Movie opinions thread (what have you seen, what did you think?)

Sexual Instinct said:

If anyone else saw "Black Swan", did you also think it was one huge metaphor for the creative process?

One of the most impressive movies I saw this year. In the same week as the fantastic "True Grit" no less. I almost don't even want to see Tron now, I've heard less than stellar things.

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You've heard right. It's less than stellar.

But it's worth seeing on a big screen at least once. Visually, the movie's interesting. But it's mostly an underachieving film.

I just saw Avatar the Last Airbender and I totally loved it.
I'm not sure why everyone hated it.
I never watched the series that it's based on,
but I really want to check it out now.

Taiso said:

I appreciate the compliment. Reading your feedback on Christmas is almost like a gift to me

/bow

When it comes to a movie like The Seventh Seal, I try to give it as much praise as I possibly can. In today's day and age, blinded by spectacle and dumbed down by an entertainment industry driven by dollars first and provocative artistic expression not even second but fourth or fifth, the movie going audience has been largely crafted into an all too willing brain numb accomplice. They buy into drek like Transformers because 'they want to be entertained' and don't care to have their minds engaged.

So when a movie like The Seventh Seal is out there, and has been out there over half a century, there is no reason not to highlight it as a cinematic high water mark and tell people, in no uncertain terms, that they should see it. It's the kind of movie that makes you want to see other cinema classics, because you've been wondering what you've missed, both in the medium of film and also in one's pursuit of truth through creative expression. Elitist? Maybe. But art is culture and culture defines humanity. Let's at least TRY to be smart about it once in a while

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You know, despite being a film snob/nerd I still have never seen the Seventh Seal. For shame, right?

P.S. Yeah, you do write good reviews, dude.

P.P.S. You're also right about another thing: Transformers is the very definition of dreck.

rarehero said:

I just saw Avatar the Last Airbender and I totally loved it.
I'm not sure why everyone hated it.
I never watched the series that it's based on,
but I really want to check it out now.

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And that's it right there, I've been told that one is way not like the other. The trailer looked like crap so I have no plans to see it but I am going to see the cartoon

On topic=

Scrooged
-Christmas tradition

Saw two flicks today, one many of you have seen, the other, I think I may be the first:


The King's Speech -- This movie is going to show up all over the Academy Awards nominations --for good reason-- so see it now. The story is fairly straightforward: Prince Albert (Colin Firth), son of King George V, has a terrible stammer. He can barely speak in private and is just terrible in public. He wants to fix it, but no traditional method (of the 1920s and 30s) seem to work. His wife (best known as the late Queen Mother and played by Helen Bonham Carter) contacts a more unconventional speech therapist (Geoffrey Rush!), an independently-minded Aussie transplant who's soon shocked by the identity of his new patient. The story is about their interactions --humorous, serious, believable-- and how it leads up to the surprised rise of the Prince to King after his older brother infamously abdicated the throne... the event left the former Albert and then King George VI with the task of acting as the figurehead of the UK entering WWII. The climax is the run up to the important speech at the outset of the war. So with all of this historic backdrop, the movie itself is immensely enjoyable thanks to top-notch performances by all involved, particularly the two leads and their chemistry. Firth and Rush are exceptional --I won't be surprised if Firth wins Best Actor, especially given his excellent performance in last year's A Single Man. This film felt like a prequel to The Queen (another exceptional film), but it felt less pretentious and more easily accessible. Highly recommended. 5/5

Tron: Legacy -- Let's cut the bullshit: the first movie was never some great tale, just a fun movie with intriguing special effects that were very unpopular only a few years later until they became re-recognized around the time of the 20th Anniversary DVD. In many ways, Tron: Legacy is the same movie, but in other ways its a bit of a letdown. It tells a story that a kid can follow, gives you lots of pretty things (and people!) to look at --the soundtrack is popping, the graphics slick, and the 3D... well, that part's a yawner (though the use of 2D/3D was a nice nod to the B&W/Color use in the Wizard of Oz). There was potential to take the old story and expand upon it a bit --and I supposed they tried to here, but it just didn't seem very well thought out. The movie tried to end with a bang, but ends with a whimper. I still had a good time, though --I suppose that is the legacy of Tron. 3/5

Tron spoilers (mostly minor) I wanted to mention:

Yea, I had a conversation with a guy before seeing Tron Legacy
that other than the neat technology to make it and the first half with the games,
it (pretty much the last half) was kind of a dull movie.
This coming from seeing it for the first time in a long time about a year ago.
Not taking away the great aesthetic from the original or anything.

I enjoyed the new one though, coincidently ran into Merc at the theater
and had a good wholesome conversation about the movie afterwards.

Waking Sleeping Beauty
-A documentary about the disney animation studio after Walt's death and the retiring of his 9 wise men. Pretty interesting as how in the beginning the studio was the bastard child, they get booted out of their studio and clear off the disney lot until the money started raking in. Was also funny in how no one had faith in this unknown studio called Pixar that was pitching this kids buddy movie called Toy Story. It was nice to see the behind the scenes stuff about the powers that be

rarehero said:

I enjoyed the new one though, coincidently ran into Merc at the theater
and had a good wholesome conversation about the movie afterwards.

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Taiso said:

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Well, he did mention googling Olivia Wilde
and stumbling onto half naked pictures of her,
but it wasn't intentional.

rarehero said:

Well, he did mention googling Olivia Wilde
and stumbling onto half naked pictures of her,
but it wasn't intentional.

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And really, who can blame him?

Saw True Grit yesterday. I thought it was great, although Jeff Bridges was a little hard to understand sometimes with the thick accent he was laying on.

I never saw the original (hope to in the next day or so), but I hear that this new one is closer to the book than the one from '69, although someone I know that saw the original when it came out thought it was much better than the remake.

True Grit - great flick. In the dialogue, Jeff's character, Rooster, is the one said to have true grit. It becomes quite apparent that the one with true grit is the girl. Excellent performance from her, Jeff and (surprisingly) Matt Damon, who definitely got the most laughs from me.

Tron Legacy was garbage.

Black Swan was mind bendingly awesome. Beyond amazing

Night Of The Demon
-ok remake, interesting to see demon possession during sex

Black Swan scarred the shit out of me....really tedious. I loved it.

True Grit was cool and really well crafted. Enjoyed it as well...although the coen's serious storytelling always leaves me wanting more.


Screw the tron haters....it was a fun movie.

Watching Rumble In The Bronx. Wow, what a shitty movie. Never bothered back in the day, but I was feeling like watching some cheese. You know what's awesome? Watching a kid in a wheelchair playing a Game Gear for 10 minutes while talking to his sister...with NO CART IN THE SLOT. Yeeeeeeeeaaaaaah!

BigTinz said:

Black Swan scarred the shit out of me....really tedious. I loved it.

True Grit was cool and really well crafted. Enjoyed it as well...although the coen's serious storytelling always leaves me wanting more.


Screw the tron haters....it was a fun movie.

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I didn't think Tron would be amazing. Just a fun popcorn flick, and it failed at that. Visually it was impossible to comprehend, I'm not sure why Flynn had to create David Bowie in his virtual world, and the pace was just wretched. It failed at the basic tenets of an action film and just turned into some verbal jack-off session with a great soundtrack.

True Grit was awesome, good performances by the main three, although I didn't realize until later how good Matt Damon was. Also a pretty damn funny movie.

Now I want this print.

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e158/mcnail/OMG4/TRUEGRITregular.jpg

My friend and I saw True Grit yesterday. I really enjoyed it, although being a Texas native, it was hard for me to take Matt Damon seriously as a Texas Ranger. It was really good movie though, but I never saw the original or read the book, but hope to do so soon. After seeing it, I really want to get back into Red Dead Redemption, lol.

And as I've said already about Tron: Legacy... Haters gonna hate!

rarehero said:

I enjoyed the new one though, coincidently ran into Merc at the theater
and had a good wholesome conversation about the movie afterwards.

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It was great catching up with you and finally meeting your brother. Hard to believe we were sitting in the same isle and didn't know it until the damn lights came on as I waited (that was my fourth time seeing it) to see if there wasn't some end of credits "spoiler" for a follow up... ANYTHING. There wasn't.

Apologize for dragging you into my nerd fandom of TRON (yes, some people have STAR WARS and LOTR... I geek over the TRON unvierse) and the non canon expanded universe story idea I'm just now finishing up the 1st Draft treatment on. BUT my friend you met (Daniel Garza) is the one doing all the illustrations for new program types I've come up with that "fit" into the Tron universe. Basically the idea is taking both #1 and #2 and coming up with a sequel to Legacy that's like a video game onto itself in terms of "contrived" plot, but fusing it with a story I had dropped years ago and now realize it fit perfectly into the Tron universe. We'll see where this goes. Like I said, at best it'll be a self published limited pressing I'll mail off copies to people for free (non profit) and eventually put up online. I really can't do any worse than the problems THAT ARE THERE in Legacy.

Taiso said:

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Hey we had a "Wholesome" conversation about world domination, a local/regional blues singer Ruben V, and my TRON shades that finally came in.

rarehero said:

Well, he did mention googling Olivia Wilde
and stumbling onto half naked pictures of her,
but it wasn't intentional.

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Taiso said:

And really, who can blame him?

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No I was recalling of how it threw me for a loop because I GOOGLED "Apache Warrior Garb" and was looking for pictures of the clothing, and halfway down the Google Image search is a picture of a naked Olivia Wilde. To my thoughts:

What does she have to do with Apache Warrior Garb? Only to learn she's going to be in some movie called Cowboys & Aliens next year and that she run around nekkid in some scene with 100 Apache Warriors all around her. ---Why couldn't I have been an extra on that set?

Oh well... I did get to shoot my "Lecherous for Quorra" photo yesterday with the TRON 3-D glasses though...


"Come here Quorra... I've got a Cyber Chorizo Thundercrack for ya!"

____________________________

That said I will have to admit upon viewing the movie for the 5th time yesterday night to celebrate my TRON glasses coming in... The film does have more than it's fair share of problems, and the 1st movie walks all over it outside of the high definition C.G. of 2010 versus the almost Cel shaded "look" of the 1982 original. The one thing that still stumps me though is...

Kevin Flynn's computer with Grid 2.0 isn't online, it's an offline server. Yet Daft Punk are listed as MP3 programs? Kevin didn't know about Wifi or anything for the past 21 years (in movie) due to not being connected to the Internet, so how then could MP3 files exist in Grid 2.0?

rarehero told me I was being too "technical" on that note, and we agreed they should be the evolved versions of Midi files.

THAT SAID... SCREW THE HATERS!



It's a fun movie within itself, just drags a bit.

Think this is the reason why it popped up.
Something about Cowboy and aliens.
Looks like a terrible movie.
http://weirdwesterns.wordpress.com/category/science-fiction-westerns/

rarehero said:

Think this is the reason why it popped up.
Something about Cowboy and aliens.
Looks like a terrible movie.
http://weirdwesterns.wordpress.com/category/science-fiction-westerns/

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I went to Universal Studios on my vacation and they had huge billboards all over for it, the guy running the tour tram talked about it, it sounded like utter shit and his face even said it

I remember taking the cali universal tour and them not talking about recent movies,
but that was circa 95.
I guess it makes sense they would try to advertise their movies during the rides.
Kinda sad though.

rarehero said:

I remember taking the cali universal tour and them not talking about recent movies,
but that was circa 95.
I guess it makes sense they would try to advertise their movies during the rides.
Kinda sad though.

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Pretty much, I had already decided to scratch the Vince Vaghn movie from my movies to see list

Roger & Me