Just Watched

A thread to talk about movies you've recently seen. Expect a post from me at least weekly, since I go to the theater every Sunday, but I'd like it to be the movie equivalent to the "Now Playing" thread—except, obviously, for movies you've recently watched.

First post! I just saw The Great Gatsby. I'm not entirely sure what to think. The movie kept losing me then winning me over back and forth throughout the course of it, so much that I'm not sure where I stand now that it's finished. I rolled my eyes near the beginning and cried at the end, but still my feelings are mixed. Leonardo DiCaprio did amazing as Jay Gatsby. I think that with a different director this could've been a great film, but in the end it fel really shallow.

Also, I liked the juxtaposition of the old setting with modern music in theory (especially since Fitzgerald used new and unaccepted music as a theme in the novel), but in the end it, for the most part, was pretty awkward.

So yeah, as a whole I think I had more problems with the film than things I liked. Oh, and I should mention I haven't yet read the novel, so you can take my words with a salt shaker.

I liked what Baz Luhrmann did with it. He did a somewhat similar thing with Romeo and Juliet, modernizing it and whatnot. Dicaprio was in that too.

in the end it fel really shallow.

Isn't that the whole point of Gatsby?

The last film I saw was Sebastiane, directed by Derek Jarman. It is an account of the martyrdom of St. Sebastian. It's ambitious and all, scripted entirely in Latin (allegedly the first English film to do so), but it basically amounts to 80 minutes of artsy gay erotica and I just didn't find it very interesting. It does have some beautiful individual moments (the close up of a tiny spider spinning web on a guy's fingers, for example) but then there's 10 minutes of naked guys splashing each other with water in slow motion and I just don't care about that. It ends (of course) with the martyrdom by arrows, which is unflinchingly shot and viscerally powerful, but I would have cared more if I hadn't been exposed to 75 minutes of sweaty gay men beforehand. Elsewhere, I said "this whole film could be reduced to a 10 second shot of a flaccid cock being squirted with ketchup" and I think that about sums it up.

Crudblud watches gay porn.

Just saw After Earth today. It was terrible. Jaden Smith did a pretty bad job, the writing was stiff, sometimes bland and sometimes horrid, the directing was crap and the story was incredibly predictable. Will Smith did good for what he could, but it could not salvage that film.

On the bright side, I could kind of see myself watching and making fun of this if I could find someone else to.

Just saw After Earth today. It was terrible. Jaden Smith did a pretty bad job, the writing was stiff, sometimes bland and sometimes horrid, the directing was crap and the story was incredibly predictable. Will Smith did good for what he could, but it could not salvage that film.

On the bright side, I could kind of see myself watching and making fun of this if I could find someone else to.

Mystery Supes Theater 3000

Quote from: Supertails on June 02, 2013, 07:28:17 PM

Just saw After Earth today. It was terrible. Jaden Smith did a pretty bad job, the writing was stiff, sometimes bland and sometimes horrid, the directing was crap and the story was incredibly predictable. Will Smith did good for what he could, but it could not salvage that film.

On the bright side, I could kind of see myself watching and making fun of this if I could find someone else to.

Mystery Supes Theater 3000

Even though I wouldn't be very entertaining I would love to do that. I have this tradition with a friend I know online where we watch every Microsoft 'announcement' livestream (be it E3 or otherwise) and make fun of it the whole time. It's great. We were making dog jokes before they were cool B[

Just saw After Earth today. It was terrible.

In that case, I guess I'm glad that I saw Now You See Me instead.  The surprise ending wasn't that big of a surprise, but it was still a fun movie.

Just saw After Earth today. It was terrible. Jaden Smith did a pretty bad job, the writing was stiff, sometimes bland and sometimes horrid, the directing was crap and the story was incredibly predictable. Will Smith did good for what he could, but it could not salvage that film.

On the bright side, I could kind of see myself watching and making fun of this if I could find someone else to.

That's disappointing. It had terrible reviews on RottenTomato too but I thought it looked decent. Guess I won't be seeing it then.

I thought it be alright as well (like, Oblivion levels of 'alright'). Didn't quite expect it to be as bad as everyone says it is.

M. Night Shyamalan is awful.  I don't know why people still see his movies.

Fast and Furious 6 was alright for some great action set pieces. The script was incredibly dumb (like, I was laughing in the cinema dumb).  The way they flipped the tank also took me straight out of the movie.

I think the could have done a better job emphasizing the meaning of certain colors in the book. And I don't just mean the green light.

M. Night Shyamalan is awful.  I don't know why people still see his movies.

Especially not when they're Will Smith vanity projects.

The Gatekeepers

A new documentary comprised mostly of interviews with former leaders of the Shin Bet, Israel's security agency. The subject is fascinating, the interviews and previously unseen archival footage (according to the director who did a little Q&A afterwards) are compelling, unfortunately the presentation features unnecessary and ridiculous graphics as seen on shows like CSI, I was almost expecting one of the interviewees to don a pair of sunglasses, spout a cheesy one-liner and then hear Roger Daltrey scream YEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH. It's actually quite bizarre that the director, an Israeli who spent some three and a half years doing interviews, collecting archival footage and so on, and chose to pare it down to this 90 minute package with goofy CG graphics and tacky "docu-pop" music, it's almost like he has no respect for the subject, even though he showed a great deal of passion during the Q&A. I hope that the complete and unedited interviews are made available on their own at some point, the film itself is ultimately disappointing and not worth the price of admission, I feel.

Saw Man of Steel today. It wasn't very good. I think Henry Cavill was pretty great as Superman, but the whole start of the movie was really awkwardly paced and kinda dumb and deus ex machina-y.

Also, that wasn't Timothy Olyphant as Zod?!

Potential spoilers (highlight to read): The whole opening sequence on Krypton felt way too generic-action-blockbuster-like, Timothy Olyphant...er, Michael Shannon was not very unique or interesting as General Zod, the whole movie's pacing was weird, there was way too much focus on action, Superman hardly did any fucking life-saving, completely content to demolish an entire city and buildings to crush his enemies, showing very little compassion. Seriously, we have a couple brief scenes from before he's Superman of him being heroic, but once he dons the suit and cape I'm sure the casualties he helped incur way outweigh those. I would've loved to see him saving people as he fought, going out of his way to protect them and not destroy half of fucking Metropolis.

That said, the super-fight-scenes were pretty sweet, and there was a serious moment of "...woah" when Superman did what he didn't want to do and finished Zod. Just the way he did it, how out of desperation it was. It was a seriously well-done moment. Until they made nothing of it and cut to the end.

The end was probably the best part. With Kal showing the government that he won't let them track him, but showing that he's placing his trust in humanity to let him work on his own terms. It was a pretty heartwarming moment. Followed by an incredibly predictable joke.

So yeah. Basically the only real good part is the latter part of it.

A lot of people have been saying the same things.

I just watched Grease on AMC over the weekend. It was fun to watch again. A light hearted musical love story. Normally something like this is enough to make gag, but it was fun to see a young John Travolta and Olivia Newton John again.

I loved Man of Steel, which is surprising since I normally hate Superman's character. I honestly want to see it again in theaters.

(Near the end of the movie, I really doubt there were still people in those buildings, Supes.)
AND YOU THOUGHT ZOD LOOKED LIKE TIMOTHY OLYPHANT?! What's wrong with your eyes?! Olyphant is gorgeous, that guy looked like a psycho Roman general.

But I agree that the pacing at the beginning was a bit too fast for my tastes. It almost seemed like they were trying to shove everything into this movie just in case it didn't do well and they didn't do another one.

Also, Lane was terrible. That line after they kissed was extremely stupid and ruined the whole moment. "They say it all goes down hill after the first kiss." Are you fucking kidding me, Lane?

Henry Cavill was perfect. I'm super impressed that he hid his accent so well. I couldn't help but laugh when the Englishman said, "I was raised in Kansas, I'm as American as it gets."

(Near the end of the movie, I really doubt there were still people in those buildings, Supes.)

Maybe not, but I find it hard to think of the entire city and all those skyscrapers totally evacuated, especially since you see people running around and I'm fairly sure you can see people in buildings in bits when the camera follows Superman or Zod through a building they're flung through. I could be wrong, though.

And Michael Shannon looks to me like Timothy Olyphant with a squished head, so yeah. Though I don't think he was very good still.

I didn't like Lane much either, though I'm glad she wasn't a damsel in distress. And I wouldn't call Cavill perfect, but he was definitely good.

Cavill was Stephenie Meyer's first choice to play Edward in Twilight.

Cavill was Stephenie Meyer's first choice to play Edward in Twilight.

Why do you know this

...I don't know.

And Michael Shannon looks to me like Timothy Olyphant with a squished head, so yeah.

Maybe it's just me, but I think that he looks more like Joaquin Phoenix than Timothy Olyphant.

Quote from: rooster on June 17, 2013, 06:43:27 AM

(Near the end of the movie, I really doubt there were still people in those buildings, Supes.)

Maybe not, but I find it hard to think of the entire city and all those skyscrapers totally evacuated, especially since you see people running around and I'm fairly sure you can see people in buildings in bits when the camera follows Superman or Zod through a building they're flung through. I could be wrong, though.

If there were people in danger then Superman was concerned as seen with the bit with Zod. I will agree that I am getting a little tired of big battles in major cities and all the collateral. Buildings being destroyed gets to be a bit old.

And Michael Shannon looks to me like Timothy Olyphant with a squished head, so yeah. Though I don't think he was very good still.

I liked Zod. He had a very true motive which was commendable in it's own way. Sometimes his lines were delivered a little cheesy (the bit on Krypton where he shouts, "I will find him," to Lara comes to mind).

I didn't like Lane much either, though I'm glad she wasn't a damsel in distress. And I wouldn't call Cavill perfect, but he was definitely good.

He looked the part and was very American poster boy. Christopher Reeve will always be the true Superman in my mind, but Cavill did great at being sweet/naive/pure.

Is his Clark persona an awkward clumsy dork in this film as well?

Is his Clark persona an awkward clumsy dork in this film as well?

I wouldn't say clumsy or much of a dork, although you only see Daily Planet Clark with glasses at the end of the movie. Farmer Clark is basically Superman without the costume (sweet/pure/naive/American).

There is one part where he doesn't really hide his English accent. When he's teaching himself how to fly, and he falters, he shouts "NUUUUUUUUUUU" in a very English way.

There is one part where he doesn't really hide his English accent. When he's teaching himself how to fly, and he falters, he shouts "NUUUUUUUUUUU" in a very English way.

We Englishmen are known for shouting "NUUUUUUUUUUU" when we falter.

Quote from: Supertails on June 17, 2013, 07:16:21 AM

And Michael Shannon looks to me like Timothy Olyphant with a squished head, so yeah.

Maybe it's just me, but I think that he looks more like Joaquin Phoenix than Timothy Olyphant.

Aha! The evolution goes Timothy Olyphant -> Joaquin Phoenix -> Michael Shannon. I see now!

If there were people in danger then Superman was concerned as seen with the bit with Zod. I will agree that I am getting a little tired of big battles in major cities and all the collateral. Buildings being destroyed gets to be a bit old.

Yeah, but my problem wasn't that he didn't care as his written character, it's that they only showed him caring when it was absolutely necessary so we could still go "oh yeah see superman is caring". Only big plot things like that. You don't see little scenes of him stopping a wall from crushing someone in the middle of the fights, stopping a stray whatever from decapitating a person, etc. I would've loved if they'd had little moments during the battles that showed that protecting people was his #1 priority. It's the old "show, don't tell" saying. Snyder simply told us "yeah he protects people" with in-your-face "superman is saving these ppl now" scenes, but didn't show us that during the huge, catastrophic battles where he'd have to be most careful. He went crashing into an iHop where debris flew everywhere and there were clearly people at the tables inside, smashing a ton of tables and seats that could have logically had people in them (though they didn't because movie luck) and all he did was cast a glance at that one guy who went to school with him for some sort of comedic effect or something and then continued throwing Zod and himself through more buildings. He does not come off as that caring of a hero, even if he by definition is because that's what it says in the script.

I liked Zod. He had a very true motive which was commendable in it's own way. Sometimes his lines were delivered a little cheesy (the bit on Krypton where he shouts, "I will find him," to Lara comes to mind).

I dunno, he was so boring. Zod is an iconic Superman enemy, and this Zod literally felt like generic military bad guy #4276. There was nothing unique about him at all. Though I liked the "what you took from me was my soul" bit.

He looked the part and was very American poster boy. Christopher Reeve will always be the true Superman in my mind, but Cavill did great at being sweet/naive/pure.

Actually yeah, I guess my main problem with him wasn't his fault so much as Snyder's directing. I would've loved to see more of that actually come through, but the story and directing didn't really let it because there was so much "yeaaah big action scene nao be srsfays again".