TV/Movies Megathread

[katmai]

At least you are more creative than Marti.

P.s I ain't mad.

neither am I

[katmai]

HEY BOTH OF YOU

You know you love us Seedy.

[Sophie Scholl]

Exit Humanity, the Post-Civil War zombie movie.

[CountDeMoney]

Exit Humanity, the Post-Civil War zombie movie.

lol, I was wondering about that one.  Suspicions: CONFIRMED

[Razgovory]

Exit Humanity, the Post-Civil War zombie movie.

Haven't all zombie movies made been Post-Civil War.  I don't think they even made zombie flicks in the 1850's.

[CountDeMoney]

Stop being a douchebag, Raz.

[PRC]

Werner Herzog's Into the Abyss: A Tale of Death, A Tale of Life.  Excellent, like all of his documentaries. 

[Eddie Teach]

Haven't all zombie movies made been Post-Civil War.

Didn't 13th Warrior have zombies? 

[Sophie Scholl]

Exit Humanity, the Post-Civil War zombie movie.

lol, I was wondering about that one.  Suspicions: CONFIRMED

It wasn't terrible, it just... plodded along.  There were some interesting elements, but ultimately they couldn't save the film from a low budget (for example: tiny cast, not wholly period clothes, etc.) and slow pacing.

[CountDeMoney]

Pops and I are going to blow off the afternoon and go see Raiders today at the theater.  Good times.

[viper37]

Haven't all zombie movies made been Post-Civil War.

Didn't 13th Warrior have zombies? 

no, just cannibals.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Haven't all zombie movies made been Post-Civil War.

Didn't 13th Warrior have zombies? 

no, just cannibals.

Yes.  I was under the impression they were neandertal like cannibal people.,

[Razgovory]

Stop being a douchebag, Raz.

If it was that easy, do you think I'd still be here?

[CountDeMoney]

Pops and I are going to blow off the afternoon and go see Raiders today at the theater.  Good times.

Had the whole theater to ourselves.  Still a big movie on a big screen.  Awesomeness.

[Ideologue]

Pops and I are going to blow off the afternoon and go see Raiders today at the theater.  Good times.

Had the whole theater to ourselves.  Still a big movie on a big screen.  Awesomeness.

I just got the collection on the Blu Ray.  Watched Skull first, because 1)I may still go watch Raiders in the theater (hell, I could do it tomorrow in the middle of work), and chronological order (order of release anyway, whatever) would spoil that, and 2)I've only ever seen Skull once, whereas, you know, I've seen the others about a dozen times apiece (albeit probably less recently), so after a fashion I was more excited to see it again, even though it's not as good.

Was my enthusiasm rewarded?

Indiana Jones and the Saucermen from Mars Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008).  I talked about it briefly the other day.  The stupid parts are still stupid--and there were some I'd forgotten about, like the crypto-Incan warriors hiding in the masonry in the last act, an idea that is at least as bad as the fridge or the Tarzan routine.  The unconvincing soundstage-and-CGI parts are as overambitious and underreaching as they ever were too (except maybe the ants, the part where the Russian gets dragged right damn into Phase IV got a shudder out of me, and I think I liked it better than the first time--on the minus side the scorpions that get Mutt in the conquistador's tomb were surprisingly fakey).

And yet, the great parts are actually a bit better than I remember.  The second chase scene is God damned awesome (and makes the third look lackluster, but that's the kind of problem a film wants to have).  The part in the not-quicksand is really great too.  The 50s atmosphere, especially in the early scenes before the Russians become largely (if unavoidably) indistinguishable from Nazis is really fresh too, in contrast to the late 30s (interestingly more apocalyptic) ambiance of the earlier movies.  The shot of the saucer smashing through El Dorado and going back into the space between spaces (as unnecessary as the "interdimensional[ity]" of the aliens is) is one of my favorite in the series, as full of wonderment as the top of the Ark rocketing into the sky.  And I really like Cate Blanchett's villain, whom I think liked better than any of the villains from the other movies, maybe because of her haircut, maybe because she was just more interesting.

Anyway.  I mentioned how I feel that people went into it with a bad attitude, attributing it to Lucas fatigue off the prequel trilogy.  While I think that is the larger part, what I forgot was the animus harbored against The Beef because of the Transformers franchise.  And far more than the arguably justified hostile skepticism people held for Lucas' involvement, the hate Shia LeBouf got was complete bullshit, because dude is nigh-on perfect in this movie.  He plays Mutt as brave-but-unjaded, smart-but-inexperienced, and disrespectful-but-awed, and hits every note right.  Fuck, I'd watch a movie just about this guy.  Shame that'll never materialize.

There are a number of failures, that have been exhaustively catalogued.  What I love is that the movie makes it easy to ignore them because just as soon as they're over something really cool is already happening--I hate to say "if you're open to it," because the criticisms leveled against it aren't based on exactly nothing--but that's basically my feeling on it.  Recognizing its flaws, I still hope one day it gets a serious reevaluation and finds a more receptive audience.

So, final grade: A.