Media itt: movie/film discussion - Beware Spoilers

[alexwolf]

I definitely agree with the too much hype and suspension part on Godzilla without delivering in the end. Actors were also really subpar and didn't create any feeling at all to the viewer. That said, the visuals were nice and the doom atmosphere throughout the movie was nice too, but the slow fights, lack of focus on Godzilla as a protagonist and more as a hazard for the protagonists, and uninteresting characters made this movie absolutely mediocre for me.

On the other hand, Dallas Buyers Club was a fucking masterpiece, easy 10 for me! Amazing acting, great plot, realistic and shocking progression (talking about the change of the protagonists's character), and a very positive and real message.

 

[GatoDelFuego]

I've been watching some older movies that I've had my eye on for a while, so I wanted to give my thoughts.

Point Break is easily keaneu reeves's greatest film. Aside from some goofy monologue moments, he really does a good job of filling in the character. Surprisingly, he gets pretty emotionally connected, which is unusual considering any other film he's ever done. It was interesting to learn that the director also made The Hurt Locker recently; I'm glad I was able to see one of her firsts. While it's not got the same big-budget action of other heisting/crime films, it does successfully what even Heat could not: tell a good story. Heat was my third-favorite crime film, and favorite heist film, for a while, and it certainly deserves its praise, but it's so fucking long. Point Break has compelling characters and a much more focused plotline that's not painful to watch slowly develop over three hours. The little hand says it's time to rock and roll.

Casino has been recommended to me for a while now, and it really is a great film to watch. Its film attributes are nothing spectacular, and it certainly doesn't have any major scenes that you can call your favorites, but it's extremely solid for all of its runtime. Unlike Heat (for some reason I'm doing a lot of Heat bashing today; it's really good!), Casino doesn't jump its pacing all over the place. For its three hour runtime, I just felt happy to be watching rather than counting down until something good happened. It felt a lot like leisurely reading a novel. The interaction between the actors is absolutely flawless as well, with everyone on the directing staff and cast having been part of a long, long partnership together.

 

[Eagle4]

Recommending Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (in 2D), it's fantastic. Had my mouth wide open for half of the movie without even noticing.

And warning everybody not to watch the stinking pile of shit that's Transformers 4, unless you're a fan of the other three, in which case you deserve to be put through that crap.

So far:

Top 5 films of the year
1: Grand Budapest Hotel
2: The Lego Movie
3: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
4: Inside Llewyn Davis
5: American Hustle

Top 3 Worst Films of the year
1: Transformers 4
2: Godzilla
3: The Amazing Spider-man 2

 

[RODAN]

you still think godzilla is bad, you poor soul.

 

[Lemonade]

If you are looking for American cars to buy, Transformers 4 is a great movie don't hate yo

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was alright, I feel like it was a bit slow though. How they did Koba was really cool though, it was like "wow, that was pretty clever"

 

[Soul Fly]

Eagle4 couldn't help noticing your current DP. Submarine?

 

[moonbound]

I saw AMERICA and I'm gonna give it a 1776/10.

 

[reyscarface]

22 jump street made me laugh my ass off

 

[TheValkyries]

Agreeing with rey, 22 Jump Street was fucking amazing. I think I'm beginning to like these directors quite a bit.

 

[Eagle4]

http://www.interstellarmovie.com/index-intl.php

Go to this site and enter this code: 7201969, to watch the best trailer of 2014.

Fucking amazing

 

[Photo]

The Purge Anarchy is actually really good, unlike the first one. Has a lot of the creepy and jumpy moments you'd expect and quite action-packed. Shame the main characters bar the classic "badass" were complete pussies.

 

[Eagle4]

Okay so some ratings of a few of the films I've watched during this summer

Anna Karenina -

- Strong performances are shadowed by the extremely ingenious way in which this film is shot, though the film suffers from a plot that drags on.

Atonement -

- While the ending feels like a cop-out more than anything - if a tragic one - Atonement is built upon strong performances and a fantastic 5 minute scene that has to go down in my top 10 favourite scenes of all time.

Beasts of the Southern Wild -

- Quite why it was Oscar-nominated is anyone's guess, but this symbolic film is boosted heavily by beautiful cinematography, a great orchestral soundtrack, and a fantastic performance from Dwight Henry.

Berberian Sound Studio -

- Creative - if, at times, contrived, this slow-burner escapes the clutches of boredom - only just - via Toby Jones' unsettling performance.

Chef -

- A joy to watch, there's not a cynical bone in Chef's body. While that makes the film a little lightweight, its humour and charm keeps the film from becoming sickly sweet.

Ip Man -

- A surprisingly not-terrible martial arts film that is well-choreographed, though suffers due to the fact that the protagonist is indestructible, thus diminishing the potential to have a sense of danger.

Moonrise Kingdom -

- Holy goddamn this film is fantastic. Funny, charming, moving and eccentric, this is Wes Anderson's 2nd best film (behind Grand Budapest), boasting a terrific soundtrack and two confident performances from Kara Hayward and Jared Gilman.

Submarine -

- A fantastic comic romance that has the right levels of quirkiness, sadness and charm. Thank God Richard Ayoade didn't flop.

The Counselor -

- A very uninvolving plot that I'm sure makes sense to people who can comprehend such plot points as Cameron Diaz humping a car.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou -

- Unfairly looked down upon by critics, this film is funnier than Moonrise and more moving than Budapest, though its soundtrack is much less charming and important.

Transformers: Age of Extinction -

- Exactly what you would expect, except this time it's almost as if Bay is parodying himself. With more action, Bay's crappy sense of humour and, yes, explosions, if you liked the first three in this saga, you'll enjoy this too.

 

[TheValkyries]

Yo so I loved Guardians of the Galaxy but I felt like it could've used just a little bit more time to make it's thematic storyline rock-solid. The whole Gamora Nebula fight was just entirely lackluster for me due to not having any real reason to feel what the thematic struggle is during that fight. All the themes are there and tangible and nameable but I never felt them strongly reinforced at enough points for my tastes.

MINOR GRIPES ASIDE THIS MOVIE WAS FUCKING GOD TIER AMAZING, LIKE SERIOUSLY HOLY BALLS SO GOD DAMN GOOD.

 

[RODAN]

A surprisingly not-terrible martial arts film

this is such a goddamn blanket statement, there are so many fucking good martial arts films

 

[Crux]

Anna Karenina -

- Strong performances are shadowed by the extremely ingenious way in which this film is shot, though the film suffers from a plot that drags on.

hahahahahaha

 

[kd24]

moonrise kingdom was pretty good but im not sure what you mean by confident performances, all of the children were by far the weakest actors in the film (and i dont hate child actors). wes's style just didn't benefit them i guess.

ip man is about a real guy, you can't really treat it as a story that failed to make him look weak. sure a lot of stuff is added on for extra effect but the guy was a martial artist legend.

 

[Eagle4]

this is such a goddamn blanket statement, there are so many fucking good martial arts films

Forgot to add "Chinese martial arts film", since in my experience they've all been fairly terrible

moonrise kingdom was pretty good but im not sure what you mean by confident performances, all of the children were by far the weakest actors in the film (and i dont hate child actors). wes's style just didn't benefit them i guess.

ip man is about a real guy, you can't really treat it as a story that failed to make him look weak. sure a lot of stuff is added on for extra effect but the guy was a martial artist legend.

About Moonrise Kingdom, let's agree to disagree; the two main children had great chemistry with one another and I think they showed the purity that Wes was trying to convey.

I know ip man is about a real guy, which should mean that the film can show signs of realism. What I was talking about was that when the film wanted to become tense, it couldn't manage that because the protagonist was so unrealistically good at martial arts that the outcome is already known. You can still not make him look weak with him actually getting hit.

 

[Jebus McAzn]

guardians of the galaxy was one of the most unashamedly fun experiences i've ever had at a movie theatre

i do agree that gamora and nebula are not nearly as well written as i had hoped for, but the movie as a whole was sharp and witty and never took itself too seriously

plus the soundtrack was 10/10

 

[TheValkyries]

Well it's not just Gamora and Nebula, it's all of them (save Star Lord) not having their backstories shown in any real way. Each character just has a moment where they say "I lost my family and I am now alone" at some point. Which is sad because outside of that decision the whole storyline of them becoming a family of misfits and losers is fucking GREAT. I used Gamora and Nebula as an example because there was a conflict there that could've been explored to great effect within the confines of the story and enriched it a fuckload more (DESPITE IT ALREADY BEING REALLY AMAZING).

And this stinks because this is a movie that is like really so fantastic that I literally cannot possibly even begin to list all the things I loved about it without basically retelling the movie, except it blatantly had moments where it could've been even better than it already was and that's just such a damn weird feeling.

 

[Eagle4]

RIP Robin Williams. Deeply upsetting :(

 

[antemortem]

I was only really hit by Williams dying once it was on FOXNews, rather than just a bunch of internet articles. That's mainly because some articles were leading me to believe it was a hoax, a token few claiming it was a hoax themselves. But in the end it's just really frustrating to know that we'll never get another new movie with him, not including Night at the Museum 3. :v

 

[Jebus McAzn]

a lot of recent celebrity deaths didn't hit me as hard just because i never really knew about them growing up
but this?
this hurts

robin williams was definitely one of my biggest role models growing up

just watched dead poets society, about to pour myself a drink and start good will hunting

rest in peace, o captain my captain

 

[GatoDelFuego]

Robin Williams was a fucking genius, not just in movies but everywhere. If you don't think so you're just wrong.

rip in peace

 

[Eagle4]

So I watched The Double (2014), Richard Ayoade's new film (director of Submarine, see my avatar), and it was absolutely fantastic. Moving, claustrophobic, beautifully shot and with a superb score, this pips Grand Budapest to my favourite film of the year.

Also saw Calvary which had an incredible third act and beautiful shots of scenery. I also caught on to the allegory for the Irish church and its naysayers. I'd also recommend, though it has a baggy middle section that prevents it from becoming great.

 

[Matthew]

I'm looking for some new movies to watch, perhaps you nerds could give me some titles?

I'm a fan of Westerns, samurai, and kung-fu movies. However my range is broad (I like Waking Life, Three Colors: Blue, Se7en to name a few). I don't know I'm in a movie rut I think and I need to get out of it.