Last movie you watched

[Ex-User (9086)]

Ida.
This one is difficult to judge since it's a native production aimed to appeal to the worldwide audience.

The general mentality of my compatriots suffers from inferiority complexes of common origin. This film doesn't bring new things for me, as I'm already familiar with every problem described. What it does generally is somehow it tries to convince the audience of what people can be in various circumstances, which I dislike since the particular circumstances present in this work are highly artificial even considering the setting and time.

I think Ida has artistic and otherwise appeal to the "outsiders".

 

[Teffnology]

I really like Shailene Woodley, The Spectacular Now is an instant classic for me, and she is honestly the only reason I was considering watching this but I think based upon our more or less aligned preferences I will not go out of my way to watch The Fault In Our Stars.

Kind of feel the same about The Theory of Everything. Those two just aren't my cup of tea.

Lego Movie was definitely more entertaining than Big Hero 6. The Academy is dying a slow death.

I would say Whiplash was better than Nightcrawler, Birdman, and American Sniper which is saying a lot because I throughly enjoyed all of those movies. JK Simmons delivers the best performance of any actor in that grouping of films.


Two that I haven't seen mentioned but that I really enjoyed are: Top Five and Playing it Cool.

Top Five- Chris Rock's latest wanna be Spike Lee style movie. There are so many great cameo's in here that almost serves as the entire purpose of the film. To have a stage for all of his buddies and peers to come together and talk about their favorite Hip Hop artists of all-time and fame in general. Jerry Seinfeld is pretty fantastic in it.

Playing It Cool- A super smart and slick Rom-Com about a guy who writes Rom-Coms for a living. That guy is Chris Evans, yup Captain America plays a down on his luck womanizing writer. His best friend is fellow author and eccentric homosexual, Tohper Grace aka Eric Foreman from that 70's Show. Evan's love interest is Michelle Monaghan, Woddy Harrelson's wife in True Detective. Really well written and well acted. A lot of fun and some great shots of San Francisco. Under the radar gem!

 

[Jennywocky]

I really like Shailene Woodley, The Spectacular Now is an instant classic for me, and she is honestly the only reason I was considering watching this but I think based upon our more or less aligned preferences I will not go out of my way to watch The Fault In Our Stars.

I really liked the Spectacular Now, both she and Miles Teller did something I had never quite seen before in that movie. (Teller is in Whiplash, but you probably know that.)

Kind of feel the same about The Theory of Everything. Those two just aren't my cup of tea.

I really like Eddie Redmayne, it's the only reason I'm considering watching it.

Lego Movie was definitely more entertaining than Big Hero 6. The Academy is dying a slow death.

I read some of the "anonymous" ballot comments that various voters feed to news sources. it wasn't uncommon for someone to say they only saw two movies in a category and not even bother with the others. WTF is that about? In any case, it means half the battle at least is distribution and promotion, and there are no real standards in the voting.

Essie Davis gave an Oscar-worthy performance in "The Bobadook," for example, but I bet because of genre and the lack of awareness of the movie meant that no one even considered sticking her on the ballot.

So it's got a good heavy dose of popularity contest, unfortunately.

I would say Whiplash was better than Nightcrawler, Birdman, and American Sniper which is saying a lot because I throughly enjoyed all of those movies. JK Simmons delivers the best performance of any actor in that grouping of films.

he's a great character actor, I've seen him in SO many movies over the years. I'm glad he finally got some form of recognition for his work.

I have to say, I thought Nightcrawler was a great movie and Jake Gyllenhaal got snubbed there too... but I don't know if I ever want to watch it again. It might go in my "Requiem for a Dream" category.

Evan's love interest is Michelle Monaghan, Woddy Harrelson's wife in True Detective.

She deserves more exposure.

 

[Teffnology]

Essie Davis gave an Oscar-worthy performance in "The Bobadook," for example, but I bet because of genre and the lack of awareness of the movie meant that no one even considered sticking her on the ballot.

So it's got a good heavy dose of popularity contest, unfortunately.



he's a great character actor, I've seen him in SO many movies over the years. I'm glad he finally got some form of recognition for his work.

I have to say, I thought Nightcrawler was a great movie and Jake Gyllenhaal got snubbed there too... but I don't know if I ever want to watch it again. It might go in my "Requiem for a Dream" category.



She deserves more exposure.

Someone is gonna have to break down for me how to use the multi-quote tool. I am throughly confused.

Ya I love everything Miles Teller touches. That Awkward Moment had some sneaky good moments but as a whole was not that good. I haven't seen Two Night Stand but it is in my queue for when I can tolerate that level of infuriating social generality of dating and romance. He was fun in 21 and Over and Protect X. Whiplash made me reconsider him as an actual actor and not just some guy with unique timing and quirkiness, The Spectacular Now had planted that seed to begin with. Fantastic 4 here we come!

O shit! I freaking loved "The Bobadook" but I have never met anyone else that saw it, and it is likely The Academy either was ignorant of it or simply chose to exclude it because it was not apart of the mainstream media. Indie films are notoriously underrepresented at the awards shows but somehow with the modern landscape this has to change.

I saw JK Simmons as a lead in "The Music Never Stopped" and he gave a knockout performance there too. But yes his character acting in so many things is what he is most known for. His character in Extract makes me crack up every single time. And he is by far the best part about the Tobey McGuire SpiderMan series.

I have probably watched Nightcrawler 5 times just so I can learn all of the lines Jake G used for social engineering. The concepts he presents are very applicable to the business world, he just takes them to a sociopathic level. I relish that grit and grime of reality that makes you not want to see it again. You may not like The Wire based on that comment alone, just sayin.

My one and done category consists of mostly war movies. Like Apocalypse Now, I hesitantly made my way through it and countless other war epics just so that I can say i saw it. Patton is sitting in that spot right now of knowing its importance but dreading sitting through it, and Full Metal Jacket is the epitome of that category for me.

Monaghan is always an underrated aspect of whatever she is in but she is really good, consistently. She reveals a side of herself that I hadn't seen in any other role previous to this one.


EDIT: My favorite part of The Spectacular Now was when Teller goes to meet his dad and a totally unexpected cameo, but half expected as his name was on the opening credits and on the descriptions, Kyle Chandler or as I yell at my TV at uncontrollable levels every time he is on screen "COACH TAYLOR!!!!!!". No matter what else that man does in his career he will forever be known as Coach Eric Taylor for me, "Texas Forever!" and "Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose!" I feel obligated to mention that because it is the main reason why I liked The Spectacular Now, the 3 minutes of screen time that Kyle Cha... I mean "COACH TAYLOR!!!!!!" was in.

 

[Jennywocky]

Someone is gonna have to break down for me how to use the multi-quote tool. I am throughly confused.

Oh, I code it all by hand (i.e., I type in all the quote tags myself). As far as individual posts go.

Ya I love everything Miles Teller touches. That Awkward Moment had some sneaky good moments but as a whole was not that good. I haven't seen Two Night Stand but it is in my queue for when I can tolerate that level of infuriating social generality of dating and romance. He was fun in 21 and Over and Protect X. Whiplash made me reconsider him as an actual actor and not just some guy with unique timing and quirkiness, The Spectacular Now had planted that seed to begin with. Fantastic 4 here we come!

I don't necessarily take to him, but... I think his performances are unique rather than cookie-cutter, and he seems to lack self-consciousness when he acts, a positive. I also love it when I see someone play an extrovert who seems to be scared/avoidant about their interior life, I don't really see that happen a ton.

O shit! I freaking loved "The Bobadook" but I have never met anyone else that saw it, and it is likely The Academy either was ignorant of it or simply chose to exclude it because it was not apart of the mainstream media. Indie films are notoriously underrepresented at the awards shows but somehow with the modern landscape this has to change.

Yeah, it never released here originally, but it was on FIOS and I paid to watch it at home on my large screen. For having such a small budget and cast, the art design was just spectacular; and Essie went through such a range of believable emotion. I had no idea she could pull that off. The relationship with her son was believable, and I liked for how much of the movie you really couldn't be sure whether it was real or whether they were just imagining it. There was also a lot of psychological depth. It was a little gem of a movie that snuck on the scene without much fanfare.

I saw JK Simmons as a lead in "The Music Never Stopped" and he gave a knockout performance there too. But yes his character acting in so many things is what he is most known for. His character in Extract makes me crack up every single time. And he is by far the best part about the Tobey McGuire SpiderMan series.

He was really funny there -- he did a great Jameson. he can also play off other actors well, seeing him with Ellen page and Allison Janney in Juno was just so excellent.

I have probably watched Nightcrawler 5 times just so I can learn all of the lines Jake G used for social engineering. The concepts he presents are very applicable to the business world, he just takes them to a sociopathic level. I relish that grit and grime of reality that makes you not want to see it again. You may not like The Wire based on that comment alone, just sayin.

I actually like dark, ugly movies. (Just finished House of Cards Season 3.) I'm fine with gore as well, although not for its own sake. But I do have all the Saw movies, and I do own Requiem for a Dream, despite my joke about it. I've watched all the VHS movies and the ABCs of Death and other fun things. It's just... I didn't like his character at all and it left me with a large distaste in my mouth; he had no sense of personal boundaries and views other people as objects, he really is a "regular" sociopath versus the caricatures we usually get in these movies. People like him actually exist out there. Normally I find it interesting, but he kind of just left me feeling gross and dirty afterwards, especially after he twists Renee Russo's arm to, well, you know. So it doesn't excite me, but I easily recognize the quality of the movie and performance. Jake has done some really good stuff in his career. (I want to watch Enemy, which I haven't seen yet.)

My one and done category consists of mostly war movies. Like Apocalypse Now, I hesitantly made my way through it and countless other war epics just so that I can say i saw it. Patton is sitting in that spot right now of knowing its importance but dreading sitting through it, and Full Metal Jacket is the epitome of that category for me.

Oh, okay. I've seen a few of the intense ones in that category; I need to watch Apocalpyse now, I have the metal box for that but haven't actually ever watched it yet. I hate the bookends for Saving Private Ryan (too cheesy/sentimental for me), but the movie itself is really good.

Monaghan is always an underrated aspect of whatever she is in but she is really good, consistently. She reveals a side of herself that I hadn't seen in any other role previous to this one.

interestingly, I think i first saw her in Mission Impossible III but just loved her even then. She has grace + toughness/resilience about her. I wish her part in True Detective had been better / more meaty, but she shone in the few good moments she got.

EDIT: My favorite part of The Spectacular Now was when Teller goes to meet his dad and a totally unexpected cameo, but half expected as his name was on the opening credits and on the descriptions, Kyle Chandler or as I yell at my TV at uncontrollable levels every time he is on screen "COACH TAYLOR!!!!!!". No matter what else that man does in his career he will forever be known as Coach Eric Taylor for me, "Texas Forever!" and "Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose!" I feel obligated to mention that because it is the main reason why I liked The Spectacular Now, the 3 minutes of screen time that Kyle Cha... I mean "COACH TAYLOR!!!!!!" was in.

Lol. I never did watch Friday Night Lights, unfortunately, but I know that he's really popular in that role. Did I first see him in Jackson's King Kong remake? probably, although i remember him from Super 8 and now a bunch of stuff. I love it when an actor unexpectedly shows up in a movie, as long as they're decently cast.

(It was kind of amusing to see Terry Gilliam show up unexpectedly for a minute in Jupiter Ascending.)

 

[Teffnology]

I have been meaning to get into the hand coding thing because I like some of the things that Architect does with his posts and you guys all have been doing interesting things that me wonder how you did that. Dually noted.

Friday Night Lights has an insanely high level of acting in it for its subject matter. Michael B Jordan was a favorite of mine from here too, aka Wallace from The Wire first however and Chronicle and Fruitvale Station on the silver screen (unintentional Silver Surfer pun from Fantastic 4).

I first saw Kyle Chandler on the CBS show Early Edition and have always loved that show. He is a token handsome character actor, he as also is in Argo and Wolf of Wall Street.

Jupiter Ascending is on my must see list fo sho.

Super jellie of you having already finished House of Cards season 3. I didn't even know it was released until late yesterday. Guess I know what I am doing from now until 5:30 am tomorrow morning (13 hours from now).

 

[Jennywocky]

Trying to watch Jesus Camp. I can't, i keep pausing it -- I get angry listening to the people in the documentary. It might be fascinating if you've never been exposed to that demographic before, but when you grew up in it and felt silenced and frustrated by the mentality with no possibility of ever having an actual dialog with anyone, it's more like reliving a bad time versus learning something interesting.

Jupiter Ascending is on my must see list fo sho.

I wish it had been a miniseries instead of a two-hour movie. the story feels very truncated.

Super jellie of you having already finished House of Cards season 3. I didn't even know it was released until late yesterday. Guess I know what I am doing from now until 5:30 am tomorrow morning (13 hours from now).

LOL. This season is a little different; Frank is on the defensive much more often, and it gets more into psychological character exploration versus plot. It ends very darkly.

 

[Pizzabeak]

Saw Big Hero 6. It sucked. Well it wasn't bad but a lot of these movies are just a recycled formula, it was a tad too predictable, most likely I would have enjoyed it if I was still in middle school at least, not sure why anyone over 18 would become a fan of it. I think the last pixar thing I enjoyed was the Incredibles although there's still a soft spot there for the stuff we grew up with like Toy Story or James & the Giant Peach. Someone likened it to an "Iron Giant" for the next generation. So, whatever.

Finally saw a Dangerous Method, didn't think it was as mediocre as critics suggested. Not a hardcore Jung or Freud addict though so I'm sure scholars probably didn't like it for any historical inaccuracies or the use of likeness for what could be perceived as for commercial purposes, or the intent which seemed like a gloss over decent work, supposedly the film didn't go into that much detail about the conflict. Still, I thought it was good but it was my first time seeing it.

That Otto Gross character was fresh, reminded me of an ENFP-like person and I liked the brief moments where they talked about dreams. Again the whole thing didn't seem as intense as any conflict would suggest and, again, I'm glad I got to see it. Cronenberg disappoints only sometimes.

 

[Jennywocky]

Mockingjay Part 1. (waited for the redbox bluray, I figured that would be all it was worth -- I was right.)

Like the bulk of the reviews suggested, it's pretty much just a placeholder movie. There's definitely a lot of low-key stuff that adds to tone, but nothing really happens with this movie -- you could probably not see it and still be able to watch the first two plus the last one coming out this fall and still get everything that is happening.

Julianne Moore was at least well-cast as Coin. She's a "cold" and rather impenetrable actress and so it helps when she's playing into that as part of her character.

The movie is technically better than the first one but since so little really happens, it doesn't seem better. Probably the most interesting so far was Catching Fire.

this movie amounts to:
Katniss: "But... but Peeta! PEETA!" *occasionally shoots something*
Gale: *disgruntled rue*
Coin: "Fuck off."
Primose: "My caaaaaat!"
Trinket: "Ick, these CLOTHES."
Haymitch: "Sobriety sucks."
Peeta: "ARRRRGGGGGG!"
Snow: "Bwa ha ha ha ha!"

 

[Absurdity]

Leviathan.

Beautifully shot, but its bleakness left me aching. Some depressing movies have strong currents of emotion that ebb and surge, tragedies with grand climaxes, but this one just slowly unrolled. Each new misfortune built upon the last like a conclusion logically following a premise. That's probably what made it most unsettling, the ordinariness of the characters and how artfully unartistic it was. Just beat you over the head with how shit life can be.

Goes without saying that most of the praise around it here in the States has to be politically motivated. Funny then how it was actually inspired by a story from the US.

 

[Persis Leigh]

You've mentioned all the ones I watched recently except for "The Bridge" (documentary about all the people who jumped from the Golden Gate bridge in 2004) and Snowpiercer.

I'm not sure how I feel about Snowpiercer. It's striking in concept. I'll give it that.

 

[Jennywocky]

I watched about ten minutes of Snowpiercer without becoming emotionally/intellectually engaged. Still, it has such a number of raves that I feel like I need to give it another chance at some point; I could be wrong, though.

 

[Teffnology]

You've mentioned all the ones I watched recently except for "The Bridge" (documentary about all the people who jumped from the Golden Gate bridge in 2004) and Snowpiercer.

I'm not sure how I feel about Snowpiercer. It's striking in concept. I'll give it that.

I watched "The Bridge" back in November when I rationalized that that was the only way I could off myself successfully, had a loaded gun twice sitting next to the respective suicide letters I wrote. I went so far as to even pick out the lightpole I would do it by and was researching how to get to SF from Sacramento without a car and without having to ask for money for a bus ticket. I actually befriended a train hopping hobo and was all set to do it. I had my arrangements made but had ZERO idea what to tell my mom. It would have been the straw that broke the camel's back in regards to her psyche, at the time.

Two things scared me off and led to me, at least for the rest of the time my mom is alive, to give up on trying to end myself and actually try to reestablish a life for myself.

1) Thinking of how my mom would respond and how her life would end that same day, even if her body continued respirating after. She was/is the only person I can truly say that I trust on this planet and who unconditionally loves me for me, no exceptions. The thought of her grieving my loss was completely disarming.

2) The story of the guy at the end who survived the jump. His story was incredible and the fact that he survived, a couple things worked in his favor in regards to the laws of physics, gave me pause. The possibility of failing at yet another thing on this planet made me even more depressed and felt even more hopeless.

After going through all of that, I bathed in a bathtub of my own self pity, binge watching Netflix for 18hrs a day (saw Snowpiercer during this time and have to say that it is one of the top 10 offerings that Netflix has (prior to March '15 releases) and isolating myself as much as possible for 3 months or so. Somehow managed to hit rock bottom one morning in January, truly I couldn't have gone any lower without a naroctics addiction. The thought of the Golden Gate crept back in, this was about 3 weeks after joining the forum.

Somehow during my 10 mile walk home, had stormed out of the house in my pajamas that day and walked to the next town, I convinced myself to actually give LIVING, not just smoking weed and watching movies, a shot. I am in the early stages of laying a completely new foundation for myself built on mindfulness and inner peace. I have hit a couple speed bumbs but managed them ok and am regaining confidence in myself day by day step by step.

The big test of getting my foot back in the door to society has yet to be taken but I am doing everything I can to make sure my foundation is as sturdy as possible before I jump out there again. Unintentional pun. Life is good with a purpose. Without one it is a very dark dreary place. Purpose in life = >Prozac. Just sayin.

Not sure if I recommend "The Bridge" to anybody but if it doesn't sound terribly depressing and/or you can relate to the people's stories, then I would suggest you check it out. Very well made and editied, on youtube.

Snowpiercer was a fun movie IMO. Not amazing but made me think and Chris Evans has a great line that has "...how babies tatse..." in it. That is all I will say so as to not spoil the full quote. I liked it for a Netflix movie and it has its moments, that is for sure.


Just watched Duets. One of my all time favorites with Huey Lewis, young Gwyneth, Paul Giamatti, and Scott Speedman among many others. A great snapshot of pre-9/11, pre-American Idol late 90s American culture and the country wide obsession of karoke competitions. The black guy singing Free Bird a capella at the end makes me tear up every time. Great music too!

 

[nanook]

I saw Exodus: Gods and Kings and i absolutely loved it.

I think you should upvote it on imdb just because all of the chrstians are downvoting it :P Christians and other people who think that a bible movie should feel like a bible movie from the last fucking century. And then all of the patriots who are whining because the actors are americans ... meh.


While it tells the story of the bible in a literal fashion, with actual frogs falling from the sky and shit like that, many aspects of the story were translated to become as credible to a modern person as possible.

For example the pharao is presented not as a super villain type of alpha personality but as a random dude who was born into his position and has to deal with it in a humble, human, basically democratic manner. Moses is not presented as a friggin christian, who can't wait to channel voices in his head, but as a head strong war commander who could naturally lead people through battle but who would only open up to subtle aspects of reality after having a serious near death experience. And that one bad dude who rules over people isn't just an old school steel headed personality, but a flaky psychopath (ben mendelson) with his own brand of sensitivity. You get the idea, i don't want to end up spoiling shit. And while the characters where credible, they were still "great" in the sense of being a bit of an attraction. Not an orgy of christian ordinariness and mediocrity. I like how moses brother looks like a male version of polaris. Must be the eyeliner, he doesn't always look like this (Joel Edgerton)

One of the imdb reviewers is whining about how the pharao was not god like enough and i am thinking if this guy wants to believe that pharaos were godlike so badly, why doesn't he go work in a quarry for the rest of his life, lol.

If i want to see something bad in the movie, i could start by saying that this movie is so credible, that it may convince open minded young people to interpret the bible in literal fashion.

I could also come up with some details that were not perfect, but i'm not a bitch.

I saw Hobbit Five Armies at the same day and i found it rather lame in comparison, because it's so much more incredible, with it's cliche like characters, one mad dwarf, a bunch of dwarfs who have zero fear about running right into orks. one super sleazy jerk who overdoes being a whore like crazy. it all doesn't really compute for me. It's quite watch-able (i have to pause and rewind sometimes, because i could pay attention to all the talking about what is happening), but as unmemorable as the other parts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOLhmx1EVsU

 

[Jennywocky]

I saw Exodus: Gods and Kings and i absolutely loved it.

I think you should upvote it on imdb just because all of the chrstians are downvoting it :P Christians and other people who think that a bible movie should feel like a bible movie from the last fucking century. And then all of the patriots who are whining because the actors are americans ... meh.

Actually, all the bad reviews I read about it were from non-Christians... and they just thought it was a terrible, terrible movie.

 

[nanook]

I'm not sure if people are concisus about being christians. I mean regular americans, you know. The movie was pretty good, why would anyone choose to hate it? My impression is that they all have ideas about how that movie should have been like. For example more emotional. Or whatever. Why have ideas about how a bible movie should be like, why not be open minded and enjoy a great show? The reviews sounds like they are talking about Independence Day, but the movie is not like that at all. It's a Ridley Scott movie (the god who made blade runner and alien) and a good one at that.

If i didn't hate the plot with falling frogs and all i wouldn't say it's a worse work than alien, albeit it can't be compared at all. I'm giving it 8 stars. Alien and Blade Runner get 10. Independence Day gets 5. I almost feel like lying, if i give a full 7 to hobbit, but i do it, because it's lotr.

 

[Jennywocky]

I'm not sure if people are concisus about being christians. I mean regular americans, you know. The movie was pretty good, why would anyone choose to hate it?

Are you kidding me? Literally you are the first person I've talked to who has claimed to like it. Any critic I respect has explained why it sucked, in lengthy detail, from a craftsmanship POV, to the degree that when I read their explanations in the review I'm hard pressed to disagree.

If you were able to find it in your heart to enjoy it for some personal reason, well, then that is positive in the sense that at least there was a very tiny audience that somehow got something out of it.

My impression is that they all have ideas about how that movie should have been like. For example more emotional. Or whatever. Why have ideas about how a bible movie should be like, why not be open minded and enjoy a great show? The reviews sounds like they are talking about Independence Day, but the movie is not like that at all. It's a Ridley Scott movie (the god who made blade runner and alien) and a good one at that.

So far, you haven't said shit about why it's actually good. Ridley Scott is also a hit-or-miss director -- he's done some amazing stuff and he's done some terrible stuff. Also, maybe people WERE being open-minded and just didn't find it to be a good show? your critical analysis is severely lacking here... wait, I mean non-existent.

If i didn't hate the plot with falling frogs and all i wouldn't say it's a worse work than alien, albeit it can't be compared at all. I'm giving it 8 stars. Alien and Blade Runner get 10. Independence Day gets 5. I almost feel like lying, if i give a full 7 to hobbit, but i do it, because it's lotr.

Don't get me started on LOTR and the Hobbit movies.

However, I do get the impression they rank higher than Gods and Kings.

 

[Jennywocky]

I tried to watch Tammy.

Gawd. Will Farrell and Adam McKay contributed to the script, from what the credits said, and I like their other work (Talladega Nights and THe Other Guys). There are also some qualified actors in the movie (Susan Sarandon gets a lot of time on-screen). But wow, just... falls flat over and over.

Melissa McCarthy can be funny in an ensemble but wears out her welcome as a lead -- it's all her same old schtick over and over and as the center of the movie is kind of a turn-off.

Anyway, I made it about 35 minutes in and quit.
,

---

Also watched Underworld Awakening again. Dammit, why can't they get their shit together? The ideas have potential, but that movie probably ranks third (only above Rise of the Lucans) out of the four movies made -- and maybe not -- and the bar wasn't that high.

The funny thing is all the stars in it that I missed the first time I saw it when it came out because I hadn't run across them yet. Like Charles Dance as the vampire clan leader (he played Tywin on GoT), or India Eisley (Kite), or Theo James (Divergent). Of course I had recognized Wes Bentley in his scientist cameo and Stephen Rea as the head scientist guy, the first time out.

Just a lot of issues with this film. A few of the action sequences were interesting but we've seen them in other movies and these did not measure up. Even the climactic battle, the stupid big werewolf doesn't actually do anything effective to Selene -- it's all bashing damage, he just knocks her around. he's so large and powerful he could just grab one arm in each hand and rip her arms off; so it all comes off as stupid and weak.

Worse, they have her murdering humans for the first part of the movie, whereas we didn't see that in any other movies; she comes across as a cold inhuman bitch without any transition to that, so it's easy to lose audience sympathy with her. Things improve a bit once she finds the girl... and you see some warmth there... but overall just rather bad characterization.

It's just a huge disappointment, for a potentially interesting franchise. The first movie, while it could have been more solid, was pretty cool... Bill Nighy of course bumped that movie up in quality, his Viktor was pretty amazing.

 

[nanook]

"i act all offended if moses is presented as a batman of sorts, he ought to be more saintly but don't call me christian, i'm just a good american who bows down to the flag"

"i hate how moses gets to haven an imaginary boss who can part the sea, because christian fantasies are evil. but batman's and ironman' imaginary superpowers are okay because those are atheist fantasies."

it's a thinking that is enslaved by cultural clichees.

people want to profile themselves socially through their useless opinions about a movie, like they would wear a fucking tie around their neck (why not choke on it?) or high heels (LMAO) and pretend that there is something wrong with sandals.

PRETEND THAT THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH SANDALS.

why not call some experts on the subject.

"has too little leather used - decreased material value. has holes in it. doesn't protect against the sun. blah blah blah. "

there is zero reality to all of this.

i can wear a tie or a sandal but i can't mean it. it's all just dressing up.

these are all good movies. perfectly performed fantasies.

people should become conscious of their ethnocentric hate, instead of acting it out.

>your critical analysis is severely lacking here... wait, I mean non-existent

i'm giving you my integral intuition about the mental defect of humanity, i don't care to make a case in court. especially not about a movie.

 

[xbox]

Foxcatcher.

 

[Reluctantly]

^ welcome back to INTP Hell.

Hail Satan!

 

[Cheeseumpuffs]

John Dies at the End.

Honestly, I found it very enjoyable. It is, in my opinion, everything a shitty sci-fi (not syfy) movie should be. Fuck these intentionally vapid, bikini smothered, gore splattered, bad-cgi-worse-acting movies like Sharktopus and Sharknado and The Sharkdick (I assume this will one day be a thing). John Dies at the End has, yes, bad cgi and, yes, for the most part you can tell the casting department didn't get to pick from the cream of the crop, as they say (Paul Giamatti being a notable exception. He may not be the greatest actor, but I do enjoy him), but the movie also has something huge that these factory produced, money-making, deliberately awful movies lack -- a spark of sincerity. You can tell that the writer wasn't just thinking "Hey, what if we made a movie called Gatorpus Ninja Swarm? Wouldn't that be cool?" He was thinking, "Man, I've got a cool idea for a premise about weird extradimensional drugs/beings/travel that would make for a cool story." It does what good science fiction should do in that it asks "What if...?" and then builds rules around that "what if" and tells a story which follows those rules.

I'm not saying that it was the best movie (or even best sci-fi movie) I've ever seen, but it was an enjoyable way to spend an evening. If you're looking for a lighter, sometimes cheesy, science fiction B-movie with an honestly pretty cool premise that doesn't take itself too seriously and your choices are this or one of those pesky syfy ones: Choose John Dies at the End

Spoiler

also, John totally doesn't die at the end

 

[Yellow]

I saw Dracula: Untold this weekend.

Fuck a duck I was so mad. It had a lot going for it and it just fell on its face. There were so many good little things and so many awful little things.

Spoiler

They tried to cram too many details into a thin plot.
The creepy blonde guys were a nice touch.
The cinematography was seriously lacking.
The badassery was fun
The filters were retarded (this isn't Sparta!)
The premise was pretty solid.
The whole concept of his monstrosity as it shared with the creepy dude was not explained very well, and should have either been skipped (a bat bit him, idk), or flushed out.
I liked the whole "sometimes the world needs a monster" thing
I wish they hadn't worried about the struggle to remain human. It's overdone. I think they could have taken it and made him embrace is new powers.
Luke Evans was fun to look at.
I can't figure out how he managed to have a 10+ year old son with a lady who looked like she was 17-18 years old.
Why did they have to do the thing with the monk and the kid at the end?
What happened with him and the other vampires?
How did he suddenly have the ability to make more vampires?

 

[Jennywocky]

That's a shame. I thought the premise look so interesting too, but I guess it wasn't implemented well. Vampire movies are always hit-or-miss... and far too often a miss. (See above, with Underworld Awakening.)

If someone could do a really good version of Stephen King's vampires from the last book of The Dark Tower, I'd be scared shitless.

 

[Yellow]

Ooo! I've never read that book. I'll give it a try. Vampire stories have potential but most do turn out to be lame, lame. Or worse: romantic. Blech.

 

[Jennywocky]

Ooo! I've never read that book. I'll give it a try. Vampire stories have potential but most do turn out to be lame, lame. Or worse: romantic. Blech.

You can't really start with book #7. I mean, I guess you can, but... vampires are only a small part of the story, that's just the final nasty bit with the various tiers of the vampires (including the elders). I'm not sure you want to read six other books to get to the part referring back to the vampires, which play off Salem's Lot from years before and maybe a few other places in his stories.

(He's great with interconnections. It's not uncommon to find a character, location, or nasty from one book show up briefly in a different book ten years later.)

That scene is kind of the last hurrah for Father Callahan, who originally showed up in Salem's Lot, written what, 30 years prior?


PS. Oh yes: "romantic vampire movies." BLARARRRGGGGKKKK!!!! *makes the sign of the cross* It burrrnnnnzzz it burrnnnz!

 

[Yellow]

You can't really start with book #7. I mean, I guess you can, but... vampires are only a small part of the story, that's just the final nasty bit with the various tiers of the vampires (including the elders). I'm not sure you want to read six other books to get to the part referring back to the vampires, which play off Salem's Lot from years before and maybe a few other places in his stories.

(He's great with interconnections. It's not uncommon to find a character, location, or nasty from one book show up briefly in a different book ten years later.)

That scene is kind of the last hurrah for Father Callahan, who originally showed up in Salem's Lot, written what, 30 years prior?

Thanks for the warning. The only Stephen King novel I have under my belt is The Stand. And I watched a made-for-TV movie about the one with the creepy dude that made all the Roanoke people walk into the sea or whatever.

 

[Jennywocky]

Just watched Dragonslayer, which I have not seen for a good 25-30 years (?). So it's interesting watching it now with more perspective.

Considering it was made in 1981, the dragon art design and animation/animatronix is really quite excellent. I had some issues with the pacing, I would get bored in spots; but some of the themes were interesting (kind of the passing of magic + dragons as Christianity and more modern sensibilities took over). Also, for the time period, it was a more mature movie. You see people die or get chomped on (which I don't remember seeing much of in the PG fantasy genre at that time, from Disney nevertheless), and the themes seem more mature than many fantasy movies with dragons I've seen made in the last 10-15 years. And the princess' brave act wasn't wussed out on, where good guys in those movies at the time typically would make some sacrifice and then not actually have to pay for it after all. Well, here each act has its price.

The movie does come across more as a 'small movie' despite the large theme of the passing of magic/dragons, as there's only one little village and a king's keep and not really that many people and it feels localized in scope. Richardson is really good, acting-wise; MacNicol (who years later I'd see with less hair in Ally McBiel) and Clarke were adequate and enjoyable enough as the leads.

I guess the alignments and eclipses were a big deal back then in the fantasy motif, I remember The Dark Crystal also incorporating such a thing.

I think people didn't really know what to make of the movie. It was far more serious and gritty than the typical Disney fantasy movie of the era, it seems, with mature themes, and that seems to be why it ended up a cult classic without being a box office smash.

Oh, the best moment is watching Ian McDiarmid play the first Christian priest (and trying to face off the dragon)... which is just a crackup, considering we all know him far better as good ol' Emperor Palpatine. Bet he was really wishing for some Force lightning.

Valerian:

Spoiler

The "girl disguised as a guy thing to avoid lottery" was a fun subplot. I thought it was interesting how drastically her roles changed once she came out, and it was a really awkward moment when she walked out of her father's shop in a dress for the first time, since no one knew she was a girl. No one knew what to make of her -- was she a guy in a dress? or a girl after all? No one knew how to respond, not the men, not the women. Galen, the outsider goes to her and starts dancing with her, and that breaks the ice for some acceptance for her... but that would very odd for her IRL, since her relationships with males and with other females would change radically and she wouldn't quite be accepted by either for awhile you'd think. It's like starting from scratch. But again, dealing with that... in a fantasy trope, not known for that at the time? Very adventurous.

 

[Alias]

Last movie I saw was Crocodile Dundee. It's funny if you don't take it seriously. But if you criticize it objectively and seriously, it's a piece of crap. I found that Big Hero 6 was inflated a bit. Many adults suddenly came to love it, and I couldn't see why.

 

[Jennywocky]

I just watched Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies.

In its favor, the detail and color was beautiful in HD streaming off Verizon FIOS. Seriously, it was amazingly crisp and you could see the pores and immaculate detail of people's faces.

Jackson adds stuff in his movies, some of which is stellar, some of which is stupid. For example, when he has Bard steady his arrow on his son's shoulder, it's this weird but effective and rather sentimental bonding moment. And when Bard talks to Thorin through a hole in the wall rather than face to face, emphasizing the distance between them... again, pretty stellar. I also like how Smaug goes through Laketown the first time and leaves a trail of fire across the middle -- it really gives you a sense of the power and destruction the dragon could cause and how quickly.

But of course there is stupid stuff, like Galadriel wraithing out in green for no good reason again (it was stupid the first time, in FotR) and Jackson keep wanting to make this into the Legolas show. And the fights that seem to drag out for no reason past normal expectation.

He did play the scene at the gate pretty straight, which I appreciated (where Bilbo reveals what he did, etc.) And the stuff with Thorin was pretty cool.

I would have liked to see more of Beorn. He only gets about ten seconds. I suspect the expanded edition will contain more Beorn scenes -- I can't believe Jackson didn't do more with him, considering how much he adds.

 

[Alias]

I wholeheartedly agree with you on the Battle of the Five Armies. I think that adding Tauriel the female elf was good for some aspects, but there was a bit too much romance. I have no idea what Legolas was doing. If the Verizon stream was great, then you'd have liked it in 3D. Although since I wear glasses, 3D glasses are obnoxious because I have to hold them over my other glasses. Jackson has a strange contempt for Tom Bombadil. It would have been funny to see him in LotR. But he isn't too influential a character, so he'd only be good for comic relief.

 

[gilliatt]

Atlas Shrugged. All three parts. They did not keep the same cast in each part.

 

[Jennywocky]

I wholeheartedly agree with you on the Battle of the Five Armies. I think that adding Tauriel the female elf was good for some aspects, but there was a bit too much romance. I have no idea what Legolas was doing. If the Verizon stream was great, then you'd have liked it in 3D. Although since I wear glasses, 3D glasses are obnoxious because I have to hold them over my other glasses. Jackson has a strange contempt for Tom Bombadil. It would have been funny to see him in LotR. But he isn't too influential a character, so he'd only be good for comic relief.

Yeah, I saw the first two movies in 3D in the theater and again the detail was pretty incredible. I have the Extended Editions on 3D at home ... I wanted to watch the Expanded Editions and figured might as well do 3D since I have it.

So I'll watch the Expanded in 3D when it comes out eventually.

I'm glad I got lasik some years ago, so... i don't have the "glasses" problem nowadays. Glasses can be such a pain in the butt.

As far as Tom in the big yellow boots goes, I don't think I want to see Jackson's version after he made Radagast into a laughing stock mushroom druggie with a bunny sled. Good grief. But yes, I think Tolkien threw Tom in because he liked him - he had written other stories / poems with Bombadil. But he didn't really have anything to do in the story except to suggest that Sauron's ring really didn't hold dominion over everyone. The Old Forest is one of the few things you could really easily cut and have no impact on the story, except maybe the Westernesse blades they picked up in the wraith lair that hewed the Lord of the Nazgul two books later.

 

[Pizzabeak]

Act of Killing, somewhat boring but artfully put together I guess.

Interstellar, only saw two hours and forty five minutes of it but it was good I guess. Thirty minutes in I decided I'd have to watch it again anyway. Tired of Christopher Nolan and his Anne Hathaway shenanigans and the guy who played the butler in Batman too. Meh. The robots were kind of cool though, cooler than Hal which I'm sure is what they were aiming for...

Her, meh. Pretty much the reason why I stopped watching movies. Tired of Spike Jonze and that WTWTA style... Started off decent but fell somewhere near the middle. A bit too romantic and sappy for me to have watched it alone. Some shots of LA looked nice at least. Will at least only just rewatch some classics and obscure stuff again. Now I'm not so sure if I want to go too much out the way just to see some films I had been curious about (was planning on seeing Lucy next..)

Now You See Me, was actually pretty charming. Some lame dialogue and moments that were too cool for me though.

Maze Runner, pretty weird. Wasn't good or bad, just weird. Was expecting something more generic for teens and wasn't prepared for how weird it was going to be.

 

[Jennywocky]

It Follows, a horror movie that just came out recently with high praise from critics. Pretty low budget and not a need for many special effects... but the whole movie throws you on edge for reasons that will be obvious if you see it.

Since it's actually a fairly philosophical movie at core (I think one girl is reading excerpts from The Idiot every so often) and is kind of a metaphor for our own mortality, if you like deeper movies versus flicks where people just get maimed all the time, then you might enjoy it. I like the ending too, it reinforces the theme.

The music sounds almost like a throwback to John Carpenter flicks and other horror movies from the 80's, it specifically chooses a lot of dissonant and sometimes grating synth stuff to ratchet the emotional tension.

 

[RandomGeneratedName]

Lars and the real Girl (2007)
Couldn't keep my attention on, didn't even get halfway through. 6/10.

 

[Jennywocky]

I'm rewatching Top Gun 3D after not seeing the 2D version for twenty years or more. ROFL. Everyone's so damned young. And how the hell did Rick Russovich ever get to be a name-known actor for a few years? And then all the famous actors showing up... including a virtually unknown Meg Ryan at the time (Goose's wife).

It was also Kelly McGillis' short time in the sun. At one point (Top Gun, Witness, The Accused), she was a household name, but that didn't last long. I was kind of blown away seeing her in The Innkeepers a few years back, I hadn't seen her for years. Almost unrecognizable (aside from some quirks of her face) and not at all the type of role she had in Top Gun. Time marches on.

Anyway, a funny movie that is all about showing off Tom Cruise as a typical, well, cocky maverick type. Young, fun, and in the sun. I was laughing at the sex scene with Berlin playing over top.

Little Miss Sunshine was on HBO, so I watched that over the weekend. HAHAHA. I forgot Steve Carrell was in that. And a very young Abigail Breslin; she has a great smile in the movie. A great all-around cast, to be honest. Its main fault is just that it's another "dysfunctional family" movie so it tends to be episodic in nature --go from point A to point B, have various incidents along the way, then they all learn a lesson at the end and realize they are still committed to each other -- but some of the laughs are pretty great, even just the absurdity of the yellow VW bus with the broken transmission that starts by being a chore and ends up being a bonding moment.

Dean Norris has a cameo as a porn-sniffin' cop, and of course I only know who he is now because of Breaking Bad. [And I have to note Bryan Cranston also has a cameo in this movie.] But has Beth Grant been pigeonholed? Saw her first as Kitty in Donnie Darko, but so many of her roles afterwards seem like a pale shadow of that.

The end game is kind of hilarious. Appalling honestly to look at all the five-year-olds dolled up as their mom's surrogate beauty queens, and then of course who let Grandpa choose Olive's routine? It looked so wholesome at first.

Lars and the real Girl (2007)
Couldn't keep my attention on, didn't even get halfway through. 6/10.

That's too bad. I thought it was a cute/endearing movie; but it definitely is a niche movie, has a slow measured pace, and might not be to everyone's tastes. It was also nice to see Gosling try something off the norm for him.

 

[Jennywocky]

We're the Millers. It didn't get the greatest of reviews, but it actually did make me laugh an awful lot despite how a few jokes did fall flat and a few situations came off as contrived. [Bad-ass drug dealers threatening to kill them, but of course they never manage to actually succeed.] The bit of substance in the movie came from this "fake family" starting to adopt behaviors that typically are reflective of real families -- it was interesting to see them start to fall into these behaviors simply because of what family role they had been assigned and were trying to emulate.

I find Jason Sudakis kind of funny. Movie 43 took a bad rap from critics, but I actually laughed at many of the sketches -- and he played Batman in the clip where he insisted on coaching Robin (Justin Long) on how to pick up girls at a speed-dating session. He's such a perv and has this smug mouth/laugh, but... still makes me laugh because he seems to delight so much in being a skeeve.

This movie is also another entry in the "Jennifer Aniston Restoration" effort to give her some grit and teeth versus being the nice little blond girl she'd been shoehorned into over her career. It does give her some more range. I wouldn't mind seeing Cake, which supposedly is the culmination of this image revision, since she was supposed to be good there. Here, of course, she plays a stripper pretending to be a nice little suburban mom, and some of her language is nastier than what you normally hear her saying.

The outtake reel during the first part of the credits was actually amusing, especially with the final clip.

 

[ToughRye]

Imsonia, both the US (2002) and the Scandinavian version (1997). I cannot say that one film was better than another. They were both good but in different ways. If you like adrenalin, watch the US version. If you prefer that psychological conflicts reflect social conflicts and other hidden meanings, then watch the Scandinavian version.

The shooting scene when police is trying to arrest the murderer in the Scandianavian version was immensely better though. When the dying Norwegian policeman says "You said to the right" is quite a good understatement.

 

[Jennywocky]

^^ I saw the American (Christopher Nolan) version; not one of my favorite Nolan movies (it seemed a little simplistic in parts), but it had some insightful or powerful scenes and Williams honestly wasn't bad in it. I didn't find it particularly suspenseful, pretty much everything is on the table early in the movie (aside from the mystery of Will Dormer's past).

But I especially like the last minute or two; it resonated with me.

I actually own the Scandanavian version on DVD and plan to watch it, I just haven't yet; I'd like to compare.

 

[Perfectly Normal Beast]

citizenfour

the last scene was a masterpiece, an impelling reminder that intimate privacy between two is still possible; "they" can never take everything.

 

[Jennywocky]

Just saw Ex Machina. Damn, that was great. (And I only paid $6.76 to get into a nice theater -- matinee pricing!)

It's a very small, very personal movie (really only three main cast, and one other really influential person), not at all the debacle that Avengers 2 will be next week; but that made it more about the relationships and ideas. It's a very "idea" oriented movie. In tone and approach, it reminded me a bit of "Under the Skin" with Scarlett Johannsen, but not quite so art-housey, it's more accessible to the average viewer.

The plot is essentially a Turing Test of an android, but I can't say much more without spoilering the pic... and it's definitely one you want to go into without reading much, it'll make the experience better. The whole movie is based on the premise of who is being straight-forward, who has ulterior motives, and what ethical systems govern their actions based on those motives. So the less you know about the plot ahead of time, the better.

Alex Garland wrote and directed this, and his directorial debut was far far better than Wally Pfeister's last year (with Transcendence). Pfeister was a cinematographer trying to direct a movie, and the story and characterization ended up sucking; you can tell that a screenwriter actually wrote and directed this pic, the characterization and plot actually are pretty decent. He also takes his time with the scenes; he's not afraid to use a very slow but measured pace, with lots of silence. The actors make the most of it.

I've been a big fan of Garland for years, he's had a working relationship with Danny Boyle and scripted both 28 Days Later and Sunshine (two of my favorite movies), he also penned the screenplay for "Never Let Me Go" and "Dredd" as well as wrote a few novels including "The Beach" which Boyle made into a movie years back. In any case, I'm glad to see him triumph in his first movie as director + screenwriter, and hope to see more of his efforts now that he has this success to build from.

 

[Solitaire U.]

30 Minutes or Less. Fun movie. ++Danny McBride. Had a blast watching it with my ESL class (group of 11-12 year olds). They loved it, learned a lot of new ways to use the word "fuck".

 

[Jennywocky]

Moneyball. Can't say I'm really "into" baseball, but it was a great film -- good script, good acting... and an intriguing exploration of a "rational" system focused more on stripping the game into statistics and building teams from that, circumventing the good ol' boy approach and the need to make stars, which often didn't translate into reality.

I feel bad for Beane, though... looks like he still did not pull in an AL pennant or Series win.

 

[Neckbeard]

About Schmidt.

I know it's a black comedy and everything, but I didn't laugh because my life is more sadly funny than his.

I laughed at the part where he wrote an angry letter to ndoogu.

 

[Jennywocky]

Avengers 2.

It was fun, and Ultron (James Spader) and the Vision (Paul Bettany) were pretty cool; but some of the movie was a bit disjointed / too superficial, and it seemed like some of the deeper more interesting themes were cut off before they had enough time to play. (I'm wondering what was in the first cut now -- which was 3.5 hours long... Whedon cut a whole hour from his first print.)

One interesting bit is that, in contrast with the excesses of the first Avengers, where NYC gets trashed and no one seems to care or think about loss of life, this movie seemed to weigh more heavily. The sequence where Iron Man has to stop an unplanned Hulk rampage actually makes you question whether the Avengers are much different from Ultron (and the script dabbles with that question), and there are later scenes where the human casualties seem more explicit... but aren't really discussed. And one scene that pits the Avengers in an internal argument gets resolved through a cheap writer gimmick (although I think "Civil War" will pick up where that left off). But I think those would have been far more provocative topics of consideration, if the movie were to be taken more seriously than just a popcorn pic.

 

[Jennywocky]

47 Ronin 3D (free on HBO).

Oh god, what a bad movie. I still wonder why some decent actors (like Hiroyuki Sanada, who actually brought decent depth to The Last Samurai) get attached to really bad movies like this -- it's kind of like a 12-year-old's idea of what samurai and honor is like, with none of the dignity.

I would like to say they just screwed up the culture badly but the movie itself was good, but... nope. Can't say that either. I'm kind of surprised I made it to the anti-climactic ending. It just wasn't that compelling, I had just hoped it would get better.

Keanu Reeves pretty much sucks (although the less lines he has, the better -- as John Wick showed). Rinko Kikuchi is chewing up the scenario but very hackneyed... not nearly as good as Charlize Theron in Snow White and the Huntsman or similar fare (which wasn't even that great a movie either).

I'm just really kind of surprised that Universal bought into this, although I guess Disney put out similar crap like Nick Cage in The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Who knows why this stuff gets made. Go watch 13 Assassins or something if necessary, or some other version of the ronin story.

 

[Brontosaurie]

a film called "revolver" by guy ritchie and luc besson. only the second half though. i'd like to watch all of it some day. it was a very odd one. very funny. i don't care if they sought and failed to achieve artistic and intellectual refinement or a coherent alternative metaphysics. the bizarre result is well worth watching.

 

[Jennywocky]

Birdman. Really interesting movie, out of the norm, it certainly wasn't by formula, the acting was very real; I can see why it was rewarded with an Oscar.

it was pretty amazing they could pull the movie off looking as if it were done in one continuous take (aside from some time fast-forwards, but it was still filmed as a single take). The planning was meticulous, the rhythm had to be precise. This of course reflects the nature of the movie itself -- a B-movie actor looking for legitimacy on the Broadway stage. the movie is filmed with the constraint of a live performance.

It was also daring to drop back into a jazz drum track instead of conventional scoring, but again it supports the sense of "internal rhythm" without providing cues of what will happen next. The key is to be more in the flow, and the rest will follow, even if you don't know what it is; trust the inner beat.

I also liked how surreal elements could be mixed into an otherwise "realistic story," you get a sense of which aspects are metaphorical/illusory versus which events do happen. It also allows for the ending to play.

It was just a very ambitious film, artistically, that actually ends up working.

 

[Jennywocky]

Whiplash. Just... wow.

And yes, JK Simmons did snag a Best Supporting Actor, but the movie was far more than just his performance. Teller walked a complex line, somehow being both frustrating and sympathetic. The music was great. The movie does wrestle with the idea of where that line is between abuse and encouragement in terms of improving performance.

And that whole ending sequence was just a real showdown between two impossibly strong wills. Just pretty mind-blowing.

For the movie really just being about the relationship between teacher and student and the improvement of music skills, there was an awful lot of suspense and tension.