Movies

[Mad78]

That Sherlock Holmes flick looks like it could actually be pretty good.

[DarthTofu]

Haha- Sherlock Homes looks like it will be amusing, but also like it will be an explosion-fest. There's nothing wrong with an explodo-fest movie, it's just that we have kind of a lot of them, and I always liked Holmes dealing, well, strictly with the how and the why, less with the "FISTICUFFS AS WE CAPTURE THE BAD GUY!" side.

 

We'll see as more is released, though...

[Evaders99]

Terminator: a lot of explosions

Enjoy the hammer on your eardrums

 

Sherlock Holmes does look interesting, but I question the casting of Robert Downey Jr. Not sure he fits the role, but time will tell

[Darth_Rob]

We enjoyed Star Trek. It was a nice action-paced sci-fi film. Bonus that the misses enjoyed it as well. Shes generally not into sci-fi.

 

I didnt like the time-travel part with Spock meeting Spock. I guess in my own personal mind, I like to believe that a person cannot see their future selves. I mean, I would think that if I was shopping in Wal-Mart and all of a sudden a 40-year old version of me came up and said "Rob it me, Rob. Im your future self", then I would freak out, go crazy, and have a heart attack.

 

But then again, Vulcans are rational, calculating beings, so I guess they could survive seeing a future version of themselves.

 

Overall, great film! I look forward to sequels.

[DarthTofu]

I saw Terminator: Salvation as well. By and large, I agree with E- it's a great big explosion-fest, and it was enjoyable; moreso than I thought it would be. My bone with Star Trek (an action movie trying desperately to pretend that it had a plot that just wasn't there) was very much overcome in Terminator. They have about the same action level, but Terminator never really tries to pretend that it's anything but an action flick. And some of the stuff people pull is intelligent, not retarded. And the best part? The majority of it is relatively feasible.

 

Granted, at points I said, "Wait, what?" In honor of a certain scene, I'm going to call those "Ewok moments," in which things go whodawoowie, and the characters behave highly irrationally. It's relatively predictable, and once or twice a character will do something a bit suspect, but by and large, like I said, it seems real. I particularly enjoyed one scene where two of the characters shot repeatedly at a gas tanker and couldn't make it explode; first time I've ever seen someone in a movie acknowledge that that wouldn't work in real life.

 

Plus, they got some of the general mood right. I know I just said that it didn't really pretend for a plot, and like I said, it doesn't; but it does manage to give you that grim, post-apocalyptic future feel. It's a lot like the first and second terminator in terms of feel, though without that one resilient terminator running about throughout; they show us some new models, which are recurring, hi-lighting the enemies relatively limited, though deadly, arsenal.

 

I'd give it four stars out of five, because A) there isn't much of a plot (think 300) and B) there were the "Ewok moments" that I mentioned before. Hi-light for the Ewok moment described.

Okay, so it totally ticked me off when he jacked that terminator motorcycle... by using a piece of rope to trip it up. We watched those things dodge flipping cars an hour ago, and now a sudden rope flips it over? The hell is that?

 

It reminded me of the Ewoks taking some vines to stormtroopers on speeder bikes (which, I suppose, could work), and so earned the name. If I'd written the script, he would've just used that signal thing to shut down the bike, hotwire it and whatnot, then turn off the signal and ride like the wind with no helmet. Makes more sense.

[DarthTofu]

My favorite SciFi movie

[Mad78]

Damn you Tofu!

Now I'm gonna be biased when I see the new ST!!!

[DarthTofu]

Oh, $#!*! If this piece of crap makes any money, I am gonna be so pissed off. Let it die, already!

[Evaders99]

Indy needs a Batman/StarTrek-style reboot. Sadly I doubt Spielberg/Lucas/Ford are ever going to allow that

[Darth_Rob]

Indy needs a Batman/StarTrek-style reboot. Sadly I doubt Spielberg/Lucas/Ford are ever going to allow that

 

It wasnt Ford I was upset with, but just the general story for Crystal Skull. I mean, he still looks great and does the part awesome, but he has to follow what is written, and that just happened to be a pile of rubbish. I definitely dont want to see an Indy V if its going to be a continuation of the junk that IV was.

[Evaders99]

Ford seems to have much say in the Indy franchise as the rest, at least coming from Indy IV and the rumors of Indy V. I don't think he'd allow annoy to recast his role.

[DarthTofu]

Things I don't want to see:

1) More Science-Fiction-based plots. This is Indy; Atheist though I may be, the series is based in religious powers!

2) An attempt to win the fans over by basing the script partially upon a previous adventure (IE the Russians capture the Ark of the Covenant)

3) Shia Lebauf (that's inevitable, but I still didn't want to see it)

4) Any more stupidity involving refrigerators and nukes!

5) Digital technology that is sufficiently more advanced than what was available in the 80's, when they did Last Crusade. Now days they're just depending upon amazing special effects to do everything rather than working at the script; limit that and they'll have to come up with something good.

[Mad78]

I perfectly agree with you Tofu.

But I get the impression that the Indiana Jones saga should be left as it is. Any addition would not benefit it... That is unless it was in the style and beauty of the first one.

[Darth_Rob]

I totally agree with your first point. Indiana Jones is indeed based on religion. My ideal Indy IV would have been "Indiana Jones and the Spear of Destiny."

[DarthTofu]

That one would've been good. Judeo-Christian is where the best ones were. Raiders and Crusade both focused in that realm, and were better. Temple was Hinduism, but was still good. This most recent one, Crystal Skull, was Scientology.

 

On an unrelated note: I saw Tansformers 2 today. It's very much like the first one- just about no plot, a ridiculous amount of comic relief to the point where I half-think they're just trying to pass the film as a comedy movie, amazing special effects, and did I mention no plot?

 

One quick note, which really isn't spoilery at all. At one point a character references an "experimental rail gun." Bull. We've had working rail guns for a long time. The first one was discussed in the nineteen tens. We've had working ones for over forty years. It's not experimental at all. And chaos theory dictates that it really wouldn't work as well as it does in the film. Just saying.

 

Like I said, though, the action is good, if confusing (the robots don't really utilize an easy-to-follow color scheme, so it's difficult to tell whether the gray robot or the dark silver robot is the good guy). Lots and lots of new transformers, all of which seem to enjoy changing back and forth between cars for no apparent reason.

[Sinister]

I saw Transformers 2 also.

 

Which should really be called "The Adventures of Shia Lebauf and the Giant Robots From Outerspace."

 

The humans had way too much screen time, and not enough Autobots and Decepticons. After all, that's who the movie is supposed to be, or should be about. There were times the movie dragged, like the big battle at the end. There were also times where the comedy seemed forced.

[Krytos]

Will be seeing Transformers 2 tonight, not expecting much. Whilst I've steered myself clear of reading/listening to an entire review to avoid spoilers (...Transformers 2, spoilers? Aaahh hahahahahahaha - I think I've already given this movie too much credit) I haven't heard it being given a good rating, in fact apparently the story is next to non-existent. Well, will find out tonight

[Darth_Rob]

I was going to see Transformers early next week, but we're pushing it back in order to see the Hangover. Thus I'll check out Transformers in about two weeks. From what Ive heard so far, its not like Im missing all that much...

[Evaders99]

Well as I remember, Spielberg wanted Transformers 1 to be "a boy and his dog" story... or rather, a boy and his Transformer. Megan Fox happened to be eyecandy, and it was a success. No wonder they continued with that same formula.

[Sinister]

I also saw Hangover, and must say that so far it is the funniest movie this year.

[DarthTofu]

I just got back from Up. I wasn't expecting it to be more than a cash cow published under the Pixar banner, sort of like what I felt The Incredibles had been. I was surprised to find that it was really a fantastically heart-wrenching movie. The first thirty minutes of that movie comprised the thirty most depressing moments in Disney movie history. For serious!

 

I read a review where I guy mentioned crying throughout. I laughed at him at the time. I got slightly starry-eyed in the theater. Never actually in danger, but it was still pretty tragic and epic. It's not the world's funniest movie, but it doesn't try to portray itself as a comedy so much as what I've already mentioned. Some of it might be a bit predictable (a moment or two at the end), but it still warms your heart.

 

In short: If you're planning to see Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, don't. Go see Up instead. I saw it "in 3D," because that was all that my theater offered, and while I think it would've more than worked as a simple flat movie, it was still worth paying almost ten bucks for a ticket to a well-made movie as opposed to the $8.50 I blew on Transformers.

Edited June 28, 2009 by DarthTofu

[Krytos]

Saw Transformers 2, and going in with low expectations and sort of expecting the movie to be what it was made it enjoyable. Sure, it's sort of cliché/predictable in every way and has plenty of cringe worthy moments. But if you're looking for an action flick with stuff that goes boom, reallllllllly cheap humour (and repetitive humour) it's not too bad. It sort of is following the new Hollywood CG movie theme, all the money goes to making special effects and blowing crap up. Substance comes last. Comedy, for some reason, is a must in the movie and of course it comes out from stupid moments and stupid characters.

There's no point trying to spoil it, because ... well, there's nothing to spoil. The plot feels like a bad cartoon's plot with evil villains coming out of the wood work, pointless killing/battles and a fair bit of cannon fodder thrown in there. There's nothing special that occurs, and it all feels re-hashed.

 

Even the special effects don't feel that "special" after the first movie. In reality, this movie doesn't do anything new ... at all. It's all the same old same old. And while it's not refreshing, it is entertaining in a sort of Bad Boys 2 way where bigger boom is better.

 

So, if you're going to the movies and have nothing in mind to see and not in the mood to think (like the script writers) ... it's not too bad. Otherwise see something with substance, which wil

• undoubtably be more satisfying

[Mad78]

Yesterday I saw a movie called Zack and Miri make a porno. While the plot is pretty muched sumed up by the title the rest of the movie has some interesting moments. The only thing I didn't like was the amount of profanity. It just felt unnecessary. I'm not a guy who can't bear swearing. Its just that i like there to be a reason behind. Anyway the movie has its moments. It certainly isn't a masterpiece but I guess some may enjoy it.

[Sinister]

If any of you plan on seeing Year One, don't. At least wait for it to come out on DVD or for it to be shown on TV. I wouldn't say it's a bad movie, but it isn't exactly a good one either. It's the kind of movie you don't want to pay full price to see, and if you do see it you wouldn't want to see it again. It's mildly entertaining and mildly funny. But that's about it.

 

Save your money.

[Darth_Rob]

Yesterday I saw a movie called Zack and Miri make a porno. While the plot is pretty muched sumed up by the title the rest of the movie has some interesting moments. The only thing I didn't like was the amount of profanity. It just felt unnecessary. I'm not a guy who can't bear swearing. Its just that i like there to be a reason behind. Anyway the movie has its moments. It certainly isn't a masterpiece but I guess some may enjoy it.

 

The director is Kevin Smith, and he is known for making profane, raunchy movies. I liked Zack and Miri, although his other movies are a lot better.