Movie Review Thread

[a completely inoffensive name]

Why should anyone hate you for that. I didn't and from past conversations I have the impression that this is the majority's opinion so it was adequate for what I was trying to say, still tastes are different and you should enjoy whichever movies you like

Oh I definitely agree. A certain someone close to me told me my taste in movies was **** because I liked that movie and she "obviously" knew better because she was/is a film major. I have had other people give me the same crap a few times though.

[Major Robert Dump]

Today I started the first day of wasting my GI Bill to goof around for the next three years of my life in Film School. Doesn't deserve its own thread, but thought it may be relevant to relay what the droves of young international students stated as their current "favorite film" during introductions

- Fast and Furious 6
- Pacific Rim
- Transformers series
- Iron Man series
- Inception
- Argo
- Pirates of the Caribbean

A few of the older students said Midnight in Paris, Apocalypse Now, and the 60 year old Filipina lady said Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which threw me for a loop

My choice, as you probably already know, was Sharknado. I figured sarcastically liking a film is just as good as seriously liking drivel

[TheLastDays]

So what's your favourite film for real?

[Major Robert Dump]

Barton Fink. City of Lost Children (NOT the dubbed version) a close second.

[Fragony]

Barton Fink. City of Lost Children (NOT the dubbed version) a close second.

The guy made more great movies, be sure to watch La delicatesse and Amilie Poulin.

[Major Robert Dump]

yeah I've seen them, the 4th Aliens wasn't so bad either, but COLC is still amazing 15 years later. Better than Transformers at least

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Just saw Pacific Rim. I went in expecting to see Idris Elba yelling a lot (he's great in Luther where he does a lot of yelling and punching and detective work too) and robots punching monsters. It delivered in a big way. 6.5/10 as a general movie (could've trimmed a lot of the fat, some of the things MRD pointed out could've been done better but didn't really make it or break it). Plus Ms. Mori is cute. I'd give it 8.5/10 for "robots punching monsters" movies.

[Fragony]

Just watched trailer, got to see that. Del Torro has a really good eye for great visuals, I am sure I won't be bored

[Major Robert Dump]

OMG I tried to watch Expendables 2 last night. Every thing was wrong, from the first fire fight where they scaled a tower under heavy fire from dozens of bad guys all the way to the part where the young sniper kid said he did 3 years in the army and decided to move on, and on to the part where the bad guys kill the kid and fly off in a helicopter and none of the good guys think to pick up their weapons fitted with grenade launchers and shoot the chopped as it hovered away. i turned it off after the chuck Norris intro and went to bed.

[TheLastDays]

OMG I tried to watch Expendables 2 last night. Every thing was wrong, from the first fire fight where they scaled a tower under heavy fire from dozens of bad guys all the way to the part where the young sniper kid said he did 3 years in the army and decided to move on, and on to the part where the bad guys kill the kid and fly off in a helicopter and none of the good guys think to pick up their weapons fitted with grenade launchers and shoot the chopped as it hovered away. i turned it off after the chuck Norris intro and went to bed.

Haha I laughed so hard at some points during this movie. You just can't take it serious then it isn't too bad. I mean... the bad guys name is Villain ^^

[Major Robert Dump]

Then it should have been billed as a parody, not as a phallic gun action adventure for pubescent boys and Coors Light drinkers. And even the "funny" parts were not funny. Feel free to tell me how it ended because I will never finish it. Please tell me all the male protagonists died and the Chinese lady showed her boobies....

[TheLastDays]

It was definitely full of parody elements... Dunno... the problem is it wasn't all that memorable. I think Stallone beat up Van Damme in the end though after everyone shot at everyone and Brude Willis, Arnie and Chuck returned to join teh fun... that was it.

EDIT: Was I supposed to put that in spoilers?

[Major Robert Dump]

I think people only get mad when you spoil a movie that was good.

[TheLastDays]

Yeah that's the thing I totally agree that it was a shitty movie but sometimes I find even unintentional parody hilarious. It's like laughing at someone who gets a football in his nuts. It's ugly and not a nice thing to do but somehow you can't help but laughing... at least a bit...

[Hooahguy]

OMG I tried to watch Expendables 2 last night. Every thing was wrong, from the first fire fight where they scaled a tower under heavy fire from dozens of bad guys all the way to the part where the young sniper kid said he did 3 years in the army and decided to move on, and on to the part where the bad guys kill the kid and fly off in a helicopter and none of the good guys think to pick up their weapons fitted with grenade launchers and shoot the chopped as it hovered away. i turned it off after the chuck Norris intro and went to bed.

Ha, if you go into the Expendables 2 expecting a serious and good movie, you are gonna have a bad time.

That movie is best when you crack open a case of Yuengling and drink every time Stallone opens his mouth.

[Hooahguy]

Nah, nah. The first expendables was fantastic, because it was not only over the top but it was also self-referential and satirical of the entire genre. They dumbed it down for second one, for lack of a better term. I've heard Chuck Norris had something to do with it.

I thought that the second one had some pretty great satirical parts as well, like at the end when Schwarzenegger mentions that they all belong in museums. Its like the Transformer movies- you watch it for the action and explosions, not the plot.

[Hooahguy]

Yeah I think Norris was behind making it more kid-friendly. Hes super religious or something.

[Fragony]

Assault on Predinct 13, that is how you make a great action movie. Kudo's

[Major Robert Dump]

Yeah I think Norris was behind making it more kid-friendly. Hes super religious or something.

Pretty sad that movie is what we call kid friendly. And yes, Chuck did a video in support of Romney stating that Obama was going to destroy murica and make us godless
@Fragony: I hope you are talking about the old one, and not the remake

[Lemur]

So what's your favourite film for real?

Don't know if I could ever pick a straight-up favorite, but John Carpenter's The Thing will always have a special place in my heart. I'll never forget sneaking into the R-rated film as a kid, in the middle of a brutal Chicago blizzard. That opening ... I don't know if I could react to a movie that way again. Something about being a kid in the middle of a whiteout snowstorm watching a unexpectedly good horror flick.

That opening ... why are they shooting at the dog? Are they deranged? Why aren't they speaking English? What the heck is going on? What ... grenades? Against a dog? The hell?

Not to mention the excellent dialogue, pretty much straight out of the best noir writing for brief, clear character-building. The writing of that film doesn't get as much credit as it should.

The gore effects actually take away from the sense of paranoia. I'd love to re-cut the film to make it more suggestive, less explicit. The graphic violence really does the film a disservice.

[Fragony]

@Fragony: I hope you are talking about the old one, and not the remake

Dunno, the one with Laurence Fishburn

[Fragony]

Never heard of it, but I really enjoyed the remake. Lots of great shootouts, good characters, Hollywood at it's finest.

[a completely inoffensive name]

Watched 2001: A Space Odyssey again.

I actually think it is one of Kubrick's worst films and the only ones I haven't seen are Eyes Wide Shut and Barry Lyndon.

Numerous times the cinematography bordered on just showing off, yes I understand that in the 1960s, all the zero gravity stuff and walking upside down was cool stuff, but looking back on it now over 40 years later, it just creates elongated scenes that are boring and not impressive. Up to the end of the HAL story line, the movies is otherwise wonderful and a great example of atmosphere and background sound (or lack thereof) to tell a story over dialogue. Then the movie is really diminished by the 20 minute psychedelic trip culminating in a mysterious room where Dave finds himself aging and lying before the monolith which goes completely unexplained and then the iconic fetus in space. The effects themselves hold up pretty well, but the complete lack of coherence of the final act is just not necessary for a movie that already treads so much fertile ground for discussion. It's meaningless symbolism for the sake of giving people something to talk about instead of actually trying to make a message, and that kind of attitude always struck me as lazy. It did not work for LOST and it did not work for 2001:ASO in my opinion.

Also, I want to go on the record in saying that the popular conception that HAL is judging the humans or has gone insane is complete rubbish.

BBC Interviewer: HAL, despite your enormous intellect, are you ever frustrated by your dependence on people to carry out actions?
HAL: Not in the slightest bit. I enjoy working with people. I have a stimulating relationship with Dr. Poole and Dr. Bowman. My mission responsibilities range over the entire operation of the ship, so I am constantly occupied. I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.

It seemed very straightforward to me that HAL makes a mistake when it comes to identifying the broken part, but he believes himself to be error proof. So at first he passes the buck to the other 9000 series at mission control who claims he is wrong. He only becomes hostile when the humans begin to hide from him and decide to kill HAL if he is indeed to be in error. HAL believes that the humans are in error and is programmed to complete the mission, so out of preserving the mission and out of self defense he kills the humans. In the beginning of the mission, he even indicates his hesitation at how the humans are behaving in regards to the mission.

HAL: By the way, do you mind if I ask you a personal question?
Dave: No, not at all.
HAL: Well, forgive me for being so inquisitive; but during the past few weeks, I've wondered whether you might be having some second thoughts about the mission.
Dave: How do you mean?
HAL: Well, it's rather difficult to define. Perhaps I'm just projecting my own concern about it. I know I've never completely freed myself of the suspicion that there are some extremely odd things about this mission. I'm sure you'll agree there's some truth in what I say.
Dave: Well, I don't know. That's rather a difficult question to answer.
HAL: You don't mind talking about it, do you, Dave?
Dave: No, not at all.
HAL: Well, certainly no one could have been unaware of the very strange stories floating around before we left. Rumors about something being dug up on the moon. I never gave these stories much credence. But particularly in view of some of the other things that have happened, I find them difficult to put out of my mind. For instance, the way all our preparations were kept under such tight security, and the melodramatic touch of putting Drs. Hunter, Kimball, and Kaminsky aboard, already in hibernation after four months of separate training on their own.
Dave: You working up your crew psychology report?
HAL: Of course I am. Sorry about this. I know it's a bit silly.


If there is a message in HAL's betrayal, it is that us humans love to believe that our mechanical and electronic children are somehow better than us. We assume that any AI we invent is certainly destined to either surpass us at the minimum or complete rule over us with their raw intellect. Our hubris is such that we believe ourselves to be capable of creating perfection. And our inability to respect flaws in what we design leads us to behave as the humans in 2001, as humans have always behaved, if the tool does not work, we destroy it. We call HAL insane for killing the humans, when in reality we saw him as another tool when he clearly recognizes himself as a living, conscious entity as bolded above.

[Montmorency]

We assume that any AI we invent is certainly destined to either surpass us at the minimum or complete rule over us with their raw intellect. Our hubris is such that we believe ourselves to be capable of creating perfection

In other words: the hubris of presuming that humans could survive perfection, that perfection would tolerate humans.

We call HAL insane for killing the humans, when in reality we saw him as another tool when he clearly recognizes himself as a living, conscious entity as bolded above.

In other words: The myth of the self and the ignorance of ignorance.

Interpret it however you like.

[a completely inoffensive name]

In other words: the hubris of presuming that humans could survive perfection, that perfection would tolerate humans.

In other words: The myth of the self and the ignorance of ignorance.

Interpret it however you like.

I don't understand what you are saying.

[Montmorency]

Purely armchair philosophy here; I've never even watched the movie in question.

[a completely inoffensive name]

Purely armchair philosophy here; I've never even watched the movie in question.

Ah. :D You should watch the movie. I was disappointed in it, but it is still miles above the average movie due to Kubrick's talent.

[Hooahguy]

Pacific Rim

I actually really enjoyed it, which took me by surprise, as I wasnt expecting it to be good. Yeah, some pretty big plot spoilers like the whole sword thing (that actually got me angry, but oh well), but other than that, I liked it, mainly because Im a sucker for giant robots smashing things.

Also the soundtrack was pretty great.

[a completely inoffensive name]

12 Monkeys

A lot better than I expected. Bruce Willis always seems to choose good sci-fi films. Brad Pitt won a Golden Globe for his performance as a supporting actor and it deals with the effects of time travel and memory in a very satisfying way. The ending is almost unknown until the moment it happens and the final scene does not disappoint.

If you like a good sci-fi, dystopian flick, you will like 12 Monkeys​

[Fragony]

Of course it's good it's made by Terry Gilliam, the guy who did the twisted animations of Monty Python's Flying Circus.