Movies

[Melon]

Tony using extremis to battle Mandarin is how I imagined they would do it. My hopes are resting on Shane Black now. I know Marvel likes to neuter directors though. :| Low expectations are better because if it's good then I'll be surprised in theater, right!?

[Shoujo Q]

So... I'm going to see Snow White and the Huntsman tomorrow. My niece wants to see it because of Kristen Stewart, I want to see it because of Chris Hemsworth. He's a beautiful piece of man candy. (His brother is pretty hot too.)

[Zaeleus]

I recommend Chronicle (2012) not only for being a great "found footage" thriller but to also hear a few seconds of capsule's "FLASH BACK"!

[aine]

Watched Prometheus last night. I blacked out the major spoilers, but don't read if you want to avoid some minor ones.



Well, what a disappointment it was. I knew better not to get my hopes and expectations up, but even that didn't prepare me for the steaming mess that I was served. Ridley Scott insisted this was not a prequel to Alien, but that's hardly believable when everything about Prometheus oozes Alien from every orifice - starting with the trailer which was more or less a remake of the original 1979 Alien trailer.



The movie starts off with an intriguing 2001-esque sequence that I'll admit got me pretty excited. Unfortunately, as soon as the crew wakes up from their stasis it falls apart into a mash-up of quotes from and references to almost entire Alien franchise. We have a forgettable crew of scientists who act like kids on a high school field trip. We have an ancient "pyramid" that said scientists just conveniently walk into and feel almost at home at, poking their James Bond gadgets at stuff. We have a lot of hints at the Space Jockey (or Engineer) mythology that Ridley Scott promised to explore, but they're left completely untouched and unanswered. Instead, things go wrong in the most clichéd way possible and the scientists start frantically running back and forth along Giger-esque corridors (does using -esque twice makes it a better review?). At the same time, I can't shake the mental image of Ridley Scott frantically running back and forth the set trying to find the misplaced plot that would have held this incoherent mess together.



I completely lost it about 2/3rds into the movie when the female lead gets an alien fetus extracted from her abdomen in an automated surgical pod, gets stapled up with a futuristic staple gun, and 5 seconds later runs off and starts kicking ass again with apparently not much more discomfort than some menstrual cramps. My disbelief fell of the hook it was suspended on and fell crashing through the 3 floors of the movie theatre. I couldn't take the movie seriously after that. There was also a rather laughable I am your daughter revelation that didn't really add or explain anything about the main plot. There were some very shallow biblical references (the female lead's cross pendant, David washing the elderly Weyland's feet), but the theme of creation and divinity was completely lost among shooting obligatory flamethrowers and space pew-pew guns. And some more frantic running along the corridors. And cheap scares. Really, Ridley, in a prequel to the most famous sci-fi horror of all times that you yourself have directed 30 years ago you had to resort to cheap scares? Please.



The cherry of insult on top of all this was the very last sequence showing, LOL SPOILER, the birth of an Alien. Really, we have all figured out what was happening after the first 2 seconds of the character's convulsions. The movie should have ended right there. There was no need to drag the scene for almost a minute to show off some KY Jelly-covered animatronics. Leaving at least that tiny bit to the viewers imagination would have minimally redeemed the movie, but I guess that's too much to ask of the 21st century's cinematography. The only thing that's not flawed about Prometheus is the beautiful photography throughout. And I guess Fassbender as David was rather good, almost a personification of HAL9000. It hurts me to say all that as a life-long Alien universe fanboy, but I can't say anything else. Scott, I am disappoint.



This original 1979 Alien trailer has more going for it than the whole Prometheus movie. Watch that instead.



And if you're really in a mood for a story of aliens from space mixed with religious undertones and questions of human origin and creation, watch Neon Genesis Evangelion. This 1995 animated series for adolescent boys at least did stick to a coherent underlying idea, had memorable characters, went in-depth into religion and philosophy themes, and actually redefined the whole genre. And last but not least, it had an absolutely mind-blowing finale.



tl;dr: 6/10, and I feel I'm being generous.

EDIT: Eff that, in retrospect 2/10 is more like it.



PS. This is what happened when I went to pick our online tickets up from a self-service terminal. I thought this was all that could have went wrong about this movie, but alas it was only the beginning:

cineworldfail1.jpg

[Melon]

Well, there went my hype for Prometheus.

[al kusanagi]

Enough people have said that Prometheus is terrible that I'm not going to bother to go see it, but this makes it sound like pretentious garbage.

[Melon]

Eh, I don't want to see Prometheus anymore. Looks like another viewing of the Avengers for me! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[Wapiko]

[quote name='Zaeleus' timestamp='1338830894' post='126483']

I recommend Chronicle (2012) not only for being a great "found footage" thriller but to also hear a few seconds of capsule's "FLASH BACK"!

[/quote]



Oh yeah, somebody posted this in the LJ community a while ago and I forgot. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lol:' /> I wonder if I should watch the movie.



Right now I'm watching the Stepford Wives remake. I know it's campy and terrible but it's one of my favorites.

[neshcom]

I saw Everything Must Go earlier today. Do you know that skit from Louie where he pitches a movie and it's the story of a shit-farmer who just has the worst stuff happen to him and that's the movie? That's this movie. Will Ferrel plays a recently-fired, off-the-wagon sadsack whose girlfriend leaves him by throwing all of his stuff on their front lawn and changing the locks. The worst part is how forgettable it was. I watched it less than 5 hours ago and I don't remember a lot of the ending. It's Hard To Watch. It's Oscar Gold. It's crap.

[neshcom]

(god i love netflix never ever leave my life you messiah of internet consumption)



Lost In Translation: Very sweet. It's a grown-up's summer camp romance story and I really connected with the issues it brought up. The overarching metaphors to life, death, and love were clever and not heavy-handed. 'Smart' isn't a good word for it (not that it isn't), but 'complex' is too strong. It's composed and lovely. It was a story that could have easily fallen into the rom-com template, but it's a much lighter touch.



Cash Back: Oh, Jog. First off, no Netflix, "Cash Back" is not a comedy. Not even British comedy. After watching the full-length feature, I had a overwhelming need to cut out over half of the movie. I just found out it was originally a short film and it should have stayed that way. It's an interesting concept, but the characters weren't exciting or compelling. My suspension of disbelief just does not go far enough to believe that a boy is so dedicated to his relationship that, when it ends, he becomes permanently unable to sleep and can freeze time. Anyway, there were so many unnecessary elements that I just couldn't straddle.



Kick-Ass: Certainly not the character dynamic I expected. The production felt cheap, but the writing was good. Made a fun movie to talk over with friends.

[Melon]

Castaway on the Moon: Another quirky Korean Rom-Com. It's okay, they do these things rather well. It stars a depressed man who tried to jump off a bridge to kill himself, but failed and ended up on the shore of an island in the Han River, right below a major bridge, right next to civilization. He ends up living like "castaway", learning how to survive and gaining back his humanity in the process. When an unused flavor packet from a ramen-like dish washes ashore, making noodles for said packet becomes his obession. The other half of the story is a NEET in the city who stumbles upon him while taking photos of the city from her window. After watching him for months, she decides/works up enough courage to leave her room to send him a message in a bottle and they communicate by writing on the sand and bottle messages. Quirky things ensue up to the ending. I wish there would be an afterward sequence in the credits, but that would be the cherry on top. It's a cute film, well worth a lazy afternoon.

[showraniy]

I looooved Castaway on the Moon! It was a little weird, but all goodness in the end.



Also, to be relevant to the thread, I recently saw The Last Airbender movie again. I first saw it before knowing anything about the cartoon, didn't understand a single thing that happened in the movie, and wrote it off. After seeing the series, I rewatched the movie because it was on Netflix and kept staring into my soul every time I went to watch an episode of the cartoon.



After seeing it again, I don't understand the fan-hate. I thought it was a really good movie minus the white-washing and really crammed storytelling. (And Jackson Rathbone as Sokka was really mind-boggling...)

[al kusanagi]

Yeah, I didn't understand all the outright hate for it either. It was basically a Cliff's Notes version of the first season. It definitely lacked the heart of the series, but I thought everything was fine in a technical sense.

[aine]

[quote name='Al Kusanagi' timestamp='1339361590' post='127019']

Enough people have said that Prometheus is terrible that I'm not going to bother to go see it, but this makes it sound like pretentious garbage.

[/quote]

This guy's post is pretentious garbage. Sadly, it's still a better written and consistent garbage than the movie itself. The movie remains just garbage, a failed attempt at being a summer blockbuster cash-in, and an fully successful attempt at ruining Scott's reputation and credibility.



I was dragged out to the theatre to see Dictator the other day to get my mind off of some shitty things going on, and I enjoyed it so much more. Even though Dictator is mostly gag-driven and nowhere near brilliancy of Borat. Still, not a waste of time if you've got some time to waste.



Also watched Breakfast at Tiffany's. I heard the title many times before and expected a somewhat of a cult/classic, but I didn't get the hype at all. It was well executed and Hepburn's performance was admittedly above standard (by a lot, too), but I just found the characters very unsympathetic and their situations impossible to relate to. I neither relate to nor care about watching a bunch of 60's proto-hipsters from NY acting out their bohemian dream. I also don't care to watch the jarring, borderline (or downright) racist portrayal of a neurotic Japanese guy that this movie was full of. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... hatthe.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':whatthe:' /> I guess you'd have to have lived during the time of the movie's release to appreciate its social significance, but from my today's ignorant point of view it's only interesting for film school students. And elegant petite tomboy lovers, I suppose.

[yuzuriha]

We watched Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie last night. I love those guys. I was in a horrible mood and it cheered me right up.



Not for the squeamish though.

[al kusanagi]

Just watched Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, and while I enjoyed it, I'm completely baffled by it. I loved the novel, and the screenplay was written by the author of the book, yet it was 3/4th completely different than the book. It was like the insane manga adaptation of the novel, adding completely new characters and plotlines, ignoring character defining moments from the novel, dropping the entire pretense of historical accuracy the novel had, and multiplying the action by 10. I honestly can't wait for it to come out on video with commentary tracks so I can see just what the hell the author was thinking in changing his own work so damn much.

[Shoujo Q]

[quote name='Al Kusanagi' timestamp='1340423723' post='128210']

Just watched Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, and while I enjoyed it, I'm completely baffled by it. I loved the novel, and the screenplay was written by the author of the book, yet it was 3/4th completely different than the book. It was like the insane manga adaptation of the novel, adding completely new characters and plotlines, ignoring character defining moments from the novel, dropping the entire pretense of historical accuracy the novel had, and multiplying the action by 10. I honestly can't wait for it to come out on video with commentary tracks so I can see just what the hell the author was thinking in changing his own work so damn much.

[/quote]



Maybe is pulled a George Lucas and decided that he wanted to add stuff to beef it up because why not, I has the money!



This is sorta why it's a double edged sword when you get an author involved. Ooo I liked this part, but now that I think about it, adding this this and THIS would make it more awesome! :DDD

[Melon]

AMAZING SPIDERMAN IS AMAZING.



LOVED GARFIELD'S SPIDERMAN, WELCOME BACK WISE-CRACKING SPIDERMAN, WELCOME BACK SMART SCIENTIST PETER, GOD BLESS THE ADORABLE GWEN/PETER SHIP, ONE OF THE TOP THREE STAN LEE CAMEOS, FUCK ALL THE NERDS WHO SAY OTHERWISE.



Raimi's films are B-level Sci-fi Bollywood knockoff. Went in with zero hype, came out giddy happy that I saw a great superhero flick. I hope Avengers is still in theaters because when Batman comes out I want to go out and see Avengers and Spiderman instead. Sorry, can't take another 2 hours of Balevoice and SRSBSNSBTMN

[al kusanagi]

I loved it too, although I could have done without the first half hour. We don't need to see the damn origin again!!! Garfield was awesome and was the wiry, smartass, brilliant character I grew up with.

[Melon]

Yeah, I would have preferred an opening montage with a longer focus on him developing his web shooters. It's like how I feel about Iron Man and Avengers - they had their problems, but overall the movie hits the beats in a way that makes up for the problems.

[Wapiko]

I think I'm two years late but I just saw Kick-Ass. That movie was fucking awesome. I remember all of the controversy surrounding Chloe Moretz when it came out because of the violence/cursing she had to do, but damned if she isn't a great actress. I like everything I've seen her in so far and I think she's well on her way to becoming A-list.

[aisasami]

http://youtu.be/jgp8oePEkOE



I can't wait to see this movie. It looks really cute. It based off the manga and anime series of the same name.

[al kusanagi]

Coming soon from Marvel-



Thor: The Dark World



Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier (Hell yeah!)



Guardians of the Galaxy (Motherfuckin' Rocket Raccoon on the big screen!!!)



Ant-Man (written and directed by Edgar Wright!!!!!!!)

[Melon]

I watched the new batman movie and hated it.



signed,

Desi

[Ap2000]

[quote name='Petit Melon' timestamp='1342773123' post='130337']



I watched the new batman movie and hated it.



signed,

Desi

[/quote]



In other news...

http://www.news.com.au/world/mass-shoot ... 6431167005

[Shoujo Q]

[quote name='Ap2000' timestamp='1342777121' post='130338']

[quote name='Petit Melon' timestamp='1342773123' post='130337']

I watched the new batman movie and hated it.



signed,

Desi

[/quote]



In other news...

http://www.news.com....v-1226431167005

[/quote]



That's all over the news now. It's horrible what happened. Why would anyone bring a 3 month old to a movie theater? This pretty much just puts a dark cloud over this movie which I guess wasn't already very good.

[freezingkiss]

I saw Snow White and the Huntsman, visual effects and acting very good, but the storyline was lacking a bit, I also didn't like how she said the lords prayer near the start. I thought it was supposed to be a fantasy world. :/

[yuzuriha]

I finally saw TDKR and there were some things that I would change, but I was apparently very emotionally involved in the whole thing because my whole ride home I was having a panic attack, which continued as I tried to get five hours of sleep before work.



My favorite part of the movie was Bane's coat.



My least favorite part of the movie is how I could tell it was Pittsburgh SO BAD.

[aine]

Two good Christian Bale movies:



The Flowers of War - Historical drama, a take on the Rape of Nanjing. Zhang Yimou does a good job tackling this difficult and emotional subject, with epicness that's not a first for him (Hero, House of Flying Daggers). Christian Bale also shines in this unusual for a top-billed western star setting.



If you don't know about the subject then I'd recommend you watching it all the more, because it deserves to be known. The movie isn't perfect, suffering from some black-and-white characterizations and every now and then unnecessary sappiness typical for Asian TV dramas, but it's still probably the most approachable for Western audiences treatment of it. It's a shame that it didn't get a wider release, becoming a box office hit in China only. For obvious reasons I can't imagine it being popular in Japan, however it could become an important lesson, sitting right next to the Schindler's List or The Pianist, for the West often convinced that WW2 was limited to Europe only.



The Dark Knight Rises - I don't understand what people's problem with this movie is. It's good, and a satisfying conclusion. I enjoyed how it was a story on a bigger scale this time, less personal but at the same time more humanizing for the characters. In a way I would almost not call it a super-hero movie and I wish that Nolan could explore this angle even deeper - but the producers would probably flip out at that. I liked that the Catwoman had little presence, and wasn't super-hero-ish at all, because honestly I could hardly stand her in Batman Returns. Bane I didn't much care about, he was more of a plot device than a character on its own, and that's for the better because the plot was good.



Probably most reasons for liking it that I have listed are exactly the reasons for not liking it for fans of the franchise, but then this is coming from someone who read maybe 2 Batman comics at best in their life and only knows the franchise from the movies. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... tongue.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

[al kusanagi]

The problem with DKR was that it was so inconsistent with the previous two films and too cluttered for its own good. I really think it would have been amazing as a 2 hourish cut, rather than the 3 that made it to theaters.



Also, I watched The Raid: Redemption. Bad ass!!! Yeah, it loses a lot of its punch after having seen movies like Ong-Bak and Chocolate, but there are still several mind-blowing action scenes and fight choreography I've never seen before, especially when it relates to guns in hand-to-hand combat. The only disappointment is that all the really creative fights happen right around the middle of the movie and the last half hour or so just becomes a standard, but well done, slugfest.