TV/Movies Megathread

[KRonn]

Yeah, that's true. After the vertical drop in quality in MI2, they have gotten progressively better.

It's a real pity John Woo never got a good American film going. I guess his unhinged style didn't suit the more controlled environment of Western storytelling. Face/Off is probably his most entertaining Hollywood film just due to how utterly deranged and over the top it is.

I recall liking Face/Off less than Broken Arrow, but I like Broken Arrow a real awful lot, to the extent I'm probably literally its biggest fan, given I've never heard anyone else even say something nice about it.

I've never gotten a chance to watch Paycheck.

M:I 2 is no Broken Arrow.  The more I think about M:I 2, the less I like it.

The BDP M:I is definitely the best, though.

I like both films, Face/Off and Broken Arrow.

[viper37]

Warner Bros wants to adapt Dungeons & Dragons to cinema.

If at first you don't succeed...

[Duque de Bragança]

Damn, I'm old, I remember the first adaptation. 

[jimmy olsen]

Mission: Impossible, no less!   Love these fucking movies.  Well, three of them, anyway.

And thanks for the comment.

Heh no prob. Watership Down is an awesomely bizzare movie in some ways - I was a kid when it came out, and it was (awkwardly) marketed to the kiddie crowd - you can just see some studeo exec scratching his head over this movie and thinking 'well, it's about talking rabbits, so it must be for kids, right?". Lord knows how many youngsters were permanently traumatized by their parents taking 'em to see this. 

I know you get a lot of flack for your movie reviews, but I for one admire them - even when I don't agree with 'em. I like your attention to details and passion for what you do.

In fact, I find 'em inspiring. I'd like to write one of two of my own in the same style, if I find the time. 

It's only fucked up and nihilistic by western standards. Tons of anime and manga are just as brutal and nihilistic if not more since they use human characters.

[Ideologue]

Paycheck isn't *terrible* but it isn't too great either. Its main crime is the fact that it looks nothing like a John Woo film; you could have put some random hack behind the camera and you would've got the same movie, which seems a bit of a waste.

I just watched it, and could really not disagree with this more.  Two words: CGI dove.  There's also a lot of other Wooish stylistic flourishes, although I guess it never reaches that "poetry of violence" kind of thing for which he's known.  Rather there's a lot of the pure visual ridiculousness that defined Hollywood Woo, and honestly it's some of his best--that is, his most ridiculous.  I laughed for about two or three straight minutes, out loud--literally cackling--during the climax.  The person to blame isn't Woo, I expect, but Affleck, who convinces as an action hero--let alone a martial artist--exactly once, during a training sequence at the very beginning, and never again (often to hilarious effect).  (Oh, and I really enjoyed the Rube Goldbergism of the premise, even if I did keep wondering what kind of magic someone like, say, Brad Bird might've done with it.)

It's mostly the usual Hollywood sci-fier where they take an intriguing premise but waste it by turning the film into an ordinary action vehicle.

True.  The waste comes pretty late, though, when they commit to completely and deliberately misunderstanding their own premise.  Why a lens that sees through time?  Why not just a computer that predicts the future?  The former presents physical evidence of a future that cannot be altered, but it can be, because Action Heroism, apparently.  It's incredibly bad in this one very key regard, and I'm having a really tough time trying to figure out how severely it impacts the total quality of the film, which is otherwise spectacularly good fun.  6/10, I think, but I had enough of a blast I'm really leaning toward 7.

[Ideologue]

Mission: Impossible, no less!   Love these fucking movies.  Well, three of them, anyway.

And thanks for the comment.

Heh no prob. Watership Down is an awesomely bizzare movie in some ways - I was a kid when it came out, and it was (awkwardly) marketed to the kiddie crowd - you can just see some studeo exec scratching his head over this movie and thinking 'well, it's about talking rabbits, so it must be for kids, right?". Lord knows how many youngsters were permanently traumatized by their parents taking 'em to see this. 

I know you get a lot of flack for your movie reviews, but I for one admire them - even when I don't agree with 'em. I like your attention to details and passion for what you do.

In fact, I find 'em inspiring. I'd like to write one of two of my own in the same style, if I find the time. 

Tim, you're probably right, but while I have some substantial background, I'm not deeply rooted in anime.  Although with animals, you can short circuit a lot of the emotional defenses you put up for human characters (and actual humans, I suppose).

[katmai]

I haven't seen MI5, but I agree that so far De Palma's entry is clearly the best of the lot.

[Ideologue]

I haven't seen MI5, but I agree that so far De Palma's entry is clearly the best of the lot.

You hate things that are well-directed.  We get it.

[katmai]

No i just don't drink the I wish I was Alfred Hitchcock but instead I'm hack Brian DePalma kool aid.

[celedhring]

Paycheck isn't *terrible* but it isn't too great either. Its main crime is the fact that it looks nothing like a John Woo film; you could have put some random hack behind the camera and you would've got the same movie, which seems a bit of a waste.

I just watched it, and could really not disagree with this more.  Two words: CGI dove.  There's also a lot of other Wooish stylistic flourishes, although I guess it never reaches that "poetry of violence" kind of thing for which he's known.  Rather there's a lot of the pure visual ridiculousness that defined Hollywood Woo, and honestly it's some of his best--that is, his most ridiculous.  I laughed for about two or three straight minutes, out loud--literally cackling--during the climax.  The person to blame isn't Woo, I expect, but Affleck, who convinces as an action hero--let alone a martial artist--exactly once, during a training sequence at the very beginning, and never again (often to hilarious effect).  (Oh, and I really enjoyed the Rube Goldbergism of the premise, even if I did keep wondering what kind of magic someone like, say, Brad Bird might've done with it.)

It's mostly the usual Hollywood sci-fier where they take an intriguing premise but waste it by turning the film into an ordinary action vehicle.

True.  The waste comes pretty late, though, when they commit to completely and deliberately misunderstanding their own premise.  Why a lens that sees through time?  Why not just a computer that predicts the future?  The former presents physical evidence of a future that cannot be altered, but it can be, because Action Heroism, apparently.  It's incredibly bad in this one very key regard, and I'm having a really tough time trying to figure out how severely it impacts the total quality of the film, which is otherwise spectacularly good fun.  6/10, I think, but I had enough of a blast I'm really leaning toward 7.

The action seemed pretty ordinary to me, for a Woo film. The whole "knowing what will happen" thing adds some sophistication layer to the proceeds, but it's all razzle dazzle.

Again, it's not a completely bad film, since it has some fun ideas here and there and the premise is good. I agree that some other director could have had a blast with it. I think that Woo just played it safe because he wanted to secure his place in Hollywood, and this ended up being his last Hollywood film.

[Malthus]

It's only fucked up and nihilistic by western standards. Tons of anime and manga are just as brutal and nihilistic if not more since they use human characters.

It's more the disconnect between how the movie was marketed and its content. Originally released in England, it was (famously) given a "U for everyone" rating, and the promotional artwork tended to enhance the notion that this is, basically, a cute movie about bunnies for quite young kids to see.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/426927239651090150/

Dutifully, many people took their little kids to see it, causing (as I recall) a considerable amount of childhood trauma!  Parents, at least in North America, were not taking their kids to see 'adult' Anime (at the time at least, that was strictly an adult niche fandom thing).

[celedhring]

Reminds me of when I went to see the SouthPark movie and there were loads of families with their kids in attendance, which walked out at about 15-20 minutes in.

SP was a very niche thing when the film came out, so a lot of people just saw an animated movie with some cute kids in it.

[lustindarkness]

Talking about family friendly movies. The latest Deadpool trailer is pretty funny.

[crazy canuck]

Warner Bros wants to adapt Dungeons & Dragons to cinema.

If at first you don't succeed...

It has already been done successfully.  Remember that great scene in ET where the kids were playing the game?

[Eddie Teach]

Horrible Bosses 2. It was amusing.