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2014 MOVIE OMNIBUS THREAD

RIPPA

By RIPPA
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caley

caley

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Ran down a few flicks recently, myself.

 

The Slams: 70s blaxploitation flick with Jim Brown as a guy who steals $1.5 million from the mob, then gets sent to prison.  The two gangs who run the prison feud over him, hoping to get his money.  His escape plan is actually pretty clever, except for the last part which seems a little haphazard.

 

Zero Dark Thirty: Dunno why I took so long to get around to this but it was excellent.  I'm actually a little surprised after seeing it that it didn't win Best Picture at the Oscars as, while I really liked 'Argo' a lot, this kind of did a better job of being a more zeitgeist-y movie.  Jessica Chastain was excellent.

 

The Wind Rises: Purportedly Hayao Miyazaki's last movie, but I was a little let down by it.  It's about a guy who designs planes in 1940s Japan but I felt the central message: that he loved making planes but resented making planes for the military is dashed away rather quickly by a supporting character's off-hand remark.  The animation is beautiful, and the dream sequences are neat, but I missed the fantastical element of most of Miyazaki's work, this almost always takes place in the real world.  The sound effects (planes, earthquake, propellers etc.) were mostly done using just voices which was kinda cool.  Amazing voice cast, too: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Martin Short, Stanley Tucci, Mandy Patinkin, William H. Macy and, best of all, Werner MF'in Herzog!

 

Teddy Bear: I've had this on my DVR since last August and finally got around to watching it this week.  Stars Kim Kold (AKA the big awesome bad guy from the last Fast and the Furious movie) as a lonely Danish bodybuilder who lives with his mom and decides to venture to Thailand to find himself a wife.  Him and his mom have a really weird, off-putting relationship that probably not enough time is focused on, and the pacing of the movie is glacial, but the love story is really sweet and Kold's a mesmerizing screen presence.  I dug it.

 

Grown Ups 2: Man, the first Grown Ups was really not something I enjoyed but, so help me, I actually kinda liked this one.  I think I appreciate the way that there is virtually no plot whatsoever, the plot is so flimsy that, if you didn't know better, you'd assume this was a weekly TV sitcom because everything in the plot has that little effect on people's lives and the solving of its "problems" comes about with no effort at all.  For instance, Kevin James' character is skipping out on work to sneak over to his Mom's place to be babied by her because he feels neglected by his wife.  When his wife finds out, she says I'm sorry I'm going to try harder and that's it, problem over, story arc done.  But I liked that because it was just basically watching these goofy characters interact with other goofy characters for no real reason other than to say/do amusing things and get every one of Sandler's friends involved: David Spade, James, Chris Rock, Allen Covert, Peter Dante, that guy with the lazy eye, Tim Meadows, Shaq, Steve Buscemi, Nick Swardson and an endless parade of SNL cast members: Andy Samberg, Colin Quinn, Jorma Taccone, Bobby Moynihan,Cheri Oteri, Melanie Hutsell, Ellen Cleghorn, Jon Lovitz, and Maya Rudolph.  Also, Steve Austin is in it.  It's not good, but it was a mildly amusing 90 minute diversion when I wasn't feeling well and the end is just ludicrous and entertaining.

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jaedmc

jaedmc

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Jae, what was up with the run of Jake Gyllenhaal movies?

It took me a second to figure what you were referring to. I was trying to find Enemy on icheckmovies, because the search function sucks. So I ended up seeing a list of Gyllenhaal movies(which doesn't have Enemy on it!!!) and noticed there was some stuff I've seen in the past that should be ticked. I watched Bubble Boy years ago - it was fucking bizarre so it might be better than you'd think it would be.

 

Also after watching Enemy, I realized I've been spelling his name incorrectly FOR HIS ENTIRE EXISTENCE.

Zero Dark Thirty: Dunno why I took so long to get around to this but it was excellent.  I'm actually a little surprised after seeing it that it didn't win Best Picture at the Oscars as, while I really liked 'Argo' a lot, this kind of did a better job of being a more zeitgeist-y movie.  Jessica Chastain was excellent.

 

I love Zero Dark Thirty despite the story being total fantasy horseshit. Once you decide to watch it like it's just a movie and not some document of historical facts it's really one of the best movies from that year - so much better than the abysmal Argo. I think it suffered because people either had a difficult time reading it, or let political pundits influence what they thought the movie was about. To me it's a pretty honest look at our mentality right and wrong(lots of wrong) during the whole escapade. The ending is so satisfying with that shot of Maya on the plane. The power to go anywhere in the world, do whatever she wants, and there's fucking nothing.

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Swift

Swift

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Ah that explains it. I actually thought you had said something to your wife that nobody else in the history of the world has ever uttered... "Alright love, time for a Jake Gyllenhaal movie marathon tonight!"

 

Actually, I like him, and thought he was very strong in Prisoners, whereas Jackman seemed to get most of the accolades.

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jaedmc

jaedmc

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There's nothing wrong with Jake Gyllenhaaaal. Well except for Prince of Persia and he was still pretty cute in that. With his little puppy eyes. Who's a good little prince of persia? yes you are. yes you arrrre.

 

Did I mention I got to see The Holy Mountain on the big screen last month? Yeah. That happened. 

Oh did you hear about this:

 

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Swift

Swift

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I keep meaning to to do a top 5 of the previous month, and seeing as it's a week into April, I might as well start now.

 

Top 5 movies watched for the first time in March

 

1. Space Dive (Barr, 2012) This is a documentary account of not only Felix Baumgartner's dive from space, but the months leading up to it in preparation and training. It's an amazing story of what humans can achieve when they put their minds to it. It's incredibly tense, even knowing how it turns out. Actually, there's a part where he's in training, where they're at a high altitude in an airplane preparing to jump out and his jumping partner removes his oxygen mask waiting for Baumgartner to follow. Baumgartner ends up hesitating for a minute, and his partner, unbeknownst to anybody, starts suffering from hypoxia. You see him slowly getting woozy and suddenly he loses his grip and falls out of the plane. He manages to open his parachute halfway through his descent, but when he gets to the ground, he can't remember a single thing from the experience. One second he was in the plane, the next he's opening his parachute. So fricking scary.

 

On the day of the dive when Baumgartner goes up, it shows his mother crying and it's hard not to feel emotional too, even though, again we know how it ends. And then, when he does jump, it's so incredibly breathtaking. Just beautiful. It's on (Canadian) Netflix. Definitely worth checking out.

 

2. The Grey (Carnahan, 2011) I spoke about this the other day in this thread. Like I said then, much better than it had any right to be.

 

3. Police Story (Chan, 1985) I've barely seen any Asian cinema. It's something I'm trying to remedy. This was amazing. That part at the start with all the cars ploughing through that shanty town is great, Chan hanging off the bus is great, the guys flying out of the bus window, basically every stunt in this movie is great. Just pure fun cinema. Unfortunately, the sequel was nowhere near as good. Also, I was surprised that one of the women in here (Maggie Cheung) was later the stunningly, gorgeous woman from In The Mood For Love.

 

4. Eyes Without A Face (Franju, 1960) Though I'd heard of it, this was recommended by Jae after I posted about how much I loved Almodovar's The Skin I Live In. For those that don't know, this was the movie the latter was based on. This horror movie probably doesn't have quite the same impact now as it would have originally, but it's still pretty creepy and unsettling. The score is excellent and only adds to that eerie mood. I'd also like to mention Franju's 1949 documentary short Blood of the Beasts on the Criterion disc. It's a no-holds-barred view inside a slaughterhouse. I don't eat red meat anymore, but if I did, this film would likely change that. Disturbing, and yet intriguing, film.

 

5. Haywire (Soderbergh, 2011) & World War Z (Forster, 2013) A 2-for-1 because both movies were ones that seemed to be thrashed when they came out, and yet I thought they were both a lot of fun. What was the reason for the World War Z hate? It was based on a book or comic book, right? Was it just that it did disservice to the source material. As a stand alone, I thought it was very good. The females I watched it with were genuinely on the edge of their seats, scared shitless. What more could you ask for in a scary movie? As for Haywire, I'm slightly biased, because it's not often I see an action movie in locations I know (my hometown of Dublin). "Oh she's in that Burger King we were in last year" You New York/LA/Chicago guys probably don't know that feeling ;)

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BrianS81177

BrianS81177

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The Blob is being remade by Rob Zombie last I heard. Of course it won't have the awesome physical effects of the '88 one, I'm sure. This is yet another great relic that probably needs to be left alone.

I'm not opposed to it being re-made with some of today's effects but jesus of all people Rob fucking Zombie? How does he keep getting to direct movies? Lords of Salem looked like shit and made, what, $100 in theaters?

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Lawful Metal

Lawful Metal

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The Blob is being remade by Rob Zombie last I heard. Of course it won't have the awesome physical effects of the '88 one, I'm sure. This is yet another great relic that probably needs to be left alone.

I'm not opposed to it being re-made with some of today's effects but jesus of all people Rob fucking Zombie? How does he keep getting to direct movies? Lords of Salem looked like shit and made, what, $100 in theaters?

I looked it up. Zombie ain't making the blob; he made Lords of Salem instead. No idea who has the rights now.

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Brian Fowler

Brian Fowler

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The Blob is being remade by Rob Zombie last I heard. Of course it won't have the awesome physical effects of the '88 one, I'm sure. This is yet another great relic that probably needs to be left alone.

I'm not opposed to it being re-made with some of today's effects but jesus of all people Rob fucking Zombie? How does he keep getting to direct movies? Lords of Salem looked like shit and made, what, $100 in theaters?

Lords of Salem was actually pretty good.

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Curt McGirt

Curt McGirt

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I thought Lords was good but I was pretty baked which obviously helped. It's not something I'd be likely to watch a second time but hey, under the circumstances. 

 

WWZ was another one watched with friends, I had extreme misgivings, but if you shut your brain off it's entertaining -- again nothing I'd have to see twice. 

 

The Holy Mountain may have been the greatest experience I've ever had at the movies. The gal I took to it said it was the best film she's ever watched, too. And Jae, yeah I heard about the Dune doc, hopefully after they saw the turnout for The Holy Mountain the Art will play it as well. They'd be remiss if they didn't. 

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Ultimo The Great

Ultimo The Great

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Teddy Bear: I've had this on my DVR since last August and finally got around to watching it this week.  Stars Kim Kold (AKA the big awesome bad guy from the last Fast and the Furious movie) as a lonely Danish bodybuilder who lives with his mom and decides to venture to Thailand to find himself a wife.  Him and his mom have a really weird, off-putting relationship that probably not enough time is focused on, and the pacing of the movie is glacial, but the love story is really sweet and Kold's a mesmerizing screen presence.  I dug it.

 

Great little film isn't it? did you see the short film Kold and the director made before this? same character from 2007

 

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HumanChessgame

HumanChessgame

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The Blob is being remade by Rob Zombie last I heard. Of course it won't have the awesome physical effects of the '88 one, I'm sure. This is yet another great relic that probably needs to be left alone.

I'm not opposed to it being re-made with some of today's effects but jesus of all people Rob fucking Zombie? How does he keep getting to direct movies? Lords of Salem looked like shit and made, what, $100 in theaters?

Lords of Salem was actually pretty good.

 

 

I watched it out of boredom expecting utter crap since all of RZ's other movies have been terrible, and I was surprised at how...non-offputting this was.  It's not a movie I'm going to watch multiple times and it kind of fell apart in the final act, but it was by no means bad.

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Reed

Reed

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The Girl: People have called this a hit job on Hitchcock, but from what's been said it is fairly accurate, even if Hedren, and the movie, exaggerated some stuff. It's definitely an interesting look at obsession and control, and Toby Jones plays the sinister side of Hitchcock very well. It's one of the few things I've liked Sienna Miller in too. It's a really warped version of the old "director plucks an unknown girl from nowhere and makes her a star" story.

 

My main issue is it could have been a great, scary psychological thriller but essentially just turns into an average (although very well done) TV movie by the end. Basically, it needed someone just like Hitchcock as a director. Maybe they could have gotten in David Lynch.

 

Despite that, it's still way more interesting the Anthony Hopkins movie.

 

Also, I can't help but feel one day we'll be seeing the Megan Fox/Michael Bay version of this movie. And with ninja turtles instead of evil birds.

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Brian Fowler

Brian Fowler

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Stop. You (and everyone else) only like it for Freebird. That song would have to have been played throughout the entire movie to justify the rest of his "films."

Bullshit. Straight up excellent film.

Plus, the rest of the soundtrack is pretty damn good too.

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