I watched the Paddington movie because I'd heard it was decent, but damn was that an undersell.
I'm astounded that such a movie exists right now, and also that nobody is talking about it. Hyperbole and all, but I thought it was brilliant. Better than the Lego movie, and more enjoyable to me than most of what Pixar has done.
It's a kid's movie, sure, and is about a talking bear from "darkest Peru," yes. But the movie buys into that so completely, and so instantly, that it never matters. And not in this annoyingly ironic way that modern remakes deal with their source materials. There is no moment when an arch character winks at the camera and says, "but it's a talking bear!" or the like. He's a bear, he wears a hat, and he likes marmalade. And that's fine.
For the movie itself, just wow. The kids are there, and they are not precocious. They are kids. They are not annoying, they do not get too much screen time. There are nice kids who have their own personalities and problems, who contribute to the story and the texture of the film, who don't intrude, and they're well acted. The adults are all wonderful, with Nicole Kidman (someone who I generally do not care for) playing a great villain. Peter Capaldi is also great as the nosy neighbour (my biggest knock on the movie is that I wish he had more scenes).
Next is the humour. It was refreshingly low-key and satisfyingly devoid of pop culture references. There was a single, short musical prompt that could qualify as a pop culture reference, but that's about it. It was also nice, and without notable sarcasm. Most of the jokes are aimed at everyone, too, which is nice. It hits that sweet spot that is not quite Pixar, but more Winnie the Pooh. It's understated and universal.
Last, but not least, was the cinematography. The film is beautiful to look at. The CG for Paddington is neither too real not too fake, and the rest of the movie is built around making it fit. The set designs are so good. The use of colour in each scene is so good, like the kind of thing you'd expect in a beloved illustrated story book. The greens Capaldi's apartment were especially nice. There are also a whole lot of little touches, like the cross-section doll house in the attic that opens to show the Brown's house and everyone inside, the way the tree mural in their main stairwell changes depending on the mood of the characters, the way each of the Browns hides in perfectly sized alcove under the museum stairs. It just generally has the tone and palette of a really nice book, so that there is always something going on visually. The world is immediately rich and interesting, and stays that way to the credits.
This was not the work of a studio trying to cash in on a name. It was a labour of love by Paul King, someone who has previously worked on the likes of Mighty Boosh and Garth Marenghi's Darkplace. Exactly the type needed to make a movie so goofy and well-crafted. Comparable to the work Jason Segel put into the new Muppets Movie.
Honestly, it feels like there just aren't a lot of really great heist movies. It's a very specific and recognizable form, but too few movies really transcend it. Or even really fulfill it in that super competent way. (Ronin, for instance, can only sustain things for about half the running time.) There's very little in cinema to match, like, the Parker novels--that really hardboiled feel.
See, I think there are hard and soft heist movies.
Something like Heat or Ronin I would classify as hard, much slower and more methodical and precise in its execution. The audience has a lot more information and spends a lot more time watching the characters collide inside the plan.
Something like Ocean's Eleven or the Italian Job remake I would classify as soft. They seem to be more about tricking the audience and the heist itself.
Best way I could sum it up would be to say that in a hard heist movie when things go wrong it's because they went wrong, but in a soft heist movie when things go wrong it was all part of the plan.
ElJeffeRoaming the streets, waving his mod gun around.Moderator, ClubPAMod Emeritus
edited March 2015
I think it's actually:
Or maybe:
ElJeffe 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.
+2
ElJeffeRoaming the streets, waving his mod gun around.Moderator, ClubPAMod Emeritus
So i watched Annie tonight. The remake. It was. ..not terrible. Kind of. I'd say it's a reasonably cute movie, but a pretty bad musical. The new songs they add are dull and lifeless at best, and a couple of them feel like they were stolen outright from a top 40 R&B station. And Cameron Diaz is no Carol Burnett.
But Jamie Foxx is charming enough, the little girl is cute, and the script is mostly inoffensive. It all feels rather perfunctory, and it ably demonstrates the difference between a nice voice and a good voice. The people in the film have nice voices.
It's better than a lot of remakes, though, and it updates the story well enough. Overall, i give it a final score of "it didn't suck".
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.
Would Dog Day Afternoon be a heist movie? That one is great
Heist movies tend to be more about the actual heist and its set-up, while I recall DDA being more about the fallout of the heist after it all goes bad. Kinda like Reservoir Dogs, yes? Maybe it's some subset of heist films, or just sort of heist-adjacent.
It was a great movie, though. The end was a gut-punch.
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.
+1
knitdanIn ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered Userregular
Maybe The Thomas Crown Affair? Both the Steve McQueen one and the Pierce Brosnan one.
“I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
Dark Raven XLaugh hard, run fast,be kindRegistered Userregular
Me n' Lady Raven watched Chappie a couple days ago. I liked it a lot, despite it being derivative. Very pretty, well acted, felt very 'genuine' y'know? Ninja and Yolandi were especially great. My only real big problems with it
Hugh Jackass being moustache twirling evil for no real reason. Your stupid ED-209 design is fuckin' stupid, sorry. Maybe repackage it as a Military Mech since it's obviously so ill suited to police work. Or... no... OK yeah plunging a city into chaos is a much better plan. :I
And then Dev Patel figures out what Hugh did, has the proof in the form of the Genesis.dat and rather than confront the boss lady with this information, he fuckin' arms up and runs off to save Chappie? You have the proof! TELL SOMEONE!
Apart from that! Liked it a lot. Do not understand why it's getting savaged so hard. It's not an A+ movie, by no stretch. But 30% on RT? 40% on Metacritic? That's ridiculous. Better than Elysium in every category, yet that reviewed way higher.
Oh brilliant
+3
TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
everything @Page- wrote about Paddington is spot on and saved me a big write up. It's a great movie, you don't even need the kids qualifier.
The character of Paddington is not as dry in humor as the cartoons, but that's made up for by the Bad Brown being so by the numbers and filling that gap. The kids are not terrible and used just the right amount, the mom is just on the right side of not being a hippie, and it's just a happy movie. It still has the literal humor to it that is nailed perfectly, like Paddington thinking he can only get on an escalator if he carries a dog with him (because the sign says so), and stands on his right foot because a sign says "stand on your right."
And while it does have some sadness, it's real and not forced. And I admire that a movie could so effortlessly hint at and the separation/adoption angle with history without making it be such a cloud over the movie. You either get it on the bigger subtext (the Holocaust), or you just realize it's a lonely kid in a scary new place, like Paddington. Plus, they really make the talking bear thing work, passing off any questions about it being just proper british manners. If there is any flaw in the movie, it's that it might go too far in making London look so clean and perfect like it's funded by London tourism, no chavs in sight, a real storybook look to the streets and buildings (complete with diverse jazz band always around), but it's the film's right to show the city this way and it doesn't feel as out of place as it did in say, Stuart Little.
And the cameos! Super Hans is here! Malcolm Tucker is here! Matt Lucas, Raz Prince, even Danny Bear!
It's absolutely made with love, no cynicism, so the gross out humor of things like sticking toothbrushes in ears and the subsequent ear wax joke doesn't feel like a complete disservice to the movie. I think this is much better than The Muppets because that has so much from so many areas that felt off because Walter was terrible and a stone weight to everything (and I think people merged Muppets and Sesame Street together in their minds).
Watch Paddington, watch Song of the Sea, and be impressed that these movies are hopefully the sign of "kids" movies actually growing up and not making them have such a low ceiling for actually trying. Both of these movies are better than any of the last big name US studio kids movie releases in recent years.
I feel like Fight Club turns Tyler into a psychopathic antagonist because it would be a lot harder to make the movie interesting if he wasn't
I mean the alternative is a movie where The Narrator meets this brilliant guy named Tyler Durden who is right about everything and they become best friends and Tyler changes The Narrator's life and the world for the better and everyone is happy, the end
I'll still ride for Donnie Darko. It's definitely self-important and figuring out the details of the needlessly convoluted plot requires a walkthrough, but it's also got great atmosphere, good performances, a killer soundtrack, and lots of funny moments. Someone mentioned John Hughes and it does have a bit of a demented Hughes vibe, all that 80s pop music and teenage high school drama, just with a transdimensional wormhole dropped in the middle. It's not successful in everything it tries to do, but it's a genuinely original and weird idea.
Was in Robot mode this weekend and watched the new RoboCop and Automata. I searched the forums for discussion on Automata, but couldn't find any. I really found it enjoyable and went to check out the RT score since I hadn't heard too much about it. I was really surprised to see the 33% RT score as I found the movie to have a decent story, acting, and visuals. I thought it would at least come in around the 50% mark of an Oblivion or Tron Legacy. Do I like bad SciFi or is there some bias against SciFi films when it comes to the RT rating system? Maybe those middle of the road films are too soft-scifi for the hardcore fans, and too scifi for the rest?
Either way, if you have a few hours to kill and are looking for something on Netflix, I would recommend Automata as at least worth your time.
0
jungleroomxIt's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovelsRegistered Userregular
I'll still ride for Donnie Darko. It's definitely self-important and figuring out the details of the needlessly convoluted plot requires a walkthrough, but it's also got great atmosphere, good performances, a killer soundtrack, and lots of funny moments. Someone mentioned John Hughes and it does have a bit of a demented Hughes vibe, all that 80s pop music and teenage high school drama, just with a transdimensional wormhole dropped in the middle. It's not successful in everything it tries to do, but it's a genuinely original and weird idea.
I still love this scene, and how much information it manages to convey without being able to hear a single spoken word. Scene of the film for me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsyfGwlf_l0
Plus, I mean, Patrick Swayze is amazing in it. Also, Gyllenhall absolutely nails "teenager who thinks he's smarter than he actually is."
Eh, the film wasn't wrong to criticize shallow consumerism.
The response to it, however, was ridiculous and not intended to be serious at all.
Yes.
The line "I haven't been fucked like that since grade school" still makes me laugh.
The movie is a criticism of peoples stupid responses to things. Its kind of funny because its a really good snapshot of the frustration of the pre 9/11 days in America. I think if anyone wasn't around for those days (at least old enough to really asses the culture) then they should watch Fight Club and American Beauty as a culture study.
That part is on the money. The 90s was the only decade in the last 100 years where idea of a major war was completely absent. Where the monotony of working in one job for your entire career was considered soul-crushing.
Where the future was like San Angeles from the Demolition Man. All tofu and political correct speech.
Its hilarious in hindsight, but it only goes to show that people can fuck up anything.
I don't know about you but my dad spent quite a bit of time in the middle east hoping not to die 1990-1991.
Just because it was a quick war it was still a war and it still had impact on those of us it touched.
I think Desert Storm was a big part of the mood of the 90s. It was hyped as this big war, largest conventional war seen in decades, the ultimate test of Americas Post-Vietnam resolve. On one side the high-tech but untested coalition. On the other the battle harden Iraqi army with its core of elite Republican Guard. A set piece battle involving million soldiers with a real potential of NBC weapons use. Shit was getting real.
Then it fizzled out into a month long bombing campaign followed by a hundred hour ground war, most of which was accepting the surrender of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi soldiers.
It was scary in the run up, but the aftermath was a giant "that's it?!"
The sky was full of stars, every star an exploding ship. One of ours.
I'll still ride for Donnie Darko. It's definitely self-important and figuring out the details of the needlessly convoluted plot requires a walkthrough, but it's also got great atmosphere, good performances, a killer soundtrack, and lots of funny moments. Someone mentioned John Hughes and it does have a bit of a demented Hughes vibe, all that 80s pop music and teenage high school drama, just with a transdimensional wormhole dropped in the middle. It's not successful in everything it tries to do, but it's a genuinely original and weird idea.
I still love this scene, and how much information it manages to convey without being able to hear a single spoken word. Scene of the film for me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsyfGwlf_l0
Plus, I mean, Patrick Swayze is amazing in it. Also, Gyllenhall absolutely nails "teenager who thinks he's smarter than he actually is."
Swayze is amazing in everything.
I have a long post in me about Dirty Dancing I should write up soon.
0
TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
Swayze has a really high hit rate with me on his stuff.
I'll forgive some of his later stuff because he was probably doing it for money because of his cancer. But The Beast was a good show.
I'll still ride for Donnie Darko. It's definitely self-important and figuring out the details of the needlessly convoluted plot requires a walkthrough, but it's also got great atmosphere, good performances, a killer soundtrack, and lots of funny moments. Someone mentioned John Hughes and it does have a bit of a demented Hughes vibe, all that 80s pop music and teenage high school drama, just with a transdimensional wormhole dropped in the middle. It's not successful in everything it tries to do, but it's a genuinely original and weird idea.
I still love this scene, and how much information it manages to convey without being able to hear a single spoken word. Scene of the film for me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsyfGwlf_l0
Plus, I mean, Patrick Swayze is amazing in it. Also, Gyllenhall absolutely nails "teenager who thinks he's smarter than he actually is."
god, I forgot all the actors that were in that
oh Drew
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AstaerethIn the belly of the beastRegistered Userregular
Stawwwp, you guys are making me want to watch Donnie Darko again and write about it.
--
If anyone's interested, there's a rewritten and expanded version of my "lo-fi sci-fi" post up over at my blog. It doesn't really make sense to repost it here because we've already talked through the concept, but some of y'all might want to check out this longer and more in-depth version, particularly because I go into (spoilery) detail on Triangle, The One I Love, Coherence, and Upstream Color:
The editing is restless in i]Upstream Color[/i, always jumping ahead, eager for you to catch up. In essence the whole movie is one long montage; it never stays in one place long enough for you to catch your breath, but sweeps you along downstream. Questions proliferate–Why Walden? Who is the man with the calm voice? Why is she so upset? Why does he love her?–but the proper way to watch the film is to relax and realize that all of these questions are, at heart, one question that you are responsible for ultimately answering: what is the connection between what I’m seeing and what I’ve seen? The sci-fi element here, a cultivated drug that induces both suggestibility and psychic links, is the commonality, but it’s also an excuse the movie uses to meditate on the nature of connection itself, how love and fear and anger and caring are as ultimately inexplicable as they are powerful. Emotions are chemicals, too, but that doesn’t explain the hold they have over us, that bone deep need to get away from what frightens us and cling to the people who feel like home. These connections are like the paper chains that the characters are compelled to make over and over again: fragile, easily forged, but deeply meaningful.
Honestly, it feels like there just aren't a lot of really great heist movies. It's a very specific and recognizable form, but too few movies really transcend it. Or even really fulfill it in that super competent way. (Ronin, for instance, can only sustain things for about half the running time.) There's very little in cinema to match, like, the Parker novels--that really hardboiled feel.
See, I think there are hard and soft heist movies.
Something like Heat or Ronin I would classify as hard, much slower and more methodical and precise in its execution. The audience has a lot more information and spends a lot more time watching the characters collide inside the plan.
Something like Ocean's Eleven or the Italian Job remake I would classify as soft. They seem to be more about tricking the audience and the heist itself.
Best way I could sum it up would be to say that in a hard heist movie when things go wrong it's because they went wrong, but in a soft heist movie when things go wrong it was all part of the plan.
Yeah, I really love soft heist/con/caper/ whatever movies. I'd say Ocean's Eleven and The Sting are too examples of the "tricking the audience" style done right, each revealing just enough of the job that audience sort of gets conned along with everyone else until the big "this is how we pulled it off" reveal. Most others though just totally half ass it and go with the "everything you saw was part of the plan" twist (imagine 16 quotation marks around "twist"), including stuff that would absolutely impossible to plan for. I still dig them though.
Swayze has a really high hit rate with me on his stuff.
I'll forgive some of his later stuff because he was probably doing it for money because of his cancer. But The Beast was a good show.
Black Dog was a bad, bad movie though.
You shut your goddamn mouth. That movie is amazing.
I mean, the way the movie ends and then the credits are about to role when they realise they forgot to kill one of the villains so there's a random truck chase for 5 minutes, an explosion and then immediately cut to credits because we've resolve that shit?
Oscar worthy.
shryke on
+1
TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
Worst Meat Loaf acting vehicle ever.
And Randy Travis is in no way a Harry Connick Jr, who is a delight in his acting ventures.
I'll still ride for Donnie Darko. It's definitely self-important and figuring out the details of the needlessly convoluted plot requires a walkthrough, but it's also got great atmosphere, good performances, a killer soundtrack, and lots of funny moments. Someone mentioned John Hughes and it does have a bit of a demented Hughes vibe, all that 80s pop music and teenage high school drama, just with a transdimensional wormhole dropped in the middle. It's not successful in everything it tries to do, but it's a genuinely original and weird idea.
I still love this scene, and how much information it manages to convey without being able to hear a single spoken word. Scene of the film for me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsyfGwlf_l0
Plus, I mean, Patrick Swayze is amazing in it. Also, Gyllenhall absolutely nails "teenager who thinks he's smarter than he actually is."
Originally, and for most of development, the guy attached to play Donnie was Jason Schwartzman. Can you imagine that movie?
My favourite heist movies that I haven't seen mentioned:
Formula 51
Snatch
Lock, Stock, & 2 Smoking Barrels
Eh... In the case of Snatch the heist that kicks off the chain of events is finished by the opening credits, and nominal protagonists Turkish and Tommy aren't even aware that either the diamond heist or the resultant bookie heist have taken place.
My favourite heist movies that I haven't seen mentioned:
Formula 51
Snatch
Lock, Stock, & 2 Smoking Barrels
Eh... In the case of Snatch the heist that kicks off the chain of events is finished by the opening credits, and nominal protagonists Turkish and Tommy aren't even aware that either the diamond heist or the resultant bookie heist have taken place.
I've always felt the Bookie heist in Snatch to be one of the funniest sequences ever put to film, but I'm weird like that.
My favourite heist movies that I haven't seen mentioned:
Formula 51
Snatch
Lock, Stock, & 2 Smoking Barrels
Eh... In the case of Snatch the heist that kicks off the chain of events is finished by the opening credits, and nominal protagonists Turkish and Tommy aren't even aware that either the diamond heist or the resultant bookie heist have taken place.
Yes, but there are also a lot of cons and scams going on in the movie, which would nominally be called heist movies if they were their own independent films.
MWO: Adamski
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AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
Honestly, it feels like there just aren't a lot of really great heist movies. It's a very specific and recognizable form, but too few movies really transcend it. Or even really fulfill it in that super competent way. (Ronin, for instance, can only sustain things for about half the running time.) There's very little in cinema to match, like, the Parker novels--that really hardboiled feel.
I want my Darwin Cooke Parker movies now, dammit.
Preferably directed by Soderberg or the Coens, starring Josh Brolin.
I'll settle for Michael Shannon if Brolin is not available.
+2
Brainiac 8Don't call me Shirley...Registered Userregular
edited March 2015
I have been trying to imagine what a Marvel helmed Spider-Man movie will be like, and for the life of me I just can't.
I honestly think they should retroactively make the Raimi movies canon and make Parker a legacy hero that has been working in the background. Then introduce Miles and have Parker act as his mentor.
That way we get the best of both worlds, Parker and Miles in one movie. Then we can get McGuire in one more movie. (Shut up, I actually enjoyed Toby)
Would Dog Day Afternoon be a heist movie? That one is great
Heist movies tend to be more about the actual heist and its set-up, while I recall DDA being more about the fallout of the heist after it all goes bad. Kinda like Reservoir Dogs, yes? Maybe it's some subset of heist films, or just sort of heist-adjacent.
It was a great movie, though. The end was a gut-punch.
I'm fairly certain John Cazale has the highest percentage of "films acted in that received academy award nominations" in history. He only appeared in five films before his untimely death, and each one was nominated for Best Picture.
Posts
I'm astounded that such a movie exists right now, and also that nobody is talking about it. Hyperbole and all, but I thought it was brilliant. Better than the Lego movie, and more enjoyable to me than most of what Pixar has done.
It's a kid's movie, sure, and is about a talking bear from "darkest Peru," yes. But the movie buys into that so completely, and so instantly, that it never matters. And not in this annoyingly ironic way that modern remakes deal with their source materials. There is no moment when an arch character winks at the camera and says, "but it's a talking bear!" or the like. He's a bear, he wears a hat, and he likes marmalade. And that's fine.
For the movie itself, just wow. The kids are there, and they are not precocious. They are kids. They are not annoying, they do not get too much screen time. There are nice kids who have their own personalities and problems, who contribute to the story and the texture of the film, who don't intrude, and they're well acted. The adults are all wonderful, with Nicole Kidman (someone who I generally do not care for) playing a great villain. Peter Capaldi is also great as the nosy neighbour (my biggest knock on the movie is that I wish he had more scenes).
Next is the humour. It was refreshingly low-key and satisfyingly devoid of pop culture references. There was a single, short musical prompt that could qualify as a pop culture reference, but that's about it. It was also nice, and without notable sarcasm. Most of the jokes are aimed at everyone, too, which is nice. It hits that sweet spot that is not quite Pixar, but more Winnie the Pooh. It's understated and universal.
Last, but not least, was the cinematography. The film is beautiful to look at. The CG for Paddington is neither too real not too fake, and the rest of the movie is built around making it fit. The set designs are so good. The use of colour in each scene is so good, like the kind of thing you'd expect in a beloved illustrated story book. The greens Capaldi's apartment were especially nice. There are also a whole lot of little touches, like the cross-section doll house in the attic that opens to show the Brown's house and everyone inside, the way the tree mural in their main stairwell changes depending on the mood of the characters, the way each of the Browns hides in perfectly sized alcove under the museum stairs. It just generally has the tone and palette of a really nice book, so that there is always something going on visually. The world is immediately rich and interesting, and stays that way to the credits.
This was not the work of a studio trying to cash in on a name. It was a labour of love by Paul King, someone who has previously worked on the likes of Mighty Boosh and Garth Marenghi's Darkplace. Exactly the type needed to make a movie so goofy and well-crafted. Comparable to the work Jason Segel put into the new Muppets Movie.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
See, I think there are hard and soft heist movies.
Something like Heat or Ronin I would classify as hard, much slower and more methodical and precise in its execution. The audience has a lot more information and spends a lot more time watching the characters collide inside the plan.
Something like Ocean's Eleven or the Italian Job remake I would classify as soft. They seem to be more about tricking the audience and the heist itself.
Best way I could sum it up would be to say that in a hard heist movie when things go wrong it's because they went wrong, but in a soft heist movie when things go wrong it was all part of the plan.
twitch.tv/Taramoor
@TaramoorPlays
Taramoor on Youtube
Or maybe:
But Jamie Foxx is charming enough, the little girl is cute, and the script is mostly inoffensive. It all feels rather perfunctory, and it ably demonstrates the difference between a nice voice and a good voice. The people in the film have nice voices.
It's better than a lot of remakes, though, and it updates the story well enough. Overall, i give it a final score of "it didn't suck".
Squee. I will name you, "Baku Baku."
I would be as well. It had the worst trailers.
I know we're used to good trailers selling bad movies, but how do we deal with terrible trailers for good movies?
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
Heist movies tend to be more about the actual heist and its set-up, while I recall DDA being more about the fallout of the heist after it all goes bad. Kinda like Reservoir Dogs, yes? Maybe it's some subset of heist films, or just sort of heist-adjacent.
It was a great movie, though. The end was a gut-punch.
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
And then Dev Patel figures out what Hugh did, has the proof in the form of the Genesis.dat and rather than confront the boss lady with this information, he fuckin' arms up and runs off to save Chappie? You have the proof! TELL SOMEONE!
Apart from that! Liked it a lot. Do not understand why it's getting savaged so hard. It's not an A+ movie, by no stretch. But 30% on RT? 40% on Metacritic? That's ridiculous. Better than Elysium in every category, yet that reviewed way higher.
The character of Paddington is not as dry in humor as the cartoons, but that's made up for by the Bad Brown being so by the numbers and filling that gap. The kids are not terrible and used just the right amount, the mom is just on the right side of not being a hippie, and it's just a happy movie. It still has the literal humor to it that is nailed perfectly, like Paddington thinking he can only get on an escalator if he carries a dog with him (because the sign says so), and stands on his right foot because a sign says "stand on your right."
And while it does have some sadness, it's real and not forced. And I admire that a movie could so effortlessly hint at and the separation/adoption angle with history without making it be such a cloud over the movie. You either get it on the bigger subtext (the Holocaust), or you just realize it's a lonely kid in a scary new place, like Paddington. Plus, they really make the talking bear thing work, passing off any questions about it being just proper british manners. If there is any flaw in the movie, it's that it might go too far in making London look so clean and perfect like it's funded by London tourism, no chavs in sight, a real storybook look to the streets and buildings (complete with diverse jazz band always around), but it's the film's right to show the city this way and it doesn't feel as out of place as it did in say, Stuart Little.
And the cameos! Super Hans is here! Malcolm Tucker is here! Matt Lucas, Raz Prince, even Danny Bear!
It's absolutely made with love, no cynicism, so the gross out humor of things like sticking toothbrushes in ears and the subsequent ear wax joke doesn't feel like a complete disservice to the movie. I think this is much better than The Muppets because that has so much from so many areas that felt off because Walter was terrible and a stone weight to everything (and I think people merged Muppets and Sesame Street together in their minds).
Watch Paddington, watch Song of the Sea, and be impressed that these movies are hopefully the sign of "kids" movies actually growing up and not making them have such a low ceiling for actually trying. Both of these movies are better than any of the last big name US studio kids movie releases in recent years.
Great movie.
I mean the alternative is a movie where The Narrator meets this brilliant guy named Tyler Durden who is right about everything and they become best friends and Tyler changes The Narrator's life and the world for the better and everyone is happy, the end
The movie we wanted was sold out! We didn't know!
We did not go out much longer!
Either way, if you have a few hours to kill and are looking for something on Netflix, I would recommend Automata as at least worth your time.
You are the worst movie picker.
Cell phones have Google.
I still love this scene, and how much information it manages to convey without being able to hear a single spoken word. Scene of the film for me.
Plus, I mean, Patrick Swayze is amazing in it. Also, Gyllenhall absolutely nails "teenager who thinks he's smarter than he actually is."
I think Desert Storm was a big part of the mood of the 90s. It was hyped as this big war, largest conventional war seen in decades, the ultimate test of Americas Post-Vietnam resolve. On one side the high-tech but untested coalition. On the other the battle harden Iraqi army with its core of elite Republican Guard. A set piece battle involving million soldiers with a real potential of NBC weapons use. Shit was getting real.
Then it fizzled out into a month long bombing campaign followed by a hundred hour ground war, most of which was accepting the surrender of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi soldiers.
It was scary in the run up, but the aftermath was a giant "that's it?!"
Swayze is amazing in everything.
I have a long post in me about Dirty Dancing I should write up soon.
I'll forgive some of his later stuff because he was probably doing it for money because of his cancer. But The Beast was a good show.
Black Dog was a bad, bad movie though.
god, I forgot all the actors that were in that
oh Drew
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If anyone's interested, there's a rewritten and expanded version of my "lo-fi sci-fi" post up over at my blog. It doesn't really make sense to repost it here because we've already talked through the concept, but some of y'all might want to check out this longer and more in-depth version, particularly because I go into (spoilery) detail on Triangle, The One I Love, Coherence, and Upstream Color:
I agree, you should do that thing.
Yeah, I really love soft heist/con/caper/ whatever movies. I'd say Ocean's Eleven and The Sting are too examples of the "tricking the audience" style done right, each revealing just enough of the job that audience sort of gets conned along with everyone else until the big "this is how we pulled it off" reveal. Most others though just totally half ass it and go with the "everything you saw was part of the plan" twist (imagine 16 quotation marks around "twist"), including stuff that would absolutely impossible to plan for. I still dig them though.
You shut your goddamn mouth. That movie is amazing.
I mean, the way the movie ends and then the credits are about to role when they realise they forgot to kill one of the villains so there's a random truck chase for 5 minutes, an explosion and then immediately cut to credits because we've resolve that shit?
Oscar worthy.
And Randy Travis is in no way a Harry Connick Jr, who is a delight in his acting ventures.
Originally, and for most of development, the guy attached to play Donnie was Jason Schwartzman. Can you imagine that movie?
Formula 51
Snatch
Lock, Stock, & 2 Smoking Barrels
MWO: Adamski
I've always felt the Bookie heist in Snatch to be one of the funniest sequences ever put to film, but I'm weird like that.
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Yes, but there are also a lot of cons and scams going on in the movie, which would nominally be called heist movies if they were their own independent films.
MWO: Adamski
I want my Darwin Cooke Parker movies now, dammit.
Preferably directed by Soderberg or the Coens, starring Josh Brolin.
I'll settle for Michael Shannon if Brolin is not available.
I honestly think they should retroactively make the Raimi movies canon and make Parker a legacy hero that has been working in the background. Then introduce Miles and have Parker act as his mentor.
That way we get the best of both worlds, Parker and Miles in one movie. Then we can get McGuire in one more movie. (Shut up, I actually enjoyed Toby)
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I'm fairly certain John Cazale has the highest percentage of "films acted in that received academy award nominations" in history. He only appeared in five films before his untimely death, and each one was nominated for Best Picture.