Recently Seen Movies - Tell Us

[piepiepie]

Actually I just saw Savages last night (instead of Magic Mike). It was...over the top? I don't quite know how I feel about it honestly. Funny at times, violent, drugs and sex, and that's about it. It was over-long and the end was welcomed, if it had actually ended there. Ugh. Save yourselves and watch Pineapple Express if you want buddy pot movies with over the top violence.

[Revs]

Originally Posted by Cricetus

Terry Zwigoff did it. Whatever happened to him? He should make a superhero movie.

Originally Posted by Ken S.

I don't know. He hasn't made a movie since Art School Confidential. He might just be done with Hollywood.

I just pulled this Terry Zwigoff quote from IMDB

If I see my films described as 'quirky' or, even worse, 'snarky' one more time, I'm going to probably seriously consider an early retirement. All these years I've labored under the conceit that they were "darkly humorous.

(personal theory ahoy) Based on the 3 (non documentary) films he's directed, One was an indie darling film, particularly amongst the hipster set (Ghost World), one was just terrible (Art School Confidential) and his biggest success was the raunchy comedy, Bad Santa. It feels like he isn't happy with they way his career was turning out with a dash of pretension mixed in and retired from making movies.

[Ken S.]

His Wiki page says he's turned down a lot of offers to do commercial movies. I'm glad. It would be disappointing to see him making lame romantic comedies or Tim Allen vehicles.

[Revs]

I think he would be good doing comedy or drama, but I don't think he's a great filmmaker over all. Ghost World was alright and had some very nice visual moments and Bad Santa is a pretty good comedy to catch a buzz while watching and giggle along with.

[jali]

Originally Posted by Ken S.

I saw the new Spiderman.

That facebook kid was ok in the lead. He's good especially at delivering the Spidey wisecracks.

The movie did a good job of capturing what people like about Spiderman, and why he's different from other superheroes. He's a normal, wuss, kid with a personality instead of a square-jawed cipher, and he's the one suoerhero who always seems to enjoy being a superhero instead of seeing it as some kind of solemn duty.

The bad stuff in the movie - the lizard creature thing as the villain. Completely ridiculous. Adam West Batman ridiculous.

I guess Spidey doesn't really have many villains that are grounded in any kind of believable reality, though. You can't really Nolan-ize Spiderman. Once you've already got "spider powers," you're pretty much leaving gritty reality behind. You might as well try to make a gritty Santa Claus movie.

Ken,

Hi.
I call him Tommy instead of FB kid.

[Rabid Renaissance]

All I know is that Garfield has that perpetual teenager face. I mean, back in 2006 he was filming Lions for Lambs as an under-achieving college kid, and 6 years later he's playing younger.

[Khampelf]

Originally Posted by Rabid Renaissance

Hey, I just remembered one: Perfume (2006)

I'm pretty sure it is still on Neflix Streaming, or maybe it was Amazon Prime...

Well, it is pretty gross, and not just the carnage. We were some dirty grimy folk back in the day apparently.

Just saw it, and I liked it. I love deeply disturbing psychological studies.

The dirtiness and griminess were perfect, it's why they needed perfume, for one. Also it sets off Grenouille's attempt to distill a perfect essence in an sordid world.

[jali]

I watched A Wake in Providence. I'd never heard of this before tonight and just took a chance with my "On Demand".

It's a sweet little movie -- a Guess Who's Coming To Dinner with a couple of twists. There are some funny moments and some charming ones too. There are a few annoying bits, but they pass quickly.

Two big toes up.

[Jeff]

Saw The Way, a pretty low-key drama about a man whose son sets out on a pilgrimage in Spain and promptly dies. Martin Sheen arrives to collect the body and decides to complete the journey himself.

The "plot" is paper-thin and the characters either slightly unbelieveable or dull with the except of the dutch guy, but its the little details of the journey and the people they meet along the way and the landscape they travel through (the real star of the show) that makes the movie worth watching.

[Dangermouse]

James Cameron's The Abyss. It was decent until the last twenty minutes or so. The ending cheesed me off something fierce.

[Mustard Stain]

Originally Posted by Dangermouse

James Cameron's The Abyss. It was decent until the last twenty minutes or so. The ending cheesed me off something fierce.

That's the better ending too. If you poke around YouTube, you can see the original ending - even worse shite!

[Lungfish]

Witness for the Prosecution. I enjoyed this film immensely. Charles Laughton and Marlene Dietrich were brilliant. I couldn't get past Tyrone Power being an American though his acting couldn't be faulted.

[Pere]

Originally Posted by Jeff

Saw The Way, a pretty low-key drama about a man whose son sets out on a pilgrimage in Spain and promptly dies. Martin Sheen arrives to collect the body and decides to complete the journey himself.

The "plot" is paper-thin and the characters either slightly unbelieveable or dull with the except of the dutch guy, but its the little details of the journey and the people they meet along the way and the landscape they travel through (the real star of the show) that makes the movie worth watching.

This reminds me a bit (not the "low-key" part) of Roadside Prophets. The pilgrims there are John Doe and Adam Horowitz (on motorcycles, carrying the ashes of the buddy who wanted to make the trip) and the people they meet include... well, you can look at the cast list, or you can just watch the movie and boggle when they show up. Great movie to get loaded for, if you do that sort of thing.

[Rabid Renaissance]

Don't bother with Martha Marcy May Marlene.

[Jaledin]

Yesterday:

*John Carter* -- it's the good version of *Avatar*.

*Iron Sky*. Funny. Julia Dietze is smoking hot and really cute.

This AM:

For the millionth time *Jackie Brown*. Can't not watch it repeatedly. A perfect movie.

[mothedrine]

Watching Starship Troopers 3: Maurauders.

Is this worth sitting through? It doesn't look completely cheesy.

[mothedrine]

Marauders was pretty good. They cheaped out on the sfx in a few spots but it was still ok. The hints at Nazi Germany were a little weird and misleading and I'm still not sure what to make of that.

Just finished "Safe" with Jason Statham. OMG. Fantastic, kickass action movie. JS is definitely in the running for all time top action hero. "Safe" is literally such a wild ride with car chases, foot chases and over the top gun battles. If you're an action junkie, you're going to want to watch this a couple of times over.

[Jaledin]

Just looked up *Safe* to see if it was the same as *Safe House* -- also seen recently, and it was pretty bitching. Not the same. Let's just say *Safe* is on my "Netflix queue."

I did see Catherine Chan listed as costar in *Safe* -- I just picked up *Haywire* from last year but haven't seen it yet. I think she's the same one, Jackie Chan's daughter. Cool. Definitely. Wait. I just looked up -- I think whoever recommended *Haywire* was punking me. I don't Catherine Chan is related to Jackie either. So never mind. Entire post is fucked. Sorry.

Recently half-seen? *Dark Night Rises* or whatever. Fell asleep/passed out. I shall watch it soon!

[mothedrine]

Originally Posted by Jaledin

I think whoever recommended *Haywire* was punking me.

I had it on my "to see" list back in May when I recommended Columbiana - a reco which still stands btw.

So haywire is the suxxor? It looks good and I like girls with guns. {sniff}

Really?

[Jaledin]

No, man, I meant IRL the person who recommended *Haywire* was probably wrong that Jackie Chan's daughter was doing all the stuff. I'm still looking forward to seeing it -- maybe tonight.

*Columbiana* sounds cool. That's next up, jefe!

[Dangermouse]

Liar, Liar. I wasn't impressed, mainly because I never warmed to Carrey's character.

[Rabid Renaissance]

Finally watched The Help. I'd been wanting to see it since it first came out but didn't make it to the theater. I liked it a lot, especially the special feature back story about the perfect storm of friendships and opportunities of the people responsible for making it.

I'm glad Octavia Spencer won an Oscar for her role. Viola Davis' performance was amazing too. In spite of tha (and another awesome morsel in Emma Stone's exploding career) I'm not sure I feel that the film as a whole was snubbed at Oscar time though.

[Little Nemo]

Just went to see The Pirates. A lot more surreal than I expected. It reminded me of the first Wallace and Gromit short, A Grand Day Out or the Rex the Runt cartoons - not really a narrative as much as a series of strange things that happen. It's also true to the Gideon Defoe books, so it follows its sources in spirit if not precisely in "plot" (no Jennifer, no Karl Marx, no Moby Dick - but there was a Napoleon cameo).

[Jeff]

Saw The Rum Diary last night. Gah. What a horrible mess of an adaptation of a horrible mess of a novel. They took out all the ugliness (approx 90% of the book's content) and made up a new ending out of whole cloth.

GAH.

[Little Nemo]

Originally Posted by Jaledin

*Columbiana* sounds cool. That's next up, jefe!

Not a great movie, in my opinion. It tried to do too much. There were too many different threads in the story and they never managed to pull them all together. Plus there wasn't time to develop all these different elements so most of them were only half-done (there is one character who basically just started appearing halfway through the movie but whose presence was never explained).

On the plus side, Saldana looks great and does a credible job as an action hero.

[mothedrine]

Originally Posted by Little Nemo

Not a great movie, in my opinion. It tried to do too much. There were too many different threads in the story and they never managed to pull them all together. Plus there wasn't time to develop all these different elements so most of them were only half-done (there is one character who basically just started appearing halfway through the movie but whose presence was never explained).

On the plus side, Saldana looks great and does a credible job as an action hero.

Bullshit. If you mean the boyfriend, he was a disposable character anyway. This isn't an adaptation of Bronte you know. We're not looking for an immaculate denouement and whatnot.

[Jaledin]

Disagree about *Rum Diary*. Never read the novel, but I thought the flick was awesome, kind of. Kind of a ridiculous, fun picaresque. I think I like it better than *Fear and Loathing* (the flick), which I've also seen an equal number of times. Maybe half-dozen times. Amanda Heard? Yeow! Didn't know about her.

OK. *Haywire* time. Saw it two nights ago. The best straight-up action movie I've seen since *Sha Po Lang* out of Hong Kong. Not just a chick-with-guns movie -- in fact hardly any gunplay at all -- and the fighting looked amazing. The main character -- Mallory -- was supposedly an ex-Marine. I don't know what kind of fighting they teach, but it looked like straight-up boxing with some leg-work. I wasn't looking for "errors" but only one time I saw a punch which clearly didn't make contact, and one punch which was way outside her arm reach.

I talked to my friend incidentally -- she said she honestly thought Gia Cardano? (The actress, anyway), was really Jackie Chan's daughter, but she *could* have been in a Jackie Chan movie -- same ethos, same hardcore fighting. Apparently she's a real-life badass as well. Like she won some Chuck Norris prize for ass-kicking I read somewhere and a bunch of other hardcore stuff.

It's all setup for a sequel as well -- let's hope. The only minor criticism is that, unlike John Rambo who had this whole backstory as the best of the best Trautman ever trained, all they say about Mallory is that she served as a Marine. Which is I guess code for she's a badass -- but kind of thin. Bill Paxton was a surprise as her father -- I didn't hardly recognize him for sure -- and we never found out what his story was. He's not in the flick much. And the corn rows she wore at the end (I won't spoil the ending, but it's awesome) were kind of weird. A real short cut would have been sweet -- a la Vasquez or something.

Mallory was absolutely not eye-candy -- I didn't think she was especially knockout attractive either. All business, all badass. The real deal.

[mothedrine]

Originally Posted by Jaledin

OK. *Haywire* time. . . .

Mmmmmm, tasty.

That felt very thorough, but not a single spoiler. Cheers!

I'll have to see if I have a legit rip of it or just a screener (from when someone films the screen in a movie theater - before the DVD comes out).

[Jaledin]

Er, you're bad and er stuff, mothedrine. But, I heard someone could find a non-cam copy somewhere easily with lots of ... what's that called, like when farmers and stuff, like seeders? I just heard some people saying, is all. You know, someone said something about Pirate and like a cove, or an inlet or bay or something? It's all foreign to me, because I always buy or rent all movies and media legitimately always, but I overheard these skater kids talking up here in the clubhouse and they seemed like they knew what they were talking about.

[mothedrine]

I'm sorry, I figured that YOU would know what I meant, but for {whispering} the old folks.

[Little Nemo]

Originally Posted by mothedrine

Bullshit. If you mean the boyfriend, he was a disposable character anyway. This isn't an adaptation of Bronte you know. We're not looking for an immaculate denouement and whatnot.

No, it was an apparent family member who just got dropped in to the movie. Her uncle and her grandmother were introduced into the film but there was another guy who just appeared in a scene with Cataleya talking to him like he was an uncle or something but we had no idea who he was or where he came from. He later was killed and Cataleya was distraught but it's tough for us to relate because for all we know he might have been a nieghbour who lived down the street or something.

[Khampelf]

I just got back from Dark Knight Rises, and I enjoyed it. Flying bat armaments kicking ass, morally ambiguous but definitely hot semi-allies, palpable tension in the finale, a bit of political commentary re: public uprisings and even a bit of tearjerking via Bruce Wayne's relationship with Alfred. Ending opens up the possibility of Nolan using Robin if he does another in the franchise.

Good popcorn flick, if nothing else.

[Jaledin]

Originally Posted by Little Nemo

No, it was an apparent family member who just got dropped in to the movie. Her uncle and her grandmother were introduced into the film but there was another guy who just appeared in a scene with Cataleya talking to him like he was an uncle or something but we had no idea who he was or where he came from. He later was killed and Cataleya was distraught but it's tough for us to relate because for all we know he might have been a nieghbour who lived down the street or something.

I noticed that guy since I had a heads-up -- the guy in the chair, right? Kind of in the middle of the movie. I don't know who he was -- some guy I guess. He wasn't important, since he was just there and then wasn't there. Maybe it was the director making a cameo. Bitching movie, BTW. Not enough fighting, but when Cataleya at the almost-last end killed that guy with the thing after fighting with the two things in her hands -- really well-done fighting stuff all throughout. And then the very end -- with the things in the thing with the guy. Awesome.

Now for enough fighting -- I gotta give it to *Safe*. Pretty much a perfect classic-model action flick. I was surprised Statham made it work -- I totally bought him as a former-boxer and other stuff. I revise my opinion of him -- he pulled off the hand-to-hand stuff good. The first car chase was pretty weak -- all that cool driving and they cut it to shreds. The later car scenes were pretty tubular, though -- who doesn't like to see a nice e-brake turn, you know, just for fun.

[mothedrine]

What did you think of the camera work. At first it annoyed me with the POV thing, but it kinda went beyond that.

I think i'm going to try to watch it again.

I luvs me some JS. The man is pretty much Zen incarnate.

[Jaledin]

Originally Posted by mothedrine

What did you think of the camera work. At first it annoyed me with the POV thing, but it kinda went beyond that.

*Colombiana*'s direction -- just from vague memories, it seemed like classic choices. I'd bet the director (can't remember his or her name -- foreign I think) really has studied people like Hawks (lots of medium chest-level shots, lots of longer takes) and Ford (visual above all else, lets the camera tell the story, the character of Cataleya is told through images, words not that important beyond the skeleton of a story). Pacing was perfect -- everything where it should be (after the fact one kind of intuits it couldn't have been any other way). No pomo fiddling with linearity. That said, I still wish there was more fighting! The ending more than made up for it -- it's nice to just see some ass-kicking without a lot of micro-surgery.

Both *Columbiana* and *Safe* (both awesome recs, BTW -- thx!) came in at about 90 minutes -- safe from the turgid, bloated 150 minute "action-superman-woman" movie thing. I liked *Safe* much better than *Columbiana* as pure action -- just a classic gangster-heist-Hong-Kong amalgam, beautifully done in every way except for no real car action and so much quick cutting in fighting/gunfighting scenes you couldn't really savor every blow and lead infusion and auto collision.

*Columbiana* I'd watch again too in a minute -- there's something there with the camera and the exposition I didn't grasp the first time through. Maybe there isn't anything more there, but maybe there is. Anyway, what do I know -- I just like to watch movies, and it's a movie.

What else has JS done besides the *Transporter* movies and that one with all the heavies -- Jet Li, Rambo (Sly is always John Rambo to me)? The boxing at the beginning was pretty damned cool -- he knows the art -- and we actually got to see some punches "land." I'm not complaining that everything was cut up too much -- just that one car chase. The fight in the hotel was bitching -- worth the price of admission alone.

[mothedrine]

Lovely descriptions. :golf clap: Except now I feel like I must have been a mushroom watching Columbiana. You got so much more out of it than I did. Shit. This is what I need. Input. Other points of view. Perspective. I can't really appreciate most art, but I think I might be able to expand my abilities in this area.

Originally Posted by Jaledin

and so much quick cutting in fighting/gunfighting scenes you couldn't really savor every blow and lead infusion and auto collision.

YES! This is what I meant. It really irritated me at first, but then I sort of liked it. It was almost subliminal in spots - right? Where you know you saw something and it registered, just barely, but your reaction was more visceral . . . no, autonomic? IDK.

One scene that really stuck out was when he hit the guys with the car and they went flying over it. You just got snippets but it felt complete. By that point I guess you had been condition to viewing things from that perspective?

[Rabid Renaissance]

We just watched Take Shelter and I just think it would have been better as a short, or shorter at least. The folks at Rotten Tomatoes sure loved it though.

[mothedrine]

Originally Posted by Rabid Renaissance

We just watched Take Shelter and I just think it would have been better as a short, or shorter at least. The folks at Rotten Tomatoes sure loved it though.

OK, and . . . action/adventure, drama, chick flick, comedy, etc. Come on, give us some insightful critique. What do you think we're paying for?

[Hunter Hawk]

The last movie I saw was X-Men: First Class in my hotel room on a recent business trip. I quite liked Jennifer Lawrence and thought Kevin Bacon's and Michael Fassbender's performances were ok, but the rest of the film was a steaming pile.

[Rabid Renaissance]

Originally Posted by mothedrine

OK, and . . . action/adventure, drama, chick flick, comedy, etc. Come on, give us some insightful critique. What do you think we're paying for?

It is easily spoiled and sparse. I'm trying to be good.

A father and husband struggles with a secret, he's having foreboding dreams of a freakish storm. What could it mean???!!!???

[mothedrine]

I'm pretty sure I saw that. It was one of those that I zoned out on - which may or may not be a reflection on the movie.

The beach scene was ok I thought and a bit unexpected. Yeah, nothing really sticks though.

[mothedrine]

Originally Posted by Rabid Renaissance

It is easily spoiled and sparse. I'm trying to be good.

A father and husband struggles with a secret, he's having foreboding dreams of a freakish storm. What could it mean???!!!???

Thanks. I read the synopsis on rotten tomatoes and it reminds me a lot of the Nicholas Cage movie Knowing. Sounds like a similar premise.

[jali]

I watched DOA (Dead or Alive)and I had a ball.

The movie was way over the top, but Jaime Pressly is one of my favorite actresses and she didn't disappoint at all.

Suspend your disbelief, take a couple of hours and have some fun.

[Dirx]

Originally Posted by Khampelf

I just got back from Dark Knight Rises, and I enjoyed it. Flying bat armaments kicking ass, morally ambiguous but definitely hot semi-allies, palpable tension in the finale, a bit of political commentary re: public uprisings and even a bit of tearjerking via Bruce Wayne's relationship with Alfred. Ending opens up the possibility of Nolan using Robin if he does another in the franchise.

Good popcorn flick, if nothing else.

Did you get as much of a kick out of the opposing football team as we all did up here?

[Slate]

I finally watched Whale Rider, ten years after everyone else. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. The girl and the grandparents were terrific, but the whales were really ugly.

It was interesting to see Cliff Curtis in his native tongue. I remember him from Runaway Jury and Training Day amongst other things. He seemed perfectly natural portraying Latinos and Arabs; I had no idea he was Maori.

[Khampelf]

Originally Posted by Dirx

Did you get as much of a kick out of the opposing football team as we all did up here?

I did! I wonder if that meant anything to Nolan, or if someone just whipped it out of their ass.

[Dirx]

Originally Posted by Khampelf

I did! I wonder if that meant anything to Nolan, or if someone just whipped it out of their ass.

The explanation I heard was that using a real NFL team would have wonkeyed up the "very realistic but still fiction" balance the movie had, and taken too many people out of it.

[Little Nemo]

Saw Men in Black III tonight. Pretty good. Very good for the third movie is a series - most series wouldn't be holding up that well by now.

Pretty much the usual strengths and weaknesses of a Sonnenfeld movie: he's great at loading up a movie with lots of great scenes but he struggles with tying it all together into a whole. In a Sonnenfeld movie, the parts are always greater than the sum.

[Rabid Renaissance]

Retreat sucked.

It is quite similar on the surface to Dead Calm (which I loved) but in contrast to Sam Neil's calm seaworthy competence and Nicole Kidman's (eventual) calculating resolve, Cillian Murphy and Thandie Newton just flail around like inept people. And the ending just sucked.

[Control-Z]

Red Planet - Surprisingly good, I thought it would be another "monsters on Mars" type movie but it turned out to be a tale of survival. The science seemed pretty solid from what this layman could tell. The whole mission seemed a bit underequipped though.