The Movie Review and Discussion Thread

[CoolRanch]

Watched "Slap Shot" for the first time last night. It is interesting how raunchy R-rated comedies have evolved over the years. When "Slap Shot" first came out it was considered quite raunchy and profane but when compared to some of the titles of nowadays, (i.e. Goon) it is in fact quite tame. Besides being hilarious, the movie also makes a good observation on the roughness of the sport of hockey and how our society celebrates the violence in it. The more fights and dirty plays, the more the audience cheers and celebrates. Overall very funny movie with a surprising amount of intelligence for a slapstick comedy. Check it out when you get the chance! 8/10

[NARMAK]

American Werewolf in London.

What can i say, it was a naff movie and not really all that good. The PQ was a mess as well but the reviewer etc already has that in his review so i'll just post my take on the movie. The characters were bland. I quite liked the cute nurse but everybody else is as likeable as a fart in an elevator. I cared nothing for them in the end. The scene in the porno cinema was unecessary to serve the plot point it did and the only standout and amazing part of the entire film as already mentioned was the guy who did the make up on Jack and the Wolfman look. It looked amazing and particularly all the scenes of Jack. The most decayed he was by the end of it, looked a little bit fake but given the time it was made, still a very ground breaking achievement imo.

Movie to me was a 2.5/5 simply because of the make up guys work. Otherwise i'd rate it a 2

[KilloWertz]

Originally Posted by CoolRanch

Watched "Slap Shot" for the first time last night. It is interesting how raunchy R-rated comedies have evolved over the years. When "Slap Shot" first came out it was considered quite raunchy and profane but when compared to some of the titles of nowadays, (i.e. Goon) it is in fact quite tame. Besides being hilarious, the movie also makes a good observation on the roughness of the sport of hockey and how our society celebrates the violence in it. The more fights and dirty plays, the more the audience cheers and celebrates. Overall very funny movie with a surprising amount of intelligence for a slapstick comedy. Check it out when you get the chance! 8/10

Universal really needs to release that on Blu-ray. I've never seen it, but after blind buying and loving Goon, I definitely want to finally watch it.

[Steve46]

Originally Posted by iam1bearcat

i very much look forward to Moonrise Kingdom.

i absolutely love The Royal Tenenbaums, Fantastic Mr. Fox and likewise films. i wasn't big on Bottle Rocket, but also enjoyed Darjeeling Limited and other films. they certainly work for a certain type of humor though, which is why i thorough enjoy having a sense of humor that works with things like Parks and Recreation, The Royal Tenenbaums, Superbad and Strange Wilderness.

and Steve, looking at those pictures of Moonrise Kingdom makes me that much more anxious to see it. as expected, looks beautifully shot

I think Moonrise Kingdom is one of the easiest Anderson films to get into, unless it's simply that I am used to his crazy worlds by now.

[surfdude12]

Originally Posted by KilloWertz

Obviously.

I probably will watch it at some point because of all of the buzz, but for some reason I've just never been in that much of a rush to watch much in the way of any of Wes Anderson's movies. I've only ever seen Bottle Rocket and The Royal Tenenbaums. I thought Bottle Rocket was ok, but I'll definitely be buying The Royal Tenenbaums during a Criterion sale after it releases.

I'm not into Wes Anderson either. For some reason, I just can't get into his films. For example, Bottle Rocket and Darjeeling Limited struck me as an odd combination of juvenille male humour and excellent cinematography. So bizaree, IMO. It was like getting served a chocolate brownie with maynoaise filling.

A lot of my friends LOVE them, people whose tastes I respect. Oh well. Can't agree on everything.

[Romulus]

I'm not huge on Wes Anderson either, but I thought Fantastic Mr. Fox was... should I say, fantastic?





I'm here all week folks!

[Romulus]

Plus, anyone buying this when it comes out??

https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=8987

[surfdude12]

Originally Posted by Romulus

Plus, anyone buying this when it comes out??

https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=8987

release date?!?!?!?!

[Steve46]

Originally Posted by Romulus

Plus, anyone buying this when it comes out??

https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=8987

Yeah, I tweeted about it this morning. I own that DVD set and want at least 10 of the films on Blu-ray. The only duplicate would be Psycho, and I can justify keeping that as it is a steel book. I hope the packaging is better than on the DVD set though.

[Steve46]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

release date?!?!?!?!

October 1.

[Romulus]

September 25 in the United States, I believe.

But I'm very excited about owning some of those titles such as Rear Window, Psycho, North by Northwest, etc.

There's probably 9 films I haven't seen in that collection such as Rope. With Hitchcock though, I don't feel bad blind buying 9 films of his for one collection.

[Steve46]

Originally Posted by Romulus

September 25 in the United States, I believe.

But I'm very excited about owning some of those titles such as Rear Window, Psycho, North by Northwest, etc.

There's probably 9 films I haven't seen in that collection such as Rope. With Hitchcock though, I don't feel bad blind buying 9 films of his for one collection.

You'll like something about most of them.

The DVD set doesn't include North by Northwest, so I guess that makes two duplicates.

[surfdude12]

Originally Posted by Romulus

September 25 in the United States, I believe.

But I'm very excited about owning some of those titles such as Rear Window, Psycho, North by Northwest, etc.

There's probably 9 films I haven't seen in that collection such as Rope. With Hitchcock though, I don't feel bad blind buying 9 films of his for one collection.

you'll love Rope. Squid made me watch it a few years ago after he busted me for having watched ZERO, count 'em, ZERO Hitch films I went on a tear and watched Psycho, Rear Window, Vertigo, Rope and Vertigo in a matter of 2 weeks. I still haven't seen a TON of them, like NOtorious, Birds, and others.

my favs are:
1. Rear Window - love the local, small, theatrical set
2. Psycho - Perkins is TERRIFYING
3. Vertigo - it got much better on second viewing
4. Rope
5. NOrth by NOrthwest

[Romulus]

Yup, I'm pretty excited to see most of these. I'm going to assume it'll be priced around 200 dollars on Amazon.

And I planned on buying Psycho the other week but decided to pass, now I'm glad I did!


EDIT: Our top 2 Hitchcock are the same. LOVE Rear Window and Pyscho, it's been a while since I've seen Vertigo but I wasn't overly impressed the first time I saw it.

[Steve46]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

you'll love Rope. Squid made me watch it a few years ago after he busted me for having watched ZERO, count 'em, ZERO Hitch films I went on a tear and watched Psycho, Rear Window, Vertigo, Rope and Vertigo in a matter of 2 weeks. I still haven't seen a TON of them, like NOtorious, Birds, and others.

my favs are:
1. Rear Window - love the local, small, theatrical set
2. Psycho - Perkins is TERRIFYING
3. Vertigo - it got much better on second viewing
4. Rope
5. NOrth by NOrthwest

I think you'll like The Birds a lot.

[Steve46]

Originally Posted by Romulus

Yup, I'm pretty excited to see most of these. I'm going to assume it'll be priced around 200 dollars on Amazon.

And I planned on buying Psycho the other week but decided to pass, now I'm glad I did!


EDIT: Our top 2 Hitchcock are the same. LOVE Rear Window and Pyscho, it's been a while since I've seen Vertigo but I wasn't overly impressed the first time I saw it.

All three are in my Top 5, but some have the chance to move in after a second viewing. Dial M for Murder is one with a chance to do that.

[Romulus]

Dial M for Murder has been on my list for a long time. I was kind of hoping that they would include Notorious in this box set, but I guess Universal doesn't have rights to it.

[Steve46]

Originally Posted by Romulus

Dial M for Murder has been on my list for a long time. I was kind of hoping that they would include Notorious in this box set, but I guess Universal doesn't have rights to it.

Yep, Notorious, Rebecca and Spellbound were all released by MGM.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Romulus

Plus, anyone buying this when it comes out??

https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=8987

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[Steve46]

Prometheus (2012)
Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller, 124 minutes
Directed by Ridley Scott
Starring Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Logan Marshall-Green and Charlize Theron

I've had the pleasure of seeing Prometheus twice. The first occasion was my first exposure to IMAX/3D and it was easily the best presentation I have ever seen in a theater. That prompted me to share the experience with two UK friends who were in town for my 50th birthday. Yes, I'm old.

The most difficult thing to overcome when reviewing Prometheus is separating the incredible presentation from the story. Should I review the experience, or just the movie itself? I have chosen to comment on both elements.

The opening shots immediately draw you in and establish that you are about to witness something special in terms of presentation. As the camera pans over the surface of a moon, you are part of the experience. As with Avatar, you are transported to a different world. The first shot of the ship is also effective, with the roar of the engines. Kubrick would probably turn over in his grave at the technical error of portraying sound in space, but it does add something for the viewer.

Prometheus is quite ambitious. It does a good job of explaining some of the events that led up to the mission in Alien. We are shown some of the discoveries which prompted the Weyland Corporation to explore deep space. A crew is sent to search for an incredible secret, which I won't reveal here. Unlike other films in the Alien franchise, the presence of an android is explained from the beginning. David (Fassbender) is accepted for what he is without anything being hidden. The one thing that does remain consistent is that the android knows more than he admits. Where did he get that information?

There is more than one alien species present in Prometheus, plus the humans. The story explains the origin of the type of ship discovered in Alien and we experience a small thrill of recognition. Ridley Scott balances new information with previous events in an effective way. I came away feeling like I knew a lot more about this universe, but I didn't feel that the original film had been betrayed in any way.

It took me several viewings over a number of years to raise my rating for Alien to 4.5/5. Perhaps because I know that film so well, Prometheus had more of an immediate impact. However, there is one thing preventing me from rating the film as highly. The character of Fifield (Sean Harris) is a blatant flaw in the film. He's a British geologist with the personality of an idiotic criminal. He's clearly intended to provide comic relief, and I admit that the audience did laugh at his comments during both viewings, but his inclusion felt so out of place. Up until that point, the film had me fully engaged. The story seemed plausible and interesting. Fifield would never have passed any serious attempt at psychological screening by the Weyland Corporation and would never have become part of the crew in any realistic scenario. His inclusion pulled me right out of the movie as soon as he spoke his opening dialogue. His scenes with Millburn (Rafe Spall) were all ludicrous and I'm forced to deduct half a point just because of their presence.

Everything else worked.

I'm not against the idea of humor in a serious movie. Vickers (Theron) and Janek (Idris Elba) did have an amusing exchange which was handled in a far more intelligent manner. Theron played her part well and her icy personality was believable.

The highlight of the film for me was the unexpectedly wonderful performance from Noomi Rapace. I liked her portrayal of Lisbeth Salander in the original Dragon Tattoo trilogy and was pleasantly surprised to see her tackling a role in English. Like Alien, the movie ends with a fight for survival, and Shaw (Rapace) is the equivalent of Ripley. There's one sequence which made me laugh because it was so outlandish, but Rapace played it totally straight and still had me on the edge of my seat and rooting for her. This will upset some people, but I think she was a more effective character than Sigourney Weaver's Ripley. I like both tremendously, so I guess it doesn't matter.

Prometheus delivers in terms of story, action, and special effects, and most of the acting is good. The conclusion left the possibility of a sequel and I wouldn't be sorry to see that happen. It's always tricky when a franchise is continued after a long absence, but Scott really pulled it off. See it in IMAX/3D while you can and buy the Blu-ray when it is eventually released.

Overall score 4/5