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A Thread About Movies

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Posts

  • NocrenNocren Lt Futz, Back in Action North CarolinaRegistered User regular
    So apparently Battleship released in Euroland and doing very well.

    I just don't know what to believe anymore.

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  • AManFromEarthAManFromEarth Let's get to twerk! The King in the SwampRegistered User regular
    Nocren wrote: »
    So apparently Battleship released in Euroland and doing very well.

    I just don't know what to believe anymore.

    The Euros enjoying big-budget, high-concept shitfests is not a new phenomenon.

    They're basically the whole reason Clash of the Titans and Tintin got sequels.

    See also, the EU.

    HI-OH!

    Avengers has been out for five days over here and I haven't gone to see it yet...

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  • AtomikaAtomika Live fast and get fucked or whatever Registered User regular
    Nocren wrote: »
    So apparently Battleship released in Euroland and doing very well.

    I just don't know what to believe anymore.

    The Euros enjoying big-budget, high-concept shitfests is not a new phenomenon.

    They're basically the whole reason Clash of the Titans and Tintin got sequels.

  • KalTorakKalTorak One way or another, they all end up in the Undercity.Registered User regular
    This page's comments are like a time-travel movie.

    (would that this hoodie were a time-hoodie!)

  • NODeNODe Registered User regular
    Nocren wrote: »
    So apparently Battleship released in Euroland and doing very well.

    I just don't know what to believe anymore.

    Everyone is just scared of angering Liam Neeson and having their constant stream of teenage prostitutes interrupted by his subsequent rampage.

  • Linespider5Linespider5 ALL HAIL KING KILLMONGER Registered User regular
    I just look at Ron Perlman as a warning sign.

    1) Is Ron Perlman in it?

    2) Is it a science fiction movie or a fantasy movie?

    3) Are there swords?

    I'm still amazed he's actually in Drive and somehow didn't appear in Predators.

  • DanHibikiDanHibiki Registered User regular
    I just look at Ron Perlman as a warning sign.

    1) Is Ron Perlman in it?

    2) Is it a science fiction movie or a fantasy movie?

    3) Are there swords?

    I'm still amazed he's actually in Drive and somehow didn't appear in Predators.

    I don't understand the warning signs.

    Ice Pirates got all of the above and was every bit as amazing as robot ninja pirates that were also in the movie.

  • TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    Saw two films this weekend, completely opposite genres and both were good:

    71: Into the Fire is a good war film that is kind of like Korean Alamo. Early days of the Korean War, the South is getting pushed back, so it's up to an all student soldier squad of 71 students to hold the advancing North Korean army at a girls school to protect a crossing point over a key river. It's one of the few Korean films I've seen where it doesn't try to make the North seem like a misguided brother or to give them sympathy for their actions. It's very brutal, Saving Private Ryan levels of violence, particularly in the opening scene, and does a good job of having the young men realize they are pretty much dead, but it's got the right jingoistic buttons going. And they don't crap on the US, which is nice. The only weird thing that stands out is that the cameras have a filter that really highlights freckles on people's faces.

    Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope is a Morgan Spurlock documentary about San Diego Comic-Con that follows 6 people around during the 2011 comic-con, interspersed with comic creators and actors and actresses in comic/nerd genre films. It's done in a way to highlight how fun the event is for the fans, and it doesn't make fun of them or anything which would be an awfully easy thing to do. The main people they follow around is a comic shop owner who's been there since the beginning who is trying to sell a super rare comic and the chick who makes pretty awesome Mass Effect costumes for the costume contest. There's also two artists looking to get evaluated, a guy who plans on proposing to his girlfriend at a Kevin Smith panel (there is such a great irony in this portion of the film that the guy never picks up on in trying to plan the proposal but the girlfriend doesn't want to leave his side), and a guy who is an action figure collector who is trying to get a super Galactus figure before they sell out. It's not a Senna or a Comedian in terms of originality or insight, but the people interviewed are actually delivering good stuff and being candid and aren't really posturing for the camera. There's actually only one really creepy guy in the film, who does a Star Wars slave girl booth. Everyone else are just people who like that they can go somewhere to enjoy that stuff with others, despite Hollywood's increasing presence.

  • KalTorakKalTorak One way or another, they all end up in the Undercity.Registered User regular
    Glad to hear the Comic-con movie is a good treatment, maybe I'll check it out.

  • CaptainNemoCaptainNemo Registered User regular
    The Last Samurai was suprisingly well done.

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  • BagginsesBagginses __BANNED USERS regular
    So I saw Redline (2009, Japan) today. It really shows what greatness can be achieved when you don't waste any energy on little things like "plot" or "sanity." I love how the whole thing obviously started as a list of demands of what needed to be included (Ducktail, deathrace, bounty hunters, Akira, hostile mecha, female mecha piloted by a magical girl if each breast, car mechajesus...) rather than some sort of outline or story.

  • GreasyKidsStuffGreasyKidsStuff MOMMM! ROAST BEEF WANTS TO KISS GIRLS ON THE TITTIES!Registered User regular
    Watched A History of Violence last night. Cronenberg is a-ok in my books. I've gotten into a fair bit of his filmography this last while and I've really grown to appreciate his work, even in some of the films I don't like as much like The Dead Zone. He has an aesthetic that I love, and even if his premises are rather simple, the things you can get out of them are not. History of Violence seems to be pretty basic, but the questions it raised about violence were intriguing. I found it similar to Crash in the sense that both films give us what we as viewers want (violence in the former, sex in the latter) but then it forces us to acknowledge the costs of those indulgences. In the case of Violence, yeah, we get to see this man kick all kinds of ass to protect his family, but for what? For them to ostracize him and push him away? Well, yeah, that's probably what would happen in real life. I thought it was great.
    And uh, the stairway scene was hot
    :winky:

  • Delta AssaultDelta Assault Registered User regular
    Just saw The Cabin in the Woods. That was an awesome movie. I can see how some people wouldn't like it though, if they were just expecting a traditional horror movie. This was more of a horror comedy.

    My favorite moment has to be the Merman scene. That was fucking hilarious.

  • DoodmannDoodmann Registered User regular
    I'm about a year late to the party at this point but I finally saw Drive tonight, what a movie! I was physically exhausted after watching it. I see why there was so much talk about it getting snubbed at the Oscars.

    Whippy wrote: »
    nope nope nope nope abort abort talk about anime
    Sometimes I sell my stuff on Ebay
  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    While the plot to Hellboy 2 was predictable
    How the sister dies at the end to ensure her evil brother dies was seen from miles away.

    I still loved the movie, beautiful, great monster designs, everything about the Troll Market was fantastic. And I really liked the fight scenes, the bad guys weapon, the spear/sword thing was cool.

    Hellboy 2 was a gorgeous looking movie with a crap story that skips over the part where it makes you actually give a shit about anything that's going on and just assumes you already do.

  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    Watched A History of Violence last night. Cronenberg is a-ok in my books. I've gotten into a fair bit of his filmography this last while and I've really grown to appreciate his work, even in some of the films I don't like as much like The Dead Zone. He has an aesthetic that I love, and even if his premises are rather simple, the things you can get out of them are not. History of Violence seems to be pretty basic, but the questions it raised about violence were intriguing. I found it similar to Crash in the sense that both films give us what we as viewers want (violence in the former, sex in the latter) but then it forces us to acknowledge the costs of those indulgences. In the case of Violence, yeah, we get to see this man kick all kinds of ass to protect his family, but for what? For them to ostracize him and push him away? Well, yeah, that's probably what would happen in real life. I thought it was great.
    And uh, the stairway scene was hot
    :winky:

    Best hate sex on film.

  • BogartBogart Streetwise Hercules Registered User, Moderator mod
    They're basically the whole reason Clash of the Titans and Tintin got sequels.

    The massive popularity in Europe of the source material of Tintin had nothing to do with it making $Texas there? Big budget, mindless extravaganzas are popular all over the place. And Clash took over $150 million in the US, hardly disappointing numbers that needed Europe to save the sequel.

  • AtomikaAtomika Live fast and get fucked or whatever Registered User regular
    Bogart wrote: »
    And Clash took over $150 million in the US, hardly disappointing numbers that needed Europe to save the sequel.

    After marketing, the US numbers for CotT were squarely in the red, and has an RT/MC rating of 28/39.

    If the film didn't triple its budget overseas, no more would have come from it. Studios don't generally look to spend a lot of money extending bland franchises that the critics and audiences don't care for.

  • Linespider5Linespider5 ALL HAIL KING KILLMONGER Registered User regular
    DanHibiki wrote: »
    I just look at Ron Perlman as a warning sign.

    1) Is Ron Perlman in it?

    2) Is it a science fiction movie or a fantasy movie?

    3) Are there swords?

    I'm still amazed he's actually in Drive and somehow didn't appear in Predators.

    I don't understand the warning signs.

    Ice Pirates got all of the above and was every bit as amazing as robot ninja pirates that were also in the movie.

    Ron Perlman has done a LOT of crappy science fiction and a lot of crappy fantasy.

    Basically I see his involvement in any new science fiction movie these days as a kiss of death for that picture being good.

  • NintenNinten Registered User regular
    So, we've checked out Alluda Majaka last weekend, and if you like over the top (no, not Over the Top with Stallone) stuff, then you might wanna check this one out.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cRs_nnhBe4

    Seriously, this movie has everything! Action, adventure, musicals and so on.

    Oh, and it's almost 3 hours long.

  • AstaerethAstaereth In the belly of the beastRegistered User regular
    DanHibiki wrote: »
    I just look at Ron Perlman as a warning sign.

    1) Is Ron Perlman in it?

    2) Is it a science fiction movie or a fantasy movie?

    3) Are there swords?

    I'm still amazed he's actually in Drive and somehow didn't appear in Predators.

    I don't understand the warning signs.

    Ice Pirates got all of the above and was every bit as amazing as robot ninja pirates that were also in the movie.

    Ron Perlman has done a LOT of crappy science fiction and a lot of crappy fantasy.

    Basically I see his involvement in any new science fiction movie these days as a kiss of death for that picture being good.

    I'm not a fan of Ron Perlman, but I do kinda feel sorry for the guy; he just has a big weird face that feels out of place in serious dramas not based on comic books. No wonder he tends to work with visually expressive directors like del Toro and Jeunet.

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  • ThirithThirith Registered User regular
    Perlman seems to be enjoying himself in every film I've seen him in, though, and I usually enjoy watching his performance. It's rarely what I'd call *good* acting, but he seems to be having a blast and I often find it infectious. (Haven't seen the Boll movie, mind you.)

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    "Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
  • wanderingwandering Russia state-affiliated media Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    You can only do so much when you've got a bad script and a bad director, so the fact that someone gave a bad performance in a Boll movie or a Star Wars prequel doesn't mean they're a bad actor.

    wandering on
  • amateurhouramateurhour One day I'll be professionalhour The woods somewhere in TennesseeRegistered User regular
    Saw Carnage last night with the wife, had no idea it was based on a Broadway play.

    It was really, really good, it ends very abruptly, almost like it's just a peek through a window in the day in the life of four people, and it all takes place in one room.

    Very well done, and incredibly awkward for 120 minutes straight.

    are YOU on the beer list?
  • ThirithThirith Registered User regular
    That assessment surprises me. Both I and my girlfriend greatly enjoyed the first half or so, but felt the rest of the film didn't go anywhere other than shrill cliché, running around in circles and covering the same ground, just more loudly.

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    "Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
  • AstaerethAstaereth In the belly of the beastRegistered User regular
    Carnage just proves the Polanski rule*: the longer you watch one of his movies, the more you ask yourself why you're watching. The perfect Polanski film begins with excitement and ends just as apathy hovers on the edge of regret.

    *The only exception is Chinatown.

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  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
    Astaereth wrote: »
    Carnage just proves the Polanski rule*: the longer you watch one of his movies, the more you ask yourself why you're watching. The perfect Polanski film begins with excitement and ends just as apathy hovers on the edge of regret.

    *The only exception is Chinatown.

    I have seen very few Polanski films but I feel like Frantic held up until the very end.

  • Mad King GeorgeMad King George Registered User regular
    Astaereth wrote: »
    Carnage just proves the Polanski rule*: the longer you watch one of his movies, the more you ask yourself why you're watching. The perfect Polanski film begins with excitement and ends just as apathy hovers on the edge of regret.

    *The only exception is Chinatown.

    I have seen very few Polanski films but I feel like Frantic held up until the very end.

    So did Rosemary's Baby, his super-dark version of MacBeth and a film you can't find anywhere, Pirates.

  • amateurhouramateurhour One day I'll be professionalhour The woods somewhere in TennesseeRegistered User regular
    I got the feeling there wasn't supposed to really be an end to the movie. There was no real resolution or goal to achieve. The kids were already most likely disciplined by the school, this was just four assholes sitting in one crowded room that smelled like vomit and cologne getting loaded on cheap scotch masqueraded as expensive scotch for 120 minutes growing more and more (passively) aggressive.

    Honestly I was surprised that the ending WAS NOT the four of them going into the bedroom to bang. Like really surprised actually.

    Regardless, I enjoyed it. The dialogue was good, and everyone's emotions and pauses during scenes were very well timed. I'm still laughing over putting "armed with a stick" in a letter.

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  • Harry DresdenHarry Dresden Registered User regular
    Astaereth wrote: »
    DanHibiki wrote: »
    I just look at Ron Perlman as a warning sign.

    1) Is Ron Perlman in it?

    2) Is it a science fiction movie or a fantasy movie?

    3) Are there swords?

    I'm still amazed he's actually in Drive and somehow didn't appear in Predators.

    I don't understand the warning signs.

    Ice Pirates got all of the above and was every bit as amazing as robot ninja pirates that were also in the movie.

    Ron Perlman has done a LOT of crappy science fiction and a lot of crappy fantasy.

    Basically I see his involvement in any new science fiction movie these days as a kiss of death for that picture being good.

    I'm not a fan of Ron Perlman, but I do kinda feel sorry for the guy; he just has a big weird face that feels out of place in serious dramas not based on comic books. No wonder he tends to work with visually expressive directors like del Toro and Jeunet.

    Perlman fits in well with Sons of Anarchy.

  • AstaerethAstaereth In the belly of the beastRegistered User regular
    Oh, right, Rosemary's Baby! I never count that movie because it's superfluously faithful to the book. But yes, that one doesn't make you want to invent a time machine either.

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  • wanderingwandering Russia state-affiliated media Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    Alien Ressurection is frustrating. I want to love it, because:

    1) It's written by Joss Whedon and directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, holy crap. 2) I really liked it when I saw it in the theater, a week after my tenth birthday. 3) There's a lot that's good about it!

    But it doesn't quite work. Joss Whedon claims that they ruined his script – not by changing it but by executing it badly. Which is a plausible because while the movie is gorgeous (as you'd expect from Jeunet), the performances are painfully over the top.

    I mean imagine if the over-the-top Schumachery nervous guy was played instead by Alan Tudyk and he gave an actual performance. Imagine if the Ron Perlman character was played by Adam Baldwin (or else they asked Perlman to tone it way the hell down) - that character might have gone from “shouty guy whom I want to die horribly” to “loveable rogue”.

    And comedy is all about timing so hey maybe if someone else was directing, the zingers would actually be funny.
    So the movie probably could've been better with someone else at the helm, but I don't know how much better. The premise is kind of unambitious, after all: “aliens get loose on a spaceship”. And just so things seemed extra-rehashy they brought back Ripley. Also this movie was written by an inexperienced Whedon – this was before Buffy, and let's remember that the first season of Buffy kind of sucked.

    What Whedon's good at is making stories with charming surrogate families filled with loveable people who love each other. This one doesn't give you a warm-and-fuzzy community (maybe it would if the acting was better) – but it does give you, at least, a nice one-on-one friendship. Sigorney Weaver plays an alien-human hybrid, and Winona Ryder plays a self-hating robot who wishes she was human. Both actors give good, restrained performances (unlike most of the cast). And the two characters are both outsiders who from this kind-of heartwarming mother-daughter bond. (Or maybe it's a homoerotic bond, whichever.)

    (It's been awhile since I watched Aliens 1-3, but Ripley's sexuality is never really addressed is it? It'd be neat if for this one they were bold enough to be like “oh, by the way, Ripley's a lesbian.”)

    One other person gives a really good performance and that's Brad Dourif. One scene that's great is when Dourif and two other bad guys look on as three humans become infected with the alien parasites behind glass. The scene is just so creepy, and visually it's beautiful, and Dourif's awed expression is perfect.

    Well, at least, it's a great scene until one of the guinea pigs opens his eyes and starts screaming in a cartoony Malcolm in the Middle kind of way.

    Whedon said he didn't like how they handled Buffy the Vampire Slayer: the movie, so he went and made it into a series. I guess he did the same thing with this movie because it's basically proto-Firefly. There's a rag-tag team of space pirates who do morally questionable things but look out for each other like family. Ron Perlman's character is basically Jayne. Ripley is basically River – she's got brain damage at first, she has superpowers, and she cocks her head animalistically (Sigorney Weaver plays the part beautifully). And Ripley starts out as a naked girl in a glowing box. (And when we first see her she's not an adult. How much do you want to bet that Whedon was like “hey what if we made cloned-Ripley a teenager?” and the studio bosses were like “uh we're cloning Ripley because we want Sigorney Weaver to be in the movie, remember?” and Joss Whedon was like “oh, right.”)

    Anyway I hope the two Jeunet movies I loved in middle school (Amélie, Delicatessen) hold up better.

    wandering on
  • TehSpectreTehSpectre Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    Ripley had a daughter that died (of old age related stuff) while she was in stasis between Alien & Aliens.

    This might be a deleted scene.

    TehSpectre on
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  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    Whedon just isn't the guy you want writing an Alien movie period.

  • TehSpectreTehSpectre Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    I thought Alien: Resurrection was an enjoyable, almost campy jaunt into sci-fi horror.

    I don't regard it as canon, but as a fun "what-if" it is great.

    TehSpectre on
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  • Harry DresdenHarry Dresden Registered User regular
    shryke wrote: »
    Whedon just isn't the guy you want writing an Alien movie period.

    Back then, maybe not. Now? I'd be interested in seeing him write & direct an Alien sequel.

  • NocrenNocren Lt Futz, Back in Action North CarolinaRegistered User regular
    TehSpectre wrote: »
    Ripley had a daughter that died (of old age related stuff) while she was in stasis between Alien & Aliens.

    This might be a deleted scene.

    It was but it's usually put back in.
    And it was cancer, but in the picture she was pretty old. (Interesting fact: Ripley's daughter's picture is actually a picture of Signory' mother.)

    However she did sleep with the prison doctor in order to avoid answering his question about what happened to her previously and why she was insistent on chest exams for Hicks and Newt.

    He even remarks as such as they're getting dressed "you managed to deflect my question rather nicely, but I must have an answer."

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  • The JudgeThe Judge The Terwilliger CurvesRegistered User regular
    wandering wrote: »
    Joss Whedon claims that they ruined his script – not by changing it but by executing it badly.

    I should note I have no immediate evidence to back this up, but I feel like this claim (or "the only good lines they kept were mine") is his standard fallback-if-the-project-is-criticized position.

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  • AstaerethAstaereth In the belly of the beastRegistered User regular
    TehSpectre wrote: »
    Ripley had a daughter that died (of old age related stuff) while she was in stasis between Alien & Aliens.

    This might be a deleted scene.

    They deleted that scene out of Aliens, which is ridiculous because that scene's inclusion is the sole difference between Aliens being a really good movie and Aliens being a great movie. It informs the entire rest of the movie, the motherhood themes, everything.

    She could still be a lesbian though. But I kind of like that she isn't--you don't have to be a lesbian to be butch.

    Joss Whedon isn't the guy to write an Alien movie because Alien movies aren't supposed to be funny and he is incapable of doing that. Breezy action-adventure with thematic and character depth? Whedon's your man. Dead serious sci-fi/horror? He's done a scene here or there, but he can't (or isn't interested in) sustaining it.

    By the way, Charlie Kaufman is apparently adapting a YA novel.

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  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    shryke wrote: »
    Whedon just isn't the guy you want writing an Alien movie period.

    Back then, maybe not. Now? I'd be interested in seeing him write & direct an Alien sequel.

    What has time changed for this?

    Alien is just not the kind of franchise I see Whedon's style fitting with at all.

    The Judge wrote: »
    wandering wrote: »
    Joss Whedon claims that they ruined his script – not by changing it but by executing it badly.

    I should note I have no immediate evidence to back this up, but I feel like this claim (or "the only good lines they kept were mine") is his standard fallback-if-the-project-is-criticized position.

    Well it's good you have no evidence.

This discussion has been closed.