The Movie Review and Discussion Thread

[jvince]

Originally Posted by SilentxStatik24

Awesome review! Jvince, what do you think about Let Me In?

Thanks! I really liked Let Me In. I think it's a great horror remake like The Ring.

[Steve46]

Originally Posted by jvince

The Exorcist (1973)
dir. William Friedkin

The Good: Me after seeing The Exorcist years ago: "Scariest movie of all time my ass. Pfft. That wasn't scary at all. Overrated." Me after rewatching The Exorcist numerous times and seeing countless other horror films: "Who was I kidding? This is scary. This is a ****ing classic." This is not your ordinary horror flick. This is a horror film with substance and depth. This is a horror film with characters, not clichés. This is a horror film with a story, not just scares and gore. This is a real horror film. The Exorcist is a real horror film. You got Linda Blair, Jason Miller, Max von Sydow, and Ellen Burstyn acting their asses off. You got William Friedkin directing the shit out of this film. From the incredible, unsettling sound design to that goddamn Captain Howdy/Pazuzu mother****er (Goodbye, sweet dreams. Hello, nightmares), everything in this is perfection. There's no way this could have been any better.

The Bad: None.

The Bottom Line: There are paintings and then there are masterpieces. William Friedkin's The Exorcist, like Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, is a masterpiece. This is a genuine work of art. Forever imitated but never duplicated. Forever cemented as one of the greatest films of all time. Essential viewing.

And they had to do all the effects without the use of CGI.

[jvince]

Halloween (1978)
dir. John Carpenter

The Good: Ah, Halloween. The most influential slasher film of all time. I've lost track of the number of times I watched you. I love your title sequence. It's just a jack-o-lantern in the dark -- so simple yet so memorable. I love your score. Your iconic score. Again, so simple yet so memorable. I love your POV camera work. I love your leads, Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasence. I love your director, John Carpenter. I love your antagonist, Michael Myers. The original stalker. The creeper of all creepers. The invincible evil. The Shape. Everything about you is simple, but I love that. There's this certain charm to you. A charm that keeps me coming back. Ah, Halloween.

The Bad: The iffy acting (i.e., slasher acting) and the stupid moments (i.e., slasher moments). Why must you keep throwing the goddamn knife away, Laurie? Why?!

The Bottom Line: Halloween just ain't complete without Halloween. Till next time, Michael.

[jvince]

Originally Posted by Steve46

And they had to do all the effects without the use of CGI.

Yup, can't beat practical effects.

[Foggy]

Handed in an essay about the opening scene of Halloween the other day.

[Steve46]

Ender's Game (2013)
Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, 114 minutes
Directed by Gavin Hood
Starring Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin, Ben Kingsley and Viola Davis

I'm a big reader of science fiction, and Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game series is probably my favorite. The only things that come close are Hyperion by Dan Simmons and Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga. I've read Ender's Game more than 10 times, including two or three occasions on which I finished it in a single sitting. One of my college papers is based on the novel and is published on Card's website.

Yes, I'm a fan.

So, as you can imagine, I have been looking forward to an Ender's Game movie long before I ever thought it might happen. For me, it had the potential to be the best science fiction movie ever made, if done well. After assembling a strong cast, my expectations could not have been higher as I sat down to watch the IMAX version today.

The basic premise is that an alien race, known as the Formics or Buggers, invaded Earth fifty years ago. The invading fleet was defeated, but another attack is expected. In order to be ready to face a species that learns from its mistakes, the International Fleet has come up with a strategy: A program was established to observe the behavior of young children, hoping that the best young geniuses of the time would be able to become the top military strategists by the time they were needed. Ender Wiggin was chosen as one of the trainees.

The movie deviates considerably from the book, but it's necessary. I am not here to tell you why the book is better, I'm here to tell you whether Ender's Game works as a movie. However, I must explain some of the key differences. In the book, Ender begins his training at the age of six, while all of the trainees in the movie appear to be 15 or older. I understand that it would be impossible to find dozens of 6-year-old actors capable of carrying this story. Also, the sequence of events is different. Bean, who is a key character, meets Ender immediately, rather than a few years into his training. Ender's training is supposed to take around eight years, but it seems to happen in months.

The biggest weakness of the movie is the way the battle training is condensed. Again, I realize that few people would want to watch four hours of training, but some of the suspense is missing because so little time is devoted to key events. Some events in the book seem unfair to Ender, but without the background information, anyone who hasn't read the book will miss the significance. Whenever I read Ender's Game, I become Ender Wiggin and experience the satisfaction of his achievements. I'm glad to say that I experienced similar feelings during the movie.

IMDB claims that the movie is an action movie, but that's not the case. Don't go into this expecting battle sequences or laser fights. They do exist, but not in the form you might expect. I am actually impressed that Hollywood didn't ruin the movie by trying to include too much action.

Ender's Game is essentially about leadership, and why individuals choose to follow certain people. Everyone in the school is a genius, but Ender is a good leader because he gains the trust, loyalty, and even love of his followers. The book is full of tactics, and we see Ender and his army discover and develop skills over the course of several years. The armies are comprised of 40 soldiers who are typically split into four Toons of 10 soldiers during battle. I doubt a casual viewer will come away from this movie even knowing what a Toon is. We certainly aren't shown how Ender's Dragon Army uses tactics that are completely new. On the plus side, the ending could not have been better, and I was excited to see an important scene present and handled well.

So, does this movie work at all?

As someone who knows all of the background to Ender's story, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing it come alive on the big screen. The acting was good and the special effects spectacular, although my Kiwi friend reliably informs me that Ben Kingsley butchered the accent. Most of the key events in the book are touched upon, and a fan of the series will automatically catch the references and fill in the blanks. A complete newcomer to the story will probably have a good time, but come away wondering why Ender's Game is often regarded as the best science fiction book ever written.

I hope that the movie will be successful enough to spawn a sequel. Speaker for the Dead is a much deeper story, and shows what happens to Ender after the war. However, with some people boycotting the movie due to their dislike of Card's politics, I'm not sure whether a sequel will be possible.

I'll be adding Ender's Game to my collection as soon as it is released on Blu-ray, but it would be wrong of me to automatically give it 5/5 just because I love the books. That said, it's a good attempt to make a coherent story out of very difficult material. It's hard to show people thinking. If you do like the movie and haven't read the book, I urge you to do so. I imagine it would considerably enhance any future viewings.

By the way, the trailer gives away almost everything.

Overall score 4/5

[SilentDawn]

Originally Posted by Foggy

Handed in an essay about the opening scene of Halloween the other day.

Awesome, one of the greatest openings in cinema history IMO!

[Josh B]

The Ministers 3.5/5
A great story, an okay only movie and would have made an excellent graphic novel.

The Colony 2.5/5
Started out strong but quickly became meh. Too smart for its own good?

[SilentDawn]

Originally Posted by jvince

Thanks! I really liked Let Me In. I think it's a great horror remake like The Ring.

Yeah, they're both great but i'm partial to the original because I saw it first.

[jvince]

Quarantine (2008)
dir. John Erick Dowdle

The Good: I liked the elevator scene towards the end. That was kind of cool. But the rest...

The Bad: ...The rest felt... off. It didn't feel real, it wasn't scary at all, the atmosphere of the original was nonexistent, the acting was terrible, the shakycam was even worse, they made Angela annoying, and I hate -- hate -- that altered ending. I'll take demonic possessions over super-rabies any day. It's way creepier.

The Bottom Line: Yet another soulless American remake. Go watch the vastly superior [REC] instead.

[Scottie]

The United Pretentious State of Leland, or A Perfect Example of Why I Steered Clear of Art House Cinema in the early 2000s.

Please note that this review contains spoilers.

In one of the worst performances of his entire career, Ryan Gosling plays Leland P. Fitzgerald, a sixteen year-old high school student who has just landed himself in prison for the murder of Ryan Powell (Michael Welch), the mentally retarded brother of his drug-abusing ex-girlfriend, Becky (Jena Malone). Like every character in The United States of Leland, Leland P. Fitzgerald is very one-dimensional. Not only does he justify his warped behavior throughout the film, but his body language and mannerisms insinuate that the world owes him something (despite it never being made clear what it in fact owes him). While in prison, Leland takes a history course with Pearl Madison (Don Cheadle). Pearl is the most ironic character in the entire film because he is constantly preaching positivity and doing good deeds to his students on one hand, but he fails to live up to his own jargon on the other. For example, early on in the film Pearl decides to cheat on his girlfriend of many years with a new co-worker, justifying his behavior by stating, "I am only human".

As the film progresses, we are shown clips from the past that "contributed" to Leland committing such a heinous crime. To make a long story short, Leland became depressed after not only being dumped by his drug-abusing girlfriend, but after also finding out that she was cheating on him with some junkie. The "straw that broke the camel's back" was when Leland found out that his friend, Mrs. Calderone (Sherilyn Fenn), was getting a divorce. In his eyes, there was no longer anything positive in the world, leading him to adapt a very pessimistic outlook on life. When the film begins to finally come to a close, we learn that Allen Harris (Chris Klein), the ex-boyfriend of Jena's sister, Julie (Michelle Williams), has coincidentally winded up in the same exact prison as Leland after having a temper tantrum and holding up a convenience store. Because Leland contributed to Allen's now ruined relationship with Julie, Allen decides to murder Leland. He steals a knife from inside of the prison and in a soap opera-esque fashion, confronts Leland in the prison yard. Please note that the scene is framed in such a way that it is not quite certain whether the two are going to hug or fight until the knife plunges Leland's stomach. In one final clip from the past, we learn that Leland murdered helpless Ryan Powell because he felt bad for his life, knowing that it would never be happy or normal.

This is one of the worst films that I have ever seen because it is so phony and pretentious. The film fuels itself off of Ryan Powell's illness and uses it as a means for Leland to justify committing murder, while simultaneously playing God in the process. On top of this, all of the characters in the film are very robotic and are constantly contradicting themselves over the ninety-minute plus duration. Because there are absolutely no relatable or redeemable aspects to any of them, the film feels even more impersonal than it already did.

If this was the first Ryan Gosling, Don Cheadle, or Kevin Spacey film, just to name a few, that I ever saw, I would never seek another out by them again. There is no doubt in my mind that director Matthew Ryan Hodge made the right decision to never return to the film scene. It was clearly not for him.

½

[Al_The_Strange]

Stealth

In 2005, when I saw the trailer for this sucker, I couldn't have been more excited. Futuristic planes zipping across the skies, blowing the crap out of each other...hell yeah!

When I got around to seeing it, I couldn't have been more disappointed. Even though the planes are cool and there's a ton of fun action and SFX, the movie turned out to be very flat, shallow, and nerve-wracking. In Rob Cohen's attempts to shove the sensation of flying at supersonic speeds in the viewers' faces, he purposefully shook and shimmied the camera in every way he could. There are so many shakes, zooms, pans, moves, and shakes that it becomes irritating to watch even the standard war room scenes. Did I mention that the camera shakes a lot?

The good news is that there are still some cool things to the film. I always did enjoy the aerial combat scenes, despite the shakiness of it; among the film's highlights, the futuristic jets engage in some thrilling dogfights, blow up a massive airborne tanker, and does some incredible low-level flying all over the place. These are moments that are fairly cool and fun to watch.
The story, however, leaves much to be desired, and I think that's the film's biggest downfall. The characters are as shallow and stereotypical as they can be, and are utterly forgettable by the film's end. I actually think the characters of the GI Joe films are a grade better than this! As for the plot, it covers some interesting ground, but is really just more of the same: pilots blow some stuff up, plane goes crazy, they have to rescue their wingman, blah blah blah. Themes of technology and morality are glossed over, but never fully explored.

This film uses some pretty horrid photography and editing. Acting is pretty lame from the cast, and the writing is terrible. This production does use some awesome sets, props, costumes, and special effects. The music score by BT, one of my favorite electronica bands, does have some cool parts. The film also uses some songs I personally like.

Stealth kinda straddles the threshold for me between being a total disappointment and a guilty pleasure. It has an irritating style and there's not much to the story or characters, but it does have its moments.

3/5 (Entertainment: Good | Story: Marginal | Film: Poor)

Recommendation: Probably not.

It looks and sounds decent on Blu-Ray.

PQ: 4.5/5, AQ: 4.5/5

Watching the extras from the 2-disc DVD. I've developed the opinion that Rob Cohen is full of s**t. They just go on and on about "we've never done this before!!" and how they want to emphasize the speed and stuff, but I really don't think the film is as successful as they think.

Also, looks like the camera broke on certain occasions, so that might explain some of the camera shake.

[SilentDawn]

Well, I just got back from 12 Years A Slave:

I had to drive 90 minutes to see this film based on it's reviews and reactions. I knew it was going to be good, maybe even great; but outstanding?

Yes everyone it is outstanding, it is brilliant, it is a marvel, it is a classic, it is one of the greatest films of the 21st century so far.

I cannot say enough great things about this film, just see it. Full of majesty and brutality in the same shots, that contrast equals some of the greatest shots I have ever seen committed to celluloid. You thought Gravity was amazing? This film will force you to watch even if it's hard to. It's astonishing and magnificent.

It's my favorite film of 2013 and one of my top 25 films of all time. See it. Now.

5/5

[jvince]

Mon Oncle (1958)
dir. Jacques Tati

The Good: The first thing you'll notice about Mon Oncle is that it's one visually stunning film. Tati's static long shots are a wonder to behold. The same can be said about the intricate sets, most notably Mr. Hulot's rather eccentric apartment building. The plot and themes are quite insightful as well. With Mon Oncle, Tati cleverly contrasts the simple, carefree life and the monotonous modern life controlled by the very machines we created to aid us.

The Bad: The slapstick humor is hit and miss. The film also often lingers on several scenes and focuses on minor characters a tad too long.

The Bottom Line: I'm a huge fan of the 90s TV series Mr. Bean -- a character that was clearly inspired by Tati's Mr. Hulot -- so I'm slightly disappointed that I didn't find Mon Oncle as amusing. Hopefully, I'll enjoy and appreciate it more on repeat viewing.

[jvince]

Team America: World Police (2004)
dir. Trey Parker

The Good: Marionette fight. "Everyone Has AIDS." Valmorphanize. I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E.. "9/11 times 100." "Freedom costs a buck 'o five." "Lick my butt and suck on my balls." "Let's get one thing straight, actor. I don't trust you. And if you betray us, I'll rip your ****ing balls off and stuff them up your ass so that the next time you shit, you'll shit all over your balls, got it?" The signal. The Star Wars refeneces. "I like balls." "Surprise, cockfags." Alec Baldwin, F.A.G. "Matt Damon." "Inspect that, you butt****ing piece of shit!" "The next time you pull a stunt like that, I'll drill two holes through your dick so that when you pee, it shoots out in all different directions, you got it?" Marionette dance. "Gary, you can't blame yourself for what gorillas did." "Maybe feelings are feelings because we can't control them." "Promise me you'll never die." Marionette sex. Epic marionette sex. "Jesus titty-****ing Christ." "We've lost intelligence! I repeat, we have no intelligence!" Kim Jong-il's song. "There's three kinds of people: dicks, pussies, and *******s. Pussies think everyone can get along, and dicks just want to **** all the time without thinking it through. But then you got your *******s, Chuck. And all the *******s want us to shit all over everything! So, pussies may get mad at dicks once in a while, because pussies get ****ed by dicks. But dicks also **** *******s, Chuck. And if they didn't **** the *******s, you know what you'd get? You'd get your dick and your ***** all covered in shit!" Epic marionette puking scene. "I miss you more than Michael Bay missed the mark when he made Pearl Harbor." "9/11 times 2,356." Montage. "When you see Alec Baldwin, you'll see the true ugliness of human nature." "I was raped by Mr. Mistoffelees." Panthers. "You are worthless, Alec Baldwin!"

The Bad: Nothing major.

The Bottom Line: One of the funniest movies I've seen in a while. America, **** yeah!

[SquidPuppet]

Monster University



OK story. The first was better. Still enjoyable though.

Crazy good animation. It truly is becoming hard to distinguish some newer CGI from real photography.

Film 3.5/5
AQ and PQ 5+

[SquidPuppet]

The Croods



OK story. Some funny characters. Mother-in-law jokes worked for me.

Jawdropping animation. Detail, motion, landscapes, skies. Wow.

Film 3.5/5
PQ and AQ 5+

[SquidPuppet]

What Maise Knew



Really good story. Sad and happy. Great acting. Crappy, wealthy, flakey parents with a beautiful child. UGLY custody battle......

"You don't deserve her!!"

Film 4/5
PQ and AQ 4/5

[Foggy]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

Monster University



OK story. The first was better. Still enjoyable though.

Crazy good animation. It truly is becoming hard to distinguish some newer CGI from real photography.

Film 3.5/5
AQ and PQ 5+

Have you checked out The Blue Umbrella short? Some true uncanny valley stuff going on there.

[Al_The_Strange]

Ender's Game

It seems as though all the great sci-fi takes forever to become films.It took over seventy years to give John Carter his big-screen debut. I had a copy of L. Ron Hubbard's Battlefield Earth that claimed that it would become a motion picture soon, but that never happened until almost twenty years later (and many would probably argue that it should not have been made). Ender's Game is another one of the best sci-fi novels I've read, and a film for it has been in development for something like ten years. So, in 2013, I couldn't have been more excited.

Ender's Game is kinda like The Hunger Games set in outer space, only more aggressive, more fantastic, and more original. EG has its fair share of special-effects-laden spectacle, with massive swarms of spaceships and incredible planetscapes filling up the screen. Fortunately, it's not all just action for the sake of action, it is all a direct consequence of the story. When the space battles aren't breaking out, the film still moves very fast with loads of character-driven conflicts.

The film still maintains most of its focus on telling the story, and it does hit up all the necessary plot points that were in the original novel. Some major subplots get cut out, the training/battle scenes are truncated, and various other liberties are taken, but for a two-hour movie, the filmmakers did their best to cover the entire plot, right up to its bizarre ending. A lot of scenes are exactly as I pictured them from reading the book (even the fantasy CGI mindgame scenes, which I always fancied should be animated Pixar style, and it turns out they were!), and the dark aggression of the book is mostly translated well into the film. Best of all, the book's biggest twists still bear some decent weight in the movie's narrative.

Unfortunately, some things are lost in translation. Just as it is with The Hunger Games, the specific nuances of the characters, their relationships, their emotions, and their overall pathos is better conveyed in the narrative of the book than it is on film. Ender's relationships with his friends (and even his enemies) are left at the surface level, and never really reaches the same depths as the novel. Some things remain unexplained or glossed over. Deeper themes are never fully explored. Although one can't expect every single thing in the book to make it into the film, EG falls just a little short in immersing the audience in the characters. It may be easy to root for Ender when he stands up to his bullies and commands a whole fleet, but the film won't eave that much of a lasting impression.

As a film, it looks pretty slick and stylish, with solid photography and editing. Acting can be rather mixed: I think all of the child actors did their jobs really well. Harrison Ford gets the most grief for his role, for he pretty much phones it in, but I still didn't think he was as terrible as other reviewers make him out to be. Ben Kingsley plays it kinda creepily in his role, and Viola Davis is pretty much herself. Writing in this film is okay, but has a rather bad penchant for exposition. This production has some good-looking sets, props, costumes, and special effects. The music score is not bad either.

As usual, the book is better than the movie, but I think the movie still does a good job as an adaptation. I expect that average audiences unfamiliar with the book will think this movie is okay, but might miss out on certain nuances. Book fans might gripe that the film doesn't do justice to certain things. In any case, I think the movie is worth a rent to all dedicated sci-fi fans.

4/5 (Entertainment: Very Good | Story: Good | Film: Pretty Good)

Recommendation: As a rental.

By comparison, I gave the novel a 5/5, and it would probably be my second-favorite all-time book.