Movies: Talk About What You've Seen Lately--Part 3 - Page 203 - The Lounge Discussion and Review on Literature, Arts, Culture

Rewatching The Beach. I've always considered myself an Alex Garland fan. I love The Beach book and film and looooooooove Sunshine. But now looking him up I find out that he also wrote the screenplay adaptation for Never Let Me Go and the screenplay for Dredd? Power rating increased. Clap clap.

01-21-2014 , 01:43 AM

#5052

microbet

Solar Powered

Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 56,513

Her I can't quite gush over it like many others have done, but it was very good and maybe the movie I've liked the most from 2013.

Spoiler:

8.5/10

Last edited by microbet; 01-21-2014 at 01:55 AM.

01-21-2014 , 09:18 AM

#5053

therightdeal

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 6,256

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ra_Z_Boy

Yeah I remember that:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpUtUQ5YC-Q

What did I just watch?

01-21-2014 , 06:46 PM

#5054

diebitter

Grotesquely Handsome

Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 65,711

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dominic

Both of you should start a Letterboxed account. great for film lists/blogs

Thanks for suggesting this Dom, it's a great site. I'm all over it like a rash. Just needs a dedicated mobile app now to really fly.

01-21-2014 , 07:26 PM

#5055

vixticator

clutch

Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 117,339

Inside Llewyn Davis is filled with these wonderful little moments, rhythms of speech, elliptical narrative moments, and a hero who can't win - in other words, it is a Coen Bros movie. I happen to love their style, and you can guess what I thought of this one. It's very funny, also surprisingly endearing. 9/10

01-21-2014 , 08:03 PM

#5056

GoldenBears

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Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 23,950

Quote:

Originally Posted by diebitter

Miniseries first. It has all the setup. "33 minutes" is a little intense to start someone on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ianlippert

If she can't get through the miniseries how do you expect her to get through season 2? I think mini series first as it's more representative of the series as a whole. Also doesnt it setup the whole baltar-cylon connection? Seems like thing might be a bit confusing if she doesn't see that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JB91

100% go with the miniseries. If she hates it consider getting a new one, imo.

More seriously though I'm not sure why you preferred it as I found the story very confusing until I learned that there was a miniseries because they continually reference it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KRANTZ

FOR THE LOVE OF BALTAR START BSG WITH THE MINISERIES IT SETS UP THE ENTIRE STORY AND IS ****ING BADASS!!!

TY for pointing me in the right direction. Started with the mini series, and it was amazing. First hour was really slow and kind of boring, but the next 2 hours were unreal good.

I watched all 4 seasons and loved it, but had never seen the MS. The attack on the colonies was totally different than I had imagined all the time I had watched it. I had pictured something sudden, a huge bang, a bunch of nukes, panic, lots of fighting, and then the fleet fleeing in despair. But the actual version was way better... nukes slowly going off 1 by 1, people scattered, mass amounts of confusion, information trickling in, ships slowly being destroyed... just super intense and dramatic, I think I had goosebumps for 2 hours.

She was obv hooked, and we immediately watched the next two episodes, and then two more then next day.

::thumbsup::

01-21-2014 , 08:11 PM

#5057

OMGitsamirrage

journeyman

Join Date: Aug 2013 Posts: 232

Quote:

Originally Posted by Abysmal

Just watched Filth which I'd heard good things about but hadn't got round to seeing. I'm going to give it an 8/10. McAvoy was super strong playing a 30 something douche which I didn't see him being good at and the rest of the cast was solid. Definitely deserved more attention than it got.

Thanks for giving it more attention. Liked it a lot.

01-21-2014 , 09:10 PM

#5058

therightdeal

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Is it bad I've never watched Taxi Driver? Was going to watch it for the first time tonight.

Actually went through all of Martin Socrese's films and I'm going to watch everyone that I've missed, as I cannot remember a poor film he directed.

01-21-2014 , 11:28 PM

#5059

vixticator

clutch

Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 117,339

Quote:

Originally Posted by therightdeal

Is it bad I've never watched Taxi Driver?

No, how can it be 'bad' not to have seen a movie?

It's a great movie and you should watch it though!

As a companion piece I recommend I Stand Alone. It riffs on similar themes while being imo far more disturbing. Taxi Driver juuuust a little bit lacks some of the punch that was intended given how ingrained it became in our cinema; although it certainly still has an impact. Then go to the theater and watch his masterpiece if you haven't yet ldo.

01-21-2014 , 11:49 PM

#5060

vixticator

clutch

Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 117,339

Her is a very rich movie in terms of ideas and philosophy. You could sit around and discuss it endlessly. The only problem I have is that it tends to drift into navel gazing territory here and there - on purpose? I can't tell. And for whatever reason it keeps using characters to blurt out thematic talking points just in case someone didn't get it as if it doesn't trust the audience to work it all out themselves. In other news I absolutely love how Samatha evolves throughout the movie. I felt like they got all of that right and only wished they'd done the same with the human characters. So I dunno, I liked it more than not, but I certainly didn't connect with it anywhere near the level a lot of people did. 7/10

01-22-2014 , 12:10 AM

#5061

legend42

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Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 39,130

Quote:

Originally Posted by clydetheglide

This was some really well thought-out stuff. I definitely find myself guilty of criticizing movies for things that I don't like, rather than analyzing whether or not something's good. I guess that's why I couldn't ever be a movie critic, bc I have a hard time looking at something objectively...because there are things that I just don't like watching, whether it be more real or not.

I liked your point on smugness/brutal honesty. It's sometimes hard for ppl to "inform" others of something that they think they know without sounding smug or condescending about it. On top of that, they are always more smug about the delivery when they themselves are unsure of the validity of what it is they are trying to prove. Let alone when they are using it to prop up their own self-worth; "look at what I know" etc. I think most ppl have been guilty of this kind of stuff, particularly in their 20's, and it's hard to fault his character for that, and even if his delivery is bad, so are a lot of people's. Again, it seems more like a criticism of the character's personality than it is of the movie itself.

I enjoyed reading the discourse in this thread on the trilogy, and I randomly came across this link today, thought I'd share

http://www.grantland.com/blog/hollyw...efore-midnight

Quote:

Originally Posted by lycosid

I think you're being a little too hard on Jesse here. Yea, he's an ******* at a lot of points in this movie, with the atheist story being the nadir. But its all a front. At heart, he's the optimist of the pair, the one who reads 'All You Need is Love' and sees his grandmother in the rainbow and envisions himself as a 13 year old boy. Remember, he's in Europe to see his (now ex-)girlfriend. He saved up all his money hoping for a life-affirming event (just like the old lady from the fortune teller story), only to come over and visit this girl he thought he loved and find out she is now utterly disinterested in him. So when he meets Celine, he's clearly enamored, and is actually the one who suggests this whole fantastic sojourn, but at the same time is trying to repress his own romantic personality to preemptively stop himself from being hurt again so soon. When he's on the fake phonecall, he talks about being afraid of sounding stupid in front of Celine. So, in an attempt to both to protect himself from harm and to throw up a cool personality in front of this intimidating woman, he throws up this wall of cynicism, trying his best to see the world in the most negative light possible, even as his natural romanticism comes pouring through.

I was out of town for a long time, but wanted to acknowledge the insight of both these replies. Heavy agreement with both of them.

I re-watched Reality Bites before posting this, and may have been influenced by Hawke's character in that (and also by the memory of Siskel and Ebert's reaction to that film) when I wrote this. I have many positive feelings for Jesse, in varying degrees of fondness, empathy, enjoyment, and probably even jealousy. I definitely root for him in all three movies, maybe even in "Sunrise" the most, I just don't think he's supposed to be the Gen-X version of Tom Hank in Sleepless in Seattle in that movie.

Maybe Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally, though.

01-22-2014 , 12:27 AM

#5062

legend42

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Quote:

Originally Posted by vixticator

I think you're being too narrow here. You could remove the technology aspect completely, and it would still be one of the most thoughtful and emotional "divorce" movies of all time.

And this :

Quote:

You could sit around and discuss it endlessly.

is enough to push above a 7 imo. It's got a lot to ponder about what defines humanity (I actually wished he had pushed that angle just a couple degrees further, but you can tell he wants us to do it on our own).

Btw vix, I agree WOWS belongs firmly in the realm of Goodfellas and Casino. It's awesome.

01-22-2014 , 12:46 AM

#5063

vixticator

clutch

Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 117,339

Well, I mean, you could make an extraordinarily bad movie that is filled with rich philosophical ideas worth exploring in other mediums. I don't think there is any connection to how much you can discuss a movie and the merit it has as a movie itself. A movie isn't a jumping off point for discussion. It is a self contained experience.

Last edited by vixticator; 01-22-2014 at 12:59 AM. Reason: speaking in general here, not about this specific movie

01-22-2014 , 01:07 AM

#5064

vixticator

clutch

Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 117,339

Here's what I liked most, I think it supported by the text... spoilers:

Spoiler:

Last edited by vixticator; 01-22-2014 at 01:19 AM.

01-22-2014 , 02:07 AM

#5065

legend42

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Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 39,130

Quote:

Originally Posted by vixticator

A movie isn't a jumping off point for discussion.

It certainly can be and I think to some extent, some movies are designed to be just that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vixticator

It is a self contained experience.

I mostly agree and I'm fine with discussing any movie on these terms. But you seem to have come away with it being a think piece about technology vs. society, where I think it was much more immediate. Tone down Jonze's imagination and substitute a regular online relationship and the movie becomes far less abstract but no less personal.

As much as I hate to say it, I actually think Phoenix was a slight weak spot. He needed to be less removed imo.

01-22-2014 , 02:08 AM

#5066

straykatbluz

old hand

Join Date: Oct 2012 Posts: 1,425

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dominic

Both of you should start a Letterboxed account. great for film lists/blogs

This is awesome, had no idea there was something like this. tyty

01-22-2014 , 03:59 AM

#5067

TheCroShow

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The Raid 2 just killed Sundance. If only I were rich, or wrote for a bigger website. =(

01-22-2014 , 04:26 AM

#5068

vixticator

clutch

Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 117,339

Fruitvale Station is a tribute to the life of a young man tragically slain by the hand of a police officer. This is a movie that certainly needs to exist, it's a powerful rebuke to those who inevitably say "well he shouldn't have..." you know? I'm still a bit shook by it. It's one hell of a debut. 9/10

01-22-2014 , 04:29 AM

#5069

vixticator

clutch

Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 117,339

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheCroShow

The Raid 2 just killed Sundance. If only I were rich, or wrote for a bigger website. =(

Oh man I didn't know they were making another one.

01-22-2014 , 04:30 AM

#5070

R_Webb18

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Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 6,762

Quote:

Originally Posted by vixticator

I watched this last week also thought it was good.

01-22-2014 , 05:04 AM

#5071

riverboatking

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Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 23,785

inside llewyn davis was awesome.
Oscar Isaac was brilliant and the coen bros are a national treasure.

01-22-2014 , 09:55 AM

#5072

scottp4braves

Optimistic

Join Date: Apr 2012 Posts: 1,147

Quote:

Originally Posted by vixticator

Watched it last weekend, well said, my recents:

Fruitvale Station (8.5/10)

Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters (6.7/10) - Fun movie, enjoyed it just as much as the 1st one, weird seeing the girl from True Detective with a perfect 10 body playing an innocent 18-19 year-old.

Kick Ass 2 (5.7/10) - Not the worst sequel I've seen, worth watching if you liked the 1st, but definitely not nearly as good, and I don't remember lol-ing more than a couple times.

The Butler (8.8/10) - Loved it, will never watch it again because I get overemotional from movies, but thought it was great.

01-22-2014 , 03:38 PM

#5073

GoldenBears

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Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 23,950

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dubnjoy000

Lucky Number Slevin

It worked for me. The intensity of the crime thriller was tamed by a great a great sense of humor. As far as the soundtrack, it was engaging, at times classical/serious, other times, light, smoothing... But then it started to take itself too seriously. Regardless, I enjoyed it, but it was set too be on its way to a top tier film...

7.6/10

I think this is one of the most underrated/unknown movies ever. Such an enjoyable film. All the deadpan one liners just killed me

Spoiler:

01-22-2014 , 03:40 PM

#5074

Ra_Z_Boy

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Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 36,966

I enjoyed its style and it's humour, but the plot was just an absolute trainwreck and it relied on being unpredictably clever when it was anything but.

01-22-2014 , 05:12 PM

#5075

microbet

Solar Powered

Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 56,513

I liked Lucky Number Slevin a lot. It may suffer a bit from taking the plot a little too seriously and might have been better off leaving the viewer knowing that it was a complex plot, but maybe left in the dark over some details. I think it is generally a weakness when narration is needed to explain what's going on (the only exception coming to mind is Princess Bride - Scorcese is no exception there imo).

Still, the noir style of the filming and dialogue was well done. It wasn't exactly reality, but it wasn't so cartoonish that you couldn't really feel the relationship between Slevin and Lucy Lui (she's worth the price of admission here).

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