[amphibian]

Looper was kind of enjoyable, but dumb. Half the plot doesn't make sense if you give the time travel even the most cursory examination. It's why the director threw in a scene where Bruce Willis shouts that time travel scenarios don't matter.

Upstream Colors was amazing. I need to see Primer to see how good a talent Shane Carruth was. Upstream Colors is a sort of art house movie that's going to test some nerves like a Terence Malick movie, but ultimately, it has quite a bit more plot and way more resolution to its story and characters.

[worry]

Watched End of Watch. There's nothing profound about it, unless the notion that everybody films everything these days is novel to you...though even here it's kind of a half-committed gimmick, in the same way the documentary footage aspect is in District 9. Other than that though it's an enjoyable, gripping movie the whole way through. Gyllenhaal is solid as usual, but Michael Pena yet again is the standout...love that dude in everything.

[tiam]

The method of filming is far from unique but the back and forth between pena and gyllenhall in the car is the best bit about this. Just the banter between good mates and stuff very good and very gripping as you say.

[worry]

Great review:

[McLovin]

Saw NOW YOU SEE ME.

Good characters and some great scenes, but ultimately the plot is nonsensical. The final "twist" is intended to be some awesome reveal but it really just made me annoyed. There was a better movie in here, too bad Leterrier couldn't find it.

[worry]

Watched Kumare, a documentary by this Indian American guy from New Jersey who is confounded by the proliferation of shyster gurus and Eastern spirituality in the US, and decides to pretend to be one to see how far he can take it. It starts out almost like a Borat/Morgan Spurlock combo type thing, and then morphs into something else entirely the longer and deeper he takes it. There's still some vestigial side investigations though that kinda make it a mishmash of a movie...so it's interesting, sometimes very interesting, but not entirely successful and a bit overlong even at 85 minutes.

Also finally saw The Amazing Spider-Man. Everyone else has already seen it so I won't go on, but what a disappointment. Probably even worse than Spider-Man 3. Since Martin Sheen was Ben, they should have gotten Joe Estevez to play Peter's dad. That at least would have been entertaining.

[McLovin]

worry, on 10 June 2013 - 05:57 AM, said:

Also finally saw The Amazing Spider-Man. Everyone else has already seen it so I won't go on, but what a disappointment. Probably even worse than Spider-Man 3.

Thank you.

[QuickTidal]

worry, on 10 June 2013 - 05:57 AM, said:

Also finally saw The Amazing Spider-Man. Everyone else has already seen it so I won't go on, but what a disappointment. Probably even worse than Spider-Man 3. Since Martin Sheen was Ben, they should have gotten Joe Estevez to play Peter's dad. That at least would have been entertaining.

I think I enjoyed it for being a proper representation of modern Peter Parker. A whiny, emo kid with typical teenager "know-it-all-isms" who really is mostly just a dick (Tobey was too nice...a Silver Age Parker portrayal)...and the practical effect web-slinging, which was really solid looking.

The story is spotty at best...and you can tell whole swathes of it were cut out with certain plot points starting and never finishing. It's TRYING to do something good, but it doesn't wholly succeed. I had to re-watch it to settle into this impression of it though.

Still, I don't think anything is worse than SPIDERMAN 3...oh, maybe INDIANAN JONES & THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL. LOL!

[Mezla PigDog]

Finally saw The Raid. If you like fight movies with extra lashings of violence, you will love this one. I did my worst "hide behind hands due to ultra violence" look away and say "Gaaahhhhhhhh" since Tony Soprano curb stomped a dude in the last series of The Sopranos.

[worry]

QuickTidal, on 10 June 2013 - 01:52 PM, said:

I think I enjoyed it for being a proper representation of modern Peter Parker. A whiny, emo kid with typical teenager "know-it-all-isms" who really is mostly just a dick (Tobey was too nice...a Silver Age Parker portrayal)...and the practical effect web-slinging, which was really solid looking.

The story is spotty at best...and you can tell whole swathes of it were cut out with certain plot points starting and never finishing. It's TRYING to do something good, but it doesn't wholly succeed. I had to re-watch it to settle into this impression of it though.

Still, I don't think anything is worse than SPIDERMAN 3...oh, maybe INDIANAN JONES & THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL. LOL!

Haha...still haven't seen Crystal Skull, and don't plan to. I think they went waaay overboard with Peter's teenagery, there was something wonky about it even in context. And I guess I prefer Peter as an exceptional young man with momentary teenage lapses rather than a tortured soul, but even given what they were attempting I still think it failed. Frankly it felt like they had ten or so plot points they had to hit, and took direct routes from each one to the next, regardless of whether it made sense. Peter's nonsensical rant at the police station stands out as one of the worst scenes, given how contrived his inability to sound rational was, not to mention how generic a concept it was (right out of the police thriller playbook). Then there's the fact that Gwen Stacy is apparently an unfeeling sociopath. Anyway, if I had to say one nice thing about the movie it's that it really embraced the spidery-ness of Spider-Man, and that really shined through. I also thought the cast was quite capable, and even had chemistry whenever they were allowed to, they just had so little to work with. Here's hoping the sequel features Joe Estevez.

[worry]

Mezla PigDog, on 10 June 2013 - 02:11 PM, said:

Finally saw The Raid. If you like fight movies with extra lashings of violence, you will love this one. I did my worst "hide behind hands due to ultra violence" look away and say "Gaaahhhhhhhh" since Tony Soprano curb stomped a dude in the last series of The Sopranos.

And yes, this movie is 100% awesome. But speaking of, I also finally watched Dredd. Never read the comics, didn't even see the Stallone movie, and I thought basically none of the dialogue in this movie was any good (none of the zingers zinged, for instance), but I still found myself enjoying it a fair amount. It had a lot of the same goofy B-movie enthusiasm as Punisher: War Zone, which is the biggest secretly-totally-awesome-despite-critical-reputation comic book movie of the whole post-X-Men era.

[QuickTidal]

worry, on 10 June 2013 - 07:58 PM, said:

But speaking of, I also finally watched Dredd. Never read the comics, didn't even see the Stallone movie, and I thought basically none of the dialogue in this movie was any good (none of the zingers zinged, for instance), but I still found myself enjoying it a fair amount. It had a lot of the same goofy B-movie enthusiasm as Punisher: War Zone, which is the biggest secretly-totally-awesome-despite-critical-reputation comic book movie of the whole post-X-Men era.

Zingers? Are you sure you were watching the new one WW?

I don't think anything in Garland's script is meant as a "zinger".

Even the humorous lines are mean to be delivered through gritted teeth and stubble.

Glad you liked it anyways tho! Easily one of my fave movies of 2012.

[polishgenius]

Yeah, wait, Dredd was goofy?


I watched TT: Closer to the Edge, the documentary about the Isle of Man TT motorbike event, the other day. Bit of a weird one as it comes off more like an extra-snazzy combination of TV preview and highlights show of the week's racing than a traditional docu, but it is interesting even for me as someone who isn't into bikes at all - and it is amazing and somewhat gratifying that a race as dangerous as that is allowed to exist in this day and age. Worth a look if you like that sort of thing.

This post has been edited by polishgenius: 11 June 2013 - 01:29 AM

[QuickTidal]

worry, on 10 June 2013 - 07:49 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 10 June 2013 - 01:52 PM, said:

I think I enjoyed it for being a proper representation of modern Peter Parker. A whiny, emo kid with typical teenager "know-it-all-isms" who really is mostly just a dick (Tobey was too nice...a Silver Age Parker portrayal)...and the practical effect web-slinging, which was really solid looking.

The story is spotty at best...and you can tell whole swathes of it were cut out with certain plot points starting and never finishing. It's TRYING to do something good, but it doesn't wholly succeed. I had to re-watch it to settle into this impression of it though.

Still, I don't think anything is worse than SPIDERMAN 3...oh, maybe INDIANAN JONES & THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL. LOL!

Haha...still haven't seen Crystal Skull, and don't plan to. I think they went waaay overboard with Peter's teenagery, there was something wonky about it even in context. And I guess I prefer Peter as an exceptional young man with momentary teenage lapses rather than a tortured soul, but even given what they were attempting I still think it failed. Frankly it felt like they had ten or so plot points they had to hit, and took direct routes from each one to the next, regardless of whether it made sense. Peter's nonsensical rant at the police station stands out as one of the worst scenes, given how contrived his inability to sound rational was, not to mention how generic a concept it was (right out of the police thriller playbook). Then there's the fact that Gwen Stacy is apparently an unfeeling sociopath. Anyway, if I had to say one nice thing about the movie it's that it really embraced the spidery-ness of Spider-Man, and that really shined through. I also thought the cast was quite capable, and even had chemistry whenever they were allowed to, they just had so little to work with. Here's hoping the sequel features Joe Estevez.

Yeah, i can totally see all those complaints. They are quite glaring. I thought the glass shattered front door was incongruous to even angsty, dickheaded Peter...but yeah, buried somewhere in there is a decent Spiderman flick, but it's lost amongst editing misteps, script issues, and silly plot contrivances.

I still found ways to enjoy it, but I was suspending a lot of disbelief. LOL

And yeah, if you ever plan to watch CRYSTAL SKULL....watch the first 20 minutes. When he meets the kid you can stop watching and pretend it was just a little short piece about an aging Indy mourning his dead friends and family.

[QuickTidal]

polishgenius, on 11 June 2013 - 01:17 AM, said:

Yeah, wait, Dredd was goofy?

Right?!

WW, you are smoking some fine crack. Did you get it from my mayor? (<----Insider Toronto joke)

[worry]

LOL I got it from your mayor's brother...he's the actual supplier! But I thought Dredd was pretty good-naturedly (and self-consciously) goofy. To clarify, not at all like a spoof or satire of action or antihero B-Movies or anything (eg Machete), but rather it just gloried in its own retro action genre movie-ness (like a low budget Robocop, or Total Recall, or again, Punisher:WZ). And yah there were zingers...not necessarily anything like Schwarzenegger's, but he's still prone to occasional wry understatement like "The perps were...uncoooperative." (which is actually one of the better ones).

[QuickTidal]

Ah okay. I get what you mean. It was deliciously B-movie-esque. In that case, I agree.

...and my fave line was

Spoiler

when Dredd and Anderson walk out of Peach Trees at the end and the chief asks Dredd what went down...and he shrugs and says "Drug bust". Gold. GOLD Jerry!

[Tiste Simeon]

polishgenius, on 11 June 2013 - 01:17 AM, said:

Yeah, wait, Dredd was goofy?


I watched TT: Closer to the Edge, the documentary about the Isle of Man TT motorbike event, the other day. Bit of a weird one as it comes off more like an extra-snazzy combination of TV preview and highlights show of the week's racing than a traditional docu, but it is interesting even for me as someone who isn't into bikes at all - and it is amazing and somewhat gratifying that a race as dangerous as that is allowed to exist in this day and age. Worth a look if you like that sort of thing.

Man I love the TT. My parents now live on the Isle of Man so I've been over a few time to watch it. It's pretty intense, especially the sidecar races! Those dudes are nuts!

Edit: re the danger thing I think almost every year the government and others moan about it & they talk about possibly stopping it but I think that seens as a majority of the Islands yearly tourism income is generated in those 2 weeks I doubt thats going to happen any time soon...

This post has been edited by Tiste Simeon: 11 June 2013 - 08:06 AM

[polishgenius]

I really liked Amazing Spider-Man, I have to say. Much better Peter (Tobey Mcguire was alright, but where were the quips? Garfield was bang on the Peter I recognise from the comics in my view), more convincing action, and in my view some great visuals- for me out of all the comic book films it's the one that most takes advantage of that in terms of look. In particular, some great use of lighting and colour. And hell, I even liked

Spoiler

the cheesy ridiculous crane-swinging scene. Sometimes, you're just allowed.
I dunno why y'all thought this Spidey was a more tortured soul than Raimi's version. Yeah, there was lots of angst, there always is, but there was also a joy in him using his powers that was sorely lacking from the first set of films.
I also liked that Gwen was at no point a damsel in distress who just needed rescuing, but got things done her own self.

There are plenty of flaws, of course.

Spoiler

The main one for me being the Lizard, who was portrayed awfully (as opposed to Curt Connors)- not just visually but with dreadful contrivance to get what was an essentially well-meaning individual to just go randomly insane. And yeah, there were several other contrivances to get the plot to where it needed to go.

But overall, and call me insane, I liked it more than TDKR. It never aimed as high, but it also didn't fall so hard.

[McLovin]

polishgenius, on 11 June 2013 - 11:27 AM, said:

But overall, and call me insane, I liked it more than TDKR. It never aimed as high, but it also didn't fall so hard.

Now THAT's a bold statement my friend.