The Z Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 What? Will Arnett voiced Batman in the Lego movie? Come on! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaedmc Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 The voice of Green Lantern really embodies the character. I was surprised that the movie had a pretty intense message in regards to how our government and media work together to control us. I was expecting a slightly sexist male empowerment via female support flick, and got something quite enjoyable with a significantly better message. AND our theatre gave us a free Emmet in his Pajamas mini-figure. Awesome! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swift Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 I was going to see The Lego Movie anyway - my son is obsessed with Lego (ok, I kinda am a little bit too) but I wasn't really looking forward to it. I figured it would just be a generic cash in type thing. But with all you guys going crazy for it, and a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, I'm officially excited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greggulator Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 I just saw a documentary called Kids For Cash. It's about one of the crazier and more revolting scandals of the 21st Century. It took place up near Scranton, PA. The juvenile judge and one of his colleagues took bribes from the operator/owner of a privately-owned youth detention center. And the judge sent kids away for ridiculously harsh sentences for the lightest infractions.That's a really simple description and the movie really goes into detail as to what happened. It's really well made. It's also really eye-opening about what "zero tolerance" really means in the post-Columbine era.Go see it if it's anywhere near you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antacular Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Yeah I read about that a while back when it first came to light. Didn't that judge send off HUNDREDS (thousands?) of kids for the most arbitrary shit? I'd also argue that the problem/issue isn't in the post-columbine, zero-tolerance era, but rather, the foreseeable consequences of operating a for profit prison system. Why there are publically traded firms who run jails is one of the few things beyond my wildest comprehension. I'd buy Altria stock before any of them. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piranesi Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 I'd also argue that the problem/issue isn't in the post-columbine, zero-tolerance era, but rather, the foreseeable consequences of operating a for profit prison system. Why there are publically traded firms who run jails is one of the few things beyond my wildest comprehension. I'd buy Altria stock before any of them. I find it hard to imagine a worse thing to insinuate into a democracy and still expect it to remain a democracy for very long. The power to legally kill or incarcerate citizens is the most problematic and therefore sort of sacred power we allow a government to wield over us. Handing it over to profiteers is so bizarrely and obviously insane. The fact that we did it so easily is one of those "human beings are essentially evil and destructive" things that makes you just want to shut down. The Atlantic, I think, just ran a piece about how the parole system is now privatized in many place, with parolees being charged service fees by the same private companies who are now overseeing the prisons. Can't pay? Go to prison. They make their $$$$ either way. It's fucking as close to literally being goulish as anything I've ever heard of. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 RE: Kids for Cash. There are just some things that shouldn't be about profits and making money. Prison is one of them. I think healthcare is another, but that's a different conversation. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antacular Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 It is very disturbing. One of my core principles is that government exists to perform tasks that the profit motive isn't applicable to. The criminal justice system being one of those areas. The idea that a firms net income rises every time someone is sentenced is incomprehensible. Sadly, it's going to take a few more kids for cash before this actually becomes an issue voters care about. EDIT: I also agree, for the most part, that healthcare shouldn't be about profit. Except for the fact that for advancement in medicine, it requires R&D expenses, which are carried out with reasonable effifency in the private sector, whereas the last serious R&D expense for the criminal justice system was the fucking ankle bracelet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newb82 Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 So I watched a movie called NINE DEAD after it was recommended by a co-worker. It starts off looking like a SAW clone, but it isn't really. Basic story: a crazy man kidnaps nine people and holds them in a room, saying he will kill one of them every ten minutes until they either figure out why everyone is there, or they're all dead. Some of the people are pretty irritating, holding onto secrets for dumb reasons considering that doing so means their death in a short while. The acting is...OK I guess. I liked the sleazy strip club owner the best out of the bunch. The only other things of note are that Melissa Joan Hart is in it, and if you've watched LOST, you'll at least know what the villain looks like before he unmasks. There are worse ways to kill about 90 minutes. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 http://www.deadline.com/2014/02/james-franco-disaster-artist-movie-the-room/ James Franco’s Rabbit Bandini Productions has optioned book and life rights to The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the book published last fall by Simon & Schuster from actor Greg Sestero and journalist Tom Bissell. Franco will direct and co-produce the book adaptation with his Rabbit Bandini partner Vince Jolivette, and Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s Point Grey Productions. Ryan Moody is writing the script. Sestero and Tommy Wiseau co-wrote and starred in the 2003 feature film The Room, which some have called the worst movie ever made. Wiseau directed, produced and financed the pic, which was self-released only in Southern California before word-of-mouth spread. It has since achieved cult status for its hole-filled plot and poor production values, earning it a place in the midnight show slots usually occupied by pics like Rocky Horror Picture Show. Among the Room converts is the CAA-repped Franco, who reviewed the book on Vice in December, calling Wiseau “part vampire, part Hollywood dreamer, part gangster, part Ed Wood, and super lonely” and equating the novel to being a combination of Boogie Nights and The Master and praising it for going beyond being just a bunch of anecdotes from the set of a bad movie. Last month, Franco posted on Instagram that the book was his: ”A new Franco joint, starring both Francos – produced by seth and evan Wazzup now?!” I hope Franco's not playing Wiseau. He's too good looking. He'd be great as Sestero though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greggulator Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 The whole prison-as-industry thing is absolutely disgusting. But the documentary isn't about that issue directly.The one judge put thousands of kids in facilities. He got elected as a tough-talking judge and would go to local schools and preach how he would give no leniency. This was well before he ever took a kickback. He was true to his word on that end. The judge is interviewed in the documentary. He talks at length about how he never took a dime to put a kid in jail. And that's fairly true to a point -- he definitely should not have taken money from a real estate developer, but he never flat-out sold a kid.It's really about the whole "LOCK THEM ALL UP!" mentality we in this country have towards juvenile crime. Juvenile courts are essentially kangaroo courts -- they're almost always not open to the public. This judge also was really coy about rigging the system so kids and their parents wouldn't have legal representation. That's commonplace throughout the country. And, according to the public defender, it didn't even matter if they had a lawyer.Definitely worth seeing. There's also a book about the subject also called for Kids For Cash. The book gets into a lot more of the general corruption of the area and the like. Both are really great, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tromatagon Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 The Lego movie was the shit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Judging by reviews and people on here, the Lego Movie is the greatest film ever made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tromatagon Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 It's no Conan The Barbarian, dude Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 I haven't liked kids' movies since I was a kid. I'm sure I am missing out (and I know a lot of the humor is aimed at adults) but it's just not what I like. I think the last pixar movie I watched might have been Finding Nemo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabe Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Judging by reviews and people on here, the Lego Movie is the greatest film ever made.Everybody knows that's actually Road House. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimLivingston Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Just watched the original uncut version of Das Boot. Good lord, almighty. What a fucking movie. Completely engrossing, even at almost five hours. The ending rips the guts out of you. I saw it was #22 on the countdown here and the only reason I can think of that it wasn't higher was because it was so long. I'm pretty sure it was better than Full Metal Jacket. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Execproducer Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Judging by reviews and people on here, the Lego Movie is the greatest film ever made.Everybody knows that's actually Road House. Enter the Dragon says hello. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaedmc Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Judging by reviews and people on here, the Lego Movie is the greatest film ever made.Nah, it's just better than anticipated, and better than a LOT of crap that gets thrown at moviegoers. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swift Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Looking through some older posts on last year's movie comment thread, Zeidler posted about silent movies he'd like to see remade and mentioned The Man Who Laughs. There is actually a 2012 French remake and it's available on Netflix too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bustronaut Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Thanks Cam! Now I have something to watch during laundry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonL21 Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Saw Escape Plan earlier this week. Was a decent movie and it looked like Arnold had a ball with his role. Was actually pretty cool hear him bust out the German in that one scene. Was that the first time he spoke the native tongue on film? Also I marked out for: Arnold unhooking the gun from the helicopter and the slo-mo turn into fucking the henchmen up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greggulator Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 I couldn't even hate-watch Bill Maher's thing on religion last night.I really don't want to make this thread about anyone's thoughts about organized religion. That's not the purpose. Whatever your thoughts are on the subject aren't going to change on a wrestling-based message board. But anyone watching a movie about organized religion will definitely have baggage and bias headed into it. I definitely do, since I'm a church-going person, but I honestly do not think my belief system has anything to do with my opinions of this dreck. I do want to make this thread about how friggin' terrible Bill Maher and that movie is. That guy has absolutely no skill as a comic or a satirist. It's just so friggin' smug and condescending. I mean, there's certainly plenty of fodder for someone to make a comedic documentary about organized religion and its place and impact on the world. But in the hands of a garbage person like Bill Maher, it's the absolute worst. He takes the lowest common denominator stance to go after the lowest dangling fruit. In the beginning, it's him talking with his family about his religious background -- his mom's Jewish and his dad was Catholic; he was raised Catholic until his dad stopped going to church. This could be a really interesting discussion. But in Bill Maher's hands? It is so boring and rambling. A stand-up comic should know the importance of words and how less is always more. Not Bill Maher and his inflated sense of ego! Nope, that's just grounds to take something that could be said and really witty in 45 seconds or less into a neverending scene.Then at one point he goes to a church for truck drivers on the road. It just reeks of some rich Hollywood celebrity sneering down on the unenlightened blue-collar people who spend their careers away from their families on the road so they can move the high-end luxury good Bill Maher no doubt enjoys. It's so brutal and awful and terrible. I'm sure I didn't get into that part of the movie because I had to turn it off because of how terrible it was. But if you're going to make a movie like this, go after the dipshits who do exploit religion for personal gain or as a power grab. If you think organized religion is dumb -- and I can certainly respect that position, despite belonging to an organized religion -- and want to make a movie about it, then you should defend the people you think are exploited by the power structure. You shouldn't mock those people (and then try and get out of it pathetically on screen). By doing that you're essentially exploiting the power of your celebrity and camera to show how your worldview is superior to these people who are nowhere near as smart as you. Borat isn't about religion except for a few scenes (and I'm mixed on Sasha Baron Cohen). But what makes that movie great is that he, for the most part, makes fun of American manners but goes after the right people to mock.Legitimately, the 15 minutes or so I lasted watching this was so embarrassing to watch unfold. It's like a 9th grader who has opinions got a video camera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaedmc Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Bill Maher is the worst, bub. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greggulator Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Bill Maher is the worst, bub. I haven't been exposed to him in years. I remember thinking he was the worst but I haven't seen anything he's done in well over a decade. I'm glad I had that refresher course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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