[Movie] Movies/Shows you have seen recently?

Originally Posted by Shin

The Matrix as a film was a simple concept made overly complicated to impress idiots, dressed up in a remarkable bit of design. The plot is nonsense, the dialogue is terrible but the cinematography is incredible. The Matrix is all about the look of the thing.

Heres the difference.

The Matrix movies were "smart" enough to be sure to tell the audience what is the "real world" and what is "The Matrix". You can tell which is which.

Inception does "turtles all the way down" - they say that you can dream in a dream in a dream and then give you a "false botom" (Limbo) because for some reason you can't dream in a dream in a dream in a dream - even if the baseline becomes botomless after the third time.

One story tells you whats going on. The other just prevents you from understanding by never proving anything and thus rendering all sacrifice and danger as meaningless (since the whole thing can be interpreted as "all in the dream world.")

OKAY... all that said.

While I've been mostly just going back and watching old shows (EXOSQUAD) and movies (KRULL) that I love, I did go and see...

Defiance: Not a bad little movie. A little over the top - 1,100 Jews hiding from the Nazis in the woods and starting a guerrilla war against them is about as historically acurate as Capricorn One. But its still entertaining and Daniel Craig could sell ice in Antarctica. Good camerawork and the green color filter seemed more appropriate in this than in most.

Food Inc: Outstanding documentary about the forthcoming food crisis and the over-tilling of our earth. Some of it is a little farfetched - theres certainly some worst case scenarios that are passed off as immedeate and forthcoming - but by and large its an excellent bit of real-world horror that goes well side-by-side with Collarteral.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Quote:

X-Files: I Want To Believe - Ughhh nope. Plays out like one long meh episode.

How is that a complaint? "I greatly enjoy this show - but I can't stand the movie because its longer than an hour?"

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I don't want this to have a tangent so I'll just make this last post: The X-Files conspiracy stuff is garbage. It was just a plot twist ontop of a plot twist that culminated into absolutely nothing (see also: Lost). Aliens who steal kids to experiement on for colonization are thwarted by shape-shifting bounty hunters who are trying to get a vaccine from the Russians before killing the Syndicate and then theres aliens who can't be near certain metal deposits are then attacked by super-soldiers created by the military... ugh ugh ugh. No one cares, Chris Carter. Your mythology is crap.

But any movie that leaves you to ask you where your morals stand, instead of telling you what to think is good in my book. That last X-Files movie did just that. I'd be perfectly happy if they never made another one; they went out on the right note.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Dark Nation

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I also watched, mostly on a whim, The Holy Mountain, directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky. That ending was ALSO bullshit

Go die in a fire, please.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by BZ

Battlestar Galactica is the best sci-fi show ever so you won't be disappointed.

I just spit-taked all over my monitor for this one. George Carlin never hit that height of comedy, lemme tell you.

Been going back through Wonder Years reruns this last week. Also watched The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising which was by a long margin the worst book adaptation I've ever seen put to film. Nevermind that its one of the greatest children's books written in the 20th century and put aside the fact that its a honest, dry British fantasy novel (as opposed to Harry Potter which is empty, sensationalist pulp) - just seeing the film without prior context is enough to make you want to die inside.

Mall cops burst into ravens.

I wish I made that up.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I drank a pot of coffee and then watched Videodrome.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I just posted - here, now, before I edited this very entry - about how, after two nights of not sleeping well, I drank a pot of coffee and watched Videodrome.

On the previous page, there is a mention of my watching Videodrome.

I do not remember watching it before yesterday.

Oh god, something is going on here.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Philia

Edge of Darkness - Seeing him in this one reminds me why I liked him in Lethal Weapon series. But yes, gosh he've gotten old. The father/daughter bits were precious though.

Go see the original with Bob Peck.

Edge of Darkness - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Watched The Keep, which was Michael Mann's second film. A demonic presence unleashed in Romania during a Nazi Occupation. Its not good horror but its pretty fun supernatural thriller and Ian McKellan really hams it up.

Cave Of Forgotten Dreams was stellar but I love me some Herzog.

And Duck Soup. Without the musical numbers, its the greatest comedy of all time. With the musical numbers, its a musical.

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Originally Posted by Pangalin

You just stole a week of my life from me. There will be an accounting.

American Gothic was on Netflix but it seems to have been removed. Shit. That was pretty good but I think they messed up the episode order?

American Gothic (TV series) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Drive (2011) - Not a bad little flick but Gosling was out of his element. He wasn't bad but the whole "I'm so pretty I should be bringing grandma a fruit basket after swing choir" thing and then turning it around to beat people with hammers doesn't work. He doesn't have that "hard as fuck" look to him.

See: The Limey, Thief, Runaway Train

The Keep (1982) - Odd Michael Mann supernatural horror movie. A lot of people say its bad but its got a good atmosphere with a great cast. It doesn't add up to much though. The Tangerine Dream music is pretty boss. Ian McKellan hams it the fuck up too.

Terminator 3 - Still sadly neglected and overlooked. I'd say that 80, 85 percent of it works better than it has any right to. And the ending is perfect, its the film that reaffirms the original movie and tosses out the handjob hopeful ending of the second film.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Skyfall was garbage. I'm not angry at it like I would be some movies but its a massive disappointment and the worst written movie in a very long time.

In equally disappointing news, Boss has been canceled off of Stars so... yeah, back to watching Star Trek on Netflix, I guess.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Fluffykitten McSnugglepuss

Aw, it wasn't that bad. The action sequences are decent enough although the fight in pitch darkness in Shanghai was a bit pointless. Compared to other Bond films, it was better than QofS and on a par with Casino Royale, not as good as any of the Connery or Moore ones, better than Dalton all the Brosnan ones except Goldeneye and nothing is as good as On Her Majesty's Service which is so awful it's amazing.

None of this can be written by a sane person. OHMSS is probably the worst edited in the series and the middle is as limp as a microwaved calzone but it culminates perfectly.

As to Skyfall, it is probably the worst of the Bond movies. Yeah, you could make an argument that Die Another Day is the worst because it is the most stupid of all the Bond movies - but personally, Skyfall makes the worst mistake possible: its boring. Theres only two other Bond movies I'd call boring (Live And Let Die and Diamonds Are Forever) and this is definitely in that field. At the very least, Die Another Day for all its many, many... many faults cannibalized its own universe to make its story while Skyfall is a cheap rewrite of another popular movie series.

And Skyfall makes so many goddamned sins. Heres a list.

1.) Bond is passive

The movie starts with Bond not rescuing an injured agent (Passive: Pretty much because its "unheroic")

Bond fighting a bad guy ontop of a train... but the climax of the fight is dependent on someone else laying out the killing shot. (Passive: Main character doesn't resolve the conflict)

Bond abandons MI6 knowing that a list of all his fellow agents has fallen into enemy hands and gets drunk / laid for an undetermined period of time. (Passive: Not only is Bond falling off a moving train from a bullet and surviving somehow unexplained, but the fact he avoids going back to service makes him unmotivated in the story, thus passive)

Bond follows the guy who he was fighting on the train and then waits until the assassin kills his target, and only then does Bond fight him (Passive: Bond waits for someone else to take action)

Bond then uses a girl to find the villain (Passive: Bond doesn't act himself, instead he's taken somewhere else by someone else)

Bond is interrogated by the villain who uses some pseudo-homosexual advances (Passive: Bond doesn't do anything in the scene; he just listens)

Bond then watches a girl die before turning tables, shooting everyone except the villain and calls in helicopter support all within five seconds (Incredible passive: why would Bond wait until the girl is dead to kill everyone else?)

The villain's entire escape from jail plan is dependent on Q, a techno-wiz, being stupid enough to plug in the villain's laptop to MI6 computers. (Passive but story-based: how can a guy from Geek Squad, let alone MI6's Quartermaster, be dumb enough to plug in the computer after the opening bombing of MI6 headquarters proved the villain already had the ability to hack MI6 computers?)

Bond then chases the villain in a protracted bait-and-switch subway chase before having a train dropped on him (Passive: Bond reacts to everything the villain does instead of doing anything himself. He's REACTING instead of ACTING.)

M is shot at in the meeting hall, other characters including Ralph Fines and Eve fire back... while Bond takes M elsewhere (Passive: Everyone else is acting: shooting, etc. Bond takes M and leaves, which is passive)

Bond takes M to Skyfall (The most passive part of the movie: Instead of Bond attacking the villain or otherwise going after him in some way - Bond retreats and fortifies a position to WAIT FOR THE BAD GUYS.)

Many bad guys attack on foot, culminating in a Home Alone moment of stupid gadget trickery (Passive: entire scene is basically send in guys so they can die, serves no purpose especially when...)

Villain shows up in an attack helicopter with a minigun and lays waste to Skyfall mansion (Passive: Why would you send in 15 armed goons when you have a helicopter? More importantly, if the villain wants M alive for himself, why send goons and risk her dying? Or why risk killing her with the minigun? Bond again reacts but doesn't act: he waits for something to escalate before he does the same.)

Villain chases M and the butler and suddenly decides to off himself and her at the same time for reasons unknown. Bond kills him with a knife to the back (Passive: anti-climactic. Scene escalates in drama and is then defused - the hero appears at the end of the scene and interrupts instead of adding to it.)

2.) The story happens, the character revolves

Screenwriter John Logan does this a lot in his screenplays: his main character simply revolves around the story and narrates it instead of actually taking part.

If you need to understand the difference, a good example is Raiders Of The Lost Ark versus Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. The first involves Indy trying to take back the ark or, at the very least, stopping the villains from opening the Ark. He gets involved by constantly taking action against them. In Crystal Skull, Indy shows up - but scenes either happen without him (the jungle chase is often centered on other characters actions) or are simply his reacting to things (ants, waterfalls, stones moving, etc). If your character is REACTING, hes not actually doing anything - the thing he's reacting to IS.

Another great example is Quantum Of Solace versus Skyfall. QoS is about Bond seeking revenge against the people that her behind Vesper's betrayal and sort-of-suicide. This is motivation toward him meeting Dominic Greene and the movie continues as he purposely attempts to straddle both his job and his revenge for his lost girlfriend. Skyfall is Bond showing up and watching things happen; he chases people but only acts after the person he's chasing has already done something: the MI6 harddrive is stolen, the guy assassinates someone, the villain shoots a woman, etc.

In other words, everything that happens in the film Skyfall would've happened anyway without the main character.

Lame.

3.) The story is incredibly misogynistic

Eve can't shoot and obviously shouldn't be in the field. Judi Dench's M is an incompetent administrator who somehow managed to remain oblivious to the concept of cyber-terrorism for years - AND she can't shoot. Severine isn't worth saving or mourning because she's damaged goods; Bond even SAYS SO.

4.) Bond fails at every plot point in the film, making him unheroic *and* inept

*Bond fails to retrieve the MI6 agent list
*Bond fails to save Severine's husband from the assassin that nearly killed Bond
*Bond fails to save the assassin
*Bond fails to save Severine
*Bond fails to stop the villain from escaping through the subway
*Bond fails to save M from the villain

5.) Everything In The Plot Is From Nolan's Batman Movies

Skyfall = Wayne Manor. Albert Finney = Alfred. Bond = Bruce Wayne.

===

Skyfall: MI6 explodes and is then moved to a lower basement tunnel

The Dark Knight: Wayne Manor burned down in the previous movie so now Batman works out of a subterranean computer basement place.

===

Skyfall: Bond tracks down the villain using bullet fragments he dug out of his chest

The Dark Knight: Batman tracks down the Joker using bullet fragments dug out of a wall

===

Skyfall: Bond loses his family home when its burned to the ground while under attack by the villain

Batman Begins: Batman loses his family home when its burned to the ground by the villain

===

Skyfall: Villain has a horrible mouth problem

The Dark Knight: Villain has a horrible mouth problem

===


Skyfall: Bond chases the villain after the villain has changed into a police officer's uniform and disrupts an official ceremony.

The Dark Knight: Batman tracksthe villain after the villain has changed into a police officer's uniform and disrupts an official ceremony.

===

Skyfall: Villain has an elaborate scheme of being captured, brought back for imprisonment, only to break out and cause havoc.

The Dark Knight: Villain has an elaborate scheme of being captured, brought back for imprisonment, only to break out and cause havoc.

===

(A little bit looser but the villain going to the chapel at Skyfall and laughing at Bond's parents graves is literally the Joker laughing at Bruce's parent's graves.)

(The villain is a mix of The Joker (a horrible injury centered around his mouth. He disguises himself as a police officer to disrupt an official ceremony) and Julian Assange (the comb-forward haircut, the computer stuff - maaaaybe the sexual androgyny stuff). And pretty much both let themselves get captured in order to wreak even more havoc. (Joker's breakout, Assange's embassy drama).)

Literally everything in this movie is an inept swipe by the second worst screenwriter in Hollywood who also wrote Star Trek Nemesis (don't even go there) and The Last Samurai (another passive movie, and "Glory" for the Japanese world). I wouldn't be surprised if someone sues over this.

So, yes, there you go. The movie is awful and there are probably more reasons than the ones I listed here. It breaks a ton of Bob McKee's rules on storytelling and manages to make Bond into a passive, limp character who can't do anything right. Look no further than Bond needing to bed a woman who's been in sexual slavery.

It is a dumb, stupid movie for jerks.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Quote:

The whole point of this film as I see it is a reset of the series. They tried making Bond all moody and modern with the first two Craig films and they were both weak. They looked like they were copying films that had originally copied Bond to start with, Bourne specifically, and that led to a real weakening of the brand. They were ok films but they weren't Bond films. So now they've made a conscious decision to go back to making Bond films again and this is the bridging movie.

Missed that people responded until Sprout pointed me over here... And I almost responded to your post in full until I re-read this. So I know you can't be serious. It's cool, but if you want a job in comedy, be more direct.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I have a lot of catching up to do. I really enjoy Boss and am now moving on to Shameless and at some point American Horror Story.

Most days I'm so burned out on work that I just end up watching Trek.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Fluffykitten McSnugglepuss

The US version of Shameless is fucking terrible.

Ahahaha, what do you even know? Emmy Rossum gets naked in the US version.

Thus ours is assuredly the superior choice.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol: much better than the previous installment but still not great. I'm amused and frustrated that all the drama in the series is basically WILL THIS EQUIPMENT FAIL and the answer is always ONLY LONG ENOUGH TO CREATE TENSION. Cruise looks strangely old in the film; like he's aged two decades between this and the last one. The supporting characters are fine but I'm starting to get tired of seeing Simon Pegg in everything. Jeremy Renner continues to look like a fat-faced Chris Walken. Giacchino's music is an ethnic variation on his last M:I score and serves dutifully without impressing anyone.

Frankenweenie: Much better than I expected. Tim Burton has made nothing but crap since Ed Wood (his best picture still) and while this was by no means an Edward Scissorhands, it is a great bit of work on his part. Surprisingly small in cast, it gets all the right notes of "boy and his dog" while still being quirky. Nice if generic design work. More of a return to form than anything new but still excellent.

The Andromeda Strain: Cold, unusual picture. I'm not always hot for Robert Wise but this is something different. I'm still not sure I liked it but the DePalma framing, the scientists locked in a clean room, the electronic music... it's certainly not for everyone and something you'd have to be in the mood for. It's very chilling, both because of the subject matter and the eerie opening sequence.

633 Squadron: WWII fighter pilots flying down canyons and blowing away Nazis. I loved every damn minute of it, in all its kind of cheeseball glory. Cliff Robertson had more charisma than he knew what to do with.

King Kong (1976) - I hate to say this one just didn't grab me at all. Despite a rather good cast, some of the shots just don't work. It's a very flat feeling picture, as if the effects were suppose to carry the emotion. Unfortunately, the effects are nothing to write home about, especially when it's Rick Baker in an ape suit and not the close-up shots. The most impressive SFX is that René Auberjonois still has color in his hair. At least Jessica Lang looks good in a pair of daisy dukes.

Night Of The Comet - this is one of the strangest movies I've seen in ages. Zombies are created after a comet passes over earth and some people are turned into dust? Love the bad 80s feel, love the music drops and the overall shtick and for some reason Robert Beltran from Eating Raul is in this? Catherine Mary Stewart is still one of the best looking women from the 80s and she does well in a story that makes very little sense. I get the feeling Joss Whedon watched this while writing Cabin In The Woods.

Leviathan (1989) - Everyone told me Leviathan was a terrible movie and I'm disappointed its actually a mildly entertaining Alien rip-off. It's got a strong cast lead by Peter Weller, who attempts to give a heroic performance while also being saddled with the worst one-liner to ever close a movie ("Say hi, MUTHERFUCKER!"). Richard Crenna plays his role the same way he played Trautman in the Rambo movies, down to his vocal inflection when listing off things. The women are really attractive and only one of them meets a bad end. Fun Goldsmith score, the end cue is very much like the one he wrote for The Swarm. All in all, exactly what you'd expect if someone said a b-movie remake of Alien.

Rob Roy - I'd forgotten how DRY this film actually was. However, I will never complain about a movie where Liam Neeson is beating the living crap out of people. Lovely score by Carter Burwell (whom I normally don't care for) and its only outshined by Tim Roth as a foppish asshole with a grudge against the title character. Beautiful scenic photography and nice pacing.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by wvlfpvp

oh my god Acer, I have a Drink On Movie that I must Tell Everyone about:

The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking. You know, the American one. Holy fucking shit. The movie is, quite literally, So Bad It's Awesome. Oh my god. Songs. The Songs. That Won't get out of My Head. Holy shit.

I would highly recommend combining this film with a viewing of THE PIRATE MOVIE.

YouTube Video

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Fluffykitten McGrundlepuss

Watched the recent remake of Evil Dead. It was a'ight but unsurprisingly not as good as any of the original three.

Did you stay through the end credits?

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Fluffykitten McGrundlepuss

Watched to when it went black and started listing the cast so not to the end, no. Should I Youtube it?

YouTube Video

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Jacob's Ladder

I remember when this came out and how it intensely bothered the adults in my life. Though its unfortunately lost some of its more visceral impact (though seeing your wife get fucked-to-death on a dance floor by a tentacle monster while still pre-dating America's importing of anime is impressively... horrible), the way the movie is mashed up and told in a "which side of this is real" complex context is pretty damn impressive, even if the big finish at the end was sort of "meh".

See it if you like Silent Hill games or general mind-fuck.

Avoid it if you have a tenuous grasp on your mind or emotions.

I was speaking idiomatically.

The less said about the Abrams films, the better.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Prisoners was likely the most disturbing suspense movie I've seen since Seven. Loved every frame but its definitely not for people who have kids of their own.

I saw Jodorowsky's Dune which was truly mind-blowing. The guy has more charisma than anyone I've ever heard; his ideas are so outlandish and extravagant, I had a hard time processing some of it. Highly recommended if you think you're a creative type or an artist.

Batman turned 25 this year, so I had another go with that. Still a lot of fun, still infinitely superior to the Nolan films.

FELIPE NO