Movies you have seen recently

[Monte Carlo]

The Crazies

 

Strange. I started to enjoy it then kinda lost my interest after the US Army & Government = SS Kommando. I was picking up this sort of half-arsed Iraq allegory in there and it just wasn't working. If you want to make a zombie movie without zombies then fine, but the government conspiracy meme can be done much more subtly and convincingly (State of Play, anyone?) or amusingly (Mel Gibson in Conspiracy Theory).

 

My view = a horror hodgepodge with genre identity issues, some good characters wasted and typical mindless stormtrooper portrayal of the military.

 

Cheers

MC

[Raithe]

The Expendables..

Fairly fun in that fairly mindless way. Ticks all the boxes for action pieces as an 80's action flick would. Plenty of explosions at the end. A rather loud fully automatic combat shotgun let loose in a small corridor..

Schwarzenegger and Willis were only brief cameos.. But you do get to see Lundgren and Jet Li fight it out which is entertaining.

[Monte Carlo]

Going to see The Expendables in on my 'Must Do' list for this week. I am giddy excited about it, am pleased to hear the positive feedback on this thread.

[Raithe]

Going to see The Expendables in on my 'Must Do' list for this week. I am giddy excited about it, am pleased to hear the positive feedback on this thread.

 

Oh, it's also got a brief role for Charisma Carpenter (of Buffy and Angel fame) and she's still looking quite good..

 

The basketball court scene is both amusing and well choreographed for the brief violence there..

[Amentep]

The Crazies

 

Strange. I started to enjoy it then kinda lost my interest after the US Army & Government = SS Kommando. I was picking up this sort of half-arsed Iraq allegory in there and it just wasn't working. If you want to make a zombie movie without zombies then fine, but the government conspiracy meme can be done much more subtly and convincingly (State of Play, anyone?) or amusingly (Mel Gibson in Conspiracy Theory).

 

My view = a horror hodgepodge with genre identity issues, some good characters wasted and typical mindless stormtrooper portrayal of the military.

 

Cheers

MC

 

To be fair, the government/army intervention is taken straight out of the original film from 1973.

[Monte Carlo]

Parallels with 1973 abound - America was in the grip of an unpopular war and under tricky Dicky conspiracy theories abounded. Nonetheless, it sorta ruined it for me.

[HoonDing]

The Expendables..

Fairly fun in that fairly mindless way. Ticks all the boxes for action pieces as an 80's action flick would. Plenty of explosions at the end. A rather loud fully automatic combat shotgun let loose in a small corridor..

Schwarzenegger and Willis were only brief cameos.. But you do get to see Lundgren and Jet Li fight it out which is entertaining.

No Van Damme & Seagal, but Statham? Epic fail.

[Amentep]

Van Damme and Seagal were both invited to join in, but both turned the project down.

 

Seagal reportedly turned it down due to issues with one of the producers (he'll be appearing in Robert Rodriguez' Machete in September).

 

Van Damme reportedly turned it down because he didn't think it was the right move to make (or alternatively he wasn't crazy about the character/plot; I've read different rumours).

 

Also reportedly turning down a part was Kurt Russell (who would have had the Bruce Willis cameo) and Wesley Snipes (who was unavailable) and Forest Whitaker (who initially signed but then had scheduling conflicts).

[Raithe]

Van Damme reportedly turned it down because he didn't think it was the right move to make (or alternatively he wasn't crazy about the character/plot; I've read different rumours).

 

It's not a movie about character or plot really... it's a fairly fun film that's about a bunch of actions stars enjoying themselves rather than taking anything too seriously.

 

I mean, Jet Li doing the whole " I want more money, I'm small. I work harder then you guys do." argument with Stallone was fairly amusing.

Edited August 22, 2010 by Raithe

[Amentep]

Saw Piranha 3D over the weekend. A big old "ugh" to the film.

 

I loved the original Piranha film and high hopes for this one, but its a total mess of a film. Its also much more of a gore film (ie the point seems to be showing gore than anything else), which I personally find to be a disappointing approach.

 

As a fan of B to Z grade films, I can live with one dimensional characters, but most of the characters in this film don't even rate a dimension. They do whatever the plot calls for them to do for plot expediency, not because it makes sense or has been supported by character development (or even a line of dialogue).

 

The attacks have no suspense (the big piranha attack on the beach party goes on so long that its actually boring instead of suspenseful) and often have no rhyme nor reason (the piranhas seem to be pretty much wherever they need to be for the plot to have an attack). Several times attacks are broken up for visual gags, deflating the scenes.

 

The last minute "shock ending" is laughable (and spoiled by the trailer).

 

That said some of the cast manages to do well with what they're given (Elizabeth Shue, Ving Rhames, Christopher Lloyd) just simply because they manage to invest the characters with enough spark to gain audience sympathy. Special kudos to Jerry O'Connell who manages to play a loathsome porn producer with appropriate combinations of "gee-whiz we're going to make a movie" enthusiasm and seedy "hurh-hurh-hurh" attitude (with occasional teen boy "boobies!" approach).

 

Steven R. McQueen and Jessica Szohr play the main leads and unfortunately the film undercuts any real buildup to their characters (Szohr's character's boyfriend gets a bigger shaft, having an unexplained-by-the-film reaction during the beach attack that mostly seems to have happened so there could be some more gore effects). Kellie Brook manages to invest some sympathy into her character whose storyline seems to get dropped with McQueen's and Szohr's (as she seems to be trying to play matchmaker between them, but again that whole storyline doesn't get any screen time beyond a few nods early on).

 

The 3D itself is a mixed bag; some of it seems well thought out, some of it not thought out at all. Parts of it are obviously upconverted and some parts of the film don't seem to be 3D at all.

 

Overall I'd say its a big missed opportunity not worth shelling out the dough to see in 3D in the theaters.

[LadyCrimson]

I saw it some days ago, but guess I didn't mention it here yet?

 

Ghost Writer....it started off very well, with nice mystery & atmosphere, became steadily less interesting, & then finally (imo) a bit absurd. Pierce Brosnan was good in his small role, Ewan was fine, & I liked the drab/dingy weather cinematography. It's not that it was a bad movie by any means. More like...eventually it collapsed under the weight of the artistic mood, perhaps.

[Rosbjerg]

As a Scandinavian I found it quite interesting. The mood and setting was very winter Nordic (lack of colour + very grey and drab). All of the beach scenes were shot here in Denmark as well - I was also surprised that most of the tension and build-up resembled similar Swedish and Danish movies.. I think he found some inspiration in our little corner of the world.

[LadyCrimson]

The mood and setting was very winter Nordic (lack of colour + very grey and drab).

Yeah...I loved that aspect to the film. Gorgeous & great for mood. Made me want to be there.

I also appreciated the slower, more deliberate pace (not Hollywood-frenetic) & subtlety of some things. I just wish the 2nd half had lived up to the promise of the 1st half.

[Monte Carlo]

A shame that the movie ruins any subsequent read of the book, which is v good.

[Oner]

http://ultramarinesthemovie.com/trailer

[Walsingham]

http://ultramarinesthemovie.com/trailer

 

I'm going to go see it obviously, but that looked like a game cutscene.

[Oner]

http://ultramarinesthemovie.com/trailer

 

I'm going to go see it obviously, but that looked like a game cutscene.

IIRC it's straight to DVD, so it's unlikely you'll go see it.

But yeah, it's pretty cutscene-tastic.

And the bolt gun sounds still suck.

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

Watched 30 minutes of the Hangover and gave up. It was just too dumb and far from funny. Not to mention the whole scenario has been done before many times in pretty much every medium imaginable.

[PrestigeWorldwide]

I didn't think The Hangover was bad. It just wasn't as good as everyone said it was.

 

I recently had the pleasure of watching The Other Guys. It had some pretty funny moments. It was odd seeing Michael Keaton on screen again.

[Kor Qel Droma]

Watched the finale of Season 2 of Fringe yesterday. Goddamn what a great series. I'm glad season three starts in a few weeks. I want to see more of Walternate.

 

Also going to check out a few episodes of Rubicon tonight. Hopefully its good as well.

 

And I saw The Other Guys a week or so ago, too. I liked it, but it was far too long for a comedy.

[GreasyDogMeat]

Watched the finale of Season 2 of Fringe yesterday. Goddamn what a great series. I'm glad season three starts in a few weeks. I want to see more of Walternate.

I loved it too. I think they could make a spin-off series in the alternate universe.

[fastpunk]

Watched Crank this past Wednesday. What a piece of tripe. I actually think my IQ went down a few points after watching it.

 

Luckily, I have two movies in my backlog that look genuinely interesting, and I'm going to watch them these following days.

- City Island (comedy, with Andy Garcia and Julianna Margulies) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1174730/

- State of Play (thriller, with Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, and Rachel McAdams) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0473705/

 

Hope they're good!

[Monte Carlo]

State of Play is very good.

[LadyCrimson]

I'm in luv w/Cillian Murphy. Noticed him in 28 Days Later then forgot about him until Red Eye. Now he's more US mainstream I guess.

Trying to catch up with some of his early/indie films. The heavy Irish brogues are sometimes difficult for me tho.

 

The Wind That Shakes the Barley - pretty good anti-war film about the Republicans in early 20th century Ireland.

 

Intermission - a multiple storyline movie ala Crash or Pulp Fiction. Not bad, not great. Jumps between stories are a bit abrupt for me. Colin Farrell & Colm Meaney from ST:TNG are in it too.

[Raithe]

Talking of brogues.. I caught Finding Neverland over the weekend. Jonny Depp putting on another wonderful take of a scottish accent merged with londoner.. An interesting little film loosely based on JM Barrie's creation of Peter Pan.

 

I have to admit, the flights of fantasy where it spins from the "reality" to what's being seen in imagination did put me in mind of Terry Gilliam more.. but I liked that.