TV/Movies Megathread

[Eddie Teach]

Like insurance fraud?

[Sophie Scholl]

Like insurance fraud?

Nah, I'm leaving that to the Yankees and their handling of A-Rod.

On topic, did anyone else watch Season 4 of Luther?  Incredibly short, but a nice end I thought. (Episode 3    )

[Syt]

Stallone will reprise his role as "Rocky" for the movie "Creed" about the grandson of Apollo Creed:

http://www.nme.com/filmandtv/news/sylvester-stallone-to-return-as-rocky-balboa-in-spin-off/314187

[fhdz]

Like insurance fraud?

:sadtrombone:

[Syt]

Pacific Rim

I went in expecting giant mecha fighting giant monsters, and I got well served. The action set pieces are absolutely fantastic (giant robot fighting giant monster in the stratosphere with a sword - awesome!) and what IMAX 3D was made for. The 3D worked very well for me in this movie, probably best 3D I've seen since Avatar, with the classic 3D movie gimmicks (stuf flying straight at the screen, monsters getting a snarling super close-ups) kept to a bearable minimum.

Unfortunately, the plot is VERY straightforward without many surprises, memorable characters or dialogue. If you asked me to quote a line from the movie I'd draw a blank. It's every mecha anime ever distilled into one, with familiar characters and plotlines (broken hero has to overcome his grief, jerk needs to learn humility, father figure has to let go o his protege, etc.). I never felt it was too slow or boring, but the non-fight scenes are just not very memorable (except the flashback scene with Mako - that was pretty well done). Well, the scientists stand out as entertaining, and Ron Perlman is Ron Fucking Perlman. And the computer voice of the main character's mech (Gypsy Danger *snicker*) is the same as in Portal.

Some of the fight scenes (in the dark! with rain! in the water!) were a bit confusing, though.

Kudos to the movie for covering the back story in a 5 minute montage in the opening of the movie and then going straight to action. Additional kudos for not turning the relationship of the main character with the only major female character into an outright love story. It's hinted at (from her side at least), but doesn't become a major plot point in any way.

It's the perfect popcorn flick - flashy, entertaining, but ultimately forgettable. It's trash (and it knows it), but it's glorious, nerdtastic trash at least. It's an unrepentant, unironic genre flick that somehow got a ridiculous budget. If you go in for the action and don't expect Shakespearean drama, then you will be well served.

C++

[Ideologue]

Gypsy Danger

As a European, did you feel compelled to try to kill it, or were you merely pleased when it met harm not of your personal making?

Still say the monsters were lame other than Knifehead.

[Syt]

Gypsy Danger

As a European, did you feel compelled to try to kill it, or were you merely pleased when it met harm not of your personal making?

[Ideologue]

I was just kidding.  Help me eyeball these planes in the OTT.

[Ideologue]

The Wolverine (2013).

"Off the top of your head, name everything you associate with Japan, good or ill, accurate or not.  World War II.  Bushido.  Seppuku.  Pink hair with bangs.  Short skirts and thigh-high leggings.  Sexy female martial artists.  Samurai swords.  High-tech companies.  People living in castles with paper walls.  Kimonos.  The bathing scene from You Only Live Twice.  Uncommented upon physical abuse of women.  Overly ritualized funereal customs.  Samurai armor.  Yakuza.  Trains.  Harassing women on trains.  Pachinko parlors.  Love hotels.  Lecherous salarymen.  Blonde fetishism.  Corrupt politicians.  Ninjas.  Snow-covered traditional villages.  Giant robots.  And so forth.

"Congratulations: you just wrote the plot outline for The Wolverine in your head, and the only things that are likely to get cut are long family stories set during the Edo Period (because those are dull), trying to raise demand in a liquidity trap (because economics are hard to film), the Nissan GT-R (because Audi is paying you to put the R8 in the movie), and, even though I know you fought for it, the bukkake scene (because because).

"Just add Logan himself and a white mutant villain with minimal presence and whose powers kind of goof up the joint, and, hey, you're done!"

B

Wherein I wax rhapsodic about what it does really right and how it flushes all that goodness down the toilet in the end, whilst getting annoyed by geography (hoping that I'm right, because I'm pretty snide about it) and briefly moaning about how Wolverine started his slide into lame irrelevance about twenty years back before they even made movie one: Everything you wanted to know about Japan but were too lazy to look up

Also a dumb but okay anime from 09 called Summer Wars: Cowboy Bebop at his computer

[mongers]

Watched the film remake of 'Edge of Darkness', passable and even Mel Gibson did OK, but the slight simplification the 'happy ending' somewhat spoiled it. 

My review: 'Edge of Darkness' not dark enough.

[CountDeMoney]

Oooh, Big Trouble In Little China is on.
Nothing like a gagged and hogtied Kim Cattrall to start the morning off right.

[CountDeMoney]

Lulz, Wall Street.  What a great ending.  Tears always show up when the handcuffs come out.

[Neil]

Yeah, the last twenty years haven't been very good for Wolverine.  He used to be cool, but power creep has stripped him of tension.

[CountDeMoney]

Not even halfway through The Bay.  It is: The Stupid.

[katmai]

The bay?