Last Good Movie You Saw

[Gyaruson]

This was always when of my favorite threads from the Old Country, so I thought I'd resurrect it. Talk about any film you recently saw and why you think it's awesome. I suppose you could talk about movies you just saw and didn't like, but that wasn't the title of the other thread. Either way, discuss movies.

 

Just saw 127 Hours. Not the best Danny Boyle film I've seen, but James Franco is absolutely amazing in it. The film is slow-going, but it needs to be in order for the climax to have any emotional resonance. I don't think it's actually possible to make an engaging film where there is only one character and he is stuck in one location, but I don't think any living director could've done a better job than Boyle did.

 

Oh, and "the scene" is gripping as hell. Seriously, I started sweating and my heart was racing. Intense.

 

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Sorry if there is already a thread like this. I looked but couldn't find anything.

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

Black Swan. If you've liked any of Aronofskys films... go see this. ASAP.

[Gyaruson]

Black Swan. If you've liked any of Aronofskys films... go see this. ASAP.

 

Planning on seeing it as soon as it comes to my city. It sucks, I live in a decent-sized city and also a major college town, and we still get the shaft on movie releases. Ugh, I fucking hate Marcus Theatres.

 

Next on my list that is actually in my city is True Grit and The Fighter.

[Mister Jack]

I saw Megamind a good while back. I'd say it's worth seeing once, but I still liked Despicable Me more. I'm also a fan of the concept of supervillain protagonists so I may be a little biased toward it.

[Gyaruson]

I saw Megamind a good while back. I'd say it's worth seeing once, but I still liked Despicable Me more. I'm also a fan of the concept of supervillain protagonists so I may be a little biased toward it.

 

I really didn't like Megamind, or Despicable Me. I thought Megamind "borrowed" waaaaayyyyy too much material from other sources, and that from the minute the movie begins you know how it's going to play out. It just wasn't very fun. The animation was amazing though. My top animated films this year are still Toy Story 3 and How to Train Your Dragon. Haven't decided which I like better, but I'm leaning towards TS3. Really, just because they have 15 years worth of my emotions to play with, and they do it ever-so painfully.

[RadiantViper]

I saw Harry Potter 7 Pt 1 a couple of weeks ago, I liked it a fair bit. It kinda helps that I hadn't read the book in a while, because if you see the HP movies and the book is still fresh in your mind, the movie sucks in comparison. Regardless, I liked the acting and I didn't think the pacing was as bad as people say.

[Gyaruson]

I saw Harry Potter 7 Pt 1 a couple of weeks ago, I liked it a fair bit. It kinda helps that I hadn't read the book in a while, because if you see the HP movies and the book is still fresh in your mind, the movie sucks in comparison. Regardless, I liked the acting and I didn't think the pacing was as bad as people say.

 

Up until about two weeks ago I had never seen a Harry Potter movie. But, my friend kept ranting and raving about how good this latest film was, so he and I have been going through them all on DVD. I've watched the first four, and I must say that had the other films not been so easily available, I never would've gotten past the first two in theatres. Chamber of Secrets in particular is one of the worst pieces of crap I've ever had the displeasure of watching. Seriously. Such a shitty movie. Goblet of Fire, on the other hand, is actually quite good. What really bothers me so far is that they feel the constant need to validate their fantasy-ness. Like, "Look, we have a dwarf for a banker! Bet you've never seen that before. Oh, and we have ghosts roaming the halls. KOOKY!"

 

Like, yeah. I get it. Harry Potter is a fantasy franchise. No need to remind me of that every ten seconds. Also, arbitrary magical nonsense that only gets used when it's convenient to the story annoys the hell out of me. Oh, Hermione can travel through time because of this necklace that she's had but never bothered to use/mention until this moment. Well that's fortunate. I hate the feeling that they are creating bullshit just for the sake of an easier way to tell the story. I'm sure that it's all in the books, so I really blame JK Rowling for her shitty writing.

 

Oh, and I was able to look past most of the Lord of the Rings comparisons until I got to the character "Wormtail" who is the right hand man to the big super bad dude. Seriously? Wormtail. Sounds nothing like the right hand man of the bad guy in Lord of the Rings. His name was Wormtongue. Tongue... tail.... Totally different. Oh, and Death Eaters are totally just Ringwraiths. Super lazy writing.

 

Beyond that, I look forward to seeing the rest of the films. I really don't expect much out of these things, so when I am entertained I really am surprised and happy.

[RadiantViper]

Oh, Hermione can travel through time because of this necklace that she's had but never bothered to use/mention until this moment.

 

She only got it starting with year 3 because she wanted to take more school courses than actually possible. She didn't mention it because as soon as you start talking about the magical time travel device, everyone's gonna want one - it's supposed to be a secret, for a good reason. She has used it before it's shown, chronologically.

 

So yeah, in the movie it kind of comes out of nowhere. But in the book it keeps getting mentioned that Hermione seems to be in multiple places at once through the school year.

 

(Not trying to convert you or anything It's just this is more of a case of the movie versions leaving stuff out. I see your point on the rest)

[CorgiShinobi]

Without getting too involved on the matter, there's something that has bothered me about the Harry Potter series: the spells.

 

Not necessarily the spells themselves, but how limited everyone's scope is when it comes to using them. Hermione became one of my favorite characters because she, you know, can use magic! She's doing what a student of Hogwarts is suppose to do: learn! Harry, Mr. Chosen One, uses a variety of spells that can be counted on one hand.

[D-K]

The first pc game of Harry Potter is actually pretty fun, worth a download.

 

Last good movie I saw? Fired Up

That movie has me in stitches everytime. There is so much chemistry between the male leads it's ridiculous. I seriously laughed my ass off at this film. Also, there are chearleaders EVERYWHERE.

 

How High I've also seen recently, very funny. Stoner humor, Method Man and Redman are great together.

 

Iron Man 2 I thought was shit.

 

Watched Ong Bak 1, 2, Tom Yum Goong and Ong Bak 3. OB1 and T.Y.G being the best.

 

Press Start, the low-budget gaming movie was better then I expected. The budget consisted probably of a box of pretzels and buttons, but at least the jokes were fresh. Lots of references to 90s games; final fantasy, zelda, metroid, etc.

 

I was also gonna watch this porno that was said to have an amazing storyline and great production values, but I forgot what it's called. I sometimes watch porn just to laugh at dialogue, the titles alone are often worth a giggle.

[Cyber Rat]

I watched Dark City a while back. It's excellent.

[D-K]

I watched Dark City a while back. It's excellent.

 

I've been wanting to see that, but everytime I feel like checking it out, I don't. I get the feeling the special gfx are terrible for some reason, what say you?

[Cyber Rat]

I watched Dark City a while back. It's excellent.

 

I've been wanting to see that, but everytime I feel like checking it out, I don't. I get the feeling the special gfx are terrible for some reason, what say you?

 

I don't think the special gfx got in the way of it because everything looked more mechanical than computer generated (everything is 60s style retro future). I thought it was good, got a bit slow in the middle but then it went back to being good again.

[diedan]

Dark City is one of my favorite movies ever. The director's cut is magical.

 

Discussed this in the Netflix thread, but Valhalla Rising was the last brilliant movie I saw. It's a bit like if you took Werner Herzog, gave him some acid, and then told him to make a film about religion in 1100 AD. Sooooo good!

 

Also, I can't wait to see Black Swan. The Wrestler pissed me off so much that I'd like to get some Aronofsky craziness back in my mental frame.

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

I thought The Wrestler was pretty crazy. It just wasn't visually crazy.

 

Valhalla Rising is on Netflix. I'll check it out later.

[Gyaruson]

 

Oh, Hermione can travel through time because of this necklace that she's had but never bothered to use/mention until this moment.

 

She only got it starting with year 3 because she wanted to take more school courses than actually possible. She didn't mention it because as soon as you start talking about the magical time travel device, everyone's gonna want one - it's supposed to be a secret, for a good reason. She has used it before it's shown, chronologically.

 

So yeah, in the movie it kind of comes out of nowhere. But in the book it keeps getting mentioned that Hermione seems to be in multiple places at once through the school year.

 

(Not trying to convert you or anything It's just this is more of a case of the movie versions leaving stuff out. I see your point on the rest)

 

 

 

I knew it was used earlier in the film (she kept showing up everywhere) but it's lazy writing to include some mystical, all-powerful device for one film only and never discuss it again. I mean, there are countless times that it could've been used in Goblet of Fire but nope, it never made an appearance because the writers needed something to make Prisoner of Azkaban work properly. I just hate how they create whatever is convenient at the time, and not what would actually make sense given the scenario. Like, (again with the LOTR analogy) Frodo was given the light from Galadriel halfway through Fellowship, but he never actually has to use it until halfway through Return of the King. Plus, he wasn't given it and told "Use this when you encounter Shelob." It was a gift for helping the Elves.

 

I think Harry Potter suffers the most from having so many different writers/directors. It must be so hard to take over a series that four other directors have had their hands in.

 

I know you're not trying to convert me, nor am I trying to get you to admit that it sucks, but I just think that it could be so much better than it is. It's pretty much just Baby's First Lord of the Rings, in my opinion.

 

Also, Dark City is kick ass. There is some really wonderful, thought-provoking ideas in that film; particularly the concept of people not being in control of their lives, but rather their lives/actions/desires being a product of their memories. Really cool stuff in that film.

 

Oh, and Fired Up was hilarious. No one ever believes me when I say that it's funny, but I watched it on Netflix on a whim one day and was thoroughly entertained. Same with The Goods, starring Jeremy Piven. That movie is super funny too.

[Mister Jack]

I saw Megamind a good while back. I'd say it's worth seeing once, but I still liked Despicable Me more. I'm also a fan of the concept of supervillain protagonists so I may be a little biased toward it.

 

I really didn't like Megamind, or Despicable Me. I thought Megamind "borrowed" waaaaayyyyy too much material from other sources, and that from the minute the movie begins you know how it's going to play out. It just wasn't very fun. The animation was amazing though. My top animated films this year are still Toy Story 3 and How to Train Your Dragon. Haven't decided which I like better, but I'm leaning towards TS3. Really, just because they have 15 years worth of my emotions to play with, and they do it ever-so painfully.

 

I'll give you Megamind, but why didn't you like Despicable Me? When it comes to family movies, not liking one because you know how it goes seems like it might be a tad unfair. There's only so much you can do with these movies and still keep them family friendly. There has to be a happy ending, character development has to be age appropriate for young viewers, and only the ballsiest of family films will kill anybody besides the villain. Even most Pixar films, with some exceptions, don't have a whole lot of surprises. The fun isn't really in being surprised most of the time with movies below a PG-13 rating. It isn't ALWAYS the case, but by and large that's just how it is (unless you go back to old movies, when the G rating meant something totally different). Did you feel the movie just had no charm or likeable characters? I would personally disagree on that point, but I could understand it.

 

And I did love How to Train Your Dragon. I thought it was better than even one or two of Pixar's movies, but it's another case of knowing how it will play out. Boy finds dragon, boy befriends dragon, his dragon hating dad finds out, boy and dragon save the day, dad becomes more open minded, happy ending. It's been done a million times, but that doesn't stop it from being one of my favorite movies this year.

 

Toy Story 3 was incredible, of course. And that one actually couldn't be predicted so easily. But Toy Story 3 tends to be the exception, not the rule.

[StrifeROKs]

TS3 was overrated.

 

There, I said it

[Gyaruson]

 

I saw Megamind a good while back. I'd say it's worth seeing once, but I still liked Despicable Me more. I'm also a fan of the concept of supervillain protagonists so I may be a little biased toward it.

 

I really didn't like Megamind, or Despicable Me. I thought Megamind "borrowed" waaaaayyyyy too much material from other sources, and that from the minute the movie begins you know how it's going to play out. It just wasn't very fun. The animation was amazing though. My top animated films this year are still Toy Story 3 and How to Train Your Dragon. Haven't decided which I like better, but I'm leaning towards TS3. Really, just because they have 15 years worth of my emotions to play with, and they do it ever-so painfully.

 

 

I'll give you Megamind, but why didn't you like Despicable Me? When it comes to family movies, not liking one because you know how it goes seems like it might be a tad unfair. There's only so much you can do with these movies and still keep them family friendly. There has to be a happy ending, character development has to be age appropriate for young viewers, and only the ballsiest of family films will kill anybody besides the villain. Even most Pixar films, with some exceptions, don't have a whole lot of surprises. The fun isn't really in being surprised most of the time with movies below a PG-13 rating. It isn't ALWAYS the case, but by and large that's just how it is (unless you go back to old movies, when the G rating meant something totally different). Did you feel the movie just had no charm or likeable characters? I would personally disagree on that point, but I could understand it.

 

I dunno, I just didn't think it was funny. Nor was the story all that compelling. And I personally disagree with the not being able to dislike an animated movie because you know how it will play out. The last two Pixar films have kept me on edge and engaged the entire time - Toy Story 3 in particular left me wondering how they were going to get back to Andy up until the point where they were rescued from the fire. That was straight up intense.

 

I guess for me it's all about whether or not I am able to connect with the characters. Even though Wall-E was predictable, it's still a favorite because of just how damn likable that robot is. Same with How to Train You Dragon. I relate with Hiccup. I get his struggle, so I am that much more into the film. With Up, you were immediately a part of this couple's lives, and loved their love for each other. By the time ten minutes has passed, you're practically in tears. What other film - animated or not - can say that?

 

The best part of Despicable Me was the little worker things, but the movie wasn't about them. They were like Scrat from Ice Age. They make the movie better, but they don't make it good.

[Mister Jack]

I liked the characters, but I guess that's just something we'll have to disagree on. And the beginning of Up was certainly brilliant, you'll get no argument from me. I'm not trying to tear down Pixar, I'm just saying that a lot of their movies---and I did mention that Toy Story 3 was an exception to this---use standard genre conventions in their storytelling.

[D-K]

I don't understand why Up is rated as highly as it is. It took me three attempts to get through it, and the movie felt uncoordinated to me.

 

hmm..

[c hoertjes]

Because you don't feel emotions.

[StrifeROKs]

Why does everyone love TS3 so much?!? It was ok. I enjoyed it. It definitely was better than 2, but it wasn't great. I just don't get it...

[c hoertjes]

Because you don't feel emotions...?

 

I don't know, I'm a Pixar fanboy so you probably shouldn't listen to me, but I thought TS3 was possibly their best movie to-date.

[Gyaruson]

I don't know, I'm a Pixar fanboy so you probably shouldn't listen to me, but I thought TS3 was possibly their best movie to-date.

 

This.