OCT 2015 MOVIE DISCUSSION

[Infinit]

Got to see a prescreening of Hyena Road last week with an introduction by director and star Paul Gross. Fantastic movie, and Canadian made too.

[AxB]

I had been having a week off from playing games and watched stuff all week instead. Amongst that, I watched Taken 2. It reminded me of GTA 5* (in the LA scenes) and Uncharted (in the running around rooftops in Turkey scenes). Street Kings also reminded me of computer games, but that's Keanu's acting level, his movies always feel like cutscenes. Hugh Laurie and Forest Whittaker were good though. Chris Evans too, but after he's done such a good job of nailing Captain America, it's hard to accept him as a junior character like he used to play. Cellular would look really different if I watched it now. I was wondering who the guy who looked like a skinny, non-athletic Terry Crews was. It was Terry Crews.

 

Also I watched The Italian Job. The classic version, obviously. It was classic.

 

* The last bit before the credits, when they're all back in LA and celebrating with Ice Cream, they're in a cafe at the end of a Pier. There's this establishing shot of the pier where the camera swoops up over the hill and you see the freeway, the beach, the pier, and all I could think was they should be grateful I cleared all the Ballas off of that pier last week.

[Tabe]

Saw Sicario last night. Didn't like it. The entire movie is spent not telling the audience anything - even when that makes no sense. Emily Blunt is wasted as her character spends the whole movie being weak and complaining about people not following procedures or orders - while also not following orders. And smoking. The movie wants you to be really, really sure that you know she smokes as we get one pointless scene after another reinforcing that. Josh Brolin serves no purpose other than being an in-movie narrator. Del Toro is awesome but is given a weak plot to work with. Shoulda watched something else instead. 5/10.

[peterien]

Loved loved loved Sicario. Del Toro was fantastic, Blunts character is a bit too naive yes but this film isnt really about her growth just how her character is used by Brolin and Del Toro.

May go see it again before week is out.

[Roman]

I just watched Goodnight, Mommy. It was... okay/pretty good. I haven't decided yet.

 

If it were a Hollywood movie, people likely would not be so enchanted with it. The build-up is good, but the ending is something that's been done a lot of times already and it's not a hugely unexpected twist. More so, there are several scenes that are intentionally misleading and seem to have been added only to throw off the audience, which feels cheap and condescending. They should have done something else with those.

 

The build-up was enjoyable and tense, but the twist ending was disappointing (although the way they changed things with one scene to start the final act was very well done). My biggest gripe is not the ending, but rather those misleading scenes. Those were just unnecessary. I'll watch it again at some point.

[Elsalvajeloco]

Saw Sicario at a matinee today. I thought it a fairly decent to good movie. I think my biggest gripe with the movie is that the movie I wanted to see was the last 20-25 minutes. The title of the movie also wasn't that relevant as I expected it to be.

 

It seemed like they put the middle of the movie at the end of movie. After watching The Bridge and season 2 of True Detective, I'm just kinda over the young, attractive white woman is entrenched in seedy crime and corruption and doesn't know how to deal with it. She seems "overwhelmed", but somehow finds her way out of trouble everytime. It's hard to be sympathetic when I know how that character and story plays out. 

 

If you want your money's worth in this movie, Benicio del Toro is your guy. Whereas I hated his character in Savages, I thought he was toned down but still psychotic and fucked up enough to make it work here. His story is way more intriguing, even if it's very cliche. I wished they gave me what happened after the last 3 or 4 scenes instead of watching Jon Bernthal's pretty much meaningless involvement.

 

If you're going to tease all out war, then give me all out war. All the grisly foreshadowing and off screen stuff is something you can get in any B movie about the cartel. You can't tease the Colombia vs. Mexico and then just leave it there to draw your own conclusion. Give me bloodshed involving Alejandro's Colombian connects against the Sonora cartel. I want to see beheadings, dismemberment, and decapitation. Give me the whole kit and caboodle. It's useless to show me after-the-fact.

 

I'd still give a solid B-, bordering closely on a C+.

[Tromatagon]

A more extensive recap than the two sentences I had above:

 

Saw a few movies this weekend, and most of them I liked.

 

Goosebumps: I really enjoyed this. It's like the show, if the show still held up (which it totally doesn't, it's all weird and Canadian now when you look back). Basically Jumanji with monsters, and I can't hate a movie with extended yeti sequences.  I can't really answer the too scary for a five year old question - I agree with Mike's level on things but I have no personal gauge of this because I was already watching the Elm Street movies and loving them when I was 5.

 

Crimson Peak: I probably would have said I couldn't hate a Guillermo Del Toro movie, too. Then I saw Crimson Peak. Pretty to look at. Boring as fuck. I really wanted to like it, and I like the stuff that influenced it. Watch some Hammer movies instead- you'll get the same atmosphere and have way more cool shit happen.

 

Electric Boogaloo- The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films - this documentary was great. Right now, you have to rent it off of itunes or amazon to see it. There are so many crazy stories in here that I wish it were a book with way more of these stories than a documentary that is only a couple hours long. Highly recommend this one if you want to hear stuff like how Chuck Norris was supposed to be the American Ninja, until he learned that he'd have to wear a ninja mask. He didn't want to have his face covered up onscreen.

 

Trick Or Treat- NO- this is not the awesome anthology movie from recent years- that's Trick R Treat. See that too. This is Trick OR Treat. The dude who played Skippy on Family Ties plays a nerdy headbanger who brings a murderous heavy metal singer named Sami Kerr back to life by playing records backwards. This movie is like Shocker, but more metal, and Shocker is pretty fucking metal. This has been out of print for years but when I saw that the whole thing was up on Youtube for free, I had to watch it.

So yeah, 3/4 isn't bad at all.

[Craig H]

Man was Crimson Peak disappointing. Trailers had all of the good shit.

Although, had it been marketed as a movie about how a weirdo brother and sister try to swindle money from rich people for their clay digging machine...and ghosts, no one would go see it.

Fuck. It's Tommy Boy with ghosts, kinda.

[EVA]

When are we as a society finally going to come together and say, "Enough is enough. You're not getting a free pass anymore, Guillermo Del Toro."

[Jingus]

"Enough is enough. You're not getting a free pass anymore, Guillermo Del Toro."

I've been saying that since Pan's Labyrinth inexplicably became one of the most overrated movies of all time. Hell, the only GDT movies I actually like are both comic-adaptation sequels. He's pretty good at cheesy "early Peter Jackson" action/horror bullshit, but pretty lame when he actually tries to be serious and makes everything all GRIMDARK and emo.

[BurningBeard]

If you're going to tease all out war, then give me all out war. All the grisly foreshadowing and off screen stuff is something you can get in any B movie about the cartel. You can't tease the Colombia vs. Mexico and then just leave it there to draw your own conclusion. Give me bloodshed involving Alejandro's Colombian connects against the Sonora cartel. I want to see beheadings, dismemberment, and decapitation. Give me the whole kit and caboodle. It's useless to show me after-the-fact.

 

 

Talk about missing the point!

[nate]

"Enough is enough. You're not getting a free pass anymore, Guillermo Del Toro."

I've been saying that since Pan's Labyrinth inexplicably became one of the most overrated movies of all time. Hell, the only GDT movies I actually like are both comic-adaptation sequels. He's pretty good at cheesy "early Peter Jackson" action/horror bullshit, but pretty lame when he actually tries to be serious and makes everything all GRIMDARK and emo.

Opinions are fun to have.

[J.T.]

Goosebumps was great despite starring the walking deal breaker, Jack Black.

 

Oh, Crimson Peak, how I had high expectations for you and you let me down.  I may as well have rented The Woman In Black for the weekend.  How it manages to maintain a 69% Freshness Rating evades me.

[Chaos]

 

 

"Enough is enough. You're not getting a free pass anymore, Guillermo Del Toro."

I've been saying that since Pan's Labyrinth inexplicably became one of the most overrated movies of all time. Hell, the only GDT movies I actually like are both comic-adaptation sequels. He's pretty good at cheesy "early Peter Jackson" action/horror bullshit, but pretty lame when he actually tries to be serious and makes everything all GRIMDARK and emo.

Opinions are fun to have.

 

 

Pan's is probably the only Del Toro I really liked. Granted, I saw it 9 years ago when it came out and need to revisit it.

 

I can't speak to older GDT stuff, as my first frame of reference is Hellboy, but I have been largely unimpressed with him overall.

[nate]

It would appear that Cronos and Devil's Backbone are not well regarded here.

In other news, 96% of the internet is shit opinions. The other 4% is cat memes.

[J.T.]

It would appear that Cronos and Devil's Backbone are not well regarded here.

 

Not sure about others but I hold Cronos and El Espinazo Del Diablo in the highest regard.   The Devil's Backbone is the best ghost story movie not named The Haunting or The Innocents.

 

Crimson Peak is mostly flash and not a lot of substance.  I thought Pan's Labryinth was very good but I also honestly believe that it would never have been made if The Devil's Backbone had not been so fucking awesome that it gave Del Toro mega studio cred.

 

Hopefully one day he will get to revisit Mimic and create the movie he wanted to make.

 

The article below and Leigh Whannell's brilliant blog essay entitled “Dud Silence: The Hellish Experience Of Making A Bad Horror Film” really showcase how studios can really destroy the creative process and the result is a movie that is destined to fail.

 

http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/556565-ten-crazy-learned-guillermo-del-toros-mimic-directors-cut-audio-commentary

 

I have to admit that I am the first person to place a flop performance at the feet of a director (*cough* Fantastic Four *cough*), but unsupportive studios and producers really can screw things up beyond belief even before shooting ever starts.   Some movies are just doomed, yet directors are honor and contract bound to deliver finished goods.

[Chaos]

Cronos and Devil's Backbone are both, admittedly, blind spots for me.

 

I think part of that also has to do with the fact that horror is not a genre I actively seek out unless I'm in a specific mood. I maybe watch 5 horror films a year, and that's probably generous.

[Elsalvajeloco]

If you're going to tease all out war, then give me all out war. All the grisly foreshadowing and off screen stuff is something you can get in any B movie about the cartel. You can't tease the Colombia vs. Mexico and then just leave it there to draw your own conclusion. Give me bloodshed involving Alejandro's Colombian connects against the Sonora cartel. I want to see beheadings, dismemberment, and decapitation. Give me the whole kit and caboodle. It's useless to show me after-the-fact.

 

Talk about missing the point!

...Go on.

[BurningBeard]

The film wasn't about that at all, so why would they show it? It was a character's motivation for what he was doing, and you get to see the cause and effect of that on the microcosm.

 

Your comment would be like me complaining about not seeing whatever caused the world to go to shit in The Road.

[Elsalvajeloco]

The film wasn't about that at all, so why would they show it? It was a character's motivation for what he was doing, and you get to see the cause and effect of that on the microcosm.

 

Your comment would be like me complaining about not seeing whatever caused the world to go to shit in The Road.

 

Without being super spoiler guy, I'm not saying I need to see what happened to his family. I've already accepted that's his motivation. However, I would like to see the implications of his actions at the end because all the stuff I've seen about Mexican cartels tells me that's not the end of the story. I find that more intriguing than watching a movie about a person's incredible naivety.

[Craig H]

Back to GDT, I had a conversation with a friend about GDT and how disappointed my girlfriend and I were with Crimson Peak. He mentioned not liking GDT's movies, saying Blade 2 was probably his movie he enjoyed the most. I brought up how there seem to be two camps regarding GDT, but did admit that he maybe needs to stop receiving a free pass because he's not efficient at all. It took years for Pacific Rim to get made and the same for Crimson Peak. I think he's a huge drain on studio resources. His movies wind up being these huge gambles that are likely to not pay off more than they do because of how long it takes him to get his shit together. I then added that he needs someone to rein him in because he has an imaginative mind, but it's scattershot and a hindrance.

 

My friend then brought up a good point in response. He said to look at the two obvious extremes. If you're going to take a huge amount of time to make a movie then it needs to be what James Cameron makes. While the stories aren't revolutionary, the technique is top notch, and the storytelling and style are great. On the other end of the spectrum is Clint Eastwood, as he shoots super fast and goes underbudget because he just wants to tell good stories, trusting his directing and actors.

[EVA]

Guillermo Del Toro is basically turning into the new Tim Burton. More and more, his movies/show feel like he spent five years on the set and creature designs, and a solid hour on the script.

[Niners Fan in CT]

After watching American Sniper and J. Edgar, Eastwood needs to hang it up. Terrible films.

[J.T.]

Y'all are high.  GdT has cranked out some pretty awesome movies and I totally forgot to put Blade 2 and Pacific Rim on my list of GDT is GUD! list.

 

He has wonderful vision and he is a fairly decent writer.  He just needs someone to tweak the dialogue.

 

The problem I have with his stuff is that even his positive emotion material still ends up being ridiculously bleak.   His happy ending movies somehow manage to crush my soul a little.

[Elsalvajeloco]

Back to GDT, I had a conversation with a friend about GDT and how disappointed my girlfriend and I were with Crimson Peak. He mentioned not liking GDT's movies, saying Blade 2 was probably his movie he enjoyed the most. I brought up how there seem to be two camps regarding GDT, but did admit that he maybe needs to stop receiving a free pass because he's not efficient at all. It took years for Pacific Rim to get made and the same for Crimson Peak. I think he's a huge drain on studio resources. His movies wind up being these huge gambles that are likely to not pay off more than they do because of how long it takes him to get his shit together. I then added that he needs someone to rein him in because he has an imaginative mind, but it's scattershot and a hindrance.

 

My friend then brought up a good point in response. He said to look at the two obvious extremes. If you're going to take a huge amount of time to make a movie then it needs to be what James Cameron makes. While the stories aren't revolutionary, the technique is top notch, and the storytelling and style are great. On the other end of the spectrum is Clint Eastwood, as he shoots super fast and goes underbudget because he just wants to tell good stories, trusting his directing and actors.

 

It's hilarious considering that GdT said he's moving away from those movies. I don't think this is completely on his part. With George Miller, you can understand why he would want to do a smaller project after spending 10+ years on Fury Road. Who is going to fund all these crazy movies by GdT that might be minor hits at best? He is too fascinated with his own gimmick (well one that other directors had before him) to get over it and do something entirely different. 

 

Guillermo Del Toro is basically turning into the new Tim Burton. More and more, his movies/show feel like he spent five years on the set and creature designs, and a solid hour on the script.

 

I actually liked Big Eyes mainly because Waltz killed it and it was the least Tim Burton movie that Tim Burton will ever put out.