Movies

[Darth_Rob]

I agree with America coming out of its "prudish shell", as you stated. And I did feel kinda silly going into my rant, knowing that that is somewhat more "normal" in Europe. But as you said about male and female anatomy, I guess I forgot to mention. With all the flopping that was going around, I forgot to mention that Harold and Kumar also had full frontal female nudity, which was also a shock to me.

 

All in all, this year has shown an increase in full frontal nudity, which has so far been quite restricted here. I suppose we're just going along with the times. Personally, I dont mind it, but its just so different from what we are used to here.

[Grand_Admiral_Thrawn]

Yes, after I really thought about it I realised that even though, logically, it's nothing to speak of the fact that it's not as common place here does give it a shock factor. I suppose that's what the movie producers are aiming for. As you pointed out they may decide to keep escalating it to the point where R-rated films are indistinguishable from pornography, just to maintain that shock factor.

[Eagle]

Well, I don´t know anything about that movie. But I could watch that since at least "American Pie" and "There´s something about Mary" comedies nowadays are all about making fart-, sperm- and puke-jokes. So why not go a step further and show some genitals. You know that these Hollywood-Guys are very creative, aren´t they.

 

But I also don´t like that prudery which wents on since the beginning of the 90s. All that false political correctness bores me off. Since that movies aren´t what they are used to be like they were before, really. They have become clinical dead, just filled with lots of action-scenes, loads of CGI, mostly boring actors and filmed in cold colours as colourless as the whole script is which is also full of dozens of plot-holes. I really wonder why people still go to cinemas watching the newest rubbish at all.

 

I don´t want to say that every new movie is absolutely crap. No, there are of course a couple of good movies. But those aren´t those who are shown to such a big audience like those so called "blockbusters" are. BTW the term "blockbuster" is also so absolutely wrong. You can´t call a movie a "blockbuster" if it´s just released to the cinemas. Movies like Star Wars and ET were called blockbusters, because people stood for days in lines which went over several blocks until they finally could watch their long awaited movie. And it was worth it´s money and the long time it took for waiting. Not like that thing happened when Episode 1 and 2 came out. These guys have been cheated by not showing them what they´ve expected to get.

 

Sorry about the rant.

[SOCL]

Speaking of un-great movies, I saw Superbad approximately a month ago. About as bad a let down (after all the hype) as The Matrix. Too much hype about...nothing. In fact, I thought it was boring and greatly regret spending the money I did on it...

 

Wait, didn't I already mention this?

[DarthTofu]

You want a good, not-politically-correct movie? See Crash. Awesome-tastic movie about racism. Not much action, just great plot... and great music.

[Darth_Rob]

Speaking of un-great movies, I saw Superbad approximately a month ago. About as bad a let down (after all the hype) as The Matrix.

 

You didn't enjoy the Matrix? Granted, the second sucked, and the third should never have been made, but the first one was an incredible movie.

[SOCL]

Speaking of un-great movies, I saw Superbad approximately a month ago. About as bad a let down (after all the hype) as The Matrix.

 

You didn't enjoy the Matrix? Granted, the second sucked, and the third should never have been made, but the first one was an incredible movie.

Maybe if I'd seen it without everyone screaming in my face about how great it was. Hell, I watched it when the world was supposed to end, on Y2K!! The way people made it out to be, I expected to see new colors and have thoughts like, "How did I live before this moment?" If you want numbers, while most people went in with expectations ranging between 5 and 10 on a 1 to 10 scale, mine were at 1,698,378.03! And did it live up to the hype? Of course not!

 

So that was my view immediately after and for a long time I wondered whether it was just my expectations and not the movie itself. So I went back and reexamined the movie. On the first occasion, I fell asleep from boredom. The second time I drank coffee and watched the whole thing...and still thought it was a load of nonsense, not to mention I was a little annoyed with the sometimes subtle, but mostly blatant ripoffs of one of my favorite shows of all time, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and its predecessor manga/novels and movies (just called Ghost in the Shell). Besides, I didn't see a point. It just...well, to put it lightly, sucked. It sucked a great deal. The movie was just a mess of action and science fiction/fantasy with a vague idea of direction that, like the Star Wars prequels, gets changed as the concept develops, which makes somethings more confusing than when they started. Then there was all the "there is a hidden meaning about Christianity" bullshit, which made the movie all the more annoying.

 

So I decided, a few years later, to reexamine it again, this time with fresh eyes, not having seen or heard anything about it since the release of the third movie, now years and years dead...

 

Yeah, it still sucked.

[Grand_Admiral_Thrawn]

I had a lenghty post prepared, however I realised it was just an extention of what I've already said, so I thought I'd save everyone the pain of rading the same-old.

 

I've been reading reviews of Iron Man, and so far it seems to be holding up. I was a fan as a child and although I don't expect it to be a good comic book adaptation, I at least hope it will be a good film.

[SOCL]

Robert Downey, Jr. is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood. I'll go see any movie he plays in.

[Eagle]

Downey jr. could have been on the top-list of best actors in hollywood ranging next to ... I dunno ... I just say, watch his "Chaplin"-Movie. But his life went down the toilet much too often.

 

You´re not alone with your feelings about Matrix, SOCL. I also feel that it´s absolutely overrated. It´s like those movies nowadays like "Minority Report", "The Isle" aso. The script idea itself wasn´t too bad and could have been interesting if it would have been written well. But it just became one of these bloodless movies. No, not a vampyre-movie.

[DarthTofu]

I like The Matrix, but it works better as a TV movie than a movie-movie. You just flip through the channels and watch it for a bit of mindless action and special effects. Some concepts are rather dumb (Neo can't die because Trinity loves him?) but the first one came out alright for an action movie, and I like the idea of a world that we could, theoretically, be living in without realizing it. The other two, of course, sucked hairy ones.

[Krytos]

Whilst I'll agree that Minority Report and The Island weren't good (the latter being in my opinion a clear example of good plot ruined by a Hollywood, blow crap up approach), I thought the matrix was great. When I saw it, I saw it thinking that it was going to be a over the top special effects movie that was over hyped - but actually enjoyed watching it.

Years later and I studied the movie for either high school or a Uni class, and found there's a lot of great hidden messages, subtleties etc. in the movie that aren't carried out in the sequels (Oh god, why the sequels). I'd still put Matrix up there with some of my all time favourite movies due to it being a much more in depth movie than it looks. And also, on face value it's a good flick too - best of both worlds.

[Mad78]

The Matrix sequels just ruined the franchise for me. A clear example of how an overuse of fx can kill a movie.

[Eagle]

So and there was no overuse of CGI in the first movie?!

 

For my feelings Matrix had as much depth as Karate Kid had.

[DarthTofu]

I saw Iron Man yesterday (Finally). Awesome movie, it really was. Some parts were unbelievable, but by and large it was (impossibly) not too hard to believe that the guy had made some of this stuff using only the resources he had available to him. The Mk. I Suit is awesome, just because it reveals how primative it is, and yet how amazingly advanced it is at the same time. Mk. II actually looks cooler than Mk. III if you ask me, and it looks like Mk. II is going to become War Machine for the next one. Star after the credits are over for a bonus scene, by the way. I'm slightly worried about the implications of that scene.

 

Favorite line from the movie:

 

I'm sorry, this is the funvee. The hum-drumvee is back there.

[Darth_Rob]

Also got to see Iron Man. As Tofu said, it was great. The effects were awesome, and Robert Downey Jr played Stark perfectly. It reminded me of Fantastic 4, where I didn't have a real problem with anything. I like the implications of S.H.I.E.L.D. and War Machine for the next movie. Im just hoping that the sequel features Mandarin as the villain.

[Mad78]

This weekend i intend to get to see the Iron Man and i possible the new Indiana movie.

[DarthTofu]

This weekend i intend to get to see the Iron Man and i possible the new Indiana movie.

 

Does it come out earlier in Switzerland than the US? We don't get it 'till the twenty-second over here.

 

I'm going to reply to Rob's post by editing this one: I'm not very excited about the new Hulk. He looks way too digital, and the guy that he's fighting is just stupid. Another Hulk? Come on! We did that in the last movie that everyone else whines about! All that the plot seems to have to offer is one massive fight in the middle of the city. It really doesn't look like it's going to go into very much depth with regards to the trauma Bruce goes through when he becomes the Hulk beyond him saying that he'll fight the other dude for the greater good. Whoopdie frigging doo- before he was just a man trying to get through life, and I was fine with that. I thought it was a good plot. Now he's a man on a mission, and that's not the Hulk. If it has a happy ending I'm just going to type "I told you so" over and over and over again. Hulk gets no happy endings.

Edited May 6, 2008 by DarthTofu

[Darth_Rob]

Is anyone else excited for The Incredible Hulk which comes out next week? I am.

 

It looks really good, and Im happy to see there is an actual super-villain for him to fight, rather than just the U.S. Army.

[Sinister]

I saw Iron Man last night and was impressed. It was one of the best comic book movies I've ever seen.

[DarthTofu]

might be an interesting little independent film. Jensen Ackles is always funny, and they've Sean Patrick Flannery in there, too. No matter how many other movies I see that guy in he will always be one of the Boondock Saints in my head... No idea when it's going to be released. i just like that line, "I've done things with him I've never dreamed of before!" "Oh? Like what, waited 'till the second date?"

[DarthTofu]

Double post, I know, but I feel that is my civic duty to warn you all against the piece of flaming dog crap that is Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

 

I went in with low expectations; they were not met. This is the first movie that I have been willing to give a rating of negative five stars to. I could have watched The Phantom Menace after that movie and considered Episode I a masterpiece. Indy 4 had none of the feel of the other three movies, and suffered horribly from it. There were a few laugh-fest moments, but Indy didn't even feature that heavily in the film. Sure, he tagged along for the adventure, but more than anything else it seemed to be The Adventures of Shia LeBauf.

 

Spoilers follow: ALIENS! They had ****ing ALIENS in this STUPID, HORRIBLE EXCUSE FOR AN INDY MOVIE! ALIENS?!?! No! Indiana Jones does not consort with aliens except in joking comic books! JOKES! Aliens are central to the plot, with a crystal skull being an alien skull. At the end of the movie a flying saucer comes out of a seven-thousand-year-old Mayan temple (We can only assume it was piloted by the dead aliens that were found within the temple) and then randomly disappears after destroying the temple.

 

The movie includes numerous pointless scenes and moments of crap humor. Some of the only good moments come when they reference previous films, such as by giving the Arc of the Covenant a cameo, or by bringing in Indy's fear of snakes, or by bringing in Marion. I spent almost the entire ending of the movie slamming my face with my kneecap in a vain effort to end the pain and suffering.

 

Raiders and Last Crusade were based on Judeo-Christian beliefs, and were great. Temple of Doom was based on Hindu beliefs, and was weird, but alright. Crystal Skull was based on Scientology and comic books; it sucked hair Wookie ones.

[Sinister]

I went and saw Indiana Jones last night, and like DarthTofu, I was disappointed. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was an "ok" movie, but the only reason it is getting any fame at all is because it is riding on the coat tails of it's predecessors. If this was the first movie of the franchise there probably wouldn't be any sequels.

 

They should have done a movie where Indy finds Atlantis or Excalibur. Either that, or they should have just left it as a trilogy.

[Darth_Rob]

I saw Indiana Jones tonight. I thought it was rather good. My biggest problem (and by biggest I mean most horrible) is the first thing Tofu mentioned in his hidden post.

 

Otherwise, I thought it was decent. There were some stupid funny moments, but those have to be expected these days. For some reasons, directors feel that these ridiculously horrible scenes are enjoyed by everyone, when it is just a mimic to get kids to get their parents into it.

 

As is already known, the movie takes place about 20 years or so after the trilogy leaves off, which puts it on during the Cold War. Personally, I thought the movie had a really good "Cold War era" feel to it, in the way the characters acted and what was going on in the movie, much like the original trilogy was engrossed in a WWII backdrop.

 

All in all, I was pleased. Honestly, I had low expectations, but was pleasantly surprised. Aside from the huge problem already mentioned, and the handful of stupid silly scenes, the movie was pretty good.

 

@Sinister: Both great ideas. Personally, I always liked the Spear of Destiny, and thought it would be a great artifact for an Indy movie.

[DarthTofu]

He went to Atlantis in the videogame "Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis." It turned out rather well, especially for nineties tech- easily moddable, too, which made for a lot of new Indy games by fans.

 

The biggest problem you're referring to is the central plot, Rob. The central plot was horrible. That is not Indiana Jones- that's Star Trek.