Movies (recently seen)

[Dragavan]

Scott Pilgrim vs The World is a fantastically fun movie. I am so going to have to buy it when it comes out. Character motivations are pretty thin, but they aren't why you are watching the movie. It's a video gamer geeks perfect movie, as well as just a strong stylized comedy/action movie. It's a living video game, comic book and anime combined into one sweet package.

It also brought back the onomatopoeia of the old 60s Batman TV series, only updated for the modern age. Seeing sound effects in a new way was way cool.

I will own the DVD, if that tells you anything.

And tomorrow I should be seeing the Expendables... my friends said it was either the Expendables or The Other Guys... I told them I would be all in for Expendables, but if it's The Other Guys I had some ear wax I needed to sculpt into scale models... So they said Expendables it was. (I really can't stand Will Ferrell and will never pay to see any movie he's in... same goes for Adam Sandler, actually.)

As for Memento... my favorite movie of all time. Yeah, it's a great one. Glad you liked it.

[Ryan_DuBois]

I actually like Will Ferrell to some extent -- some of his old skits on SNL are funny to me, and he has a couple older films I like -- but "The Other Guys" was horrible. When I see a Will Ferrell movie, I can expect what you'd call "stupid humor", so I was prepared for it, but I still felt mentally diminished by the time it was over.

And Mark Wahlberg should NOT be in comedy films!

It's 4 - 4.5 material.

[End Master]

Speaking of stupid humor, why the hell is "Vampires Suck" #2 at the box office? I think I probably complained about this before, but Jesus Christ, these recent parody movies are NOT FUNNY and they haven't been for years.

I haven't read the Scott Pilgrim comics, but I've only heard good things from people who saw the movie. The only thing that's really putting me off on seeing it, is Michael Cera. Something about him is really annoying and I can only tolerate him in small doses. (Sort of like Will Ferrell actually)

[donteatpoop]

Yeah, the parody movies that have been coming out are not funny. That's a rough style of film to make, actually. Just about the only person who was able to pull it off successfully was Mel Brooks. I don't think I've seen any parody flicks by anyone else that were worth watching. (minus the Monty Python troupe).

Will Farrel is very hit and miss for me. Overall I still like him. I might be the only one who thinks so, but Land of the Lost was hilarious.

Movies I've seen recently were Kickass (excellent), Predators (had its moments), and Death at a Funeral (very funny).

[Dragavan]

Mel Brooks (not including his later movies) was the master of it, but the Zucker Brothers (Airplane, Top Secret, etc.) were also quite adept at doing it well in their early films too. But both of them have lost the touch. Almost none of the later ones that came out were any good, although there were a few that had good moments or sections... but not enough to make them great.

The Expendables was fun. I was just expecting a big action movie with lots of guns and explosions... I was NOT disappointed there... What I didn't expect was as much actual plot and acting the movie had in it as well... And Dolph really surprised me. It was well directed and written for a bit action blow stuff up movie.

Still, out of the recent movies I've seen. Scott Pilgrim vs The World is the top of my chart... and the Soundtrack album is really good too. What I didn't know before was that all the actors playing the band were ACTUALLY the band. They played all the music themselves. Go Bob-ombs!

[Ryan_DuBois]

I liked "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" less than I thought I would, and so did the two friends I saw it with. I can't say that it was bad, though. The main thing is has going for it is that it is unique (at least among the movies I've seen), so if you place a high value on originality, then you'll definitely appreciate it. It's entertaining, and Michael Cera plays a similar character to those he played in his other movies (big surprise, I know [oddly enough, though, I don't think he was a virgin in this one]) but since I think he's still funny, that was fine.

I just found it to be kinda confusing (at first) and it didn't really leave me feeling good or different. I'm still not entirely sure what it is that makes me like or dislike a movie, but I can only give this one like a...

7.5

I also saw "Death at a Funeral" and thought it was pretty funny. It's mostly just shock laughs, though -- "The Hangover" and "Hot Tub Time Machine" were both funnier and better in my opinion.

For the parody movies... I liked "Scary Movie", "Scary Movie 2", and "Date Moive". After that, they lost their humor for me.

"Scary Movie 2" wasn't great or anything... I just loved the "little hand" thing.

[End Master]

The parody movies for me started sucking a lot probably after the third Naked Gun movie came out around the mid-nineties.

There's been a couple of exceptions, but most of them just stopped trying.

[End Master]

Saw Rampage.

There's a guy and he goes on a shooting spree in a small town. That's it, that's the movie! Well okay there's a little more to it than that, but that's the basic plot. Doesn't need to be said that I liked it, however considering that it was made by Uwe Boll I'm more surprised at myself that I liked it.

It sort of shows he can make a decent movie if he stays away from video game adaptations (Which he REALLY needs to stop making)

Though oddly given the nature of the movie it almost had a video game like element, because the protagonist isn't just "shooting people", he's walking down the main street dressed in black kevlar swat armor with ceramic plating mowing down people with two sub-machine guns. I half expected a point score to start popping up in the corner of the screen.

Uwe's also making a movie called Auschwitz and judging by the trailers he's bound and determined to piss off most folks with it. (Nothing really new for him I suppose though) He says he's trying to show the truth, but it looks more like a throwback to those Naziploitation flicks back in the old days. In any case it's got my interest.

[Dragavan]

I went and say Machete... It was brilliant... Don't expect fine art, but it was perfectly done for what it was trying to be... This is truly the next grindhouse movie done right. Grainy film, odd cuts, pointless nudity, over the top violence, and everything. I loved it.

Also saw a real trailer (not at the theater) for what looks like the next grindhouse movie. Hobo With A Shotgun. It looks to be a hell of a lot of fun too.

I hope they keep this going. I want to see Agent Orange, Don't, Werewolf Women of the SS, and pretty much all of them get made (with the exception of Thanksgiving). And I want to see other filmmakers jump in and make their own as well. Bring some of this classic fun back to the big screen.

[ChubbyTeletubby]

Finally saw Inception.

All I can say is nicely done. There were a couple of things that really struck home with me. What a really deep, insightful movie.

As someone who has lost someone very close to them, and then had them haunt my dreams for YEARS, this movie really hit a nerve. There would be times in my dreams I would KNOW this person was dead, and I would get in these heated arguments with them.

I'd be like "YOU'RE DEAD!!! YOU DIED!!! What are you doing here!?!?!? Is this some kind of sick joke?"

They would never answer the question, they would simply change the subject. It was maddening. It was a real problem for awhile.

The sense of loss is just overwhelming. And then your mind gives you this hollow shell of a person that ALMOST fills the gap. But in the end it just makes your loss that much more painful. The scene where his wife jumps off the ledge showcases some amazing acting from DiCaprio.

I knew from the beginning he was in a dream within a dream. Or I should say I THINK he was in limbo from the very beginning.

I know it's been said a million times before, but this movie deserves a 2nd and 3rd viewing to REALLY get a grasp on what's going on.

I'd have to give this one a 9 at least.

I'm glad I caught it while it was still in the theaters.

[Ryan_DuBois]

I actually did end up paying the $15 to see it twice. It was just as good the second time through, and though the movie isn't all that hard to follow, I did get a better grasp on the minute details from the last dream sequence(s).

I also saw "Iron Man 2" and "Prince of Persia" since then. They were both decent, although I think that "Iron Man 2" is slightly overrated, while "Prince of Persia" is slightly underrated.

They're both about at 7.75.

[Ryan_DuBois]

Saw "Robin Hood". It's nowhere near as bad as its critical reception would suggest, but it's not great either. I honestly think one of its biggest problems was the accents of the characters. I couldn't make out a lot of what was being said, it was so bad. The war scenes were pretty cool, though. I think a lot of people just went into it without knowing that it was a prequel and were then disappointed when they didn't get to see an outlaw Robin Hood stealing from the rich and giving to the poor.

7.5

And it looks like I was wrong about the main site coming back up; sorry, I really thought it would be better by now.

[Ryan_DuBois]

Saw "Devil" and "Karate Kid". The second one was predictably bad; although I liked Jackie Chan's character, that Jaden Smith was so annoying that he just slaughtered the movie.

"Devil" was actually better than I thought it would be, though. It doesn't necessarily do anything inventive, and it has a little bit of the crazy religious stuff that these kinds of films usually do, but it's still a fun mystery movie.

[EDIT]

Whoops. Triple post.

[End Master]

Finally got around to seeing Machete.

It was cool, but it sort of dispensed with the "grindhouse effect" after the first 20 minutes of the movie. It still felt like an old grindhouse movie though.

Unfortunately I didn't get the Hobo with a Shotgun trailer before the movie started (I didn't get any fake trailers), though I've seen that one on the internet before anyway. Never heard of the Agent Orange one.

[End Master]

Saw HUMAN CENTIPEDE, so here's the review of it, though I imagine only Ryan will actually be interested in it.

As far as I'm concerned its reputation far exceeded its actual content. Like I said before I saw it, the main problem was you already knew what to expect going into the film, I mean they even show the human centipede in the trailers, so the shock is sort of diminished severely by the time the good doctor gets around to fusing people's mouths and asses together. Sure it's still disgusting and the victims are going through a fate worse than death, but eh, the execution of it all still could've been a lot worse. I can imagine Takashi Miike doing a better job with the same concept or Cronenberg if he still did horror movies.

That being said, I still liked it. The main draw is the mad doctor who acts like an appropriate lunatic throughout the film. He sort of fucks up too much at the end though. I felt like he would've been more careful about everything given how long the movie implies he's been planning to do this experiment. But I suppose it could be argued he suffered from super ego syndrome common to most movie villains.