why Kubrick did everything he did they way he did, but when you boil it down it is a long, obtuse, pretentious, non-entertaining flick.

This is the man who enjoys wii music.

Says the guy who likes 2001. Spin the circle.

Yeah, I like something with actual substance.

Look there you go again, with your intangible hoopla like 'substance'. Is the movie entertaining? No it isn't. I win.

[Great Rumbler]

2001 is super boring. Yeah, I get it, space is supposed to be boring and mentally taxing and this contributes to blah blah blah. I don't care. You can try to justify why Kubrick did everything he did they way he did, but when you boil it down it is a long, obtuse, pretentious, non-entertaining flick.

This is the man who enjoys wii music.

Says the guy who likes 2001. Spin the circle.

Yeah, I like something with actual substance.

Is the movie entertaining?

Yes.

[EmCeeGrammar]

2001 is super boring. Yeah, I get it, space is supposed to be boring and mentally taxing and this contributes to blah blah blah. I don't care. You can try to justify why Kubrick did everything he did they way he did, but when you boil it down it is a long, obtuse, pretentious, non-entertaining flick.

This is the man who enjoys wii music.

Says the guy who likes 2001. Spin the circle.

Yeah, I like something with actual substance.

Is the movie entertaining?

Yes.

Nope.

[Great Rumbler]

Just keep on digging that hole, maybe eventually you'll find some gold.

[Mupepe]

Yes.  Sorry.  But I still call him that.  I just didn't know how awesome they really were back then 

One of the worst things in the LOTR series was when we learned more about the orcs.  I couldn't find them threatening.  And when they'd zoom in on the battles, I'm not so thrown off about the fact that it's only a few people fighting.  I'm thrown off by the fact that Gandalf and Aragorn are slaughtering like nothing.  They could destroy the entire army by themselves.  Give them an hour or so.

[Himu]

Eh, going back, I'm not so much a big fan of LOTR in terms of writing, but The Hobbit is still awesome.

[Cheebs]

lolololololol IESB says the Star Wars 3D re-releases are being done to fund a new trilogy like the special editions were done to fund the prequels that would take place way after return of the jedi long after all the characters are dead. And everyones favorite fat boy at aint it cool news says his sources are telling him the same thing.


I bet you all are just so super excited.

[Eric P]

The Aftermath- dude fucks a corpse in loving detail.  not really that great nor that shocking.

The Burrowers- really good low budget horror western.  highly recommended.

The Cardinal- Preminger's catholic epic made with sweet sweet vatican money.  also current pope served as an advisor on the film.

[Great Rumbler]

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

The very definition of bloated, overlong, ultimately soulless big-budget movie. The sets and art design are great, as the special effects [mostly], but the story is cliched and predictable from minute one and the flow of the film is beyond horrible, just a rushed string of chases, captures, and escapes. It was better than The Last Airbender, but, honestly, not by much.

[Enl]

The Burrowers- really good low budget horror western.  highly recommended.

Yup, definitely a great under the radar horror flick. Yet another good horror from the past few years that was shunned from theatres while we get crappy Saw sequels and awful remakes instead.

[Great Rumbler]

The Burrowers- really good low budget horror western.  highly recommended.

Yup, definitely a great under the radar horror flick. Yet another good horror from the past few years that was shunned from theatres while we get crappy Saw sequels and awful remakes instead.

I'd planned to watch the upcoming Rifftrax live event at my local theater, but it ended up getting bumped so that they could show an 8pm "midnight" showing of Saw 3D. 

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Jackass 3D - Good movie if you like that kind of thing.  From the ending, it sounds like this will probably be the last one.  Which might be good because a lot of them are probably in their mid-late 30s now and probably can't deal with this type of movie a couple of years from now if they decide to film a fourth.

[Diunx]

lolololololol IESB says the Star Wars 3D re-releases are being done to fund a new trilogy like the special editions were done to fund the prequels that would take place way after return of the jedi long after all the characters are dead. And everyones favorite fat boy at aint it cool news says his sources are telling him the same thing.


I bet you all are just so super excited.

I was planning on watching The Empire Strikes Back on the teacher but now I can't do that on moral grounds, thank you Lucas!!!

[Cheebs]

2001 is super boring. Yeah, I get it, space is supposed to be boring and mentally taxing and this contributes to blah blah blah. I don't care. You can try to justify why Kubrick did everything he did they way he did, but when you boil it down it is a long, obtuse, pretentious, non-entertaining flick.

This is the man who enjoys wii music.

Says the guy who likes 2001. Spin the circle.

Yeah, I like something with actual substance.

Look there you go again, with your intangible hoopla like 'substance'. Is the movie entertaining? No it isn't. I win.

It was very entertaining to me. To be absolutely fair though its a movie you either love or hate, and i happen to love it.

Wall Street 2

This was pretty good, nothing like the original but still good. I loved all the references to the first movie and Michael Douglas was still great as Gordon Gecko. The ending though was seriously out of character and kind of irked me, but I understand why Oliver Stone went that route. Shia and gordon's daughter were the worst part of the movie though, their inclusion meant nothing to me the entire movie.

Really? I thought the only redeeming part and interesting part of the film was Carey Mulligan and her relationship with her dad. She is always the best part of any movie she is in usually. The scene on the steps with Mulligan and Douglas was the best part of the movie.

[Third]

Watched Resident Evil Afterlife yesterday. Best troll movie ever.

[fistfulofmetal]

downloaded Paranormal Activity 2.  thumbs down.

first one was boring with a few jump scares mixed in and this one is really no different. i would say the few jump scares are actually better and the big turning point event was pretty fun to watch (not scary tho, i was laughing while it happened).
but then the building of to the major events weren't as good strangely. i felt the leading up from general spooks to big violent scares was too abrupt.

another thing that i felt was strange was that before every single scare the movie plays a really annoying bassy thumping sound. you know exactly when something is going to happen when you hear it so the scare isn't really that effective.

would say overally a better movie than the first but thats just objectively speaking. it's still a bore and not really scary.

[Eric P]

GF is at book club so I'm trying to grind through several horror films in our instant queue

Raw Meat - Fuck Awesome.  Had never seen it but always knew about it thanks to the reverence afforded the film by UK film critics who I respect.  Loved The Man whose only words he knows are "mind the doors" which the actor uses to great effect in a variety of situations.  Not "scary" per se, but then I find that the best horror films rarely are.  Very recommended.

Pandorum - I head this was a bit goofy but a recent review in Video Watchdog piqued my interest, so I checked it out.   It was at turns better than I anticipated but also WORSE than I anticipated in other respects.  I found the whole middle portion where they introduce ancillary characters to be rather weak, while I found the ending to be better than I expected. 

Currently watching Scarecrows whose video cover always freaked me out as a kid.  I'm finding it, so far, to be a very enjoyable if low budget film.

[Diunx]

Fire and Ice- time has not be kind to this movie but the important parts still look great

[fistfulofmetal]

Trick r' Treat -

entertaining halloween movie. nothing out of this world. wish it had been a little more consistent on whether or not the Sam character was involved in all the stories or not.

also - Lauren Lee Smith and Britt McKillip

[Bloodwake]

lolololololol IESB says the Star Wars 3D re-releases are being done to fund a new trilogy like the special editions were done to fund the prequels that would take place way after return of the jedi long after all the characters are dead. And everyones favorite fat boy at aint it cool news says his sources are telling him the same thing.


I bet you all are just so super excited.

Wasn't that the plan originally? To have nine films? In fact, I thought I've read Lucas originally wanted to have 12 or 13 films in the saga.


I'll still go watch them too, that's the sad thing. I've invested this much time of my life to Star Wars, might as well finish it out. Maybe Lucas will die during the third trilogy and pass the franchise on to someone who won't fanboy it up but at the same time cast competent actors.

[Great Rumbler]

lolololololol IESB says the Star Wars 3D re-releases are being done to fund a new trilogy like the special editions were done to fund the prequels that would take place way after return of the jedi long after all the characters are dead. And everyones favorite fat boy at aint it cool news says his sources are telling him the same thing.


I bet you all are just so super excited.

I was planning on watching The Empire Strikes Back on the teacher but now I can't do that on moral grounds, thank you Lucas!!!

On the TEACHER...?

[Dickie Dee]

Jackson is still a great director, he just needs to not be writing scripts with his wife and friend. I don't know if screenwriters get editors like other writers do (outside of studio interference) but he could really use one.

King Kong could have been amazing if it was an hour shorter. Kong's 'character' and the connection with Naomi Watts was perfect - there was just so much superfluous shit that just went on and on and on.

It's hard to fault long runtimes for LotR considering the source material. The ghost thing bugged the shit out of me too - IIRC in the books they just took out the swarthy boatfolk right?

[Diunx]

lolololololol IESB says the Star Wars 3D re-releases are being done to fund a new trilogy like the special editions were done to fund the prequels that would take place way after return of the jedi long after all the characters are dead. And everyones favorite fat boy at aint it cool news says his sources are telling him the same thing.


I bet you all are just so super excited.

I was planning on watching The Empire Strikes Back on the teacher but now I can't do that on moral grounds, thank you Lucas!!!

On the TEACHER...?

Firefox's spell checker strikes again :'(

[Dickie Dee]

lolololololol IESB says the Star Wars 3D re-releases are being done to fund a new trilogy like the special editions were done to fund the prequels that would take place way after return of the jedi long after all the characters are dead. And everyones favorite fat boy at aint it cool news says his sources are telling him the same thing.


I bet you all are just so super excited.

Wasn't that the plan originally? To have nine films? In fact, I thought I've read Lucas originally wanted to have 12 or 13 films in the saga.


I'll still go watch them too, that's the sad thing. I've invested this much time of my life to Star Wars, might as well finish it out. Maybe Lucas will die during the third trilogy and pass the franchise on to someone who won't fanboy it up but at the same time cast competent actors.

I always thought he said that but never really had any plan for a story after the original trilogy, unlike having some semblance of a backstory for the prequels

[ManaByte]

lolololololol IESB says the Star Wars 3D re-releases are being done to fund a new trilogy like the special editions were done to fund the prequels that would take place way after return of the jedi long after all the characters are dead. And everyones favorite fat boy at aint it cool news says his sources are telling him the same thing.


I bet you all are just so super excited.

Wasn't that the plan originally? To have nine films? In fact, I thought I've read Lucas originally wanted to have 12 or 13 films in the saga.


I'll still go watch them too, that's the sad thing. I've invested this much time of my life to Star Wars, might as well finish it out. Maybe Lucas will die during the third trilogy and pass the franchise on to someone who won't fanboy it up but at the same time cast competent actors.

I always thought he said that but never really had any plan for a story after the original trilogy, unlike having some semblance of a backstory for the prequels

No, there was a plan for nine movies. Gary Kurtz has outlined what 7-9 were originally supposed to be through tons of interviews over the last thirty years.

Basically Leia wasn't the Skywalker sister. Jedi was going to end with Leia getting married, no Emperor but Vader redeemed.

7-9 was going to be Luke and Vader hunting down the Emperor. The Skywalker sister would show up in 7.

Basically the entire last half of Return of the Jedi was Episode 9 with the massive Wookiee forest battle and Wookiees becoming the next generation of Jedi Knights at the end. And the final shot of Episode 9 would be the revelation that all nine movies were the memory records of R2D2 being played back centuries after the events in the three trilogies.

Basically they squashed the last three movies into Return of the Jedi and ended it there.

[Phoenix Dark]

Jackson is still a great director, he just needs to not be writing scripts with his wife and friend. I don't know if screenwriters get editors like other writers do (outside of studio interference) but he could really use one.

King Kong could have been amazing if it was an hour shorter. Kong's 'character' and the connection with Naomi Watts was perfect - there was just so much superfluous shit that just went on and on and on.

It's hard to fault long runtimes for LotR considering the source material. The ghost thing bugged the shit out of me too - IIRC in the books they just took out the swarthy boatfolk right?

Not worried about him writing with his wife/friend for The Hobbit; worked very well for LOTR, and if they respect the book it'll work well for The Hobbit. He seems to struggle more with writing other stuff, as Kong and Lovely Bones showed.

I think King Kong is a good film that could have been great with better editing. I for one actually liked the stuff with the crew members; I just like adventure films that introduce a bunch of likable secondary characters. But in terms of the dino chase and shit like that, it could have benefited from an editor brave enough to challenge Jackson.

[Himu]

I really liked King Kong despite the overly long length

[fistfulofmetal]

the insect pit scene from King Kong is amazing. really good effects and the audio direction gives the whole thing a real creepy vibe.

[Mupepe]

The Graduate
I hadn't seen this movie since I was younger and it never quite clicked.  It was just okay.  But there are some brilliant scenes and lines of dialogue.

Are you here for an affair?

To be perfectly honest, she doesn't even like me

But man, the cinematography in the scene where he tells Elaine he was banging her mom was soooooo good.  Everything about that scene was perfection.  The acting, the way it shot and the writing.  The impact from it was  

The rest of the movie was good, but that scene blew me away for some reason. Oh and the music is fucking great.

[Robo]

Just watched Adventureland.  THERE IS SO MUCH KISSING IN THIS MOVIE IT MAKES ME SICK!  Seriously, did Eisenberg have a hand in the script where he got to write-in dozens of make-out scenes with hot chicks?  Even so, he somehow channels physical awkwardness into nerd-cool in a way that makes it seem plausible -- something Cera has never been able to pull off.  Love the soundtrack, too; although I have to wonder if I'd probably have liked the film considerably less if the Velvet Underground or Replacements weren't playing in the background every few minutes.