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Post by fukufuji on Jun 3, 2009 11:31:18 GMT -5
Was wondering if there are any interests in talking movies. I was hoping to start on a positive note but after seeing star trek Hollywood and I are not on speaking terms. Hollywood seems hit and miss with established story lines. I thought LOTR was acceptably in line with the story and universe, but star trek was a complete whoring of the ideals of the franchise. Other movies like Wolverine, shoe horning Gambit into the plot. I am not knowledgeable on X-men but what a slap in the face to long time fans. Anyway, I'll try to be more positive, if you see any movie post your thoughts, please no spoilers 2009 Thumbs Up - Coraline, Bolt, Grand Torrino Mediocre - Angles and demons, Wolverine, Day the earth stood still :-/Thumbs down - Star Trek
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Post by Zoom Waffles on Jun 3, 2009 12:33:21 GMT -5
you didn't like star trek? interesting... i haven't heard from anyone who didn't like it. I'm not Trekkie, but I thought it was pretty good... solid acting, good casting, interesting story, great effects.
the only other movie i've seen in a while is slumdog millionaire... great film, but not worthy of all the awards it got.
definitely looking forward to seeing Up, though... hopefully this weekend. Pixar never let's me down.
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Post by fukufuji on Jun 3, 2009 15:25:33 GMT -5
Star Trek was a good movie but under its flashy surface it was a real dagger in the hart for many long time fans. I've pretty much seen everything going back to trek's 2 TV pilots. IMO the movie deviated quite unnecessarily from the core ideals of trek and some characters were horribly bastardized. But its cool to see a new generation of people may get into trek. I'm just loosing hope that their will ever be an old school trek that blows your mind and really makes you think. Many fans would agree there hasn't been a good star trek movie since 1982 nor a good show since 1999.
I totally forgot I saw slumdog, that was a good movie. I think the awards it got were to introduce the Bollywood format to U.S. market. I like some Bollywood movies, there like old school kung fu movies all cheesy fun and instead of fighting they dance.
Up looks hillarious, I want to see it just for talking dogs
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Post by Wolfpack on Jun 4, 2009 0:28:36 GMT -5
UP! was the first Pixar movie where I actually teared up. Its a really well made movie. Also has some pretty damn funny moments too. Its a balance of your typical light and humorous Pixar adventure with some serious heartfelt emotions just under the surface. Plus the animation is amazing as usual.
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Post by The Hockey Hitman on Jun 6, 2009 16:02:04 GMT -5
We went and saw The Hangover the other night, and we laughed our butts off...very funny movie, featuring my favorite comedian Zach Galifaniakis...check that one out.
and sounds like I'll have to check out Up! because every where i've read and heard from says its really good.
I really enjoyed Star Trek actually, and had never been a fan of the franchise before. I thought it was a pretty cool film, and am actually looking forward to the sequel. From the movies you listed above, my opinions:
Thumbs Up - Coraline(very beautiful movie, visually, great, creepy story based off a book I hear is even creepier though) Grand Torrino(clint eastwood stil has it, a movie with many interesting moments and an ending I didn't see coming), Star Trek
mediocre at best - The Day the Earth Stood Still(an ending that left me yawning, and going, "really? thats the end...")
Thumbs down, way down - Wolverine...what a piece of crap. Did not like.
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Post by fukufuji on Jun 6, 2009 19:05:56 GMT -5
Finally got around to seeing Wall-e and it is as good as many were saying. Must fun I had watching a movie in a long while. Hangover looks hillarious.
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Post by Shredded Red on Jun 22, 2009 13:37:25 GMT -5
Typically I see nearly every movie that comes out, especially in the summer time so if you have any questions about movies past, present or future I normally know whats going down. Unfortunately with the advent of the girlfriend I haven't seen a damn thing this year with the exception of Star Trek and Terminator Salvation.
I was very impressed with Star Trek, which is saying a lot because I can't stand all things Star Trek. I went to see it because JJ Abrams is a great director. I thought the action and the story of the film was pretty intense and it was a nice set up if they wanted to continue with a few more new Trek films. But, as someone above mentioned...I don't know how real Trekkie fans interpreted the film. As a non-Trek fan I thought it was great.
Terminator was pretty good. I can't say I was blown away, but once again I think this film was a good set up for the rest of the trilogy. Hopefully they'll put something together like T2 somewhere in this new trilogy. My problem with this newest movie was a lack of creativity in the plot. They basically rehashed the old idea of searching for a young child who has no idea who he is in the future. Bale was awesome, and the idea of introducing the first ever robot/human was cool to see if you've followed the rest of the trilogy.....but I wanted to see something new in the plot. The action was fantastic, and I hope it leads to better things in the next 2 films.
Gran Torino was a gem of a film. I thought the acting in that movie was horrid, one of the worst of the year. Even though I enjoyed Eastwood's growly character, I didn't even think he gave a typically high caliber Eastwood performance. But the plot of the movie is so tenderhearted but wrapped in such bitter and gritty sarcasm it was hard not to love. That was one of my top movies of last year, and I was disappointed that it wasn't nominated for more awards because the issues that that movie deals with all at once were impressive (personal salvation, gender, age, cultural boundaries, immigration). Fantastic story.
One movie I think a lot of people missed was The Wrestler with Mickey Rourke. I think that may be one of the best sports movies I've ever seen (and I'm not a wrestling fan at all). It's mostly a character driven movie where without Mickey Rourke's performance the movie would kinda suck, but it's a pretty emotional movie and it also has a lot to say about our culture in terms of hero worship and celebrity. For such a plain and simple movie I was extremely impressed with the amount of story and emotion they were able to put in the movie, not to mention the interesting backstage peaks at wrestling. Also one of my top 5 movies of last year.
As far as this summer goes, I agree with Hitman, Wolverine was a heaping pile of crap, and there are several spin-offs of that film in the works. At the very end of the film, after the credits there was a shot of Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool) putting his fingers to his lips and shushing the camera.....because yeah, there's a Deadpool movie in the works with Ryan Reynolds as the lead. There's also a Magneto movie and Wolverine 2, and apparently some sort of "young x-men" (the group of young mutants that go away with Xavier into the chopper in the Wolverine movie) movie all in the works.
For the rest of the summer the movie I'm looking forward to the most is 500 Days of Summer, a quirky romantic film with Joshua Gordon Levitt (3rd Rock from the Sun) and Zooey Deschanel (Yes Man). Bruno, Sasha Baron Cohen's homosexual follow up to Borat. Funny People, Judd Apatow's next film (director of 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up, and reining king of all things comedy). District 9, although I'm not really sure what it's about. It kind of looks like Cloverfield but with Aliens in Africa. Looks weird, but looks interesting and cool. Inglorious Basterds, Questin Tarantino's next film (although I typically hate his films, he's been talking about this movie for nearly a decade)....it's a WWII film about a special unit in the military that hunts down nazi's and brutally kills them purposefully to send a message.
Oh, and lets not forget Transformers Revenge of the Fallen. I may be at the midnight showing of that movie.
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Post by fukufuji on Jun 22, 2009 14:00:23 GMT -5
Thanks for reminding me about wrestler, I really want to see that. Mickey Roruqe was awesome in spin city. His rough life has made him one heck of a tough as nails down on his luck character actor.
I've been pretty disappointed lately with block busters like transformers, star trek, wolvereen, terminator. The action and effects these days are setting a new level of awesomeness but I feel like this is that same era in gaming where it was all about graphics and game play was an after thought. These movies are unprecidented in their level of mind candy but their depth and true to the original story lines are as bad as its ever been or worse. I just wish there wasn't such a thing as "well the story and acting sucks but the special effects are awesome!" Saving private ryan, LOTR, Matrix are all resent examples I would offer as great story synergy with state off the art special effects. Movies where I felt special effects / action are their only redeaming quality always disappoint me: king kong, armagedon, transformers, star trek, terminator
But I know I have a quarky outlook on movies some of my favorites are indie, foreign, and anime.
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Post by Zoom Waffles on Jun 22, 2009 14:05:52 GMT -5
i saw milk over the weekend... regardless of anyone's politics, that was a tremendous movie. josh brolin's acting was absolutely incredible, as was sean penn.
brolin literally was in so few scenes, but i felt like i'd known Dan White (who he played) for years. He brought so much personality to that "character" so quickly, it was easy to be overwhelmed in some of the climactic scenes. really well done... and such an untold story in american history.
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Post by The Hockey Hitman on Jun 24, 2009 18:32:45 GMT -5
Went and saw Transformers 2 last night, the midnight showings...We usually go to most midnight movie premiers but this one was by far the most crowded I'd ever seen. They usually show them on 1, maybe 2 screens tops, but there was so many people there that they opened up 7 screens. Thats right, 7. It was absolutely crazy! haha
Anyways it was really good, I enjoyed it, as did everyone else I went with...very entertaining!
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Post by fukufuji on Jun 25, 2009 8:43:26 GMT -5
Transformers, didn't really like it, To much non transformer stuff in the movie. Scenes at college, family, etc...
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Post by Shredded Red on Jul 7, 2009 0:44:15 GMT -5
Transformers 2 really frustrated me. I can't deny that it was one hell of an exciting movie, and simply for entertainments sake I'd say it was a decent summer flick....but it didn't live up to the first one, and it fell into the category of disappointing sequel. First off the story was terrible, and it was topped off by quite possibly the worst dialogue I've heard in a film in a decade.
I get that these films need humor, but there was just too much pointless banter in this movie. The parents, the college roomate....they could have died early in the film and the movie would have been better even if their deaths played no role in the film. They didn't play a role anyway, and served little purpose except to annoy me. The roomate even made me dislike John Tuturro's character, who I thought was pretty humorous in the first film. Way too much of the cheesy humor, kind of killed the movie for me.
Then there's "The Twins." I was excited to see these robots, and was quickly turned off by how stereotypical african american these caricatures were. I'm not one to normally complain about humorous stereotypes in a film. I'm normally the one to say "who cares" when interest groups get their panties in a bunch over stuff like this, but those were two of the most blatantly obvious and least intelligent character concepts I've ever seen on film. You have to go back decades to find characters as blatantly stereotypical as those 2 in a movie....kinda pathetic for a movie with this much clout.
My other big complaint about this film was the unnecessary profanity. I understand that we all live in a grown up world, with grown up words, but we share that world with kids...and this is a movie based on TOYS....which certainly appeals to children. You just shouldn't have robots uttering phrases like "that's because you's a p*%$y" in a film aimed at children. It's irresponsible, and simple minded. I'm alright with a mindless action flick (believe me I love a good Jason Statham flick!) but the film makers need to be conscious of their audience. I don't have kids, and I could care less about profanity in most cases.....but the language just seemed out of place and struck a foul chord with me all the way through the film. Major turn off.
I've been excited for a few years now to see this movie because I love the first one, but I'd say I enjoyed Star Trek and Terminator Salvation more than Transformers 2.
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Post by fukufuji on Jul 7, 2009 19:41:33 GMT -5
I agree with every point in your commentary. Transformers was way off balance. It had the special effects to wow even those most picky tech nerd yet dialog that would even annoy a 12 year old. It had the blaintent appeal to a 5 - 8 year old target audience yet curses up a storm and puts Megan Fox's ass in skimpy shorts on IMAX in your face. It has a deep franchise history to tap into yet decides to go in its own very unfamiliar and uninteresting direction. It has a quality cast in its leading men but stays so elementary in their script I think it was written by a mentally handicaped 13 year old.
I know this movie is a mindless action flick designed to sell toys to preteens and cars to young adults but in my opinion this movie crossed the line of mindlessness an unintelligible insulting depth of stupidity I struggle to come up with the words to even describe it. My best attempt is I am now dumber having seen this movie. This movie was so bad it actually murdered innocent brain cells. This movie injured me, I am no longer the same person in a bad way. This movie strove to be so horrifingly stupid I was actually physically injured by it.
I can't get to far into star trek because I am an uber trek fan and I am happy there is a new generation of peeps to enjoy it. I have made my peace with the highway robbery of the franchise I am simply happy there is something new
I thought terminator 2 was the best of the 3 but still had these things that erked me big. SPOILER!!!! SPOILER ALLERTT SPOILER STOP READING IF YOU DONT WANT SPOILER I wanted the good terminator to live way more than christian bale, when he gave up his life so bale could go on I was like nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!! So they break into cybernet to rescue peeps right, this is like cybernet central, the hub, the hive, the place they actually manufacture the terminators. What does cybernet do to defend itself. It sends a single solitary terminator to stop the intruders hahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahaha. And lastly, A terminator could cut someone in 2 with a punch or kick right, how come every time it gets near a human it just throws them like 30 feet then walks slowly towards you again, and again, and again, AND AGAIN!!!!
You know what I am getting old and crochety. I just can't suspend my desbeleif enough to enjoy these movies anymore.
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Post by Zoom Waffles on Jul 7, 2009 23:48:22 GMT -5
Saw The Hangover last night...
First reaction, Bradley Cooper is a terrific actor. I hated him so much in Wedding Crashers, but liked him in the Hangover to the point that I didn't even recognize it was him. Literally. The hairy dude playing Alan (forgive me for not using imdb) was hilarious, and has a very bright career ahead of him. Heather Graham -- hot as always, and very fun in this movie, even though she's in it so briefly. Andy Bernard (the guy from the office... the dentist in this movie, can't remember his character's name or the actor's name) was pretty funny, but a little over the top, relative to the other guys.
There's a sequel in the works (I'm guessing the bachelor party or wedding of heather graham and the dentist, possibly combined with the recent divorce of the newlywed Doug), and that should be just as funny.
All in all, though, this movie wasn't nearly as funny as Wedding Crashers, which it is fairly obviously compared to. There was no moment where I was really just dying laughing. It was great, don't get me wrong. I left in a great mood, and appreciated the sweetness of the plot and the consistent jokes. It just wasn't quite what Wedding Crashers was.
Definitely see it... but it might be one of those movies that's better left for DVD when it's not $11.50 to get in.
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Post by Shredded Red on Jul 9, 2009 7:08:35 GMT -5
The best line I've read in regards to Transformers 2.
"It's like a movie screen taking a robot filled Sh*t on your face for 2 hours."
-Aziz Ansari (he's the little indian dude that's in Parks and Recreation)
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Post by fukufuji on Sept 4, 2009 19:27:02 GMT -5
The best line I've read in regards to Transformers 2. "It's like a movie screen taking a robot filled Sh*t on your face for 2 hours." -Aziz Ansari (he's the little indian dude that's in Parks and Recreation) HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAH I saw district 9 and liked it a lot. I am not a big fan of that type of camera work and dialog delivery but was well done. Its nice to see a blockbuster special effects dynamo that isn't based on an overwhelmingly popular story. When there is no backstory you can enjoy the movie instead of being annoyed at how they clobber the original meanings. The movie has flaws and is laughable at some points where it trys to be serious but overall thumbs up for me. There is an animated movie comming out that I think Tim Burton is producing that is based on an original short from Shane Acker. I originally saw this at an animation festival about 5 years ago and was completely blown away. But I am not sure how they will sqweez a plot thick enough for a full production. We'll see. The original short is awesome though. Notice the seen where they pull the light bulp out of the lamp, A total shot at Pixar. Stick it to the MAN! www.youtube.com/watch?v=964QHmjLqa0
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