What MOVIE(s) have you been....seeing? watching?

RobertB wrote: Reading about all this heavy cinema made me want to expand my horizons, so I watched Live Free or Die Hard. I know I should have looked for Die Hard on Christmas Day, but there was too much football on. It's about as stupid as a movie can get, but Timothy Olyphant and Justin Long do an okay job. The sad part is that my choice at the moment was that or Star Wars: TFA and I chose Live Free or Die Hard.

I actually watched Die Hard last night. As much fun and ludicrous as that movie is, it still surprises me. I think my favorite part last night was the very, very end. After all the completely unbelievable things McClane did during the movie, the one that made me laugh out loud is how he and his wife just get in Argyle's busted up limo and drive away. THE END, muthafucka!

cranberries wrote: La La Land
What did you all think about the ending, and the flashback?

PS- Glad to hear you liked it! We almost went to see it again last night.

I watched Green Room last night. It was OK. I thought it was a pretty decent thriller with a great concept (and a pretty authentic perspective on punks and white power skins), but the extreme graphic violence sort of pushed it away from me. It just didn't need the level of gore to be effective. What was more impactful was the tension of the situation and the latent hostility of it. It was really quite a lot like a 1970s "dirt road" horror film, The Hills Have Eyes or something, but more smartly written. I just don't get the sadism.

Patrick Stewart was pretty good in it, but you just can't shake the Picard off that man.

True. But I think he was effective in that role because we already accept him as an authoritative leader (Picard). It was casting to type, but worked for me.

I agree it was a bit overdone with violence. The initial extreme thing (you know what I mean) had a good impact to let us know the stakes of the situation, and was something I don't think I've seen quite that way before, so I appreciated that (even though it made me cringe hard). But some things after that weren't necessary. I'd have preferred more of the character and tension of the setting/situation to come through.

It was a good year for "a few people stuck in a small space" type thrillers, with this and Don't Breathe and others, but 10 Cloverfield Lane was the best of them.

Grudunza wrote: True. But I think he was effective in that role because we already accept him as an authoritative leader (Picard). It was casting to type, but worked for me.

I agree it was a bit overdone with violence. The initial extreme thing (you know what I mean) had a good impact to let us know the stakes of the situation, and was something I don't think I've seen quite that way before, so I appreciated that (even though it made me cringe hard). But some things after that weren't necessary. I'd have preferred more of the character and tension of the setting/situation to come through.

It was a good year for "a few people stuck in a small space" type thrillers, with this and Don't Breathe and others, but 10 Cloverfield Lane was the best of them.

Can one of you guys just spoiler tag the stuff? I keep reading all these little winks and nods about someone getting disemboweled and I just want to know how bad it is, already. Like, VALHALLA RISING bad?

Can one of you guys just spoiler tag the stuff?

You want really gruesome, check out Bone Tomahawk from last year. Just one scene late in the movie (a pretty decent Western), but man, is it nasty.

Yeah, but I still didn't think that was as thrilling and shocking as when she looks out and sees the red laces and says "they're killing us!" I didn't need the grisly violence to hammer that home.

It's OK for there to be a little gristle and grue, but I just felt like this one went over the top. And some of it crossed over into implausibility, I don't think Amber would have done that to that dude even in a desperate situation- that's a step behind just killing somebody. And it probably wouldn't have killed him that quickly anyway.

That Bone Tomahawk thing was just messed up. I find that kind of gore is really effective when it's somewhat surreal like that.

Bone Tomahawk was pretty good. Don't think I could stomach it again though.

Watched The Magnificent Seven remake. I had low expectations and was pleasantly surprised to discover that not only it didn't suck but was actually good. Training Day wasn't my thing (not into crime/cop movies) so this is probably my favorite Antoine Fuqua movie.

Saw Fantastic Beasts. I enjoyed it, I'll see the next one.

But man, the characters were fucking shitty and lifeless. Redmayne's character was as wooden and nothing as a character I've seen in years. And the female lead was given NOTHING to work with. They're barely characters at all.

Gregarius wrote:

cranberries wrote: La La Land
What did you all think about the ending, and the flashback?

Warning: Spoiler!

I loved it. My wife didn't quite get it at first (she didn't realize it was Jeb fantasizing about all the alternative choices he could have made in the relationship). It was so sad and melancholy, much like the recurring song City of Stars, that it just felt perfect to me. We got into a bit of a debate about whether Jeb ended up happy and/or successful. I felt like he was both, because he had the club he wanted (maybe because he finally compromised on the location), it was clearly popular, and he got to play his kind of music. My wife thought he was a loser because he was still single and living in a tiny (albeit much improved) apartment. I really love how the filmmaker, Damien Chazelle, likes to put the question of the price of pursuing your passion right at the heart of his movies.

PS- Glad to hear you liked it! We almost went to see it again last night.

I was late to see La La Land, but I'd love to talk about this a bit...

The Hunt: Mads Mikkelsen stars in this drama from Denmark. I was hoping that it was going to be about hunting, but that is a limited element that serves instead as a metaphor. The film is actually about a small town kindergarten teacher (Mads) who is falsely accused of exposing himself to a little girl. The story is well-done, showing how so many people with good intentions could put a man through hell. I appreciate that The Hunt is a very good movie, but I found it painful to watch at times, and I generally don't seek out pain in my entertainment. The ending is particularly good.

Dark Shadows: I'm a fan of Johnny Depp but I am somewhat indifferent to the charms of Tim Burton's work. However, Burton does a great job at creating atmosphere, especially in Dark Shadows. With affection for the original show, Burton successfully delivers a mixture of soap opera, comedy, and gothic horror, while also doing a fine job of re-creating the feel of 1972. The cast is excellent. Michelle Pfeifer has never looked better, and Helena Bonham Carter is fun. Eva Green plays a delicious villain, and this role certainly paved the way for her Penny Dreadful show. I hung on Depp's every line, as he delivers his archaic intonations with a droll combination of pomp and menace. Even the lesser cast members are fine, especially Jackie Earle Haley, who I remembered fondly from Breaking Away, though FATties are more likely remember him as Rorshach in Watchmen. Alice Cooper also shows up, playing himself. Thanks to his usual stage make-up, he is able to pass for a much, much younger version of himself. Sadly, Dark Shadows loses its charm in a big set piece battle near the end, though it recovers somewhat at the end.

Barney, I think you made the same mistake my wife did.

Shellhead, I agree with you about The Hunt-- Good, but painful to watch. I've been a big fan of Mads Mikkelson ever since Hannibal, so I enjoy seeking out his performances.

Gregarius wrote: Barney, I think you made the same mistake my wife did.

Warning: Spoiler!

That's not *her* vision, it's *his.* They're all his regrets.

He should have kissed her at the restaurant, not bumped into her. He should have ignored John Legend and focused on her. He should have gone to her one-woman show to cheer her on and bring all his friends. He should have gone with her to Paris. If he had done all of those things, her life would have still been as successful, but now *he* would be with her instead of whoever that guy is.

I think it's easy to put yourself into her perspective because that's where the film places you up to when they walk into the bar. But as soon as the lights go down and it zooms into Jeb, you're in his mind.

However, I do agree with you that they never seemed to have a really strong "love" chemistry. They seemed more like great friends than lovers.

oh WOW, that changes everything.

Dark Shadows is really underrated...that was the best Tim Burton movie since...I dunno, Sweeney Todd? It's fun, it's camp, it's goth, it has great music...lots to like about it.

I watched the old Ralph Bakshi Lord of the Rings movie the other day, I haven't seen it in a long time (20 years?). I know there are folks that think it is somehow "better" than the Jacksonian take...but fuck's sake don't kid yourself. It's TERRIBLE. The animation is sometimes decent but the rotoscoping is inconsistent, the mediums don't match, and the effects are awful. Underexposed dudes in halloween masks, really? The abridgements are sloppy, the voice acting is dreadful, and it's just BORING. The Rankin-Bass Hobbit and Return of the King at least had some character and FELT like Tolkien.

I've always remembered it fondly and was looking forward to watching it again with my son, who is all up into LOTR right now...but it bored him too.

We watched all of the Jackson Hobbit movies over the holidays while we were laid up...I think those films have sort of settled into an "OK" standing with me. There is a lot I like about them, but the King Kong Peter Jackson is just too much in it. I've also realized that the first movie is actually pretty good overall. It's the second film where it sort of tanks, and almost ALL of the blame is squarely on everything to do with the elves. They SUCK! Lee Pace is terrible, I'm not sure Evangline Lilly was aware of what film she was in, and Orlando Bloom is kind of just hanging out to collect a check. And then that whole weird dwarf/elf romance thing...so forced, zero chemistry. But then when the elves go away, it's OK again.

Second the elves in terms of terribleness is Beorn. Good god, that man's makeup. Who told the makeup artist "We want him to look sort of like Captain Caveman". Actually, ALL of the makeup in the three films is HORRID. Whoever did makeup and hair on Bard should have been fired.

The third movie is technically a disgrace. But it's a guilty pleasure disgrace. At that point, the film series is just completely off the rails and stuffed with filler that didn't didn't to be there. But it is, I think, Peter Jackson saying "fuck it, I'm going to make a WHFB movie". The Battle of Five Armies is so over the top and ridiculous that you can't help but enjoy it. WERE-WORMS. Billy Connolly. That giant deer thing. Cave Trolls out the wazoo. It's just overblown madness, but it's at least fun and obnoxious. I really enjoyed watching it again, but on the same level as a Riddick film or something, not as a Great Film Version of The Hobbit level. I mean, that scene where Elrond, Saruman and Galadriel battle the Ringwraiths...SERIOUSLY? But you can't help but have fun with it, as long as you let go of the disappointment that these movies aren't LOTR again.

But like I said, there are a lot of high points. Martin Freeman is awesome. Ian McKellan is awesome, of course. The entire first hour and a half is just about LOTR level. Gollum is great again. Smaug is done well. I kind of like expanding Lake Town a bit.

So I guess I've made my peace with them, and I do think that all things considered they are not nearly the disaster that the SW prequels were. Just a different kind of disaster.

Fun drinking game- take a shot every time someone is falling in the film. That is the primary mode of traversal.