Movie News, Reviews, and Discussion Super-Thread

[EmCeeGrammar]

I'm guessing a "free will" kinda thing.  I think it has SOME valid points.  It goes over how people can become addicted to emotions which causes things like depression, mania, anger problems, etc.  What I read in psychology confirms this.  But there are better credible venues for these types of discussions.

[brawndolicious]

I'm going to put in Religulous and get a nice dose of rational thought.

That gets pretty crappy at the end though.  For the first 90%, it's just funny interviews with some of the stupider devout people who are struggling to justify their beliefs but then Maher starts preaching in the very end about how religion is ruining the world and is so illogical and everything.  That would have made a little sense if he wasn't purposely interviewing the stupidest people he could find.  If he was actually trying to have a genuine debate rather than laughing and pointing.

[Madrun Badrun]

I dont respect philosophers in general, but its like they fail to realise that quantum uncertainty and things existing in multiple states in multiple places do not occur on the macro level. 

These are not real philosophers though.  No real philosophers born with in two hundred years would believe this kind of thing.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

In before some one makes a not a real Scotsman joke

[close]

O and Religulous is pretty much the equivalent of Expelled, just on the other side of the debate.

[EmCeeGrammar]

I just got done with religulous.  I agree that he wasn't having an interest in debate.  The selective editing and condescending captions make that apparent.  But then again thats someting I relate to.  There's no allowances to be afforded when it comes to religion.  Its core mechanism is respecting and celebrating obedience to an authority based on no evidence.  Faith as a virtue is like, I dunno, super dumb.

[EmCeeGrammar]

To be fair, I think libertarians and such at least have some basis for their thinking.  Survival of the fittest is nothing new.  Religion bases itself on faith alone, because they know it can't be supported unless you make faith a virtue.  I'm an apathetic atheist, so I don't bother none.  But when the issue presents itself thats the first thing I ask.  Why is blind faith a virtue?

BUT THIS IS A MOVIE THREAD

[Eric P]

I'm shocked. Really.

I am.  I'm pretty gay for PT Anderson, but this didn't do it for me.  It tried to take the zeal of Oil! the melancholy of Angle of Repose and the beauty of Days of Heaven but failed to put it together in any real way.

But the cinematography and acting were still damn good.

I'll agree with this.  the score was good, but somewhat overdone in context.

the score was like watching your mom raped by dogs to the point of her having an involuntary orgasm

it was horrifying and didn't fit.

i found out later it was by some dude in radio head, which made me go "ah"

[The Fake Shemp]

Burn.

I don't care for There Will Be Blood either. I watched Carlito's Way last night, which ranged from derivative to terrible at points, and just makes me sad that De Palma is so completely wasted in Hollywood. Even in a schlock film like Carlito's Way, the guy is the master of creating palpable tension through just his camerawork. It didn't help that the film was written by David Koepp.

Even out of all the De Palma films I've watched on streaming Netflix, I'd put it below Body Double.

[Philip Cardgage]

Watched the My Bloody Valentine remake again Wed night.

Surprisingly really quite good.

[The Fake Shemp]

I thought it was pretty bad, and I had the benefit of seeing it in 3D.

[Philip Cardgage]

As did I.

I just thought the pacing was fresh. The ending was pretty obvious from the moment he's trapped in the cage, but other than that, its got some pretty cool kills and the acting isn't too terrible.

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

fucking hell.
Was just going over the last page and I think I just spoiled Moon.  Shit!

Anyways, I liked My Bloody Valentine as well.  It was more fun then most slashers are, and isn't that the point?  I also rather dug A Perfect Getaway, which isn't quite as clever as it thinks it is, but is still kinda clever.  Also, the Hawaii locations (actually shot in Puerto Rico, but whatevs) are just damn gorgeous.  It features characters who never do anything that's obviously stupid (rare for a Hollywood thriller at all), has some colorful performances, if there's a Timothy Olyphant love train, I want to get on it is all I'm saying.

***

[Eric P]

i liked it but saw the set up.  the "HERE IS HOW IT ALL HAPPENED" flashback went on a bit to long, but overall i really found myself liking the film

[Mupepe]

The only thing I didn't like about the reveal flashback was that there were things they showed that never happened in the movie.  It would be fine, except for the fact they flashback to points we saw and obviously should have seen the flashback but didn't for whatever reason.  I know that sounds convoluted, but you know what I mean, right? I have no problem with them showing stuff and filling in on other information.  But don't extended parts to scenes I actually saw just to fill in plot holes.  Pretty damn entertaining though.

[Philip Cardgage]

i liked it but saw the set up.  the "HERE IS HOW IT ALL HAPPENED" flashback went on a bit to long, but overall i really found myself liking the film

What film are you talking about?

[Mupepe]

A Perfect Getaway.  I think.  I hope.  Because that's what I was assuming he was talking about.

[Philip Cardgage]

Ah ok. Never saw it, but I have it downloaded somewhere.

Also, i watched the first 2 Urban Legends movies. The first one was bad, as in it seemed like it was supposed to be kitschy at least, sort of like Sleepaway Camp 3. But the 2nd one is ungodly terrible.

Alicia Witt

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

District 13: Ultimatum could be classified as a bit of a disappointment.  Its not that its a bad movie, its just that it looks pretty damn bad next to the movie that came before it.  Its not that there isn't any kickass action scenes and great stuntwork, its just now that there's a fair bit less of them.  Its not that there isn't the same dunderheaded comic relief and political subtext, its just now there's more of it.  Its not that the ultra-athletic stars of the first film aren't back and still quite capable of mouth-agogging moves, its just now that their considerable talents aren't so clearly visible thanks to shitty camerawork.

The first film was fun, amazing, and a little too Hollywood.  It had an unsatisfying ending, but everything else that came before was appropriately rockin, so it was cool and shit.  Here, the ratio of good stuff to bad is considerably lower.  The highs are still great, but there's more valleys in between them this time.

C+

[Cormacaroni]

Burn.

I don't care for There Will Be Blood either. I watched Carlito's Way last night, which ranged from derivative to terrible at points, and just makes me sad that De Palma is so completely wasted in Hollywood. Even in a schlock film like Carlito's Way, the guy is the master of creating palpable tension through just his camerawork. It didn't help that the film was written by David Koepp.

Even out of all the De Palma films I've watched on streaming Netflix, I'd put it below Body Double.

I have a soft spot for this movie. Maybe it's the awesome Boogie Nights-esque score. Maybe it's Pacino chewing the scenery beyond all reason. Maybe it's Viggo stealing the movie out from under him. Maybe it's because I read the (better) book by Edwin Torres. I understand completely that it's not a great film but there's something about it.

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

not to mention Sean Penn is fully awesome in it.  Great (and typically De Palma-esqe overblown) score too.

[Eric P]

just watched black dynamite

goddamn hilarious

[Powerslave]

The only thing that REALLY bothered me in Carlito's Way is that they gave the ending away in the beginning. I know this is intended or loosely implied that it may be the ending but it still ruined the build-up for me in the final scene.

[Stoney Mason]

I'm watching Transformers 2 for the first time and its sort of stunning how utterly bad this movie is.

And I'm generally lenient with popcorn material.

[Bloodwake]

I just watched Precious and I thought it was pretty good.

The film managed to set up characters and situations in an hour and a half and made me care about them. Bravo. Especially since Avatar was two and a half hours long and I didn't give a shit about any of the characters in the film.

[Stoney Mason]

Finished it. Holy shit that was bad.

[Raban]

just watched black dynamite

goddamn hilarious

THOSE DIABOLICAL DICK SHRINKING MOTHER FUCKERS.

[Great Rumbler]

9

The animated movie, not the musical. It looked pretty good, but that's about it. There was no character development at all and the story didn't really go anywhere[it was more a string of action sequences than anything else]. There's this part at about the two-third point where it really, really feels like the movie is over. This scene goes on for several minutes that feels like the credits should roll immediately afterward, then it goes on for another twenty minutes. Also, the ending didn't make sense to me. The movie just assumed that we knew why it had to end that way and then just ended. Also, 9 [the character] is a raging idiot.

[Joe Molotov]

Finished it. Holy shit that was bad.

It's a bad movie with the strength of three bad movies! The first time I watched it, I got to the part where Megatron tries to kill Shia, and then Optimus saves him but then he gets killed, and I'm thinking "Okay, surely I'm almost to the end of the movie now, let's wrap this thing up." Oh wait, I'm less than an hour into it, there's still over an hour and half to go. Double-You Tee Eff. And it only gets worse from then on.

[Phoenix Dark]

My mom and a few other folks I know have said Precious was good, but too depressing. And they all complained that people brought their children to see it

I wanna see it mainly to see if the whole "light skinned people=good, dark skinned people=bad" dynamic really happens.

[Diunx]

just watched black dynamite

goddamn hilarious

I was gonna watch this tonight but ended up watching some Seinfeld episodes instead thanks to that sitcom thread on gaf.

[Stoney Mason]

Finished it. Holy shit that was bad.

It's a bad movie with the strength of three bad movies! The first time I watched it, I got to the part where Megatron tries to kill Shia, and then Optimus saves him but then he gets killed, and I'm thinking "Okay, surely I'm almost to the end of the movie now, let's wrap this thing up." Oh wait, I'm less than an hour into it, there's still over an hour and half to go. Double-You Tee Eff. And it only gets worse from then on.

It's the worst "big" movie I've seen in many years. Much worse than something like Spiderman 3. The movie literally has no redeeming qualities and makes absolutely no sense. I was just floored watching it. It's so bad and crazy its hypnotic. It was truly something that would be on MST3k (I'm ignoring Rifftrax) if such a thing existed now. 


btw this scene is better than anything that happened in that movie.

[youtube=560,345][/youtube]

[Raban]

just watched black dynamite

goddamn hilarious

I was gonna watch this tonight but ended up watching some Seinfeld episodes instead thanks to that sitcom thread on gaf.

Should of went with DY-NO-MITE. DY-NO-MITE.

[brawndolicious]

9

The animated movie, not the musical. It looked pretty good, but that's about it. There was no character development at all and the story didn't really go anywhere[it was more a string of action sequences than anything else]. There's this part at about the two-third point where it really, really feels like the movie is over. This scene goes on for several minutes that feels like the credits should roll immediately afterward, then it goes on for another twenty minutes. Also, the ending didn't make sense to me. The movie just assumed that we knew why it had to end that way and then just ended. Also, 9 [the character] is a raging idiot.

Well the movie wasn't about character development, it was just all about the really cool and imaginative world/visual style.  The story is digestible for a kid so I don't really see what you were expecting from it.

[Great Rumbler]

9

The animated movie, not the musical. It looked pretty good, but that's about it. There was no character development at all and the story didn't really go anywhere[it was more a string of action sequences than anything else]. There's this part at about the two-third point where it really, really feels like the movie is over. This scene goes on for several minutes that feels like the credits should roll immediately afterward, then it goes on for another twenty minutes. Also, the ending didn't make sense to me. The movie just assumed that we knew why it had to end that way and then just ended. Also, 9 [the character] is a raging idiot.

Well the movie wasn't about character development, it was just all about the really cool and imaginative world/visual style.  The story is digestible for a kid so I don't really see what you were expecting from it.

A review I read sums it up pretty good: it's too dark for kids and too simple for adults.

Aside from "looking cool" it really didn't have much going for it. It would probably make a pretty cool videogame, but as a movie it just doesn't succeed.

[brawndolicious]

Watched 4 movies recently, 3 of them were good:

Fantastic Mr. Fox
Fantastic.  It really brings the old book to life with the style of the stop-motion animation.  The story is actually good and charming and I was impressed with how emotive, yet realistic (mostly) they could make the animal characters' faces.  Something you can definitely rewatch over and over and also a really good babysitting aid.

A Serious Man
One of the funniest movies of the last year, largely because of how much you sympathize with the main character.  Every scene in this movie had something brilliant about it, which makes it feel like the slow pace of the movie doesn't waste a single second.  I honestly didn't know about the references to the story of Job until after but that of course just makes it better.  Also, I didn't really hate Sy Ableman as much most people for some reason.

(500) Days of Summer
The funniest movie of last year.  It's one of the only relationship movies that actually feels honest because it deals with a relationship that fails, of course.  I loved the way they completely realistically showed the retardedness of Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character in interpreting relationships and how they jumped around to different parts in it and his obsessive/passive-aggressive attitude towards romance.  From the trailer, I actually went in expecting some shitty movie about hipster references and ambiguous definitions of love but they totally avoided all that bullshit and made probably the best romantic-comedy I've ever seen, and the only really good one actually.

Burn After Reading
Disgusting shit.  The acting is amazing but the writing is just horrible.  There are no likable characters.  There is no interesting story.  There IS a witty little closure for the completely uninteresting story though.  It seems like they wrote the whole movie around those lines at the end where the CIA guy shows how indifferent he is to everything that happened.  Seriously, what the fuck about this attracted all of the star power?

Now, I'll and watch Crazy Heart, Transformers 2, Drag Me To Hell, and Paranormal Activity.  I'm gonna guess that maybe two of those movies will not be crap (including Crazy Heart).

A review I read sums it up pretty good: it's too dark for kids and too simple for adults.
Aside from "looking cool" it really didn't have much going for it. It would probably make a pretty cool videogame, but as a movie it just doesn't succeed.

I don't know, it didn't seem that dark.  The general concept didn't seem lend itself too well to actual character building (toys wandering around after an apocalypse) but the inventive visual style definitely kept me entertained for the two hours or whatever.  They might have been able to do more with it, but I'm still happy with what they were aiming for.

[Great Rumbler]

I don't know, it didn't seem that dark.  The general concept didn't seem lend itself too well to actual character building (toys wandering around after an apocalypse) but the inventive visual style definitely kept me entertained for the two hours or whatever.  They might have been able to do more with it, but I'm still happy with what they were aiming for.

I'm shocked that you'd pull the Avatar Defense on this one.

And it was 79 minutes [71 if you don't count the credits].

[brawndolicious]

I don't know, it didn't seem that dark.  The general concept didn't seem lend itself too well to actual character building (toys wandering around after an apocalypse) but the inventive visual style definitely kept me entertained for the two hours or whatever.  They might have been able to do more with it, but I'm still happy with what they were aiming for.

I'm shocked that you'd pull the Avatar Defense on this one.
And it was 79 minutes [71 if you don't count the credits].

Well Avatar had a boring visual style to me.  I didn't care about anything that happened until Hometree died and actual action started up.

[CajoleJuice]

(500) Days of Summer
The funniest movie of last year.

Wrong.

[Great Rumbler]

I don't know, it didn't seem that dark.  The general concept didn't seem lend itself too well to actual character building (toys wandering around after an apocalypse) but the inventive visual style definitely kept me entertained for the two hours or whatever.  They might have been able to do more with it, but I'm still happy with what they were aiming for.

I'm shocked that you'd pull the Avatar Defense on this one.
And it was 79 minutes [71 if you don't count the credits].

Well Avatar had a boring visual style to me.  I didn't care about anything that happened until Hometree died and actual action started up.

Well, I found 9 to be a boring movie. I didn't care about anything that happened.

[brawndolicious]

There is so much potential depth and philosophical questioning to be found in a concept like the one that served as the basis for 9. I'm disappointed to hear that the final product ended up being so shallow.

like what?

[EmCeeGrammar]

Man, I would hate to be the guy who comes out of the movies with Green Shinobi.

[Great Rumbler]

9 didn't really explore anything, except a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

[brawndolicious]

Well, as I understand it, the premise is that the main characters are these artificial beings that have very human thoughts and emotions. So the potential is there to delve quite deeply into the question of what it means to be human, particularly if some of the robot adversaries possessed self-awareness and intelligence, but were lacking in some other fundamental area of human existence. You could examine both the good and bad aspects of human nature. There's a lot you could do, particularly if you posed some tough questions for the audience and didn't really provide real answers one way or the other, but left it up to the audience to think about and discuss.

no, the B.R.A.I.N. had artificial intelligence and somehow the stitchpunks had pieces of the scientist's soul, this was just a fantasy world showing a computer vs. a soul, so you can't really get any deep meanings from that since it's too separated from reality.  What you're suggesting would be something like Ghost in the Shell but my problem with movies that try and define the limits of a human vs a machine is that they all end up too baseless or derivative and end up pointing everything out to you (eg: every second of the Matrix trilogy).

otoh, I liked the design of the wasteland and stitchpunk is a really funny name and so the movie exceeded my expectations.

[Great Rumbler]

Well, as I understand it, the premise is that the main characters are these artificial beings that have very human thoughts and emotions. So the potential is there to delve quite deeply into the question of what it means to be human, particularly if some of the robot adversaries possessed self-awareness and intelligence, but were lacking in some other fundamental area of human existence. You could examine both the good and bad aspects of human nature. There's a lot you could do, particularly if you posed some tough questions for the audience and didn't really provide real answers one way or the other, but left it up to the audience to think about and discuss.

otoh, I liked the design of the wasteland and stitchpunk is a really funny name and so the movie exceeded my expectations.

Your expectations must have been in the negative range then. 

[Bildi]

Definitely, Maybe - holy shit this movie caught me off guard.  Far, far better than the average romantic comedy, not really fair to lump it in that category.  That kid is a bit annoying but that's probably just me and I can look past it.

The Wrestler - depressing, but awesome.  The way it was done made me even more sad because it reminded me of real-life stories.

[Eric P]

watched Tekkon Kinkreet

it looked good, but the story was horrible

[EmCeeGrammar]

A Serious Man

Man, they make it seem like everything is gonna work out more or less, and then he gets that damn phone call
 
 

The other thing I took from this is that being a observing jew sounds like a headache.  Good lord at the second rabbi.

[Barry Egan]

The counsel with the second rabbi is my favorite scene in the movie.  And I only wish actual rabbi's were like that.  If you went to an actual Rabbi for advice they'd just recite various passages from the Torah.  The Serious Man rabbi's were more or less up front about their complete lack of authority.  If Synagogue's were that relaxed with their self-image I might show up every once in a while.

[EmCeeGrammar]

Yeah, that phone call at the end is really the knockout punch. But you don't really know

spoiler (click to show/hide)

what the prognosis is, so maybe it isn't that bad.

[close]

Stop being so obtuse.  They make it pretty damn clear he is fuuuuuuuuuuuuucked. 

About the second rabbi: I kind of found that scene funny, but at the same time its really excruciating to see lawrence flounder around and getting modern day parables providing no practical use for him. 

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I was actually happy for him when I thought he was getting laid, but nope, nightmare sequence

[close]

Nice touch how we get a perspective of a 'parking lot' at the end, too.

[Hitler Stole My Potato]

I really dug A Serious Man. It felt like an amalgamation of the Coen brothers's black comedy and the suburbian weirdness of David Lynch - right up my alley.  Much better than Burn After Reading, imo.

And thanks to Instant Watch on Netflix, I finally saw 400 Blows.  It's one of those films that I've always intended on watching for years now but never got around to it until now.  Not a life changer or anything, but I'm glad I saw it.  Scratch that one off my list.

[Great Rumbler]

I really dug A Serious Man. It felt like an amalgamation of the Coen brothers's black comedy and the suburbian weirdness of David Lynch - right up my alley.  Much better than Burn After Reading, imo.

I liked Burn After Reading, but A Serious Man is way above it in terms of quality.

[brawndolicious]

I really dug A Serious Man. It felt like an amalgamation of the Coen brothers's black comedy and the suburbian weirdness of David Lynch - right up my alley.  Much better than Burn After Reading, imo.

I liked Burn After Reading

WAT

[EmCeeGrammar]

Burn after Reading is good, it just wasn't a comedy like the commercials  portrayed it. 

[Great Rumbler]

I really dug A Serious Man. It felt like an amalgamation of the Coen brothers's black comedy and the suburbian weirdness of David Lynch - right up my alley.  Much better than Burn After Reading, imo.

I liked Burn After Reading

WAT

Hey, you liked 9, so we'll call it even.

Burn After Reading is a goofy little movie about idiots taking things too seriously. You laugh, the movie ends, then you move on with your life.

TBL, OBWAT and NCFOM > other CB flicks, IMO.

This is my Coen Brother's God Tier:

-Blood Simple.
-Raising Arizona
-Fargo
-The Big Lebowski
-No Country for Old Men
-A Serious Man

[Mupepe]

What the fuck am nintenho?

500 days of summer was fucking horrible. Garbage. I just. Fuck. I hate that movie with every fiber of my being. It wasn't unique. It wasn't funny. It was a pathetic mishmash of emo Indie garbage. So much eye rolling to be had. Its no wonder internet nerds love it.  Oh and as someone else said what kind of taco gets emotional at the end of the graduate.

[Mupepe]

Oh and burn after reading rocks.

[CajoleJuice]

I expected to hate 500 Days of Summer for the reasons Mupepe just said, but I actually enjoyed it in spite of myself, I guess. Or maybe I secretly like The Smiths. I thought Burn After Reading got better as it went along. It was fucking awful for the first 20 minutes or so. In the end I felt it was ok.

[Raban]

Mupepe hitting every nail on the head ITT.

Burn After Reading was a fun movie.

I think No Country sweeping at the Oscars made people forget that the Coens made The Big Lebowski, and have a taste for really random, dry humor. imo Coen Bros. movies have the worst trailers in terms of representing the final product.

Also I can't insert the quote because it's too far up, but whoever said Definitely, Maybe was a good film, I agree. It was very entertaining. I disagree about Abigail Breslin's performance, though. I always enjoy her in the movies she's in. Amazing in Little Miss Sunshine.

[Raban]

It's a travesty that The Big Lebowski wans't nominated for Oscars in Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.

Few movies in any genre are as well-written or beautifully shot as that movie was.

I love TBL but...

[Cormacaroni]

Some things are self-evident, GS.

[brawndolicious]

What the fuck am nintenho?

500 days of summer was fucking horrible. Garbage. I just. Fuck. I hate that movie with every fiber of my being. It wasn't unique. It wasn't funny. It was a pathetic mishmash of emo Indie garbage. So much eye rolling to be had. Its no wonder internet nerds love it.  Oh and as someone else said what kind of distinguished effete fellow gets emotional at the end of the graduate.

really?  It was basically all about mocking the love-at-first-sight-lets-listen-to-the-smiths-together bullshit.  That wasn't just witty stock jokes thrown in there, that's entirely what the movie was about.  It shows you the type of people who are too stupid to have real relationships and so this is a great training film.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt is also awesome so there.

oh and I have absofuckinglutely no idea what the graduate is.  are you talking about the movie the girl teared up in?