Movies

[Darth_Rob]

Just saw Transformers 2, and I agree...a bunch of visually cool stuff happens, but not much of a story to tie it all together. Also, I said it with Star Wars (especially Phantom Menace) and I'll say it again...why do movies have this need to be racist? There are these two gangsta cars in Transformers 2 which are so blatantly racist its ridiculous. It was so annoying...

[DarthTofu]

What was racist in Phantom Menace? The face that they had a black dude as chief of security shooting folks, or that the main bad guy was an alien who had either red or black skin? I didn't spot anything "racist" in any of the Star Wars films, unless you want to count that only one black guy managed to make it out of the series alive (Lando)... or maybe that there are next to no Asian people in the series.

[Evaders99]

I think he's talking about Jar Jar Binks... his whole speech pattern and so forth. The two gangsta cars were almost the same way

[DarthTofu]

I saw harry Potter 6 last night, at the midnight showing. As always, the book trumps the movie- there's no getting around that. To date, only the first and second movies stayed almost completely accurate, but oh well.

 

That being said, the sixth film was well done. As six was my favorite book, I was disappointed for every element they left out, but I understand that some of it had to be left out. Other bits seemed foolish to do. Scenes that, in the book, consisted of, "Let's throw on the invisibility cloak and spy on this conversation!" were replaced in the movie by "Let's go through an elaborate scene where we hide behind walls to eavesdrop on other people's conversations!" That was just plain silly, especially considering the cloak's importance when we get to the seventh installment.

 

Some spoilers follow, so hi-light if you want them. I particularly enjoyed the Quidditch scenes. After a conspicuous absence from the last three movies, this was Quidditch in full, brutal color, much like I always envisioned it being in the books. Very well done, and ace stuff, even if it only lasts for a few minutes.

 

I also enjoyed how they did Ron's love scenes with Lavender Brown. It's such magnificent, over-the-top tomfoolery that it really makes you fall over laughing. Sadly, I can't claim that it's over-the-top, as it's completely and totally believable for teenagers to act that way.

 

Less impressive was the chemistry thing between Harry and Ginny. That didn't feel the way it did in the book at all- from the first scene where you saw them together, they were already looking at one another too meaningfully, and there were too many, "Ooo, lovey dovey" scenes.

 

A similar note of contention for me came from the character of Snape. He wasn't pulled off with his usual flair, and the foreshadowing that the directors forced in was, well, forced. He constantly seems indecisive about his Death Eater role, with making the Unbreakable Vow, and with Killing Dumbledore. In the book, he's completely cool, calm, and seemingly rational for all of those scenes, which makes it more of a shock when he turns out to be a good guy at the end of seven., acting on Dumbledore's orders to kill the old man.

 

Further, his character didn't get as much mention of motives as it should have. His role in delivering the prophecy to Voldemort ought to have been mentioned, at a bare minimum.

 

But, like I said, despite all of my complaints (and mind you, these are fan-boy complaints) it's still a very good movie, and worth seeing. Maybe not worth going at midnight on the night of release, but oh well. You live and you learn. And, if you haven't already, you read the books.

[Mad78]

I saw the new HP yesterday and greatly enjoyed it. I especially liked the dark feel it had. It made me think a bit of ESB. All goes bad before, in the last act, everything ends up well.

[Krytos]

I'll be seeing the new HP today, which should be interesting as I'm not a fan of the series. Never read one of the books and never seen a movie completely, so I'm sure to be lost then!

[Mad78]

One may even ask why the hell you are going to see it.

[Darth_Rob]

One may even ask why the hell you are going to see it.

 

Yeah, sorry K, but I gotta second Mad on that one. I can assure you that you will be fairly lost seeing how there were five movies prior to this one.

 

I'll hopefully get a chance to go next week sometime.

[Krytos]

'Cause my friends were going, was a movie day etc. Wasn't too bad, there were a few moments I had no idea what they were talking about, but over all it was easy to follow - very predictible story line. I kinda enjoyed it.

[Evaders99]

Yea, I thought this was one of the more straight-forward HP movies. It wasn't like Prisoner of Azkaban, you really couldn't follow that plot without reading the novel.

 

There were some disconnects with this screenplay; mainly giving up Snape in the first part reduces a lot of the suspense (not that HP fans wouldn't already know) and removing the last battle makes the whole "sneaking into Hogwarts" questionable. Why would they send a bunch of Death Eaters when they already had Snape to do the deed... and then they run away?

Seems like they did the bare minimum on the explanation of horucruxs, but it will much more important in next two movies.

 

It was much darker, which I liked. Hermione and Ron... fairly pointless to the plot besides their teen angst issues. It was, of course, a Harry story - yet he didn't seem to do much himself besides follow Dumbledore.

 

Anyway, it was a decent movie. Besides my nitpicking, I think it set the stage for the final movies.

[Krytos]

Yeah, there's a few questions I have for this whole Harry Potter deal. If Harry is this so called chosen one and all powerful, how come old grey beard not only seemed more powerful (beyond the obvious years of experience) but didn't seem to need Harry at all during the movie, just brought him in as a tag along with exception of being used as bait? What's the point of him?

 

What was the bridge scene?

 

What are Death Eaters, apart from bad guys?

 

Where's Hogwarts? In this world, another? I'm guessing another else why don't "Moguls" find the place.

 

Where the hell was the bald headed, no nosed guy that appeared at the end of one of the more recent movies (TV here had a few episodes on, but I always managed to catch the end of the movies, this one had them running through a hedge maze that ate a girl but no-one seemed to care, and then they got teleported to a graveyard with some riddle people and a cauldron) who's apparently the evil overlord?

[Mad78]

Yeah, there's a few questions I have for this whole Harry Potter deal. If Harry is this so called chosen one and all powerful, how come old grey beard not only seemed more powerful (beyond the obvious years of experience) but didn't seem to need Harry at all during the movie, just brought him in as a tag along with exception of being used as bait? What's the point of him?

The fact that he is "The Chosen One" doesn't mean he is all powerful. Just means he is part of a Prophecy which will lead to the end of Voldemort (the bad guy).

 

What was the bridge scene?

Sorry but I can't remember that scene.

 

What are Death Eaters, apart from bad guys?

Not much really. They are servants of Voldemort and dark wizards. Most of them are also raving mad.

 

Where's Hogwarts? In this world, another? I'm guessing another else why don't "Moguls" find the place.

Hogwarts is supposed to be in the north of England. The reason normal people can't find it is that it has multiple spells that make it invisble and un-plottable.

 

Where the hell was the bald headed, no nosed guy that appeared at the end of one of the more recent movies (TV here had a few episodes on, but I always managed to catch the end of the movies, this one had them running through a hedge maze that ate a girl but no-one seemed to care, and then they got teleported to a graveyard with some riddle people and a cauldron) who's apparently the evil overlord?

Voldemort's role isn't that important in the this episode though of course you do meet his younger form (during the flashbacks).

[Krytos]

Thanks for the answers Mad

 

What was the bridge scene?

Sorry but I can't remember that scene.

 

It was early in the movie three black puffs of smoke (the death eaters) flew past London and flew around a suspension bridge that then twisted and broke. As Harry reads his newspaper there's a small blurb about it

[Mad78]

Oh yeah that scene!

Basically its an illustration of what chaos the followers of Voldemort are causing now that they are back.

[Master_Xan]

This latest HP movie didn't show a lot of the character's motivations well. For instance, the bridge scene. In the book, the Death Eaters are causing all sorts of problems, killing regular folks and such. That one scene is the only mention of it in the movie; they don't even talk about it later.

 

I don't think it showed Ginny and Harry's relationship well either. It was... underplayed, underdeveloped, and just didn't feel right. Nor did they really do such a great job with Malfoy's motivations for doing what he did, either. And don't get me started on Snape!

 

Spoilers:

Dumbledore, the old grey haired dude, is supposed to be one of the most powerful wizards ever. He's also the headmaster of Hogwarts, and as such Harry is his student. Big D is trying to teach little h a few things, but also make sure that even when he's dead, Harry will know what's going on and be able to stop Voldemort. You don't realize it until the end of the last book, but Dumbledore knew he was going to die ahead of time.

 

Over all, I enjoy the books WAY more than the movies. Yeah, the movies are shorter to watch than the books are to read, but that's because the books (obviously) have so much more detail in them. Also, I liked the books 4-7 WAY more than the first 3.

[Krytos]

Over all, I didnt find the movie hugelly enticing to me, but it was enjoyable so maybe I'll have a read of the books some time?

[Evaders99]

GI Joe was a blast - futuristic weapon technology, awesome action scenes, and what-else ninjas...

Couldn't say I was a fan of the series, now I am.

[Master_Xan]

That's good to hear; I used to play with the action figures back in the day, so I figured I'd go see the movie eventually. I've been worried it would be an idiotic movie, but sounds like they might have pulled it off.

[Lord_La_forge]

Good news! I was a fan of the figures too, also loved the cartoon. And ninjas... go figure

[Master_Xan]

Lucky. We didn't have cable back in the day, so I never got to see the cartoons. Though I suppose I could probably find them online nowadays... something tells me it just wouldn't be the same.

 

And few things in life are better than ninjas.

[Mad78]

Cool that means I will have to check out the movie. It looked already rather tempting when I saw the trailers.

 

I saw Brüno the other day... All i can say it that I didn't think it was possible to go further than Borat did and yet Sasha Baron Cohen did. Just thought I'd warn you guys.

[Evaders99]

District 9... just saw it and I don't know. I can't say I really liked it or hated it. It's certainly a unique movie.

Maybe its because I generally don't like the documentary-style movies. Or that the film lacks a final resolution. Don't know whether to recommend it or not

The rated R is appropriate though... don't bring your kids/wife/weak-stomached. Body parts fly and people get vaporized.

[DarthTofu]

Odd- a bunch of folks I know saw it last week and said it was great. I didn't watch it with them, but they claimed that it was "perfect."

 

I finally saw Fanboys. It was a decent movie, but not quite so nerdy as I would've enjoyed. Some of the humor was just there for the nerds (Ray Park's cameo, Carrie Fischer (sp?) saying that she 'knew' Bottley loved her, etc.), but the majority of it was silly poop and wee-wee jokes. It had its moments, and it wasn't bad, but I wouldn't break it out above two and a half, maybe three stars.

 

Though I do give props for the best closing line in movie history. If you know what it is, you ought to be laughing right now, too.

[DarthTofu]

Double post bump- I saw Inglorius Bastaerds, or however you misspell it last night. I jumped in around Chapter 2, and nearly vomited at one point. I'd not recommend the film; the entire thing is more violent than anything I've ever seen, and it's just plain disgusting numerous times. The scene that won't go away is when Brad Pitt sticks his finger in a bullet-wound in someone's leg. I couldn't sleep for a good solid hour after seeing that.

 

All of the Nazis are pitiable, and are shown none. They talk about wanting to go hug their mother, or about how they have to live, because they just had a son, and the troops just laugh at them and slaughter them. It isn't the black-and-white, good-and-evil stuff that you generally see when Nazis are involved; it was quite the opposite, with the Jews as, I hate to say it, the bad guys, really. The movie is sick, twisted, and wrong. I strongly advise you not to see it. I almost threw up.

[Mad78]

... I actually really want to see that movie now!

Tarantino is one of these directors you have to be able to tolerate. And I tend to love his stuff!