Movies

[DarthTofu]

So we're reading Pride and Prejudice in AP Lit now, and the teacher is supplementing it with the movie. No, not the Kiera Knightly movie. The "really strange looking girls who aren't all that pretty, filmed in the nineties" movie. It's actually not as bad as I make it out to be, though. Whoever did casting for that film did a wonderful job with the Bennet family. Mrs. Bennet sounds like a Monty Python man playing at being a woman, but gets across the shrill annoyingness of the character splendidly. It's quite a funny movie, really hitting on the satire that the book is meant to portray, and I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the novel. It stays quite true to the book throughout, and omits only minor bits of information. Only downside is that, because it's so accurate, it's ridiculously wrong.

 

BTW: Saw Mall Cop the other day. That movie should have been marketed for children. A few laughs, but a week plot. I was happy to pay only $1.50 for my ticket.

[Krytos]

So, saw Repo, and for the most part I liked it. It wasn't perfect, and some of the scene transfers were difficult to follow without knowing about the plot already. But, going in, knowing what to expect kinda helps in liking this movie as I know a few people who i saw it with didn't like it too much. It doesn't take itself seriously really, and jumps right int othe thick of the Opera/singing style story telling without it buidling up for those not use to such movies.

 

But, I'd watch it again and enjoy it.

[DarthTofu]

This looks like a truly hilarious movie, one which I would love to see on its opening day. So why am I angry? Because the release date is March 13. Same day as Resident Evil 5. *Shakes fist angrily at scheduling gods* How will I know which to do on March 13?! HOOOOOW?!?!?

 

... On the upside, it's a Friday.

[Evaders99]

Never heard of them before... but interesting SW material

Star Wars VII

[Slocket]

Oh, that is about as good as 'Babylon A.D.'

[Darth_Rob]

Just got back from seeing The Watchmen. It was very good.

 

I had never read the graphic novel, but I loved the movie. It is a really deep, dark, and complex story, all set within the backdrop of an alternate reality of the Cold War in the 1980s. I dont want to say much else, because I encourage everyone to check it out. Its such a great story, and done wonderfully on film, and I would hate to ruin it for anyone.

 

GO SEE IT!!!

[Krytos]

Good movie, just one warning: Giant, blue penis. That is all

[Darth_Rob]

Yeah, I was taken aback by that too.

 

But Im reading the comic right now, and its in there too. They sure are staying very true to the original comic, in many details.

[Mad78]

Now I am intrigued. I'm gonna have to see this movie.

[Krytos]

Now I am intrigued. I'm gonna have to see this movie.

 

Wait, wat? (Not a typo, 'wat' refers to a certain motivational poster with that as a responce, rather weird I may post it up though)

You hear giant blue penis and you get intrigued? Is there something we should know Mad?

 

It IS a good movie, I'd say 3 stars for those who don't know the comic, porbably 4-5 for those who do. Every character is realistic in the sense they're all flawed and not your typical super heroes. Also, they have their own views on how to deal justice. Honestly, it would be a fanatastic movie to analyise.

 

A few pointers about the movie, are a long and wieving plot line that really gives you no chance for rest during the course of the 2 and half hours. There's a lot of subtleties, but overall I didn't leave the movie with a sense of wow - I guess mainly because there wasn't a major plot twist in the end. You will find yourself following a conspiracy and then jumping to the intrdocution and history of several new characters and developments only to go back to the conspircay thinking "oh yeah, i'd forgotten about this". I think some of the plot lines worked in the comics, though the adaptation to a lengthy movie didn't come across perfectly. Finally a soft core porn sequence as well, always good to know a head of time

[Slocket]

A new Star Wars movie series coming to TV. 2010

 

http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2009/03/09/exclusive-star-wars-live-action-tv-series-casting-underway/

 

[Darth_Rob]

Sounds good. Hopefully it will be better than the Clone Wars series.

[DarthTofu]

Sounds good. Hopefully it will be better than the Clone Wars series.

 

That's setting the bar pretty low, there, ain't it, Rob?

 

"We now present: Star Wars Puppet Theater!"

 

... "Well, it's better than the Clone Wars, at least..."

[Mad78]

Speaking of which... I saw Clones Wars today.

Honestly I found it was passable. Once you get over the shock of change that the very very very very very very strange CGI brings it actually gets quite watchable. One issue for me was the lack of epicness and the storyline (the new Padawan was unnecessary) but if you keep in mind that this is a plug for the TV Series (which I haven't yet seen) and clearly aimed at a slightly younger audience... I would give it a 3/5. What Star Wars needs to rediscover is the dark yet blended essence which made TESB so amazing.

[DarthTofu]

Here's an "old" movie that's pretty darned good- A Dog's Breakfast. It was filmed way back in 2006 (ancient, I know), and has to be the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. It's available on Hulu for free (legal) viewing, and throws out a number of hilarious little Easter Eggs for those of us who have been fans of the Stargate series. Christopher Judge (Teal'c), Paul McGillon (Carson Beckett), David Hewlett (Rodney McKay), Rachel Lutrel (Teyla), and Kate Hewlett (er... McKay's sister on the show) all appear in the movie, and all perform wonderfully funny parts. Here's a "sneak peek" clip if you want to get an idea of what the funniness is:

 

Edit: Okay, so I finally so Watchmen today, and here's my review: I wasn't big on it. Everyone else has loved it, so maybe it's due to the fact that I and the person I watched it with are fairly non-conformist folk, but I didn't care for it.

 

The action was pretty cool, the visuals were stunning, but the plot seemed more like a sagging bridge to me. It started out strong, very nice, then took a large dip as I found myself not caring about the characters worth jack, then came back up again toward the end.

 

I'm going to include spoilers from this point on, so feel free to skip this bit if you haven't seen:

 

Rorschach (sp?) was a neat idea for a character; out of all of the characters represented, I think he was done best. Seeing him as "Just a man" without his mask on made him that much more human, and his sociopath's mind was an interesting one. That being said, he tried to cram "I'M AWESOME!" down your throat on a regular basis.

 

Dr. Manhattan tried to be cool, but ultimately failed for me. He never seemed to be able to decide whether he cared about the world or not, and while his wischy-washyness was a big point throughout the film, it just made me go, "make up your damned mind!"

 

The Comedian had me wondering what, if any, the guy's redeeming qualities were. He really didn't seem to be the sort of guy who deserved to live; in fact, the Watchmen should probably have been hunting him. That was a high point for the film- power, the power to be a vigilante, and what it had done to the guy. So a plus there.

 

Silk Specter: The older one was interesting, as the washed-up beauty queen who couldn't get over the position she was once in. The younger one was an annoying sex appeal. While she was good looking, that was about all she had going for her.

 

Nite Owl: Yeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaah... I liked how they made him look like a dork outside of the suit. Didn't like much else. By the end, he was trying to be perceived as the wonderful "hot guy" for Miss Jupiter (or whatever her name was- still not clear on that) to love.

 

Ozymandias: He didn't get enough screen time throughout the buildup for me to understand jack about him. I liked how he was portrayed- he literally was smarter than all of the other characters, which was nice. I particularly enjoyed him explaining his endgame, half an hour after it had been implemented. His ethics and morality, along with Doctor Manhattan's at the end, were very interesting, and left you thinking about the greater good and all that. It was a brilliant, evil-but-good plan, but it really failed to go into the whole "human nature" thing.

 

So, the plot... I enjoyed the opening, with the look at the different super heroes, and with the way they changed with the times. I enjoyed the old costumes, the changing of the guard, the interesting endings some of the heroes met, from death to retirement to insanity. That was good, that was strong.

 

Comedian's death: done well. Enjoyed it. Well, not "enjoyed," per se, but it was done well. I just couldn't help thinking, as his blood was washed down the gutter, "Christ, how much blood can this guy possibly have in him?"

 

In fact, that was a pervasive theme of the movie: Is that really necessary? The gore was a little bit (and by "a little bit" I mean "really") over the top. Watching some inmate get his arms taken off by a buzz saw was rather nasty, as was the exploding of random people by Dr. Manhattan.

 

Fight scenes were well done and action-tastic, but I never really felt that they added anything to the plot. It seemed totally unnecessary. Dr. Manhattan's giant blue pervasive wang really came out to smack you in the face from time to time. The way I'd heard it described, I assumed that it was just in one scene with Silk Specter. When I saw that first (of six) sex scenes, I assumed that would be it, and that this would be the one time I'd have to endure the giant blue penis. Nope. It shows up on and off throughout the whole bloody movie. It really didn't do much more than make me add a nickle to the swear jar every time he whipped it out.

 

So, all in all, here's my rating:

 

Action: 10/10

Visuals: 11/10

Plot: 6/10

Acting: 5/10 (nothing too special, but not bad)

 

Three hours was excessive, in my opinion. That plot could have been handled in two, maybe less, especially if we hadn't wasted so much damned time on pointless scenes on Mars, and that weird, completely random and pointless machine Dr. Manhattan ripped out of the ground.

 

If the movie would have focused on its strong points a bit more (Ozymandias, Rorschach's personality, the way he saves the world) and less on the annoying crap (Nite Owl and Silk Specter getting it on (three frigging times in a row), Dr. M's giant blue wang, The Comedian being Silk Specter's father), the plot would have had more points. But because it didn't, it doesn't. That's my review, anyway.

 

I'm going to be sure to pick up the comic book at some point to see if that did a better job; I get the impression that it did, and that Watchmen deserves its status as "best graphic novel of all time."

[DarthTofu]

Bu-bu-ba-bump!

 

Sorry to double-post, but I just saw Origins, and I feel the need to offer everyone my spoilery two bits worth. As that sentence implied, spoilers follow, so don't read if you don't want 'em.

 

My two biggest complaints surprised me: It was too short, and there wasn't enough blood. That doesn't sound the least bit like it should make a difference, but it somehow really does. Wolverine is running around hacking at and stabbing people with his newfound metal claws which, somehow, never have blood on them when they rip through his skin. It was way cooler when it all tore through and there was blood on the claws; you got that impression that Wolverine didn't really want to kill all of the time (except when he was enraged), and that taking out the claws was a big deal for him. It wasn't something to be done lightly.

 

Anyway, that's one complaint, the complete lack of violence; while I recognize that a movie involving mutants jumping around like Circ Du Sole (sp?) performers on steroids, being viewed from the perspective of someone high on paint fumes is completely and totally unbelievable, it wouldn't have hurt them to just bump it up to an R rating, considering how many times the characters all say bull****. My other complaint, the length, really hurt the movie.

 

It opens up with a young Logan, called "James" at the time, ala the Origins comic. James is sitting in bed, sick, chatting with Sabertooth as a young man. Thirty seconds later, his father comes in, says "You'll be better in the morning!" and acts lovey dovey. Then someone shouts something downstairs. Than the dad goes downstairs. Then there's a shot. Then James runs downstairs to find his father shot by a guy who is apparently Sabertooth's father. Then James pops bone claws and stabs him. Then we find out that was his father. About two minutes have gone by, at most.

 

This was a serious weakness, here! We got no feel for James as a mutant, no feel of, "Holy crap, what's going on, here?! I just popped bone claws! The hell was that?!" There was a second of shock before he stabbed daddy, and then we run off to a montage that we saw most of in the trailer, featuring Sabertooth and Wolverine (I'm going to just call them as much) dashing through every major battle from the Civil War to Vietnam, during which I guess we're supposed to see Wolverine trying to curb his half-brother's more wild side, but Victor didn't really come across as too wild until Vietnam, and only in one scene. We were, I guess, supposed to be disturbed by watching him fire at a machine gun nest of Germans on D-Day, killing everyone inside. And, apparently, continuing to fire after they all died. Whoopdie-frigging doo. In 'Nam he's shooting a gun at what would appear to be the open forrest as they leave in a helicopter, and Wolverine grabs him screaming, "That's enough!" Absolutely no change in my emotional level at that point.

 

The first "distrubing" thing Victor Creed/Sabertooth does is to (apparently) attempt to rape a Vietnamese girl. A random soldier tries to stop him, and Wolverine winds up killing (or at least beating up- the lack of blood anywhere makes it hard to tell) everyone, while Logan tries to hold him back.. slash, you know, beats up all of the other soldiers.

 

Jump forward- a firing squad tries to kill them, but can't, because they're both apparently immortal, or psuedo-immortal. Or something. They join Weapon X, and we get to what appears to be the most promising part of the film! We see the full Weapon X team, based on the original comic book team, all of whom look more or less like I felt they ought to. John Wraith, played by Will I. Am, was particularly good- looked just like his role, and was a believable character, if a bit cocky. He wasn't the paranoid guy he was in the comics, but he worked- he had a personality, and he stuck to it. Oh, and he looked friggin' sweet when he teleported!

 

Wade Wilson was also good- Ryan Reynolds would make a wonderful Deadpool as the Merc with a mouth. He only got about five minutes, conglomerate, of screen time (He's supposedly killed off-screen, but it's strongly implied that he's Weapon XI), but all of his lines were great, devastating humor blows. "Oh, great, I'm trapped in an elevator with five guys on the high-protein diet. This is like a dream come true."

"Be quiet, Wade."

"Yes, sir. And can I just say, that green is really your color. It brings out the seriousness in your eyes."

That and, "Okay, people are dead, now! You can come in!" worked well.

 

I don't know much about the other mutant, Chris, but I got a feel for his powers and though he did well. Agent Zero was awesome, but not faithful to the comics- he just seemed to have extremely good aim (accurate) and super-dooper agility (not accurate). In the comics, he and Wolverine wound up being friends; in this, Wolverine kills him.

 

Anyway, I'm getting off track, because I really liked what I saw of the Weapon X team. What I didn't like was that we didn't see more! We went on one mission with them, we saw Stryker order the team to kill a few civilians (for no good reason), and then Wolverine (who, along with Sabertooth, has done absolutely jack with the team up until this point- them bone claws are useless) up and leaves, and everyone acts like it makes a huge impression on them. He was there for two days, tops. And he didn't die. Get over it, Weapon X team!

 

We jump along through time, now, and most of it is handled pretty well. Sabertooth kills Chris (I cannot remember his last name), and we hear that Wade Wilson is dead, too. Stryker tries to recruit Wolverine, Wolverine tells him to stick it where the sun don't shine, Stryker leaves, Sabertooth kills Silverfox, Wolverine joins Weapon X and gets adamantium bonded all over his body, he escapes and blows up a helicopter and some other stuff- Jesus, how fast can one movie run?!?

 

Anyway, he escapes and has as strong desire to kill Sabertooth, now. So he runs off and learns from some retired Weapon X team members that a guy in New Orleans- Gambit- will probably know. After a pointless fight with Gambit, Wolverine makes friends with him and runs off to Three Mile Island, where Weapon XI is being developed by Stryker, who controlled Sabertooth all this time. Some stuff goes down (I won't reveal it, because this was an actual good plot element), and long story short, Weapon XI gets activated. It's a "Deadpool" (Oh, gee, I wonder if they're implying that it was Wade Wilson?) of mutant powers, and features (most prominently) a sewn-shut mouth, Wolverine's healing ability, John Wraith's teleportation ability, a pair of katana-like blades shooting out of its wrists, ala Wade's swords from earlier in the film, and Cyclopses eye beam ability.

 

It kicks Wolverine's butt, Sabertooth shows up to help out, it kicks both of their butts, and then Wolverine finally beheads it... and apparently blows up a nuclear reactor in the process.

 

Some more stuff happens, which culminates in Wolverine getting shot in the head with Adamantium bullets, resulting in a memory loss on his part.

 

Big of a fan as I am of Deadpool, I think I'm okay with what they did, there. You can't please everyone, and Deadpool has survived having his head hacked off in the comics. Maybe he would survive it here, too? I dunno. Apparently in one theatrical ending the severed head is still alive, and whispers, "Shhh" to the audience; in another one, Wade shows up and looks at the dead Weapon XI saying, "Who are you supposed to be?" and in a third (the lame one I saw) Wolverine is sitting around drinking in a bar in Japan "to remember."

 

Oh, well. All in all, it was a good action flick, but pretty average in terms of movies. Two out of five, maybe two and a half stars. Worth seeing, but I'd wait until it's on TV; not worth going to see in theaters.

[Darth_Rob]

La-la-la, I cant see your post, Im ignoring its presence...

 

Im going to see the movie on Tuesday, after which I will be more than happy to read over your post.

[Mad78]

I just got back from seeing Origins and i think I would have to give it a 3/5.

I have never read the X-Men comics and therefore know rather little about it. But I liked the characters and found that from a general point of view the acting was pretty good. The same can be said for the SFX thought I must say that there were certain moments (especially when Logan is looking at his claws in the mirror) where it looked REALLY fake other than that they were on par with the latest productions.

The big weakness of this movie was is plot. It was far too predictable and the few little plot twist didn 't actually help at all. I kind of got the impression that the movie was simply a serie of action sequences with a weak storyline connecting them.

Now that that is said I can simply say that if you feel the unresistable urge to see it do but otherwise just wait a few months for it to be on TV.

[Darth_Rob]

I agree with a lot of what Tofu said. It was too short, being only 1:45:00 long. I had never read the Origins comics, so I was basing everything off of the older comics I grew up with. Knowing that it was indeed based off some kind of comic, I feel better about it.

 

I didnt like the whole "immortal" idea. It reminded me of Highlander, with Wolverine and Sabertooth fighting in all these wars throughout American history. That was kinda lame.

 

My biggest complaint was the lack of Gambit. I really expected them to do more with him, especially when he agrees to take Wolverine to the island. Gambit was cheated out of all three movies (with a hidden, extremely brief appearance-via his name- in the second movie), and I was looking forward to seeing one of my favorite muties out on the big screen. I liked what I did see though.

 

After this, I think Im going to have to pick up the Origins comics. I did the same for Watchmen- I really enjoyed the movie, which made me buy and read the comic.

 

I'd recommend seeing it. Even if you're not a fan of the other movies or the comics, its still a great actiony movie, and since its a prequel, you wont be all that lost.

[Mad78]

Speaking of new movies, I must say I have a very good feeling for the new Star Trek movie. While i will never betray my SW origins I can say that this flick may actually make the ST Universe look interesting!

[Evaders99]

Basically it's turned Star Trek into Star Wars... not that I'm complaining. I'm a fan of J. J. Abrams, even though I didn't get into his Cloverfield project. Will be seeing it tonight (prerelease showing)

[Evaders99]

Wow was I right or what? new Star Trek = Star Wars

I won't give away comparisons as I may spoil it, but it does seem like the start of a new rebooted Star Trek series. Hopefully it will continue with the success of other reboots like James Bond (Casino Royal) and Batman (Batman Begins)

 

Because I could have written this review myself... I'll link this

http://www.moviehole.net/200918925-the-frazes-review-star-trek

[DarthTofu]

Well, I finally saw Star Trek as well. I didn't think it was bad by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm not sure it was worth all of the hype it was given. I came in sort of expecting what the critic in E's link complained about with the original Star Trek- a more drawn out plot, with less action. In fact, I was hoping for that. I was hoping for a plot style similar to that of The Dark Knight, where we got some wicked action and some good moral dilemmas.

 

I got the cool action part- everything they did with special effects was beautiful and (relatively) seamless. Some rocks on Vulcan were overly digital, but I'm just being picky, there.

 

Much as I liked the action and some of the humor, though, it just wasn't what I wanted. I wanted a plot that made sense. This one with (SPOILER ALERT!) time travel, alternate realities, and black holes that don't rip people and space ships to shreds for some reason... that was just dumb. The black holes followed no laws of physics (maybe that's a property of red matter that I just don't know about), and the genius-level characters just sort of popped up wherever. Convenient that, on a planet full of ice and the like, Kirk happened upon Spock and the federation base (would've made more sense if Spock had just gone to the base and met Kirk there) which happened to harbor and latent genius... but ah, well. That's just me being too picky again.

 

The plot just didn't click for me, though. Like the red matter- if it only took a drop of that crap for Spock to make a black hole big enough to capture the massive energy of a dying sun (without, apparently, affecting the nearby planet), why did Spock take, like, a kiloliter of it along? Seems like gross overkill and practically an invitation for the Romulans to take him hostage and use the red matter for nefarious ends. *Shrug*

 

(END SPOILERS)

It's an action flick- make no mistake about it. If you go in looking for a sturdy plot, you'll be disappointed. If you go in expecting the science to make sense, you'll be disappointed. If you go in expecting lots of pretty things to get blowed up and make "boom" noises- you're good.

[Darth_Rob]

The misses and I are going to see Star Trek on Thursday. I was never into Star Trek, so Im going in with a clean slate, and will accept it for what it is, not basing or judging it on anything else.

 

In other movie news, who else is somewhat skeptical about the upcoming Sherlock Holmes movie?

[DarthTex]

The misses and I are going to see Star Trek on Thursday. I was never into Star Trek, so Im going in with a clean slate, and will accept it for what it is, not basing or judging it on anything else.

 

In other movie news, who else is somewhat skeptical about the upcoming Sherlock Holmes movie?

Just sit back & enjoy Rob! I hope to see it soon myself.

 

As for the Sherlock Holmes movie, I keep expecting an Iron Man suit to be hidden nearby