What Have You Watched Recently?

[copeab]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Death Proof -- It was... okay. The final chase is good' date=' but boy, QT sure loves the word f*** and all its variants. [i']Planet Terror[/i] had far more action and was far more fun.

 

These two movies are somewhat hard for me to compare because, while Death Proof has excessively long stretches of chicks sitting around talking making it drag more than Planet Terror, Kurt Russell easily gave the best performance in either movie.

[Susano]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

These two movies are somewhat hard for me to compare because' date=' while Death Proof has excessively long stretches of chicks sitting around talking making it drag more than Planet Terror, Kurt Russell easily gave the best performance in either movie.[/quote']

 

 

I'll agree whole-heartedly. It was funny when he started talking -- I thought to myself "Damn he sounds 'alive'!". (Does that make sense?)

[copeab]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

I'll agree whole-heartedly. It was funny when he started talking -- I thought to myself "Damn he sounds 'alive'!". (Does that make sense?)

 

Sort of like:

 

"Stand aside kids and let me show you what a real actor does with a script."

 

I still like the line about his brother's name and the grin he gave to the camera before getting into the car.

 

I know many people were upset as to how his character changed when the tables were turned, but I thought it was perfectly reasonable.

[Susano]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Sure. He's a sociopath who thinks its all fun and games -- until the target decides to fight back.

[OddHat]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Exactly!!!

 

I was wondering about all the extended dialog that seemed to do nothing but show that QT can write good dialog, but it honestly meant nothing to the greater scheme of the movie. It really needed (IMO) more Stuntman Mike sequences -- even if it was only him getting his car in position or some such.

 

Although I will admit, the killing half-way through took me by surprise, since I'd been trying to decide which one was going to be the "hero" and do Mike in.

 

Yup, that was unexpected.

 

I really liked Kurt Russel / Stuntman Mike in the bar, especially the sequence where he's trying to impress the twenty somethings with his tales of actors and films they've never heard of (sad and clear self recognition for me, there). Parts of the introduction of the two stunt women and the two actresses were fairly good as well, especially the set up for the girl's toughness. Still, I'd have cut even from the original; the extended edition was one of the few I've seen that actually made a movie less interesting.

[OddHat]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

 

I'll agree whole-heartedly. It was funny when he started talking -- I thought to myself "Damn he sounds 'alive'!". (Does that make sense?)

 

Sort of like:

 

"Stand aside kids and let me show you what a real actor does with a script."

 

I still like the line about his brother's name and the grin he gave to the camera before getting into the car.

 

Agreed. I'd have cut much (probably most) of the pointless "lets find drugs / a party / guys to buy us X" babble from the actresses, but almost all of Kurt's stuff was worth watching. For that matter, the whole lapdance build up and performance was a waste of film; it didn't invest me more in the characters, it was fettishy without being all that sexy or effectively creepy, it was just wasted minutes.

[Susano]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Agreed. I'd have cut much (probably most) of the pointless "lets find drugs / a party / guys to buy us X" babble from the actresses' date=' but almost all of Kurt's stuff was worth watching. For that matter, the whole lapdance build up and performance was a waste of film; it didn't invest me more in the characters, it was fettishy without being all that sexy or effectively creepy, it was just wasted minutes.[/quote']

 

I think that was a build-up to make you think that Butterfly was going to be the heroine of the film. Then *BAM.*

[OddHat]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

I think that was a build-up to make you think that Butterfly was going to be the heroine of the film. Then *BAM.*

 

Sounds likely. Still didn't win much interest from me; the main problem was probably that I found all of the round one characters, including Butterfly, unlikable. Not even unlikable in the "I want to see them die" way traditional in slasher films; unlikable in more of a "these women are shallow and dull as all hell" way. I say that as a fan of Tarentino's films; I like flawed, complex characters. Those three just bored the hell out of me. For that matter, so did the actresses from part two, other than Zoe Bell and Tracie Thoms. Gorgeous does not equal interesting.

[Blue]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Movie Review: The Coen Brothers No Country For Old Men

 

The relatively spoiler-free part...

 

Josh Brolin plays a hunter who lives on the Texas plains who happens across the scene of a brutal shootout. Javier Bardem plays a ruthless killer trying to track down the money portion of the transaction. Tommy Lee Jones plays a legacy sherriff, a guy having trouble dealing with the slow slide of the world into chaos and his inability to handle it all. Woddy Harrelson plays a guy hired to hunt down the money and eliminate the rival hitman.

 

I feel cheated...

 

 

There is the death of one of these four major characters which you don't see. I mean, all you get is a shot of the aftermath as one of the other characters approaches. It's such useless and detached way to approach the death of a character you've followed through the whole movie that you can't believe it; It has to be some kind of trick? Surely the guy is still alive or something...

 

 

The cat and mouse game between these guys is great fun. The off-the-rails craziness of Bardem keeps you wondering who he'll shoot and who he'll spare as you try to spot his "code of ethics", if any. There's some very good acting. The look of the film is perfect for the genre the Coen's are aiming for.

 

I feel cheated.

 

 

The end of the film comes as abruptly and without any reason or explanation that it brings to mind the end of The Sopranos series that so many complained about. Threads are left untied. They just go to credits.

 

 

Essentially, to put it crudely: 2 Hours of Foreplay with no payoff.

 

I keep wondering what they were thinking with that ending.

[Thag13]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

For the record, I didn't wade thru a lot of the previous posts before I wrote this one, I hope its not too redundant too much.

 

The Mist - I thought it was a pretty good adaptation of Steven Kings Story/Radio show. The movie was well paced and stayed beliveable for the most part. The effects were top notch and the acting over all was very well played.

 

 

 

The ending is a total downer, but I liked that the director/writer of the Mist adaptation went for it. NOt for the faint of heart or folks who dont like horror movies.

 

 

 

3:10 to Yuma - Its nice to see a western today. Its a remake of a classic 1959 movie of the same name. Russel Crow plays the outlaw, and Christian Bale plays the farmer who tries to bring him to the train station to recive the reward. I think of it as more of a drama with actiony bits and a action western.

 

I think its a good movie.

[Ternaugh]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

I'm in catch-up mode after my recent trip. I'm current with Heroes, just finished watching the "Chuck" episodes that I missed, and decided that that was about all the backlog of TV I could handle yesterday. So I popped in the "Ratatouille" DVD. Though I'd seen it in the theaters, I was truly amazed at the level of detail in the backgrounds and character design. And though I know how it ends, the movie is so well-constructed that the emotional connection is just as strong watching it again. Lastly, buried in the end titles was this little dig at the producers of other computer-animated films.

 

JoeG

[Dholcrist]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Just watched Futurama: Bender's Big Score a few hours ago, really absolutely fantastic. If you've ever laughed while watching Futurama, you'll love the movie. Thank Crom that they're back. It's been a lonely couple of years.

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Josh and I watched One Crazy Summer over the weekend. It was filmed pretty near where I grew up (I recognized the elementary school the kids are being let out of in the beginning, the "high school" the boys were graduating from was actually another elementary school in the area, and a lot of the sights looked mighty familiar). It made me kind of miss home.

 

But now I know why I've always mistrusted cute, fuzzy bunnies.

[austenandrews]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Last Thursday: Beowulf

 

I saw it in non-Imax 3D. I thought it was a hoot, very entertaining. I love that Zemeckis is just gunning it, full throttle, with 3D CGI. The fight with the dragon in particular was built for 3D. Grendel was creepy as heck. Brendan Gleeson is a treat in any movie, even an animated one. If you're one of those people who obsesses over the "uncanny valley," please don't see this movie, as I'm very tired of that term and I don't want to hear yet more grousing about it. If you can get past it, though, this movie will rouse the childlike fantasy RPG geek in you

Lastly' date=' buried in the end titles was this little dig at the producers of other computer-animated films.[/quote']

That's a surprisingly short-sighted dig. I'm surprised that Pixar, of all people, might feel threatened by "performance capture" (though admittedly Brad Bird is a bit of a loose cannon there). I have a difficult time even putting "traditional" CGI animation in the same category as motion capture CGI, any more than cel animation or stop-motion animation belongs in the same category. There is obvious overlap among all of them, but we're really talking about distinctly different genres of animation. I would think synergy, not resentment, would be in order.

 

 

Friday: The Mist

 

Tense, gruelling horror flick with very fun, scary critters. Not the deepest of characters or plotlines - the usual Stephen King tropes, basically - but really it's all about the creepy premise. (No, I never read the story.)

Bleak but not inappropriate ending.

 

 

 

Saturday: Brick

 

Man, what a cool flick. The premise of "noir in a high school" is adorable. The dialogue pops in a bizarre but entertaining fashion. Well-crafted plot with recognizable archetypes approached from a fresh direction. Much more brutal than I expected. The music was awesome.

 

 

Sunday: No Country For Old Men

 

A masterful manipulation of several genres to make a surprisingly non-genre point. Excellent characters, excellent performances, Coen-style suspense in top form. The definition of thought-provoking. To address Blue's comments:

The premise was fairly well laid out from start to finish, and the end supported it perfectly. The world is senseless chaos, here embodied by the money, and the only way to win is to finish up with your soul intact. Or didn't you notice that Llewellyn's widow won?

 

[st barbara]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Saw "Thirty Days Of Night" yesterday. I enjoyed it but was having trouble following the logic used by the characters at times. They seemed to make strange tactical decisions that were more driven by the need to have something happen than any shred of good sense. Nice to see an Aussie ex soap star (Melissa George) getting parts in feature films however.

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Josh and I watched Dr. Zhivago and Romancing the Stone last night. Two romance movies, two VERY different takes on the concept. I definitely preferred the latter; the former is the sort of movie you watch to see what the heck everyone else is talking about.

 

I still have no idea, but at least now I know the plot.

[L. Marcus]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

"Uh . . . Hi, Ma! It's me, Irvin!"

[Thag13]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

I got to see SuperBad over the weekend.

 

SuperBad.....Any movie that has a nerd named Mclovin in it has to be an american classic.

 

Ohh its vulger, silly, almost stupid in places, but some actually sweet scenes as well.

 

Its typical Seth Rogan fare, three kids about to go off to collage, try to get booze for a party that will ensure them scoring with the girls of their dreams. Of the moment.

 

Its a guy movie, and the ending credits alone will ensure that it will never be shown on national tv.

[csyphrett]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Die Hard 3 and 4

 

John McClane was certainly grim in the last one.

CES

[Ternaugh]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Last Thursday: Beowulf

 

I saw it in non-Imax 3D. I thought it was a hoot, very entertaining. I love that Zemeckis is just gunning it, full throttle, with 3D CGI. The fight with the dragon in particular was built for 3D. Grendel was creepy as heck. Brendan Gleeson is a treat in any movie, even an animated one. If you're one of those people who obsesses over the "uncanny valley," please don't see this movie, as I'm very tired of that term and I don't want to hear yet more grousing about it. If you can get past it, though, this movie will rouse the childlike fantasy RPG geek in you

 

That's a surprisingly short-sighted dig. I'm surprised that Pixar, of all people, might feel threatened by "performance capture" (though admittedly Brad Bird is a bit of a loose cannon there). I have a difficult time even putting "traditional" CGI animation in the same category as motion capture CGI, any more than cel animation or stop-motion animation belongs in the same category. There is obvious overlap among all of them, but we're really talking about distinctly different genres of animation. I would think synergy, not resentment, would be in order.

 

 

I didn't gather from it that Pixar feels threatened by motion capture, just that it's a "shortcut" that they don't use. It's basically the 3-D equivalent of rotoscoping, which has long been used as a shortcut in cel animation. It's precisely this time-saving nature that Robert Zmeckis counts on. By using motion capture, he can turn out a movie like "Beowulf" or "Polar Express" with a much smaller budget than the average Pixar film.

 

My last film watched was "Meet the Robinsons", which I found to be enjoyable and quirky. I was pleasantly surprised at just how fun the movie was.

 

JoeG

[Susano]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Sneakers -- it was entertaining.

[mwiggins]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

I watched RED DWARF. volumn 1 last night. funny but it was made by the BBC, so the english is a little hard to understand sometimes

 

PLOT

[OddHat]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

I watched RED DWARF. volumn 1 last night. funny but it was made by the BBC, so the english is a little hard to understand sometimes

 

PLOT

 

I'm a Red Dwarf fan myself. Rewatched the videos many times over the years.

 

It gets better as it goes along, probably peaking around seasons 3-4.

[L. Marcus]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

"Smmmm-heeee!"

[mwiggins]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

I'm a Red Dwarf fan myself. Rewatched the videos many times over the years.

 

It gets better as it goes along, probably peaking around seasons 3-4.

I read the first 2 or 3 books a few years ago. So I had a good idea what was going on.

Is the TV show based on the books or are the books based on the TV? Or is it sorta like "the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy". a book based on a tv show that's based on a radio show?