Movies

[Sierra]

I didn't really dig the Watchmen movie, but this has so much to do with director's style. Enough with the fucking slow motion already, Hollywood, jesus christ. The movie does take a lot of effort to be faithful to the source material, which I appreciate, and it's pretty much the only Alan Moore adaptation that doesn't suck. I just don't have any reason to watch it again because I've got the book and that has way more dialogue. Why do I need an abridged version?

Agree that Ozy's "Hey, listen, he's GAY!" lisp was kinda eyeroll-worthy. Least effective member of the cast, which does hurt the finale a bit.

[Cotigo]

Fan of the book, but I only read it immediately before watching the movie.  Made the movie less good because it was TOO faithful to the source material so I got kinda bored.  Movie's slightly more ridiculous and slightly less poignant than the book, but the movie's still pretty good, my specific circumstances aside.

[superaielman]

Dreamcatcher- Fairly entertaining horror story. Even though it ran two hours, a hell of a lot of the plot from the book was missing, it felt like. They made Mr Grey more evil and the military figures more sympathetic. The finale was cool enough as well.

[superaielman]

Hot Fuzz- Watched this today. Funnier on a rewatch, movie still drags in the first half. Roger Daltry is having way, way too much fun in this film.

[Sierra]

The first half is establishing all the things they'll make callbacks to in the second half. I don't think it drags, but it definitely is funnier as it goes on.

[Hunter Sopko]

The first half is establishing all the things they'll make callbacks to in the second half. I don't think it drags, but it definitely is funnier as it goes on.

Seconding this. The setup is crucial. Otherwise the end wouldn't be as sweet as it was.

[DjinnAndTonic]

I also just recently watched the Watchmen movie. I had read the book when the movie first came out in America (eager to watch it with knowledge of the original), but it took so long to come to Japan that I only just got around to renting it.

Really enjoyed the adaptation, though having read the original, I wonder if I mentally filled in any plotholes. It felt like the movie was telling its story at breakneck speed, so I felt sure that there must have been a ton of things that would have confused someone who had never read the original.

I liked the style of the directing as a whole, especially with how accurately he captured the scenes and angles of the original graphic novel panels, and I can't remember being annoyed by the slow motion, so it must not have been that prevalent.

The minor change in the ending was probably a better way to use Ozy than the original, in my opinion.

Apart from that, my general impression is: Amazing source material breeds a really good movie.

Also, I watched Terminator 4, which was better than Terminator 3 and that's the nicest thing I'll say about it.

[Shale]

Hancock: Fun. Would have been more fun with a supervillain instead of OHNOES HUMAN FRAGILITY, but oh well.

[Hunter Sopko]

Hancock: Fun. Would have been more fun with a supervillain instead of OHNOES HUMAN FRAGILITY, but oh well.

To be fair... at times he IS the supervillain

[Shale]

Well, yeah, but even he didn't get drunk enough to punch himself in the face at Mach 3. They did well enough portraying his powers that I was disappointed not to see him use them in a a knock-down, drag-out fight.

[superaielman]

Gran Toreno- Because being in Europe means it's clearly movie time!

Anyway, completely awesome. It has Clint Eastwood telling punk kids to get off his lawn, what more could you want?

[Grefter]

How about a movie from a guy that is 80 that isn't yet another movie about how totally awesome old people are in spite of them being gigantic douchebags?

Edit - He is a great director, but his body of work is incredibly focussed.

[Meeplelard]

Beast of 20,000 Fathoms:  Being a fan of Kaiju, I figured I should at least give some American Giant Monster movie classics ago...well, at least ONE...that wasn't King Kong...so why not go with the one that basically started the Atomic Radiation Monster Movie bang of the 50s, actually predating the original Godzilla by a year!?

Special effects were pretty damn good for the time; Stop Motion effects have really aged a lot better than you'd think.  I figured the fact that the movie is significantly before Clash of the Titans (also Ray Harryhausen), it'd be notably inferior and clunkier, but...no, the monster was very smooth and looked almost real at times.

Otherwise...well...first off, the Romance stuff needed to die.  It was pointless and added like an extra 5 minutes to the movie!  Yes, I know; Hollywood = ROMANCE IS A MUST, doesn't mean I can't rag on it, especially when it feels forced!  Damn B-movies *shakes fist*

I guess it deserves props for an original idea...FOR THE TIME.  And the way the monster was geared as a threat in a way more than "its a Monster" was a nice touch too ("ok, we can wound the thing but its blood causes DISEASES?  Crap, we die either way!") which led to Radioactive Isotope Grenade Gun!  Yeah, I dunno where I'm going with this.

Lastly, being the 50s, I naturally expected lots of Cold War undertones, with the Monster being Russia/Communism and what not.  I didn't quite pick up on how it was suppose to be that barring one line here and there like "This is war against a modern enemy!"

...then I actually looked at the name of the monster's fictional race (couldn't quite get a good hearing of it in the movie; they say it all of like 3 times).

"Rhedosaurus"

...yeah, any doubts about it not being a personification of COMMUNIST RUSSIA kind of went out the window at that point <.<

So yeah, guess its good for what it was; not amazing, but passable enough.  The fact that it was basically the first of its era certainly gives it points, since it didn't really have anything to feed off of.

I will note, however, that despite the idea between the two movies being the same, Godzilla King of the Monsters is very much NOT like this.  The visuals, the underlying theme, the way the destruction is presented, what have you...they're all so different.  Anyone who claims that Godzilla is a rip off of Beast of 20,000 Fathoms needs to shove it, cause the two are different enough, and really just run off the same basic idea of "Nuclear Bomb -> Giant Lizard Monster."

[OblivionKnight]

Man, random movie watching day...

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Me: "Well, not awful.  Some major plot holes and dumb things, but nothing..."

Silverfox: "They gave me a shot of hydrochlorothiazide...it lowers the heart rate so low it appears you flat-lined..."

Me:

"..."
"..."
"..."

NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
BULLSHIT!  WHAT THE FUCK?!  NO!!!!!!!  MY GOD, JUST LOOK IT UP ON GOOGLE YOU FUCKTWATS!!!  CHRIST ALMIGHTY, THAT IS THE DUMBEST THING I HAVE EVER HEARD IN MY LIFE!!! WIKIPEDIA, GOOGLE...10 SECONDS AND YOU'D KNOW THAT ISN'T THE FUCKING CASE!!!  JESUS CHRIST!  MILLIONS OF PEOPLE TAKE THE FUCKING DRUG EVERY DAY AND IT DOESN'T DO THAT!!!  CHRIST ALMIGHTY!!!

That's it, this movie has officially replaced The Princess Bride as my least favourite movie.  God damnit, it wasn't horrid, but that just...ugh.  I'll probably rescind that ranking, but damn.


7 Pounds

Uh...well.  I am conflicted on this movie.  On the one hand, I like the symbolism and over-arching premise.  On the other hand, the execution is a bit off, and it is not easy to pick up the whole story until the end.  It also...isn't very logical at all with some of the points, and has a bit of reaching going on.  Still, not awful.  Good performances overall, just...parts of it were a large stretch for me to take seriously, though I liked the thought of it a lot.


Night at the Museum 2

Bleh.  The first one was great - it took itself very lightly, and was hilarious in all regards.  Also, Dick van Dyke as a villain is awesome.  This one...it's like they didn't make use of the characters at all.  The villain in this was...a joke, and fit in so badly with the style.  They used so few of the original's characters that adding new ones felt pointless (since they got less exposure than the ones in the original).  Long running gags that aren't funny also abound (the argument scenes...ugh...).  So many plot holes too...ugh.  Granted, as always, Amy Adams is amazing ("ONE DAY YOU WILL BE MINE!"), Jebediah and Octavius owned, and the Darth Vader + Oscar the Grouch cameo was hilarious and should have been used more than it was.  Not bad overall, but a disappointment compared to the first.  Seriously...Battle at the Smithsonian is an AWFULLY MISLEADING TITLE!!!  I was expecting a battle, damnit ;_;

[Captain K.]

Prince of Persia:  Good stunts, but the fight scenes are bleh, mostly due to the camera being too damn close to the action.  Story pretends it's not going to be cliched, but then goes right back into the cliche anyway.

[Meeplelard]

First off, I wanna say that Night at the Museum 2 was somewhat better than the first to me.  Rewatched the first recently, and its like the single most formula Hollywood movie of all time; my sister was actually predicting every single moment, more or less.   Night at the Museum 2 was generally more creative I felt.

That said...

Up: For a movie that got a lot of hype...really kind of failed to live up to it.  I dunno what it was, but normally Pixar movies keep me entertained; this did not.  The humor could be summed up as "Dogs, lul" which funny at first, got old and predictable.  Everything else...I dunno, just didn't do anything for me.

[Grefter]

Prince of Persia:  Good stunts, but the fight scenes are bleh, mostly due to the camera being too damn close to the action.  Story pretends it's not going to be cliched, but then goes right back into the cliche anyway.

So just like Sands of Time?  But a bit less intelligent about it I guess.  Hey imagine that.  Now here hoping there is a sequel that is like 2 hours long UFC as a movie.

[OblivionKnight]

First off, I wanna say that Night at the Museum 2 was somewhat better than the first to me.  Rewatched the first recently, and its like the single most formula Hollywood movie of all time; my sister was actually predicting every single moment, more or less.   Night at the Museum 2 was generally more creative I felt.

That's the reason I feel 1 was better - it was formulaic, but the cast played it like that.  The chemistry of the cast felt far stronger, and, even though the twists were obvious...the actors knew it, the script itself knew it, and the movie just played it entirely for laughs.  2 tried to be a little more original, but it wasn't really that original all things considered - it played some jokes too long, and tried to be epic, which didn't fit well.  The actors were generally under-used, and they put in way too many people that...didn't end up being used.  Not that 2 is bad, but it felt more generic than 1, even if 1 was more formulaic.

[superaielman]

The curious case of Benjamin Button- Love story with a good cast and a fantastic setting. Probably my favorite movie of this trip so far, since it kept my attention from start to end.

[BaconForTheSoul]

MegaMan-  Made this year, but I think it must have been a college kids project or something.  The acting is GOD AWFUL, the plot is TERRIBLE, the dialogue is beyond ridiculous, and the "special effects" are worse than the videos my friends and I made in college.  This is the 3rd movie I've ever seen that I couldn't finish, it was that bad.  I skipped ahead looking for something cool, but it all blew.  Megaman deserves a REAL high budget movie!

Dragonball Evolution- Sucked, but since I watched it after Megaman it at least kept me entertained.  The movie had absolutely no flow to it at all.  SPOILERS!  In two weeks Goku goes from not being able to control his Chi at all to blasting Piccolo with attack after attack.  There were minor plot things to help allow for this, but they pretty much failed.  I could rant about all the gaps in the plot, but this movie isn't worth more than 3 lines.

[Sierra]

Did he at least have a training montage to justify it?

[Hunter Sopko]

Dragonball Evolution- Sucked, but since I watched it after Megaman it at least kept me entertained.  The movie had absolutely no flow to it at all.  SPOILERS!  In two weeks Goku goes from not being able to control his Chi at all to blasting Piccolo with attack after attack.  There were minor plot things to help allow for this, but they pretty much failed.  I could rant about all the gaps in the plot, but this movie isn't worth more than 3 lines.

I actually saw this in the theater. The entire place understood it was a terrible movie and just turned into a MST call-out session. Some really good stuff. Between that and the movie's naturally bad nature, a hilariously good time was had.

[Yoshiken]

That's... pretty much what happened when I saw that, yeah. Me and a few friends were making stupid jokes throughout, and nobody in the cinema was taking it seriously, so most were just laughing at what we were saying and complaining about the film.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

The curious case of Benjamin Button- Love story with a good cast and a fantastic setting. Probably my favorite movie of this trip so far, since it kept my attention from start to end.

I felt all the allusions with the clocks and the flow of water and the storm and all that were a little ham-handed. I prefer them to be subtle, not the center of a frame.

[Idun]

Once Upon a Time in China-thon this past week. Waiting for 3 on Tuesday now.
Once Upon a Time in China - 4/5. Needed more fight scenes.
Once Upon a Time in China 2 - 5/5. Had Donnie Yen and ended its slapstick comedy earlier than the first.
Once Upon a Time in China 3 - waitin'.

Stargate - watched this at Jenna's on BLU RAY. First Blu ray movie. Saw it on a 60 something inch TV? Poor Charles only has a 40 something I think. Either wayyyyy, I can definitely see the quality change with Blu Ray. It's like you're holding the camera. Does not work well with older movies though because all the effects and acting seem shitty and poorly done. IE, the buttons and shiny stuff in the research center looked plastic-y versus the quality on the original DVD. Poor acting heightened by the whole feels-like-you're-holding-the-camera effect from Blu Ray. Cute movie, especially since I just returned from Egypt. 3/5.

Shinobi: Heart Under the Blade - 2/5. Ugh. Expected more. Wonder who was rating this stuff so high, what fighting scenes this movie had sucked.
Pandorum: 4/5. Good thriller. Too bad it seems like a mix between the Descent and that.. horror video game I can't name currently.