The cynics out there will say that I'm too young and dumb to truly respect it, with it being a subtitled film in black and white (although most will know that's not the case as they'll know I can handle films like this).
Nope - you have earned too much respect in this forum for us to suggest that. You enjoy many old classics that are foreign / B&W, so that's a silly argument, IMO.
Quote:
I believe I'll come back to this film in a few years and will then truly respect it and enjoy it.
I was going to suggest that. Who knows - maybe you'll enjoy it more a couple of years down the road?
Quote:
I can't find any faults with the film,
[Show spoiler]other than the one scene where they sound the alarm to get all the farmers out of their homes to welcome the Samurai, seemed like a bit of a dickish move to me, but they laughed and applauded that one guy who did it.
haha, i LOVED that scene, because it hit on TWO BIG themes in ONE scene - fear of the unknown and fear our achievements won't be recognized . most people are inherently afraid of anyone that is different from them, and this is magnified if they believe gossip/untruths about those people. this happened to the villagers in regard to the samurai. the samurai were also afraid that their efforts would go unnoticed. thus, BOTH parties were being immature. that dude was the hero because he broke the ice & had them see how they were being unfair to each other.
Nope - you have earned too much respect in this forum for us to suggest that. You enjoy many old classics that are foreign / B&W, so that's a silly argument, IMO.
I was going to suggest that. Who knows - maybe you'll enjoy it more a couple of years down the road?
haha, i LOVED that scene, because it hit on TWO BIG themes in ONE scene - fear of the unknown and fear our achievements won't be recognized . most people are inherently afraid of anyone that is different from them, and this is magnified if they believe gossip/untruths about those people. this happened to the villagers in regard to the samurai. the samurai were also afraid that their efforts would go unnoticed. thus, BOTH parties were being immature. that dude was the hero because he broke the ice & had them see how they were being unfair to each other.
Pretty good point about the scene, I didn't really think much into it, although I still think it was a pretty cruel and drastic thing to do to get them to worry like that
Just finished watching "Mars Attacks!" for the first time, and I am not too impressed (not that my expectations were high to begin with). While it did have its amusing and delightfully eccentric moments, the film was still a little too odd and repetitious for it to really work. For example, when the Martians finally begin the invasion, it's just explosion after explosion, like an imitation Michael Bay film. I appreciate what the movie is satirizing, and at times, it does it quite well. Overall, it was amusing but tedious, and the effects were dated. 4/10
The life story of Margaret Thatcher. Overall it's not a bad movie. Meryl Streep is very good in the role. At times during the 80's part of the movie you could believe it's Tatcher herself doing the role. The movie in the way it's constructed is very difficult to follow, you need to really pay attention. There is a lot of back and forth in time as events from "today" in the movie send's her off on recollection from her past. Also the presence of her husband who is reality not there but there depending on what "time" you are in at the moment is also confusing. The movie is good but the executing of it is what prevent's it from being a better movie. In comparaison The King's Speech was much better executed and made for a much better movie. I recommend it if you like Meryl Streep and see her transform into the iron lady.
Just got back from watching The Expendables 2. While the first Expendables was a basic but good action movie, the Expendables 2 takes the franchise to its full potential. Featuring over-the-top action and wonderfully cheesy one-liners, the Expendables 2 is a marvelous tribute to the cheesy action flicks of the 80's, and is also a great modern action movie as well. Another great thing about it is that there is more to it than action, for it had heart as well, and deeper themes than the original. In my opinion, one of the best action films of the year. 9/10
On one hand, it is one of the best group watch man night movies ever made. It has the right amount of mixed with a helping of and a bit of thrown in.
Tons of in-jokes and cheesy one liners that will make a theater erupt with laughter. Chuck Norris's scenes made my theater applaud and laugh incredibly loud.
But on the other hand...it isn't a movie that would likely impress while sitting there in your home watching it alone. I'd probably come away from it saying, that was fun, but I've seen better.
So if you plan to see this movie, do so with a group of buddies and have a blast rather than going to the theater to catch it on your own.
Rating - 4/5 (Guy's night out rating) Rating - 3.5/5 (Solo viewing rating)
Do not expect to see The Tudors when watching this movie, you will be disapointed. In fact historical wise the movie is on the simple side. Some spoilers here just in case
[Show spoiler]you do not actually see Catherine Of Aragorn and the movie begin with the execution of Anne Boylen
. Charles Laughton is however extremely good as Henry VIII at least in certain point. He of course as the "body" for the role, much more than Jonathan Rhys Meyers in The Tudors but he also play's it as a much more childish Henry then the historical tyrant we would expect to see. The movie concentrate mostly with his relations with the next 5 women of his life. A few political scenes and historical scenes but these are kept discreet and far between. Overall it's a movie of it's time but if you need one reason to see it, that would be for Charles Laughton as Henry, it's almost as if he walked out of a painting.
True Romance (1993) The Tarantino Cut. Fragmented, pretty much like Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction; not quite as good as those two though. Among the all-star cast, standouts are Christopher Walken and Brad Pitt; they're fantastic, as always. Best scenes are the one with Dennis Hopper and Walken and the build-up to the final shootout up to the shootout itself. The ending in this version didn't work for me. Tony Scott made the right decision in changing it and giving Clarence and Alabama a happy ending.
True Romance (1993) The Tarantino Cut. Fragmented, pretty much like Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction; not quite as good as those two though. Among the all-star cast, standouts are Christopher Walken and Brad Pitt; they're fantastic, as always. Best scenes are the one with Dennis Hopper and Walken and the build-up to the final shootout up to the shootout itself. The ending in this version didn't work for me. Tony Scott made the right decision in changing it and giving Clarence and Alabama a happy ending.
Another film I have yet to see. Don't worry about giving away the ending though. It actually makes me feel better about watching it because I always prefer the happy ending.
I take it the Blu-ray release is still that cut, correct?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Foggy
Was going to watch Moonrise Kingdom today, but the screening was for Seniors only
Was going to watch Moonrise Kingdom today, but the screening was for Seniors only
Dude, this could have been your chance to put on some impressive make-up work, some old fogey's clothes, and your best Michael Caine impersonation. It could have been the performance of a lifetime!
Dude, this could have been your chance to put on some impressive make-up work, some old fogey's clothes, and your best Michael Caine impersonation. It could have been the performance of a lifetime!
Tried and failed, they just flat out refused to sell me a ticket. It's such a shame, they had free tea and biscuits as well
I was trying to recall the last time I saw this movie but it's been way too long. Best I can make it would be before 1990. I never was much of a fan of Bill Murray even back then, while must people found him funny then (even back to his SNL days) for me he was at best making me smile a bit. I remember actually seeing the movie in theaters with friends and it was fun. After such a long time in seeing it another thing I notied was that the movie aged well. Sometimes certain movies were made in a time period and for one reason or another they just don't work anymore later on. It's not the case at all with this one. It's still a fun movie with a good cast. Very happ to have seen it again after all that time.
Why? If for no other reason, it is one fine-looking Steelbook!
[Show spoiler]
Understanding that this is based on the Hasbro board game "Battleship," and these are the same people who graced the cinematic landscape with all those "Transformers" films, it would take very little intuition to realize that the film "Battleship" is not going to be all about serious storytelling or cinematic craftsmanship. At first glance, it looks stupid, and most folks will agree that it is as stupid as it looks. Just another uninspired alien invasion story, based on the standard and hollow formula of spectacle and style over substance for an instant cash grab. And to think so would be correct; you know what you get with "Battleship," and it's like cinematic junk food.
But, heck, I enjoy junk food now and then. As anticipated, "Battleship" heaps on the cinematic calories with massive, potentially unhealthy doses of incredble special effects, explosive mass destruction, and huge sea battles. The action is quite impressive and well-filmed; combined with some humor, the film succeeds at being an entertaining and eye-catching thrill ride. Above all, this film has a tone and style that never takes itself more seriously than it should. There's no pretension here; the film knows it's junk food, and never strives to be anything more. In spite of that, the film remains a fun, upbeat, and lighthearted adventure.
Now, for the negative criticism: the story is marginal at best. It has just enough substance to service the action, and just enough characterization to understand who the heroes are. However, the main hero proves to be a total jerkwad for the first half of the movie; he acts to arrogantly and aggressively that it's impossible to believe that he could be an actual naval officer. The assumption is that the character endures some change by the end, beefing himself up internally to rise as a proper military leader with discipline and teamwork abilities (which would be very befitting of a film with a cast of military characters), but this change is purely contrived. That's pretty much my sole complaint; the problem is that the film is so light and thin that the audience can easily point out the stupidity of the characters, situations, and concepts. If you don't get hung up on such things, then you can sit back and just enjoy the onslaught of explosions and sea battles. Otherwise, you'll be in for a miserable ride.
The film looks really nice, with lots of slick photography and quality editing. Acting and writing are marginal at best; Taylor Kitsch plays a rather unlikable hero, while the talents of Liam Neeson, Alexander Skarsgard, and Rihanna are thrown into the pot for added star power, and little more. Many of the film's lines are pretty dumb. However, this production spares no expense on the lavish sets, props, costumes, and special effects. Music is nice; Steve Jablonsky formulates a standard, badass music score, while lots of rock music is thrown in for the occasional feel-good sensibility.
Like I said, you can probably deduce whether you'll like it or not just from the film's title, trailers, posters, etc. It's a fine romp of an alien invasion film, but if you're wanting more to it, then you're setting yourself up for disappointment. If you aren't sure, then you better give it a rent and see for yourself. It comes more highly recommended to those audiences who can turn off their brains for a while and gape in awe at the massive 'splosions and the pretty alien ships.
3/5 (Entertainment: Very Good | Story: Poor | Film: Marginal) As expected.
Recommendation: Yes to the action fans, no to the art fans, and a rental for everybody else.
While I watched the film "Battleship," I started taking notes of all the stupid scenes that I noticed. I jotted down 50 things. A lot of this may come off like a bunch of rambling, so I will probably narrow it down before I consider making it into a blog post.
Enjoy!
[Show spoiler]
Now, all the dumbest moments of the film:
1.) "Project Beacon"?! Seriously?! It's as inventive as dirt. At first, I thought it said "Project Bacon."
2.) "Planet G"?! Why G? Are they ghetto? Do the aliens run around saying "what up, G?" Do they wear G-strings?
3.) "If there is intelligent life out there and they come here, it's going to be like Colombus and the Indians...only we're the Indians." I never realized that Colombus erradicated all the native Americans, especially since the poor fool got confused and went to the West Indies. Man, he must have been one seriously evil, badass mother-f***er to have wiped out an entire race all at once.
4.) So, apparently, communications transmissions to other planets are not invisible radio/infrared/Voip/photon/tachyon/quantum transmissions of any kind, but a freaking laser beam that instantly zaps their planet. Brilliant. No wonder they wanted to kick our butts.
5.) All this trouble for a chicken burrito? Seriously?!
6.) Soccer game. They spent so much film on the set-up, the dramatic slow-motion, and inspiring feel-good moment. And then...the guy misses. Probably the worst kick in soccer history, fictional or otherwise. rofl
7.) So, in a manner of days, "Planet G" (ugh) receives the signal and sends out its ships to kick Earth's butt. Sending an interstellar signal to another planet with modern technology would take years, if not decades or even centuries, to reach any planet that's light years away (a common observation for those who yearn for hard sci-fi, whereas average viewers won't care, but still...). One could also complain about the concept of alien ships zipping to Earth within a manner of days, but we can safely assume that their technology allows for circumventing, bending, or outright breaking the laws of relativity.
8.) Rihanna...
9.) Hopper, pacing around the bridge, talking about how they're not there to learn, how they're just there to kick every one else's butt...probably the worst sense of profesionalism any military person could exhibit, on screen or off. The man's arrogance and attitude tends to push the limits of what's believable for a military role. Shouldn't basic training have broken this guy in? Why didn't he go through basic training in this film? Ugh, this is worse than "The Hurt Locker."
10.) As the alien ships race toward Earth, the screen clearly shows them passing Jupiter, Mars, etc all in real-time. Considering it takes radio (much less radar or anything else) so many minutes to reach any stellar body in our solar system (I believe it's 40 minutes to call Mars), there's no way a ground station could track anything beyond the Moon in real time. In fact, by the time the ground station picked up anything in the vicinity of Mars, the ships could have already landed.
11.) Sound in space...
12.) "What is NASA present in this room for?" Dumbest question ever.
13.) "You're saying that we sent out an alien signal...and we got a response..." It's funny how that works. What, did you think we just shoot signals into space for sh*ts and giggles?
14.) Why is it that, anytime something crashes that's obviously an alien ship, everybody assumes it's something else? No, it's not cargo/sattelite/Chinese ship! Does it look like one?
15.) Fighter plane ramming into the wall of the big giant energy dome...seriously, if you saw a giant energy wall closing, would you just fly into it?
16.) So, first a space is explicitly sealed off, trapping so many battleships in with so many alien ships. The battleship fires, then the alien ship makes its move. Battleship fires, alien ship makes its move. This game seems rather familiar...
17.) What's up with the bomb that first blows everyone away, then sucks them in for a moment, then blows them away again? Are we in "The Matrix" or something?
18.) Hopper's finally in charge. He looks around at everyone blankly. In all this time, the alien ships could have blown all these fools away.
19.) Hopper's first command developes quite the overt Captain Ahab complex. Once again, not terribly realistic for a military man.
20.) So this alien ship starts launching a bunch of stuff. And the one soldier's response is "what is that sh*t?!" Eloquent.
21.) Ah, another one of those moments where something dangerous is coming, and the guy just stands there and looks at the incoming thing. I swear, every disaster movie has a moment like this.
22.) Ooh, spinning wheels ripping the Hell of out everything! Reminds me so much of the Langoliers....
23.) I understand the aliens targeting hostile units and military bases, marking them all red in the "alien cam" shots. But why the highways. What did those roads ever do to you? Crazy aliens...
24.) Man, that little leaguer had some real guts, standing in front of the Langolier ball thing as it tore up the ball field.
25.) How did these Hawaiian cops find the chick and the amputee guy on the mountain? Especially since he just said that all the roads and electronic stuff was blown up?
26.) So these two people had the choice to leave the mountain, but they chose to continue walking. The jeep was right there; they could have driven up the hill. Duh!
27.) So, the one chick reveals that her daddy believed in aliens and he knew that they'd come. Seriously, Liam Neeson? The ultimate hardass? The admiral? The man who's supposed to be a realist? Really?
28.) Is it me, or do the alien suits resemble a futuristic version of the Big Daddy from "Bioshock"?
29.) "I've got a bad feeling about this." Come on, this is obviously a "Star Wars" reference. Lucas ruined the line already! Stop it!!
30.) "Like 'we're going to need a new planet' bad feeling." Wow. Best line since the one in "Jaws," when the guy says "We're going to need a bigger boat." For that matter, that line would have been awesome in this film.
31.) So the big guy stands there and decides to have a face-off with the big scary alien. Fight ensues. Granted he stopped the alien from touching something that looked dangerous, facing the thing alone seemed foolish.
32.) For that matter, why are these aliens on the ship? If they wanted to destroy all the random machines and stuff, couldn't they just blow the whole ship up, like they did the others?
33.) So the lone alien got shot at point-blank range by a battleship's gun. Nice. Problem is, the star of the show was pretty darn close to it too. Wouldn't the blast have killed him too?
34.) "We got to get off this mountain." What the? That's not what these fools on the mountain decided before! They should have taken the jeep! What fruitcakes...
35.) Oh, apparently, the jeep is right there. Never mind it took forever for them to get up the mountain and see the wreckage; next scene, the jeep's right there.
36.) So, the aliens are vulnerable to...sunlight. Uh huh. Probably the most unconvincing weakness since the aliens in "Signs," which melted in water. (Well, later on, it turns out that they're just light-sensitive; they don't melt in the sunlight. Which is a bummer, it would have been funnier if all the aliens burned to death).
37.) Hopper once again proves his ignorance by bashing the "Art of War."
38.) In another scene that simulates the original Battleship game, the battleships in the movie are rendered blind at night, and have to use buoys to form a grid and search for patterns. That's pretty slick how they squeezed that in there.
39.) These aliens sure weren't smart to come to our solar system, with its sunlight and all, with windows that can break.
40.) When the Langolier ball thing is ripping through the ship, the one guy struggles with the door as the thing bears down on him (he already expressed some stupidity by watching it blast through the door, all doe-eyed). Then Rihanna jumps out from a side passage and rescues him. Uhh, why didn't he just go through the side passage, instead of fudging with the door?
41.) When the ship goes vertical, Hopper and the Japanese dude scale the side of it with their bare hands. What, do they have hands like Spiderman? They should be sliding to their deaths!
42.) None of the characters believed that the USS Missouri could be used in combat again. You know what: I don't either. Even with a crew of 80-year-old veterans running the thing.
43.) Yeah, the veterans running the war. With all due respect to the veterans, these scenes strain so much believability, it's hilarious.
44.) Despite the heroism and ingenuity of launching a 70-year-old vessel to war against these aliens, if the aliens caused this much damage to modern warships, what chance does the Missouri have, seriously? Especially against the mother ship?
45.) So Hopper makes the ship do this fancy 90-degree turn with the anchor. Pretty slick, but I doubt the ship could have moved that intensely, much less sustained the strain caused by the anchor's sharp tug.
46.) Wow, the Missouri must have some awesome ammunition in its cannons. It manages to take out the aliens way better than all the modern battleships combined.
47.) With all due respect to the amputees of the world, I seriously doubt the amputee in the film could lay the smackdown on these aliens like he does here.
48.) There are a bunch of aliens around the satellite array, but only one of them bothers to fight the humans. Granted that the rest were busy setting up the "ET phone home" signal, it's kinda silly that they let their one buddy get beat up by an amputee and a geek without any backup. Come on, how many aliens does it take to screw a lightbulb?
49.) Super-duper ammo strikes again! One shell takes out the entire area where the satellite array is. That's awesome stuff, man.
50.) They had Rihanna on the cast, but she couldn't be contracted or something to make a theme song for the film? Bummer. I mean, I like the old rock tunes and all, but it seems like it's all overplayed in movies these days. Can we move away from AC/DC and CCR, please? If not Rihanna, why not Wolfmother or Jack White or something? Hollywood can't seem to break away from using the same old songs over and over again...
Last edited by Al_The_Strange; 08-23-2012 at 06:52 AM.
I was trying to recall the last time I saw this movie but it's been way too long. Best I can make it would be before 1990. I never was much of a fan of Bill Murray even back then, while must people found him funny then (even back to his SNL days) for me he was at best making me smile a bit. I remember actually seeing the movie in theaters with friends and it was fun. After such a long time in seeing it another thing I notied was that the movie aged well. Sometimes certain movies were made in a time period and for one reason or another they just don't work anymore later on. It's not the case at all with this one. It's still a fun movie with a good cast. Very happ to have seen it again after all that time.
Finally bought this on Blu-ray near the end of Best Buy's last Upgrade and Save promotion. Looking forward to watching it on Blu-ray.
Number 27 on Al's list - Rihanna's dad isn't Liam Neeson you fool
Plus no gay joke of the navy exercise being called Rim Pack, shame on you
Anyway, caught most of Raiders of the Lost Ark on TV earlier, still love it of course
But, I also watched the conversation worthy...
Bronson
Not sure how well you guys know the film, since it's a strange one everyone refers to but has never actually seen But it's the one from that guy with the strange name who directed Drive, with scary as hell Tom Hardy playing th UK's most violent prisoner. That's all you really need to know.
The film has a style so sharp and precise it feels like it's assaulting you. Colours are violently vibrant, cinematography is very distancing but stunning, and a lot of moments are played out in a similar way as a Kubrick or Lynch film. It such a superbly well crafted and directed film, yet it still gets over shadowed by it's lead performance.
Tom Hardy plays the role of Charles Bronson with an elegant balance of enigmatic and completely manic, completely unpredictable in every frame of the film, he's unpleasant, but somehow never unlikable. A lot more could be used to describe how many layers of performance the guy is under and why it's so great, but simply put best, he's just scary as s**t in the film.
And like all great character studies in films, you never really get what's going on inside that characters head, you're just presented with a character who could be anything, is he purely insane, which would be the easiest thing to go with. Is he a product of the working class system within Britian at the time, with a lack of opportunity, was prison his only means of escape? It always leaves the opinion up to you, which could frustrate a few once you reach the end, as it never really tells you anything at the end, other than the events, but personally, it didn't bother me that much.
Put best, I feel Bronson is a film that doesn't walk the line between self-confidents and self-indulgence, it's a film that dances on it.
While I watched the film "Battleship," I started taking notes of all the stupid scenes that I noticed. I jotted down 50 things. A lot of this may come off like a bunch of rambling, so I will probably narrow it down before I consider making it into a blog post.
Enjoy!
[Show spoiler]
Now, all the dumbest moments of the film:
1.) "Project Beacon"?! Seriously?! It's as inventive as dirt. At first, I thought it said "Project Bacon."
2.) "Planet G"?! Why G? Are they ghetto? Do the aliens run around saying "what up, G?" Do they wear G-strings?
3.) "If there is intelligent life out there and they come here, it's going to be like Colombus and the Indians...only we're the Indians." I never realized that Colombus erradicated all the native Americans, especially since the poor fool got confused and went to the West Indies. Man, he must have been one seriously evil, badass mother-f***er to have wiped out an entire race all at once.
4.) So, apparently, communications transmissions to other planets are not invisible radio/infrared/Voip/photon/tachyon/quantum transmissions of any kind, but a freaking laser beam that instantly zaps their planet. Brilliant. No wonder they wanted to kick our butts.
5.) All this trouble for a chicken burrito? Seriously?!
6.) Soccor game. They spent so much film on the set-up, the dramatic slow-motion, and inspiring feel-good moment. And then...the guy misses. Probably the worst kick in soccor history, fictional or otherwise. rofl
7.) So, in a manner of days, "Planet G" (ugh) receives the signal and sends out its ships to kick Earth's butt. Sending an interstellar signal to another planet with modern technology would take years, if not decades or even centuries, to reach any planet that's light years away (a common observation for those who yearn for hard sci-fi, whereas average viewers won't care, but still...). One could also complain about the concept of alien ships zipping to Earth within a manner of days, but we can safely assume that their technology allows for circumventing, bending, or outright breaking the laws of relativity.
8.) Rihanna...
9.) Hopper, pacing around the bridge, talking about how they're not there to learn, how they're just there to kick every one else's butt...probably the worst sense of profesionalism any military person could exhibit, on screen or off. The man's arrogance and attitude tends to push the limits of what's believable for a military role. Shouldn't basic training have broken this guy in? Why didn't he go through basic training in this film? Ugh, this is worse than "The Hurt Locker."
10.) As the alien ships race toward Earth, the screen clearly shows them passing Jupiter, Mars, etc all in real-time. Considering it takes radio (much less radar or anything else) so many minutes to reach any stellar body in our solar system (I believe it's 40 minutes to call Mars), there's no way a ground station could track anything beyond the Moon in real time. In fact, by the time the ground station picked up anything in the vicinity of Mars, the ships could have already landed.
11.) Sound in space...
12.) "What is NASA present in this room for?" Dumbest question ever.
13.) "You're saying that we sent out an alien signal...and we got a response..." It's funny how that works. What, did you think we just shoot signals into space for sh*ts and giggles?
14.) Why is it that, anytime something crashes that's obviously an alien ship, everybody assumes it's something else? No, it's not cargo/sattelite/Chinese ship! Does it look like one?
15.) Fighter plane ramming into the wall of the big giant energy dome...seriously, if you saw a giant energy wall closing, would you just fly into it?
16.) So, first a space is explicitly sealed off, trapping so many battleships in with so many alien ships. The battleship fires, then the alien ship makes its move. Battleship fires, alien ship makes its move. This game seems rather familiar...
17.) What's up with the bomb that first blows everyone away, then sucks them in for a moment, then blows them away again? Are we in "The Matrix" or something?
18.) Hopper's finally in charge. He looks around at everyone blankly. In all this time, the alien ships could have blown all these fools away.
19.) Hopper's first command developes quite the overt Captain Ahab complex. Once again, not terribly realistic for a military man.
20.) So this alien ship starts launching a bunch of stuff. And the one soldier's response is "what is that sh*t?!" Eloquent.
21.) Ah, another one of those moments where something dangerous is coming, and the guy just stands there and looks at the incoming thing. I swear, every disaster movie has a moment like this.
22.) Ooh, spinning wheels ripping the Hell of out everything! Reminds me so much of the Langoliers....
23.) I understand the aliens targeting hostile units and military bases, marking them all red in the "alien cam" shots. But why the highways. What did those roads ever do to you? Crazy aliens...
24.) Man, that little leaguer had some real guts, standing in front of the Langolier ball thing as it tore up the ball field.
25.) How did these Hawaiian cops find the chick and the amputee guy on the mountain? Especially since he just said that all the roads and electronic stuff was blown up?
26.) So these two people had the choice to leave the mountain, but they chose to continue walking. The jeep was right there; they could have driven up the hill. Duh!
27.) So, Rihanna reveals that her daddy believed in aliens and he knew that they'd come. Seriously, Liam Neeson? The ultimate hardass? The admiral? The man who's supposed to be a realist? Really?
28.) Is it me, or do the alien suits resemble a futuristic version of the Big Daddy from "Bioshock"?
29.) "I've got a bad feeling about this." Come on, this is obviously a "Star Wars" reference. Lucas ruined the line already! Stop it!!
30.) "Like 'we're going to need a new planet' bad feeling." Wow. Best line since the one in "Jaws," when the guy says "We're going to need a bigger boat." For that matter, that line would have been awesome in this film.
31.) So the big guy stands there and decides to have a face-off with the big scary alien. Fight ensues. Granted he stopped the alien from touching something that looked dangerous, facing the thing alone seemed foolish.
32.) For that matter, why are these aliens on the ship? If they wanted to destroy all the random machines and stuff, couldn't they just blow the whole ship up, like they did the others?
33.) So the lone alien got shot at point-blank range by a battleship's gun. Nice. Problem is, the star of the show was pretty darn close to it too. Wouldn't the blast have killed him too?
34.) "We got to get off this mountain." What the? That's not what these fools on the mountain decided before! They should have taken the jeep! What fruitcakes...
35.) Oh, apparently, the jeep is right there. Never mind it took forever for them to get up the mountain and see the wreckage; next scene, the jeep's right there.
36.) So, the aliens are vulnerable to...sunlight. Uh huh. Probably the most unconvincing weakness since the aliens in "Signs," which melted in water. (Well, later on, it turns out that they're just light-sensitive; they don't melt in the sunlight. Which is a bummer, it would have been funnier if all the aliens burned to death).
37.) Hopper once again proves his ignorance by bashing the "Art of War."
38.) In another scene that simulates the original Battleship game, the battleships in the movie are rendered blind at night, and have to use buoys to form a grid and search for patterns. That's pretty slick how they squeezed that in there.
39.) These aliens sure weren't smart to come to our solar system, with its sunlight and all, with windows that can break.
40.) When the Langolier ball thing is ripping through the ship, the one guy struggles with the door as the thing bears down on him (he already expressed some stupidity by watching it blast through the door, all doe-eyed). Then Rihanna jumps out from a side passage and rescues him. Uhh, why didn't he just go through the side passage, instead of fudging with the door?
41.) When the ship goes vertical, Hopper and the Japanese dude scale the side of it with their bare hands. What, do they have hands like Spiderman? They should be sliding to their deaths!
42.) None of the characters believed that the USS Missouri could be used in combat again. You know what: I don't either. Even with a crew of 80-year-old veterans running the thing.
43.) Yeah, the veterans running the war. With all due respect to the veterans, these scenes strain so much believability, it's hilarious.
44.) Despite the heroism and ingenuity of launching a 70-year-old vessel to war against these aliens, if the aliens caused this much damage to modern warships, what chance does the Missouri have, seriously? Especially against the mother ship?
45.) So Hopper makes the ship do this fancy 90-degree turn with the anchor. Pretty slick, but I doubt the ship could have moved that intensely, much less sustained the strain caused by the anchor's sharp tug.
46.) Wow, the Missouri must have some awesome ammunition in its cannons. It manages to take out the aliens way better than all the modern battleships combined.
47.) With all due respect to the amputees of the world, I seriously doubt the amputee in the film could lay the smackdown on these aliens like he does here.
48.) There are a bunch of aliens around the satellite array, but only one of them bothers to fight the humans. Granted that the rest were busy setting up the "ET phone home" signal, it's kinda silly that they let their one buddy get beat up by an amputee and a geek without any backup. Come on, how many aliens does it take to screw a lightbulb?
49.) Super-duper ammo strikes again! One shell takes out the entire area where the satellite array is. That's awesome stuff, man.
50.) They had Rihanna on the cast, but she couldn't be contracted or something to make a theme song for the film? Bummer. I mean, I like the old rock tunes and all, but it seems like it's all overplayed in movies these days. Can we move away from AC/DC and CCR, please? If not Rihanna, why not Wolfmother or Jack White or something? Hollywood can't seem to break away from using the same old songs over and over again...
[Show spoiler]Why? If for no other reason, it is one fine-looking Steelbook!
[Show spoiler]
Understanding that this is based on the Hasbro board game "Battleship," and these are the same people who graced the cinematic landscape with all those "Transformers" films, it would take very little intuition to realize that the film "Battleship" is not going to be all about serious storytelling or cinematic craftsmanship. At first glance, it looks stupid, and most folks will agree that it is as stupid as it looks. Just another uninspired alien invasion story, based on the standard and hollow formula of spectacle and style over substance for an instant cash grab. And to think so would be correct; you know what you get with "Battleship," and it's like cinematic junk food.
But, heck, I enjoy junk food now and then. As anticipated, "Battleship" heaps on the cinematic calories with massive, potentially unhealthy doses of incredble special effects, explosive mass destruction, and huge sea battles. The action is quite impressive and well-filmed; combined with some humor, the film succeeds at being an entertaining and eye-catching thrill ride. Above all, this film has a tone and style that never takes itself more seriously than it should. There's no pretension here; the film knows it's junk food, and never strives to be anything more. In spite of that, the film remains a fun, upbeat, and lighthearted adventure.
Now, for the negative criticism: the story is marginal at best. It has just enough substance to service the action, and just enough characterization to understand who the heroes are. However, the main hero proves to be a total jerkwad for the first half of the movie; he acts to arrogantly and aggressively that it's impossible to believe that he could be an actual naval officer. The assumption is that the character endures some change by the end, beefing himself up internally to rise as a proper military leader with discipline and teamwork abilities (which would be very befitting of a film with a cast of military characters), but this change is purely contrived. That's pretty much my sole complaint; the problem is that the film is so light and thin that the audience can easily point out the stupidity of the characters, situations, and concepts. If you don't get hung up on such things, then you can sit back and just enjoy the onslaught of explosions and sea battles. Otherwise, you'll be in for a miserable ride.
The film looks really nice, with lots of slick photography and quality editing. Acting and writing are marginal at best; Taylor Kitsch plays a rather unlikable hero, while the talents of Liam Neeson, Alexander Skarsgard, and Rihanna are thrown into the pot for added star power, and little more. Many of the film's lines are pretty dumb. However, this production spares no expense on the lavish sets, props, costumes, and special effects. Music is nice; Steve Jablonsky formulates a standard, badass music score, while lots of rock music is thrown in for the occasional feel-good sensibility.
Like I said, you can probably deduce whether you'll like it or not just from the film's title, trailers, posters, etc. It's a fine romp of an alien invasion film, but if you're wanting more to it, then you're setting yourself up for disappointment. If you aren't sure, then you better give it a rent and see for yourself. It comes more highly recommended to those audiences who can turn off their brains for a while and gape in awe at the massive 'splosions and the pretty alien ships.
3/5 (Entertainment: Very Good | Story: Poor | Film: Marginal) As expected.
Recommendation: Yes to the action fans, no to the art fans, and a rental for everybody else.
This Blu-Ray looks and sounds funtastic!
PQ: 5/5, AQ: 5/5
The UK disc is region-free.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange
While I watched the film "Battleship," I started taking notes of all the stupid scenes that I noticed. I jotted down 50 things. A lot of this may come off like a bunch of rambling, so I will probably narrow it down before I consider making it into a blog post.
Enjoy!
[Show spoiler]
Now, all the dumbest moments of the film:
1.) "Project Beacon"?! Seriously?! It's as inventive as dirt. At first, I thought it said "Project Bacon."
2.) "Planet G"?! Why G? Are they ghetto? Do the aliens run around saying "what up, G?" Do they wear G-strings?
3.) "If there is intelligent life out there and they come here, it's going to be like Colombus and the Indians...only we're the Indians." I never realized that Colombus erradicated all the native Americans, especially since the poor fool got confused and went to the West Indies. Man, he must have been one seriously evil, badass mother-f***er to have wiped out an entire race all at once.
4.) So, apparently, communications transmissions to other planets are not invisible radio/infrared/Voip/photon/tachyon/quantum transmissions of any kind, but a freaking laser beam that instantly zaps their planet. Brilliant. No wonder they wanted to kick our butts.
5.) All this trouble for a chicken burrito? Seriously?!
6.) Soccor game. They spent so much film on the set-up, the dramatic slow-motion, and inspiring feel-good moment. And then...the guy misses. Probably the worst kick in soccor history, fictional or otherwise. rofl
7.) So, in a manner of days, "Planet G" (ugh) receives the signal and sends out its ships to kick Earth's butt. Sending an interstellar signal to another planet with modern technology would take years, if not decades or even centuries, to reach any planet that's light years away (a common observation for those who yearn for hard sci-fi, whereas average viewers won't care, but still...). One could also complain about the concept of alien ships zipping to Earth within a manner of days, but we can safely assume that their technology allows for circumventing, bending, or outright breaking the laws of relativity.
8.) Rihanna...
9.) Hopper, pacing around the bridge, talking about how they're not there to learn, how they're just there to kick every one else's butt...probably the worst sense of profesionalism any military person could exhibit, on screen or off. The man's arrogance and attitude tends to push the limits of what's believable for a military role. Shouldn't basic training have broken this guy in? Why didn't he go through basic training in this film? Ugh, this is worse than "The Hurt Locker."
10.) As the alien ships race toward Earth, the screen clearly shows them passing Jupiter, Mars, etc all in real-time. Considering it takes radio (much less radar or anything else) so many minutes to reach any stellar body in our solar system (I believe it's 40 minutes to call Mars), there's no way a ground station could track anything beyond the Moon in real time. In fact, by the time the ground station picked up anything in the vicinity of Mars, the ships could have already landed.
11.) Sound in space...
12.) "What is NASA present in this room for?" Dumbest question ever.
13.) "You're saying that we sent out an alien signal...and we got a response..." It's funny how that works. What, did you think we just shoot signals into space for sh*ts and giggles?
14.) Why is it that, anytime something crashes that's obviously an alien ship, everybody assumes it's something else? No, it's not cargo/sattelite/Chinese ship! Does it look like one?
15.) Fighter plane ramming into the wall of the big giant energy dome...seriously, if you saw a giant energy wall closing, would you just fly into it?
16.) So, first a space is explicitly sealed off, trapping so many battleships in with so many alien ships. The battleship fires, then the alien ship makes its move. Battleship fires, alien ship makes its move. This game seems rather familiar...
17.) What's up with the bomb that first blows everyone away, then sucks them in for a moment, then blows them away again? Are we in "The Matrix" or something?
18.) Hopper's finally in charge. He looks around at everyone blankly. In all this time, the alien ships could have blown all these fools away.
19.) Hopper's first command developes quite the overt Captain Ahab complex. Once again, not terribly realistic for a military man.
20.) So this alien ship starts launching a bunch of stuff. And the one soldier's response is "what is that sh*t?!" Eloquent.
21.) Ah, another one of those moments where something dangerous is coming, and the guy just stands there and looks at the incoming thing. I swear, every disaster movie has a moment like this.
22.) Ooh, spinning wheels ripping the Hell of out everything! Reminds me so much of the Langoliers....
23.) I understand the aliens targeting hostile units and military bases, marking them all red in the "alien cam" shots. But why the highways. What did those roads ever do to you? Crazy aliens...
24.) Man, that little leaguer had some real guts, standing in front of the Langolier ball thing as it tore up the ball field.
25.) How did these Hawaiian cops find the chick and the amputee guy on the mountain? Especially since he just said that all the roads and electronic stuff was blown up?
26.) So these two people had the choice to leave the mountain, but they chose to continue walking. The jeep was right there; they could have driven up the hill. Duh!
27.) So, Rihanna reveals that her daddy believed in aliens and he knew that they'd come. Seriously, Liam Neeson? The ultimate hardass? The admiral? The man who's supposed to be a realist? Really?
28.) Is it me, or do the alien suits resemble a futuristic version of the Big Daddy from "Bioshock"?
29.) "I've got a bad feeling about this." Come on, this is obviously a "Star Wars" reference. Lucas ruined the line already! Stop it!!
30.) "Like 'we're going to need a new planet' bad feeling." Wow. Best line since the one in "Jaws," when the guy says "We're going to need a bigger boat." For that matter, that line would have been awesome in this film.
31.) So the big guy stands there and decides to have a face-off with the big scary alien. Fight ensues. Granted he stopped the alien from touching something that looked dangerous, facing the thing alone seemed foolish.
32.) For that matter, why are these aliens on the ship? If they wanted to destroy all the random machines and stuff, couldn't they just blow the whole ship up, like they did the others?
33.) So the lone alien got shot at point-blank range by a battleship's gun. Nice. Problem is, the star of the show was pretty darn close to it too. Wouldn't the blast have killed him too?
34.) "We got to get off this mountain." What the? That's not what these fools on the mountain decided before! They should have taken the jeep! What fruitcakes...
35.) Oh, apparently, the jeep is right there. Never mind it took forever for them to get up the mountain and see the wreckage; next scene, the jeep's right there.
36.) So, the aliens are vulnerable to...sunlight. Uh huh. Probably the most unconvincing weakness since the aliens in "Signs," which melted in water. (Well, later on, it turns out that they're just light-sensitive; they don't melt in the sunlight. Which is a bummer, it would have been funnier if all the aliens burned to death).
37.) Hopper once again proves his ignorance by bashing the "Art of War."
38.) In another scene that simulates the original Battleship game, the battleships in the movie are rendered blind at night, and have to use buoys to form a grid and search for patterns. That's pretty slick how they squeezed that in there.
39.) These aliens sure weren't smart to come to our solar system, with its sunlight and all, with windows that can break.
40.) When the Langolier ball thing is ripping through the ship, the one guy struggles with the door as the thing bears down on him (he already expressed some stupidity by watching it blast through the door, all doe-eyed). Then Rihanna jumps out from a side passage and rescues him. Uhh, why didn't he just go through the side passage, instead of fudging with the door?
41.) When the ship goes vertical, Hopper and the Japanese dude scale the side of it with their bare hands. What, do they have hands like Spiderman? They should be sliding to their deaths!
42.) None of the characters believed that the USS Missouri could be used in combat again. You know what: I don't either. Even with a crew of 80-year-old veterans running the thing.
43.) Yeah, the veterans running the war. With all due respect to the veterans, these scenes strain so much believability, it's hilarious.
44.) Despite the heroism and ingenuity of launching a 70-year-old vessel to war against these aliens, if the aliens caused this much damage to modern warships, what chance does the Missouri have, seriously? Especially against the mother ship?
45.) So Hopper makes the ship do this fancy 90-degree turn with the anchor. Pretty slick, but I doubt the ship could have moved that intensely, much less sustained the strain caused by the anchor's sharp tug.
46.) Wow, the Missouri must have some awesome ammunition in its cannons. It manages to take out the aliens way better than all the modern battleships combined.
47.) With all due respect to the amputees of the world, I seriously doubt the amputee in the film could lay the smackdown on these aliens like he does here.
48.) There are a bunch of aliens around the satellite array, but only one of them bothers to fight the humans. Granted that the rest were busy setting up the "ET phone home" signal, it's kinda silly that they let their one buddy get beat up by an amputee and a geek without any backup. Come on, how many aliens does it take to screw a lightbulb?
49.) Super-duper ammo strikes again! One shell takes out the entire area where the satellite array is. That's awesome stuff, man.
50.) They had Rihanna on the cast, but she couldn't be contracted or something to make a theme song for the film? Bummer. I mean, I like the old rock tunes and all, but it seems like it's all overplayed in movies these days. Can we move away from AC/DC and CCR, please? If not Rihanna, why not Wolfmother or Jack White or something? Hollywood can't seem to break away from using the same old songs over and over again...
Why did I have to see this after work at 12:40 when I have to get up early tomorrow?
Now I have to wait until after classes and work tomorrow to read through this
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