John Austin Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 I will say, re: Kevin Smith movies, that his commentary on "Chasing Amy" started my decline into maddening hate for that film. I'm curious, why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caley Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 See I think 'Donnie Darko' is completelly fascinting, even if I don't entirely get or want to know what happens. The opening scene set to 'Killing Moon' is brilliant, the love story with Gyllenhaal and Malone is well done, and there's enough genuine high school weirdness that I find totally lovable ("Chut up"!, the stupid Smurf discussion is totally something I can see high school dudes coming up with and thinking is brilliant, and there's some cool effects). I lump it in with other stuff I really love and don't understand, the good outweighs the bad for me: Gyllenhaal's performance is great, the dialogue is pretty solid, it looks great, it has one of my favourite title cards ever vs. the plot really not making sense without someone explaining it to you (And I don't want to know, so don't try), Drew Barrymore's TERRIBLE performance still feels like a victory. I'm a big fan of the commentaries to 'All the Real Girls' and 'George Washington' because it's a great mixture of David Gordon Green telling stories about the filming, Paul Schneider being lovable, and insights into influences and the like. There's a commentary by Owen Wilson, I think, that's supposed to be great because he didn't know what a commentary was so he rambles and adds sound effects to scenes (like "Vroom" and "Screech" sounds to a car chase) and the like, but I can't remember what it was. I watched half of the 'Anchorman' commentary once and it was a lot of fun with Will Ferrell and Adam McKay just being idiots, then trying to out-swear one another at which point the editor just gives up and leaves. And Arnold Schwarzenegger and Paul Verhoeven's 'Total Recall' commentary is just legendary. I can't seem to locate the Youtube of the best moments any more, but it features Schwarzenegger and Verhoeven's dueling accents, Schwarzenegger laughing at his own jokes and one-liners, it's amazing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piranesi Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 , Drew Barrymore's TERRIBLE performance still feels like a victory. I think this part works because she seems so obviously meant to play exactly this same role in a completely different movie. The existence of such a stock character and such a "name" actress and how it doesn't fit, makes the movie seem surreal in relation to other movies...which is how we're judging it. Like, now how real or surreal it is in relation to actual reality, but how it is in relation to other movies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caley Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 , Drew Barrymore's TERRIBLE performance still feels like a victory. I think this part works because she seems so obviously meant to play exactly this same role in a completely different movie. The existence of such a stock character and such a "name" actress and how it doesn't fit, makes the movie seem surreal in relation to other movies...which is how we're judging it. Like, now how real or surreal it is in relation to actual reality, but how it is in relation to other movies. For a time my brother and I would imitate her performance "What exactly about my methods do you find questionable?" It sounded like she was literally reading the lines for the first time and trying to figure out what emotion she should be conveying after the words had come out of her mouth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 Anyone here into DVD commentaries? I've spent my day watching the two commentaries on the special edition of Citizen Kane; Roger Ebert and Peter Bogdanovic. The Ebert commentary is by far one of the best I've ever heard, so much information on the filming, history, and little details, it's an amazing listen and should be listened to by anyone with an interest in film making. Bogdanovic's, however, is pretty bad. It's repetitive to Ebert's and he doesn't seem to bring anything to the table for this except being Orson Welles' friend and a few little anecdotes here or there. It hardly seems like they needed to include both when Bogdanovic tries to give a lot of the same insight as Ebert but doesn't do it nearly as well or as engagingly. I think the first five minutes of Ebert's commentary is necessary listening. There's such a light going on moment when he explains the first tracking shot and the table moving and you sort of get that part of the beauty of Kane is all of the things you could never know just by watching it, because it all looks so flawless when so many of the tricks used to make it so are completely invisible and were absolutely novel for the time. ------ i almost hate saying it but I think my favorite commentaries are the Lord of the Rings writer ones. It's so fascinating to me how they rationalized making the changes that they did and the sheer level of care and effort that was put into rearranging all of it, like it was some piece of music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nate Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 I will say, re: Kevin Smith movies, that his commentary on "Chasing Amy" started my decline into maddening hate for that film.I'm curious, why?The fawning over Joey Lauren Adams. Junkie Jason Mewes showing up drunk and passing out. All of the verbal fellating each other that goes on. Ben Affleck actually comes across in the commentary as a likable fellow.It's a movie that I liked for a while, despite its glaring flaws, but then after the commentary ... it's like that saying, "that which is seen cannot be unseen." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaos Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 I will say, re: Kevin Smith movies, that his commentary on "Chasing Amy" started my decline into maddening hate for that film.I'm curious, why?The fawning over Joey Lauren Adams. Junkie Jason Mewes showing up drunk and passing out. All of the verbal fellating each other that goes on. Ben Affleck actually comes across in the commentary as a likable fellow.It's a movie that I liked for a while, despite its glaring flaws, but then after the commentary ... it's like that saying, "that which is seen cannot be unseen." I have never understood the love for Chasing Amy. I actually watched it a couple years after my initial viewing and still did not really understand why people call it Smith's best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raziel Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 Well Smith was banging Adams at the time, so that's the fawning (and why she likely got the role in the first place, see: Every Smith Movie since he married Schwalbach) and Mews showing up drunk.. yeah, Mewes was full on junkie at that point. An Evening with Kevin Smith outlines Mewes' fall to bottom and trail to get clean. Even with the commentary, Chasing Amy is still my favorate Smith movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonL21 Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 I almost brought up this discussion last week. I would always watch a movie, then watch it again with the commentary track. I enjoy hearing from the people directly involved how the experience was make my the film. I'm a sucker for special editions with all the documentaries and behind the scenes stuff as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin877 Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 I just bought Knights of Badassdom, what is the general consensus from the board on it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nate Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 I will say, re: Kevin Smith movies, that his commentary on "Chasing Amy" started my decline into maddening hate for that film.I'm curious, why?The fawning over Joey Lauren Adams. Junkie Jason Mewes showing up drunk and passing out. All of the verbal fellating each other that goes on. Ben Affleck actually comes across in the commentary as a likable fellow.It's a movie that I liked for a while, despite its glaring flaws, but then after the commentary ... it's like that saying, "that which is seen cannot be unseen." I have never understood the love for Chasing Amy. I actually watched it a couple years after my initial viewing and still did not really understand why people call it Smith's best. I think, looking back, it was a departure from the "comedy" of "Clerks" and "Mallrats" and it was seen as an attempt at some level of more mature story rendering. I think, when I look back now, it's a good "E for effort." And good for Smith in trying to help ol' Jay, in the former's attempt to undo the shameful enabling of the latter's demons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabe Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 Ben Affleck actually comes across in the commentary as a likable fellow. Pretty much everything I've ever seen with Affleck outside of movies has led me to think he's a likeable guy. Probably some douchery when he was dating J-Lo but mostly a good guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scraylo187 Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 I just bought Knights of Badassdom, what is the general consensus from the board on it? Really awful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaedmc Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 If anyone's bored I wrote a brief reaction to A Star is Born: http://jaekrenfrow.blogspot.com/2014/04/thoughts-on-star-is-born-cukor-1954.html It's one of those rare movies that I really enjoyed despite having messaging that I thought was a little fucked up. Anybody else have a movie like that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Austin Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 I didn't realizE The Raid 2 had already been released. Got lucky to catch it before it leaves theaters later this week. Oh my lord I loved this. I have to say though that some of graphic stuff was a bit much though. I wouldn't have minded if they cut away during some of the killing scenes. But oh my they ramped it up a lot this time. I think the kitchen fight scene is definitely up there with the final fight in the original movie as one of the all time greats. The wrestling fan in me was measuring the Muta scale at the end of that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Z Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Just watched a pretty cool Indie Zombie movie called The Battery (2012), that apparently only cost $6,000 to make. This was released as Ben & Mickey vs. the Dead over here, which of course immediately reminded me of Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2010). I don't know, if that was the intention or not, but it got me to watch the movie. Well, this was definitely nothing like Tucker & Dale vs. Evil. This was not a comedy. Basically it's just about two guys in their mid-20s trying to survive the Zombie apocalypse and shit happens. If you're not tired of Zombies yet, check it out, but be aware there's not a lot of gore or action in this (if you're into that kind of thing). It's mainly just about how the two guys deal with the situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greggulator Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 My friends Kate and Bret made this. It's the tale of a Craig Evanhalen, a former boyband member who decides to start a "DIY" punk outfit based around his enigmatic poetry and anger at the world. It's so, so, so funny! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 Is it just me or is anyone else not really into the whole zombie thing? I like villains that have depth, which zombies don't. (Barr some abstract point about humans/consumerism, etc). It's kind of weird of people almost seem relish the idea of the world ending and having to fend for themselves. You know the world is screwed when people are actively looking forward to the end of it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaedmc Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 It's because people feel they no longer have value, or the value attributed to them by the government or their emplloyer is less than what they consider to be their self worth. A zombie apocalypse erases all that and a person's value becomes it's most pure - can you contribute to survival? Anyone I know who likes zombie anything, like Walking Dead, would rather talk about what they would do in those situations rather than the show itself. The zombie genre has become a bit of reassurance that should the whole world go to shit you won't be as dumb as The people on that show or movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piranesi Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 We haven't had enough movies about nanotechnology insects swarming us all to death. This is screaming to be re-imagined: I call dibs on behalf of TerraChimpCo productions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 As a wish-fulfillment fantasy, it just strikes me as bizarre. It doesn't seem appealing at all. Everyone's life on The Walking Dead looks so wretchedly miserable. If I was on that show I'd wonder how being a zombie could be any worse than my life right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piranesi Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 Places I would just snuff it rather than even trying to survive even a week: Zombie-Earth Westeros In The ROAD Vince Lombardi High School Anyplace in which loincloths are a regular normal thing In any world where Steven Segal is considered an official agent of law enforceme...shit That little fucking submarine thing the pirates put Tom Hanks in Terminal A, Laguardia Airport Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piranesi Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 One more I forgot: Bjork's house, like, Gnute from ALIENS style, skittering around the ductwork hoping not to be noticed, feeding on crumbs from bizarre European pastries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 Westeros would depend on whether I was high born or low born. Or if I was a Stark. If I was a Stark, suicide seems like a good call. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 I imagine you'd be fine in Westeros as long as you 1) Had money 2) Never went to any wedding ever, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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