Movies You've Seen Recently

[Gorth]

I remember watching it 20 something years ago. Still one of the best movies ever

[Calax]

I saw the '74 Gatsby in highschool history class. Had a teacher who liked to show his students movies now and then. Not one of those movies I'd probably watch on my own but I liked it a fair amount when sitting in a classroom. It is really slow and 70's dated of course...and last time I viewed it was probably in my early 30's. I'd guess if I saw it now I'd probably get impatient with it.

 

My (possible) issue with the new Gatsby, from what I've seen/read, is if they put too many time anachronisms in it. Like, I've read a few reviewers mention music not appropriate to the time period or something.

It's got a soundtrack from Jay Z

[Volourn]

And, it is one of the best movie soundtracks ever and fits the movie perfectly.

[Woldan]

Das Boat is one of my all time faves. I have the director's cut with all that extra time, but it's not bluray. :/

...has it really been that long? Gah. Not that I saw it at release, more like 5-8 years later, but still.

 

Yeah, it was made in 81', I still remember watching the movie in three parts when I was 7 years old but the film has aged incredibly well, like not at all.

[LadyCrimson]

The Last Stand - oh Arnie.

[Volourn]

Getting back to GG and its music 9since I can't stop talking about it).. this quote from a random youtube commenter points out why I feel the music is ffective depsite it not being atcual 20s era music 9though the movie does have some jazz style tunes):

 

"I think contemporary hip hop music stays true to the spirit of the story. Jazz-Age music would sound quaint, charming and nostalgic. But Gatsby's swinging lifestyle wasn't quaint or charming or nostalgic. It was sexy and dangerous and wild and 'of the moment'. Contemporary music is a smart way to pull viewers into the 'scandalous' world of the Roaring Twenties."

 

 

P.S. I'm gonna see the film for the 3rd time tomorrow  'cause it's just tooo sweet,.

Edited May 24, 2013 by Volourn

[Hurlshort]

Hangover 3 - Don't spend any money seeing this.  I had a free ticket and I still felt like it was a waste.  It really didn't make me laugh.  The only positive is that it gave a sense of closure to the whole story, I have no desire to see these people again.  I loved the first one and thought the 2nd had some good moments, so I was pretty surprised how little this did for me.

[LadyCrimson]

I liked the first Hangover well enough, but wasn't in seeing more. Hubs did watch the 2nd, and didn't like it very much. it's one of those film formula's that I think doesn't bear many repeats. Kinda like Wayne's World.

[Woldan]

 

 

Watched sunshine, even though the plot is rolleyes, some scenes that make the space-physics-nerd in my cry out loud plus the twist at the end that almost destroys the film ( I still think the director should be drop-kicked in the face by a 300lbs wrestler for this) the beautiful scenes, the solid acting and the suspenseful soundtrack still make it entertaining and worth watching.
Oh, and Rose Byrne automatically gives the film two bonus points! 

 

Without the stupid twist at the end the film would have easily scored an 8 if not 8.5 for me. 

 

Watch it in blu-ray, the quality is spectacular. 

Edited May 25, 2013 by Woldan

[Blarghagh]

Warm Bodies, which was entertaining but I feel they could have done more with the concept. For those who were worried it was Twilight with Zombies, don't worry. Tongue remains firmly in cheek throughout the film.

Edited May 25, 2013 by TrueNeutral

[LadyCrimson]

 

 

Watched sunshine,

 [ ... ]

Oh, and Rose Byrne automatically gives the film two bonus points!

Cillian Murphy.

[Raithe]

Star Trek into Darkness.

 

We get what we expect from a J.J. Abrams film. Great Visuals (with lots of lens flare). Solid acting (with some odd dialogue). Insensible plot with glaring holes.

 

Cumberbatch pretty much steals any scene he's in. Hell, his intense stare at Kirk through some glass as he's piloting that gunship thing probably out-acts half the rest of them. For the way they wrote his character, he pulls it off incredibly well. Focused, intent, dangerous, arrogantly confident and supremely capable.  Unfortunately, for me that writing also lost out on a few other things.  (Not to put any spoilers out) But frankly, where was the force of presence that could inspire men and women to follow him? Where was the guiding charisma that could pull people into his field and let him lead them on?  I recognise they were highly focused on him in that "solo" role, so I can semi-understand why they didn't really have it shining out. But it should still be there in how he is with the crew on the Enterprise when he interacts with them.

 

Heh, although I really liked how one reviewer put it - "Seeing Benedict steal all those scenes makes me realise what a good actor Martin Freeman is, for being able to hold equal screen time with him on Sherlock and not letting him dominate."

 

The whole "Kirk regress, and let's do the same character arc and growth from the first film again" was a little pointless. Actually, I know we have this whole image of Kirk being this incredibly wild and rebellious, break the rules officer.. But if you watch the original series, he wasn't.  Apart from the Kobyashu Maru test, he was pretty much a "follow orders" guy up until he has to go bring Spock back from the dead.. He might flex them a bit, but he never really went wild and broke them.

 

For the other consideration (sorry, my mind is running on weird Trek trains now), but as the commanding officer he couldn't really nail any of the women under his command, and he was always on those "5 year missions". Of course he'd flirt with most of the women he met who weren't under his command. Plus, pretty much all the women he did seduce in the show.. he did it to save his ship, save his crew, or get information from said woman in an effort to do one of the two mentioned things. He really wasn't that great a womaniser..

 

 

 

Also, the Star Fleet conspiracy thing? How the hell did a lone Admiral (even the high ranking one) get all that done without other officers involved in said conspiracy and getting the ship build?

 

 

[Calax]

Into Darkness

 

I don't know, but I feel like kirk had a slightly different arc this time. Last time it was about having goals and using his abilities. But that gets muddied by the fact that the writers wanted it to be Captain Kirk even though the guy was still a cadet. I mean the last movie had me a little bit boggled that three (four?) cadets could just walk onto the flagship of the fleet and take over. You had Uhura, Kirk, McCoy (ok he gets a bit of a pass because he's a doc already), and possibly Sulu, all fresh out of the academy and being better at their duties than people who'd finished and been in fleet.

 

So the last movie, I read more as being Spock's film about finding his identity while Kirk's growth was more about getting a goal and using his abilities to their limit. This movie is much less about Spock and more about Kirk, so Kirk is still an immature git who thinks that he's all that and a bag of chips, but now he's got a direction and is put in a position to apply himself. And this movie is him being forced to mature and dealing with actually being the leader.

 

Honestly, this entire series would have been better served if they hadn't forced the crew into the positions on the Enterprise they'd had during the show's run. As in the second film ended with how this one started, Kirk is the #2 on the Enterprise, with Spock being an Adjutant or still at the Academy as a teacher, with the rest of the crew following suit. With the way this story is structured, it'd be pretty easy to write them back onto the Enterprise, and would get rid of the stupid bits like Scotty "Quitting".

 

[Hurlshort]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Kirk losing his father in the first film is a new twist, no?  So new movie Kirk compared to TV show Kirk would be lacking that father figure?  Just a possible explanation for the change in character, I don't really read that much into these things.  I go for the explosions.

[Raithe]

For the lazy sunday afternoon viewing - Bullet To the Head.

 

A somewhat silly Stallone film. I'd say your standard action feature fair. Some violence, some amusements, a little flash of sex appeal, and some solid performances from those involved. It's a call back to the "Red Heat" style of films from the 80's.

 

He plays a New Orleans assassin who ends up teaming up with Sung Kang's DC cop as they track down the people behind their respective partners deaths. Jason Momoa playing the main heavy in monosyllabic athletic killer style, Sarah Shahi as Stallone's daughter, and Christian Slater as a sleazy lawyer type. Punches through the standard numbers of corruption in the Big Easy, the odd couple style hookup, and a few set action pieces.

 

Although the dueling axe fight is quite nicely done.

[Calax]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Kirk losing his father in the first film is a new twist, no?  So new movie Kirk compared to TV show Kirk would be lacking that father figure?  Just a possible explanation for the change in character, I don't really read that much into these things.  I go for the explosions.

Yeah. But it still doesn't make up for the fact that Kirk was a Captain straight out of the Academy. With Captain being  the rank just below Admiral in the navy's rank chain. 

[obyknven]

http://youtu.be/1vQgedH4gn8

[Oerwinde]

So Glenn Close has been cast as the head of the Nova Corps in Guardians of the Galaxy. This says two things. 1) Marvel is still dedicated to getting top notch talent. 2) the effing Nova Corps are in Guardians of the Galaxy.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

So Glenn Close has been cast as the head of the Nova Corps in Guardians of the Galaxy. This says two things. 1) Marvel is still dedicated to getting top notch talent. 2) the effing Nova Corps are in Guardians of the Galaxy.

I just hope if they use Nova, they use the real one and not that Loeb ****.*

 

Frankly, I bet that Marvel manages to get out a Nova movie before DC gets out a good Green Lantern. Hell they're using Quicksilver before DC is going to use Flash.

 

*yes I know that character is based off his dead son

[Oerwinde]

 

So Glenn Close has been cast as the head of the Nova Corps in Guardians of the Galaxy. This says two things. 1) Marvel is still dedicated to getting top notch talent. 2) the effing Nova Corps are in Guardians of the Galaxy.

I just hope if they use Nova, they use the real one and not that Loeb ****.*

 

Frankly, I bet that Marvel manages to get out a Nova movie before DC gets out a good Green Lantern. Hell they're using Quicksilver before DC is going to use Flash.

 

*yes I know that character is based off his dead son

 

The fact that they are making big budget movies from 4th tier characters shows how much faith Marvel has in their properties. Warners needs to take some more chances and respect their characters. They need a Kevin Feige of their own. Someone who knows the properties and can get the projects on the right track to make good movies while staying true to the characters. Green Lantern wasn't that bad of a movie, but they got Hal Jordan all wrong, and sidelining the rest of the corps was a dumb move.

[Calax]

I think that they're trying to do that, but Warner doesn't really have anyone that is going to go to bat to keep the integrity of their characters. From what I've seen of the DC properties, the creative teams really want to play in the mythos (or twist it for their own stories... friggin Dark Knight) but the suits want a homogenized movie that will attract as many people who aren't familiar with the source material as they can. Minor winks to the audience, but nothing like Thanos or Vibranium or Dr. Zola.

[Raithe]

Well that and the Green Lantern Corps does tend to suck.
 
As pointed out in a rather delightful io9 article.. Reasons Why the Green Lanterns Are the Universes Worst Protectors

 

 

The Green Lanterns don’t discriminate on race, species, or sex — but they don’t discriminate on talent, aptitude, mental health, skill level or anything else, either...

[Volourn]

Hotel Translyvania: Eh. Meh. Bleh.

[Calax]

 

Well that and the Green Lantern Corps does tend to suck.

 

As pointed out in a rather delightful io9 article.. Reasons Why the Green Lanterns Are the Universes Worst Protectors

 

 

The Green Lanterns don’t discriminate on race, species, or sex — but they don’t discriminate on talent, aptitude, mental health, skill level or anything else, either...

 

In theory they do. Mogo sent all the rings to those who could use them properly and had the temprament to use them. The issue however is that the writers would write stupid Corp members because they wanted the half dozen earth Lanterns to be more prominent.

[Oerwinde]

Mogo is dead now so the only requirement now is the ability to overcome fear again.