TV/Movies Megathread

[Ideologue]

Gatsby's got more than a few advance reviews.  The consensus isn't good, but all the criticism of Luhrmann's excess really just makes me want to see it more.  Many of these dummies thought Pain & Gain was a bad movie too.

I did like this one bit from the Variety review by Scott Foundas:

In the notes for his unfinished final novel, "The Last Tycoon," Fitzgerald famously wrote, "action is character," but for Luhrmann action is production design

WELL IT IS.

I also enjoyed David Denby's review.  He seemed to be going in with a open mind--some of the critics I've read openly if obliquely admit that they didn't--but still didn't like it very much, which is OK, because it may in fact suck.  However, this line:

Mulligan is not elegantly beautiful

made me wonder what movie he saw, because I've seen the trailer.  That creature is all the justification any putative Gatsby needs.

[katmai]

Gatsby's got more than a few advance reviews.  The consensus isn't good, but all the criticism of Luhrmann's excess really just makes me want to see it more. Many of these dummies thought Pain & Gain was a bad movie too.

[Josquius]

Ide's taste in movies.

No shit. Oz the Stupid and Boring gets a C? That was one of the worst movies I've seen in a long time. Took the entire family - the wife is a Oz fanatic, both kids wanted to see it, and all four of us walked out saying it was stupid and boring.

Even my 9 year old daughter, who thinks EVERYTHING is great, thought it was lame.

Well, I'll tell you something that may enlighten you as to my grades--I had a B average in law school.  So, you know, that's a data point for you.

And I do think you're being overly harsh.  It was watchable.  It wasn't a total failure, like Total Recall or Prometheus.  It was just, you know, not very good.  A C+ is something I'd say is worth watching once, to see if it turns out you like it, but personally I doubt I'll ever feel like watching it again.

'a total failure, like Total Recall or Prometheus'?

Prometheus was pretty good if you don't think about it too much.
Total Recall goes a bit off the rails, starts great and becomes mediocre, wouldn't say total failure.

[Syt]

Ide and Tyr disucssing movies.

[Viking]

It's like reading a redacted government document in here now.

I don't want to get yelled at for spoiling the underwhelming twistiness.

Start a spoiled thread and I'll defend Iron Man 3. None of the Iron Man twists are any more inconsistent than Bane not being on Venom, working for the league of assasins and being Talia al Ghul's bitch, or Ducard secretly being Ra's.

[Berkut]

Oz the Uninteresting and Idiotic was a total failure as a movie. It is the first movie in a LONG time that I walked out thinking "Well, I want my two hours back".

[Neil]

WaPo has some more details. It appears he's shilling for a milk-based drink, and a Chinese doctor is imperative to keeping him healthy:

So Iron Man has to swill various parts of rare animals to survive?

China really needs to die.

[Kleves]

Venture Brothers: The Story so Far: http://www.ign.com/videos/2013/05/07/venture-bros-the-story-so-far

[Ideologue]

Venture Brothers: The Story so Far: http://www.ign.com/videos/2013/05/07/venture-bros-the-story-so-far

Whoa, pretty neat.  I've belatedly realized that Doc Hammer does both Dr. Girlfriend, and Gary.  That's weird.

[Ideologue]

Oz the Uninteresting and Idiotic was a total failure as a movie. It is the first movie in a LONG time that I walked out thinking "Well, I want my two hours back".

I can see where you're coming from, but still think there were enough fun parts to redeem it from the trash pile.

Hey, Syt: FU.  Josq is a pretty good dude, but obviously has no taste.  I'm the arbiter of culture: I see the good in what others reflexively deride, the bad in what others uncritically adore.  I attempt objectivity.

Speaking of which, Lincoln (2012).  What must be the best acted History Channel special of all time, and the only TV movie of which I am aware to ever get nominated for an Oscar.  Kudos to all involved!

No, there's nothing wrong with Lincoln.  It's good and engaging, with great performances, and an occasionally impressive vision of America at the end of the Civil War, but is mainly a film about people sitting in badly lit rooms being slowly and gently talked out of being human garbage by a faintly amusing man in a tall hat.  As interesting as Spielberg manages to make the passage of a (however important) piece of legislation, it's not exactly the most cinematic piece of cinema I've ever seen. B

[AnchorClanker]

Decided to watch The Poseidon Adventure last night - seeing Gene Hackman and Ernest Borgnine yell at each other = WIN.

I haven't seen it since I was a kid, and it was an afternoon matinee on Channel 12, back when it was independent (before Fox bought it)

[crazy canuck]

Decided to watch The Poseidon Adventure last night - seeing Gene Hackman and Ernest Borgnine yell at each other = WIN.

I haven't seen it since I was a kid, and it was an afternoon matinee on Channel 12, back when it was independent (before Fox bought it)

I loved that movie.

[Josephus]

Saw that when I was a kid too. Every now and then when it's on TV I'll catch bits of it. It is a classic disaster movie.

[Admiral Yi]

The one bad scene is when everyone in the ballroom is disco dancing to the theme song.

[Ideologue]

I need to see that at some point.

Also, Towering Inferno.