Media itt: movie/film discussion - Beware Spoilers

[Adamant Zoroark]

Critic are professionals with degrees please respect them. Thank you.

This doesn't mean that critic opinions will match your opinions.

Case in point: Into the Woods.

I saw this movie recently, and all I wanna say is HOLY FUCK IT WAS SO FUCKING BORING. I thought a mix-up of all these stories I read as a kid would be entertaining, but it wasn't. It took too long to pick up steam, and by the time it did get interesting, I was already desperately waiting for the movie to just fucking end. I fell asleep halfway through it because it was just a giant bag of anti-fun. In addition, the musical parts were just cheesy - and not the "So bad it's good" kind either. I've walked out of movies that were better than this one, like The Purge. I'd rather watch The Purge than this shitfest.

When I got home from that shitfest, I looked on Rotten Tomatoes and was honestly shocked that the movie got good reviews. How could some boring-ass Oscar porn get good reviews? But I mean, there have just been so many movies that I hated that critics gave good reviews of (Spider-Man 3, Crystal Skull, Star Wars Episode III, Avatar) to the point that you may as well just ignore what the reviews say. Although, if the movie wasn't screened for critics, maybe you should be a little suspicious...

tl;dr: Go see a movie because you think you'll like it, not because of what the critics say.

 

[vonFiedler]

This doesn't mean that critic opinions will match your opinions.

Case in point: Into the Woods.

In addition, the musical parts were just cheesy - and not the "So bad it's good" kind either.

Are you trying to make me reverse my previous stance on JA just out of spite? Cause if so good effort.

Into the Woods hardly got glowing reviews, considering this musical comes from the same guy who made West Side Story (94% RT) and Sweeney Todd (85% RT), and when compared to recent snooze-fest Les Mis, mostly inspired in its casting and cinematography. What I get from your post is that you probably just don't like musicals, as Into the Woods is peak Stephen Sondheim. Often called the greatest lyricist to ever live, the man has won more Tony, Grammy, and Laurence Olivier rewards than you've probably even heard of. He holds the Pulitzer prize for drama and Presidential Medal of Freedom. There's only one award he's eligible for and never won, and that's because the Stephen Sondheim Award was named after him. No less than 5 major celebrations were held just because he turned 80, involving tons of performing artists and the renaming of a nearly hundred year old off-broadway theater in his honor. But then again, he doesn't really need to worry about what most critics say, as he's the only person who has a quarterly critical magazine dedicated entirely to his work.

Into the Woods is a seminal work in Sondheim’s career. Statistically, it is the most frequently performed of all his shows. On the one hand, that makes perfect sense. It’s a musical about fairy-tale characters in a fantasy setting that seems perfect for children of all ages. On the other hand, it pushes the boundaries of that fantasy setting into adult realms that resonate with honesty, confusion and, at times, qualified resolution. In other words, it’s a lot like life.

Get wrecked son.

 

[some hero]

I'd like to praise GotG in this thread. I recently watched and became obsessed with it. I've always valued cgi more than the average person and i'm willing to look over the bad parts of a movie if the quality of the cgi can keep me believing in the world i'm supposed to be watching. Despite being beautiful that way, my favorite scene was definitely in the end when John C. Reily got home from work to his wife and child. Normally i'm more prone to be more emotionally connected to lower life forms in movies and I get emotional when they get killed or hurt and rarely care when a human(or humanoid) character goes through something painful. Even if I can relate to him or have felt connected to him so far in the movie. But despite being a movie so reliant in a beautiful world/setting and making sure you see how beautiful, different and unbelievable it is the scene of a couple of humans showing affection towards each other had the most impact on me. They didn't have to include the scene after the ground battle with the accuser and all the people around them acting as the victims in peril. I'm glad they did because it pushed this movie to one of my all time favorites.

I saw interstellar and it was a fun watch with a couple of emotional moments(and fuck where have I been this mcconaughey has turned into a beast actor since I last saw him in Sahara) but overall I was pulled out from the movie near the end. It's a problem I have with sci fi movies that I try ignore to enjoy them. The way immortality is treated as something so fucking impossible when most movies show shit we shouldn't be doing before we cure death. I understand that it's probably done because they are movies and they would be difficult to do if everyone could be revived but damn it hits me so damn hard sometimes. Interstellar was a casualty. But eh I enjoyed it otherwise.

 

[TheValkyries]

Saw Kingsman: The Secret Service today and I have to say that it's fucking fantasticcccc. The movie just works on so many damn levels, and is a whole ball of awesome hilarious fun.

This movie is just a gigantic middle finger to all the recent spy characters with hyper edgy realist Daniel Craig Bond or Jason Bourne or Jack Bauer (and the script knows it and acts it). It revels in mocking their seriousness and packs a ton of spoofy references and comedy all over the place instead of the grimdarque gravitas of the Spy genre as of late. But instead of just being a great Galaxy Quest level spoof the movie goes out and writes a better plot with loftier themes and goals about classes and privilege. And they top it by having some of the best fucking action sequences in recent memory. Seriously the direction for the action scenes is so refreshing compared to the Michael bay inspired hectic cuts from 30 angles. The scenes tend to pan more to show breadth and movement and follow the action through a hectic environment leading to a more fluid and clearly defined sequence. This movie is just an achievement man. A pure achievement.

Pulpy as fuck with a heart of gold. 7/10 perfect movie, best sheckle in the bazaar.

P.S. Samuel L. Jackson's character being squeamish about violence and blood is such a brilliant meta joke.

 

[Eagle4]

Saw 6 films released in the UK in February this year. They were (in order of me liking to disliking it):

1. The Duke of Burgundy -

- Evocative and provocative, The Duke of Burgundy is an astounding work of art; Strickland takes an intriguing plot and masterfully weaves it into a gem filled with a fine mixture of uncanny eroticism and unexpected sadness. One of 2015's best films so far, and one of the best films I've ever seen about love.

2. Selma -

- February's first great film comes in the form of Selma. While its enjoyability occasionally wavers, it's never an uninteresting watch, strengthened by a fantastic Oyelowo performance and its ability to move without manipulating.

3. Jupiter Ascending -

- Are there any directors working today that are currently more ambitious than the Wachowski siblings? On this basis, perhaps not, as the directors' latest flick has all the initiative as their last flick, Cloud Atlas, though not quite the same handsome payoff. Beautiful, wildly entertaining, and balls-off-the-walls crazy, Ascending has all the potential to become a cult classic.

4. Big Hero 6 -

- Ignoring early expositional problems, a few plot holes and a lack of unpredictability, Big Hero 6 is a very funny, very charming and very entertaining animation that services its target audience near-perfectly.

5. Kingsman: The Secret Service -

- For all of Kingsman's entertainment values, it's an infuriating watch. Ridden with snooty stereotypes, frustrating sequences and incoherent plot points, it's an absolute necessity to turn off all brain cells if you want to watch this muddled mess.

6. American Sniper -

-
Diabolically lifeless. Unforgivingly misinformative. Brimming with uninteresting characters caught up in a script as stilted as some of the ex-marines. Yet the flick's biggest downfall is its lack of any emotional, and more importantly, political heft; American Sniper misses the target by quite some distance.

February was largely a disappointing month for films in the UK. The Duke of Burgundy is fast-becoming my favourite film of the year so far (If I had to rank my top 3 at this current moment, it would be 1. Inherent Vice 2. The Duke of Burgundy 3. Whiplash). Selma was also a very good film and Oyelowo really was shockingly snubbed at the Oscars. Jupiter Ascending is much better than critics make it out to be, and crazily ambitious. It saddens me that Big Hero 6 won the Oscar when Lego Movie wasn't even nominated, but eh, it's not a big deal. I reckon both reviews of Kingsman and Sniper will irritate some Smogon users, but it's genuinely how I feel about them.

March looks even worse for films, but I hotly anticipate retro-horror 'It Follows', Blonkamp's latest, 'Chappie', and Ryan Reynold's 'The Voices'.

The other, non-2015 films I saw in February were:

Short Term 12 -

To the Wonder -

The Illusionist -

Moon -

Moonrise Kingdom -

- rewatch
and Kahn's short, Power/Rangers -

 

[TheValkyries]

5. Kingsman: The Secret Service -

- For all of Kingsman's entertainment values, it's an infuriating watch. Ridden with snooty stereotypes, frustrating sequences and incoherent plot points, it's an absolute necessity to turn off all brain cells if you want to watch this muddled mess.

Given how I just splurged over this movie and talked about how brilliant and intelligent it was could you possibly elaborate on your perspective more? Which sequences were frustrating and why? What plot points were incoherent? What's wrong with the snooty stereotypes?

 

[Eagle4]

Given how I just splurged over this movie and talked about how brilliant and intelligent it was could you possibly elaborate on your perspective more? Which sequences were frustrating and why? What plot points were incoherent? What's wrong with the snooty stereotypes?

Ya sure. While there's no denying that Kingsman contains some entertaining moments - the church scene is the best action sequence of the year so far, and the blade-legged villain is great fun - there's a difference between the enjoyability of a film and its quality. Kingsman is obviously not meant to be taken seriously, but that doesn't mean that that point can be used as a safety-net for over-the-top ridiculousness. The first act, which involves an introduction to both the main antagonist, Colin Firth, and the main character, already contains a ton of problems. Samuel L Jackson feels out of place during the entirety of the film, hamming it up with a lisp that's more annoying than endearing. His motivations are cliched, though that can be forgiven due to the type of film Kingsman is. With the main character, a problem arises with how both his family and his gang is portrayed - incredibly unrealistically. It seems as if Matthew Vaughn (who I'm a fan of by the way, Kick-Ass was great and X-Men: First Class is one of the best superhero films I've seen) took all the different exaggerated tropes of a lower-class Brit family and concocted them into a thinly-scripted and one-dimensional set of characters. I largely found their portrayal irritating - and it really took me out of the movie. As Firth's character enters, the film picks up a little, but I have no idea if the director was going for anything emotional when Eggsy was being threatened by his dad? It worked for Kick-Ass during Nicolas Cage's death, but I felt no sentimentality towards Eggsy or any of the other characters during the runtime of the film.

The scenes that really should hit more hard emotionally - you know the one in particular I'm talking about valkyries - lose their emotive heft due to the mindless violence surrounding it.

Which is another problem I have with the film - the mindless violence is largely entertaining - but both is used for the sake of it rather than to carry an overbearing sense of dread, as with Kick-Ass, and grows tiresome as the film runs along. The third act in particular is guilty of this, though I'll get on to that later.

The second act follows Eggsy and Roxie and all the other aspiring Kingsmen-wannabes as they go through their training course. It's entirely unpredictable, though not without its sparse funny moments - the puppy that Eggsy chooses was the most I laughed during the film. One plot point that makes little to no sense is the final challenge - surely it goes against everything that the Kingsmen have stated as what's the morally correct thing to do in a situation. Innocence, teamwork... they're thrown right out of the window. It's a jarring moment that irritates me to no end. What follows is the church scene in all its glory, partially-reinstating my faith in the film.

Aaaand then we get to the final act. My god, the final act is insanely dumb. I can imagine Vaughn writing his script, rubbing his hands with glee and cramming the act with as many Michael Bay-esque indulgent plot points as he can. I'll be honest and say that I was close to walking out of the cinema. The whole idea of being carried up into the Earth's atmosphere by two hot air balloons in order to launch a missile at a satellite isn't necessarily bad or over-the-top on its own. But when you match that with the 3rd act's other ridiculous moments (such as the fireworks sequence), it becomes a little too much. Yes, I know the film isn't taking itself seriously, but that's 1) a hinderance to the general quality of the film and 2) only acceptable if character development and emotional heft is taken into account. For the duration of the 3rd act... I felt nothing. Yes, I was bamboozled and wowed at what was occuring on screen, but I wasn't thinking 'man, I'm enjoying this'. The act relied wayy too much on coincidences and last-ditch interventions by different characters for me to appreciate the film's script - surely there are cleverer ways for the film to reach its plot points. Then there's the sequence where Eggsy is running from and attacking the assorted guards. The guards are often less than a yard - less than a yard! - in front or behind Eggsy, often at once, and they can't manage to shoot him. There's taking liberties for the sake of a plot, and then there's that.

And alas, the ending leaves a horrible aftertaste. Kingsmen did well to establish strong female characters with the inclusion of a non-romantic protagonist and a bad-ass partner to the antagonist, and subvert the sexist connotations often associated with the spy genre (Bond in particular is plagued with them). But then to leave on an anal joke is... it destroys everything that the movie had set up beforehand.

 

[vonFiedler]

Today I learned that Eagle4 is not Mack the Knife. And I had been wondering when his parents started letting him see R-rated movies...

 

[GatoDelFuego]

eagle4, I get that you said this is truly how you feel about kingsman, but I'm just not understanding your criticisms of it. Looking at the films that you're a big fan of, perhaps it just wasn't the film for you? I know a long time ago you said you really hated pacific rim--there's a big difference between having to 'turn off your brain' to watch a film that really is nothing but explosions (i.e. transformers 4) and a film that's not supposed to be taken seriously, sure, but damn sure isn't phoning it in. You have to admit that a great deal of work went into every aspect of kingsman; it really is a great example of what action films can achieve if they actually focus and try. Instead of trying to pick apart the underlying motivations for absolutely everything, you should just relax or somethin.


I've seen kingsman 3 times in 2 weeks, and I enjoyed it heartily every time. Like I said, it really should serve as an example to future action flicks. It's either taking a big trope from spy/action films and reversing them or playing it up to the extremes. All the characters really seemed to mesh into their roles, the writing was great not so much in the way that every line was a laugh but it really flowed throughout the whole flick, it has excellent sound/music work (hearing Dizzie Rascal's Bonkers during the joyride, KC & the Sunshine Band's Give it Up while everyone starts killing each other or pomp and circumstance while Barack Obama's face is exploding, that's just amazing), and all the shots as valk said were devoid of awful cuts and wanted to show well-crafted scenes. I don't know how it's really possible to not have a good time while watching it :/

 

[Eagle4]

You're right, films like Kingsmen probably aren't for me. :( Having said that, I did enjoy Kick-Ass and that bares many similarities to Kingsmen (mainly the moral ambiguity), though I think I appreciated the character depth and more serious tone of the film. I guess I feel like a film has to be more than flat-out-entertainment and contain a little more substance for the viewing to be worthwhile for me, which is a shame, as I know I'm missing out on a lot of enjoyment due to my inability to suspend disbelief. (I also disliked Avengers and GotG partially due to the same problems).

Despite all that I am REALLY looking forward to Mad Max: Fury Road, which looks both entertaining from an action perspective and aesthetically beautiful.

 

[TheValkyries]

See the problem I have with your line of thought is that it basically relies on the principle that being campy or ridiculous or over the top automatically detracts from the quality of the film or how seriously it's taking itself.

All of the campy elements and ridiculousness of the movie is a direct contrast metatextual joke about the spy genre as a whole. It's mocking their overinfatuation with "realism" and "grit" by doing an old school spy thriller but without apologizing for the fact that spy thrillers at their core are supposed to be indulgent. This movie is fundamentally a spoof movie, but its one that takes itself VERY seriously and carries off its central spoofing conceit wonderfully.

I mean you say you're irked by the generic stereotype of Eggsy and all of his local friends and foes, but that would mean you miss the underlying point of what Colin Firth was saying throughout the whole film. He argues a Kingsman (read: a true Gentlemen), does not come from circumstance but from character. And Eggsy's stereotypical backdrop and eventual rise to being a Kingsman is natural, and when he dons the suit it's not the poor kid wearing the rich clothes, but a Kingsman claiming a place he's always had. Or maybe you did catch that thematic undertone and then you just decided to ignore that and claim this movie doesn't take itself seriously? I mean the snobs versus plebs theme is so omnipresent and well articulated that it's hard to really see how you can dismiss it as a movie with low intelligence.

And this may rub you the wrong way, but getting overly caught up in the "WATCH OUT FOR SEXISM" of the anal joke kind of misses the point... It's a joke that preys on the blatant misogyny of bond films, while being self-aware and conscious enough to make the swedish princess a fleshed out character before hand and the act consensual. Eggsy doesn't assume anything in return and his opening gambit is "can I get a kiss". Could they have set the joke up better by showing the swedish princess getting horny locked up in isolation for months to make you feel better or something? IDK man, all the men in a rush to call "SEXIST" on a female character who is depicted as being sexual kind of feels like the pots calling the kettle black. News flash: Women can have sexual agency.


EDIT: P.S. the suits were stated to be bulletproof, and thus "essential equipment for any gentleman spy." They even have shots in that end sequence where you see Eggsy take a few shots but keep moving.

 

[vonFiedler]

So Valk got me to see Kingsman on account of it basically sounding like the spy flick equivalent of G Gundam. Was I disappointed? Heeeeell no. Could easily be the best movie I see all year. Really well fucking done in almost every way.

Spoilers

But regarding how I knew that Michael Caine would be a bad guy, well...

Hide

There's only one true Once and Future King motherfuckers

 

[TheValkyries]

GAH fuck the G Gundam analogy is PERFECT. Why didn't I think of that?

 

[Texas Cloverleaf]

Watched Kingsman the other day and totally agree with all the praise it received, however...


The anal joke was terrible. It made zero contextual sense and pulled me out of my suspension of disbelief.

Problem 1: Why is she offering anal? How can she expect it appeals to him? It's not a sexual act the majority of the population engage in so what does she expect to gain from suggesting this? If it's her own desires surely she's better off asking once the act has already began?

Problem 2 (the big one): Offering of anal provides zero motivation for Eggsy. None. He's already getting sex. HE'S ALREADY GETTING SEX! You don't motivate someone getting sex by offering them more sex!! At this point in the film Eggsy already has the ultimate intrinsic (saving the world) and extrinsic (sex) motivators he can have and offering anal fails to augment that in any way.

Problem 3 (A tiny one): She's been established to have a command of the English language, the princess would say ass not butthole smfh


Anyway loved the movie but the joke and final shot were far too heavy handed for my liking.

 

[vonFiedler]

If not everyone does it, then that's all the more reason that it's a greater reward. If Eggsy didn't like it, he could at least appreciate the thought and haggle down to normal sex. If he does like it, or is even just curious about it, then yes it is a greater extrinsic reward. Are you under the impression that the greatness of sex caps off when two people engage in vaginal intercourse? That's like someone who can cook burgers for themselves, and doesn't understand why it'd be any better to learn how to cook a proper filet mignon. And if you are interested in a wide variety of niche to "fucked up shit" sex acts, then every person you can find who is also into those things is absolutely rewarding.

Anal is somewhere between common and uncommon, so most people understood all this. I think after the church massacre it's a little late to be prudish, but even those who don't practice anal are often curious enough to get the gist of where this scene is coming from.

 

[some hero]

Why do you guys talk about movies not everyone has seen. I rarely see movies at the cinema...

Anyway, Big Hero 6 is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Or one of the few movies bad enough I had to stop watching. And I don't do that often because I always lower my expectations according to the film so I can enjoy most of them. Big Hero 6 was an abomination and made me feel like I was watching a movie intended for 5 year olds. Jesus fucking Christ that is hard to do because animated movies are my favorite genre. It's incredibly hard to entertain adults with the limitations of also being appropriate and entertaining for kids. Big Hero 6s' dialogue in the opening minutes is so fucking terrible. I get it, we need exposition but it felt so forced to me. I'm sure the younger crowd won't notice. And that's where it felt lazy and like it was really intended for a very specific audience. Or maybe I just hate that guy doing the voice. It was irritating as fuck. I only saw two of the other movies nominated for best animated film, but i'm sure every single one of them was better than this crap. Obviously i'm in the camp that feels that the Lego Movie was robbed.

 

[TheValkyries]

We talk about them in hopes that people go watch them because they are good and awesome and deserve talking about?

 

[vonFiedler]

Why do you guys talk about movies not everyone has seen. I rarely see movies at the cinema...

Neither do I, but Kingsman was worth it. It was also on the IMDB top 250, which I'm currently and slowly trying to watch in its entirety.

Speaking of which, anyone feel I should go see Whiplash before it's out of theaters? It's #6 on my list, but by the time I'd get around to seeing it it will be in that limbo after movies are out of theaters but before they are dvds.

 

[Eagle4]

Speaking of which, anyone feel I should go see Whiplash before it's out of theaters? It's #6 on my list, but by the time I'd get around to seeing it it will be in that limbo after movies are out of theaters but before they are dvds.

Oh please do, Whiplash is fantastic. It may not carry as much weight as some of the heavy-hitters at the Oscars this year but it is incredibly entertaining and has 1) One of the best finales of any film I've seen and 2) a brilliant J.K. Simmons performance.

On another note, what films are everybody looking forward to coming up in 2015? For me it's a toss-up between 'Mad Max: Fury Road' which looks stunning, and 'The Light Between Oceans' which is Derek Cianfrance's new drama starring Fassbender and Weisz.

 

[vonFiedler]

Fuckin' Chappie.

 

[GatoDelFuego]

It's like blomkamp took scenes from a hat from his previous films and combined them. I actually want to see CHAPPiE...to laugh at its writing.

"Do you know what's a black sheep??"

"The prohblem with ahtificial intehligence is it's just wahy to unprehdictable"

 

[vonFiedler]

How fucking dare you

I can guarantee such brilliant lines were entirely ad-libbed by Ninja and Yolandi.

Those guys? They are playing themselves in Chappie. If you aren't legitimately excited in a way you haven't been for any movie ever, you just are some weird alien.

 

[TheValkyries]

I meeeean avengers 2? Fast and Furious 7 because fuck yeah??!

Also I've seen 4 different trailers for chappie and I swear to god they aren't trailers for the same damn movie. I have no earthly clue what that movie will be in any way.

 

[vonFiedler]

So I've been watching two movies from the IMDB Top 250 a week. Good list of the objective quality of movies in order? Fuck no, but it's at least impartial and mostly full of good movies so it's a good place for ideas.

Anyway I just figured I'd give my thoughts on some of the movies as I watch them, starting with a bit of a backlog. If I go out of order, it's mostly because I had seen almost 2/5 of the list already.

#3 The Godfather: Part II & #17 Goodfellas
I had seen Godfather I long ago and I was like "ehh, it's ok". My friend told me that Part II is the one everyone likes, well, IMDB doesn't corroborate that as Part I is #2. I guess I did like Part II a bit more, because of the De Niro scenes. I also bring up Goodfellas because I feel largely the same about both; they are ok. Like, I can see why people like these movies, but I have no clue why so many of them are soooo critically loved. They just kind of meander. Goodfellas is a true story so ok, but, someone still decided to tell it. Godfather has all the good mood, but Goodfellas has the style. I'd also say Goodfellas has the better acting, I know it should be close but I don't really think it is. Then again Goodfellas also has really bad narration.

#22 City of God
I skip to segue into this because it's another gangster movie. I really thought this would be same shit, different setting, even halfway through. But no, eventually it really picks up steam and goes somewhere very interesting. The final scenes are just so bam, really stunning. It's very disparate at first, but it all really comes together in a way that a montage of people getting killed just doesn't do for Godfather imo.

#6 Twelve Angry Men
I saw a high school production of this starring my best friend (who is still one of my best friends), so I'm a bit biased but I thought the acting here was really good, but only as good as that high school production. Though I'm probably wrong. Anyway the script is just that solid, I don't know what I can really say about it as a movie.

#13 Forrest Gump
This was just enjoyable as shit. I don't know what it means but almost every moment was very impactful and in a variety of ways. Gump is also such an enjoyable character and he's acted very well. This one merits some time and rewatching to really understand it I feel.

#20 Seven Samurai
I honestly think this is a just a more enjoyable movie on a behind the scenes level than to actually watch. For a 3 and a half hour movie it could certainly be more boring... it's just very over the top in how depressing it is. I would not have been surprised if halfway through a peasant literally got shit on. Well, the tone is there, and action is kinda realistic, but not super realistic, I mean this is 50s Japan.

#23 Se7en
I really loved this one, I also really love Fight Club by the same director. It just flows surprisingly well for a serial killer movie, something interesting is always happening as opposed to characters just being mopy all the time. For a while I didn't think it could be as subversive or thought provoking as Fight Club, but the interactions with the killer at the end pulled out the good stuff in the nick of time.

#25 The Silence of the Lambs
I just wish more movies had titles as good as this. This one's very much like Se7en in everything I praised it for, but I think even better. It has a real literary quality, and as a single scene the part where she is describing the slaughter of the lambs is the best of any movie in this post. Quite poignant.

#27 Once Upon a Time in the West
In almost every way, not quite as good as The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly; which is faint criticism. The actors are great, but their characters aren't as iconic. Everything works, but just a little less. I'd love to call it a good movie, but it's also ridiculously sexist. The female protagonist fucks the villain who killed her husband just because she likes man's touch that much, and the movie ends with a quote that if a railroad worker cops a feel, they deserve it. Like, wow.

#28 Leon: The Professional
Uniqueness is almost impossible and also overrated as fucking shit. But human interaction is so incredibly complex that if you're gonna stumble upon something unique, it's probably gonna be the relationship between two characters. Think Terminator 2. Mathilda is hardly typical, but also very obvious in her motivations and the reasons she does things. Leon however is brilliant. Show him as an amazing silent assassin at first, but slowly reveal him to be this awkward and put upon guy. Leon never crosses into the realm of pedophilic fantasy. This is a character who is more interested in treating Mathilda as a child, too good with kids to really be a convincing partner to one, and more than wise enough to know that giving into Mathilda's fantasies would be bad for her. Yet at the same time, there's the slightest temptation of a man beyond desperate for any kind of human contact. Put these two in a hitman training and revenge story, and the results are just amazing. You can def see where one segment from Fate/Zero got its influence.

 

[TheValkyries]

I should do the same thing Von's doing so we can argue for twenty pages and I also haven't seen a lot of those movies.

Of those I have seen 4.

12 Blatant Play Adaptation is okay as a movie but the script really carries it.

I've always had a special place in my heart for hating Forrest Gump. Granted I haven't seen that movie in years but something about a happy go lucky idiot having everything go his way because he's nice and kind or something just really grinds me the wrong way. The best thing I can say about it is that it's a great story in the sense that it just has good vibes mojo.

Silence of the Lambs is just... So fucking good. Just damn. Love that movie.

Se7en was kind of meh for me. I guess I was expecting more substance to it or something but it plays more like an overbloated crime procedural episode. Side-effect of noir I guess. Ending was fucking fantastic but it doesn't carry the kind of weight or substance for me to really enjoy it a second time through. Just a bunch of dudes being way cynical and none of them really believing in anything and being selfish/self-centered makes for little conflict imo.