Movie News, Reviews, and Discussion Super-Thread

[fistfulofmetal]

All of the descriptions are apt (except Mako which went over your head... well her entire arc in combination with Hunnan's character and her connection with Elba's character as well but again you're just bringing your preconceived notions to the table). But you fail to grasp the weight and depth brought to the film by extreme attention to detail in character and world building by Del Toro. Half of the characterization and story-telling is done by set design and things left unsaid. You probably missed all of that because you were too busy complaining that the characters were *flat* when their entire purpose was to meet boilerplate roles and the become layered over top the neat little cake Del Toro created.

I could go on for pages explaining why the usage of the dual pilot Jaegers is probably one of the most intelligent pieces of efficient storytelling you're going to see in a movie in as many years.

[fistfulofmetal]

I would recommend spending a nice quiet night with a notebook and watching the movie again. You'll learn a thing or two.

[seagrams hotsauce]

I can't believe someone is making the argument that Pacific Rim had good characterization. Nothing about any of the leads is unique. That's not really a knock against it, since the hook is 'Big Dumb Robots Fight Big Dumb Aliens', but seriously the movie starred a grip of identical blonde white dudes with no distinction except for the annoying techie guys. And Idris Elba, I guess, but I can't really remember anything he did either.


Watched the Armstrong Lie last week. Lance really was something else. I'm not particularly offended by his doping, but the fact that he developed a persecution complex over accusations of things that were true to the point where he would ruin peoples lives is pretty disgusting. Also, that he only got caught after he came back and sucked shit, even though he was probably cheating again, is hilarious to me. Dude is a psycho.

[cool breeze]

I rewatched pacific rim the other night and it enjoyed it more than I did in the theater.  but yeah, nerd scientist scenes are bad.  they're like those fat kid and monkey scenes from speed racer.  this movie reminds of speed racer.

[TVC15]

I need something horror-y on either Netflix or Amazon.  I'm willing to pay for shit on Amazon, too.

[fistfulofmetal]

As far as the dual pilot Jaegers being super intelligent... What sets it apart from something even like inception's gimmick?

I've explained why it's genius before. In great detail. but here goes.

So when telling a story one of the best things you can do is handle multiple subjects at the same time. It's efficient. When you can have a scene do multiple things at the same time it frees you up during other scenes. Most filmmakers tend to fail at this idea and will waste screen time and exposition when it's not needed. When you see a case where a film manages to knock out several things or use concepts to accomplish multiple goals at the same time, it shows that the filmmaker is quite good.

In Pacific Rim Del Toro introduced the concept of dual pilots for the Jaeger mechas. It's explained within the context of the film that this is because a single human brain and neural network cannot control a mecha on their own. It requires two.

So first and foremost you have this concept that is explained within the films context. It's a constant and doesn't need to be justified.

Going back to what I mentioned originally but adding on to it, an expert filmmaker knows when it's best to SHOW and not TELL. Sometimes telling is perfectly fine but most of the time if you want an audience to CARE about a character you really should SHOW us. In the case for Pacific Rim, the key scene is when Mako and Hunnam's character link for the first time. This is an important scene for these two characters because it's the first time they literally delve into each others minds. It becomes a scenario for them to better understand each others motivations and we as the audience also become more aware of their intents.

This scene is brilliant for several reasons. The first is that it uses a tried and true movie concept to flesh out a character's motivation: The flashback. However it's not a simple flashback like we're used to seeing. In most movies when a flashback occurs it may either be a literal cut out of the films running timeline or it will occur as a narration from another character. Both can break the flow of the film as it takes the audience out of the here and now and literally flashes us back out of the current time. In Pacific Rim this does not happen. In Pacific Rim, Del Toro uses a concept that was introduced within the films own internal logic so accomplish this flashback; the Rift.

When Mako and Hunnam's character traverse the Rift together they are greeted with a flashback (though it's ACTUALLY happening as a current event within the movie) to a time in Mako's past. This "flashback" is when she first met Elba's character and developed the motivation to join the fight against the Kaijus. It ALSO explains her deep trust and loyalty to Elba as well (it deepens their relationship!). This scene is probably the best scene in the entire film. It's beautifully shot and goes very far to bring depth to Mako's character. This scene also deepens the relationship between Hunnam and Mako because now he understands her motivations as well.

So let's summarize what we have here so far.

We have a scene that has strengthened (in the audiences mind) two important relationships, AND added depth to three of the main characters by fleshing out backstory and explaining motivation. It's done this by using a concept introduced and explained by the films internal logic. At no point is the timeline or sequence of events broken. We are ALWAYS in the HERE and NOW with the characters.

It's not only incredibly efficient storytelling but completely genius on every level.

[fistfulofmetal]

tl;dr

[fistfulofmetal]

The key to what I'm saying is that the movie manages to accomplish very important story progression on several layers in a single short sequence. Most other movies would accomplish the same thing over the court of several scenes. Inception included.

[Bebpo]

The Sacrament - Yeah, that was dumb.  Why did Ti West waste his time making a fictional version of this.  It's not scary, there's not that much tension, it's just kind of boring and feels watered down.  Ti West is a good writer/director so it's weird he wasted the last 2 years making this.  Hope his next one's better!

[Joe Molotov]

I need something horror-y on either Netflix or Amazon.  I'm willing to pay for shit on Amazon, too.

Ravenous is on Netflix now.

[TVC15]

I need something horror-y on either Netflix or Amazon.  I'm willing to pay for shit on Amazon, too.

Ravenous is on Netflix now.

I've seen it before, but not in a long time.  PM me your email addy for a gift.

[chronovore]

As far as the dual pilot Jaegers being super intelligent... What sets it apart from something even like inception's gimmick?

I've explained why it's genius before. In great detail. but here goes.

So when telling a story one of the best things you can do is handle multiple subjects at the same time. It's efficient. When you can have a scene do multiple things at the same time it frees you up during other scenes. Most filmmakers tend to fail at this idea and will waste screen time and exposition when it's not needed. When you see a case where a film manages to knock out several things or use concepts to accomplish multiple goals at the same time, it shows that the filmmaker is quite good.

In Pacific Rim Del Toro introduced the concept of dual pilots for the Jaeger mechas. It's explained within the context of the film that this is because a single human brain and neural network cannot control a mecha on their own. It requires two.

So first and foremost you have this concept that is explained within the films context. It's a constant and doesn't need to be justified.

Going back to what I mentioned originally but adding on to it, an expert filmmaker knows when it's best to SHOW and not TELL. Sometimes telling is perfectly fine but most of the time if you want an audience to CARE about a character you really should SHOW us. In the case for Pacific Rim, the key scene is when Mako and Hunnam's character link for the first time. This is an important scene for these two characters because it's the first time they literally delve into each others minds. It becomes a scenario for them to better understand each others motivations and we as the audience also become more aware of their intents.

This scene is brilliant for several reasons. The first is that it uses a tried and true movie concept to flesh out a character's motivation: The flashback. However it's not a simple flashback like we're used to seeing. In most movies when a flashback occurs it may either be a literal cut out of the films running timeline or it will occur as a narration from another character. Both can break the flow of the film as it takes the audience out of the here and now and literally flashes us back out of the current time. In Pacific Rim this does not happen. In Pacific Rim, Del Toro uses a concept that was introduced within the films own internal logic so accomplish this flashback; the Rift.

When Mako and Hunnam's character traverse the Rift together they are greeted with a flashback (though it's ACTUALLY happening as a current event within the movie) to a time in Mako's past. This "flashback" is when she first met Elba's character and developed the motivation to join the fight against the Kaijus. It ALSO explains her deep trust and loyalty to Elba as well (it deepens their relationship!). This scene is probably the best scene in the entire film. It's beautifully shot and goes very far to bring depth to Mako's character. This scene also deepens the relationship between Hunnam and Mako because now he understands her motivations as well.

So let's summarize what we have here so far.

We have a scene that has strengthened (in the audiences mind) two important relationships, AND added depth to three of the main characters by fleshing out backstory and explaining motivation. It's done this by using a concept introduced and explained by the films internal logic. At no point is the timeline or sequence of events broken. We are ALWAYS in the HERE and NOW with the characters.

It's not only incredibly efficient storytelling but completely genius on every level.

[Great Rumbler]

I won't try to justify or defend movies like Pacific Rim, Speed Racer, or Tron: Legacy. I like them because I do, not because they've got some inherent quality that objectively places them above other movies. They do something that appeals to me personally on some level, and that's enough for me.

[Tasty]

Tron Legacy

[Eric P]

hey, so Godzilla was amazing.

[Joe Molotov]

I watched Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth instead. 

[fistfulofmetal]

Worst part of Godzilla:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

FUCKING BRYAN CRANSTON DYING IN THE FIRST 30 MINUTES. FUCK OFF.

[close]

[Beezy]

hey, so Godzilla was amazing.

Eric P has spoken.

[Shaka Khan]

Watch the Buck Angel documentary on Netflix and shed tears brehs.

Don't you just hate it when porn stars stop being objects and become humanized in your eyes?

And don't you hate when you realize they're nowhere near as well off as you thought and start feeling bad about streaming their work for free?

Fucking emotions man.

[Raban]

I can't help but see pornstars as really sad people so conversely I can't get off to porn anymore. Hentai still does the trick doe

[chronovore]

Rewatching the Riddick movies. I have the live action, gotta find the Peter Chung animated one, and watch that, too. Thematic shift from Mad Max in space to Kinda-Sorta-Warhammer-40K in the 2nd film really doesn't work.

[Great Rumbler]

You need to watch the new Riddick movie. It's basically the first one done over again, but still pretty cool.

[StealthFan]

Pitch Black owned. Cool inversion of tropes. Butcher Bay owned. Chronicles Of Riddick Unrated owned. Riddick? Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I saw Enemy. Can't get the film out of my head.

[Momo]

You need to watch the new Riddick movie. It's basically the first one done over again, but still pretty cool.

I'm glad they dropped that necromancer shit for Riddick. The movie was so much better for it

[Bebpo]

Godzilla - Yeah ummm, hmmm.  Not a good movie, that's for a sure.  But it has good stuff and bad stuff.  The director guy Gareth has a good eye, like he showed with Monsters and at times he nails the "giant monster from a human lost in the chaos perspective".  The CG and monster stuff was pretty great and Godzilla himself was fucking awesome looking.

But just like how Monsters was good in the vacuum of "look what I did with no budget", Godzilla is only good in the vacuum of "How cool did he make Godzilla look?", because the rest of the movie is pretty fucking bad.  The acting is awful throughout.  Like at times it's cool with the Japanese stuff and Military stuff because he feels like he's doing an intentional retro throwback to feel like a 50s or 80s cheezy movie.  But then when that extends to the main kid who is just COMPLETELY wooden and pointless and awful and his family...it just seems like bad acting.

He also really seems lost on whether the film is a film about the people making their way through a chaotic disaster (like Cloverfield, that follows the people) or it's about Godzilla wrecking shit.  So instead you get a super detached film where there's no emphasis on anything in particular and just a bunch of scenes strung together, some that work, some that don't.  Most involving the people don't and the ones involving the monsters are 50/50.  He doesn't focus enough on the people to make any real connection to anyone and have any human aspect to the film, so it fails there and feels detached like you're watching some random people move around.  And He doesn't focus enough on the monsters to make them more than a spectacle for most of it.  The main character and his plotline is SO BAD, like Bay Transformers bad, that I have to wonder if it was studio DUDEBRO mandated that there had to be a military dudebro that is the main character and the camera follows for most of it.  I wonder if the original script was like Cranston + Watanabe scientist bros since they're the only characters that actually were slightly interesting and had motivations.

And then the tease cutting stuff....heh.  Sometimes it's alright, and there's nothing wrong with spending an hour building up to the Godzilla reveal and full body shot, but when you do that the next shot is Godzilla wrecking shit.  Cutting away and showing a few seconds on some kids tv was total bullshit and crossed the teasing line into removing the satisfaction of a build up.  In fact, when you tease so much without showing, then you're basically giving the audience this feeling that "you motherfucker, the end finale better be the goddamn Citizen Kane of monster movies to pay off for what a cocktease and build up movie this has been" and then it actually de-values the finale because the finale is really solid, but after 80 mins of teasing and build up, it's only really solid and not citizen kane and comes off as not good enough.

Gareth has a good eye and can do nice monster work, cool.  But he's not a good director.  Monsters was not a great film overall, Godzilla was not a great film overall.  This guy just isn't a particularly good director and he really shouldn't be making films as the main director.  I'm totally down for a Godzilla 2 with this Godzilla (since he's pretty great looking and badass) but I really hope Gareth does not return and someone else gets a chance, because he's a bad director who doesn't know how to direct people and he brings films down.


When I heard people say it was worse than Pacific Rim I really, really didn't want to believe because Pacific Rim was incredibly disappointing and a totally mediocre movie with only a few cool action scenes to save it.  But yeah, I sadly have to agree.  Pacific Rim is mediocre and Godzilla is even a bit worse mediocre.  At best I'd give it 2.5/4.

[Bebpo]

So why did you and Eric P disagree so drastically?

I dunno, I think there's reasons to like it for being a hipster indie Godzilla that doesn't give viewers what they want and tries to throw off expectations; but there's also being hipster just to be hipster and think you're cool because you're different even if by being different, it means you are just a lot worse.  There are good ideas in this, like showing fights and monsters from a human perspective, but you can't minimize the monsters and make the viewpoint humans if you're not going to humanize the humans.  It.just.doesn't.work.

[StealthFan]

Pitch Black had a few decent scenes.

"Owned" is really overstating things, IMO.

Nah it owned. It was a clever inversion of many horror cliches.

[Great Rumbler]

[Human Snorenado]

Day one

[TakingBackSunday]

that looks so good

[Phoenix Dark]

All that movie needs is a Will Smith song and it would be a crappy, bloated, late 90s blockbuster.

[Himu]

the raccoon!

[Rufus]

the raccoon!

He adjusts his pants.

[Human Snorenado]

All that movie needs is a Will Smith song and it would be a crappy, bloated, late 90s blockbuster.

Or better yet- Will Smith as StarLord

[Great Rumbler]

Seriously, though...why is Bautista in this?

[Madrun Badrun]

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=52902 working link


Man that looks great.

Also like how that trailer didn't spoil any of the movie other than some jokes.   

[Tasty]

Unmarked spoilers

Saw The Amazing Spider-Man 2 tonight and... I kinda liked it. I kinda really liked it. It's almost definitely a case of lowered expectations, as when it seemed like the movie was terrible (and I wasn't so up on it leading up to release anyways) I basically spoiled myself on most of the movie. However, where as internet posts are hyperbolic and filled with vitriol, the actual scenes themselves were fairly inoffensive. The plane shit was pretty shitty but it was like 2 minutes of screentime at most.

And even though I knew what was going to happen, that final fight was TENSE AS FUCK.

I will say probably 50% of my enjoyment might have been just for Spider's suit. Love it. How they went from the putrid dogshit in ASM to the best suit of all five movies in this one is pretty astounding.

The music was dope too. People were ragging on the Electro theme but I think it's pretty fucking awesome. Spider-Man's theme is kinda eh, I mean it's good but it leans too heavily on the heroic brass and creates a disconnect with whatever music comes before and after it.

Loved a lot of the little touches. JJ Gmail-ing Peter, Peter using Google instead of Bing, the firefighter hat and the outfit when he was sick, etc. Great scenes.

I was all prepared for Spider-douche again but I actually sympathized with Peter a lot in this one. I like Andrew Garfield a lot, but his Peter in ASM1 came off like an asswipe to me. But in this one he actually nuts up and breaks it off with Gwen early in the film. Then it's HER that reaches out to him to be "friends." What happens to her is on both of them equally IMO even with Peter's promise to her dad.

And man did I love the mouth on Spidey in this movie. And the websinging. Oh man. If they had made two hours just of that I would have been happy. Never have I wanted to be a superhero more. Might pick up the apparently shitty ASM2 game just to simulate that.

Electro wasn't quite Nigma levels of bad, I thought he was setup pretty well and his turn during the confrontation in Times Square was pretty convincing. The team up with Harry wasn't NEARLY as awful as the Sandman/Venom teamup in SM3, it flowed at least somewhat logically.

Aunt May had more of a role than I thought she would, which was nice. They didn't use her "Secrets have a cost... the truth does too" line from the trailers though. WTF? In fact a lot of the footage/lines was different. I guess that's the downside of putting a cut of practically every scene into the trailer.

My only complaint is that Spidey's "retirement" felt pretty short. I'm not sure what they could have shuffled around to make his comeback more triumphant, or if his comeback should have been moved to the next film for that matter, but it was somewhat unsatisfying.

This might be my second-favorite Spidey flick.

[Tasty]

Himuro Award?

[Eric P]

[Great Rumbler]

I gotta watch this movie.

[Joe Molotov]

M. White Shyamalan

[Tasty]

I mean, my mind wasn't made up about the movie, but I just had really low expectations.

[Phoenix Dark]

I gotta watch this movie.

brehs, Antramental @ 6:15 mark

[TVC15]

I gotta watch this movie.

I've seen it.  It's as good as you'd think.  I even paid to see it online.  I don't know if they talk about it in this video, but they find the porno while rooting around in a dumpsters.  Dumpster porn.

[Phoenix Dark]

Seems rather odd that despite making a cam horror flick, they couldn't even put an ounce of edginess in there. I don't expect cursing but jeez, if a porn was terrorizing you wouldn't it use sexy chicks or dudes to seduce you? I've seen some Christian movies that had slight edge, like the first Left Behind movie which has some pretty violent scenes and ends right before someone gets their head cut off iirc. This horror film is clearly aimed at teens, and the reference is clearly Paranormal Activity and other horror films they no doubt have secretly watched. Why not give them something they can handle...

On a side note that video reminded me just how much I hated youth ministry. So much focus on trying to be "hip" to combat the world, and it always led to awkward corny shit. I remember having to go to classes where we'd listen to entire soft rock Christian albums, and I'd be wondering why we couldn't at least listen to P.O.D. jeez.

They also gave us tracts to hand out to our friends, including an anti-Diablo 2 one. 

[TVC15]

Do church lock-ins really happen?  What's the purpose of locking a bunch of teenagers in a church with a fuckin' priest for a night? And if you were in one, wouldn't it really not be the sort of environment you'd want to get off to dumpster porn in?

[Himu]

Church lock ins actually happen. They're shit.

And this youth ministry stuff was a big part of why I shut my door on Christianity. Pandering, puritanical pap.

[Himu]

Hey kids we're hip. Listen to our Christian rock band and eat pizza! Wait, young adults aren't coming to church? WHY?

[TVC15]

Church lock ins actually happen. They're shit.

And this youth ministry stuff was a big part of why I shut my door on Christianity. Pandering, puritanical pap.

Have you ever beaten it to BBC used dumpster porn

[Joe Molotov]

Do church lock-ins really happen?  What's the purpose of locking a bunch of teenagers in a church with a fuckin' priest for a night? And if you were in one, wouldn't it really not be the sort of environment you'd want to get off to dumpster porn in?

I think the purpose of the lock-ins are to prevent them from looking at dumpster porn, but life finds a way.

[Himu]

I don't understand your post. All I known is that I was forced to go to lame ass Halloween lock ins during my pre teens (prime candy collecting days) because fucking baby boomer parents were scared their children would have a razor in their candy bars. Fucking boomer parents ruining EVERYTHING.

[Phoenix Dark]

I went to a Halloween lock-in where all the kids dressed up as bible characters except for one guy who dressed up as Raiden from Mortal Kombat.

[Himu]

No one came to ours in costumes iirc. Fucking hell! All we did at those things were watch movies and play video games. All I wanted to do was go trick or treating in my neighborhood!

[Himu]

[Phoenix Dark]

I went trick r treating once when I was super young, that's it (my mom dressed me as Micky Mouse). In later years we would stay home and pass out candy and tracts. I did that one time in my tweens, and seeing all my friends dressed up coming to my house...they didn't laugh at me, they legit looked sad, like "damn man why can't you have fun with us? Can he just come for an hour please?" I never passed out candy or tracts again, and spent the rest of the Halloweens of my child and teen years watching movies or playing StarCraft.

I hate Halloween to this day. If I have kids I'll let them trick r treat, maybe that will get me to appreciate the holiday.

[Himu]

I was allowed to trick or treat when I was a child but my mom had to go with me. By the time I was an age where they'd let me go trick or treating by myself, my church had HALLOWEEN LOCK INS and thus ruined one of my favorite holidays. But by the time I was 15, the locks ins stopped and I felt I was too old to go out in a costume for some reason (teenager logic). But that didn't stop my friend and I from trick or treating, and we went out in our regular clothes and got that candy along with his younger brother. Can't knock my candy hustle.

And I'm so sorry, PD. That must have sucked. I got off much better than you in this regard.

[Himu]

I gotta watch this movie.

Finally watched this review and I'm laughing so much I think I'm going to pee!

[cool breeze]

Batman vs Superman finally has an official title to replace the stupid tentative one.

Now it's-- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice



 

[Tasty]

I just ejaculated puke into my own mouth.

[Himu]

I just ejaculated puke into my own mouth.