Films: Rate and Discuss

two people said they hated parts of it. i tend to ignore the numbers which often don't mean shit.

Like ZT said, finding fault with parts of something really just means you're ****ing paying attention. The flawless movie has yet to be made. Endings are naturally divisive anyway. They often just work or don't work for a person and there's really nothing you can do but accept that not everybody will like it.

Anyway:

Super 8 8/10

So yeah, I really liked this. The story is good, the characters are well written and acted, and it was just a good ride. There are some problems. The monster is severely underdeveloped (well, maybe just poorly developed), a bit jumpy (off to another scene before the current one really took off), and the whole "Let's be good dads and rescue our kids!" seemed a little weird since they never actually contributed or did any sort of rescuing. I can see the problems with the ending, perhaps a bit overdone and forced, but I liked it. Don't really see how it could've been done any other way.
 
super 8:

the monster was the story's macguffin, not really what it was about. it was about the kids, and paying attention to the film told me this. any more focus on the monster would be stupid, and im assuming that's why people "hated" the ending so much. either that or they hate happy endings? the conclusion of the film, for me, was extremely powerful as the kid let go of his locket, and i would call anyone who hated this obnoxiously jaded. not sure why im not allowed to think this?

maybe it'd make more sense if people explained their problems. i agree with sheepo on the BRO-DADs scene but that led to another fairly excellent scene with the two of them in the car.

also, who could not love The Case, at the end credits, in full? I was laughing hysterically through all of it. is that the part of the ending you grumpy old shits hated so much :p
 
You're not allowed to think that? Since you don't actually have any idea why people didn't like the ending it doesn't make any sense to. I can imagine it might've bothered me how they resolve like five huge emotional conflicts in about twelve seconds. That can come across as a bit forced and corny without being 'jaded' at all.

I agree, the story was mostly about the kids and should've been, but it also spent so much time developing sympathy and interest in the monster that it seemed weird for him to never really become much more than just some monster. He should've either been given more or less, but the weird middle ground left something to be desired.
 
12 Angry Men (1957): 10/10. Probably my favorite "courtroom" drama (I say courtroom, but it takes place almost entirely in the jury deliberation room.) All of the characters in my opinion are played very well and each have their own unique personality that has a profound impact on how the jury deliberates. One of the great things about this movie is that it takes place almost entirely in one room, with pretty much everything occurring inside the deliberation room. Only the opening and closing scenes take place outside of the deliberation room and the movie accomplishes one-location action very well without leaving you feeling cramped and claustrophobic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7CBKT0PWFA
 
super 8:

the monster was the story's macguffin, not really what it was about. it was about the kids, and paying attention to the film told me this. any more focus on the monster would be stupid, and im assuming that's why people "hated" the ending so much. either that or they hate happy endings? the conclusion of the film, for me, was extremely powerful as the kid let go of his locket, and i would call anyone who hated this obnoxiously jaded. not sure why im not allowed to think this?

maybe it'd make more sense if people explained their problems. i agree with sheepo on the BRO-DADs scene but that led to another fairly excellent scene with the two of them in the car.

also, who could not love The Case, at the end credits, in full? I was laughing hysterically through all of it. is that the part of the ending you grumpy old shits hated so much :p

I'm sorry, but I have come to the conclusion that you are severely retarded, and you must try and prove to me otherwise.

I also don't think that was a happy ending at all; a happy ending implies that the good guys come out victorious and the bad guys get their due - not an ending in which a cannibalistic spider monster murders a whole bunch of people and manages to escape into space where he will probably come back a decade later to systematically destroy the human race.
 
Super 8 - 4/10

Take Cloverfield and District 9, add a pinch of Stand By Me, and take away plot and originality. Then you have Super 9. Sorry, Super 8.

I found this movie pretty bland. Not much about it that really shone out or made it original. The monster was hardly more interesting than what we saw in Men In Black over a decade ago. The classic Cold War atmosphere was nice but no better than in a number of other adventure movies. I'd say the one shining feature was the dialog of the kids, which remained consistently funny and well-executed throughout.
 
did we watch the same movie you guys? the movie i saw was about a bunch of kids. i could tell because the movie focused on the kids and the kids' lives and stories and interactions with each other and that the kids were all of the main characters. there was an alien in it, too, but i dont think it was really a character.

im sorry that there werent more aliens :( maybe you should watch aliens, i think that has more aliens in it!
 
You realize being obnoxious in not in itself an effective strategy in an argument? I actually agree with you for the most part, but you make me not want to. And your responses are so generalized it's ridiculous.

As for the kids being the focus of the story: Yes, obviously that was the intention and, for the most part, the effect. I see your point of view is that the existence of the monster is just a tool to drive the plot, but you can't just have that idea on paper and then flesh him out more and expect people to not start viewing him as atleast somewhat of a character. Going "DURR HURR, YOU GUYS ARE TOO STUPID TO SEE THAT THE MONSTER DOESN'T MATTER AND ISN'T SUPPOSED TO BE A CHARACTER" doesn't change the fact that he's often treated as one.
 
Haven't seen Super 8 yet.........

Today I watched Englar Alheimsins (Angels of the Universe). Another film where I heard the soundtrack first and then watched the film. (The soundtrack is beautiful and perfect for the film -- mostly Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson with a couple of Sigur Ros pieces at the end. Music on the introduction: wow). It's an Icelandic film about a man that goes insane. Schizophrenic, I think. It gets triggered when his girlfriend dumps him, which is pretty stupid but not the point of the film. Second time watching it really hit the spot. Good mix of lighthearted and poignant moments. I recommend it.
 
Blade Runner - 9/10...
I felt it was time to watch this again since it's been something like 5 or 6 years since I last saw it.
I recall disliking it very much and being extremely bored throughout my first watch, but I suppose my horizons have expanded in these past few years and as such I've been able to sit still and soak in the entire film.

I watched the Final Cut, not sure if it's best version to watch or not but whatever it was I enjoyed it immensely.
I only wish it were longer than it was as I could've stood to watch everyone interact with each other a bit longer and just to take in the atmosphere even more.

Anyone know if there's any other films like it? Futuristic Noir and such.
 
You realize being obnoxious in not in itself an effective strategy in an argument? I actually agree with you for the most part, but you make me not want to. And your responses are so generalized it's ridiculous.

As for the kids being the focus of the story: Yes, obviously that was the intention and, for the most part, the effect. I see your point of view is that the existence of the monster is just a tool to drive the plot, but you can't just have that idea on paper and then flesh him out more and expect people to not start viewing him as atleast somewhat of a character. Going "DURR HURR, YOU GUYS ARE TOO STUPID TO SEE THAT THE MONSTER DOESN'T MATTER AND ISN'T SUPPOSED TO BE A CHARACTER" doesn't change the fact that he's often treated as one.

oh sheepo, i am sorry i didnt dignify
I'm sorry, but I have come to the conclusion that you are severely retarded, and you must try and prove to me otherwise.
with a serious response. what an excellent point you have made. :|

so far no one has illustrated any specific problem with the film, except joule. he says the film was bland (???) and that we saw the monster in MiB 10 years ago (assuming he means design-wise?). stupid comments get stupid responses, WHOOPS. i mean, seriously, how was super 8 anything remotely like district 9 except ALIENS?

and the creature is a minor character, but its plight is occurring in the background of the kid's adventure. there is a brief moment where the two interact, the alien does exactly what you expect it to, and then goes away. doesnt give a **** about humans, just wants to eat a few and gtfo. it wasnt even the antagonist, the military filled that role. short and sweet, to the point, and not too distracting from what made the film excellent. but everyone else seemed to expect Cloverfield 2, and got disappointed when it wasnt i guess? complaints about the monster totally eclipse praise for story of the kids, which to joule's own admission was "well-executed and funny throughout," yet the film still only deserved a 4/10?

like i said before, it seems popular to have a jaded predisposition to dislike it. that annoys me almost as much as being called retarded for establishing a rather decent interpretation of the film.
 
Blade Runner - 9/10...
I felt it was time to watch this again since it's been something like 5 or 6 years since I last saw it.
I recall disliking it very much and being extremely bored throughout my first watch, but I suppose my horizons have expanded in these past few years and as such I've been able to sit still and soak in the entire film.

I watched the Final Cut, not sure if it's best version to watch or not but whatever it was I enjoyed it immensely.
I only wish it were longer than it was as I could've stood to watch everyone interact with each other a bit longer and just to take in the atmosphere even more.

Anyone know if there's any other films like it? Futuristic Noir and such.

It's not 'like it' per se, but watch Brazil.
 
I was wondering who this obnoxious Yuri guy was with 5k posts and a name I didn't recognise. Then someone quoted him as Erestheux and it all made sense.


Green Hornet - 7/10
Much better than I expected, mixed comedy and action fairly well and had good pacing.
 
oh sheepo, i am sorry i didnt dignifywith a serious response. what an excellent point you have made. :|

so far no one has illustrated any specific problem with the film, except joule. he says the film was bland (???) and that we saw the monster in MiB 10 years ago (assuming he means design-wise?). stupid comments get stupid responses, WHOOPS. i mean, seriously, how was super 8 anything remotely like district 9 except ALIENS?

and the creature is a minor character, but its plight is occurring in the background of the kid's adventure. there is a brief moment where the two interact, the alien does exactly what you expect it to, and then goes away. doesnt give a **** about humans, just wants to eat a few and gtfo. it wasnt even the antagonist, the military filled that role. short and sweet, to the point, and not too distracting from what made the film excellent. but everyone else seemed to expect Cloverfield 2, and got disappointed when it wasnt i guess? complaints about the monster totally eclipse praise for story of the kids, which to joule's own admission was "well-executed and funny throughout," yet the film still only deserved a 4/10?

like i said before, it seems popular to have a jaded predisposition to dislike it. that annoys me almost as much as being called retarded for establishing a rather decent interpretation of the film.

Sorry, I was severely drunk when I worte that response, same as now.

But I did love the movie. I really did. I really liked the characters (and believe me, I don't like most people in moveis). I just didn't like the ending. The director tries hard to portray the monster as... well, a monster, what with the eating people and whatnot. But I found it unbelievable that the kids would be able to somehow sympathize with the monster. Who is, you know, a monster. Which they saw kill living human beings.

The kids should be horrified at the end. I don't see how my response is jaded. I've always hated aliens and loved humanity's defenders. Nothing has affected that.s

I called you retarded because of 80% alcohol, and 20% because you simply thought I was "jaded". I don't even know wtf you mean by jaded. If the kids managed to kill the monster, would that be jaded?
 
oh sheepo, i am sorry i didnt dignifywith a serious response. what an excellent point you have made. :|

The issue is that you address every other person Super 8 as if they're a single person. Your post was immediately after Joule's and didn't quote numbers, nor address anything he said, and exactly addressed what I had talked about many posts ago, yet I'n expected to think you're condescending and obnoxious attitude was intended for him?
 
X-men first class - 8/10

Probably the best superhero movie I've seen in a while, IMO considerably better than the latest Batman movies. The movie starts out spectacularly, and while it loses some of it's momentum later on, and the ending is a bit... iffy, it kept me interested in it all the way through. Magneto and Xavier are the standout performances, utterly believable in their portrayals. The relationship between them is the absolute highlight of this movie. The rest of the characters are quite a bit weaker. But if you like X-men, and *especially* if you like Magneto's story arc, you will love this movie. It redeemed X-men for me, after the first few movies which I thought were stunningly mediocre.
 
whine bitch moan whine whine wahh

i read the thread, saw two more people bitching about the monster, and made a sarcastic comment. get over yourself.

and numbers, its fine, i get belligerent when drunk too ;) and i see your point

but i didnt think the kids really sympathized with it, they just understood but wanted to get the **** away. all of what was happening with the monster was out of their control completely, which i liked in lieu of the "kid saves the day by understanding feelings" trope.

and i do agree, the ending was awkward. i think it was because they wrapped up all of the film's obstacles in a five minute scene.
kids escape, rejoice, bam
dads show up, bam
kids forgive dads, bam
monster escapes, bam
kid lets go of his mom, bam

and again i called people jaded because a lot of them seemed to be ignoring the great aspects of the movie, and judging it solely on their opinion of the monster. you say you did like that so i take it back.
 
How to Train Your Dragon -- pretty good!

Pittsburgh has this free Cinema in the Park thing during the summers, where they project films on a big screen and you sit on a hill eating food and stuff. Just family-friendly films, but it's still cool. I'd heard good reviews about this movie but didn't believe them. It was fun and his dragon was super adorable. Cliches were there but not too overbearing. Glad I watched it.

In August, they're going to show Jurassic Park :D. Haven't seen that movie in ages and it'll be an awesome setting for it. freakin dinosaurs
 
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels - 8/10

Really enjoyed this, it makes you look twice at other crime films and realise how stupid they can be if they're all up in their ass in seriousness. British accents ftw too.
 
How to Train Your Dragon -- pretty good!

Pittsburgh has this free Cinema in the Park thing during the summers, where they project films on a big screen and you sit on a hill eating food and stuff. Just family-friendly films, but it's still cool. I'd heard good reviews about this movie but didn't believe them. It was fun and his dragon was super adorable. Cliches were there but not too overbearing. Glad I watched it.

In August, they're going to show Jurassic Park :D. Haven't seen that movie in ages and it'll be an awesome setting for it. freakin dinosaurs
Ahhhh yessss. Glad I'm not the only one here who found it to be adorable and fun.
 
How to Train Your Dragon was excellent, I loved it :)
 
Black Swan - 8.6/10

Insanely visceral and brilliantly suspenseful.

Sharing thematic ideas with The Wrestler, Black Swan is less about Nina's artistic pursuit and much more about her obsession with perfection. It is clear from the first scene where Aronofsky is headed, but it's how he gets there that is masterful. Portman's walk into psychosis is anything but slow or deliberate, yet it is stunning nonetheless. I suppose third acts are what Arononfsky does best, and he does not disappoint here.
 
it was an interesting movie, but I think the ending would have had a lot more impact if it was the first time It had been done in a film, it was just kinda predictable.
 
The Chaser - 8/10 - Taut and stunningly intense South Korean thriller. Incredible performance by Kim Yoon-seok as the protagonist and Ha Jeong-woo was absolutely chilling as Young. The last half an hour especially had me screaming at my monitor in a whole gamut of emotions, I couldn't contain it. I really would advise checking it out, especially if you've seen Oldboy. The twists and turns are in just as much supply here. You won't regret it.

Plus, I believe it's being remade by DiCaprio, so no doubt we'll have a lovely watered down Hollywood version in a few years time.
 
A Requiem for a Dream - 9/10

Powerful, haunting stuff. At the end I was speechless and on the verge of tears. Phenomenal acting throughout, as well.
 
Inglorious Bastards - whatinthe****/10

Why did Hitler die at the end? This plotpoint completely ruined an otherwise good war film. The good guys were kinda awful too, who knew it was possible to feel sympathy for "nazzies"?

I didn't like it really, but there was a lady involved so I enjoyed it regardless. 7.5/10
 
Battle: Los Angeles 1/10

A steaming pile of gun-wank war porn for military fags.
 
The men who stare at goats 6/10

Nowhere near as funny or as good as I though it would be with such a cast. The Star Wars references got old fast. The only thing intriguing about it is that it is based on real events. Watchable if you don't have anything else better to do.
 
Tangled - 8.5/10

Cliche as cliche gets, but a total laugh riot with impressive animation. It was a blast.

Toy Story 3 - 9.7/10

Pixar is the only American animation studio that can take some of our most iconic characters, have them swim in existentialism, get tortured by a villain who refuses redemption, and send them to a literal hell and back - but do it with such undeniable tact, grace and aplomb nobody even bats an eye. Actually, it might make the ending that much more stirring. It's a good thing there are credits videos for those... um, other people, clearly... who teared up. If you are a 90's kid, then this movie perfectly describes all the joy, sadness, pain and reminiscence of growing up. Toy Story could not have explained our feelings any better.
 
Battle Los Angeles - 1/10

The wife got it on a whim. It's the best video-game-themed movie that wasn't based on a video game. Seriously, some name changes, a little makeup, and it could have been a chapter from the Quake II universe. I might have given it a 2 if it was actually based on Quake, but I'd like to think that a movie based on this franchise would be better.
 
Three Tree of Life 2/10

I really don't know what to say. Everyone loves this movie, so I'll give you my take on it: It's really long, nothing happens (nobody even has names), but it does have dinosaurs (why I gave it 2 instead of 1). Maybe if you know the bible better it will be more meaningful.

Here is a more detailed description of the movie:
20 minutes of mostly silent scenes of people mourning a dead boy sometime circa 1960 with some whispering for narration.
10 minutes of Sean Penn doing stuff also silent with some whispering.
30 minutes of universe being born and volcanoes and dinosaurs (this is the best part)
1 hour of children running around mostly no talking
10 minutes of crazy stuff in a desert
 
Brothers - 7.5/10

Was kinda disappointed by this film, I was really looking forward to it and it just didn't deliver (I saw the trailer ages ago, when it was posted in this thread). It just wasn't disturbing enough to be good, Spiderman should have been psychologically f*cked after doing what he did. Instead he's all cool until something unhinges him. Mind you, Tobes' performance was pretty good, I wouldn't have thought him capable of such an emotional role. 7.5/10


District 9 - 9/10

I f*cking loved this movie, I kept putting off for so long because I had it permanently labeled as an alien film. But after studying the apartheid at school and being advised to watch it I (obviously) realised what it's all about. Damn good movie. 9/10
 
Three Tree of Life 2/10

I really don't know what to say. Everyone loves this movie, so I'll give you my take on it: It's really long, nothing happens (nobody even has names), but it does have dinosaurs (why I gave it 2 instead of 1). Maybe if you know the bible better it will be more meaningful.

I thought it was a decent film. I think I'd really liked it immediately after seeing it, but now just think it was above-average. I get why people dislike it, because like you said, nothing happens, and you won't learn anything particularly insightful. The whole grace vs. nature thing was overly simplistic in hindsight. But he was asking difficult questions that nobody can answer, so I thought it was fitting that the movie kinda stumbled around. It might've been better titled "Impressions from Terrence Malick's Childhood" though.

btw the dinosaurs were actually my least favorite part :p. And also some parts just felt like good music videos for classical music, rather than a well-soundtracked film. But that sounds more insulting than I mean for it to.
 
Captain America

Bland/10

Very underwhelming movie. You could probably just say it's bad, honestly. The transitions in this film are horrible; especially when transitioning from dialogue to action. For example, Captain would be talking in a room full of people, and literally 5 seconds later he would be fighting nazis on a motorcycle. Never in the film did it build up to a tense moment of action, and almost never did Captain lose to anyone, or have any real downfalls to whatever he was doing. The movie was just so ****ing bland. I might even say it was the worst of the new line of marvel films. The only good part was the beginning when he was still weak.

And oh my god, when Captain infiltrated the Nazi base wearing an american shield on his back and no one noticed him running around in plain sight, what the ****.
 
And oh my god, when Captain infiltrated the Nazi base wearing an american shield on his back and no one noticed him running around in plain sight, what the ****.

I thought that was hilarious.

The second "action oriented" half, is definitely the weak part of the movie, however overall I still enjoyed it.

I would give it a 7/10
 
X-Men: First Class - 6/10

Some dodgy acting and really awful dialogue at times ("war implies both sides have an equal chance of winning"? Christ...). Aside from that, it had a lot of good action, and did its job in terms of suspense most of the time.
 
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