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2014 MOVIE OMNIBUS THREAD


RIPPA

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I always thought Spencer was in her mid 30s. She just has one of those faces. She was very good, but she just seemed far too youthful to be playing "dignified, slightly jaded older woman."

 

Oscar was 22 when he died. His mother couldn't have been that old. In the one picture I've seen with her son, she looks slighter younger than Octavia. So there is that. Plus, there isn't exactly a diverse selection of actresses for the role. She was the clear choice by a lot. The only other choice was like Viola Davis, who I don't think would have done as good of a job. Angela Bassett probably but she tends to go into business for herself sometimes. Anyway, she is little bit too old for the role.

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Fruitvale Station: Covers the last day in the life of Oscar Grant, an unarmed black guy who got shot by the cops New Year Day in 2009 in what was a pretty big news story at the time. It's interesting because it doesn't go as much into the racial politics, or the aftermath, nearly as much as you'd think. You just spend most of the movie getting to know this nice, flawed guy then he's just gone in a horrendous, totally avoidable situation. Maybe they make too much of a saint out of the guy. I'm not sure why you'd fight and struggle with armed police over something as minor as a short brawl on a train. But he's still definitely the victim, though.

 

Michael B. Jordan is really good here. You really get attached to him. Whole thing leaves with you with the feeling of a waste of a life, more so than if you just read about something like that in the newspaper or seeing it on TV.

 

Please don't get me started on Frutvale Station.  I am angry enough right now as it is.  I have been known to go on rampages against police in GTA Online while shouting a battle cry of FRUITVALE~!

 

This movie is great.  Everyone needs to check it out.  The best thing about the movie is that it is not too terribly race bating.  The police are definitely overtly cast in the role of bad guy (I assume this is atmospheric effect since the movie is all done from the main character's personal and philosophical POV), but all of the witnesses regardles of race are able to notice blatant injustice when they see it.

 

It is not the "it's just a movie for black people to watch and get mad about society" type of film that you may think it is.

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Fruitvale Station: Covers the last day in the life of Oscar Grant, an unarmed black guy who got shot by the cops New Year Day in 2009 in what was a pretty big news story at the time. It's interesting because it doesn't go as much into the racial politics, or the aftermath, nearly as much as you'd think. You just spend most of the movie getting to know this nice, flawed guy then he's just gone in a horrendous, totally avoidable situation. Maybe they make too much of a saint out of the guy. I'm not sure why you'd fight and struggle with armed police over something as minor as a short brawl on a train. But he's still definitely the victim, though.

 

Michael B. Jordan is really good here. You really get attached to him. Whole thing leaves with you with the feeling of a waste of a life, more so than if you just read about something like that in the newspaper or seeing it on TV.

 

Please don't get me started on Frutvale Station.  I am angry enough right now as it is.  I have been known to go on rampages against police in GTA Online while shouting a battle cry of FRUITVALE~!

 

This movie is great.  Everyone needs to check it out.  The best thing about the movie is that it is not too terribly race bating.  The police are definitely overtly cast in the role of bad guy (I assume this is atmospheric effect since the movie is all done from the main character's personal and philosophical POV), but all of the witnesses regardles of race are able to notice blatant injustice when they see it.

 

It is not the "it's just a movie for black people to watch and get mad about society" type of film that you may think it is.

 

 

I did like that the one cop was comforting Oscar in his dying moments and was clearly upset about how things turned out. I like that they tried to elevate most of the cops beyond simply "cartoon bad guys" and got across that they were agitated and afraid. Only one that comes off as totally bad is the one that shot him, but he may not have deserved much better.

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Obviously the movie was partly about injustice, but honestly, I think it was more about getting to know the people behind the "statistics". We all read (particularly now) "so and so got murdered" or "five people got shot in X shooting" but you never really think about the life snuffed out or the people left behind. I thought that was the point of the film, more so than police brutality.

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Obviously the movie was partly about injustice, but honestly, I think it was more about getting to know the people behind the "statistics". We all read (particularly now) "so and so got murdered" or "five people got shot in X shooting" but you never really think about the life snuffed out or the people left behind. I thought that was the point of the film, more so than police brutality.

 

Can't those be one and the same though?

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Goddamn you plebs watching A Million Ways to Die in the West and not watching the infinitely funnier 22 Jump Street.

 

Fuck. I may actually go see 22 Jump Street a second time. I thought it was that good. So funny and I'm a little bummed that it's probably the last of those movies given the insanely hilarious end to it. Tatum and Hill's chemistry is amazing.

 

Right now, if Tatum or Chris Pratt are in a movie, I'm fucking seeing it. Even if it's the Vow 2, fuck it, I'll be there.

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Goddamn you plebs watching A Million Ways to Die in the West and not watching the infinitely funnier 22 Jump Street.

 

Fuck. I may actually go see 22 Jump Street a second time. I thought it was that good. So funny and I'm a little bummed that it's probably the last of those movies given the insanely hilarious end to it. Tatum and Hill's chemistry is amazing.

 

Right now, if Tatum or Chris Pratt are in a movie, I'm fucking seeing it. Even if it's the Vow 2, fuck it, I'll be there.

 

I know Tatum is good in the Jump Street movies, but everything else I've seen him in...very underwhelming.

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Finally got around to seeing The World's End and completing the "Cornetto Trilogy"

 

It's the weak link in the 3 but only because of the last 15 minutes or so. Up until that moment I absolutely loved it.

 

So that last couple of scenes really just kill the movie don't they? Maybe I'm in the minority but it was such strange pacing for them to just stand up to the aliens and tell them to piss off... and they do!"

 

When Pegg and Frost are fighting behind the bar Pegg has some great emotional stuff. His desperation to complete the mile because he 'ain't got anything left' is just pathetically sad and when Frost grabs his arms to reveal the bandages (presumably from self harming) and the medical/psych ward ID bracelet I though we were going to get something fantastically dark.

My mind instantly started coming up with ideas about the whole trilogy being in this guys head. Like it's all been his way of trying to deal with the fact that he is a drugged up, alcohol abusing, shell of a person who literally has nothing else in life but the Golden Mile. The concept of him having mentally convinced himself that he'd been fighting zombies or became a super a cop to feel important filled my head. I instantly pictured him telling the stories to the other patients as a way of bragging about how awesome Gary King was before he got thrown in the looney bin.

 

It's probably my own fault for instantly hyping everythign up to be waaaay bigger than it was ever going to be but damn it... I really have fallen in love with the idea.

 

The one non spoiler aspect that I want to highlight was the fight scenes. They really showed up alot of stuff we normally get from western cinema.

 

The choreography was funny as hell while still looking believeable but the best part is how far back they pulled the camera. There were a couple of 'shaky cam' shots but for the most part we could see 2-3 people in each shot and there was a great sense of positioning and a clear understanding of what everyone was doing. No Jason Bourne stuff here!

 

Overall I loved it alot but that ending took alot of wind out of my sails. 7/10.

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Finally got around to seeing The World's End and completing the "Cornetto Trilogy"

 

It's the weak link in the 3 but only because of the last 15 minutes or so. Up until that moment I absolutely loved it.

 

So that last couple of scenes really just kill the movie don't they? Maybe I'm in the minority but it was such strange pacing for them to just stand up to the aliens and tell them to piss off... and they do!"

 

When Pegg and Frost are fighting behind the bar Pegg has some great emotional stuff. His desperation to complete the mile because he 'ain't got anything left' is just pathetically sad and when Frost grabs his arms to reveal the bandages (presumably from self harming) and the medical/psych ward ID bracelet I though we were going to get something fantastically dark.

My mind instantly started coming up with ideas about the whole trilogy being in this guys head. Like it's all been his way of trying to deal with the fact that he is a drugged up, alcohol abusing, shell of a person who literally has nothing else in life but the Golden Mile. The concept of him having mentally convinced himself that he'd been fighting zombies or became a super a cop to feel important filled my head. I instantly pictured him telling the stories to the other patients as a way of bragging about how awesome Gary King was before he got thrown in the looney bin.

 

It's probably my own fault for instantly hyping everythign up to be waaaay bigger than it was ever going to be but damn it... I really have fallen in love with the idea.

 

The one non spoiler aspect that I want to highlight was the fight scenes. They really showed up alot of stuff we normally get from western cinema.

 

The choreography was funny as hell while still looking believeable but the best part is how far back they pulled the camera. There were a couple of 'shaky cam' shots but for the most part we could see 2-3 people in each shot and there was a great sense of positioning and a clear understanding of what everyone was doing. No Jason Bourne stuff here!

 

Overall I loved it alot but that ending took alot of wind out of my sails. 7/10.

I think I like this one more everytime I watch it.  I'm with you in that end feels a little flat to me, but the jokes and the action are spot on.  This movie produced better choreography and fighting than any Bourne movie or the recent Bonds because you CAN ACTUALLY SEE SHIT HAPPENING.  The fight scenes gave me a classic Jackie Chan vibe.  I love the whole story of this guy who just was never able to move on with his life. 

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Goddamn you plebs watching A Million Ways to Die in the West and not watching the infinitely funnier 22 Jump Street.

 

Fuck. I may actually go see 22 Jump Street a second time. I thought it was that good. So funny and I'm a little bummed that it's probably the last of those movies given the insanely hilarious end to it. Tatum and Hill's chemistry is amazing.

 

Right now, if Tatum or Chris Pratt are in a movie, I'm fucking seeing it. Even if it's the Vow 2, fuck it, I'll be there.

 

I know Tatum is good in the Jump Street movies, but everything else I've seen him in...very underwhelming.

 

Tatum was the best thing about weak flicks like 'G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra', 'The Vow' and 'White House Down'.  He was actually quite good in both 'Side Effecs' and especially 'Magic Mike'.

 

I kinda think that at some point in 2010 he took speech therapy/elocution lessons because he only had 2 films that year and he became markedly easier to understand than he had before such as in the first GI Joe, 'Fighting' etc. where he mumbles and is really hard to understand.

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Yeah, I know it's weird for me to keep referencing it, but he makes the Vow an actually good movie and somewhat overshadows Joey Lauren McAdams.

 

Beyond that, I liked him the most in GI Joe, but that bar was set really low.

 

I haven't seen Magic Mike and don't know if I will.

 

I had no idea he was in Side Effects and now I want to watch that. 

 

As for White House Down, that movie is the most fun and dumbest of dumb fun movies. I really liked it. It's way better than the other shit show starring Gerald Butter that took itself too seriously. 

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I had no idea he was in Side Effects and now I want to watch that. 

Because I'm arrogant enough to think you care about my opinion, here's my (very brief) review from last year:

 

Another Netflix movie: Side Effects - Rooney Mara is a depressed woman who murders her husband while under treatment of an experimental new drug. Pretty good movie but a little too twisty for its own good. Big name cast but not quite the home run you hope for. 6.5/10.

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I haven't seen Magic Mike and don't know if I will.

 

And why not?!  Directed by Academy Award winner Steven Soderbergh!  Starring Channing Tatum! Co-starring Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey! Co-starring all-around badass dude Joe Mangianello!  Co-starring the one and only Kevin Nash!  I honestly don't know why a wrestling fan would be on the fence about watching 'Magic Mike' in all honesty: substitute the word 'wrestler' for 'stripper' and it would be pretty much the exact same movie: Dudes with good bodies trying to make money and being snookered by the carniest of carnies while partying hard and wondering how long it can last.

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