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Zack and Miri Make [movies]

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Posts

  • KaputaKaputa Registered User regular
    edited November 2019
    Ill stand by my belief that Black Panther is a mess designed to be the pop culture version of oscar bait.
    Seriously. I broke my "no Marvel movies" rule to watch that a few weeks ago because everyone seemed to love it. Lo and behold, it was the exact same movie as the rest of them, and basically a 90 minute cliche. I didn't know until reading this thread that the action scenes in MCU movies were filmed by the same people, but that explains why they all seem the same to me. What I wonder is whether the movies are secretly all written by the same few people too; the way the dialogue flows in these movies seems to follow an exact formula, down to the timing of the "clever wisecrack" partway through the action scene.

    The one thing I liked was that the white dude who seemed to be the villain got offed early on and replaced by a slightly less lame villain. Mostly because that was the one moment in the movie that couldn't be easily predicted from the first fifteen minutes or so.

    I dunno, I liked Iron Man 1, but I am entirely at a loss as to how this franchise keeps bringing people back to the theaters after like 20 movies. Different strokes and such, but I do hope they start to peter out soon.

    And the argument that a lot of pre-Marvel action movies were also bad might be true, but that's more an argument for the sorry state of the genre generally than an argument in favor of the MCU.

    Kaputa on
  • GrisloGrislo Registered User regular
    TexiKen wrote: »
    I have a Hong Kong Has Fallen script ready to go, it can be filmed in Taiwan and Gerry B fights commie tanks but Nick Nolte sends them all flying with a 300 chain explosion and in the end Gerry Bs daughter inadvertently saves the day with her bullet proof Winnie The Pooh toy in Gerry Bs jacket pocket, I’m faxing this over to Lionsgate on my Flinstones Phone now.

    John Woo already did a Hong Kong independence action flick allegory. He had a baby save the day with heroic peeing, not some daughter with a cheap gag. C- effort, see me after class.

    (Is it true that vaping was a plot point in the latest Fallen movie? I don't have the heart to watch them, but am morbidly curious)

    This post was sponsored by Tom Cruise.
  • Rhesus PositiveRhesus Positive GNU Terry Pratchett Registered User regular
    The Fallen franchise should continue until there's one for every city

    Like Monopoly special editions

    [Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]
  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    The Fallen franchise should continue until there's one for every city

    Like Monopoly special editions

    Millennials Have Fallen
    Gerard Butler insults younger people for two hours

  • JazzJazz Registered User regular
    Felix Baumgartner Has Fallen

    Gerard Butler narrates the famous jump from space

  • Rhesus PositiveRhesus Positive GNU Terry Pratchett Registered User regular
    Gerard Butler must team up with the Beatles to win a dance competition in

    Help! I’ve Fallen and Can’t Get Up

    [Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]
  • JazzJazz Registered User regular
    Gerard Butler helps Frodo and the Fellowship find their wizard friend after he fought a Balrog in

    Gandalf Has Fallen

  • SleepSleep Registered User regular
    I've never seen any of the fallen series, is there any unified story in them?

  • JazzJazz Registered User regular
    edited November 2019
    Gerard Butler must venture into a dangerous stairwell and get OCP's massive enforcement droid to stop crying like a baby and get back on its feet in

    ED-209 Has Fallen

    Jazz on
  • nexuscrawlernexuscrawler Registered User regular
    Sleep wrote: »
    I've never seen any of the fallen series, is there any unified story in them?

    Somehow a man with the worst hidden Scottish accent ever is totally100% American and in the Secret service

  • Kipling217Kipling217 Registered User regular
    My dad un-ironically loves the Fallen Franchise, while I had never seen any of them. When I was with him on a holiday a few months back we where walking past a cinema on our way to the hotel one evening and they had Angel has Fallen as a late showing. We went in and watched it. It was quite frankly awful, but my dad enjoyed it, so I did too.

    What I am saying is that sometimes a movies quality is more who you are watching it with than what you are actually watching.

    Also the Fallen Franchise is definitely geared for the 50+ old guy demographic what with crust old farts kicking the ass of young squirts. Which is cool enough, not everything has to be for the 13 year olds.

    The sky was full of stars, every star an exploding ship. One of ours.
  • nexuscrawlernexuscrawler Registered User regular
    The term Dad Afternoon movie comes to mind

  • DiannaoChongDiannaoChong Registered User regular
    edited November 2019
    I call that the 'boomer action market'(a subset of 'boomer bait'), and the best part is when the demo goes and sees something like no country for old men and are utterly baffled by what they just saw.

    Edit: the netflix(or amazon?) algorithm for my parents who only watch boomer bait or period piece murder mysteries, keeps getting recomended 'the lobster' and I can't wait for them to stumble into that one somehow.

    DiannaoChong on
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  • JazzJazz Registered User regular
    Sleep wrote: »
    I've never seen any of the fallen series, is there any unified story in them?

    Somehow a man with the worst hidden Scottish accent ever is totally100% American and in the Secret service

    In the '80s he would have had an un-hidden Austrian accent, so I can forgive that.

  • PreacherPreacher Registered User regular
    Well I mean Jack Bauer the greatest counter intelligence agent ever produced... Is a canadian peacnik who drinks a little too much.

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

    pleasepaypreacher.net
  • TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    Grislo wrote: »
    TexiKen wrote: »
    I have a Hong Kong Has Fallen script ready to go, it can be filmed in Taiwan and Gerry B fights commie tanks but Nick Nolte sends them all flying with a 300 chain explosion and in the end Gerry Bs daughter inadvertently saves the day with her bullet proof Winnie The Pooh toy in Gerry Bs jacket pocket, I’m faxing this over to Lionsgate on my Flinstones Phone now.

    John Woo already did a Hong Kong independence action flick allegory. He had a baby save the day with heroic peeing, not some daughter with a cheap gag. C- effort, see me after class.

    (Is it true that vaping was a plot point in the latest Fallen movie? I don't have the heart to watch them, but am morbidly curious)

    I cannot remember vaping being in the movie at all. Maybe Danny Huston puffed on one when he was having dinner with Gerry B's family (pretty sure it was scotch and cigars), or Nick Nolte said he needed to start vaping in order to be around his granddaughter, but I don't remember anything with getting sick ripped with over 50 nic, brah.

    I have the movie pre-ordered on iTunes and it comes out on Tuesday, I'll rewatch it anyway but I'll keep an eye out for this.

  • XeddicusXeddicus Registered User regular
    It definitely wasn't a plot point if it was there at all.

  • CarpyCarpy Registered User regular
    Had some free time so I caught up on a couple Netflix ...... flicks that I'd missed.


    Bright is 16 Blocks meets Shadow Run but Will Smith can't commit to the Bruce Willis bit. I still enjoyed it, mostly. The writing gets a little loose in the back half but I still want to see more of the world. I also think it fits pretty well in the modern 80's action movie we were talking about earlier, gratuitous boobs and everything.


    Cloverfield Paradox was just bad. It ties together the first two in the worst possible way. At least they each had personaliy and style.

  • VisskarVisskar Registered User regular
    Ketar wrote: »

    Darn, I missed the 'has' in there and thought we were getting some sequels to the 98 Denzel vs a demon movie.

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  • Commander ZoomCommander Zoom Registered User regular
    Visskar wrote: »
    Ketar wrote: »

    Darn, I missed the 'has' in there and thought we were getting some sequels to the 98 Denzel vs a demon movie.

    Fallen Has Fallen

  • Atlas in ChainsAtlas in Chains Registered User regular
    Visskar wrote: »
    Ketar wrote: »

    Darn, I missed the 'has' in there and thought we were getting some sequels to the 98 Denzel vs a demon movie.

    Someday, a sequel to that movie is almost inevitable. Time is on our side.

  • ElJeffeElJeffe Moderator, ClubPA mod
    Gerard Butler has to rescue a popular talk show host who wandered off during a White House tour and can't find his way out in

    Olympus Has Fallon

    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.
  • Inquisitor77Inquisitor77 2 x Penny Arcade Fight Club Champion A fixed point in space and timeRegistered User regular
    Gerard Butler is to action movies what Adam Sandler is to comedies.

    The main difference is that Adam Sandler has actually been in some fantastic films. Otherwise, they both are more than happy to make terrible movies as long as they get to hang out with their friends and make money in the process.

  • matt has a problemmatt has a problem Points to 'off' Points to 'on'Registered User regular
    I'm annoyed they're going to keep cranking out the Has Fallen dreck but we won't ever get a sequel to the far superior White House Down.

    nibXTE7.png
  • JazzJazz Registered User regular
    I'm annoyed they're going to keep cranking out the Has Fallen dreck but we won't ever get a sequel to the far superior White House Down.

    It's surely just because you can't have as much fun with titling potential sequels.

  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    White House Down cost more but didn't make comparatively more is why one has sequels and the other doesn't.

    Neither were good but at least WHD seemed like it realised it's premise was silly and also had Tatum in it.

  • matt has a problemmatt has a problem Points to 'off' Points to 'on'Registered User regular
    edited November 2019
    Just go with the same formula.

    White House: Double Down. The traitorous mercenaries are back and this time it's personal!... More personal... Because the last time it was also personal...

    You could even do a tie-in with KFC and bring back the double down.

    matt has a problem on
    nibXTE7.png
  • Rhesus PositiveRhesus Positive GNU Terry Pratchett Registered User regular
    The mercenaries have to intercept a presidential interstate truck convoy

    Eastbound and Down

    The president's entourage visit a former Soviet state on the Black Sea

    The Whitehouse Came Down to Georgia

    [Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]
  • manwiththemachinegunmanwiththemachinegun METAL GEAR?! Registered User regular
    I unironically love the first two Taken movies, but the best dig at them is still the Deadpool joke. "At some point you just have to wonder if he's a bad parent."

  • AstaerethAstaereth In the belly of the beastRegistered User regular
    In a fit of pique, the president fires his entire Secret Service detail just before he is to meet with the leader of a hostile foreign power. Now, the one remaining agent (who was out sick when the firing happened) and a plucky HR rep have just three days to find, hire, and train a completely new rag-tag team of agents to protect the summit.

    White House Downsized

    This time... it’s personnel.

    ACsTqqK.jpg
  • matt has a problemmatt has a problem Points to 'off' Points to 'on'Registered User regular
    The White House gets taken and anyone with knowledge of its internal workings is killed, except for two men...

    Channing Tatum shoes up on a beach where former President Jamie Foxx is relaxing...

    Mr. President, are you a bad enough dude to rescue... The President.

    nibXTE7.png
  • KaputaKaputa Registered User regular
    edited November 2019
    The Lighthouse was amazing. The film is beautiful black and white, with shots that will stick in your mind for months or years after watching - from panoramic views of Pattinson pushing a wheelbarrow past the lighthouse in the rain to the dense feeling of the two protagonists interacting in their dimly lit, cramped room. The lighting in the interior scenes is really well done, each conversation scene was accomplished with a great attention to detail. The movie's atmosphere is one of dreary isolation at first, escalating gradually to horror and incoherent madness - the incoherence being conscious and clever in a way that adds to rather than detracts from the feeling.

    Pattinson does a great job, and Dafoe is incredible. Dafoe's character is just a joy to behold, entirely believable despite being almost a parody of a deranged, hard-bitten old sailor type. The dynamic between the two varies between almost unbearably tense to something resembling tenderness, and it's enthralling throughout. Defoe's role here is probably my favorite acting performance of the year (Phoenix's Joker and DiCaprio's character in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood being some other standouts for me). The writing is excellent; Defoe's prayers, curses, and rants to the sea deities are just great fun to watch and hear.

    It's a movie that does an incredible job of pulling you deeper into its insanity as it unravels. The pace gradually speeds up from the artfully slow beginning, and the estrangement from reality is by degree (with a few well-placed shocking jumps), so that by the time things are really crazy, you're immersed in the drunken psychosis without knowing how it happened.

    Major spoilers, don't read if you haven't watched:
    The ending scene, "Winslow" gazing into the light and screaming as the screen grows brighter around him, to a point of blinding intensity that almost consumes him as he exults in some terrifying mix of agony and ecstasy, was absolutely incredible. Almost unbearable, even - as his scream ramps up, so did the feeling of my insides constricting upon themselves, until I felt ready to burst or collapse by the end; he falls right at the moment when I felt that I couldn't take it anymore. And then he's revealed to essentially be Prometheus with the disturbing final frame. I think the Greek mythological undertones, which, aside from the obvious sirens, I didn't understand at all until that final scene, add a great deal of depth to the film.

    The thread was discussing the merits of theatrical vs. home viewing earlier, and this is the kind of film that demonstrates Scorsese's point, in my opinion. It's not about over the top special effects and bombastic displays of colorful action, but the power and mood of the film are greatly enhanced by being trapped in a dark, cavernous room with a bunch of other inmates. My theater wasn't packed by any means, but the mounting dread of the audience was palpable as the film escalated. People who argue that cheap indie films can benefit from the current media circumstances and availability of streaming services are probably right, and I think that's great, but this is the kind of movie that deserves theatrical exhibition and the type that is arguably threatened by the Disney juggernaut and the shallow, franchise-heavy movie landscape generally. Watching this in theaters makes you feel as trapped on the stormy island as the protagonists are, and inexorably drawn into horror in a way that just couldn't be accomplished at home. I think it will be a tragedy for art and culture if films like this no longer receive wide viewing at movie theaters.

    The Lighthouse is my favorite film of 2019. I highly recommend going to see it in theaters if any are playing it near you.

    Kaputa on
  • JazzJazz Registered User regular
    I was dismayed to see neither of the two cinemas anywhere near me have The Lighthouse listed, until Google kindly informed me that it's not opening here until January 31st, 2020. Which is a) bullshit, and b) a relief because I haven't missed it!

    Glad to hear it's awesome, I will make a point of seeing it in a cinema.

  • PeccaviPeccavi Registered User regular
    After Olympus Has Fallen came out, one of my coworkers talked about seeing it and said, "It's really scary because it's something that could actually happen!" I just nodded along as I did my work, since I hadn't even heard of the movie at that point.

    A year or two later i noticed it was on Netflix and decided to watch it. The whole time, i just thought to myself, "Really?!! This is what you thought was a credible threat?!"

  • Commander ZoomCommander Zoom Registered User regular
    Peccavi wrote: »
    After Olympus Has Fallen came out, one of my coworkers talked about seeing it and said, "It's really scary because it's something that could actually happen!" I just nodded along as I did my work, since I hadn't even heard of the movie at that point.

    A year or two later i noticed it was on Netflix and decided to watch it. The whole time, i just thought to myself, "Really?!! This is what you thought was a credible threat?!"

    9/11 left scars, man. Stuff that was previously the stuff of bad movies, right there on the live TV news...

  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    Jazz wrote: »
    I was dismayed to see neither of the two cinemas anywhere near me have The Lighthouse listed, until Google kindly informed me that it's not opening here until January 31st, 2020. Which is a) bullshit, and b) a relief because I haven't missed it!

    Glad to hear it's awesome, I will make a point of seeing it in a cinema.

    Apparently it's already opened here. I still can't find a cinema anywhere near me showing it.

  • CarpyCarpy Registered User regular
    Peccavi wrote: »
    After Olympus Has Fallen came out, one of my coworkers talked about seeing it and said, "It's really scary because it's something that could actually happen!" I just nodded along as I did my work, since I hadn't even heard of the movie at that point.

    A year or two later i noticed it was on Netflix and decided to watch it. The whole time, i just thought to myself, "Really?!! This is what you thought was a credible threat?!"

    White House Down is also a bad set up but terrorist cell disguised as a contractor gets access due to insider threat is way more believable than a foreign nation operating tanks and C-130 gunships on US soil.

  • manwiththemachinegunmanwiththemachinegun METAL GEAR?! Registered User regular
    Carpy wrote: »
    Peccavi wrote: »
    After Olympus Has Fallen came out, one of my coworkers talked about seeing it and said, "It's really scary because it's something that could actually happen!" I just nodded along as I did my work, since I hadn't even heard of the movie at that point.

    A year or two later i noticed it was on Netflix and decided to watch it. The whole time, i just thought to myself, "Really?!! This is what you thought was a credible threat?!"

    White House Down is also a bad set up but terrorist cell disguised as a contractor gets access due to insider threat is way more believable than a foreign nation operating tanks and C-130 gunships on US soil.

    US military equipment, including tanks, have been stolen in rampages before. An AC-130 is far-fetched but no, it's not "impossible".

    One of the things Red Cell, the SEAL Anti-terrorist training unit, was able to exploit was that so long as you were a good talker with a decent fake badge, you could pretty much get carte-blanche access to most areas of a military base, even high security ones. That may have changed, but I've heard worse plots.

  • Rhesus PositiveRhesus Positive GNU Terry Pratchett Registered User regular
    Rock of Ages is on the TV, and I guess it's a film that I will watch whenever it's on

    It's just so much fun

    Also I like to think that it's an alternative 30 Rock universe where Jack Donaghy accidentally heard some rock music as a kid

    [Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]
  • KoopahTroopahKoopahTroopah The koopas, the troopas. Philadelphia, PARegistered User regular
    I saw Jojo Rabbit on Friday. It's plot is a bit unevenly paced, but everyone should go see Jojo Rabbit. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This discussion has been closed.