Movie News, Reviews, and Discussion Super-Thread

[Bebpo]

Deja Vu

One of my sci-fi friends recommended I watch this Tony Scott/Denzel Washington movie from a few years ago.  It was pretty good as a sci-fi short story, but for those who've seen it I thought the ending felt incomplete because

spoiler (click to show/hide)

the movie seems to indicate that the terrorist villain had some sort of time travel powers as well.  Like right before he died he says pauses and says "it doesn't go like this".  Then he dies and the movie ends and it never explains this aspect.  The movie also was scripted in a way that his first time travel back seemed like part 2 of a 3 part story.  The villain tells him in Part 1 that this is just the start and that he'll see.  Everything is setup for a script where in part 2 he does his first time travel and thinks he's changing time but in the end nothing changes and everything ends the same way and then he does a SECOND time travel from that time period and this time finds a way to work around/trick/overcome the unchangeable time.

Actually now that I think about it the fact of the matter is that he didn't do anything different.  Up until when he left the girl's house, everything was the same shown by her answering machine message.  Then he gets to the boat and the only reason anything changes is because the badguy sees his car and goes onto the boat to investigate.  But he would have done that anyhow.  Nothing was changed to spark a different timeline.  It's like the producers said, "well just having everything repeat and everyone die and the badguy win is no good for a big summer movie.  Gotta have the good guy shoot him and win!" and the entire logical plot was thrown away at that moment.  The plot really doesn't make any sense.

[close]

I liked the film but it feels incomplete.

[EmCeeGrammar]

Someone explain to me Magnolia

The plot climax felt like 15 minutes all together.

[Raban]

Someone explain to me Magnolia

The plot climax felt like 15 minutes all together.

Shit movie. Explanation over.

I'm a huge fan of PTA, but to this day I can't stand that film.

[Philip Cardgage]

I... don't get the love for Wes Anderson. I mean, I liked all of his movies... technically, they work, but I've never been wowed by any. I tried to watch Bottle Rocket last night and didn't have the motivation to finish.

[Green Shinobi]

I'd be with you on that one if I didn't love Rushmore so much.

[Robo]

If you're white and don't like Wes Anderson, then well, maybe you're black?

[Philip Cardgage]

I don't think so, I'm not too fond of fried chicken.

[The Fake Shemp]

The only Anderson in Hollywood whose films I enjoy is Brad Anderson.

Not a fan of Wes, Paul W.S. or Paul Thomas.

[Philip Cardgage]

Brad Anderson fucking rocks.

But I saw Rushmore a while ago, and recall feeling the same way. Like, it should be funny... but its not... I felt the same way about Royal. I liked it, it was a good movie, but I didn't find it memorable in the least.

[The Fake Shemp]

Yeah, to be fair, I don't hate Wes Anderson's collective filmography, as much as I don't really love it or anything. That's a far cry from Paul Thomas, whose only film I like is Boogie Nights. My opinion on the rest range from bored to dislike.

Paul W.S. Anderson is a waste of space, though.

[Philip Cardgage]

I really liked Punch Drunk Love though. Didn't make it through There Will Be Blood.

Also, I hate W.S., but Death Race was quite entertaining.

[The Fake Shemp]

Punch Drunk Love bored me, as did There Will Be Blood.

[Green Shinobi]

I liked Punch Drunk quite a bit. Thought that There Will Be Blood was overrated, although DDL was brilliant and there were some really beautiful aspects to the film. I've had Magnolia sitting on my hard drive since summer 2008 and haven't gotten around to watching it.

W.S. made one decent film (Event Horizon) and has subsequently proceeded to suck dick for the rest of his career so far. And in the process, he cast a foul stench over what was once my favorite game series along with destroying whatever shred of respectability the Alien franchise had.

[Philip Cardgage]

I forgot he did Event Horizon.

But seriously, watch Death Race. Its not a GREAT movie, but its entertaining in the way Crank is.

[The Fake Shemp]

Eh, I thought Death Race was pretty mediocre.

I actively hate Magnolia.

[Great Rumbler]

Anyone that doesn't like The Life Aquatic and Fantastic Mr. Fox is a bad person.

[Robo]

Magnolia is the only PTA flick I'm not absolutely in love with (well, and I guess Sydney, but I do really like Sydney).  It's been a few years since I've seen it, but, like GS (red flag?) I don't recall getting a whole hell of a lot out of the climax.  Hell, the introductory coincidences were more interesting than the rain of frogs and the resolutions/reconciliations that result from it.  Also, I thought Tom Cruise's performance as a damaged talking spam e-mail to be over-acted and obnoxious and every one of his scenes is a chore to sit through.

Anyone that doesn't like The Life Aquatic and Fantastic Mr. Fox is a bad person.

+1

[Philip Cardgage]

I loved Fantastic Mr. fox.

Hated Life Aquatic. That movie is for dirty hipsters.

[Green Shinobi]

Magnolia is the only PTA flick I'm not absolutely in love with (well, and I guess Sydney, but I do really like Sydney).  It's been a few years since I've seen it, but, like GS (red flag?) I don't recall getting a whole hell of a lot out of the climax.

 

Pretty sure you meant to refer to someone else, dude. I haven't seen Magnolia yet.

Sometimes I wonder how my forum career would have gone if I had kept my mouth shut about Muse.

[chronovore]

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

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

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

[Green Shinobi]

What are your favorite musicals, Chronovore?

[Robo]

Magnolia is the only PTA flick I'm not absolutely in love with (well, and I guess Sydney, but I do really like Sydney).  It's been a few years since I've seen it, but, like GS (red flag?) I don't recall getting a whole hell of a lot out of the climax.

 

Pretty sure you meant to refer to someone else, dude. I haven't seen Magnolia yet.

Sometimes I wonder how my forum career would have gone if I had kept my mouth shut about Muse.

Sorry, 'bout that.

[Herr Mafflard]

The Lovely Bones - pretty bad. also: quite boring; very, very forgettable. 

film doesn't work on any level. the fantasy element is annoyingly hokey, stupid, and kinda tries to mask the fact that the film is just a really dumb, generic crime drama. 

[Great Rumbler]

Black Dynamite

This movie is incredible. I really don't know how else to describe it. I mean, there are moments where it gets stretched a bit too thin, but there are so many other moments that are just so over-the-top and wild that you can't help but laugh. And the ending? SPECTACULAR.

[Diunx]

"Who the hell is interrupting ma kun fo?"

[bud]

up in the air. one of my favorite movies of last year.

... i kinda wanna see juno now. it can't be that bad, right?

[Mupepe]

Outside of some writing, I really enjoyed Juno.  There's a good movie in there.  There's some cringeworthy stuff, but the main movie is still good.

TVC agrees with me BTW!

Oh and Up in the Air is the best movie I saw last year.  I haven't seen The Hurt Locker though.  I enjoyed Inglorious Basterds better for my own personal taste, but I thought Up in the Air is the vastly superior film.

[Raban]

I loved Fantastic Mr. fox.

Hated Life Aquatic. That movie is for dirty hipsters.

This doesn't make any sense at all.

For the record, on the topic of Andersons, I love every Wes Anderson film. They've usually got everything I like, and the dialog is always layered and fun to listen to. Most actors also excel under his direction.

I love PTAs style and usually enjoy all of his films on one degree or another. PDL is in my personal top 10.

And Paul WS...

[Bebpo]

I... don't get the love for Wes Anderson. I mean, I liked all of his movies... technically, they work, but I've never been wowed by any. I tried to watch Bottle Rocket last night and didn't have the motivation to finish.

Bottle Rocket isn't that good.  I think Bottle Rocket & Darjeeling are pretty meh, but I really like all his other stuff.  As Rumbler put it, Life Aquatic is ten thumbs up.

[Joe Molotov]

Eh, I thought Death Race was pretty mediocre.

I actively hate Magnolia.

Okay cocksucker, you fuck with me and we'll see who shits on the sidewalk.

[CajoleJuice]

Eh, I thought Death Race was pretty mediocre.

I actively hate Magnolia.

Okay cocksucker, you fuck with me and we'll see who shits on the sidewalk.

[The Fake Shemp]

I won't lie, when Joan Allen said that, I instantly got a boner.

[WrikaWrek]

Rec 2 - I loved the first one, if only for the last 10 minutes that scared me like no movie had scared me in a long time. This one though...it's very very well done, but the whole religious, demons and shit stuff killed it for me. Suddenly....i was just waiting for the brothers of Supernatural to come in and kill the damn thing.

Meh. Way to ruin it.

[Joe Molotov]

Just a fantastic, hilarious movie. There was so much stuff going on that I watched it twice, and it was great both times.

[Ichirou]

Well, I watched it THREE times, and each time it was BETTER than the last.  so there.

[Eric P]

watched The Damned United.

it was ok.

not really familiar with soccer in  that time period, so it was more entertaining as a view of dysfunctional egotism run rampant hand in hand with self delusion

the novel is probably bonkers

[Mandark]

I was ruminating on how objective criticism of a movie is ultimately inextricable from the subjective act of viewing.

Specifically, The Hurt Locker is significantly less intense after the point of the movie where I pause it to eat cookies and milk.

[Raban]

I watched the first and second Austin Powers films. The women in these movies are so unbelievably sexy.

Ideally, I want to be the real life version of a super spy. That's like my dream. If I could be James Bond, that would be pretty amazing.

[Bebpo]

Tonight watched:
Heathers

Never seen it before.  Was funny in a fucked up way.  Winona Ryder was the first movie star I ever had a crush on as a kid in the 90s and this movie reminds me why.  She looked so good back in the 18-28 range.  These days she looks like a boy    Christian Slater became a better actor as he grew up, his slater-isms in his speech style were kinda annoying here.

&

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

I hadn't seen this in 25 years.  For it's importance in the beginnings of animated film it was worth rewatching.  Same for the unique visual style (though I'm not big on the style; Sleeping Beauty makes this look like my stick figure drawings).  As a film itself...I think it's one of my least favorite Disney films.  It's a little boring and the pacing is a mess.  It spends the entire movie building up to the Queen offering the poison apple (the event) and then timeskip and 2 min scene and the movie is over.  Most of the running time feels like it watching people sign and dance and clean.  I didn't like Snow White's voice either, it's really high pitched and  I honestly enjoyed this story better in the Kingdom Hearts BBS version because at least there's more Magic Mirror in that one.  Magic Mirror is still pretty hardcore even today.  Also was interesting to see that the entire King's Quest series' visual style is based on Snow White.

[etiolate]

I ended up seeing Shutter Island on a whim tonight and really liked it. I have a great big thought about it, but nobody here listens and I need to research the guy who has the theory about having no identity until you run into someone else, because I can't even remember his name and the whole film is about being a prisoner of other's perception.

[etiolate]

I doubt they really have the twist figured out, because the twist isn't the point, but what the character's handling of what is presented implies is.

I saw someone say "I saw this in 12 monkeys" or "I have seen this before", but there is an important setup to what happens.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

In movies where you go into the 'crazy person's' mind, you have to then assume everything you just saw up until the reveal was imagined.  In Shutter Island, the real grit of the twist is that the island facility is all in on this 'play'. So everything that happens did happen. You are not presented with a backstory or exposition at the front. You have two days of a man's life and to understand it you either have to choose what his view of the events are or the doctor's view. The only thing that can be imagined as not having happened is the woman in the cave. We understand his dream delusions are his delusions, his seeing his dead wife is obviously his delusion. Teddy understands this, too. All the events and actions are either real or they are people playing a role to seem real. Either way, those things all happened. We are just left to decide reality in the end by letting others perception interpret it or have the character's perception interpret it. The events were all real, its just how they are interpreted which invents reality. Which gets all back to the idea of identity and reality being perceived through how others see you and explain the world. I don't think it's coincidental that this was set in post WWII-era, a time dealing with the idea of holocaust and atomic warfare. These events and ideas are specifically put into the film, because these are hard to swallow realities for an America very distant from these realities. This is the world feeding reality onto the individual and the individual has to deal with this reality or reject it the same Teddy has to either accept or reject what others tell him about the past two days. And even accepting that reality, his idea that the island is giving people brain surgeries and using them for experiments is still true in the end, but Teddy chooses to accept their reality, pretend not to and then go out "a hero". That's where his interpretation of events meets theirs, because in some way the atrocities he fears happening are in a way happening, and he(and anyone really) is a prisoner of others perception if we are to hold true that truth is based on ourselves getting feedback off of others' perception of events.

So, even if you get right away that "he's a patient too!", you are just sort of recognizing the plot and not the true frightening part of the film.

[close]

[Ichirou]

etiolate, you are one of the smartest posters here.  Wish you'd post more.

[CajoleJuice]

[Powerslave]

Shutter Island got spoiled for me


not that I had any interest in the movie before it had been spoiled. And with the couple of posts in this thread about it, I now have to go see it.

[etiolate]

hey I spoilered my spoilers

[Powerslave]

Yes you did you cute smarty

The movie was spoiled to me somewhere else.

[etiolate]

now that I recall, I think I read the spoiler in a gaf thread a long time ago and forgot about it

[Green Shinobi]

I enjoyed Inglorious Basterds better for my own personal taste, but I thought Up in the Air is the vastly superior film.

Just out of curiosity, what criteria do you use to determine which film is superior to the other?

etiolate, you are one of the smartest posters here.  Wish you'd post more.

This is kind of like PD calling someone a pimp. Damning praise indeed.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

You do seem pretty smart, etiolate.

[close]

[Ichirou]

etiolate, you are one of the smartest posters here.  Wish you'd post more.

This is kind of like PD calling someone a pimp. Damning praise indeed.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

You do seem pretty smart, etiolate.

[close]

Another weak troll from the man with the 160+ IQ.

[Hitler Stole My Potato]

The Box.

My thoughts:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

[close]

[Robo]

Come on, man, I'm trying to eat lunch here.

[muckhole]

Moon: Watched this last night with the gf, we both really enjoyed it. My man-crush on Sam Rockwell continues. 

Very slight semi-spoiler:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'd love to know which scenes the body-double was used in, more specifically if he was used for any of the character's interaction scenes, as opposed to just when he's laying in the infirmary.

[close]

[Great Rumbler]

Moon: Watched this last night with the gf, we both really enjoyed it. My man-crush on Sam Rockwell continues. 

Very slight semi-spoiler:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'd love to know which scenes the body-double was used in, more specifically if he was used for any of the character's interaction scenes, as opposed to just when he's laying in the infirmary.

[close]

There's a special feature on the DVD where it talks about this.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

The scenes with the two Sams talking to each other were composites of the same scene done twice with Rockwell alternating which Sam he was playing. He used an iPod with an audio recording of the previous scene playing through an ear piece to help him get the right timing. The body double was mainly used in scenes where the two Sams had to physically interact, like during the fight.

[close]

[fistfulofmetal]

Edge of Darkness


Pretty good! I knew nothing about the plot beyond "cop trying to avenge dead daughter" so how the movie unfolded was quite surprising. The only thing that jumped out as a glaring flaw was Ray Winstone's character. He was kinda just there not nearly as fleshed out as it could have been.


Also, I just now realized I don't know any of the characters names. Except for Kraven, which is the dudes last name.

[Bildi]

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

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

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

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

[Joe Molotov]

The Box.

My thoughts:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

[close]

I had read the short story before, and I was wondering how they could possibly turn that into a movie. The answer? Very poorly.

[fistfulofmetal]

Book of Eli


eh. coulda been better if it wasn't so silly. the twist is dumb because there's no hints to point towards it during the movie. in fact the entire movie is evidence that

spoiler (click to show/hide)

he's not in fact, blind. The many times he looks directly at things, moves with precision towards things (like doors, or cover). I mean there's one night scene where he clearly looks towards the moon. If he had kept his glasses on the entire movie the movie could have avoided all of that.

[close]

clearly written by a person with a hard-on for video games and comic books.

[Bebpo]

Book of Eli
clearly written by a person with a hard-on for video games and comic books.

not sure if sarcastic 

[Great Rumbler]

Unforgiven

A modern western that forgoes the epic grandeur and romanticism of Leone's finest and replaces it with a dark and moody plot. There aren't really any heroes here, just a man who can't escape his violent past and another that relishes the act of reliving it [even while propping himself up as a symbol of justice]. It's definitely a different sort of western than most, particularly from America, but far from being just a great western, it's also a great movie.

[The Fake Shemp]

But is it better than Forrest Gump?