The Official Movie Discussion Thread

[Stennick]

Really I figured I'd make this thread since my wife's been on vacation after the holidays and we've doing two things lately. One of which is watching a few movies a night. Rather than make a bunch of threads for movies that I'm sure plenty have already seen I figured I'd just make a catch all thread we can all talk about the movies we've been watching lately.

 

Funny People - I saw it and it really wasn't that funny. It was ok but with Seth Rogan, Jonah Hill, Adam Sandler and others I figured this would be a home run knock out of the park hilarious. Instead it had its funny moments but really its supposed to be a drama and the story backdrop just isn't very likeable. Sandler's character isn't evil but he's certainly not likeable. Rogen's character comes off as kind of a loser himself. Jason Schwartz plays a somewhat minor role along with Jonah Hill but it doesn't matter since I didn't care for their characters as well. They got some funny jokes in there. The Die Hard jokes with the Doctor are funny and the stand up jokes they do are generally funny but nowhere near entertaining enough to be a drama and not funny enough to be a comedy.

 

Zack and Miri - Another Rogen movie only this is Apatow's guys with a Kevin Smith script. The concept isn't bad, its made very obvious from the start that their broke and really with the title being what the title is its not a shocker when they decide to do what they do. Before the movie hits its peak its a pretty good movie. Plenty of jokes, likes of funny inuendo, then it hits its climax for lack of a better term and its all downhill from there. Its not funny hardly at all anymore and then the movie just races to an end without really exploring the second half of the movie or even pausing to make funny situational jokes about it. The black guy thats in Pineapple Express and Rogen are the funniest parts of this movie. Mewes is usually good for a laugh but instead of using him to play his sophmoric, childish, catchphrase riddled chracter they got him being a dimwitted guy with certain enhancements that make him vital to their objective. Although I appreciate the character Mewes was pretty uninteresting in the part. So two Seth Rogen movies and neither really did it for me.

 

The Hangover - This movie was awesome. It took a basic concept of four guys out partying and the funny situations that come along with four guys partying in Vegas for a bachelor party and completely turned it on its ear and then turned the oulandish dial up to ten. I personally loved this movie and thought it was one of the funniest movies I've seen in a long time. Its weird how in all these movies I'm seeing the same guys. I saw Seth Rogen in two movies. I saw Jason Schwartz in a movie and then I see his co star in "Bored to Death" a funny HBO half hour sitcom in this movie. I don't know his name off the top of my head but the guy was money and completely made this movie.

 

I saw Year One and although I wasn't expecting much I pretty much got what or maybe even a bit less of what I was expecting. I guess the science geek in me hated that these guys were cavemen and yet they were just rolling all through history at a pretty alarming rate. Placing Kane and Able at the same time as Sodom and Gomorrah. Aside from that it had its funny bit parts but towards the end the bits slowed and so did any interest I had in the movie.

 

Angels and Demons I saw, I still have never seen Da Vinci Code. The book got so much hype that I didn't possibly think it could live up to the hype and praise heaped on it. Although from what I understand I do like the overall concept of the book. Therefore I figured I wouldn't see the movie. I saw this movie and it was enjoyable. It was basically National Treasure without the cool CGI effects and Vatican History rather than American History. The only thing I don't like about it is that the main character uncovers clues and like in National Treasure explains why and how he got here and a bit of the backstory behind it. National Treasure does this pretty well even if it is a downfall of movies that have to take time out to explain to the audience what their doing. That said this main character does it rapidly and doesn't really explain anything about these people and what it is their uncovering. Now of course I know most of the people but with all the ancient art in that country I wasn't familiar with most of it in the movie and got a feeling of being out of place and lost as they raced around the Vatican. That being said it was fun and enjoyable although I never got attached to any of the characters but still managed to enjoy a bit of a twist at the end.

 

Anyway feel free to talk about whatever movies the rest of ya are seeing these days I'm in full on movie mode so something might catch my eye that I need to go out and see or someone else's eye for that matter.

[BHK1978]

I saw Year One and although I wasn't expecting much I pretty much got what or maybe even a bit less of what I was expecting. I guess the science geek in me hated that these guys were cavemen and yet they were just rolling all through history at a pretty alarming rate. Placing Kane and Able at the same time as Sodom and Gomorrah. Aside from that it had its funny bit parts but towards the end the bits slowed and so did any interest I had in the movie.

 

You sound like this Astronomy professor that I had in college. This guy could not watch any kind of space movie (Star Wars, Star Trek, etc.) due to the fact that they had noise in space. Because as we all know there is no noise in space.

 

Did anybody see Daybreakers yet? I don't want spoilers, I just want to know if it is worth the money, as I will probably go see it tomorrow.

[BHK1978]

Well to answer my own question, I thought Daybreakers was good not great but not a waste of money. For a vampire flick it had a lot of action scenes in it (stuff blowing up) so that was different, I am used to the Christopher Lee vampire movies that had a more gothic flare to them.

[dvdWarrior]

Sadly, I haven't seen a film in the theaters in ages. Daybreakers looks interesting, might have to check that one out.

 

I love the new Star Trek film though. I love that the made the Enterprise look absolutely enormous, and I love how they made all the phasers and warp travel and everything feel... real, (to me at least). Only two things I really had any sort of issue with, and both of those would be spoilers, so I'll hold off on posting them here. Overall, gave that a 9/10 over at IMDB - I feel it's a solid 8 at the very least, (I gave it the extra point since I'm a Trekkie, ), and I tend to be pretty harsh in my ratings. I very rarely give a movie a 10.

 

Right now, I'm looking forward to seeing The Road. If it's as good as the book, then it can't go wrong. Wouldn't mind seeing The Book Of Eli either.

[Tha Black Phenom]

The Hangover, oh what a classic. I've seen it thrice and was entertained every single time. The high-spot moments just kept rolling one after the other, keeping the entertainment alive.

 

About to go see Avatar tomorrow, if only for the visual experience which has been said to be magnificent. Due to hearing all the negative backlash on the story, I guess I'll go in there with low expectations plot-wise...

[dvdWarrior]

Avatar! How could I have forgotten about that one? I'm very much looking forward to seeing Avatar as well. And yes, The Hangover is high up on my list also. Haven't gotten around to seein git yet, but I plan to.

[sabataged]

another "official" thread...nicely done

[BurningHamster]

Glad this thread is going, allow me to ramble like the film student who spends too much time watching movies that I am.

 

Echoing the love for The Hangover. That was my favourite movie of 2009, I am scared to go back and watch it again though as I fear it might not hold up on second viewing.

 

Avatar - Overrated and not really my thing but okay for what it is. Special effects were cool but I am pretty over CGI so meh. Story was alright but super heavy handed, all the comparisons to it being Dances with Wolves in space seem fair. 3D sucks and there are still some definite issues with focus. You can't really do things like pull focus in 3D without it looking like rubbish to me.

 

JCVD - I caught this on DVD (think it's 2008ish) and it was pretty good and definately an interesting film. It's pretty much a movie about Jean Claude Van Damme (who literally plays himself) who is back home in Belgium and gets taken hostage in part of a botched robbery. There is far less action than most Van Damme movies but there is a lot more emotion and drama. Van Damme is actually not a bad dramatic actor and this film has in a way been compared to The Wrestler and the similarities between Randy the Ram and Mickey Rourke. It's subtitled though so I think that puts people who can't read off a bit.

 

One thing I've been wondering lately is what happened to action movies in the last decade or so? There really isn't a Stallone or a Schwarzenegger of this generation. I mean, guys like The Rock or Vin Diesel were in a few action movies but I don't think any have really captured the same level of straight up action badassery as seen in previous decades. Also, fantasy films have been pretty huge the last decade. Someone was telling me the top grossing movies of the last ten years and almost all of them were fantasy related like the Harry Potter, LOTR, even Pirates of the Caribbean seems like a similar ilk to me. Avatar is similar, it's a big budget, CGI heavy sci fi fantasy film.

[Stennick]

I watched Extract tonight. For those that don't know it seems like a b movie with Jason Bateman, Ben Afflek (somewhat limited role), the girl from that seventies show Mila whatever her name is. It sounded funny, instead it was just weird.

[Tyler Gadzinski]

I watched Alvin & the Chipmunks the day before Christmas.. it was pretty good.. pretty funny.. kind of disappointed that Jason Lee isn't in it as much but still pretty good.

 

I also saw The Lovely Bones.. it was really good. Definately worth the money.

[Stennick]

Jason Lee needs to be in everything. I'm a huge fan of My Name is Earl it still sucks that show got cancelled. I thought it was original, it was constantly funny. Kinda surprised he's not in it more its not like he's doing much of anything else. I need to head over to IMDB and see whats he's up to.

[400 ml]

Jason Lee was decent in My Name is Earl, but Chipmunks movie was just not for him.

 

The last movie I've seen was Defiance starring Daniel Craig and Liev something (forgot his surname). Awesome movie! Loved the plot and the character's portrayals.

[Bigpapa42]

Avatar - saw it twice, though mostly because of my big mouth. I thought it was visually stunning. But that's clearly what its all about. The story is something that's been done before and its predictable. The acting is nothing special and the dialogue is pretty meh. But the visuals... it was the first time watcing a film that I've been able to competely forget that part of what I'm seeing is CGI.

 

Sherlock Holmes - fun and entertaining. Some good chemistry between Robert Downey and Jude Law. The Rachel McAdams character seemed a bit throwaway, but it didn't detract much.

[Comradebot]

Hey Stennick, we should discuss that TEW 2005 mod movie.

 

Except that it's not a movie.

 

But we still need to discuss it

[The Masked Orange]

The Last King Of Scotland: Watch it, don't care what your excuses are, watch it. Amazing movie, got the whole charismatic-yet-insane African dictator thing down to perfection. The main character is very likeable. I spent half the time grinning and the other half in horror. Best movie of the decade so far for me.

[Stennick]

Hey Stennick, we should discuss that TEW 2005 mod movie.

 

Except that it's not a movie.

 

But we still need to discuss it

 

I feel not so bright. I've had a PM from you sitting in my inbox forever and I never even noticed it. I looked up after reading that and it said one unread message. You should have got at me sooner man. I'll send the workers I have done over to you tonight so you can have a look

[BHK1978]

Just want to give a heads up to anybody who is thinking about seeing The Wolfman, don't. The movie stunk! There was no real storyline behind it and even the action sort of sucked. I went in thinking I was going to see a better updated version of the Lon Chaney Jr. classic but instead I saw another crappy horror movie.

 

And what sucks is the cast was really good but that still did not stop it from being a stinker.

[praguepride]

God, I am such a movie buff. I see at least 2 movies in the theatres a week. A week!

 

Funny People - I saw it and it really wasn't that funny. It was ok but with Seth Rogan, Jonah Hill, Adam Sandler and others I figured this would be a home run knock out of the park hilarious. Instead it had its funny moments but really its supposed to be a drama and the story backdrop just isn't very likeable. Sandler's character isn't evil but he's certainly not likeable. Rogen's character comes off as kind of a loser himself. Jason Schwartz plays a somewhat minor role along with Jonah Hill but it doesn't matter since I didn't care for their characters as well. They got some funny jokes in there. The Die Hard jokes with the Doctor are funny and the stand up jokes they do are generally funny but nowhere near entertaining enough to be a drama and not funny enough to be a comedy.

 

Funny people is a dark comedy, heck even the title is ironic because although it is about funny people, like you said they're not being funny. If you really appreciate irony and dark comedy, it's decent. If you don't care for movies like this or Bad Santa, then I'd suggest you pass on it.

 

Zack and Miri - Another Rogen movie only this is Apatow's guys with a Kevin Smith script. The concept isn't bad, its made very obvious from the start that their broke and really with the title being what the title is its not a shocker when they decide to do what they do. Before the movie hits its peak its a pretty good movie. Plenty of jokes, likes of funny inuendo, then it hits its climax for lack of a better term and its all downhill from there. Its not funny hardly at all anymore and then the movie just races to an end without really exploring the second half of the movie or even pausing to make funny situational jokes about it. The black guy thats in Pineapple Express and Rogen are the funniest parts of this movie. Mewes is usually good for a laugh but instead of using him to play his sophmoric, childish, catchphrase riddled chracter they got him being a dimwitted guy with certain enhancements that make him vital to their objective. Although I appreciate the character Mewes was pretty uninteresting in the part. So two Seth Rogen movies and neither really did it for me.

 

Agreed, the beginning is pretty funny, but the ending was a downer.

 

The Hangover - This movie was awesome.

 

Clipped the rest because honestly, I'm not that big a fan of the movie. Sure it's hilarious, but it's too "wacky hijinks" rather then character driven in my book. It's like, the movie tried to cram in as many stereotypical Las Vegas cliches that any given one was never really capitalized on.

 

For example, the tiger stuff went by way to quick. The cop stuff went by way to quick. The marriage to a prostitute went by way too quick....

 

Any one of those scenes could have been developed much further but it was more like a live-action family guy episode.

 

"Hey, remember when we stole that cop car?" (30-second comedy bit)

"Hey, remember when I pulled out my own tooth?" (30-second comedy bit).

etc. etc.

 

So if you like Family Guy (I do..) you'll find the movie hilarious, maybe even comedy of the year. If you don't like family guy, you'll probably be very disappointed in the movie.

 

I saw Year One and although I wasn't expecting much I pretty much got what or maybe even a bit less of what I was expecting. I guess the science geek in me hated that these guys were cavemen and yet they were just rolling all through history at a pretty alarming rate. Placing Kane and Able at the same time as Sodom and Gomorrah. Aside from that it had its funny bit parts but towards the end the bits slowed and so did any interest I had in the movie.

 

Oh god this movie sucked. It was like Jack Black & Micheal Cera are Jack Black and Micheal Cera...but IN CAVE MAN TIMES!!!!

 

Angels and Demons I saw, I still have never seen Da Vinci Code. The book got so much hype that I didn't possibly think it could live up to the hype and praise heaped on it. Although from what I understand I do like the overall concept of the book. Therefore I figured I wouldn't see the movie. I saw this movie and it was enjoyable. It was basically National Treasure without the cool CGI effects and Vatican History rather than American History. The only thing I don't like about it is that the main character uncovers clues and like in National Treasure explains why and how he got here and a bit of the backstory behind it. National Treasure does this pretty well even if it is a downfall of movies that have to take time out to explain to the audience what their doing. That said this main character does it rapidly and doesn't really explain anything about these people and what it is their uncovering. Now of course I know most of the people but with all the ancient art in that country I wasn't familiar with most of it in the movie and got a feeling of being out of place and lost as they raced around the Vatican. That being said it was fun and enjoyable although I never got attached to any of the characters but still managed to enjoy a bit of a twist at the end.

 

Dan Brown's works are all over-hyped POS. He tries to emulate other "research based fiction" writers like Micheal Crichton but his research is laughable. I love how in the beginning of Da Vinci Code it talks about the Priories of Scion blah blah blah and it turns out that the group was created in something like the 1960's...

 

 

@Avatar: It's not about the story, it's about the setting, the fantasy world that was created. The main character is the planet itself...everything else just falls by the wayside.

 

@Dear John: 1-dimensional romantic drama. Pointless waste of time

 

@Fantastic Mr. Fox: Surprisingly charming and artistic for a kid's movie. Rather slow paced though

 

@Edge of Darkness: Solid but unoriginal crime/thriller. If you like those kinds of movies you'll be pleased. If you're expecting something new or ground breaking you'll be disappointed.

 

@Book of Eli: Great performance by Denzel, religious theme doesn't overshadow the basic dramatic points

 

@Daybreakers: Crappy movie, don't go see it.

 

@Legion: Crappy movie, don't go see it.

 

@The Lovely Bones: Crappy movie, don't go see it.

 

@The Road: LIke book of Eli only slightly more depressing.

 

@Sherlock Holmes: Awesome movie, go see it.

 

@Up In Air: Excellent comedy. It's dark at times but has plenty of humor and Clooney does what Clooney does best.

 

@Youth In Revolt: Meh... not zany enough to be a teen sex comedy, not funny enough to be a regular comedy, not deep enough to be a dark comedy. It's a movie for Michael Cera fans, but it's not "that" bad if you're not a huge fan. You could definitely do worse then see this movie, but you can also definitely do better.

[BHK1978]

@The Road: LIke book of Eli only slightly more depressing.

 

The Road was good but like you said very depressing. I might have been a little to much like Madd Maxx for me but it was still a good movie.

[Imarevenant]

Just want to give a heads up to anybody who is thinking about seeing The Wolfman, don't. The movie stunk! There was no real storyline behind it and even the action sort of sucked. I went in thinking I was going to see a better updated version of the Lon Chaney Jr. classic but instead I saw another crappy horror movie.

 

And what sucks is the cast was really good but that still did not stop it from being a stinker.

 

Not surprised it was a mess given all the production troubles it's gone through. I swear it's as if Terry Gilliam himself were directing the damn thing.

 

And still I'm left waiting for a quality update to the werewolf. Ginger Snaps and Dog Soldiers were fun but still every werewolf story since the original American Werewolf in Paris has fallen short.

[praguepride]

Are you forgetting Teen Werewolf with Michael J Fox?

[The Masked Orange]

Anyone seen The Hurt Locker? Is it good?

[brashleyholland]

Anyone seen The Hurt Locker? Is it good?

 

Yes, very, very good. One of the better modern war movies IMO.

[TheEdgeOfReason]

Anybody seen Crazy Heart? That film looks bad ass, with Jeff Bridges what else do you expect I suppose.

[brashleyholland]

 

For example, the tiger stuff went by way to quick. The cop stuff went by way to quick. The marriage to a prostitute went by way too quick....

 

Any one of those scenes could have been developed much further but it was more like a live-action family guy episode.

 

"Hey, remember when we stole that cop car?" (30-second comedy bit)

"Hey, remember when I pulled out my own tooth?" (30-second comedy bit).

etc. etc.

 

So if you like Family Guy (I do..) you'll find the movie hilarious, maybe even comedy of the year. If you don't like family guy, you'll probably be very disappointed in the movie.

 

 

I was thinking the same while I was watching it in the cinema first time around...I mean, I was loving it, but it was too quick...untill...

 

The photo's at the end...I absolutly loved how you got to fill in all the blanks with the photos. I literally had tears in my eyes. Watched it in a packed screening and people were howling. In retrospect, I think the fact that they did it like that, filling in the gaps while still not giving you the whole picture, made it better than expanding those scenes in the movie.

 

It was almost like you were living the hangover with them, brief, intermittent flashes of a day gone wrong while you're still fuzzy from the night before.

 

One thing that makes me a sad panda though is that a sequel is already in the works. I think The Hangover is something that can only work once, so I'm expecting it to dissapoint.