General Movie Thread

[Kev]

Catching up on "Breaking Bad" after hearing so much about it-awesome show.

[Scott R]

Watched "RED CLIFF" yesterday, it took 5+ hrs of commitment but was very well done. I bought this on Blu Ray last year sometime but just got around to watching it and enjoyed it alot. The chinese version is over 7 hrs long. I chose to watch in chinese with subtitles although there is a dubbed version available

[Tight-Lines]

Just saw a trailer for "Cabin in the Woods" written by Joss Whedon... im intrigued.

[RoryQ]

@dcostello - I'm looking forward to that one. Sometimes I think Whedon can be a bit up his own ass and too focused on his pet issues... But on the other hand, I really liked Firefly, a lot of Buffy etc. He's a creative guy.

Watched Tropa de Elite (sp?) / Elite Squad again during the week. Awesome.

[Tight-Lines]

Just bought:

American Psycho (Blu-Ray)

Terminator 2 (Blue-Ray)

5 bucks a piece... Feel like I won the lotto.

[Kev]

Just saw a trailer for "Cabin in the Woods" written by Joss Whedon... im intrigued.

That got great reviews when they premiered it here last week at SXSW- I am also intrigued.

[Tight-Lines]

Ill have to check it out then. See anything at SXSW this year?

[Kev]

Unfortunately not- the film fest was pretty pricey and packed. Also, most of the screenings were during work :(

[RoryQ]

I'm curious about 'Cabin the woods' too. Sometimes I think Whedon gets a bit too clever in his dialogue and attempts to tackle particular issues, but he's got a great feel for what's a compelling story. I read an interview with him where he was talking about the movie and cautioned people to watch out for spoilers - apparently there's a central plot premise that, if you know it too early, ruins the surprise of the movie.

Saw trailer (and teaser-trailer) for 'Prometheus' and 'Total Recall'. 'Prometheus' looks pretty awesome to me - great cast, great visuals... 'Avatar' for grown-ups, maybe. 'Total Recall' I'm a bit more wary of. Looks like it's based more on the Phillip K. Dick source material than the Arnie movie. No bad thing, but to be honest I'm not a huge fan of Farrell lately - seems like he's just on autopilot, making movies to pay the bills but not really capturing some of the excitement of his early roles in the likes of 'Tigerland'.

Speaking of Arnie movies, though - just watching 'The Running Man'. Now there's a classic 80s action movie. Surely its ripe for a reboot or sequel.... I recently read the original Stephen King novella the movie is based on - pretty good, and surprising how good the Arnie movie is, considering it diverges from it pretty radically. Whoever came up with the concept for the movie version actually did a damn good job of it.

[RoryQ]

Saw 'Cabin in the woods' yesterday.

Echos of 'Buffy the vampire slayer', as you might expect from it being produced by Joss Whedon. I mean that in terms of the cast (a lot of regular Whedon actors getting roles) and some of the themes. Whedon is a big feminist, so you've got a subversion of the 'whores get punished, virgins might survive' staple of slasher movie lore. Actually a lot of the reviews and chatter about this movie have pushed the postmodern ironic critique angle of this movie, although to be honest I'm not sure that it's really strong enough to trundle along with all that baggage. This is a clever and fun movie, but I'm not sure it's really the groundbreaking incisive piece of work that some critics would like it to be. Didn't we do ironic reinvention years ago with 'Scream'?

[ShawnPorter]

Did you see the Red Reed review of Cabin? Where he just makes up stuff that happened in the film?

I dunno. I really liked it. Well acted and inventive, but with bad CG.

[RoryQ]

@ShawnPorter

I just googled that review since you mentioned it. Amazing - it's like he didn't actually watch the movie, totally bizarre. He refers to a few things that I can't recall happening, and also seems to have completely misunderstood the whole plot ... There references to a 'game' and 'paying customers' / video game angle seems completely fabricated?

Very odd.

[ShawnPorter]

Oh yeah- PS:

Don't google his review unless you want the movie spoiled. While there is some batshit crazy nonsense, he also gives away a lot of the surprises.

[RoryQ]

One thing: The guy who played Josh from the 'West Wing' has a role. I like that guy as an actor, pity he doesn't feature more elsewhere.

[RoryQ]

Watched 'Ip Man' and 'Ip Man 2' back to back. I'm not normally a fan of kung fu movies, really.... Too much wire-work and although I admire the athleticism I can't get past the fact that it's more like pro-wrestling than what martial arts really look like under pressure... I know I'm missing the point in some ways, but there you go...

That said, these are fun movies. Donnie Yen is pretty compelling. Ip Man, in the movies at least, is a bizarre character. He gets in fight after fight, mostly over points of honour, and nearly leaves his family destitute... But he's still the hero, and everyone loves him for some reason - that reason being that these are kind of like propoganda movies. Ip is always beating the shit out of the japanese or westerners. Sure, he beats the crap out of the odd neighbourhood ruffian, but it's the Japanese Generals and the Western Boxing champions who get the really special treatment.

[CultExciter]

I just watched Lars Von Trier's "Melancholia." Super disappointed in it. "Antichrist" was right up my alley, but this one did nothing for me.

Side note...I think I spend more time on LST than talking to people in real life...

[Androosh]

I just watched Lars Von Trier's "Melancholia." Super disappointed in it.

I felt the same until the Kirsten Dunst money shot. Then I felt alright for 45 seconds. The bummed again.

[Tight-Lines]

Kirsten Dunst money shot.

I see movie now.

[CultExciter]

I see movie now.

It was the only redeeming part. Not trying to be vulgar to the fairer sex, but her boobs are a lot bigger than I thought they would be.

[Androosh]

I see movie now.

I'll save you a chunk of time - google image search it. Turn "Safe" off.

[Tight-Lines]

I bought The Fly and Alien on blu ray for 15 bucks total yesterday.

I feel quite blessed.

[Tight-Lines]

Just did. Now I dont need to see the movie.

[RoryQ]

Watching 'Dirty Harry' again. It's funny, the first time I saw it I didn't realise there is no talking for the first 6-7 minutes or so (just a scream). It doesn't sound like much written down like this, but actually when you're watching it seems like an age.

Harry just badmouthed the Mayor and is generally being awesome.

[Hands On]

People's tastes in movies differ almost as much as music. I tend to find myself taking movie advice with a grain of salt, since I'm not sure if the person I'm getting the advice from has the same taste as me and knows what type of movie I'd enjoy.

To give you a taste of what I'm into, before you take suggestions... a few of my favorite directors are Tarantino, the Coen Brothers, Wes Anderson, Christopher Nolan, David Fincher, and Stanley Kubrick.

That being said, I just watched Pan's Labyrinth for the first time last night and I was pretty captivated throughout. The trailer, the dvd cover, and back of the box synopsis make it seem like a kid's movie, but it's far from it... in fact I'd highly recommend keeping kids far away from the TV while this one's on. The director, Guillermo del Toro, definitely doesn't hold back with the blood and gore. This film takes you on a bit of a dark adventure... if you're into that sort of thing, I think you'd enjoy it.

[Tight-Lines]

Shat my pants first time watching that scene.