The Movie Review and Discussion Thread

[two40]

Originally Posted by Diesel

Sometimes you need to watch something 'light hearted' and fun to change things up and 'reboot' your brain

That's why they invented the popcorn flicks. I'm a big fan of the Fast Furious series being a car nut. Also Resident Evil Series, Underworld etc

[Diesel]

Originally Posted by two40

That's why they invented the popcorn flicks. I'm a big fan of the Fast Furious series being a car nut. Also Resident Evil Series, Underworld etc

I love the first Underworld.

The second is good, but I don't think its even close to the original.

The third is better than the second, but still not as good as the original for me.

I own the first but won't be buying the others. But if I do catch them on TV sometimes I watch them

[two40]

The third one has a special place in my heart. It's not a great movie and not one I watch many times but it is the first film I watched on my home theatre setup projected on to a black painted wall (before I got my screen). It was mostly black shadows moving across the wall since the movie is so dark.

Originally Posted by Diesel

Vin Diesel's Movies Are Documentaries Of His Real Life Adventures

True. I've read his biography.

[surfdude12]

The Darjeeling Limited (DVD)

Film: 1.5/5
-never connected to the characters on any meaningful level: Wilson's character was too annoying and the other 2 were too painful to watch put up with Wilson
-still have no idea what the character arc was for the 3 characters through the film: what was the film trying to show?

[Show spoiler]that 3 brothers get together, are at each others throats, and then after they get in touch with their mom, they stop going at each others throats?

-Wes Anderson just doesn't seem up my alley: the main complaint here is that although Anderson uses clever directing, it can't compensate for a stale script. In the same way that Transformers/Avatar/etc relies on action over substance, Anderson relies on directing over substance. Oftentimes, the only thing that would save a scene would be Anderson's lateral moving of the camera from one part of the room to another -- otherwise I would have lost interest. Sadly, his moving of the camera was the only thing keeping me alert at times. Anderson seems like a modern day Godard. In fact, after a while I started asking myself: who is the main character here? And then it hit me: Anderson is! THe camera is the main character! THe shifting and moving around of the camera is unbelievable. Its the only reason I didn't give the film a 0/5. But again, camera technique alone can't save a doomed script
-this is only my second Wes Anderson film, but I already see major rehashings between this and Bottle Rocket: 3 guys in "juvenile" mode, traveling around, with 1 of them falling for a hospitality girl Sure, there are differences, but the similarities make it feel recycled and ultimately, unoriginal.

[iam1bearcat]

THX 1138 (netflix instant)

year: 1971
director: George Lucas
starring: Robert Duvall, Donald Pleasence, and Maggie McOmie

let's keep this short, shall we?

- an interesting sci-fi story that follows a man named THX 1138 as he learns true emotions when his roommate, LUH 3417 stops giving him the drugs he needs to perform his job and to keep him from engaging in sexual behavior (everyone in the underground city is on the drug for "safety reasons"). but while interesting, the execution is... lacking...? there are far too many scenes / too much of the film spent in areas that are supposed to engage us visually instead of the actual story. such as

[Show spoiler]the all white prison / waiting room area

- the film has a great, cold atmosphere and the color palette is very bland and filled with mainly whites and grays, little blacks and limited bright colors. everyone where's white. the droid police where black, and everyone has a shaved head, well mostly.

it was an interesting film to watch. i thought it was going to be more "action-y" seeing as Lucas directed it, but this was very much a slower paced film, but only 90 minutes. i could definitely tell that Lucas was trying to pay homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey and Planet of the Apes at times, but Lucas doesn't have the directing or writing skills to match 2001.

worth a rental for big time sci-fi fans, little else

3/5

[iam1bearcat]

Originally Posted by Diesel

I said Vin Diesel, not Paul Walker

i think only we can truly know why this is as funny as it is

Sometimes you need to watch something 'light hearted' and fun to change things up and 'reboot' your brain
....which 2 Fast is probably right on the money for that sort of thing. Just kick back and watch the cars and stunts, laugh and of course there's Eva Mendes
It's not the most profound movie and certainly not that difficult to follow

yeah, i watched THX 1138 instead. should have probably gone with 2 Fast 2 Furious instead. probably more entertaining and engaging.

i'm a little peeved. Pitch Black isn't on demand, neither is Babylon A.D. (yes, i heard it's bad but it still has always interested me) but XXX and A Man Apart are (on instant) but i don't want to watch them, i want Pitch Black! so i moved Pitch Black to #5 on the queue

[Diesel]

Originally Posted by two40

The third one has a special place in my heart. It's not a great movie and not one I watch many times but it is the first film I watched on my home theatre setup projected on to a black painted wall (before I got my screen). It was mostly black shadows moving across the wall since the movie is so dark.

Yea it is a pretty dark movie. I mean, there's two colors, Black and dark blue, in the whole movie

True. I've read his biography.

Fun fact: That book wasn't actually typed by anyone. They just followed him around with it and the pages filled in themselves out of sheer awesomeness

Originally Posted by iam1bearcat

i think only we can truly know why this is as funny as it is

Probably so

Have you seen Into the Blue with him? I've probably asked this before.

yeah, i watched THX 1138 instead. should have probably gone with 2 Fast 2 Furious instead. probably more entertaining and engaging.

i'm a little peeved. Pitch Black isn't on demand, neither is Babylon A.D. (yes, i heard it's bad but it still has always interested me) but XXX and A Man Apart are (on instant) but i don't want to watch them, i want Pitch Black! so i moved Pitch Black to #5 on the queue

I've never seen THX 1138 myself.

Yea, Babylon A.D. was hacked to hell by the studio from during production to editing. The director was incredibly pissed (I believe he vowed to never work for Fox again). It went over time, it went over budget...basically it was a disaster of a production that turned out a bad movie.
The movie itself is a great comedy though
...but its a shame we never got to see what the director originally wanted to make


I've actually never seen xXx

A Man Apart is pretty good though I thought (I've only seen it once a while back, so don't hold me to that just in case I remember incorrectly ), worth checking out at some point.



Hopefully you actually enjoy Pitch Black when you finally get to watch it

[surfdude12]

Originally Posted by Diesel

Hopefully you actually enjoy Pitch Black when you finally get to watch it

Great movie! And Diesel's best, IMO...and this is coming from someone who is not the biggest D fan (the actor, not the moderator) Huge D-mod fan!!!

[iam1bearcat]

i'm feeling a bit foolish right now. i spent the better part of 5 hours today trying to get my "Favorite Movies" list in order. i tried about 6 different ways of figuring out how to get a list of over 580+ movies in order. of course i didn't organize all of them, so it was easy to hack off about 350+ films, and while i was finally able to make a solid list of 1-50, because there are so many great films (and other films i believe i will enjoy) i've yet to see, making the list seems a bit futile and foolish. i knew it wasn't gonna be set in stone, but it was still extremely difficult to get this list down in an order i could sleep on tonight. so while i'm sure there will be new additions, which means some will be knocked down and out of the top 50, this is what my top 50 Favorite Films list looks like, for those who want to take a peek:

[Show spoiler]Fight Club*
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind*
The Lives of Others+
There Will Be Blood
2001: A Space Odyssey
Apocalypse Now
Magnolia
Elite Squad+
Solaris (2002)+
The Blair Witch Project*
(500) Days of Summer*
The Wrestler+
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Punch Drunk Love*
Revanche
Moon
Donnie Darko*
The Rules of Attraction*
Boogie Nights
Michael Clayton
Vanilla Sky+
Adventureland+
Mulholland Dr.+
Garden State*
The Fountain+
Requiem for a Dream+
Hard Eight+
Blow*
The Last Kiss*
Zodiac*
Away We Go+
Closer
Taxi Driver+
Sin Nombre+
American Beauty*
Reign Over Me*
Into the Wild*
Triangle
I Heart Huckabees
Joy Ride*
The Butterfly Effect*
A Beautiful Mind
The Mist
Collateral
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Babel+
Brazil+
11:14+
The Last Samurai
The Crow*

+ = a film i have only seen once or twice and have seen within the last month or so, so it could easily move up the list with more viewings (and a better understanding of it, a la Mulholland Dr.) or move down and maybe i'm just giddy on it now because it's still so fresh in my mind.

* = it's on the list for a number of reasons, but most of the ones with the asterisk hold some sentimental value for me, or are just a personal favorite and have been for a long time so i hold them in high regard. i think most wouldn't be considered great films, but they're great to me for a variety of reasons and will always be a high favorite, no matter how many films i see.

[Diesel]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

Great movie! And Diesel's best, IMO...and this is coming from someone who is not the biggest D fan (the actor, not the moderator) Huge D-mod fan!!!

I was about to say





Fast & Furious is my favorite of his (I mean, a part in it DID inspire me to have the screen name Diesel here ). Some fans of the original didn't like it, didn't think it lived up, but I enjoyed it a little more after taking like a year to decide between the two
One of the complaints was that it wasn't as much about the racing this time....I must be strange, because I didn't watch the original because of the racing, I actually watched it and enjoy it because of the characters in the movie And this time around its focused more on Diesel's character, and also Walker's character some too, than the racing or the stealing DVD players plot (wow...DVD players...).

But Pitch Black is a great movie, I agree

[surfdude12]

Originally Posted by Diesel

Fast & Furious is my favorite of his (I mean, a part in it DID inspire me to have the screen name Diesel here ). Some fans of the original didn't like it, didn't think it lived up, but I enjoyed it a little more after taking like a year to decide between the two

But Pitch Black is a great movie, I agree

I can still remember vividly 10 years ago seeing it in the theater -- that opening sequence where

[Show spoiler]they're flying in SOOOO low to the ground of the planet.

For the time, I'd never seen any special effects that good. I don't think anyone had. My face looked like this: It looked like they filmed it during a

[Show spoiler]REAL CRASH LANDING!!!

I was hooked right then and there and it would have taken a lot to get me off the D-train from that point on!

[iam1bearcat]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

The Darjeeling Limited (DVD)

Film: 1.5/5

[Show spoiler]-never connected to the characters on any meaningful level: Wilson's character was too annoying and the other 2 were too painful to watch put up with Wilson
-still have no idea what the character arc was for the 3 characters through the film: what was the film trying to show?

[Show spoiler]that 3 brothers get together, are at each others throats, and then after they get in touch with their mom, they stop going at each others throats?

-Wes Anderson just doesn't seem up my alley: the main complaint here is that although Anderson uses clever directing, it can't compensate for a stale script. In the same way that Transformers/Avatar/etc relies on action over substance, Anderson relies on directing over substance. Oftentimes, the only thing that would save a scene would be Anderson's lateral moving of the camera from one part of the room to another -- otherwise I would have lost interest. Sadly, his moving of the camera was the only thing keeping me alert at times. Anderson seems like a modern day Godard. In fact, after a while I started asking myself: who is the main character here? And then it hit me: Anderson is! THe camera is the main character! THe shifting and moving around of the camera is unbelievable. Its the only reason I didn't give the film a 0/5. But again, camera technique alone can't save a doomed script
-this is only my second Wes Anderson film, but I already see major rehashings between this and Bottle Rocket: 3 guys in "juvenile" mode, traveling around, with 1 of them falling for a hospitality girl Sure, there are differences, but the similarities make it feel recycled and ultimately, unoriginal.

great review Surf! it took me about 3 times to even get through Darjeeling Limited! it just didn't hook me and felt like it tried too hard to be quirky and unique with its train / India setting.

if 100 people would ask me, "what Wes Anderson find should i check out?" i would answer the same way every time: The Royal Tenenbaums. Gene Hackman. Owen Wilson. Ben Stiller. Gwyneth Paltrow. Luke Wilson. Bill Murray. Danny Glover... quite the cast. the story is of 3 siblings (sounds familiar huh? Anderson has a thing for 3 main character films) who experience great wealth / success when young, and then embarrassing levels of failure as they progress through life after a family incident. it's easily Anderson's best work. funny, charming, smart, witty and actually has themes and a point to it that are easy and logical to follow. and some great performances. something i think most of his other films severely lack.

[Diesel]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

I can still remember vividly 10 years ago seeing it in the theater -- that opening sequence where

[Show spoiler]they're flying in SOOOO low to the ground of the planet.

For the time, I'd never seen any special effects that good. I don't think anyone had. My face looked like this: It looked like they filmed it during a

[Show spoiler]REAL CRASH LANDING!!!

I was hooked right then and there and it would have taken a lot to get me off the D-train from that point on!

Now I want to watch it because we are talking about it

I haven't seen it in probably over a year. It's not one I would rewatch enough to buy, but when I catch it on Syfy channel or something, I record it and watch it.


My favorite part is when he kills

[Show spoiler]the alien thing and says, "Did NOT know who he was ****ing with! "

[iam1bearcat]

Originally Posted by Diesel

And this time around its focused more on Diesel's character, and also Walker's character some too, than the racing or the stealing DVD players plot (wow...DVD players...).

But Pitch Black is a great movie, I agree

so the new one will be about stealing blu-ray players to keep up with the times, eh?

[iam1bearcat]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

I can still remember vividly 10 years ago seeing it in the theater -- that opening sequence where

[Show spoiler]they're flying in SOOOO low to the ground of the planet.

For the time, I'd never seen any special effects that good. I don't think anyone had. My face looked like this: It looked like they filmed it during a

[Show spoiler]REAL CRASH LANDING!!!

I was hooked right then and there and it would have taken a lot to get me off the D-train from that point on!

Originally Posted by Diesel

Now I want to watch it because we are talking about it

I haven't seen it in probably over a year. It's not one I would rewatch enough to buy, but when I catch it on Syfy channel or something, I record it and watch it.


My favorite part is when he kills

[Show spoiler]the alien thing and says, "Did NOT know who he was ****ing with! "

totally thought you guys were talking about a fast and furious movie here and then i clicked on a spoiler and saw the word "alien" so i figured i was reading about the wrong movie

[Diesel]

Originally Posted by iam1bearcat

i'm feeling a bit foolish right now. i spent the better part of 5 hours today trying to get my "Favorite Movies" list in order. i tried about 6 different ways of figuring out how to get a list of over 580+ movies in order. of course i didn't organize all of them, so it was easy to hack off about 350+ films, and while i was finally able to make a solid list of 1-50, because there are so many great films (and other films i believe i will enjoy) i've yet to see, making the list seems a bit futile and foolish. i knew it wasn't gonna be set in stone, but it was still extremely difficult to get this list down in an order i could sleep on tonight. so while i'm sure there will be new additions, which means some will be knocked down and out of the top 50, this is what my top 50 Favorite Films list looks like, for those who want to take a peek:

[Show spoiler]Fight Club*
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind*
The Lives of Others+
There Will Be Blood
2001: A Space Odyssey
Apocalypse Now
Magnolia
Elite Squad+
Solaris (2002)+
The Blair Witch Project*
(500) Days of Summer*
The Wrestler+
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Punch Drunk Love*
Revanche
Moon
Donnie Darko*
The Rules of Attraction*
Boogie Nights
Michael Clayton
Vanilla Sky+
Adventureland+
Mulholland Dr.+
Garden State*
The Fountain+
Requiem for a Dream+
Hard Eight+
Blow*
The Last Kiss*
Zodiac*
Away We Go+
Closer
Taxi Driver+
Sin Nombre+
American Beauty*
Reign Over Me*
Into the Wild*
Triangle
I Heart Huckabees
Joy Ride*
The Butterfly Effect*
A Beautiful Mind
The Mist
Collateral
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Babel+
Brazil+
11:14+
The Last Samurai
The Crow*

+ = a film i have only seen once or twice and have seen within the last month or so, so it could easily move up the list with more viewings (and a better understanding of it, a la Mulholland Dr.) or move down and maybe i'm just giddy on it now because it's still so fresh in my mind.

* = it's on the list for a number of reasons, but most of the ones with the asterisk hold some sentimental value for me, or are just a personal favorite and have been for a long time so i hold them in high regard. i think most wouldn't be considered great films, but they're great to me for a variety of reasons and will always be a high favorite, no matter how many films i see.

You're putting some serious work into this list

Originally Posted by iam1bearcat

so the new one will be about stealing blu-ray players to keep up with the times, eh?

Can't give away plot details!

Originally Posted by iam1bearcat

totally thought you guys were talking about a fast and furious movie here and then i clicked on a spoiler and saw the word "alien" so i figured i was reading about the wrong movie

....did you stop after the word alien or keep reading?

If you stopped, it won't spoil the of that moment I was talking about when you watch the movie.

[iam1bearcat]

Originally Posted by Diesel

You're putting some serious work into this list



Can't give away plot details!

yeah i'm a big fan of lists, but i think i'm gonna say "F it". i'm not getting any enjoyment out of it and i will probably always be questioning what is where and why it isn't above this or why it's so low compared to that... all it's gonna do is stress me out and that's the last thing films are supposed to do (even though technically it isn't the films themselves, it's the list... ) so i'll probably stop trying and just keep track alphabetically of every film i've seen (hit 600 tonight , but i'm sure i'm still forgetting a whole bunch from when i was younger) and leave it at that.

[iam1bearcat]

Originally Posted by Diesel

....did you stop after the word alien or keep reading?

If you stopped, it won't spoil the of that moment I was talking about when you watch the movie.

yeah i stopped i was hesitant to click because i thought it was one of the Fast and Furious films and i didn't know how much of a spoiler one of those films could contain so i clicked and just kind of "hovered" above it and saw the word "alien" and then said, "oooookay... gonna guess this isn't about what i thought it was" so i didn't screw up!

[Diesel]

If your list obsession shows back up, try and limit it to say, 10 or 15 that way its a manageable number...well for you of course, I couldn't even get to 6, 5 was a struggle.

[Diesel]

Originally Posted by iam1bearcat

yeah i stopped i was hesitant to click because i thought it was one of the Fast and Furious films and i didn't know how much of a spoiler one of those films could contain so i clicked and just kind of "hovered" above it and saw the word "alien" and then said, "oooookay... gonna guess this isn't about what i thought it was" so i didn't screw up!

Good job then


Hopefully when you watch the movie, you'll be able to pick out what line it was that I thought was so