The Movie Review and Discussion Thread

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by tbizzle

Wings of Desire - 3.75/5

I liked it a lot better than The Seventh Seal, but still not quite my kind of movie. I love City of Angels, though I think this is the better film, it's just a little slow for me.

I loved that it didnt have a cop-out ending. Tough stuff.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by iam1bearcat

Squid, come on. no need to make wholesome, common sense intelligent posts!

It's just a smokescreen so that I can stalk you guys.

[Diesel]

If Squid was a like me, he'd be able to stalk me even with invisible mode on




Back on topic:

Originally Posted by iam1bearcat

while cleaning the house i put on The Dark Knight, and even while not really watching it closely, i picked up 4 things that stood out / bugged me. one of which i noticed instantly when i saw it on release night, but a few more... plot holes...? i found today.

nothing that ruins the movie, and i understand almost all movies have odd plot holes / necessary mistakes to move a story forward, but things that stood out / made me laugh, chuckle, groan or

1. right off the bat when

[Show spoiler]Joker's "clown workers" break the window in the building across from the bank and fly down the wire to the bank, no one sees this as a problem?

granted it is high up so no one may have heard it / seen them, but it seems there would be an easier way to get to the building!

2. when the police have

[Show spoiler]Harvey Dent in the back of the police truck and they're transporting him, they pass a FIRE TRUCK COMPLETELY IN FLAMES and yet, they didn't know this was coming up.

is every officer in Gotham City following the line of cars / trucks? no one

[Show spoiler]called in this massive fire in the middle of a street?

doesn't ruin anything, but made me laugh quite a bit.

3. when

[Show spoiler]Joker arrives to the black crime boss who wanted him dead, Joker "kills" him by what? slicing his cheeks? he tells him his "story" about his scars, and then we assume he does the same to the guy. but... that wouldn't kill him. at least, not INSTANTLY! the guy doesn't even make a noise! even if he was stabbed - hell, maybe even SHOT he would make some noise right??

4. the final

[Show spoiler]Joker / Batman fight on top of the abandoned building. Joker asks Batman, "you know how i got these scars?" and Batman responds, "no, but i know how you got these" and then fires his arm batarang things in his face. Joker screams and falls back. but... when we see him next, no blood, no cuts, no anything. did Batman miss from LITERALLY 5 INCHES AWAY? or because this was already a really dark PG-13, Nolan had to take out the blood / cuts? made me laugh either way.

i still give the film a 5/5 because its amazingly entertaining and the best superhero film yet, but it certainly has a lot of odd screw ups

I'll just tag the whole thing:

[Show spoiler]1. They needed to get onto the roof of the building...but couldn't exactly go through the building itself to get up top Coming from across the street is the most logical option

2. Good point

3. From IMDB

There is a belief among some fans that you can't die from having your cheek slashed, but it is possible; laceration of the face was listed as a cause of death in the infamous Black Dahlia murder. The shock and blood loss could cause death. It's also possible that the Joker got carried away and went beyond cutting Gambol's cheeks. Since the murder happened off camera, we don't know.

We don't see his face, Joker drops him on the ground, he could be on the ground dieing...we don't know.

4. That always made me go "Wait a minute..." too

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Diesel

If Squid was a like me, he'd be able to stalk me even with invisible mode on

Hmmmmm. I can see your most recent posts, but that doesnt tell me where you are right now.

[Riff Magnum]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

It's just a smokescreen so that I can stalk you guys.

Go watch White Ribbon!!!

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Riff Magnum

Go watch White Ribbon!!!

[jhiggy23]

Originally Posted by Riff Magnum

What have you seen by him? I've only seen Cache and White Ribbon, but just those two alone put him among the best directors working today. IMO, of course.

Cache, the remake of Funny Games, and a little bit of the original. I cut him slack for the remake, because it's just that. Cache I found very boring, until the realization at the end of what he was doing the whole time. I still can't say I enjoy the film, but it's absolutely brilliant (there's a great analysis of it on the web....I was like )

I def wouldn't put him among even the top 25 working today, because he just doesn't have the resume. But I do greatly appreciate what he adds to cinema, and that's only after seeing 2.5 films, one of which was terrible.

[jhiggy23]

Originally Posted by iam1bearcat

while cleaning the house i put on The Dark Knight, and even while not really watching it closely, i picked up 4 things that stood out / bugged me. one of which i noticed instantly when i saw it on release night, but a few more... plot holes...? i found today.

nothing that ruins the movie, and i understand almost all movies have odd plot holes / necessary mistakes to move a story forward, but things that stood out / made me laugh, chuckle, groan or

1. right off the bat when

[Show spoiler]Joker's "clown workers" break the window in the building across from the bank and fly down the wire to the bank, no one sees this as a problem?

granted it is high up so no one may have heard it / seen them, but it seems there would be an easier way to get to the building!

2. when the police have

[Show spoiler]Harvey Dent in the back of the police truck and they're transporting him, they pass a FIRE TRUCK COMPLETELY IN FLAMES and yet, they didn't know this was coming up.

is every officer in Gotham City following the line of cars / trucks? no one

[Show spoiler]called in this massive fire in the middle of a street?

doesn't ruin anything, but made me laugh quite a bit.

3. when

[Show spoiler]Joker arrives to the black crime boss who wanted him dead, Joker "kills" him by what? slicing his cheeks? he tells him his "story" about his scars, and then we assume he does the same to the guy. but... that wouldn't kill him. at least, not INSTANTLY! the guy doesn't even make a noise! even if he was stabbed - hell, maybe even SHOT he would make some noise right??

4. the final

[Show spoiler]Joker / Batman fight on top of the abandoned building. Joker asks Batman, "you know how i got these scars?" and Batman responds, "no, but i know how you got these" and then fires his arm batarang things in his face. Joker screams and falls back. but... when we see him next, no blood, no cuts, no anything. did Batman miss from LITERALLY 5 INCHES AWAY? or because this was already a really dark PG-13, Nolan had to take out the blood / cuts? made me laugh either way.

i still give the film a 5/5 because its amazingly entertaining and the best superhero film yet, but it certainly has a lot of odd screw ups

How about the most obvious one???

[Show spoiler]the party scene where chick goes out the window, batty catches her, and joker leaves the party all nice and quietly.

Wayyyy too many problems with the directing, writing, and editing for this film to be rated as high as it is.

[Riff Magnum]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

Cache, the remake of Funny Games, and a little bit of the original. I cut him slack for the remake, because it's just that. Cache I found very boring, until the realization at the end of what he was doing the whole time. I still can't say I enjoy the film, but it's absolutely brilliant (there's a great analysis of it on the web....I was like )

I def wouldn't put him among even the top 25 working today, because he just doesn't have the resume. But I do greatly appreciate what he adds to cinema, and that's only after seeing 2.5 films, one of which was terrible.

You mean the idea that there's about twenty red herrings swimming through this movie, but instead he chooses to follow the most obvious path, all the while you think, "Naw, it's gotta be something else. Something really elaborate."
Nope.

[Riff Magnum]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

How about the most obvious one???

[Show spoiler]the party scene where chick goes out the window, batty catches her, and joker leaves the party all nice and quietly.

And..............................

I assume you think all those champagne drinking yuppies were gonna stop the Joker and his thugs?

[jhiggy23]

Originally Posted by tbizzle

Wings of Desire - 3.75/5

I liked it a lot better than The Seventh Seal, but still not quite my kind of movie. I love City of Angels, though I think this is the better film, it's just a little slow for me.

I like it better than Seventh Seal too, but I'm not a huge fan of it. The narration is beautifully poetic, but it just didn't do it for me. City of Angels isn't reallllly a remake, other than the general plot, but I like that film a lot more. Maybe it's because the love story was more real, maybe it was because it was more Hollywood (which usually is opposite of what I like). Wings has so much to it that I feel bad not rating it higher--surfdude def is much more of an authority on it than me.

[jhiggy23]

Originally Posted by Riff Magnum

You mean the idea that there's about twenty red herrings swimming through this movie, but instead he chooses to follow the most obvious path, all the while you think, "Naw, it's gotta be something else. Something really elaborate."
Nope.

Welllll, I think we need to compare what we think the ending actually means

[surfdude12]

Originally Posted by tbizzle

Wings of Desire - 3.75/5

I liked it a lot better than The Seventh Seal, but still not quite my kind of movie. I love City of Angels, though I think this is the better film, it's just a little slow for me.

have you seen It's A Wonderful Life? That's an even better "mainstream" version of Wings, IMO. (although from much different angles, and with different period/culture/etc. )

[jhiggy23]

Originally Posted by Riff Magnum

And..............................

I assume you think all those champagne drinking yuppies were gonna stop the Joker and his thugs?

Not at all. But to cut the film that way was very odd. I mean, they're all hanging out there and can do what they please with no one stopping them, but they just go in the elevator and leave? Tough to defend this one!

[jhiggy23]

Originally Posted by Riff Magnum

You mean the idea that there's about twenty red herrings swimming through this movie, but instead he chooses to follow the most obvious path, all the while you think, "Naw, it's gotta be something else. Something really elaborate."
Nope.

Have you seen the other Haneke films? Interested to know what ppl think of them, since I certainly haven't seen enough of him.

[iam1bearcat]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

How about the most obvious one???

[Show spoiler]the party scene where chick goes out the window, batty catches her, and joker leaves the party all nice and quietly.

Wayyyy too many problems with the directing, writing, and editing for this film to be rated as high as it is.

true. and the fact that when Batman and whats-her-face fall on the car neither of them are hurt in any way. hell, they don't even move slowly as if to show they might be in at least a little bit of pain...? they just fell at least 50 feet onto a cab!

[Riff Magnum]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

Not at all. But to cut the film that way was very odd. I mean, they're all hanging out there and can do what they please with no one stopping them, but they just go in the elevator and leave? Tough to defend this one!

Oh, i see what you're saying. Not so much the fact that they were able to leave, but the fact that they chose to do so?
Well if they stay to sodomize everyone, wouldn't there be complaints of,"Why aren't they going after them?"
I guess your main complaint is that it was lazy filmaking, by NOT showing us what happens?

[surfdude12]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

How about the most obvious one???

[Show spoiler]the party scene where chick goes out the window, batty catches her, and joker leaves the party all nice and quietly.

Wayyyy too many problems with the directing, writing, and editing for this film to be rated as high as it is.

my favorite is (and maybe i'm the only one with this) is

[Show spoiler] the Joker's #1 claim to fame is he is the one who exposes the "schemers" who "scheme." Well, isn't exposing schemers, itself scheming?

[JLant19]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

They have so many options. The ending scene or the guy on the bridge with a camera being two that have obviously been floating around. I actually think the same events as seen through the eyes of another person (i.e. guy on bridge) would be interesting, because in every tragedy and catastrophe there are always innumerable stories to be told.

Idk though, because Super 8 does have a similar vibe, or so it seems.

Yea those 2 would be great to me as well.
&
Yea Super 8 looks like its going to be good but I mean c'mon J.J. AND Spielberg! ha but of what was shown in the trailer/teaser it looks pretty interesting.

[Riff Magnum]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

Have you seen the other Haneke films? Interested to know what ppl think of them, since I certainly haven't seen enough of him.

No, just Cache and White Ribbon. I like that he exists, since his style is so "anti-hollywood" without going to artsy fartsy extremes just for the sake of doing so.