Movie News, Reviews, and Discussion Super-Thread

[cool breeze]

yeah, Gravity misses its intensity outside the theater experience.  it falls somewhere between an action film and something like the back to the future ride at universal studios.

[Eric P]

I liked Gravity but I made sure to see it in theater in 3d.  I doubt it would have the same impact watching it at home

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

Mr. Turner kicks ass.  Its an artful portrait of a painter, but its never pretentious, and thanks to Timothy Spall as its protagonist, its frequently quite funny in a rather dry sort of way.  Its also a visual knockout, utilizing natural light and sterling production design, its the best time machine to 1840's London that you're going to find on the market today.  Its also not like most other biopics, in that its unconcerned with building the myth of a great man, or even understanding at all what made him tick.  Its about a landscape painter, he paints, he goes to places, time passes, he has droll interactions with rich people and fellow painters, he paints some more, life events happen, and that's about it really.

So yeah, its a slice of life movie about an interesting guy that has an interesting setting and is gorgeously mounted.  No historonics, no 'euraka' moments, just a dude who paints and the people in his life.  Its really good.

[BobFromPikeCreek]

How was Gravity not a Danny Boyle movie?

[I'm a Puppy!]

Watched Divergent on HBO while working. I knew it'd be bad. I didn't expect it to be THAT bad though.
I'd say that it's the poor man's hunger games, but really that's like saying "It's the poor man's white castle"

[pilonv1]

The Theory Of Everything - a story about a man with a crippling disease and his marriage, with about 60 seconds on his career.

[chronovore]

Watched the Harry Dean Stanton documentary, Partly Fiction. Rather, I watched half of it, with the first 30 minutes or so being something very moody and kind of worshipful. It was pretty but didn’t have enough information for the time spent. Then David Lynch comes in and actually gives some interesting perspective.

I’d like to take this moment to complain about iTunes movie rental pattern. Rental is good for 30 days to start watching, and once you’ve started watching it, you’ve got 24 hours to finish it.

I forgot to finish the movie, and now I’m borked. Glad I learned it with a movie I wasn’t all that excited about. Sure was fun seeing him in Repo Man and Alien and Paris, Texas.

[helios]

I hate to be That Guy, but I can't get behind American Sniper knowing what a huge piece of shit its main character was in real life. I know I should be judging a movie based on its own merits, but when I see a zillion people on Facebook treating this as a hagiography, and knowing that it was directed by a right-wing piece of shit, I can't even begin to endorse it. Seth Rogen was right--this really is like the movie about the Nazi sniper in Inglorious Basterds.

It's not a bad movie, just boring, which is the worst thing a movie could be. I ended up pausing the movie and surfed imgur for half an hour before returning back to it. It certainly doesn't deserve all of the praise it's getting.

It would have been better if the movie didn't play down Chris Kyle's craziness. I want to see the man who shot 30 looters from atop the Superdome during Katrina. I want to see the man who called the Pentagon to sweep two murders underneath the rug. I want to see the boxing match between him and Jesse Ventura.

[fistfulofmetal]

John Wick

Not nearly as slick and cool as the trailers want you to believe. It's still pretty entertaining. The writing kinda lets it down often.

The Guest

Now this is down right brilliant. Worth watching for the usage of the soundtrack alone. It's really great how they build up the main character in one direction then swing it so violently in the other. Loved every minute of it.

[Madrun Badrun]

Interstellar:  basically turns into a doctor who episode at the end.  Lots of cool shit.  Dialog is some of the worst I've heard in a long time for a big budget movie. Cinematography was amazing at times.  Matt Damon stuff was predictable. 

[Raban]

It's funny you guys just brought up Gravity as it was among the blockbuster catch-up triple feature I did for myself last weekend.

First I did Guardians of the Galaxy because I was so desperate to see it in theaters but couldn't catch it until recently. What an astonishingly fun movie. I know a lot of people draw comparisons to Star Wars but honestly I felt that there were more parallels between it and Galaxy Quest (i.e. a team reluctant to work together until an intimidating force of evil unites them). That the film seemed mostly focused on humor was an interesting choice, but one that I definitely feel works to its benefit. Not much else I can say that hasn't been said. Love.

I also saw Maleficent which I felt was a pretty clean way for Jolie to close the book on her acting career (if that's really the case). It's more of an audio/visual powerhouse than a narrative one, but I found it easy enough to just sit back and enjoy the gorgeous costume design, set pieces, special effects and score. Seems to be more of Disney's "subverting our old tropes" schtick, but they pull it off with relative grace.

Then there's Gravity. This movie sucked. I wanted to like it because I adore Bullock's acting but I realized halfway through that I'm honestly not big on Cuarón's work, as I remember being neutral-to-negative about Children of Men, and this movie received a much harsher reaction from me. So much spellbinding action happens at such a breakneck pace that I never felt that any particular scene was given the time to have the meaning or (I apologize) the gravity that I can only assume Cuarón must've been hoping for. It was hard to take seriously when Bullock's character suffers a more constant stream of pratfalls than an episode of Wipeout. However, the visual effects are undoubtedly stunning.

[TakingBackSunday]

Gravity is a triumph of effects-driven storytelling and a showpiece for film in large theaters.  You do a disservice to yourself and the film by watching it on a 40 inch TV without 3D.

It only works in theaters.

[TakingBackSunday]

I liked Gravity a lot, too. But in defense of Raban for a second, if a movie only really works in one sitting then it can't be that good of a movie overall, can it.

At the end I do believe it's best to watch it in the theater in 3D, but I can still enjoy it on TV. Just not as much, which if anything can be seen as a flaw.

I don't really buy that.  A lot of psychological thrillers and thrillers with any sort of twist really only "work" the first time around, but that doesn't detract from how well a movie is made or how entertaining it was first go round.  I think that can be applied for most movies.

[StealthFan]

Man On Fire

Love this film. Haven't sat and watched it in years. The Bluray looks AMAZING. Holy shit.

[Stoney Mason]

It's also not really a movie about space or science. It's really just a disaster movie that happens to take place in space. You could have easily swapped out Mt. Everest, A submarine in deep sea, trapped near a tornado, or any remote dangerous place.

And those would be completely different movies.

Actually it wouldn't be at all since it reminded me of every single disaster movie I've ever seen.

But to each his own.

[Stoney Mason]

Saw two more movies.

First one John Wick.

It was great. A love letter to violence and another example of smart people making a dumb movie being a very good thing. The fanboy part of me loved the actors from the Wire popping up but its a legit violent terrific throwback to super violent action movies that don't really exist anymore. It's cool, It's funny and I watched it with a big goofy grin from beginning to end. Absolutely worthwhile.

Also watched American Sniper.

That movie is mostly average and at times feels like a made for TV movie. The scenes when he is on tour are at least interesting from an action perspective. But it loses all momentum or interest when it shows him back home between tours or shows his family life. Not that showing such things is bad. It's just that its both boring, not well acted, and disjointed in those cases.

The movie definitely has a right wing touch about it, but oddly doesn't have anything to say in big picture scale about the subject matter. It would maybe be a more interesting movie if it did, even if I didn't agree with the message. It's just sort of presented as we are supposed to love/respect this solider because he is a soldier without any real context. Which probably suits a certain segment of the market, but without a really deep interesting character to center it, it just feels sort of inconsequential and aimless. Chris Kyle might be a good solider. But he's not an interesting character. So if your movie doesn't have a larger point, or an interesting character to center it, or an interesting plot, it just feels kind of TV level imo.

It's an "okay" movie meaning its average but its not an oscar movie at all and its honestly not even close to the best thing Eastwood has done.

[Stoney Mason]

So Volcano, The Abyss, Vertical Limit, and Twister are all the same movie?

Of course some of the themes are similar, but a lot of the appeal of each movie is its individual setting.

I agree the appeal of the movie is probably space for a large portion of the audience. And seeing space with well done CGI in a movie theater. And that's valid if that carried you through the movie.

But for me that lasted about 15 minutes. After that it was really just a story about Sandra Bullock overcoming odds and doubt and hostile environmental situations that space presents. For me you literally could swap out any other environment for that and it would be the exact same emotional experience for me. Hence my comment. Climbing Mount Everest and being stuck on a mountain would give me the same feelings and that's in fact what gravity most closely reminded me of which is some of the mountain movies I've seen in the past.

And I'm not saying that's not a viable subject for a movie. Just that Sandra Bullock and her backstory for me wasn't the most engaging thing.

[huckleberry]

Just watched The Drop. 

 

[Raban]

I can imagine that Gravity in 3D on a massive screen lends the visual effects depth in a way I simply can't get watching it at home, but I don't feel that any of that really has to do with my issues regarding the film. the difference between something like Twister or Vertical Limit and Gravity is that those films actually illustrate the scale and importance of the main characters' survival before the action picks up. 15 minutes into Gravity, Bullock's character fails to complete her initial task (which is so paper-thin to begin with) and her motivation for surviving the next 90 minutes of perilous escapes is little more than "because". The first death in the movie was so meaningless and throwaway because we were only just introduced to that character before they're grotesquely disposed of, and every subsequent event seems to fall in line with that.

Maybe it's a poor comparison to draw, but my favorite thriller film is probably Cloverfield because it succeeds so well at letting you become attached to the characters before they're thrown into danger. to draw the comparison even closer, Cloverfield was definitely a film I'd struggle to recommend because it's an experience that was so much more powerful in an actual theater. However, things like character development and clearly communicated motivations outside of "don't die" are things that don't really change regardless of the venue, and that makes it a superior thriller, imo.

[Stoney Mason]

@ "needs a deep, interesting protagonist"

i agree, bradley cooper wasn't nearly fagged up enough to provide the kind of character depth we all deserve. maybe in american sniper 2, chris kyle's transsexual son successfully defuses the war in iran by handing out iphones with grindr preinstalled.

Okay. He was dogshit boring. So was his character. So was the movie. So was the acting. The rest of this post I assume is "humour" so I'll ignore it.

[Bebpo]

Oculus

Was ok.  Some good tension, good scare moments, a few great bits, but overall feels a little empty plot-wise.  I thought his first film, Absentia was more frightening and had a better ending even though I'd say he's 0/2 on walking out satisfied.  He has clever horror concepts with hell tunnel spider demon and evil mirror that warps perception, and solid direction, but I think he needs a writer for his next film to bring it all together.

Whiplash

SO GOOD.  Loved the pacing and that I had no idea where the movie was going and then it ends and pulls everything together so incredibly satisfying.  Great, great music.  Awesome performances.  Good direction.  I'm totally ok with this taking the Oscars.

[Yeti]

 

[Madrun Badrun]

meh

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

here's what Marvel thinks about that movie.

[Quaker]

Apparently they got Philip Glass compose some new stuff for the movie.

[cool breeze]

looks fine.  after last year's solid comic movie pap, this year is looking weak.  also noticed all the dislikes and remembered people have a vendetta against fantastic four because taking up arms for movie studios is a reality now.

[cool breeze]

yeah, Whiplash is amazing.  and Paul Reiser is in it.

[TVC15]

 

That was certainly dour. I thought Fantastic 4 was supposed to be more light-hearted and whimsical and shit.

[Joe Molotov]

 

That was certainly dour. I thought Fantastic 4 was supposed to be more light-hearted and whimsical and shit.

[Quaker]

 

That was certainly dour. I thought Fantastic 4 was supposed to be more light-hearted and whimsical and shit.

They've had 3 shots to do the silly, kids take. Let them try something different. If it's good, it's good. If it flops it makes it more likely it'll go back to Marvel.

(Not sure how they plan to reconcile "dude with stretchy, transforming appendages" with a more grounded, grimdark vision, though.)

[cool breeze]

I read them call out Cronenberg body horror so I'm assuming it's like the human torch can't turn off his flames, reed can't keep his limbs stable, stuff like that.   

one thing I do like about the trailer compared to the old movies is how Ben is taller than the others.  the thing isn't intimidating when it looks like sue can dunk on him.

[Joe Molotov]

I read them call out Cronenberg body horror so I'm assuming it's like the human torch can't turn off his flames, reed can't keep his limbs stable, stuff like that.   

Meh, they already did that in Venture Bros.

[Madrun Badrun]

The Imitation Game:  really great.  A couple  cliche moments but outstanding other than that. 

[BobFromPikeCreek]

Whiplash is super good, yeah. Too bad Boyhood's going to be this decade's Crash and fuck up the Oscars.

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

yeah, PG-13 body horror.  I don't see that failing miserably.

[Bebpo]

I dunno, out of all the FF arcs I read from the Waid run that most people call classic, the best one was pretty dark and serious (w/Doom).  I'm fine with a serious FF that's full of fucked up shit happening like Chronicle in a PG-13 way.  Do I think I'll get that?  Nah, too many rumors about various problems.  Movie will probably be ok, not bad, but not particular good/great, which I guess will make it better than the last 2 movies?

[Madrun Badrun]

I don't understand the reasoning that goes we got to make a dark FF4 movie...and cast all the main characters as kids.

[Great Rumbler]

I don't understand the reasoning that goes we got to make a dark FF4 movie...and cast all the main characters as kids.

Trying to tap into that young adult money.

[Phoenix Dark]

Good teaser trailer. FF wasn't all whimsy, even in the 60s. They're a dysfunctional family. I'd imagine the film will suck but man I hope it's decent and does better at the BO than Avengers 2. The fanboy rage would feed me for years.

[cool breeze]

speaking of fanboy rage, they're rebooting (or making a new?) Ghostbusters with a female cast.  cast is Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones.

[Madrun Badrun]

I'm ok with that

[Dickie Dee]

Kate McKinnon

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

saw Whiplash today, and I concur, its frigging great.  Gosh dang, I could watch Simmons insult people all day and that could be one of the best days of my life.

also saw Blackhat today, which is a mess of a film that I really liked, no surprise that it bombed though.  I'm gonna say that Mann has entered rather definitively the Brian De Palma era of his career, where he will only make films that appeal to him firstly and doesn't give a shit about entertaining any potential audience that might also happen to witness his work (see also, pretty much every De Palma film).  He parades around pretty much slight variations on every trope he's ever used and configured an "original" story about his old bag of tricks.

I happen to very much enjoy his style of making films, the problem is that pretty much the only thing this film has to offer is style, but man, what style it is!  Any movie that has this many moments that blow me away with their awesomeness can't be on balance bad, no matter how flat the characters are, how sloppy some of the filmmaking is (so much ADR-ed dialog), or how muddled the story gets.  There's still stunningly beautiful visual compositions, suspenseful and impactful action scenes, and richly realized places both exotic and mundane.  I'd be nuts to tell you its on the level of Thief or Heat, but Miami Vice, yeah, that's about right.

[Bebpo]

Saw The Guest and didn't care for it much.  I guess I find movies like this just a waste of time because you're investing in a 90 min movie to get to a specific point 70 mins in where there's a "reveal" of the mystery.  Actually I think it's just this movie.  Normally the time before it sets up the mystery and gives hints on letting the audience solve it themselves before the reveal.  This wasn't that smart.  And the story overall was pretty dumb.  It's not scary and doesn't work as a horror film (despite the throwback title design like House of the Devil; in fact this feels like he was trying to pull a House of the Devil, but failed).

On the plus side, the directing is fine and the main guy nails the part.  There's a couple of moments of good action and some good laughs.  But I thought You're Next was much better and more entertaining throughout (more dark humor, more character development, more plot, more scares).

[Beezy]

I don't think it tried to be a horror movie at all, a thriller maybe but that's it. It was a lot of fun. I thought it was a lot of fun.

yep

[chronovore]

Finally watched [REC], and it was a nice piece of work. I’ve only a couple of minor complaints: there are references to the one-hour delay between calling the Fire Department and them showing up, but there’s no revisiting of that point anywhere later; red herring, I guess? The other is Pablo, While You’re Asleep’s steadfast cameraman, who manages to get everything right until the action starts. I guess Pablo’s not a war zone cameraman, but he is a documentary photographer, and it’s bizarre how the directorial choice stays with ABSURDLY SHAKY CAM even when things are relatively calm. Lots of poorly composed shots. Other than that, it was the best found-footage piece I’ve seen in a very long time.

Also re-watching Alien, this time the director’s cut, though I haven’t noticed anything new. I just feel sad for the whole crew, and how they are so alone and hampered by their internal enmity and half-competence. I’ve determined that I hate Lambert more than any other character. She’s SO USELESS. After the scene where Dallas dies, I am always waiting for Parker to start in on her, “‘DA-llas, get OUT of there! GET OUT NOW! No, not that way!’ JESUS how about you give a direction, you stupid piece of shit?!"

[BobFromPikeCreek]

I don't think it tried to be a horror movie at all, a thriller maybe but that's it. I thought it was a lot of fun.

Yeah. I don't know how anyone could think the 70 minutes before the reveal were a waste of time. The movie was super fun and really funny the whole time I thought.

[Quaker]

Saw The Guest and didn't care for it much.  I guess I find movies like this just a waste of time because you're investing in a 90 min movie to get to a specific point 70 mins in where there's a "reveal" of the mystery.  Actually I think it's just this movie.  Normally the time before it sets up the mystery and gives hints on letting the audience solve it themselves before the reveal.  This wasn't that smart.  And the story overall was pretty dumb.  It's not scary and doesn't work as a horror film (despite the throwback title design like House of the Devil; in fact this feels like he was trying to pull a House of the Devil, but failed).

On the plus side, the directing is fine and the main guy nails the part.  There's a couple of moments of good action and some good laughs.  But I thought You're Next was much better and more entertaining throughout (more dark humor, more character development, more plot, more scares).

I was a little let down by how silly it ended up being but the main dude was great and I LOVE how it's structured and executed just like a movie from 1985 or whatever.

[Bebpo]

I don't think it tried to be a horror movie at all, a thriller maybe but that's it. I thought it was a lot of fun.

Yeah. I don't know how anyone could think the 70 minutes before the reveal were a waste of time. The movie was super fun and really funny the whole time I thought.

Well it's not like there's any tension or anything particularly interesting going on other than the guy staring off into space at night.  It seems like the entire concept of the movie was basically the director saying "let's make a Jason Vorhees x Jason Bourne crossover movie!"  (I mean the guy is basically Jason Vorhees by the ending; they're going for horror movie monster vs. thriller there).  It's silly and ridiculous, but at the same time it's not really all that fun because the dude is going around murdering innocent people left and right and it's not a high tension thriller or a scary horror film because it's way too silly/stupid to take seriously.  I guess it's trying to be a campy film but I don't think it really pulls it off. 

[chronovore]

Update on Lambert hate: The xenomorph is between her and Parker, and he’s shouting, “Get our of the way!” --- she’s coherent enough to yell back, “I caaaaan’t.” Then the creature turns and kills Parker first. I’d pay $5 to have Parker say, in mocking, singsong tones, “I CAaan’t” just before the creature kills him. I’d pay $10 for him to say, “Not my problem!” as he unleashes the flamethrower on both of them, and bails.

[TVC15]

The Guest was an enormous disappointment. You're better off watching something starring Lorenzo Lamas from the 90s.

[Mr. Nobody]

John Wick was a good action flick. Not much else to say about it.


Nightcrawler was very good. Gyllenhaal's socially stunted (autistic?) character had me interested and hating him (especially near the end) at the same time. My only real gripe is the ending.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

He gets away scott free like that? I understand that him facing consequences for his actions may not exactly be the point of all this, but the ending still felt flat to me.

[close]

And it's always good to see Wire actors on-screen. 3 between both films 

[BobFromPikeCreek]

The Guest was an enormous disappointment. You're better off watching something starring Lorenzo Lamas from the 90s.

Well yeah, but I'd watch the Snakeeater trilogy over most things.

[TVC15]

I'm trying to clear out my list of "things I need to watch before I die" and I'm watching Showgirls on Hulu and OMG WHY DID I NOT WATCH THIS 20 YEARS AGO

[TVC15]

this kinda makes me wish I was a woman. They have it so easy.

[TVC15]

As the resident Saved by the Bell expert, I should point out that Elizabeth Berkley, like the rest of the cast, was a giant, giant whore. However, she was significantly older than the rest of the cast, and she'd frequently bring dudes in their 20s and 30s into her dressing room. I'm fairly sure she didn't bang any of the producers or Mr. Belding or anything like that. If she did it wasn't mentioned.

[TVC15]

Alright, maybe I don't know much about strippers, but should they really be eating fajitas before they have to go to work?

[TVC15]

Upon further reflection, I'd probably make for a bad woman. One of my nipples is misshapen from having a nipple ring improperly removed or ripped out. I'm not sure which because I was unconscious at the time.

[Stocky]

Nightcrawler was very good. Gyllenhaal's socially stunted (autistic?) character had me interested and hating him (especially near the end) at the same time. My only real gripe is the ending.

Just saw this last night. One of my favorite films of the year. Gyllenhaal plays one hell of a sociopath.

[ToxicAdam]

I'm trying to clear out my list of "things I need to watch before I die" and I'm watching Showgirls on Hulu and OMG WHY DID I NOT WATCH THIS 20 YEARS AGO

How did you not see this yet? It's awesome.