Tabe Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Catching up on some Netflix stuff from the last week or so... Basic - John Travolta is a DEA agent with a sketchy past brought in to investigate a shooting during training at an army base. If that premise alone doesn't tell you how off-the-rails this movie is, well... let's just say this movie is a mess. There's a shooting and all the people involved tell their story and we learn that there's drug running going on with a doctor and other army folks. And then there's a twist. And another twist. And another. And another. And another. And another. And another. And soon you just give up. And then we get an ending that makes absolutely no sense and contradicts most of the rest of the movie. This movie sucks. 3/10. Dead Man Down - Colin Farrell is a gangster. Terence Howard is a gangster boss who apparently has made an enemy and that enemy is picking off his associates. Noomi Rapace is Colin's girlfriend and she blackmails him into killing somebody for her. And...yeah. This a movie that's supposed to be a tense, revenge thriller and it's not. Instead it's a disjointed mess. You'll end up not caring about Farrell's motivations long before he drives his truck into a house without knowing if he'll run over his girlfriend in the process - and then throws a grenade that could blow her up. Good grief. Was expecting so much more from this one. 3/10. Joe - Nicolas Cage is Joe, a dude with a sketchy past now in charge of a crew that poisons trees on behalf of lumber companies. Gary is the abused 15-year old who shows up at Joe's work site one day looking for a job. Joe puts him to work and he works hard. They develop something of a father figure relationship as we see more of Gary's troubled background - his abusive father, his indifferent mom, etc. And we learn more about Joe too - his penchant for creating trouble for himself for no reason, his frequenting of prostitutes, and so on. The idea here is obviously to be something of a deep, emotional movie leading us to care about the connection between Joe & Gary. It fails in that regard. Instead we're just left with a bunch of seemingly random scenes and a movie that kind of pinballs all over the place. Another disappointment for me. 3/10. Smash His Camera - Documentary on famed paparazzi photographer Ron Galella. Galella was a pioneer in his field and made a big name for himself with his photos of Jackie Kennedy. This movie covers much of Galella's early career juxtaposed with scenes of his current work and life. We also get interviews from those that are for/against Galella in general. It's pretty remarkable how famous Galella became for his work (and rich too - he's got quite the palace he lives in). Anyway, this is a mildly interesting, at times disturbing, look into the career of a guy for whom "invasion of privacy" has no meaning. 4/10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 By today's standards, is Galella is any worse than most photographers? I mean, to the best of my knowledge he hasn't caused any car accidents or stood around taking pictures of dying princesses instead of getting help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabe Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 By today's standards, is Galella is any worse than most photographers? I mean, to the best of my knowledge he hasn't caused any car accidents or stood around taking pictures of dying princesses instead of getting help.No, doesn't seem to be. However, the "hasn't caused any car accidents" for him is more dumb luck than anything else. He drives on the shoulder, speeds like crazy, and is generally really unsafe behind the wheel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVA Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 So here's this ultra-violent, dark-n-gritty, completely insane Power Rangers short film directed by Joseph Khan, starring Katee Sackhoff and James Van Der Beek: https://vimeo.com/120401488 Very NSFW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 I was digging it...until the damn dubstep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stay Gold Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 I play the supporting role in a film that was selected to screen at the San Antonio CineFestival this weekend. My picture is used in some of the festival's promotional material, so I'm pretty ecstatic. Not that it's the biggest festival, but I hope it's the first of more to come. I've also never been to Texas before, so that's another thing to look forward to. Hoping to meet John Leguizamo at the fest, as he's someone I admire, although I hear "Fugly" is a dud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.T. Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Yeah Edge Of Tomorrow is vastly better than Oblivion. I read the English translation of All You Need Is Kill, so I knew it would be awesome if Cruise's ego did not get in the way. Cruise and Blunt were oft the chart king sized in that movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 We just watched Big Hero 6 here and, wow, what a wonderful and fun movie. We all just loved it. I can't wait to see it again. Hell, we just decided that this Halloween me and my nephew are going as Baymax and Hiro, and his folks are deciding what characters they want to be. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Control Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 How did Ben Affleck originally fall so drastically out of favour? I mean, I lived through it and it made sense at the time, but in retrospect I'm no longer clear on what he did wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.K.o.S. Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Wasn't it just Bennifer oversaturation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiffshots Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Too many bad film choices. GIGLI was perhaps the most egregious, PAYCHECK the most meta. Honestly, I think I would've enjoyed his comeback as a director more if he didn't appear in so many of his own films. But I had no issues with how he played GONE GIRL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technico Support Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Yeah, blame Gigli. I'm sure most saw it as self-indulgent to star in a movie with your famous girlfirend, and it was a terribly-received film, to boot. Focusing on writing/directing serious films saved his ass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 But I had no issues with how he played GONE GIRL. Affleck should have been nominated for an Acadamy Award for that. Everyone talks about Rosamund Pike, and she was very good, but he was great too. David Fincher might be the only one who truly gets what Affleck brings to the screen as an actor: faux-charisma and a type of smugness that can rub people the wrong way. Which works out perfectly for the movie since he's essentially playing Scott Peterson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.T. Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 How did Ben Affleck originally fall so drastically out of favour? I mean, I lived through it and it made sense at the time, but in retrospect I'm no longer clear on what he did wrong. I think it is superhero claptrap mostly. No one wants him to be Batman because of 1) Christian Bale and 2) Daredevil. Other than that, I had no idea Ben was out of favor. Ever since the Gigli debacle, he's been fairly awesome in nearly everything I've seen him perform in or work on; Gone Girl, Argo, The Town, ad nauseum. I cannot believe the brilliant WHEN GOD? WHEN'S GONNA BE MY TIME~? monologue from Jay & Silent Bob is not on the internets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Control Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 How did Ben Affleck originally fall so drastically out of favour? I mean, I lived through it and it made sense at the time, but in retrospect I'm no longer clear on what he did wrong. I think it is superhero claptrap mostly. No one wants him to be Batman because of 1) Christian Bale and 2) Daredevil. Other than that, I had no idea Ben was out of favor. Ever since the Gigli debacle, he's been fairly awesome in nearly everything I've seen him perform in or work on; Gone Girl, Argo, The Town, ad nauseum. I cannot believe the brilliant WHEN GOD? WHEN'S GONNA BE MY TIME~? monologue from Jay & Silent Bob is not on the internets. Yeah, I meant around the era of Bennifer and GIGLI. And DAREDEVIL too, I guess. It seemed like his career was irreparably damaged, and then he reinvented himself as a director. But in retrospect those hardly seem like cardinal sins. I think others have done worse without diagnoses of career death. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 JT forgets that Affleck took a break from Hollywood until his role in Hollywoodland, which was pretty damn good. Then he got back to his roots and pumped out The Town and Argo. It seems like he's not the best at reading scripts or his script reader should be fired since he was in that shitty movie with Justin Timberlake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AxB Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 The thing I never got was, everyone hated the Bennifer thing, and Affleck is still resented because of it. But nobody blames Jennifer Lopez at all. Even though it was her tabloid lifestyle that he allowed himself to be sucked into, and not the other way around. And she's not made a good film since what, U-Turn? Out of Sight? Or a good album... ever? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Everyone's forgetting that he directed Gone Baby Gone the year after Hollywoodland, which I imagine got twice as much good press as the latter, though nobody seems to remember it anymore. J-Lo is best remembered as a Fly Girl, IMO. Though Out of Sight was damn good. EDIT: While I'm thinking about it, did anyone catch her interview with Jon Stewart after that recent abortion she made? I think even she knew they had nothing to talk about as far as the film was concerned, so she went into giggly-dumb mode while they talked about which celebrity was the best kisser. Or maybe that's really just her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AxB Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 It's his own fault for making two movies with the word 'Gone' in the title . Also, the book is better than the film. The film is really good though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niners Fan in CT Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 I'd say J-Lo wasn't hated on as much because she was smokin' hot (and still is?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caley Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 It was the the media over-saturation that killed him. He was in a lot of shitty/schlock-y stuff like Daredevil/Bounce/Pearl Harbor/Gigli/Jersey Girl and everything he did was in the tabloids and then with Matt Damon's career on a major upswing, there was a feeling that Damon was the guy who made 'Good Will Hunting' and Affleck was just his dumbass friend along for the ride. I can remember when they showed a preview for 'Gone Baby Gone' and at the end it said "Directed by Ben Affleck" and people openly laughed in the theater, that's how bad his reputation was. His rebirth is really a Hollywood talking point you don't see discussed very often, largely because people can't really remember why they hated him in the first place. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiguchi Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 It was the the media over-saturation that killed him. He was in a lot of shitty/schlock-y stuff like Daredevil/Bounce/Pearl Harbor/Gigli/Jersey Girl and everything he did was in the tabloids and then with Matt Damon's career on a major upswing, there was a feeling that Damon was the guy who made 'Good Will Hunting' and Affleck was just his dumbass friend along for the ride. I can remember when they showed a preview for 'Gone Baby Gone' and at the end it said "Directed by Ben Affleck" and people openly laughed in the theater, that's how bad his reputation was. His rebirth is really a Hollywood talking point you don't see discussed very often, largely because people can't really remember why they hated him in the first place. Nailed it. I'd include Armageddon to that list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 It's kind of hilarious that everyone assumed Affleck was just sort of riding on Damon's coattails. Like, judging by his writing and directing since then, he probably did most of work on the Good Will Hunting screenplay. Damon was probably leeching off of him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caley Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 It is funny just how the perception of someone can be altered by how they carry themselves. Like Damon always carried himself as fairly serious, but unassuming, kind of a gee-shucks attitude about it all that made him endearing, and he wasn't out dating famous people or running into any scandals (Affleck had rehab stint in 2001) while Affleck always had a sort-of charming bravado and could come across completely smug, so people just started making assumptions. This is a pretty fascinating read 11 years later. There's a little mention at the end that Affleck would like to direct, which is funny, because that's what it took to turn his whole career around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 Affleck was also seriously out of his element as a big blockbuster leading man. Which is what makes me nervous about him playing Batman despite thinking he's the best actor to step into the cowl since Keaton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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