TV/Movies Megathread

[mongers]

Just picked up the blue ray of this on the way into work. 

You should take that back for a refund..



.. someone's driven over the tin.

[Eddie Teach]

Watched most of a Chink flick last night about college students plotting to assassinate a collaborator with the Japanese. "Lust, Love" or something like that.

Out of all Asian people, I think the Chinese have the best taste in female movie stars.

Lust, Caution?



I've started watching Boardwalk Empire. Really enjoying it so far.

[Admiral Yi]

Lust, Caution?

That's the ticket.

Another observation: Chinese women look great with 1930s hair and clothes.  They should do that all the time.

[frunk]

Dabangg 2 - If Zack Snyder spoke Hindi and was a bigger fan of musical theater he could have made this movie, except it wouldn't be nearly as great.  Salman Khan stars as Chulbul P. Pandey, supercop recently transferred to Kanpur.  Calling Pandey a supercop is probably a misnomer, since he is better described as an avatar of justice or a vengeance god.  The opening scene features Pandey crashing a jeep into a factory held by kidnappers, leaping out and landing on top of a suspended car, causing it to fall.  He proceeds to beat the crap out of the kidnappers in Snydery over the top fashion, while advising the kidnapped kid to be sure to enjoy the show.  The father of the kidnapped arrives at the factory after the fight, only to be shamed by Pandey (and the assembled crowd) to donate the ransom money to Pandey's personal charity for social justice or something.  Scenes like that make it difficult to tell exactly why Pandey is so great.

The main plot is about Baccha Bhaiya, a corrupt politician, and his two brothers who control Kanpur.  Only about a third of the movie actually deals with that thread.  The movie is two hours long, and is padded with a large cast and several musical numbers.  Other elements filling up time is the non-riddle that befuddles Pandey's simpleton brother for half the movie, Pandey's wife getting pregnant and keeping it secret from her, Pandey torturing his father about his deceased mother and the clumsiest product placements I've ever seen.

There are two standout scenes in a movie filled with ridiculous moments and over the top stupidity.  The first is at a wedding where one of Baccha's brothers has threatened the bride with kidnapping her if she gets married.  Pandey arrives, and after a period of bluster casually breaks the neck of Baccha's brother in front of all the guests at the wedding.  This is after a previous scene where he shoots and kills several criminals and avoids getting into trouble for their deaths by claiming that they killed each other.  Of course there's plenty of wailing about Pandey killing Baccha's brother, but the net result is that Baccha is forced by public outrage to apologize for his brother's actions at the wedding and to praise Pandey for being judge, jury and executioner.

The second standout scene is after it is discovered that Pandey's brother is a wizard at conducting witness interviews.  This development is completely out of the blue, and followed the brother's wife showing up for a visit and him figuring out the non-riddle riddle (apparently he just needed to get laid).  To celebrate the brother's new found competence at anything they decide to go to a brothel.  At the brothel one of the women starts a song (which everybody joins) about men taking her picture and sticking it on their heart with glue.  So...prostitute singing a song about men gluing her picture to their chest with some unnamed sticky substance.  This scene is never mentioned afterward, and there isn't any indication that either married Pandey brother is unhappy in their relationships.

Recommended for anyone who wants to see quality cinema but doesn't know what it is.

[CountDeMoney]

Another observation: Chinese women look great with 1930s hair and clothes.  They should do that all the time.

:sagely TopCat nod:

[Eddie Teach]

Say what you will about Snyder, at least he didn't include musical numbers. 

[frunk]

Say what you will about Snyder, at least he didn't include musical numbers. 

Did you see Sucker Punch?

[Eddie Teach]

Were there musical numbers? I was too distracted by Miss Browning.   

[Liep]

Were there musical numbers? I was too distracted by Miss Browning.   

That's all I remember too.

[frunk]

The fantasy sequences were music videos with about as much depth as any Bollywood dance sequence.

[Eddie Teach]

Music playing in background > music coming out of character's mouths

[Admiral Yi]

The Man Who Wasn't There.  A rare miss by the Cohen brothers.  Black and white noirish something or other.  Billy Bob Thornton smokes a whole lot of cigarettes.

[CountDeMoney]

Were there musical numbers? I was too distracted by Miss Browning.   

That's all I remember too.

That naughty, naughty little girl.  So naughty.

edit:  and all her naughty, naughty little friends.

[Razgovory]

Lust, Caution?

That's the ticket.

Another observation: Chinese women look great with 1930s hair and clothes.  They should do that all the time.

To be fair every looks better dressed up from that period.  People dressed better back then.

[Habbaku]

The Man Who Wasn't There.  A rare miss by the Cohen brothers.  Black and white noirish something or other.  Billy Bob Thornton smokes a whole lot of cigarettes.

Yep.  Easily their worst film.  The trouble with making a movie in which the protagonist doesn't really drive the action is...what you see.