Last OK Movie You Saw

[TheFlyingGerbil]

Watched Paul as it was on TV. I can't say there was anything wrong with it I just don't particularly like the humour in it. Spaced is the favourite thing I've seen Simon Pegg in, but the bits with Nick Frost were my least favourite in that so I guess I was never going to love any of the films they made together

[Luftwaffles]

 

It's a documentary about the US's occupation of Iraq, free on Netflix. 

 

I'm not really sure how I feel about it yet. Granted, it came out in 2007, and its subject content may have been slightly more fresh in everyone's mind then, but I caught myself throughout the entire film just going "yeah, alright, the Bush administration was incompetent, whatever". The interviews were good, and I'm not even going to pretend it didn't push a message; it just didn't feel quite as relevant now as it may have upon release. Or maybe I'm just overly apathetic. 

 

Also a personal pet peeve of mine that came up in this a few times: when the director/interviewer interrupts or argues with the person he/she is interviewing. Keep your trap shut and make your point when the interview is done. 

[staySICK]

The Wolverine.  It wasn't too bad.  I was surprised by it.

[deanb]

The Wolverine also (about a week or so back now)

I'd say the main flaw with it isn't hugely one of the film but how I watched it, which means none of the Japanese had any subtitles and I assume there was meant to be some cos there would sometimes be whole conversations.

 

Other than that it was enjoyable. Not as terribad as Origins (which at least has a neat game) but still quite clearly further "Hugh Jackman as Wolverine" fodder.

[staySICK]

Yeah it threw me off when the Japanese wasn't subtitled. Hopefully in the release it will be.

Big ninja fight was pretty rad.

[danielpholt]

Berberian Sound Studio

 

What did I just watch? There's an interesting film here somewhere, but it ends up coming out a complete mess, which is a shame as the cast is great.

[Waldorf and Statler]

Oldboy (2013)

 

As far as remakes go, it was pretty good. It loses some of its foreign charm so it's not as enjoyable. But it's pretty divisive as is. Twist is a bit sicker. But god damn the third olsen is HOT AS SHIT

[Hot Heart]

Captain America: The First Avenger (and his conveniently multi-racial team!)

 

Probably as good a Captain America film as you could've hoped for, really. It does the character setup well, and includes some of the Asgard/Tesseract stuff while telling a simple old-fashioned tale of a hero. It just couldn't escape the overall feeling of, well, being boring. I did find myself wishing it had focused more on Peggy... Also, none of the action seemed to flow very well; it felt too cut together to be satisfying. Some of the humour was good though, and I did enjoy spotting all the actors from other things (that new one from Doctor Who, evil Thorin, Margaery Tyrell...)

[TheMightyEthan]

Hmm, Captain America is probably my third favorite in the series after The Avengers and Iron Man 1. Though I haven't seen Thor 2 yet so that one might rank higher.

[Hot Heart]

I'd put Thor 2 in 2nd and Iron Man 1 in 3rd.

[danielpholt]

Avengers aside, I'd probably have Thor 2 as my favourite Marvel movie. That being said, I struggle to rate the series above a 'yeah it was okay' sort of grade.

[TheRevanchist]

Wanderlust.

 

This movie is full of laughs, but there was something that really made me not love this movie.  Then, later in the movie, it dawned on me.  Paul Rudd.  I remember the other movies I've seen him in.  I don't like him at all.  He brought down the movie that had some great comedic talent in it (people from The State, Jordan Peele, other people I recognize).  Too bad Paul Rudd brings down everything he stars in, or I would actually have liked seeing this movie.

 

On that note, they also do a good job at keeping Jennifer Aniston from getting to annoying levels.  Kudos to that, as well.

[Hot Heart]

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

 

Not as bad as I thought it'd be. Sort of feels like the first part of Scott Pilgrim but made into a whole film, and not as bizarre. You've got Michael Cera, the bass player in his little band. That whole music scene. You've got the pining over an ex-girlfriend. You've got the gay friend. It's enjoyable in a light sort of way, if you like the two leads. That said, at least structure-wise, there is a whole fucking twenty minutes at the end that don't even need to be there. That and the "Maybe we're the pieces" bit makes me want to puke.

[staySICK]

I enjoyed that movie.  It was pretty good.

[Hot Heart]

Double Whammy

 

Another film that was marked for removal from Netflix, though this one was actually alright. An early 2000s indie-type (but silly) comedy with Denis Leary, and a whole bunch of other recognisable faces and or cool people; Steve Buscemi, Chris Noth, Luis Guzman, Donald Faison, Liz Hurley. Keith Nobbs and Maurice Compte (Mike's sort-of Cartel equivalent in Breaking Bad) do a great job, too, though.

 

Just a silly, slightly odd comedy in which Leary's detective makes a fool of himself when a madman attacks a fast food restaurant he's in and his back gives before he can fire. He then falls over and gets knocked unconscious while some little ginger nerd grabs his gun and shoots the guy, becoming a local hero. Though it then branches off into side stories regarding a chiropractor (Liz Hurley) that he starts seeing, Luis Guzman and his stupid daughter who manages to...I'm not sure, but she really wants a tattoo to fit in with these stupid girls at her school and so goes to these psychos who also agree to kill her dad, or just kill her dad anyway but not because of that usual crime drama reason of love, they just felt like doing it. Basically, that whole side to the story is so dumb, it drags it down a bit. Plus, it has some weird loose thread with another police detective knowing the daughter was involved and saying as much, yet the scene's right near the end and has no purpose besides undermining setting up Leary as the hero (which the story does at the end when he stops the psychos). Anyway, it's got Donald Faison and Keith Nobbs as these funny screenwriters, and the interplay between them is really good, and there's some silly, light humour throughout, so it all made for an OK watch.

[TheMightyEthan]

Elysium. It had a lot of potential it just didn't live up to.

[danielpholt]

Elysium. It had a lot of potential it just didn't live up to.

 

Some really nice weapon designs though. I just wish the dialogue wasn't so unforgivably clunky.

[TheMightyEthan]

The dialog didn't even bother me, it was the plot.  And the whole "resolution" at the end didn't even make any goddamn sense.  And why was that exo skeleton even part of the movie?

[deanb]

I've just watched it too. The dialogue I couldn't tell you if it was too great or not as I only know English, meaning for the most part I could only follow the plotline between Max and Spider and everyone else was using french, spanish and Kruger. Kruger was a decent villain, apart from my giggling when he was looking for a young gentlemen that had not long being in that woman's "arse" and later when he was wanting a "waff".

 

As expected from a Blomkamp film the effects were top notch and quite glitsy, I see in a few spots it looks like they used Matt's exoskeleton as a harness for a steadicam which was kinda neat. In fact some of the camera angles in their fight on the bridge/gangway near the end was pretty cool, definitely from a camera attached to one of them. Weapons weren't as cool as District 9. Which I do feel like watching (alongside lamenting the lack of any further series of Invasion)

 

I would guess, based upon the opening text and the not-so-unsubtle allegories of District 9, it was meant to have a "message", but it seemed kinda muddy. Apart from the shuttlecraft being shot down in cold-blood at the start and the CEO's dismissive nature towards MAx's radiation poisoning there's not much going on in the "super rich are bad mmmkay" of the film. I guess the evils of capitalist healthcare versus a socialist one?

 

@Ethan: He was weak from radiation poisoning, the exoskeleton carried him through the film. *snigger*.

[TheMightyEthan]

I understood what the exoskeleton did within the confines of the story, I just don't understand from a writing perspective why they felt the need to include it.

[staySICK]

RoboCop. I pretty much agree with this i09 article http://io9.com/the-robocop-remake-will-shock-you-being-being-so-damn-a-1521566212 except I wouldn't call it "so damn awesome."

[Hot Heart]

Finally bothered to watch Iron Man 2. Definitely not as bad as I'd been led to believe, but not exactly great.

 

Does the job OK. You get some cool-looking action, some humour, drunken Tony duking it out with someone else in a Stark suit.

 

As much as I love Sam Rockwell, I can't say I particularly enjoyed his scenes. They just felt too silly. Hur, hur, he doesn't understand Russian. Why didn't he hire a Russian translator in the first place? And how he can afford and organise a whole prison break/abduction plan but not get the guy's damn bird? Maybe those are odd things to pick up on, but if the audience is given time to consider that stuff then your scenes are too long/numerous or not serving the right purpose.

 

In fact, it might've been better if the Justin Hammer character hadn't been so villainous and instead used to do more to explore that 'one man has control over this amazing weapon' idea that was introduced early on. Would've been more interesting than the guff with the 'new element' and SHIELD's idiotically underhanded way of dealing with Tony's potential collapse.

 

Additionally, I don't think I would've found IM3 quite so 'weird' if I'd seen this beforehand. Both do share certain similar elements but 3 was at least more entertaining despite its many flaws.

[Strangelove]

Are the new Spider-man movies popular? I never hear anyone talk about them, even here. My friends dont mention them and a lot of people on forums seem kind of neutral about it.

I personally never saw the last one and Im not seeing this new one. And its for a silly reason too.

Spider-man has been my favorite superhero since I was a kid. I grew up with the cartoon and the movies came out during my teenage years and I loved them, even the third one is ok in a ridiculous way.

That being said, I felt this new series of films came way too quick. I know why they did it, but its still too soon. I figure Ill catch up on these in a decade, when they should have come out.

 

Anyways, do people anticipate these new Spider-man movies like they anticipate the other Marvel movies? I feel like they dont, but it could just be my own views being projected. I geek out over Avengers, Xmen and Batman stuff. I think a lot of people do.

 

The funny thing is that if McGuire, Simmons(I find him to be essential to the franchise) and Raimi came back, id be all over it. Despite Spiderman 3.

[deanb]

It was a re-telling of the tale we already had with Mcguire but now with different actors. Garfield is alright and all but it just feels all kind of lazy.It is as you say way too soon. I felt as a film it was pretty bad too, lot of very convenient plot elements, and they're trying this whole "oooh, what conspiracy involves the Parker family and Oscorp?". I can't even remember how it ends, my memory of the film stops with The Lizard picking up Spidermans camera with "Peter Parker" written in big letters on the back. Also who looks at Sally Fields and goes "yeah, Aunt May". And I can't see it going too well given the new film already has three villains and strong hints and the full Sinister Six.

[Hot Heart]

I liked Amazing Spider-Man. It wasn't great or anything, but I think it did some more interesting things with the character relationships and the humour and action were better (well, SM3 had some inventive sequences and was hilarious in mostly the wrong ways). It seems to be setting up a more varied universe.

 

You can tell it's rushed (Sony were in danger of losing the rights) and so it does have a few problems, which the Honest Trailer pokes fun at rather well, but I still preferred it to the Raimi ones. And that's where your mileage may vary. I don't much care for those films because they never felt like the Spider-Man comics I'd read, nor do I like Tobey McGuire or Kirsten Dunst. Plus, I didn't really think the films explored anything interesting compared to this one.

 

If you look at all the stuff that Marvel are doing, you can see that everyone else is trying to step up their game and I think ASM is trying (but not always succeeding).