Movies you've seen recently

[Raithe]

I recently stumbled on this, referencing one of my favourite cult movies of all time. "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzaii Across the 8th Dimension!"

 

It's a video of Kevin Smith at the NY Film Festival a few months back talking about how this movie shifted his worldview and has both Peter Weller and John Lithgow along to talk about their experiences in making it waaay back in '84.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8R8wmlggwc

 

* Warning, it's Kevin Smith so some of the language might not be the cleanest...

[Amentep]

Edgar Allen Poe is recruited by the police to help capture a killer who uses scenes from Poe's work to stage gruesome murders

 

So... it's a period piece version of Castle?

 

Yes, if Castle was a Byronic hero, the police investigator was a man and not a woman, and it wasn't as good, this would totally be a period piece Castle.

[LadyCrimson]

Sylvestor Stallone week. I watched Judge Dredd, just to remind myself of how terrible it is.

One complaint about the film (re: differing from comic) is about how he takes off his helmet for most of the movie. I've read enough to know in the comic Dredd, you never (?) got to see his face or something like that. And I can see that working in a comic. But in a movie....is he going to shower with it on? Talk to people over the vid-phone while he's at home with it on? Sure, they could and perhaps should have made Stallone keep the helmet on a lot more, but it just starts to feel a little silly and distancing in a film if the chr. never takes it off.

 

I think I've heard the upcoming remake will have him not take it off.....I"ll be curious how that works out. I'm guessing he'll always be on-duty when the story focuses on him. No love scenes. Or keep his face in shadow I suppose.

Edited May 4, 2012 by LadyCrimson

[Orogun01]

Sylvestor Stallone week. I watched Judge Dredd, just to remind myself of how terrible it is.

One complaint about the film (re: differing from comic) is about how he takes off his helmet for most of the movie. I've read enough to know in the comic Dredd, you never (?) got to see his face or something like that. And I can see that working in a comic. But in a movie....is he going to shower with it on? Talk to people over the vid-phone while he's at home with it on? Sure, they could and perhaps should have made Stallone keep the helmet on a lot more, but it just starts to feel a little silly and distancing in a film if the chr. never takes it off.

 

I think I've heard the upcoming remake will have him not take it off.....I"ll be curious how that works out. I'm guessing he'll always be on-duty when the story focuses on him. No love scenes. Or keep his face in shadow I suppose.

But the new film will probably won't have classic line such as "I AM...THE LAW!!!" or Rob Scheinder.

[Raithe]

And they've got Karl Urban as Dredd. And the man loathes wearing helmets. Apparently it's become one of those amusing in-jokes in hollywood that he keeps getting into films where his character is supposed to be all helmeted. And he always finds reasons why he can get away without..

[Amentep]

Sylvestor Stallone week. I watched Judge Dredd, just to remind myself of how terrible it is.

One complaint about the film (re: differing from comic) is about how he takes off his helmet for most of the movie. I've read enough to know in the comic Dredd, you never (?) got to see his face or something like that. And I can see that working in a comic. But in a movie....is he going to shower with it on? Talk to people over the vid-phone while he's at home with it on? Sure, they could and perhaps should have made Stallone keep the helmet on a lot more, but it just starts to feel a little silly and distancing in a film if the chr. never takes it off.

 

I think I've heard the upcoming remake will have him not take it off.....I"ll be curious how that works out. I'm guessing he'll always be on-duty when the story focuses on him. No love scenes. Or keep his face in shadow I suppose.

 

I don't think Dredd has much of a life in the comics outside being a judge (mind you, haven't read a lot of Dredd, so...). I don't think that's the case with the other judges, but particular to Dredd. That said I didn't care about Stalone losing the helmet.

 

The biggest problem, IMO, with the movie was that its predicated on a lot of what I'd call continuity pieces (Dredd's "origin", his "family", the villain taking away things that are important to him) without the context for why they matter to Dredd. The plot would have made an okay third film; it was a disastrous first film, IMO.

[LadyCrimson]

I figured the biggest problem with Stallone's Dredd was the terrible over acting. But yeah, not much time was spent on knowing what went on in Dredd's head.

 

I watched a Korean action film called War of Arrows. I'm not quite sure what to think....on the one hand, good action and cinematography, once those elements started to take off. But the story felt typical (family threatened, revenge), not to mention sparse, so I didn't feel much emotion re: the ending. Still, I enjoyed it, particularly for the idea that most of the combat action was based around the bow and arrow, rather than mystical, floating martial arts or swordsmanship. They even showed the hero retrieving his arrows a lot of the time - not that that prevented the arrow-supply from being a bit magical at times..but I appreciated the effort anyway. Heh

Edited May 4, 2012 by LadyCrimson

[Amentep]

I figured the biggest problem with Stallone's Dredd was the terrible over acting. But yeah, not much time was spent on knowing what went on in Dredd's head.

 

Hahah, well I can admire overacting in certain situations (sometimes its fun to see actors chewing the scenery).

[Gfted1]

...not that that prevented the arrow-supply from being a bit magical at times..but I appreciated the effort anyway. Heh

 

Thats one of the campy things I love best about those 90's action movies.

 

I present you with Commando:

 

 

Hes firing a belt fed M60 and you may notice ~20 rounds hanging by his left hand. He killed about 50 people with those 20 rounds.

[Raithe]

Hes firing a belt fed M60 and you may notice ~20 rounds hanging by his left hand. He killed about 50 people with those 20 rounds.

 

It's not like you could actually fire that many rounds through an M60 without barrel droop and premature cookoff... or so I've heard. At least the video clips of the "new" M60E was quite suitably impressive a few years back..

[LadyCrimson]

I miss Arnold the "actor." I'd even go see him play a wrinkled, aged Terminator. The action hero actors of today are not nearly as much fun.

[Malcador]

[Amentep]

...not that that prevented the arrow-supply from being a bit magical at times..but I appreciated the effort anyway. Heh

 

Thats one of the campy things I love best about those 90's action movies.

 

I present you with Commando:

 

 

Hes firing a belt fed M60 and you may notice ~20 rounds hanging by his left hand. He killed about 50 people with those 20 rounds.

 

I think this falls under the cinematic "rule of cool".

 

Seeing Arnie dispatch faceless baddies = cool

 

Watching Arnie reload = not cool

 

[Raithe]

And the Avengers certainly show a fine sense of Joss Whedon's style and writing. There's some quite humerous moments spun out in the midst of it all.

Fun cinema, and while there are plenty of explosions and wotnot, it doesn't actually take over the characters.

 

Without giving away too many spoilers as such:

 

Jackson's Nick Fury gets a whole hunk of screen time (as expected) and plays nicely as that manipulative magnificent bastard.

Captain America comes across as a bit uptight, but gets back to the man of principle more then a "good" soldier.

Thor is more of the background character in a lot of ways then taking forefront.

Robert Downey's Stark pushes to the forefront in pretty much every scene he's in..

Although I think it comes across as if Stark and the Black Widow have the most "on-time" out of the whole group.

Bruce Banner is fairly subtle as well for his presence, he plays the only one who can talk with Stark at that level and plays with a quiet confidence for most of it. The Hulk side not putting in an appearance towards the end of the film.

 

Although I do think there's going to be a handful of scenes that everyone who goes to see the film will find stuck in their memories.

Natasha's introduction and the "reverse-interrogation" hit my humour, Loki's interaction with Agent Phil Coulson (yes, Agent is not his first name), and the impeccably timed and shot Loki/Hulk moment...

 

Gwyneth Paltrow does her 5 minutes as Pepper Potts, whilst Natalie Portman is just a photograph and datasheet shown to Thor...

[HoonDing]

Apparently after the credits there's a short part where

Thanos

is shown, hinting at either Avengers 2 or a Guardians of the Galaxy movie. First is more likely than second.

[Tale]

Just came back from Avengers myself. I felt it needed to be longer. There's no real character development. Only character with it seemed to be Hulk, and his is more hinted than shown.

 

It was still good. But they just seemed to work as a team without the conflict all the advertising implies.

The bit with everyone yelling at each seemed to be mind control. The second it was over, Iron Man and Captain America were just working together fine. Everyone seemed to work together fine except Hulk, until he does work with them and there's nothing really explaining the change.

 

[LadyCrimson]

Trying to convince hubby we need to see Jeremy Renner in that black suit Avengers on the big screen.

 

I've seen so many "comic hero film game changer" and such glowing comments/reviews that I've been trying to convince myself it'll suck just so I won't be disappointed by over-inflated expectations. I'm looking for a good popcorn flick along the "it's good" level of the first IronMan. I'd be quite happy/content with that.

[Raithe]

Trying to convince hubby we need to see Jeremy Renner in that black suit Avengers on the big screen.

 

I've seen so many "comic hero film game changer" and such glowing comments/reviews that I've been trying to convince myself it'll suck just so I won't be disappointed by over-inflated expectations. I'm looking for a good popcorn flick along the "it's good" level of the first IronMan. I'd be quite happy/content with that.

 

I half feel it's worth it just for the Hulk / Loki scene. Seriously.

And Lou Ferrigno voices the Hulk once more..

 

According to director Joss Whedon, the original cut of the movie was over 3 hours long. There will be about 30 minutes of the excised footage included in the DVD Release, most of which revolves around Steve Rogers (Captain America). Whedon revealed that one of these scenes involved Rogers struggling to adjust to the modern world in his Brooklyn apartment and another revealed Steve Rogers' reunion with Peggy Carter, his love interest from the Captain America film.

[Hurlshort]

Avengers was fantastic. I can't help but feel Joss Whedon's writing made a huge difference. Instead of just another shiny action movie with fun explosions, we had some great dialogue to go with it. It really shows how well they planned all the individual movies as well (except Hulk, I suppose) because they set the stage perfectly for this film.

[Raithe]

And they're even working on a Nick Fury film to show his origins..

 

Everyone I know who have seen the Avengers have the same list of about 5 scenes that made them laugh out loud.

But yes, Joss certainly showed he has managed to bring a certain elegance to out-ZOMG'ing Michael Bay's summer blockbusters.. and the assortment of dialogue and geeky comic-book references he worked into the script..

 

Edit: And I have to say, I'm actually a little impressed with how well the guy playing Loki handled it. The combination of delivery of lines, facial expressions and body language was top notch. He managed to chew the scenery in just the right manner.

Edited May 6, 2012 by Raithe

[Gorgon]

Been trying to find a theater that has clip-ons for my glasses.

 

Bloody 3d pestilence. Do not need.

[Oerwinde]

Just came back from Avengers myself. I felt it needed to be longer. There's no real character development. Only character with it seemed to be Hulk, and his is more hinted than shown.

 

It was still good. But they just seemed to work as a team without the conflict all the advertising implies.

The bit with everyone yelling at each seemed to be mind control. The second it was over, Iron Man and Captain America were just working together fine. Everyone seemed to work together fine except Hulk, until he does work with them and there's nothing really explaining the change.

 

I think most of the character development was done in Captain America, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Incredible Hulk, and Thor. I think thats generally how its going to happen too. The individual movies you get the character development, the team up movies you get to see some great villains and some ass kicking.

 

Here's hoping Disney uses some of the like 800 million this movie is going to make and buys the rights back to Fantastic Four. Reed Richards needs to be in the same room with Stark, Banner, and Pym at some point. And Hulk and Thing need to fight.

[LadyCrimson]

Been trying to find a theater that has clip-ons for my glasses.

 

Bloody 3d pestilence. Do not need.

Theaters don't have the film in 2D where you are? There's no need to see it in 3D if you don't want to. I've read it's one of the few 3D films that might (depending on the theater....) be worth the extra price, with the brightness not being dimmed overmuch, being more subtle, and stuff like that, but also that it's still perfectly awesome in 2D. (edit - since I was still unimpressed with 3D in Avatar I've refused to pay more for 3D since).

Edited May 6, 2012 by LadyCrimson

[Raithe]

Here's hoping Disney uses some of the like 800 million this movie is going to make and buys the rights back to Fantastic Four. Reed Richards needs to be in the same room with Stark, Banner, and Pym at some point. And Hulk and Thing need to fight.

 

Marvel has said that they do hope to get all of the licences back together under one group, so that you can have potential cross-overs of both Heroes and Villains.. So the likes of Spider-man and Doctor Doom both could have a spin in a future Avengers film..

[Gorgon]

3D showings are given the best time slots, or all of them. Anyway kinda tired of superhero movies now. There is a definate assembly line phenomenon going on , one squeezed out the minuite the last one stops generating revenue.