Ray wrote:@ Soulassasin
I recommend you check out this deconstruction/examination of Cloud Atlas out. I think you'll come away appreciating/hating it a lot more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6JpuY0tTiQ

I also recommend that if you want a movie that discusses the themes of Cloud Atlas the movie better than Cloud Atlas the movie. Watch Slaughterhouse 5.

No prob. Out of boredom, I decided to watch it as to what the movie was all about.

Sleeping Beauty: As I am now trying fully to immerse myself in the Disney classics from the earlier times rather than relying on the 90s/2000s general material to get a chuckle every now and then, this was an experience to say the most. While I do feel that more focus should have been given to Aurora and Phillip rather than the fairies, the animation in this late 50s theatrical release more than makes up for it's shortcomings and it's musical selection brings about a calming charm that multiplies these feelings tenfold. I wouldn't classify it as great but not bad either.

Not the studio's finest hour if you ask me.

It has beautiful animation though, which helps make up for the weak story and characters. Possibly the best climax of any animated disney film.

My sister roped me into watching The Purge.

It was, without a doubt, one of the worst movies I have ever watched. I knew it was going to suck from the very beginning with the "moody teenager seeing a boyfriend that her father dislikes" cliche, except this time the boyfriend is actually semi likable, even if he was painfully generic. Of course, he ends up dead after he tries to shoot the father character. Oh boy did I wish he hadn't missed. The father character is so unbearably annoying it hurts. In fact, that's the main problem with this movie- the characters are either painfully generic or stupidly irritating. Zoey is a mopey brat, Charlie is a useless clot, Mary is completely generic, James is infuriating in every single way, and Generic Homeless Black Guy is devoid of any characterization at all and exists solely to push the plot forward and fulfill some kind of audience feels quota (Homeless? Check. Minority amongst a sea of white people? Check. Saves the heroes in the end? Check!). So you'd think that seeing them hounded by the mob would be great, right? Sadly no, because the mob are straight out of an edgy 12 year old's idea of what constitutes "scary". Stupid masks, dumb laughs, "for teh evulz" motivations and behaviour, and lines written by someone who has no idea how humans speak. And worst of all, the only protagonist that dies is the father character! Everyone else survives through carefully timed Deus Ex Machina, administered via Generic Black Guy or team of saviours who *gasp* are actually evil too! So basically you have a bunch of annoying weirdoes trying to kill an annoying family, and in the end you just want everyone to explode messily in a shower of blood and bone so that you don't have to listen to them anymore. Sadly the film cannot even deliver on that. The "shocking" violence is absolutely pathetic, consisting of small amounts of obviously fake blood and nothing else. In fact the most convincing gore in the whole movie is a goddamn nosebleed! The same can be said of the suspense attempts and predictable twists.

So yeah, essentially you have a paper thin excuse plot with unsatisfactory action, no suspense and characters so awful that you end up wanting the entire cast to just fucking die. Literally the only people who will enjoy this movie are edgy teenagers wanting to feel like grown-ups without having to use their brains or witness any actually distressing content. Normally I'm fairly tolerant of other people's movie tastes, but the fact is that if you unironically enjoyed this movie, you need to be purged.

VERDICT: Cinematic Syphillis.

I actually saw this movie weeks ago, but it is technically the last *new* movie I watched, since the real last one was Fantastic Mr. Fox, which I've seen 4 times because I'm yiff trash

Anyway, I saw Boyhood. Okay so, this is the movie that had to change its name because the original title was too similar to 12 Years a Slave, right? Yeah, that's because this movie took 12 years to make......on purpose!!!

It's the kind of movie where the main character is really innocent, cute, and likable, but has the annoying bitch sister (who's a lot like my younger sisters), but then you have opposite feelings for them as they get older. I'm not gonna give way too much away, but the movie began filming (and takes place) in 2002. I remember 2002. This kid in the movie was seen playing a GBA and watching the Buu Saga dub of DBZ. This was really nostalgic for me. But anyway, he just goes through a lot of shit in his life because of his parents, and he goes through trends the early 2000s had to offer, such as emo boy scene fuck with painted nails and earrings, etc. He turns into a philosophical fucktard in the end, which is really annoying. Okay see I'm gonna give that away because you saw it coming. His sister becomes a bit more grown up and pursues her own goals though.


Basically, I'm sure if it didn't have this stupid gimmick that caused me to watch it I think it would have essentially sucked donkey dongs. I mostly watched it because MisterMetokur said it was a really great movie, and based Jim is based Jim so you gotta listen to him, but yeah. I actually liked the nostalgia in it, like they play music that was popular depending on what year it is and what kind of toys or tech was popular, that aspect of the film was really cool. I think other than that, it's a "meh" movie. I give it 3 bananas out of 5.

The Rover (2014)- 9.5/10

Wow, just wow. I watched this because a review compared the setting and tone as similar to the original Mad Max. It turned out to be so much more. The basic story is set in Australia, 10 years after a global economic collapse. The outback has become a lawless, almost spagetti-western wasteland. A lone wanderer has his car stolen by three men fleeing from crime scene, but it turns out there was a fourth member they left for dead. The man takes him as hostage/companion to try and get his vehicle back. Thats the set-up and I don't want to reveal anything else. Totally bleak and nihilistic, and a fantastic performance by Robert Pattinson (yes, the pretty boy from Twilight) as the half-wit fourth member of the gang.

Having finished up my math class. I decided to take some time off and rewatch ALL the X-Men movies that have been released up to this point in anticipation for X-Men: Apocalypse.

X-Men:

While watching this today, I wondered if this is still a good movie. Or if I'm just spoiled and being snobby because of how decent modern superhero movies are. I'm grateful for what this movie did for the Superhero movie in the long run. In terms of proving that superhero movies can be profitable, alongside Blade and Raimi's Spider-Man. But It has NOT aged all that well. It's covered from head to toe in the trappings of early 2000's angst, not to mention black leather. There really isn't any sense of fun or joy in this movie like in later installments.

The fight scenes, might have been good at the time and I remember enjoying them when I first saw this movie back as a kid. But compared to scenes from later installments, they don't really hold up. The action always takes place in the dark, and only adequately edited. . . and with everyone wearing black leather it becomes hard to keep track of who's fighting who in the fight scenes. The only genuinely good action scene is the battle between Sabertooth and Wolverine on the Statue of Liberty head. Because that scene was well lit and I could tell who was fighting who.

While most of the CGI holds up particularly the scenes with Mystique, some of it hasn't held up which is forgivable to a certain extent because it's used sparingly. What isn't forgivable is how you can tell when a character is being lifted by the wires to emulate a superhuman jump.

Also, and this was understandable at the time because they weren't sure if the movie would be a big hit or not. Singer did not take any time to develop any of the other characters other than Wolverine, Magneto, and Xavier, thus denying the rest of the cast the rich backstory and complexity they have in the Comics and 90's Cartoon. A problem that would trickle down to effect the rest of the X-Men movie franchise to the modern day. Speaking of backstory, Singer altered Rogue incredibly. Making her a lot more like comic Kitty Pryde than the Louisiana girl we all knew and loved from the cartoon and comics. I understand that with a source material as longrunning and convoluted as the X-Men mythos, expecting them to develop every character, and make them all as complex as in the comics in only one or two films is just setting yourself up for disappointment.

But I do have good things to say about it. Hugh Jackman as always sells Wolverine as a badass, grump with a heart of gold, and Patrick Stewart, and Ian McKellen were perfect casting as Xavier and Magneto. That opening scene with Magneto as a child being torn away from his mother in Nazi Germany? Heartbreaking.

That overall saves the movie from having aged away into irrelevance. . .

Oh and this line

Wolverine: Hey. It's me.

Cyclops: Prove it.

Wolverine: You're a dick.

X2: X-Men United

In stark contrast to the first one. I'd say that this movie holds up excellently. You could show this one in the movie theatres today and people would still say that it's a good movie.

Every character gets time to showcase their powers, in great visually interesting ways. Storm takes down jets, Wolverine cuts up some redshirts and has a great fight with Lady Deathstrike, Iceman and Rogue get time to showcase their relationship, and Nightcrawler steals the show. Shame he didn't show up in the third movie due to Fox screwing up, and Bryan Singer leaving.

Jean gets decent character development that was clearly supposed to go on into the dark phoenix saga. Shame that didn't pan out the way it was supposed to. But thank god for the reboot we might see it done justice later.

and the Villain, William Stryker. . . he is just perfect. Played to southern fried perfection by Brian Cox. He has good justifaction for his amoral actions, but he's far from sympathetic, considering he's willing to lobotomize his own son to destroy what he sees as a threat to humanity.

The effects still hold up! Singer figured out how to make a character leap a long distance without us seeing the wires.

It still has some of the problems that the other X-Men movies have. Only keeping the focus on Wolverine to the detraction of the rest of the X-Men getting development (I think Lady Deathstrike was a huge missed opportunity). But overall this is still a great popcorn flick.

I saw Big Hero 6 recently.

I thought it was a lot of fun and is very adult at times when it needs to be. I hear some people say that the movie would've been better with just Hiro and Baymax, but honestly I liked the other characters, since they brought more substance.

I'm still upset that something as generic as Frozen (you can set my house on fire anytime, folks) is more popular in comparison.

I watched Blue is the Warmest Colour recently.

It started off not too bad but it quickly devolved into a bit of a mess. Both the lead characters were highly unlikeable and it somehow managed to make passionate lesbian sex scenes tedious.

Meh.

I went to Moscow last week, and flew Delta all the way. As such, lots of movies! Might as well share:

The Hobbit: Saw all three films back to back, and that was . . . gruelling. I liked 'em, though. I can understand the complaints about bloat, but the side story with Gandalf and Elrond and Galadriel and Saruman was pretty damn cool, and I liked the development the orcs got (they seemed to have more individuality and character to them than the ones in LotR did). Stupid elf/dwarf love triangle was stupid, but unfortunately removing those bits (in e.g. the Tolkien edit) truncates some significant scenes in the film, and I don't think it does the story any favors. It's all bloat, no doubt about it, but it's enjoyable enough IMO.

Also, Smaug is best lizard, no question.

Whiplash: Holy shit, is this an amazing film. It's a good analysis of the price of ambition, to say nothing of the cost of becoming a legend (or of pushing others to do same). The scene where the MC is talking to his family about Charlie Parker brought to mind a similar discussion we had here last year. I still think his family's right -- they may be mundane, but Parker practiced for 15 hours a day and died of a heroin overdose in his 30s. Admire the guy's work, no doubt, but his path is not one to aspire to IMO.

Frozen: I admit, I didn't expect much going into this, but the characters were likable and the music was great. Let it Go lives up to the hype, particularly in that scene. Great stuff. I'm a bit baffled about the hype, both liberal and conservative, about supposed gay themes in the show, though. I read this review and came away thinking the author needs to have his head examined. The thing he doesn't seem to get (which actually comes up when people compare the X-Men to the LGBT community) is that people with superpowers are dangerous. Elsa wasn't cast out because she was different, she was cast out because her powers are freakin' terrifying and nearly killed her sister and brought eternal winter to the land. That's not a metaphor for being gay, it's a metaphor for having a communicable disease that can kill people. And that song? Yeah, Let it Go is about reveling in the freedom social isolation gives you. It sounds empowering, but it's actually pretty darn regressive. I'm reminded of Asuka's final fight in EoE -- the scene is played as a glorious testament to her abilities, but it's actually a false rebirth because she's retreated even farther into the shelter of the Eva. Elsa's doing the same damn thing -- she's built herself a fortress of solitude in the middle of nowhere, and embraced completely her separation from society. That's not a good thing, kids. It's the exact opposite of what she needs to do at that point in the story.

I liked the movie a lot overall, but damn, some folks were just not paying attention.

Rurouni Kenshin: This was the last (third?) of the live action adaptations of the Rurouni Kenshin anime, and it covered the Kyoto arc. I was surprised at how faithful it was to the source material; the characters came through really well, and it hit all of the key events and gave us some outstanding sword work in the process. I liked the first movie well enough but this one really was hot stuff (pun intended). It's worth a shot of live action adaptations don't turn your stomach by default.

I watched the two DeathNote films yesterday. Some solid changes to clean up the plot for the allotted runtime, especially ending it when it should have ended, though they made Light such a bastard. Meh on the CG work though, and just what the hell are the Red Hot Chilli Peppers doing on this soundtrack? Crazy stuff.

Bagheera wrote:Frozen: I admit, I didn't expect much going into this, but the characters were likable and the music was great. Let it Go lives up to the hype, particularly in that scene. Great stuff. I'm a bit baffled about the hype, both liberal and conservative, about supposed gay themes in the show, though. I read this review and came away thinking the author needs to have his head examined. The thing he doesn't seem to get (which actually comes up when people compare the X-Men to the LGBT community) is that people with superpowers are dangerous. Elsa wasn't cast out because she was different, she was cast out because her powers are freakin' terrifying and nearly killed her sister and brought eternal winter to the land. That's not a metaphor for being gay, it's a metaphor for having a communicable disease that can kill people. And that song? Yeah, Let it Go is about reveling in the freedom social isolation gives you. It sounds empowering, but it's actually pretty darn regressive. I'm reminded of Asuka's final fight in EoE -- the scene is played as a glorious testament to her abilities, but it's actually a false rebirth because she's retreated even farther into the shelter of the Eva. Elsa's doing the same damn thing -- she's built herself a fortress of solitude in the middle of nowhere, and embraced completely her separation from society. That's not a good thing, kids. It's the exact opposite of what she needs to do at that point in the story.

Chuckman says: Open your heart to Elsanna and you will understand.

Also the Hobbit movies are the most aggressively terrible Hollywood blockbusters I have ever seen. I tried watching the second one while I was in the hospital in June and it put me to sleep less than a third of the way in. Something about the two that I've seen just hypnotizes me and I nod off.

Chuckman wrote:Chuckman says: Open your heart to Elsanna and you will understand

We should change your title to The Harbormaster and put you officially in charge of all our local shipping.

Chuckman wrote:Also the Hobbit movies are the most aggressively terrible Hollywood blockbusters I have ever seen. I tried watching the second one while I was in the hospital in June and it put me to sleep less than a third of the way in. Something about the two that I've seen just hypnotizes me and I nod off.

The Hobbit movies simply follow a pattern of many Hollywood blockbusters based upon books. You disregard everything between the pages and shoehorn as much action as possible (hopefully nowadays with stuff flying out of the screen at you) as well as a romantic sideplot that hopefully attracts more people to see it. Seriously, regarding romance, if you have read the books and seen the movies you will KNOW what I am talking about regarding the Hobbit films.

Also, I watched Minions. It was awful. There were no characters with personality or meaningful events throughout the entire movie. Nothing in it was vaguely funny, and I was mortified at Beatles music being in the soundtrack. I pretty much knew it would suck coming in, but not that it would be this utter shit. But I liked Despicable Me (the first one anyway), and it was with family (none of them liked it). The marketing engine for that movie is the most obnoxious thing ever seen. From "Minion Mania" at McDonald's to freaking Minion branded Twinkies. Seriously, in obnoxious overkill marketing it has Eva beat at every category except for the weirdness of the products, and trust me, it gets close. Of course, unlike Eva, there's no substance behind the marketing. Marketing is the heart and soul of this film!

There is even a subreddit devoted to the insanity of all of this

You ask me, both Frozen and Minions were marketed towards children, who can disregard any sort of artistic merit and merely watch for the sake of entertainment, which translates into jingling cash registers for the suits.

Although I genuinely roll my eyes on the resulting mania and marketing exploitation (including knockoff Flash and Android games -- there's even a bunch of grisly surgery and dental simulators) that both movies had generated.

NemZ wrote:We should change your title to The Harbormaster and put you officially in charge of all our local shipping.

Curses! chuckman stole the job i was going for here.
Oh well i can at least be the assistant, here to aid in opening the gates of forbidden love:

Not with hotlinks you won't! -NemZ

That pic came out bigger than i expected it to be.

Chronicle: Wow. Why did no one tell me about this flick before? This was really good, one of the best supers movies I think I've ever seen. In a lot of ways it has a very Aberrant vibe to it, and that's a very good thing. Not looking forward to a sequel, though; sometimes it pays to know when to stop.

Considering the director's recent track record (Fantastic Four cough cough) I wouldn't be holding my breath either.

So I saw Fed Up, which is a movie about sugary processed foods (especially soda), being the primary culprits of the obesity epidemic.

So, it's really ironic, but I do enjoy having discussions about desserts and pastries and such, but I am still against obesity happening to everyone as a whole. It also painted a messed up picture of how crap is advertised. I mean, I'm not obese, but I was very close to being so as a kid. I had darker skin on my neck, risk of diabetes, and just plain ate way too much for my health. I know that Supersize Me and films of the like tackle this issue pretty well, but I think this movie in particular tackles it in a much more realistic way. I mean, there were even children interviewed who were physically active, but never lost any weight. It's sad, but some people are just like that.

It was interesting for me to see that Mexico was the fattest country in the world at some point, but they've actually made a damn effort by banning junk food ads, so obesity decreased since then. Yeah that's the thing though. It always pissed me off seeing hip, physically fit kids in soda or McDonald's ads, it's bullshit. But yeah, I am actually a sucker for those types of movies, especially since I'm trying to get fit, too.