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NOV 2015 MOVIE DISCUSSION


RIPPA

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We saw Tomorrowland off of the Redbox today. Way better than its reception would lead you to think, even with a couple of plot stretches towards the end (some of which the movie itself acknowledges). If I had come across something like it when I was 11-12, it would have meant a lot to me. It deserved to do a lot better than it did.

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I finally caught up with the Brian Wilson biopic Love & Mercy.  It was a really good film with a strong performance from John Cusack, and Paul Dano (who is normally too over the top for me) was quite strong in this as well. I highly recommend this one. Paul Giamatti really chews scenery as the antagonist in this as well.

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So and the babes watched Empire Strikes Back last night. My 5 year old was so sad. First Han gets frozen, then Luke gets his hand chopped off, and now Darth Vader is Luke's father and Luke's going to turn evil.

Just got totally crushed by the down ending.

My 7 year old and 9 year old already knew so the reveal wasn't so soul crushing. They didn't know about Han getting froze and that was definitely upsetting.

Can't wait to do ROTJ.

Oh, and my brother in law scored some 3-D IMAX opening night Force Awakens tickets.

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Just be grateful none of them said "They copied that off Toy Story!". That's what my son's big sisters said the first time they saw Empire.

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Cop Car was pretty good. The premise is two 8 or 9 year olds are running away from home (at one point early on they ask themselves how far they've gone and they say 50 miles, of course they've probably only walked five) in the middle of New Mexico, or maybe Arizona, Nevada, who knows. They come upon a sheriff's patrol car sitting unattended on their hike and end up stealing it. We reverse in time after they drive off to discover Kevin Bacon is the sheriff and he's got two bodies in the trunk; he dumps one in a pit off in the distance with quicklime and returns to find the car missing... and we go from there. The kids are perfect in this one, the opening dialogue being them repeating curse words, looking for arrowheads in the dirt, just some real pre-pubescent kid stuff, and they pretty much end up getting dropped into the meat grinder. Bacon is a snake and of all people Shea Whigham (Eli in Boardwalk Empire) shows up as another equally devious yet inept character. It's a small film, really compact, and totally logical for a thriller. Worth a watch for sure.

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I have.  I wouldn't use such superlatives, but I enjoyed it a lot.  There was one little thing at the end that bugged me, but it wasn't a big deal.

 

How could it not be good?  Spielberg + Hanks + Cold War spy movie.

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Friend of mine tells me Bridge of Spies is off the charts great. Anybody seen it yet?

 

I thought it was pretty good. Some slow bits here and there, but it picks up speed once the main storyline starts. I think I enjoyed all of the performances. Rylance was a scene stealer. I also liked Sebastian Koch's extended cameo.

 

I think in the hands of many prominent directors, this movie would have bored the shit out of me.

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I have.  I wouldn't use such superlatives, but I enjoyed it a lot.  There was one little thing at the end that bugged me, but it wasn't a big deal.

 

How could it not be good?  Spielberg + Hanks + Cold War spy movie.

 

The other key ingredient: Screenplay has Coen Brothers Fingerprints on it.

 

At least they're credited with it, and I think did the final treatment of it.

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Was laid up for a week with a bad back and used that time to watch some movies (Once I was able to crawl out of the bedroom!)

 

'Idle Hands': was pretty bad.  I'd had various friends refer to it over the years and compare things to it so I thought I'd finally watch it.  Really odd in that

the main character kills his parents and it's basically a "Whoops" moment and barely referred to again

but, man...18-year-old Jessica Alba...

 

'Kindergarten Cop': I've seen this so many times but I still love it.  It's totally baffling viewed through the lens of 2015: who was this movie made for?  It was marketed as kid friendly, but there's way too many deaths, guns, and genuinely terrifying moments to be suitable for kids really.  But Arnold is hilarious in this.

 

'Inside Out': I didn't mind it.  Which is a big deal for me, because I really don't care much for most Pixar films (I find them too maudlin and too much stuff in there designed specifically to try to make the audiences cry which would get a thrashing from critics but somehow gets a pass when it's Pixar).  I thought the main plot of Joy and Sadness trying to get back to the brain to be pretty tedious, really, but there was enough stuff there to keep me interested.

 

'Defending Santa Claus': I wanted to watch a Christmas movie without getting the good Christmas DVDs out of storage and this was on TV so...and it was a poor choice.  Really bad Lifetime Christmas movie budget with budget cast (Dean Cain! Jodie Sweetin!) about Santa being arrested (Which is the plot of multiple Christmas shows) and a trial to determine whether or not he is Santa Claus (Again the plot of multiple Christmas movies).  And there's a defence attorney who takes the case and local sheriff Dean Cain falls for her, but she gets mad at him when he won't lie on the stand on her behalf (Which is kinda glossed-over really...) and then Santa reveals himself to every one in the dumbest way possible when

a guy whose daughter died of cancer brings in a four inch tall living, breathing horse that Santa gave his daughter

which is so weird and dumb and even sillier because somehow this is still not enough to convince Dean Cain but...I did watch it.

 

'I Am Chris Farley: Which has been sitting on my PVR for MONTHS.  It's good and it's fun to see Adam Sandler just be himself and talk about Farley and see how genuinely upset Bob Odenkirk still is about the whole thing.  But mostly it just makes you want to watch the SNL Best of Chris Farley DVD which luckily I own so...

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BTW What We Do in the Shadows kicks all kinds of ass.  Also, eligible for the DVDVR Best of 2015 Poll (As per RT specifications).  It's a vampire mockumentary with a couple guys associated with 'Flight of the Conchords' and it's super silly and terrific.  I don't really wanna spoil any of the gags but "Leave me to do my dark bidding on the Internet", "I think of it like this. If you are going to eat a sandwich, you would just enjoy it more if you knew no one had fucked it" and "Petyr is 8000 years old, he isn't coming to a flat meeting" are some all-time classic lines.

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The Liz Taylor Story: This has been said before: But, Dear God, was Sherilynn Fenn stunning in the '90s. One of the most beautiful women ever. You know things are crazy when an actress is playing a young Elizabeth Taylor and at certain points you're like, yeah, she might be too good looking for this.  Bad accent aside, she's the best thing in this by far.

 

Not nearly as funny as the Lindsay Lohan mess was, though.

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I liked the Seven reveal because of how they pulled the rug out instead of going with an established character. It doesn't come off as flat at all to me. John Doe's logic and how he pulls off everything is like watching someone solve a Rubik's Cube. If there's any complaint I can make about the film its that 1. it's way too dark and 2. it's always raining, which is just unrealistic. Captures a mood, though.

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I live in the North-West of England. I didn't think there was anything unrealistic about the weather in Se7en.

 

Watched the Adam Sandler version of the Longest Yard. Not as good as the Burt Reynolds version... still haven't seen the Vinnie Jones version. But then I realised... this is the only Adam Sandler film I've ever seen in my life. Not even all the way through... I think I've seen five minutes of the Wedding Singer, and three minutes of something where he was playing the Devil or in hell or something like that, and a few trailers, and nothing else.

 

Am I wise?

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I'd go to bat for 'Happy Gilmore', 'Billy Madison', 'The Wedding Singer', 'Big Daddy' and maybe 'The Water Boy'.  But, as someone who just watched 15 of his 17 comedies in the last two+ months...I can't really blame someone for not watching Adam Sandler movies.

 

Also, I don't really consider 'Punch-Drunk Love' an Adam Sandler movie.  I would think Paul Thomas Anderson's meticulousness and stubbornness probably overrides any of Sandler's influence on the film.  That's a Paul Thomas Anderson film, that happens to star Adam Sandler, not an Adam Sandler film that happens to be directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.  I guess what I'm trying to say, is you could make that movie with other actors and likely have it turn out well; I doubt you could make that director with the same cast and any other director and have it turn out okay.

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I liked the Seven reveal because of how they pulled the rug out instead of going with an established character. It doesn't come off as flat at all to me. John Doe's logic and how he pulls off everything is like watching someone solve a Rubik's Cube. If there's any complaint I can make about the film its that 1. it's way too dark and 2. it's always raining, which is just unrealistic. Captures a mood, though.

 

Oh I certainly enjoy the tone and the look of the film. I just don't like it when a film has an ending that the viewer has no clue about.

 

I had the same issue with Robert Downey Jrs Sherlock Holmes. He reveals this massive grand plan based on hints and clues he has picked up along the way and we as the viewer are left to just think "Yeah, ok I guess." having had no chance to 'solve' the riddle ourselves which, to me at least, is half the fun of these sorts of movies. Putting yourself in the cop's shoes and trying to work out who the bad guy is.

 

When it turns out to be someone totally unrelated to the first 2/3 of the story it feels a little flat.

 

I like the John Doe character and his work/methods but I just wish we had a little more of a chance to figure out who he was before the big reveal. I had the same issue with the killer in The Bone Collector

 

 

I think you're watching the movie wrong.  Seven is not a murder mystery.  It's not some whodunnit where the viewer is meant to figure out who the killer is.  You're judging the film negatively based on a misconception you brought to it.  You might as well be mad that it wasn't a musical comedy while you're at it.

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I liked the Seven reveal because of how they pulled the rug out instead of going with an established character. It doesn't come off as flat at all to me. John Doe's logic and how he pulls off everything is like watching someone solve a Rubik's Cube. If there's any complaint I can make about the film its that 1. it's way too dark and 2. it's always raining, which is just unrealistic. Captures a mood, though.

Oh I certainly enjoy the tone and the look of the film. I just don't like it when a film has an ending that the viewer has no clue about.

I had the same issue with Robert Downey Jrs Sherlock Holmes. He reveals this massive grand plan based on hints and clues he has picked up along the way and we as the viewer are left to just think "Yeah, ok I guess." having had no chance to 'solve' the riddle ourselves which, to me at least, is half the fun of these sorts of movies. Putting yourself in the cop's shoes and trying to work out who the bad guy is.

When it turns out to be someone totally unrelated to the first 2/3 of the story it feels a little flat.

I like the John Doe character and his work/methods but I just wish we had a little more of a chance to figure out who he was before the big reveal. I had the same issue with the killer in The Bone Collector

I think you're watching the movie wrong. Seven is not a murder mystery. It's not some whodunnit where the viewer is meant to figure out who the killer is. You're judging the film negatively based on a misconception you brought to it. You might as well be mad that it wasn't a musical comedy while you're at it.

Yeah, caley, WATCH MOVIES THE RIGHT WAY!*

*Total sarcasm. I've been in the Raw threads too much.

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It's definitely not a movie presented as a mystery to be solved as you watch. It's just an atmospheric slice of sheer nihilism and depression.

On the level of filmmaking, it's stunning. But it's not pleasant or fun.

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It's definitely not a movie presented as a mystery to be solved as you watch. It's just an atmospheric slice of sheer nihilism and depression.

On the level of filmmaking, it's stunning. But it's not pleasant or fun.

 

I'm quite a nihilistic person, and even I find Fincher's work depressing.

 

It's just too much, man.

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