Linespider5ALL HAIL KING KILLMONGERRegistered Userregular
I always thought the whole dinner scene in Temple of Doom was excessively strange, even as a kid. It was just so matter of fact about it, alike 'Hey everybody, this is totally a thing, let's be chill about it and learn about India.'
I don't recall if there was even anything relevant to the plot in that scene.
I always thought the whole dinner scene in Temple of Doom was excessively strange, even as a kid. It was just so matter of fact about it, alike 'Hey everybody, this is totally a thing, let's be chill about it and learn about India.'
I don't recall if there was even anything relevant to the plot in that scene.
There was. The conversation between Indy, the Prime Minister, and the British officer where they discuss the rumors about the thugee cult.
-edit-
Of course once you get past the deliberate grossness of live snakes, monkey brains, and eyeball soup you realize the whole scene is basically just "lol@ these savages they eat disgusting things"
That's the thing, though, Regina Fong: it never felt so much like that to me as simply "What would be, like, the grossest thing they could serve? Monkey brains! No, eyeballs! Or live snakes!" It felt like a scene scripted by Calvin, without Hobbes' imput. The racism is there, it's just incidental to the childish glee of the scene - which makes the racism unintentional but doesn't negate it.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
That's the thing, though, Regina Fong: it never felt so much like that to me as simply "What would be, like, the grossest thing they could serve? Monkey brains! No, eyeballs! Or live snakes!" It felt like a scene scripted by Calvin, without Hobbes' imput. The racism is there, it's just incidental to the childish glee of the scene - which makes the racism unintentional but doesn't negate it.
As the nostalgia critic pointed out in his Temple of Doom review, the film coming the year after Spielberg's Oscar loss to Gandhi makes the passive racism in Temple seem less passive and more icky.
I always thought the whole dinner scene in Temple of Doom was excessively strange, even as a kid. It was just so matter of fact about it, alike 'Hey everybody, this is totally a thing, let's be chill about it and learn about India.'
I don't recall if there was even anything relevant to the plot in that scene.
There was. The conversation between Indy, the Prime Minister, and the British officer where they discuss the rumors about the thugee cult.
-edit-
Of course once you get past the deliberate grossness of live snakes, monkey brains, and eyeball soup you realize the whole scene is basically just "lol@ these savages they eat disgusting things"
"Let's see what this foreigner will eat to avoid insulting us."
There used to be a lot of debate around whether or not Last Crusade was the worst indiana jones film.
Used to.
That objectively dumb. Of the original trilogy temple of doom was the obvious loser
Temple of Doom is quite good on its own merits.
Except for the actual portrayal of India and Indians which is pretty difficult to defend, coming across as essentially racist and stopping just short of being a love letter to British colonialism (it certainly does absolutely nothing, nothing to question colonialism as a policy).
and one of the most annoying kid sidekicks in history
I'll take Harrison Ford and Sean Connery bickering over annoying MISTA JONES MISTA JONES kid any day of the week.
There used to be a lot of debate around whether or not Last Crusade was the worst indiana jones film.
Used to.
That objectively dumb. Of the original trilogy temple of doom was the obvious loser
Temple of Doom is quite good on its own merits.
Except for the actual portrayal of India and Indians which is pretty difficult to defend, coming across as essentially racist and stopping just short of being a love letter to British colonialism (it certainly does absolutely nothing, nothing to question colonialism as a policy).
and one of the most annoying kid sidekicks in history
I'll take Harrison Ford and Sean Connery bickering over annoying MISTA JONES MISTA JONES kid any day of the week.
I loved that dynamic of an accomplished professor and adventurer being treated like an unruly child by his father. Junior! (Also the ick factor when he realizes they shared the same woman)
I'm glad temple of doom didn't discuss British colonialism cause the one thing Lucas and the first 85% of spielberg absolutely cannot do is any sort of nuanced political intrigue. "We thought this guy was good but actually he was bad all along" is the max I will trust them with, because any more than that and you've got galactic senate and Mack
Marty: The future, it's where you're going? Doc: That's right, twenty five years into the future. I've always dreamed on seeing the future, looking beyond my years, seeing the progress of mankind. I'll also be able to see who wins the next twenty-five world series.
There used to be a lot of debate around whether or not Last Crusade was the worst indiana jones film.
Used to.
That objectively dumb. Of the original trilogy temple of doom was the obvious loser
Temple of Doom is quite good on its own merits.
Except for the actual portrayal of India and Indians which is pretty difficult to defend, coming across as essentially racist and stopping just short of being a love letter to British colonialism (it certainly does absolutely nothing, nothing to question colonialism as a policy).
and one of the most annoying kid sidekicks in history
I'll take Harrison Ford and Sean Connery bickering over annoying MISTA JONES MISTA JONES kid any day of the week.
I loved that dynamic of an accomplished professor and adventurer being treated like an unruly child by his father. Junior! (Also the ick factor when he realizes they shared the same woman)
How did you know she was a nazi
she talks in her sleep
There used to be a lot of debate around whether or not Last Crusade was the worst indiana jones film.
Used to.
That objectively dumb. Of the original trilogy temple of doom was the obvious loser
Temple of Doom is quite good on its own merits.
Except for the actual portrayal of India and Indians which is pretty difficult to defend, coming across as essentially racist and stopping just short of being a love letter to British colonialism (it certainly does absolutely nothing, nothing to question colonialism as a policy).
and one of the most annoying kid sidekicks in history
I'll take Harrison Ford and Sean Connery bickering over annoying MISTA JONES MISTA JONES kid any day of the week.
I loved him as a kid.
Which is odd to put a character that is really only relatable to kids into a film that is soooooo not for kids.
AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
So apparently all you horrorphiles need to seek out It Follows and The Witch, being hailed as two of the most subversive and intense horror films in the last few years.
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AstaerethIn the belly of the beastRegistered Userregular
So apparently all you horrorphiles need to seek out It Follows and The Witch, being hailed as two of the most subversive and intense horror films in the last few years.
I'm not so sure It Follows is actually subversive, but it is indeed intense and excellent.
Is The Witch another one of those movies that pretends the women in Salem who were falsely executed deserved it because they had evil witch powers?
There used to be a lot of debate around whether or not Last Crusade was the worst indiana jones film.
Used to.
That objectively dumb. Of the original trilogy temple of doom was the obvious loser
Temple of Doom is quite good on its own merits.
Except for the actual portrayal of India and Indians which is pretty difficult to defend, coming across as essentially racist and stopping just short of being a love letter to British colonialism (it certainly does absolutely nothing, nothing to question colonialism as a policy).
and one of the most annoying kid sidekicks in history
I'll take Harrison Ford and Sean Connery bickering over annoying MISTA JONES MISTA JONES kid any day of the week.
I'm glad temple of doom didn't discuss British colonialism cause the one thing Lucas and the first 85% of spielberg absolutely cannot do is any sort of nuanced political intrigue. "We thought this guy was good but actually he was bad all along" is the max I will trust them with, because any more than that and you've got galactic senate and Mack
Spielberg can do that, just not in an Indy movie. Those movies aren't the right tone to discuss nuanced topics like that with the merit they deserve. Though I agree looking back on how India was portrayed was cringe-worthy and that was when he was interested in telling Lucas to fuck off when he had bad ideas.
Temple of Doom is iffy in the extreme for lots of reasons already covered, but damned if it isn't a brilliant example of Spielberg's storytelling. The opening scene right up to the door on the plane closing is fucking masterful.
Is The Witch another one of those movies that pretends the women in Salem who were falsely executed deserved it because they had evil witch powers?
I hear it's about an actual witch and there's no mystery about it at all. Just an evil-ass witch, which sounds like something we haven't actually seen that much of in horror.
Plus the director was some big-shot costumer and art director on major hollywood films, so apparently it looks like a million bucks.
Just curious, what do you english speakers think about Nykvists (Viggos) accent? Always in comedy shows and the like and some whacky "swedish" dude comes along he almost always speaks with a german or completely ridiculous accent, but Nykvist of course speaks with his own heavy swedish accent. Does it sound ridiculous? Fake? Eastern European? Have you heard it before?
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
edited January 2015
What We Did On Our Holiday, a family movie that is surprisingly willing to follow through with some more adult themes and childhood naivity meeting the real world. It's very much an 80's type film taking place in 2014, and has some faults but it good on the whole.
So the basic story is Londoners David Tennant and Rosamund Pike taking their three kids with various neuroses to Scotland to visit their grandfather (Billy Conolly) for his big 75th birth ay party, who lives with Tennant's well off brother (Rob Brydon) and his wife and teenage son. What the parents don't want to do, since Conolly has stomach cancer and is in ailing health, is to let anyone know they're getting a divorce. That's where it starts, but then it swings wildly into a place I didn't expect for the second act, and the third act opens up everything else going on in a family.
While going dark at times, it's never done so in a deliberate way, just the reality of life catching up to a bunch of people. And it's never laugh out loud funny but rather just a nice mellow feeling the whole time. Pike and Tennant are a believable couple and the kids are for the most part well acted who stray into annoying only because of script mandated precociousness, but they could have been far, far worse, particularly the older daughter who is right at that "I'm an actress so when I'm in a scene I must be important" age that really ruins a lot of things.
I am genuinely impressed by where the story goes, and commits to it without being wishy washy. I don't want to spoil it but it's the kind of thing where people of older generations (the best) will like it and younger people (the worst) will act like it's an affront to everything they #yolo and clutch to their mother's bosom. And while getting there it also has real emotion and drama that is believable for characters involved.
The only real complaints I have is that the film is shot very standard, but then has these weird after effects like the most canned fart sound or engine sounds used once or twice that is just really jarring, along with some shots that seem so cheap but so weird a decision (there's a family soccer game, and one kid tackles another, but they film it in a way where they never wanted to show the kid tackled, which seems like it was done well after shooting had finished).
It's a weekend afternoon movie, you're filing taxes or need your kids to shut up for a bit and want to give them something new while giving less of old, give it a watch.
edit: the film also has one of the best put-down lines I'm going to use, "you're so English you're French," which was just A+ in use and delivery by Brydon.
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AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
Just curious, what do you english speakers think about Nykvists (Viggos) accent? Always in comedy shows and the like and some whacky "swedish" dude comes along he almost always speaks with a german or completely ridiculous accent, but Nykvist of course speaks with his own heavy swedish accent. Does it sound ridiculous? Fake? Eastern European? Have you heard it before?
It doesn't sound Russian to me in the slightest, but Americans notoriously have a tin ear for accents.
We can pick out French and Scottish, that's about it. Anything English, Irish, South African, Australian, Kiwi, or Welsh is "British." Anything Iberian in origin is "Hispanic." Everything else is "European."
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
The saving grace when you have europeans from whatever eastern/Scandinavian country speaking english is that there's usually a UK connection, in that they get their english from those pikeys first
So in your mind when you hear something not right, basically a russian mobster likely passed through the UK on his way to the US so anything sounding off is hitting the first, far inferior version of the English language, until it reaches our illustrious shores and we can forgive them.
The same thing sort of applies to Chinese people via Hong Kong in movies, it's either a businessman speaking eloquently or it's a dirt poor immigrant with engrish galore.
I got to see The Equalizer last night. That was just a really solid, well put together action movie. I enjoyed how the first couple acts were assembled like a series of vignettes, much like a few short episodes of a television series.
It was maybe a little longer than it should have been, but it never really dragged. Nice portrayal of a thoroughly broken dude just murdering the shit out of a assholes, and watching him go full MacGyver Voorhees in the final act was fun.
Whoever described it as a slasher movie from the POV of the killer was spot on.
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
I got to see The Equalizer last night. That was just a really solid, well put together action movie. I enjoyed how the first couple acts were assembled like a series of vignettes, much like a few short episodes of a television series.
It was maybe a little longer than it should have been, but it never really dragged. Nice portrayal of a thoroughly broken dude just murdering the shit out of a assholes, and watching him go full MacGyver Voorhees in the final act was fun.
Whoever described it as a slasher movie from the POV of the killer was spot on.
My favorite thing about it is that McCall gives every villain a chance to back out, to do the right thing. And we're treated to know that he actually keeps his word if someone takes him up on the offer.
Of course, there's enough schmucks who both 1) don't believe him, and 2) don't know who the fuck they're messing with that there's still a movie there.
Just curious, what do you english speakers think about Nykvists (Viggos) accent? Always in comedy shows and the like and some whacky "swedish" dude comes along he almost always speaks with a german or completely ridiculous accent, but Nykvist of course speaks with his own heavy swedish accent. Does it sound ridiculous? Fake? Eastern European? Have you heard it before?
It doesn't sound Russian to me in the slightest, but Americans notoriously have a tin ear for accents.
We can pick out French and Scottish, that's about it. Anything English, Irish, South African, Australian, Kiwi, or Welsh is "British." Anything Iberian in origin is "Hispanic." Everything else is "European."
I thought it sounded Russian when I saw it but I wasn't like closely paying attention to exactly what accent he was using or anything.
Just curious, what do you english speakers think about Nykvists (Viggos) accent? Always in comedy shows and the like and some whacky "swedish" dude comes along he almost always speaks with a german or completely ridiculous accent, but Nykvist of course speaks with his own heavy swedish accent. Does it sound ridiculous? Fake? Eastern European? Have you heard it before?
It doesn't sound Russian to me in the slightest, but Americans notoriously have a tin ear for accents.
We can pick out French and Scottish, that's about it. Anything English, Irish, South African, Australian, Kiwi, or Welsh is "British." Anything Iberian in origin is "Hispanic." Everything else is "European."
Just curious, what do you english speakers think about Nykvists (Viggos) accent? Always in comedy shows and the like and some whacky "swedish" dude comes along he almost always speaks with a german or completely ridiculous accent, but Nykvist of course speaks with his own heavy swedish accent. Does it sound ridiculous? Fake? Eastern European? Have you heard it before?
It doesn't sound Russian to me in the slightest, but Americans notoriously have a tin ear for accents.
We can pick out French and Scottish, that's about it. Anything English, Irish, South African, Australian, Kiwi, or Welsh is "British." Anything Iberian in origin is "Hispanic." Everything else is "European."
I thought it sounded Russian when I saw it but I wasn't like closely paying attention to exactly what accent he was using or anything.
I just assumed russian, because the eastern european bad guys are always russian, they are the fat people of action movies.
Preacher on
I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.
VariableMouth CongressStroke Me Lady FameRegistered Userregular
Boyhood was fantastic. My dad didn't really get it which made me sad because I felt like it was this awesome emotional experience that we shared but not so much.
but I truly loved it.
speaking of love I am in love with Patricia Arquette still.
Boyhood was fantastic. My dad didn't really get it which made me sad because I felt like it was this awesome emotional experience that we shared but not so much.
but I truly loved it.
speaking of love I am in love with Patricia Arquette still.
Just curious, what do you english speakers think about Nykvists (Viggos) accent? Always in comedy shows and the like and some whacky "swedish" dude comes along he almost always speaks with a german or completely ridiculous accent, but Nykvist of course speaks with his own heavy swedish accent. Does it sound ridiculous? Fake? Eastern European? Have you heard it before?
It doesn't sound Russian to me in the slightest, but Americans notoriously have a tin ear for accents.
We can pick out French and Scottish, that's about it. Anything English, Irish, South African, Australian, Kiwi, or Welsh is "British." Anything Iberian in origin is "Hispanic." Everything else is "European."
Speak for yourself there duder
I'm sorry, I can't understand you over your thick midwestern accent.
Changing topics, here's a thing - Strange Magic released this weekend has a shot at being the Worst Domestic Opening (3000+ locations) ever. BoxOfficeMojo has it at $1.3mil for Friday (worse than Johnny Depp's Mortdecai, which at $1.47m on 500 fewer screens is currently getting all the headlines) and the current Worst Domestic Opening (3000+ locations) is Hoot at $3,368,197 for the full weekend.
Given Strange Magic was written by George Lucas, produced by his own LucasArts, and distributed by Disney that's a hell of a stumble. Disney's current worst 3000+ opening is Mars Needs Moms at $6,914,488, and Strange Magic is looking to smash that record and put them in the worst 3 ever.
I finally watched American Graffiti in itse entirety yesterday. I'd watched some, perhaps even most of it, about twenty years ago when I went through a phase of insomnia and would end up watching TV around 2am most nights because I just couldn't sleep. American Graffiti is a good film to watch in that sort of situation, as all the characters are also semi-awake way past their bedtime, and the film has a dreamlike quality in its lack of a coherent story. It also works well without insomnia, though, even if the sound mixing and lack of clear audio made me wish for subtitles that weren't forthcoming. I do wonder what happened to the Lucas who made this film - it's sweet, funny, and while the writing isn't subtle, it fits the characters and the situation well.
I did roll my eyes at the "Character X later went MIA in Vietnam, Character Y now works at a small company in California" bit at the end; for the entirety of the movie I mistakenly thought that the Cindy Williams character was one of the protagonists, but the lack of a "What happened to her after the film" text for her proved me wrong: it's all about the guys. Makes me wish that they left out the text for her character, because she would've showed them up by ending up so much more successful and happy than any of the guys.
I think she's a main character in the sequel?
I remember a female getting a epilogue in that one as well as the MIA soldier and the grease monkey/drag racer.
Edit: and if I remember right, she's the only one that does have a happy ending. Her story end kinda badly, but the epilogue says she becomes successful. The guy's story has a great ending (for him) but his epilogue ends very badly. Soldier's just kinda ends.
Was a fun movie. Loved the very kinect style. But really, what I couldn't shake throughout the whole thing and even now is that it feels so much like The Wolf of Wall Street. It's so obviously the same director trying to do with the same kind of style. And it's awesome. Really made me love Scorcese. It feels like the film is shoving a rocket up your ass and firing you through it's goings on.
But I ultimately felt like I liked Wolf of Wall Street alot better. WoWS feels polished. It feels like a more confident, more experienced director. Like Goodfellas was the crazy experimental first try and WoWS is the same guy going back with more experience and know-how and knowing how to make it all work just so since he made all the mistakes last time.
The other thing I really liked was the portrayal of gangsters. The way it shows the appeal of the lifestyle, the power and the respect and the money and all that, but never loses sight of the sheer pettiness of it all. These guys are idiots. They are mouthy and violent and not terribly good at any kind of self-restraint, even when it's in their own best interest. They live in their own little world and they all say it's family but ultimately they almost never show any restraint about murdering each other when it comes down to it. And ultimately all their respect is so ... small. It's just the people in their neighbourhood who are terrified of them.
It's like a pack of kids who never grew up. By joining the lifestyle, they have skipped over the whole part where you have to mature and learn to be responsible. They found the cheat code to life and never had to learn to control themselves or deal with real consequences or real work. And this is both what ultimately brings down all their schemes and what serves as the protagonist's ultimate punishment. He's forced to be a real person. To grow up.
It's refreshing to see the movie strip down the mythical aspects of the gangster you see in other films and cut to the greed at the heart of it. The desire for each money and easy acclaim. Henry Hill becomes a mobster because ultimately he doesn't wanna be working 9-5 like his father.
Didn't Disney pretty much expect it to be a total write off though? Like they just wanted to dump it and burn through it without a fuss.
They released it through Touchstone rather than Disney proper. That should say plenty about how much faith they had in it.
Touchstone is literally the same people with the same budget as Disney Proper though. Touchstone was created to release films with an older MPAA rating than public believed "Disney" would make, but in practice it's literally the same person hitting 10 different letters on their keyboard.
There's a difference between "dumping" (i.e. we'd get a better return on our time/money somewhere else and just fulfill the minimum contractual obligations) and "worst of all time". I have a lot of difficulty believing that someone in the Disney marketing machine couldn't have spent 30mins with their various bags of tricks to generate an extra $1mil considering how bad awareness of the film currently is. Hell, interest in Star Wars is pretty high given the recent previews, how hard would it be to ask George to do a bunch of interviews and as part of that spend 2-3 minutes talking about the new film he wrote?
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AstaerethIn the belly of the beastRegistered Userregular
Scorcese's made plenty of movies not in that mold. The similarities between Wolf and Goodfellas are probably an intentional statement satirically equating Wall Streeters and mobsters.
Scorcese's made plenty of movies not in that mold. The similarities between Wolf and Goodfellas are probably an intentional statement satirically equating Wall Streeters and mobsters.
Oh yeah, I don't think it's the only type of movie he can make. I just think it is a type of movie he can make and he's really good at it.
And yeah, I feel like the parallels in the style of the two films is very much matched by a parallel in the content. Both are films about terrible people doing terrible things for money and fame in a culture saturated with what I would describe as childish masculinity.
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I don't recall if there was even anything relevant to the plot in that scene.
There was. The conversation between Indy, the Prime Minister, and the British officer where they discuss the rumors about the thugee cult.
-edit-
Of course once you get past the deliberate grossness of live snakes, monkey brains, and eyeball soup you realize the whole scene is basically just "lol@ these savages they eat disgusting things"
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
As the nostalgia critic pointed out in his Temple of Doom review, the film coming the year after Spielberg's Oscar loss to Gandhi makes the passive racism in Temple seem less passive and more icky.
(of which E.T. is not one)
When the angel of retribution returns to this world, fiery sword in his bloodied hands, you will be among the first to perish for your trespasses
The Angel of Bad Movie Opinion Retribution is a huge nerd.
When it comes for me, I plan to tell it that to its face.
and one of the most annoying kid sidekicks in history
I'll take Harrison Ford and Sean Connery bickering over annoying MISTA JONES MISTA JONES kid any day of the week.
I loved that dynamic of an accomplished professor and adventurer being treated like an unruly child by his father. Junior! (Also the ick factor when he realizes they shared the same woman)
MWO: Adamski
Doc: That's right, twenty five years into the future. I've always dreamed on seeing the future, looking beyond my years, seeing the progress of mankind. I'll also be able to see who wins the next twenty-five world series.
How did you know she was a nazi
she talks in her sleep
I loved him as a kid.
Which is odd to put a character that is really only relatable to kids into a film that is soooooo not for kids.
I'm nearly thirty years old.....
WoW
Dear Satan.....
I'm not so sure It Follows is actually subversive, but it is indeed intense and excellent.
Is The Witch another one of those movies that pretends the women in Salem who were falsely executed deserved it because they had evil witch powers?
You take that back, Short Round was awesome!
Spielberg can do that, just not in an Indy movie. Those movies aren't the right tone to discuss nuanced topics like that with the merit they deserve. Though I agree looking back on how India was portrayed was cringe-worthy and that was when he was interested in telling Lucas to fuck off when he had bad ideas.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
I hear it's about an actual witch and there's no mystery about it at all. Just an evil-ass witch, which sounds like something we haven't actually seen that much of in horror.
Plus the director was some big-shot costumer and art director on major hollywood films, so apparently it looks like a million bucks.
Just curious, what do you english speakers think about Nykvists (Viggos) accent? Always in comedy shows and the like and some whacky "swedish" dude comes along he almost always speaks with a german or completely ridiculous accent, but Nykvist of course speaks with his own heavy swedish accent. Does it sound ridiculous? Fake? Eastern European? Have you heard it before?
So the basic story is Londoners David Tennant and Rosamund Pike taking their three kids with various neuroses to Scotland to visit their grandfather (Billy Conolly) for his big 75th birth ay party, who lives with Tennant's well off brother (Rob Brydon) and his wife and teenage son. What the parents don't want to do, since Conolly has stomach cancer and is in ailing health, is to let anyone know they're getting a divorce. That's where it starts, but then it swings wildly into a place I didn't expect for the second act, and the third act opens up everything else going on in a family.
While going dark at times, it's never done so in a deliberate way, just the reality of life catching up to a bunch of people. And it's never laugh out loud funny but rather just a nice mellow feeling the whole time. Pike and Tennant are a believable couple and the kids are for the most part well acted who stray into annoying only because of script mandated precociousness, but they could have been far, far worse, particularly the older daughter who is right at that "I'm an actress so when I'm in a scene I must be important" age that really ruins a lot of things.
I am genuinely impressed by where the story goes, and commits to it without being wishy washy. I don't want to spoil it but it's the kind of thing where people of older generations (the best) will like it and younger people (the worst) will act like it's an affront to everything they #yolo and clutch to their mother's bosom. And while getting there it also has real emotion and drama that is believable for characters involved.
The only real complaints I have is that the film is shot very standard, but then has these weird after effects like the most canned fart sound or engine sounds used once or twice that is just really jarring, along with some shots that seem so cheap but so weird a decision (there's a family soccer game, and one kid tackles another, but they film it in a way where they never wanted to show the kid tackled, which seems like it was done well after shooting had finished).
It's a weekend afternoon movie, you're filing taxes or need your kids to shut up for a bit and want to give them something new while giving less of old, give it a watch.
edit: the film also has one of the best put-down lines I'm going to use, "you're so English you're French," which was just A+ in use and delivery by Brydon.
It doesn't sound Russian to me in the slightest, but Americans notoriously have a tin ear for accents.
We can pick out French and Scottish, that's about it. Anything English, Irish, South African, Australian, Kiwi, or Welsh is "British." Anything Iberian in origin is "Hispanic." Everything else is "European."
So in your mind when you hear something not right, basically a russian mobster likely passed through the UK on his way to the US so anything sounding off is hitting the first, far inferior version of the English language, until it reaches our illustrious shores and we can forgive them.
The same thing sort of applies to Chinese people via Hong Kong in movies, it's either a businessman speaking eloquently or it's a dirt poor immigrant with engrish galore.
It was maybe a little longer than it should have been, but it never really dragged. Nice portrayal of a thoroughly broken dude just murdering the shit out of a assholes, and watching him go full MacGyver Voorhees in the final act was fun.
Whoever described it as a slasher movie from the POV of the killer was spot on.
My favorite thing about it is that McCall gives every villain a chance to back out, to do the right thing. And we're treated to know that he actually keeps his word if someone takes him up on the offer.
Of course, there's enough schmucks who both 1) don't believe him, and 2) don't know who the fuck they're messing with that there's still a movie there.
I thought it sounded Russian when I saw it but I wasn't like closely paying attention to exactly what accent he was using or anything.
Speak for yourself there duder
I just assumed russian, because the eastern european bad guys are always russian, they are the fat people of action movies.
pleasepaypreacher.net
but I truly loved it.
speaking of love I am in love with Patricia Arquette still.
Given Strange Magic was written by George Lucas, produced by his own LucasArts, and distributed by Disney that's a hell of a stumble. Disney's current worst 3000+ opening is Mars Needs Moms at $6,914,488, and Strange Magic is looking to smash that record and put them in the worst 3 ever.
I think she's a main character in the sequel?
I remember a female getting a epilogue in that one as well as the MIA soldier and the grease monkey/drag racer.
Edit: and if I remember right, she's the only one that does have a happy ending. Her story end kinda badly, but the epilogue says she becomes successful. The guy's story has a great ending (for him) but his epilogue ends very badly. Soldier's just kinda ends.
They released it through Touchstone rather than Disney proper. That should say plenty about how much faith they had in it.
Was a fun movie. Loved the very kinect style. But really, what I couldn't shake throughout the whole thing and even now is that it feels so much like The Wolf of Wall Street. It's so obviously the same director trying to do with the same kind of style. And it's awesome. Really made me love Scorcese. It feels like the film is shoving a rocket up your ass and firing you through it's goings on.
But I ultimately felt like I liked Wolf of Wall Street alot better. WoWS feels polished. It feels like a more confident, more experienced director. Like Goodfellas was the crazy experimental first try and WoWS is the same guy going back with more experience and know-how and knowing how to make it all work just so since he made all the mistakes last time.
The other thing I really liked was the portrayal of gangsters. The way it shows the appeal of the lifestyle, the power and the respect and the money and all that, but never loses sight of the sheer pettiness of it all. These guys are idiots. They are mouthy and violent and not terribly good at any kind of self-restraint, even when it's in their own best interest. They live in their own little world and they all say it's family but ultimately they almost never show any restraint about murdering each other when it comes down to it. And ultimately all their respect is so ... small. It's just the people in their neighbourhood who are terrified of them.
It's like a pack of kids who never grew up. By joining the lifestyle, they have skipped over the whole part where you have to mature and learn to be responsible. They found the cheat code to life and never had to learn to control themselves or deal with real consequences or real work. And this is both what ultimately brings down all their schemes and what serves as the protagonist's ultimate punishment. He's forced to be a real person. To grow up.
It's refreshing to see the movie strip down the mythical aspects of the gangster you see in other films and cut to the greed at the heart of it. The desire for each money and easy acclaim. Henry Hill becomes a mobster because ultimately he doesn't wanna be working 9-5 like his father.
There's a difference between "dumping" (i.e. we'd get a better return on our time/money somewhere else and just fulfill the minimum contractual obligations) and "worst of all time". I have a lot of difficulty believing that someone in the Disney marketing machine couldn't have spent 30mins with their various bags of tricks to generate an extra $1mil considering how bad awareness of the film currently is. Hell, interest in Star Wars is pretty high given the recent previews, how hard would it be to ask George to do a bunch of interviews and as part of that spend 2-3 minutes talking about the new film he wrote?
Oh yeah, I don't think it's the only type of movie he can make. I just think it is a type of movie he can make and he's really good at it.
And yeah, I feel like the parallels in the style of the two films is very much matched by a parallel in the content. Both are films about terrible people doing terrible things for money and fame in a culture saturated with what I would describe as childish masculinity.