The Movie Review and Discussion Thread

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Romulus

I'm utterly confused here. Are we talking about Paris, Texas or A Serious Man?

Originally Posted by Q!

I just assumed we talked about A Serious Man lol.

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

I thought we were talking about Paris, Texas. SQUIDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Originally Posted by Q!

lol

This is awkward

I was talking about Paris Texas. How on earth could you get confused.

And Q, The Box is shipping from Netflix today, so I'll have it tomorrow. 99% of the reviews say that it sucks, so if it does, you are in for a

[JLant19]

Walk The Line(Blu-ray)

Director: James Mangold
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix & Reese Witherspoon

Film:4.5/5
Very good film. I love films that involve music and/or musicians. I am not a huge fan of Johnny Cash, actually not really a fan at all, but this film wasn't really about the music. It was more about Johnny and June.

The story was great and I thought JM did a great job filming this. Joaquin did an amazing job portraying JC. I mean he was almost JC to a T. Same with Reese.

The film was about Johnny of course but mainly about his life and June being such an influence to him and their love for each other. I really connected with the two and this is def a film that I will watch a great amount.

PQ:4.5
Very nice. Details were noticeable. Colors are perfect.
AQ:4.5
Very very solid mix. The music sounded great.

[SquidPuppet]

I saw Inception yesterday afternoon.

I thought it was OK. I liked it, but thats about as far as I can go.

Technically perfect and the entire cast was fantastic. DiCaprio was angry many times but never raised his arms (thats for Surfdude).

It wasnt TOO complicated. However, it felt like it was told in a complicated fashion for the sake of being complcated, not because the story itself was complicated. Some films are interesting because the story complicated. Inception took a simple story and complicated it in an effort to make it interesting. That didnt work for me. I never felt sucked in.

Beautiful to look at, fast paced, well acted, incredible score (Zimmer ), nicely shot and edited action scenes, but just Meh overall.

3/5

[iam1bearcat]

Up

PQ: 5/5 (i thought Monster's, Inc. was jaw dropping! you can really see how far Pixar has come)
AQ: 4.5/5 (using my soundbar i was very impressed)

i've seen Up about 6 times now. and every time it ends i have the same thought, "many, many, many great parts. but it felt like something, just barely something felt missing". it almost feels like 3 mini-movies in one.

- the opening montage of Carl and Ellie (incredibly well done)
- Carl flying to Paradise Falls / landing with Russell
- the journey to move the house to the exact spot

my only complaint, besides a kind of odd pacing feel i believe the film has, is Russell. he's not the most annoying kid in a movie ever, but i just don't really like him. i truly believe that the people at Pixar understood this, so thus they created and gave so much character and screen time to Doug, Carl and Kevin. these three characters are great, funny, and i cared about them. maybe because i don't like kids Russell didn't have much effect on me. but like i said for Monster's, Inc. i cared and enjoyed Boo. Russell, not so much.

there were many - but not as many other Pixar films - laugh out loud moments here. one of the stand outs is when Kevin mimmicks carl's actions and gestures. that gets me rolling with laughter every time.

i know a lot of people get teary eyed through the film, but i didn't. that was until:

[Show spoiler]Carl looks through Ellie's picture / adventure book and sees she did add pictures in the back, showing the adventure was living her life with the person she loved, not waiting for the future and their trip to Paradise Falls.

the look in Carl's eyes always gets me. along with the damn fantastic music (score by Michael Giacchino (sp?) who is the composer for LOST and always does a phenomenal job). and then the note Ellie leaves behind. really touching moment. i know a lot of people love the opening 20 minutes (give or take) with the montage / story of Ellie and Carl, but this scene is what gets me.

of course, Up may not have as many laughs because it is a more serious "adult" Pixar film. now, i said Monster's, Inc. was the most, and i still believe that to the extent of 'real world details' that i mentioned in that review. but the themes in Up are much more adult and serious themed. but the adventure, characters, writing, and story include fun, heartwarming and humorous moments to go along with the serious side of things.

another great Pixar film. but as much as it is a great film, i enjoy a few more Pixar films more, but that might be because i grew up with some of those older titles.

definitely should be viewed (and enjoyed) by all.

4.5/5

[iam1bearcat]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

I saw Inception yesterday afternoon.

I thought it was OK. I liked it, but thats about as far as I can go.

Technically perfect and the entire cast was fantastic. DiCaprio was angry many times but never raised his arms (thats for Surfdude).

It wasnt TOO complicated. However, it felt like it was told in a complicated fashion for the sake of being complcated, not because the story itself was complicated. Some films are interesting because the story complicated. Inception took a simple story and complicated it in an effort to make it interesting. That didnt work for me. I never felt sucked in.

Beautiful to look at, fast paced, well acted, incredible score (Zimmer ), nicely shot and edited action scenes, but just Meh overall.

3/5

i didn't read this review yet, but why do i feel the glooming "Avatar hate just because it's popular and you want to be different" shadow quickly approaching (i believe Inception will have this same efect, thus why the analogy)...

hold your ground squid! i know you will!

[Diesel]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

I saw Inception yesterday afternoon.

I thought it was OK. I liked it, but thats about as far as I can go.

Technically perfect and the entire cast was fantastic. DiCaprio was angry many times but never raised his arms (thats for Surfdude).

It wasnt TOO complicated. However, it felt like it was told in a complicated fashion for the sake of being complcated, not because the story itself was complicated. Some films are interesting because the story complicated. Inception took a simple story and complicated it in an effort to make it interesting. That didnt work for me. I never felt sucked in.

Beautiful to look at, fast paced, well acted, incredible score (Zimmer ), nicely shot and edited action scenes, but just Meh overall.

3/5

Didn't you get the memo?

Inception is the new best movie ever made.



Don't know if you saw my post on the previous page, I gave it a 4.5/5.

I really enjoyed it, but thought it was missing that special "something".

The Dark Knight > The Prestige > Inception

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by killowertz

jhiggy isn't the only one that hasn't seen Hard Candy and probably should see it sooner than later. I became a fan of Ellen's after I watched Juno for the first time, but for some reason I still haven't gotten around to seeing Hard Candy. I might as well just give up on seeing it in HD and just rent it on DVD.

She is really strong in Hard Candy. The role asks a lot of her, and she delivers...in spades.

[iam1bearcat]

LOL @ Diesel: i just figured out / remembered what your signature is about!

that is in reference to

[Show spoiler]our conversation about why it always says you're offline

right?

otherwise i feel foolish

[Diesel]

Originally Posted by iam1bearcat

LOL @ Diesel: i just figured out / remembered what your signature is about!

that is in reference to

[Show spoiler]our conversation about why it always says you're offline

right?

otherwise i feel foolish

Good guess

[iam1bearcat]

Originally Posted by Diesel

Good guess

so i'm wrong?
...or right?

i take a "guess" to mean wrong haha

[Diesel]

No, you're right. That's why its a good guess

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

Triangle (blu)

PQ and AQ: 4 stars (out of 5)

Film: 3 1/2 stars (out of 4)


This is only the second time I viewed the film. The first time I was really trying to take everything in, while this time I kind of left the analytical side of me aside and just tried to enjoy the film. However, a few things did come to mind:

[Show spoiler]Two things are indisputable after seeing it again. The first is that there are always three Jess's on board, which I think surf first came up with (might be wrong). The second indisputable fact is that Jess dies when she is hit off of the boat. Factually it's indisputable because when she is shown on the beach, her eyes are dead and glazed over. The water hits her (water has been used virtually forever to represent new life) and she wakes up. Notice how she takes very deep breaths, as if she's breathing for the first time. In a way, she is. Also, thematically it's indisputable because part of her punishment is killing herself.

Two things I'd like to look into: the fruit on the table and the band members looking on at the crash scene. Both are biblical in nature. The Last Supper, or one's last meal before death, and the musicians are representative of Revelation. This might very well be a stretch, but it's just one of those details that really has no importance at all but is something to notice, nonetheless.

Oh, and I figured out the most perplexing mystery of all:

[Show spoiler]them things are F-A-K-E!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please copy/paste this post into the triangle thread. I will comment there.

[iam1bearcat]

Originally Posted by Diesel

No, you're right. That's why its a good guess

duh. i should've been able to figure that out!

[jhiggy23]

Originally Posted by DjMethod

I thought I would share a passage I came across on my pMCAT last night. It was on Orson Welles and Citizen Kane. I have yet to see the film.

Citizen Kane is excellent. Thematically, it holds up very well today.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

great review and great insight on the

[Show spoiler]fruit/band. that is fascinating and we'll have to delve into it further in the Triangle thread

.

I think Diesel first discussed

[Show spoiler]3 Jess' on board: he coined them "mean jess", "our jess" and then "second our jess" or "second mean jess"

what about

[Show spoiler]the Jess whose corpse is tossed off by the other Jess (witnessed by "our Jess" when she is with the ton of Sally corpses?) presumably this corpse is a "mean Jess" (i.e., one who stabs Sally/Downey in 237, and is shot in face by a "nice/our Jess"). what happens to that body? does it wake up on beach too?

No, damnit! I get credit for Our Jess. I think you coined "Mean Jess" and "Sniper Jess" as well.

[jhiggy23]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

No, damnit! I get credit for Our Jess. I think you coined "Mean Jess" and "Sniper Jess" as well.

I coined Creepy Jess, which turned into Mean Jess.


I copied my post to the triangle thread.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by ajvdbg

Dark City 4/5
Blind buy/First viewing: I now see how it lives up to all the hype. Terrific screenplay. I love movies where not a lot makes sense but then it gradually comes together like a jigsaw puzzle...had a smile on my face through the last scene...this picture also had a great style and looks great on BD, and you must have a good display capable of deep blacks and shadow detail. Will definately watch again!

[jhiggy23]

Side note: I mentioned a day or two ago that I was wondering when Elizabeth Kostova's megahit "The Historian" would be brought to screen, considering the fact that its rights were bought for seven figures a couple years back. Here's an update:


http://www.variety.com/article/VR111...n+kane+kostova


This novel could make an EXCELLENT film, despite its length and density.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by lDlisturb3d

Well its definitely got all the technical winnings. You will see my friend.



Yeah he really is gifted but i think his best work was GLADIATOR, such memorable songs!

Which ones are your favorites?

[kpkelley]

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

This Werner Herzog film is a remake of a Harvey Keitel starrer from the early nineties. Nicholas Cage stars as the titular Lieutenant, who deals with drug and gambling abuse while investigating a mutlitple homicide in post-Katrina New Orleans. The film is a wonderful example of The Peter Principle as the story unfolds in a darkly comic way. (4/5)