The All Purpose Movies Thread

[xpgeek]

I thought I'd start another thread with the intention of just generating some talk among members. Completely understandable that only a few people wish to participate in my political discussion thread. So, the one other thing in the world that interests me just as much as politics and computers; movies. I am a total movie buff.

So without further ado, the all purpose movies thread. Any member feel free to just chime in and talk about movies and or actors/actress's. See a movie in the theater or on tv, like it, hate it, care to say a few words about it. This be the place.

I used to create whole posts a lot about a specific movie, fancied myself an amateur critic, but I haven't done it in quite a while because I just haven't felt like it. Writing long posts in the form of a review that is, too much effort.

So no rules here, say as little or as much as you like. "I saw (name of movie), it sucked!" would be fine for an entire post for example.

[xpgeek]

So I'll start.

I saw '300' (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416449/) in the theater last week. Yea its what it looks like, somewhat, a big budget well filmed action flick for guys, lol, but it is more then that on many levels too. Its an epic, and its a borderline masterpiece. And has one of the strongest female characters possibly in movie history too. She didn't have that many scenes, the queen of Sparta character, but the ones she did were all fantastic, and one especially that literally made the entire audience cheer in the, strength, that she shows. So its not entirely just a guy movie either, its really not. Can't wait to see it again.

I rented a movie called 'The Quiet' (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0414951/) today. It was, different, not exactly what I expected. Better then I thought it would be in some ways, but some of the story points and writing is just, so cliche'd and kind of, eh, I don't know. Its got some very mature story points tho, ie; domestic violence and incest, not one for the kids. But it lost points for Shawn Ashmore's character, the guy that played Iceman in the X-Men movies, man the film would have been so much better if he just wasn't in it. Not that he was bad, but his character, was just stupid.

So anyone see any new movies lately?

[xpgeek]

Just watched 'Eragon' (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0449010/). Wasn't expecting it to be that good, the critics pretty much trashed it, so did a whole lot of user reviews, but damn I enjoyed that. I've never read the book, so I can't compare it to it, but I really enjoyed it. I really liked the whole story of it too, a dragon is nothing without its rider, and I didn't think any of the performances were that bad either, which is a lot of peoples complaint. Its no Lord of the Rings, but I really enjoyed that.

[Neo, Knock, Knock]

I thought "the Quiet" was a pretty good flick, but bias tho, Elisha Cuthbert is in it and a fan since watching "24", Girl Next Door, and House of Wax. Thought Camilla Belle did a great job in movie as a mute. Would recommend the movie.

Has anyone seen "Match Point" with Scarlett J.? Now that is a good movie but disturbing at the end, enough said

[zimagirl79]

I'm not gonna have much to say here just yet....I get movies and never get around to watching them. I've certainly watched a lot of kids movies lately though. Haven't actually been to a movie theater in a long while. I'm thinking the last movie I saw in a theater was Failure to Launch, maybe early last year?

[wawadave]

saw I robot on tv for first time rather enjoyed it! read the book 30 years ago. so cannot say with accuracy how close they are. did not really like the human actor playing the cop. to no class swearing oriented rap jive on his part. i do remember the cop in the book actually had class. but thats allso something missing else where other then movies.

thats as close to a modern movie i have any thing to say on today.

[FisionChips]

I enjoyed I Robot too - but though Eragon was pants - sorry - read the book first, my problem :oops:

I did a mini review on Hoodwinked, one of the funniest films I've seen in some time.

Hoodwinked (http://www.experiencewindows.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1582)

[wawadave]

pants?like in male? some uk term that eludes me. like ming and bling.

[xpgeek]

I loveee I-Robot. Yea Will Smith's character was kinda, standard action hero character, but I love the storyline so much. The robot Sonny had so much, depth, and human emotion and curiosity, some of the scenes where hes just talking are just beautiful and touching.

[FisionChips]

pants?like in male?

Not quite - pants as in shreddies, knickers, draws, underpants, skimpies, thongs... get the gist? :lol:

I've read the whole Robot series and thoroughly enjoyed them.
If you like that Xpgeek and you like really sensitively written science fiction try Ursula Le Guins Left Hand of Darkness - fabulously written book.

[xpgeek]

Just rented 'Children of Men' (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0206634/) last night, finally. Been quite the hot rental and was out of stock everytime I went to get it for a week.

I wanted to see it badly because even tho it didn't do all that well in the theater, it got amazing reviews from almost all critics and users, and still has an extremely high rating on IMDB. Well they were all right. Its a masterpiece, but a masterpiece on several different levels at once too.

The camera work, the way it was filmed, is a masterpiece in itself. The director makes great use of these longg entirely single take shots, which is damn hard to do too in a big film. I actually noticed it too a few times as I was watching, just realizing, hey the cameras been rolling for ten minutes here without a single edit or cut, its just one long take, using one camera at that. Amazing accomplishment of film.

And the story line is just, profound, is the word I am using. Its a world not very far in the future, but a completely collapsed society. But everything about the world is very tied to things really happening in the world today, terrorism, immigration, human rights, the erasing of democracy, which all just make the film very real, very, possible. Without giving anything away I'd just say, the film is about hope. Out of complete chaos and surrender, hopelessness, comes hope.

A lot of people will not like it, think it an 'artistic' film, not put much thought into it, and just not like it. I'm surprised soooo many people did like it as much as me actually. Theres a lot to think about in the film, a lot to take in, a lot of subtle meanings and messages being conveyed by the filmmaker, but I definitely got it. I found it emotionally moving, and just profound, its truly just a beautiful film, I give it a solid 10.

Going to see 'GrindHouse' (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462322/) today probly. Looks good actually. Looks cheesy, a guy movie, hot chicks, fast cars, and needless violence galore, but it just looks like a fun movie. Will let know what I thought.

[xpgeek]

Went to see 'Grindhouse' (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462322/) today.

Grindhouse is two movies back to back, Robert Rodriguez's 'Planet Terror', and Quentin Tarantino's 'Death Proof'. I feel I should review them one by one here.

The first one, 'Planet Terror', comes off as a tribute to the classic zombie movie. Its bloody, its comically disgusting, its, everything it looks like it is from its trailer. Sadly tho, it was actually kind of stupid. I get it, classic zombie movie, but its not like the genre has died, we still get zombie movies all the time and they all follow pretty much the same classic formula for a zombie movie. So it really just felt like yet another zombie movie, wasn't all that special, wasn't all that great, and, thats about all I have to say about it really. It was ok, but it was kind of stupid.

The second film, 'Death Proof', on the other hand, is a masterpiece. This one comes off as a tribute to the classic car movie, such as 'Dual', 'The Hitchhiker' (the original that is), and of course 'Vanishing Point'. Kurt Russell is a stuntman serial killer, who kills his victims by using his car as a weapon. This is a real tribute to the classic movies of its type. And its also classic Tarantino style, meaning long dialog scenes, where the characters just talk to each other, and talk, and talk, but the dialog is just so well written that you could just listen to them talk for an hour. This is classic Tarantino, he writes incredible character dialog. Won't say too much about it and give anything away, but 'Death Proof' also has what has got to be one the best car chase scenes in movie history, and one of the most satisfying endings. The entire audience, and me as well, just applauded at the end of 'Death Proof'. It was awesome ! I'd actually really like to see 'Death Proof' again, but wouldn't want to have to sit through the first film again to get to it.

For the movie as a whole, it being a double feature named Grindhouse, it came off very well as what it is supposed to be. A real tribute to the classic film style of grindhouse cinema. It has cheesy 1970's looking 'feature presentation' screens, a couple of fake movie trailers before it and between the films, and a very grainy, scratched film, look throughout, this done purposely. There was also a few 'missing reel' scenes, where it would seem the film has broken, or been cheaply horribly edited, and the word 'missing reel' just appears on screen for a few seconds. Interestingly, the only scenes that were missing reels were obvious sex or excessive nude scenes, and I have to wonder if they will be included at some point on a special edition DVD.

Overall, its an experience. If you just sit back and let yourself enjoy it, it does feel like you're watching a classic double feature from the days of old. As I said the first film was stupid, and the second a masterpiece, but overall as the entire package that 'Grindhouse' is, its the most fun I've had in a movie theater in years.

One final afterthought as well, Tracie Thoms (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1139632/), who people might remember from 'Rent', who is one of the main characters of 'Death Proof', was FANTASTIC here. I can't wait to see 'Death Proof' again just to see her incredible performance again.