The Movie Review and Discussion Thread

[Q?]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

I'm in the minority in preferring redux. I absolutely understand the ppl who dislike it, especially since it does alter the flow and pace of the film significantly. I also agree that the Playboy scene is odd and unneeded. However, I think the plantation scene is pretty important, which is why I like it better. I don't care which one they release on blu (I have an inkling that you'll get both versions, like Blade Runner), I just want it released!

For some reason I had you pegged as preferring the theatrical, I prefer redux myself so no sale for me if they don't include it, but of course they'll include it.

It's been years since I saw the theatrical so I can't comment why I prefer redux oddly, I've just always preferred it.

[Riff Magnum]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

I rank it among the top 10 worst films I've ever seen. With that cast, there's no excuse. The dialogue is some of the worst I've seen in recent film, with an example being "she chew her food real good." Enough said.

Agreed!! I was pumped for this movie and it completely underwhelmed me. Very cliche if you ask me. Complete with Viggo riding off into the sunset.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Riff Magnum

Agreed!! I was pumped for this movie and it completely underwhelmed me. Very cliche if you ask me. Complete with Viggo riding off into the sunset.

They were paying homage to the old westerns.

[jhiggy23]

Hey btw, Winter's Bone will soon be playing at the theater I saw The Girl Who Played With Fire. I might have to go check it out, even though I rarely go to the movies (only three times in two years), based on its acclaim and the review on here.

[lDlisturb3d]

Children of Men

Movie 9/10

Children of Men was a big surprise to me, i didnt think i would enjoy it as much as i did. The story is good, acting is up to par, but most of all the DIRECTION was amazing. It kinda reminding me of Saving Private Ryan how the director got you evolved into the action parts. In addition i loved how the movie turned into hardcore action in the last 30 mins. Children of Men was awesome and im glad i made this blind buy.

Highly Recommended.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

I really enjoyed Renees character and her performance. She was such a dysfunctional, NEEDY person with no sense of self identity. She was so lost. I have known people who have made really bad choices without enough thought, just like her. Only thinking about the moment. Also, how Harrris' character pathetically clung to loving her after her numerous "indiscretions" was so realistic in that type of sick relationship dynamic.

To me the film wasnt a western. It was a character/relationship study that happened to take place in the Old West. It was about Eds sadness and Renees inability to ever be satisfied (lost soul always looking outside herself for fullfillment) and Viggos loss.

Plus Viggos shotgun-cannon was fun to watch.

I remember watching it at the theater and thinking.... This isnt a very good movie, but I am really enjoying it.

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

I agree--it's the better war film. Red Line isn't really a war film; it's masquerading as such.

Apaloosa isnt really a western, its maquerading as a western.

[Diesel]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

Okay okay okay guys....jeeeeez.

No no no, its Deez

[Atreyu]

I just got thru watching Twilight. The movie was more or less a love story. She falls in love with a guy who is a vampire. It's like those other love stories where a girl falls in love with a guy from the wrong side of the tracks.
Not bad the way it was told, and they aren't vampires in the Bela Lugosi mold. Some seem to have feelings.
The PQ and AQ was above average with some nice extras included. Didn't listen to the audo track, as I seldom do.
I had bought it as a blind buy, used from Ebay, because of a recomendation by a friend.
Also she said there were some cute guys in it, so I figured if the story line wasn't so hot there would at least be some eye candy.

[jhiggy23]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

Apaloosa isnt really a western, its maquerading as a western.

hahahaha you win. how dare you use my words against me.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

hahahaha you win. how dare you use my words against me.

When I read that I thought, "Those were the words I needed to make my point...thank you Jhiggy. Now all I have to do is kidnap them from that thread and post 'em in this thread"

There is no depth I wont stoop to in order to make a point. I am THAT slimey.

I am a Squid afterall.

[jhiggy23]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

When I read that I thought, "Those were the words I needed to make my point...thank you Jhiggy. Now all I have to do is kidnap them from that thread and post 'em in this thread"

There is no depth I wont stoop to in order to make a point. I am THAT slimey.

I am a Squid afterall.

hahahaha

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

Hey btw, Winter's Bone will soon be playing at the theater I saw The Girl Who Played With Fire. I might have to go check it out, even though I rarely go to the movies (only three times in two years), based on its acclaim and the review on here.

I have a very nice theater near me, but they never bring any of the "small" movies in. Gets frustrating.

[Al_The_Strange]

Gran Torino

A fine drama, tightly-paced and loaded with nuances, characterizations, and concepts that are highly believable (my parents were watching this for the first time ever; they quickly recognized the Detroit urbanization, and noted that my own grandparents had a bit in common with the way the characters (Walt and his buddies specifically) talked and acted).

I'm most impressed by the quality of the story. Characters are strong; Walt is more than a bitter old man, he's got internal and external struggles, and I find his interplay between all the different characters and his ultimate evolution very intruiging. And the final resolution is pretty significant. Story-wise, it's pretty solid and makes sense to me.

As a film, it is well-directed, and I found no glaring faults with the acting or writing.

"Get off my lawn!"

4.5/5 (entertainment: 4/5, story: 5/5, film: 4/5)



Dr. Strangelove

Below review still applies: 4/5 (entertainment: 3.5/5, story: 3.5/5, film: 5/5)

"Mein Fuhrer...I can walk!!"

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

"Dr Strangelove," second time ever, first time on BD (which looked/sounded wonderful and I'm watching the extras now, which are fascinating). I didn't care for it that much when I first saw it, but this time around I enjoyed it a little better. It has many funny moments, and it is very well-filmed. Moreover, the themes about war and nuclear annihilation are strong and seems plausible even to this day.

Superman III

The marathon continues, for better or for worse. This third film is kinda like watching a bad Bond film; entertaining, but extremely cheesy, campy, with some stupid parts to it. There are parts of "Superman III" I like; I like how they brought Superman back to Smallville, and how he turned to evil later on and had to fight himself. The parts at the end with the supercomputer is wild, but entertaining.

Otherwise, the movie really does suck. It's loaded with comedy that's totally out-of-place and not very funny at all (the opening credit sequence is just a huge ballad of slapstick supidity; was any of this even necessary?). A lot of other scenes feel unecessary, overly-campy, and some parts are just plain stupid. The story's pretty dumb and goes all over the place. None of the villians are great; other characters are just okay. Production value seems to have dropped; some effects look okay, but others are cringe-worthy.

And...serously...Superman can't break out of a plastic ball? WHAT'S THE WORLD COMING TO?!!

2.5/5 (entertainment: 3.5/5, story: 2/5, film: 2/5)

[LordoftheRings]

Film: 3/5
Picture: 4.25/5
Sound: 4/5
Extras: 2/5
Overall: 3/5

* Last comment: An interesting ride into the international world of corruption.
This BD has excellent image quality and very good audio too.

[tommyboy81]

Dreamscape

8/10

Guess they started showing this on Showtime because of Inception.

&

Beetlejuice 6/10

[jhiggy23]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

I have a very nice theater near me, but they never bring any of the "small" movies in. Gets frustrating.

There's a ton of theaters around here--sometimes they have the smaller films. When I was in Buffalo, they had an incredible old movie theater downtown that played only foreign, classic, and indie films. Ahh I miss it.

[jhiggy23]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

Gran Torino

A fine drama, tightly-paced and loaded with nuances, characterizations, and concepts that are highly believable (my parents were watching this for the first time ever; they quickly recognized the Detroit urbanization, and noted that my own grandparents had a bit in common with the way the characters (Walt and his buddies specifically) talked and acted).

I'm most impressed by the quality of the story. Characters are strong; Walt is more than a bitter old man, he's got internal and external struggles, and I find his interplay between all the different characters and his ultimate evolution very intruiging. And the final resolution is pretty significant. Story-wise, it's pretty solid and makes sense to me.

As a film, it is well-directed, and I found no glaring faults with the acting or writing.

"Get off my lawn!"

4.5/5 (entertainment: 4/5, story: 5/5, film: 4/5)



Dr. Strangelove

Below review still applies: 4/5 (entertainment: 3.5/5, story: 3.5/5, film: 5/5)

"Mein Fuhrer...I can walk!!"





Superman III

The marathon continues, for better or for worse. This third film is kinda like watching a bad Bond film; entertaining, but extremely cheesy, campy, with some stupid parts to it. There are parts of "Superman III" I like; I like how they brought Superman back to Smallville, and how he turned to evil later on and had to fight himself. The parts at the end with the supercomputer is wild, but entertaining.

Otherwise, the movie really does suck. It's loaded with comedy that's totally out-of-place and not very funny at all (the opening credit sequence is just a huge ballad of slapstick supidity; was any of this even necessary?). A lot of other scenes feel unecessary, overly-campy, and some parts are just plain stupid. The story's pretty dumb and goes all over the place. None of the villians are great; other characters are just okay. Production value seems to have dropped; some effects look okay, but others are cringe-worthy.

And...serously...Superman can't break out of a plastic ball? WHAT'S THE WORLD COMING TO?!!

2.5/5 (entertainment: 3.5/5, story: 2/5, film: 2/5)

I thought Gran Torino was a fine movie. I think I may have given it 3 1/2 stars. I'm not a huge fan of Eastwood as an actor, despite his iconic nature, but I thought he did well here. I think the racist comments started bordering on show instead of substance, but I liked it.

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

I thought Gran Torino was a fine movie. I think I may have given it 3 1/2 stars. I'm not a huge fan of Eastwood as an actor, despite his iconic nature, but I thought he did well here. I think the racist comments started bordering on show instead of substance, but I liked it.

Right on!

I thought it was a good show of character to have him overcome racism as he went on, so I thought the comments were fitting. Then again, maybe I'm looking too much or too little into it.

[jhiggy23]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

Right on!

I thought it was a good show of character to have him overcome racism as he went on, so I thought the comments were fitting. Then again, maybe I'm looking too much or too little into it.

No not at all, I think you're looking at it just right and I agree with you. It's def a quality film.

[iam1bearcat]

The Blair Witch Project

in light of hearing great news about how this is coming to blu on august 31, i decided to watch it today...

the greatest horror film of all time.
there is a 99.9% chance nothing will ever top the genius that is The Blair Witch Project.
there is a 99.9% chance nothing will be half as scary as The Blair Witch Project.

as much as i love horror films (favorite genre and all) they generally are terrible. and that's putting it nicely. terrible characters, cliche actions and dialogue, cringe worthy script / dialogue in general, a "scary" antagonist that actually isn't and a million other things usually send a horror film into an absymal state of ridiculousness.

The Blair Witch Project does none of this.

the set up is simple: three college age kids are making a documentary in Burkettsville, Maryland about the legend of the Blair Witch and plan to spend a weekend in the supposedly haunted woods. soon, things go wrong and a simple 48 hour trek through the woods is anything but. much like why The Descent is a personal favorite - the film first is scary because of something very realistic. in The Descent it was claustrophobia and being trapped underground. in The Blair Witch Project it's being lost in the woods, hungry, frightened, confused and tensions constantly rising. later on the film focuses more on the scares that are "horror movie" scares. and these scares, are downright epic in nature.

you see, i'm not afraid of an invincible Michael Meyers, i'm not scared of a 2 foot tall curse-ridden murder infested doll, or a hockey maskwearing, knife wielding lunatic with mommy issues. actually, the things that are supposed to be scary in these movies generally take me out of the moment. which means i'm not afraid. which means i'm generally pissed at the film.

The Blair Witch Project excels because first and foremost, of how it's shot. the film is based on a "true story" and is filmed like a documentary. looking like what we see is found footage. when the film came out, i was around 9 or 10 so i missed most of the genius marketing, but i remember hearing about how "this is real and these people are still missing" and seeing flyers for Heather, Mike and Josh on the news. it is unmatched, to this day the craze this movie inspired. but i don't love it for that. i love it for FEELING AND LOOKING REAL.

sure, we don't see anything. GOOD. i would have been absolutely livid if they would've shown something in

[Show spoiler]the house near the end of the movie

, or at all. what makes the film scary is the sounds, the simple, simple sounds, and the fantastic real reactions of the characters.

it should be noted that nothing scares me more than being in the pitch black and hearing something nearby. it also scares the **** out of me when someone yells in darkness. don't know why, but it always has. so this film pretty much plays to my worst fears, which makes me love it. and as the film is my fifth favorite film of all time, that should tell you this movie actually scared me. it scares me so much in fact that even though i've seen it 100+ times, it still scares me and makes my skin crawl. even after i watch it in the day time. something about it just... gets to me. i love it!

these moments in particular always get me wincing:

[Show spoiler]* the weird cracking / snapping noises in the woods in the middle of the night!
* more creepy snapping / slamming / crunching in the woods
* the hundreds of twig bodies / voodoo doll things they find hanging in the trees!
* when they hear sh!t outside the tent, children laugh!!!! And then the tent starts shaking! HOLY FUDGE! SCARIEST MOMENT EVER!
* when you hear Josh screaming in the middle of the night!
* the creepy as fudge house
* the entire last 3 minutes

i understand why some may find the movie boring. the way i see it, if you're not interested after the first 10 minutes, you won't like the movie. not that there are any scares in the first 10 minutes, but because that's where the heart of the movie is. meeting the characters, learning the legends, meeting some townsfolk... that's what it's all about. but for me, this is the scariest, most livid, more realistic portrayal of horror i've ever seen. and even though i loved Paranormal Activity which is always compared to this classic, it doesn't hold a candle to The Blair Witch Project. but then again, nothing does.

5/5