Re: Now Playing At a Theater Near You

Matinee Fri Feb 22, 2013 10:09 pm

Binky wrote:
Grainne Mhaol wrote:Went to see This is 40, mostly because I read one very glowing review and I was in the mood for a laugh. I was not a huge fan of Apatow's style of comedy - though I thought Forgetting Sarah Marshall was pretty funny - but my God did I despise this film.

I haven't seen This is 40 (although I have heard reviews similar to yours), but Forgetting Sarah Marshall was written by Jason Segel, not Apatow (he produced). When I had that realization, I looked it up and discovered that I really don't like Apatow's writing. The exception being 40-year-old Virgin, which he co-wrote with Steve Carrell. Apatow by himself is icky.

Rewatching 40-year-old Virgin recently, I realized it is also problematic. Particularly that Catherine Keener's character acts for story reasons to push the plot, not character reasons (the biggest being how quickly she jumps to yelling at him about the sex thing - they could have built that better but it's pretty whip-lashy in the scene). It was really distracting once I noticed, and annoying because overall I like that movie. And the points that bother me would have been easy fixes with just a few dialogue tweeks.

Bad Username Sat Feb 23, 2013 8:16 am

Zero Dark Thirty. I was surprised by how much I liked it, it was taut and never boring, and also avoided descending into melodrama. Bigelow also went easy on the shaky cam, which I appreciated.

Cutebutpsycho Sun Mar 03, 2013 10:40 pm

Argo -- thanks to the Oscar win it came back to the theaters for a bit. Damn fine movie.

biakbiak Sun Mar 03, 2013 11:05 pm

There are literally no words to describe how boring and dull I found Zero Dark Thirty. At hour eight I went to the theaters bar, had a gin and tonic and returned in time to see a beautiful shot episode of Cops!

mayram Mon Mar 04, 2013 1:44 pm

I wanted to give Silver Linings Playbook a revisit yesterday, but due to my computer telling me all the movie times were an hour later than they actually (seriously, no idea what happened there), I had to do a last-minute switch to Identity Thief.

That was...not a good movie. It was kinda saved by my unending love of Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy's talent that managed to come through in between crass "hahaha, look a fat person!" sight gags*, but overall, pretty crappy.

I got the sense that a behind the scenes featurette of the making of this movie would be way better than the actual movie because they appeared to be having fun despite the shitty writing. I'd like to see them together again in a movie with a better script because they did have a fun chemistry, there was just no saving the cliched nonsense of this movie.

*I am in no way endorsing or agreeing with whoever that dickhead reviewer was that called MM all of those names, but after seeing the movie, I at least had a bit of context for his remarks because they really did go out of their way to make her seem as disgusting as possible.

Kiran Fri Mar 08, 2013 11:55 pm

I saw Oz, The Great and Powerful and was pleasantly surprised. It won't change your life but it was visually stunning and charming. And I liked how badass Glinda was. And I really do like James Franco when hes actually acting.

whatthedeuce Sat Mar 09, 2013 4:37 pm

I would like to go see that just for Rachel Weisz. She looks awesomely dark and deceitful in the ads!

Gillian Tue Mar 12, 2013 2:54 am

I saw Beautiful Creatures this evening, and whatever, shut up, I kind of liked it. There was an intentional goofiness to it that won me over. The lead guy, for example, was a huge dork. I guess they changed a lot of stuff from the book, because I asked my sister who has read it a bunch of questions about things that confused me, and she could only answer some of them. I'll probably never pick up the books, but I can totally see myself guilty pleasure-watching the shit out of this when they're playing it non-stop on ABC Family a year from now.

Morning Angel Tue Mar 12, 2013 1:44 pm

Kiran wrote:I saw Oz, The Great and Powerful and was pleasantly surprised. It won't change your life but it was visually stunning and charming. And I liked how badass Glinda was. And I really do like James Franco when hes actually acting.

It was visually stunning, I agree, and I liked most of the cast, but I wish James Franco hadn't been the lead. He annoyed me, and I've liked him in other roles. I didn't think he was charming enough to get away with all the cad behaviour he exhibits throughout the film. Or maybe it was a lack of gravitas? I don't know, but it didn't ring true to me with what he was being asked to do.

laddical Tue Mar 12, 2013 3:24 pm

Franco was the one element I had no complaints about whatever. I thought the women were all wooden - though unfortunately, I think that was a weakness inherent in the script, which provided no legitimate motivation for anything any of them did.

Loved the "final battle", though. Minus the fact that Glinda spent 90% of it chained up.

laddical Sat Mar 23, 2013 3:27 am

Olympus Has Fallen.

That was such a great Die Hard movie. Up until the third act. It's so very much a Die Hard movie that not only is there a nominal third act twist but Antoine Fuqua even managed to find a moment to have Gerard Butler and one of the bad guys take a cigarette break where Butler and the bad guy are framed exactly the same way Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman were during the "Bill Clay" scene in Die Hard.

But oh... that third act. I must be allergic to horseshit because I started sneezing and could not stop. Apologies to everyone else in the theater. I did cover my nose and mouth with my jacket, at least. I could buy any number of impossibilities up to that point - the fact that it would take the US Armed Forces 15 minutes to reach the White House from the moment an "incursion" is announced, or that a North Korean commando team could kill everyone in the White House and secure the site for themselves within 13 of those minutes. But somehow, I just could not get over "the big plan".

Anyway, I have to rant a bit.

Spoiler:

And then... eh. At that point, all the stakes in the movie kind of evaporated for me. It didn't even matter whether Gerard Butler saved the President or not. Sure, it would have sucked if he'd failed, but by that point, North Korea was already going to have a very, very bad day regardless of whether Aaron Eckhart or Morgan Freeman was the President the day after all this went down.

Snarryfan Sat Mar 23, 2013 1:28 pm

Plus, if Morgan Freeman becomes President that means the Earth is doomed anyway. In action movies it seems that: black president = massive natural disaster.

whatthedeuce Sat Mar 23, 2013 7:47 pm

Even if James Franco made me LOL a few times, Spring Breakers is godawful. I spent the entire film rolling my eyes at how insipid the characters were, and if Vanessa Hudgens mimed shooting a gun one more goddamn time, I would have screamed bloody murder in the theater. Selena Gomez cries pretty well though, and I found

Spoiler:

. If people go to spring break hoping to "find themselves," they can save some money by looking in the mirror and seeing the idiots that they are.

**blixie** Sat Mar 23, 2013 11:54 pm

There are literally no words to describe how boring and dull I found Zero Dark Thirty. At hour eight I went to the theaters bar, had a gin and tonic and returned in time to see a beautiful shot episode of Cops!

I watched ZDT tonight in a home without liquor, OMG so fucking boring hot mess of blah, and self indulgent too. Christ did we really need that sequence in the Pakistani hotel? NO, no we did not. Perhaps that time could have been better spent developing a character. Any character at all. I thought the real time raid was terrible too. I kept mentally comparing it to Munich which was similar type of intelligence/raid combo that was just so so SO much better.

Binky Wed Mar 27, 2013 11:28 pm

Admission

Cuter than the previews suggest, and entertaining enough, but ultimately a really flimsy movie. Just taking two attractive people (Paul Rudd and Tina Fey) and making them kiss does not chemistry make. It barely needed the romance between them.

inversed Sat Apr 06, 2013 9:59 am

Did anyone else go see Jurassic Park in 3D last night? It was really well-done, I thought. Then again, I love that movie so much that I could probably watch it as a silent movie with a organist playing the score and I'd still think it was great. As I said on Facebook, Tim still sucks, Muldoon's shorts are still short, Grant still kicks a raptor in the face and velociraptors are still completely awesome.

The audience was great - there were a lot of teenagers who had never seen it in the theater, and plenty of old fans like me. A woman next to me actually screamed when the raptor jumps out from behind Ellie in the control bunker. Everyone laughed, even at the dumb jokes, but the biggest snicker came with this shot.. Oh, Jeff Goldblum, you so sexy!

laddical Sat Apr 06, 2013 10:58 am

That image is completely "WTF"? Malcolm's not talking in that scene, he's not doing anything. There's no reason for it. And yet, there it is. It's hilarious and awesome and so out of left field.

I tried to see it with my daughters, but they... a seven and a nine year old... were *bored*. BORED. Despite my best efforts, I'm raising jaded hipsters or something. Thankfully, the theater gave me a refund AND readmission passes when I yanked them out at the gallimimus stampede. And I was so looking forward to Tim getting electrocuted.

RiverThames Wed Apr 10, 2013 3:46 pm

So, I caught the "documentary" Room 237, aka Everybody Has Crazy Shining Theory. First of all, I don't recommend seeing this unless you've seen The Shining relatively recently.

The movie is oddly entertaining, but friends, it is chock full of Batshit Crazy. It's nothing but. Like, "I saw the German typewriter, and early there was the number 42, so I immediately understood that this was about the Holocaust." "The baking soda cans are over his head, but you can't see all of any of the labels. So this means that this conversation is a dishonest deal." I am not making this stuff up. It's gloriously crazy. Gloriously.

What amuses me is how much of this is built on a foundation of the Mystique of Kubrick. The common launch point is the phrase like, "Kubrick was very meticulous, nothing is on the screen by accident." That missing chair isn't a continuity error: KUBRICK MEANT SOMETHING. You'd never see anyone analyzing the minutiae of mistakes in, say, Armageddon to find Michael Bay's secret messages.

There is some neat stuff, like the Impossible Window in the one guy's office. But it's mostly a whole lot of Batshit.

puddingcup Wed Apr 10, 2013 3:49 pm

You'd never see anyone analyzing the minutiae of mistakes in, say, Armageddon to find Michael Bay's secret messages.

I'd rather see that than one of Bay's actual movies.

whatthedeuce Thu Apr 11, 2013 9:07 pm

Even though I haven't seen The Shining because I'm a scaredy cat (surprised I even finished the book!), I'm very interested in seeing that documentary. I had no idea the theories were supposed to be totally outlandish though. I thought it would actually involve some semblance of plausibility. Is it a fact that Kubrick really scattered subtle messages throughout the movie, or have certain fanatics just latched onto tiny details completely of their own accord?

RiverThames Thu Apr 11, 2013 9:22 pm

Well, that depends on how much credence you put behind the idea that Kubrick put NOTHING on film unintentionally. Seriously, that's the lynchpin behind it all. Because it mostly is the sort of thing that, with any other director, you'd just write off as mistakes. Stuff like the skiing poster on one wall, when supposedly the hotel is not a skiing resort. Or the typewriter changing color.

Mostly.

However, I'll admit I have a certain fondness for the Batshit Theory that is "The Shining Is About Kubrick Expressing His Feelings About His Secret Role In Faking the Moon Landing Footage". Because, sure, it's crazy, but....

whatthedeuce Thu Apr 11, 2013 9:41 pm

Okay, my friends just argued at a bar last week (in a semi-inebriated fashion, naturally) about whether or not we really got to the moon first so now I'm laughing my ass off. I bet Kubrick is rolling in his grave right now. With laughter, not anger.

Cynara Sat Apr 13, 2013 1:43 am

I went to see Olympus Has Fallen, and I'm pretty sure technically it was a solidly mediocre movie, but it takes off right away and then there's a 5-minute lull while Gerard Butler has Manpain Feels, and then all of a sudden TERRORISTS and the movie suddenly remembers that it is rated R and both blood and f-bombs start flying with abandon and Aaron Eckhart is square-jawed and resolute and Gerard Butler and his biceps start throwing off one-liners like John McClane with a death wish and Morgan Freeman is the HBIC and this is everything I have ever wanted in a movie.

whatthedeuce Sat Apr 13, 2013 11:45 pm

If you want suspense, tension, and sadness, go watch The Place Beyond the Pines. Didn't love it, but I thought the performances were pretty great all around. I kinda can't stand Bradley Cooper, but I thought he was wonderful, and Eva Mendes certainly surprised me!

epudom Sun Apr 14, 2013 12:54 pm

whatthedeuce wrote:If you want suspense, tension, and sadness, go watch The Place Beyond the Pines. Didn't love it, but I thought the performances were pretty great all around. I kinda can't stand Bradley Cooper, but I thought he was wonderful, and Eva Mendes certainly surprised me!

I saw it last night, and I thought the first 3rd was disappointing (barring Eva Mendes), the 2nd was good and the last 3rd felt unbalanced.

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