movies

[Jocephus]

hell yeah i want to see machete

[lukethedrifter]

wow. spoilered for bad language.. but wow.. maybe..

[SHOW]

[/youtube]

Holy [expletive]. My daughter would love that but there's no way in hell I'll let her see it. Not for a few years anyway.

[Tambourine Man]

Had the day off so I took in the matinee showing of Public Enemies this afternoon. A very competent movie, but don't go in thinking it's the frontrunner for best picture or you're probably going to be disappointed.

[SHOW]

It's basically a straightforward retelling of Dillinger's exploits in the public eye. I'm tempted to call it a simple biopic, but that doesn't strike me as accurate, since Dillinger is a fully-formed character throughout the movie and it only depicts his half-dozen or so most well-known exploits. The only departure from this is that to make him more sympathetic all the cops fit standard film archetypes and they fictionalize a romance based around one of his girlfriends. It's a fairly minor quibble in a well-made movie, but it's disappointing that they made so little out of a story with the potential for more. The public's fascination with bank robbers receives a few mentions, but you'd think something more could be made of that. I can't be the only one interested in the fact that the last time the government stood aside and let Wall Street bring down the economy, the public spent a half-decade worshiping men who gunned down police and federal agents. I'm certainly not complaining that they didn't club us over the head with allegory, but there is relevance to this Dillinger story and instead we get a simple dramatization.

The historical inaccuracies are pretty outrageous all over the place. I really thought I'd love this movie just because of the cast, but by the end I was just frustrated all that talent was underutilized. Depp rarely disappoints, but I just couldn't muster any care for Dillinger, good or bad. Cutting back on all the nameless, faceless cronies throughout might've help a bit.

That said, there were a few great scenes that made it worth watching. The cinematography is fantastic.

[SHOW]

Pretty Boy Floyd was killed months after Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson wasn't killed the night of the shootout at the Wisconsin lodge. The entire gang escaped that night.

District 9...Leatherbottoms said I'd be disappointed but it was okay. Glad I didn't see it in the theater though.

[Radbird]

I got Inglourious Basterds today on Blu-Ray and god damn, I still love that ending.

[SHOW]

I'll get screamed at, but I've been screamed at before. F it!

Saw it last night. What a hoot!

[cardinalkarp]

I've got Angels & Demons & 500 days of summer at home & am hoping to watch them over the Xmas break.

[ghostrunner]

Saw Avatar tonight, first full-length movie I've seen in 3D since Jaws 3-D back in the 80's.

[SHOW]

Plotwise, it's cliche after cliche. Good and noble natives, bad colonialists, and of course the one or two good colonialists who want to understand and work with the natives. There's no pretense at any sort of complexity with the bad guys. The marines just want to blow things up, and I suppose the corporate guy manages a strained look or two not too long after doing something cavalier and heartless. James Cameron really doesn't do bad guys very well. His aliens and machines are more two dimensional than his human villains.

The plot is a lot like Dances with Wolves and it's reminiscent of The Abyss here and there. It's enjoyable though, and there's enough originality in the details to keep things interesting.

The animation is pretty incredible and the movement of the aliens is amazingly fluid. Hard to say how far a step up it is from Gollum in LOTR, since he was more human. There's no preconception of how blue aliens are supposed to move and look, but the subtlety and realism of their expressions is pretty impressive. I found the Sigourney Weaver avatar kind of attractive, I'm ashamed to say.

The 3D - I don't get the hype. For the first half hour, it was cool but a little painful and distracting. Halfway through, I got more comfortable with it and it was cool to see the tiny things floating in the air and the holographic stuff, and pretty much anything that flew towards the camera. By the end, I wasn't even noticing the 3D anymore, at which point it became a lot like watching a 2d movie I was really into. So I don't think the 3D made the experience any more immersive than it would have been in 2d. And I could have saved about $7. Movies get you involved because they're good, not because a speck of dust looks like you can reach out and touch it. If some people prefer it, I can't argue with that, but I definitely don't think it's the only way to go.

[Radbird]

Watched over the weekend, with quotes from Rotten Tomatoes reviews that sum up my feelings well. One out of three ain't good...

Beyond A Reasonable Doubt

I've got no problem with movies that stack up twists like crazy straws. Hyam's script, however, depends on us being dumber than every character in the film—you'd have to reach protozoan levels just to resist wanting to strangle everyone in it.

An undercooked crime flick whose real mystery is why it was made.

Preposterous, asinine, poorly edited and downright silly with more unintentional humor than your average courtroom thriller.

Public Enemies

Not to say this is not a well-crafted movie with excellent performances. It is. It is also curiously one-sided and shallow like many movies about famous outlaws tend to be.

Depp's performance overcomes every flaw in the film. He ends up playing Dillinger exactly as he should be--suave, mysterious, romantic, but with obvious elements of cruelty and unbridled violence.

Lies and Illusions

[Director Takacs] plows cluelessly through the many implausible plot twists, and he directs poor Slater to act hysterically throughout.

[phins]

Had the day off so I took in the matinee showing of Public Enemies this afternoon. A very competent movie, but don't go in thinking it's the frontrunner for best picture or you're probably going to be disappointed.

[SHOW]

It's basically a straightforward retelling of Dillinger's exploits in the public eye. I'm tempted to call it a simple biopic, but that doesn't strike me as accurate, since Dillinger is a fully-formed character throughout the movie and it only depicts his half-dozen or so most well-known exploits. The only departure from this is that to make him more sympathetic all the cops fit standard film archetypes and they fictionalize a romance based around one of his girlfriends. It's a fairly minor quibble in a well-made movie, but it's disappointing that they made so little out of a story with the potential for more. The public's fascination with bank robbers receives a few mentions, but you'd think something more could be made of that. I can't be the only one interested in the fact that the last time the government stood aside and let Wall Street bring down the economy, the public spent a half-decade worshiping men who gunned down police and federal agents. I'm certainly not complaining that they didn't club us over the head with allegory, but there is relevance to this Dillinger story and instead we get a simple dramatization.

The historical inaccuracies are pretty outrageous all over the place. I really thought I'd love this movie just because of the cast, but by the end I was just frustrated all that talent was underutilized. Depp rarely disappoints, but I just couldn't muster any care for Dillinger, good or bad. Cutting back on all the nameless, faceless cronies throughout might've help a bit.

That said, there were a few great scenes that made it worth watching. The cinematography is fantastic.

[SHOW]

Pretty Boy Floyd was killed months after Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson wasn't killed the night of the shootout at the Wisconsin lodge. The entire gang escaped that night.

District 9...Leatherbottoms said I'd be disappointed but it was okay. Glad I didn't see it in the theater though.

Agreed completely...I couldn't believe they butchered such well-known historical events like that. They could have done such a better job establishing how the public felt about the bank robbers at that time, and how they were revered as heroes. How Dillinger couldn't stand Baby Face, and thought he was a hack, or how Dillinger didn't rob the patrons of the bank (even though there was a little blurb in there). So many historical things happened in that timeframe, and they really seemed to take liberties in several areas, and gloss over others.

I could go on, but you get the point. The acting was very good by most, and I thought Depp was outstanding, but the liberties with history just bugged me.

[cards2468]

I'm watching Cloverfield and so far the first hour of it sucks donkey dick

[omaha_red]

I'm watching Cloverfield and so far the first hour of it sucks donkey dick

maybe concentrate on/and enjoy the movie instead of posting on GRB while watching it.. just a thought