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Talk About [Movies]; Say Interesting Things; Don't Be Jerks

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Posts

  • Harry DresdenHarry Dresden Registered User regular
    <<<--- liked Howard the Duck.

    It may have been a terrible movie, but I loved every minute of it.

  • KadokenKadoken Giving Ends to my Friends and it Feels Stupendous Registered User regular
    edited August 2015
    Brazil?

    Kadoken on
  • PailryderPailryder Registered User regular
    Inside Man http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454848/

    Is it a good movie?

  • Apothe0sisApothe0sis Have you ever questioned the nature of your reality? Registered User regular
    What if you reviewed...

    A review?!

  • AstaerethAstaereth In the belly of the beastRegistered User regular
    God, I hate Brazil.

    Inside Man is pretty terrible but most people don't seem to agree.

    I think I'm good on review suggestions for now, at least until I get through the next three or four. Thanks everybody!

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  • AstaerethAstaereth In the belly of the beastRegistered User regular
    Apothe0sis wrote: »
    What if you reviewed...

    A review?!

    For my next review I will review Review.

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  • SarcasmoBlasterSarcasmoBlaster Austin, TXRegistered User regular
    I thought Inside Man was pretty good. All the stuff inside the bank was pretty solid. It really falls apart though in like, the last 20 minutes when the heist is over.

  • FakefauxFakefaux Cóiste Bodhar Driving John McCain to meet some Iraqis who'd very much like to make his acquaintanceRegistered User regular
    edited August 2015
    So earlier today I re-watched Ridley Scott's Legend and that is a bizarre film. It's strangely edited, with lots of close-ups and tight shots that make it feel claustrophobic when it needs a sense of wide open grandiosity, the structure is a mess, most of the characters are bland and forgettable, certain special effects don't work at all... And yet at the same time there's something compelling about it. The set design is wonderful, it captures a certain degree of fairy tale wonder in its atmosphere, Tim Curry is a delight in almost ever scene he has, and while some special effects fail, others are dynamite.

    It's a very frustrating movie, because you get the sense there was something great just under the surface that wasn't able to come out. It was, by all accounts, a very troubled film. Scott's previous film had under-performed so he didn't get as big a budget as he wanted, a fire burned down one of the sets, test screenings were poor so the studio slashed an hour of footage, and the entire orchestral soundtrack was replaced with a pop/synth one.

    Looking over earlier drafts of the script, you get more of a sense of the highly symbolic, Campbellian idea Scott and his screenwriter William Hjortsberg were going for. One can see a lot more of the great film that might have been in there. Unfortunately, even the best draft of the script has huge structural and tonal issues. For example, the princess was going to turn into a cat-monster have a sadomasochistic sexual relationship with Tim Curry. But the biggest problem is one you still see in some of the reviews of the movie from when it came out, suggesting that for all its beauty and atmosphere, it was kind of empty. Even the more interesting, older script doesn't help that.

    Reading about the genesis of the film, one gets the impression that Scott really wanted to do a fairy tale movie with a traditional structure, and Hjortsberg threw in a lot of interesting mythological motifs, but neither man really had a point to make, no unique idea for the story beyond the aesthetic. Which is a shame, because so much else about the movie/script was so good. They just couldn't figure out the fundamental hook.

    Fakefaux on
  • AtomikaAtomika Live fast and get fucked or whatever Registered User regular
    I'm sure it's almost wholly related to seeing it as a child when it first came out, but I have such a soft spot for Howard the Duck it's not even funny.

    I even have the Howard the Duck #1 comic from the 70s sealed and framed.

  • AtomikaAtomika Live fast and get fucked or whatever Registered User regular
    Astaereth wrote: »
    God, I hate Brazil.

    Inside Man is pretty terrible but most people don't seem to agree.

    I think I'm good on review suggestions for now, at least until I get through the next three or four. Thanks everybody!

    How sympatico are we on Terry Gilliam?


    Because I, with the exception of Life of Brian, am not a fan.

  • Harry DresdenHarry Dresden Registered User regular
    Legend was amazing. Tom Cruise as Link an elf.

  • cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm Regent Bears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
    edited August 2015
    With all the Best Korea drama going on, what better way to lighten the mood than by watching The Interview.


    Wow, I really enjoyed it. Lots of great surreal humor, especially the Katy Perry music usage. Heh, the ending didn't pull any punches either. I thought I'd heard otherwise. The soundtrack was inspired.

    Didn't expect all that gore, but I wasn't complaining.

    I found it funny that, more than anyone, they made the CIA look extremely incompetent.


    Re: Gilliam... I respect the guy, but the only film of his I truly love is 12 Monkeys.

    cj iwakura on
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  • FakefauxFakefaux Cóiste Bodhar Driving John McCain to meet some Iraqis who'd very much like to make his acquaintanceRegistered User regular
    edited August 2015
    Legend was amazing. Tom Cruise as Link an elf.

    There's a lot to like about the movie. I just feel it could have been a much more than what it was, especially looking back at some of the troubles it had being made, and what didn't make it into the final version.

    It's especially interesting looking back at their old script, because the movie had a much bigger scope originally, with stuff that would have been extremely difficult to pull off using 1980s effects. Even if you could pull it off, it would have been ludicrously expensive. They had to know most of that wasn't going to make it in. Still, there were a lot of little touches I wish had.

    For example, the original introduction of the unicorns had a bit right out of medieval parable, where first you see a beautiful forest pond, but it is being befouled but a serpent monster vomiting up poison into the water. The unicorn walks in from off screen and dips its horn into the water before drinking, cleansing the poison and allowing all the other forest animals to drink safely. Just a quick sequence, probably most of it could have been handled in one panning shot that would last less than a minute, but it really builds the atmosphere of the movie, and provides foreshadowing for the more cosmic themes that dominate the rest of the movie.

    That was, incidentally, one of the major things Universal Pictures altered when they re-cut the film. In Scott's first cut, the emphasis was on the cosmic give-and-take of good and evil. In the studio's cut, the emphasis is on the love story.

    Fakefaux on
  • AstaerethAstaereth In the belly of the beastRegistered User regular
    Atomika wrote: »
    Astaereth wrote: »
    God, I hate Brazil.

    Inside Man is pretty terrible but most people don't seem to agree.

    I think I'm good on review suggestions for now, at least until I get through the next three or four. Thanks everybody!

    How sympatico are we on Terry Gilliam?


    Because I, with the exception of Life of Brian, am not a fan.

    I like the Monty Python stuff. I was surprised to find myself liking Parnassus. I really, really, really despise 12 Monkeys, Fear and Loathing, and Brazil. I haven't seen anything else.

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  • ElJeffeElJeffe Moderator, ClubPA mod
    When I was a kid, maybe 8, my parents would take us all to see a movie. Then, after the movie we'd paid for was over, we'd sneak into another one, often after it was already half over. Then we'd do it again. Sometimes they wouldn't like the movie we'd paid for and we'd skip out on it after the first half.

    Because of this, I wound up seeing half of a lot of movies. Legend was one of them, and I think we only made it about thirty minutes in. I remember a devil guy with giant horns and Tom Cruise, and that's about it. I should watch it, some day.

    As to Gilliam, he is my homie. I'll always see one of his movies, even if I'll happily admit that most of them have glaring flaws. Brazil is one of my favorite movies, though.

    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.
  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    edited August 2015
    Atomika wrote: »
    Astaereth wrote: »
    God, I hate Brazil.

    Inside Man is pretty terrible but most people don't seem to agree.

    I think I'm good on review suggestions for now, at least until I get through the next three or four. Thanks everybody!

    How sympatico are we on Terry Gilliam?


    Because I, with the exception of Life of Brian, am not a fan.

    If it makes you feel better (or worse :P) I'm with you. Just not a fan of his work, feel like his signature every-present style detracts from any movie of his I've liked other bits of.

    shryke on
  • PailryderPailryder Registered User regular
    we are all individuals.

  • AstaerethAstaereth In the belly of the beastRegistered User regular
    The best way I can explain how I feel about Gilliam is that his visual style in those three movies I mentioned (Brazil, Fear and Loathing, and 12 Monkeys) is characterized by an oppressiveness that I find basically intolerable--it's all fish-eye lenses and uncomfortably constrained framings and visually dense backgrounds. This Fear and Loathing shot, for instance:

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    Too many colors, too many planes, too many eyes--it's sensory overload in a way that not only distracts from what's going on with the human beings but makes me feel really uncomfortable. (It's also visually unbalanced in a way that's discomfiting, the way he looms in an odd perspective shift while she recedes just off-center.)

    Or this shot from 12 Monkeys:

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    That's the production design equivalent of the robots in Transformers 2--so over-detailed that the actual primary information gets lost in the visual confusion.

    I grant that he does this for a reason--you can argue that the dystopian bureaucracy of Brazil is supposed to feel uncomfortably claustrophobic, that Fear and Loathing perfectly recreates the sensation of being on a long, bad drug trip--but I don't think these movies' stories and themes are compelling enough to make up for the painful experience of watching them. And the movies I like that are painful usually provide some kind of pleasure along the way, something these three films don't provide.

    My only explanation for liking Parnassus is that there Gilliam was working with CG instead of reality, and the tech let him have his flights of fancy while still letting my eye slide by to the important stuff in the frame. (That, and I thought there was a bit more to that movie thematically than these three I hate.) For that reason I had been keeping an eye on Gilliam to see if he had other new CG-infused work I could see, but my impression is that his recent material has been very poorly reviewed (particularly Tideland), so I haven't bothered.

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  • Regina FongRegina Fong Allons-y, Alonso Registered User regular
    I kind of liked Parnassus, it had some boring bits but it also had some neat stuff. I liked 12 Monkeys a little, but it seemed that everyone else loved it so much that my slight like for it was almost like a form of hate. It's good to know there are actually people who just legit hate the film.

    I guess my feeling on Gilliam is that I kinda sorta like some of his movies but not nearly as much as his fans seem to.

  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    I enjoyed 12 Monkeys well enough but mostly thought I'd have enjoyed it more if someone else had directed it.

  • ThirithThirith Registered User regular
    edited August 2015
    I disliked Parnassus quite a bit, though it's been a couple of years now and I can't remember *what* I disliked, other than how tacky it looked and felt. However, I very much like 12 Monkeys and love Brazil, and it's not in small part for the same things that Astaereth hates about them. I find that the claustrophobia and sensory overload are a good fit for the main characters' perspectives and situations and for the themes of the film: madness, paranoia, the feeling that there is strange and ominous machinery (sometimes real, sometimes imaginary or symbolic) ticking along madly just outside your field of vision. Brazil is definitely my favourite, also because of most of the actors (Michael Palin is perfect as the bland, oh-so-British torturer, but I can't not mention Ian Holm, Ian Richardson, Robert de Niro in an utterly atypical part, Bob Hoskins, Katherine Helmond, Jim Broadbent, Peter Vaughan and Jonathan Pryce), but also because of the writing (I love me some Stoppardian wit).

    As I said, I like 12 Monkeys a lot, but I also think that while Gilliam's excesses sometimes work brilliantly, sometimes they actively work against the film. I love the guy's imagination, but IMO his direction would greatly benefit from being tempered by discipline. His brand of imaginative anarchy quickly turns into a shapeless mess. At their best, the films have characters and themes that counteract this - practically all the ideas that go into Brazil serve its depiction of England as a bureaucratic monster that doesn't have evil intentions but that nevertheless grinds up people - but it's been a long while since I've seen a Gilliam film I actually liked. (I have a bunch of friends who grew up with Time Bandits and pretty much worship it, but while I like some scenes, visual ideas and dialogues, as a whole I find it obnoxious and boring.)

    After Brazil I considered myself a Gilliam fan, which 12 Monkeys kinda reinforced (it took me two viewings to like the film), but now I'd say that I'm a Brazil fan but that a little Gilliam goes a long way for me. Too much Gilliam and I'm outta there. In fact, I'd say that I like the *idea* of Gilliam (an anarchic visionary for whom imagination is a political act) more than the actual artist.

    Thirith on
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    "Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
  • AlphagaiaAlphagaia Registered User regular
    Awesome, I'll read it when I have the chance!

    Wanna try my Mario Maker levels?

    Shoot m to BITS (hold Y) [hard] C109-0000-014D-4E09
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    Raiding the Serpents Tomb 1A04-0000-0098-C11E
    I like to move it, move it FCE2-0000-00D7-9048

    See my profile here!
  • flamebroiledchickenflamebroiledchicken Registered User regular
    Astaereth, are you waiting for the Blu Ray to see Fury Road?

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  • BlindPsychicBlindPsychic Registered User regular
    edited August 2015
    I'll go there and say I prefer La Jetée to 12 monkeys. Also Sans Soleil is worth a watch, I saw it a few years ago and remember liking it.

    BlindPsychic on
  • AtomikaAtomika Live fast and get fucked or whatever Registered User regular
    I don't know if Gilliam has made a single movie (outside of Monty Python) that wasn't at least 30 minutes too long. I actually quite like Fear & Loathing at the start, and then about 45 minutes in I'm just done with it.

    And yes, @Astaereth , I completely agree with your assessment about the visual clutter being a huge problem with enjoying his work. I know that's his shtick, but that doesn't make it justifiable.



    Oh, and Jesus Christ, his voice. Listening to him talk is the absolute goddamned worst.

  • AstaerethAstaereth In the belly of the beastRegistered User regular
    La Jetee is really, really good.
    Astaereth, are you waiting for the Blu Ray to see Fury Road?

    I dunno. I'm waiting for the right mood and the right open period of time to coincide. Lately I've been watching movies piecemeal over a few nights... But even I've had some free time I haven't really been in the right frame of mind for a balls to the wall action flick.

    Also as a compulsive completionist part of me is reluctant to watch Fury Road until I've gone and caught up with the other Mad Maxes.

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  • gjaustingjaustin Registered User regular
    Astaereth wrote: »
    Also as a compulsive completionist part of me is reluctant to watch Fury Road until I've gone and caught up with the other Mad Maxes.

    Yeah, that's why I haven't seen it yet. I haven't seen any Mad Max movie.

  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    gjaustin wrote: »
    Astaereth wrote: »
    Also as a compulsive completionist part of me is reluctant to watch Fury Road until I've gone and caught up with the other Mad Maxes.

    Yeah, that's why I haven't seen it yet. I haven't seen any Mad Max movie.

    I can tell you that not seeing the other films will not impair your enjoyment of the film.

  • PreacherPreacher Registered User regular
    Honestly you can watch any of the mad max movies completely removed from themselves. They don't really follow sequentially at all, there are no call backs or references you are missing.

    I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.

    pleasepaypreacher.net
  • Harry DresdenHarry Dresden Registered User regular
    Preacher wrote: »
    Honestly you can watch any of the mad max movies completely removed from themselves. They don't really follow sequentially at all, there are no call backs or references you are missing.

    Not entirely. Thunderdome had another Gyro captain.

  • PreacherPreacher Registered User regular
    Yeah but he wasn't at all the same one from Road Warrior, just played by the same actor. Much like Immortman Joe was played by the toe cutter, but we know for damn sure he was not the toe cutter.

    I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.

    pleasepaypreacher.net
  • AstaerethAstaereth In the belly of the beastRegistered User regular
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    gjaustin wrote: »
    Astaereth wrote: »
    Also as a compulsive completionist part of me is reluctant to watch Fury Road until I've gone and caught up with the other Mad Maxes.

    Yeah, that's why I haven't seen it yet. I haven't seen any Mad Max movie.

    I can tell you that not seeing the other films will not impair your enjoyment of the film.

    This may be true for most people but I think I would feel bad, which I recognize is some kind of terrible neurosis.

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  • PreacherPreacher Registered User regular
    Seems like a silly reason to avoid seeing a really good movie, under the auspice you are really worried you wouldn't like it and thus we'll all have to see a huge diatribe about why you're right and why we're wrong.

    I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.

    pleasepaypreacher.net
  • AstaerethAstaereth In the belly of the beastRegistered User regular
    Preacher wrote: »
    Seems like a silly reason to avoid seeing a really good movie, under the auspice you are really worried you wouldn't like it and thus we'll all have to see a huge diatribe about why you're right and why we're wrong.

    No, I expect to like it quite a bit, and I don't think watching it without seeing the earlier Mad Maxes would make me dislike it. Had I had the chance to see it in theaters I would have gone, but that opportunity has passed. So now there's no real reason to get to it first. In my experience most movies don't suffer from delay. It'll be just as enjoyable whenever I happen to get around to it.

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  • VanguardVanguard But now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    everyone go watch the goodnight mommy trailer now

  • DanHibikiDanHibiki Registered User regular
    Vanguard wrote: »
    everyone go watch the goodnight mommy trailer now

    DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!

  • VanguardVanguard But now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    DanHibiki wrote: »
    Vanguard wrote: »
    everyone go watch the goodnight mommy trailer now

    DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!

    you missed this opportunity to add, "You're not my real mom!"

  • kaidkaid Registered User regular
    I have at least liked most of what terry gilliam has done but he has a few real misses. One movie of his missed so bad was tideland. About 20 minutes into the film I was just hoping some sane adult would step in remove the little girl from the set and then let the rest of the cast get on with being horrible people.

  • PreacherPreacher Registered User regular
    Daniel Obrien you are the awkward video personality I need to feel better about myself. Well that and your ever vanishing hair line. Shine on you crazy Masonite.

    I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.

    pleasepaypreacher.net
This discussion has been closed.