The trailer really made me want to avoid that Unstoppable movie. Was it as bad as I expect it?
The trailer really made me want to avoid that Unstoppable movie. Was it as bad as I expect it?
Except stuff doesn't quite work like that: ask any Lit. or art history professor. A work should only be judged in its historical context. Vivaldi is actually pretty boring, but he was a genius in the context of Baroque period harmony. Monet was considered sloppy when he first started his impressionist paintings, but the Dutch Masters looking painfully boring. Warhol would have looked stupid before the 1960s, and from the aughts perspective your average person says "huh? I don't get it." Citizen Kane is kinda cool in hindsight, but was considered the best movie ever made for decades. Hell, Doyle's Sherlock stories aren't particularly great by any generation's standards, but they are considered "classics" because he single-handedly popularized a large genre. Homer and the Odyssey and Iliad. Must I go on?
Point being Chaucer is lauded for his historical context, not his "quality" by a 2010 aesthetic. By an aughts standard, Elf is pretty stupid humor.
Can't argue with that, it's true. But let's use that same metric: how does Elf stand up to Big? And Elf gets the enormous feel good boost of Christmas, while Big had to generate it de novo.
Wow. I never even heard of this movie.
Finally saw this weekend, because it was on TV:
1) Indiana Jones and the craptastic crapfest of the crystal crap. 'Nuf said? 2/5 stars for some good action scenes.
2) Pearl Harbor: 2/5 stars for truly impressive battle scenes, but the plot sucks. Oh, and Ben Affleck.
Ack, not a good weekend for movie watching. But I did get a lot of laundry and other stuff done during commercials (the only reason to watch movies on TV).
Tropic Thunder. Second or third time I've watched it, more humorous each time. Kind of odd, because I don't watch too many "new" movies that are dark with sardonic violent comedy like that. A couple of movies in that noire/genre disturbed me when I was younger --- Reservoir Dogs and Blood Simple. Hearing people laugh out loud during those films bothered me. War of the Roses was similar. Maybe even the one with the Anjopitts, Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
Dinner Rush. Interesting juxtaposition of mobster conflicts/ pressures with fine restaurant kitchen & dining room conflicts/ pressures. Very realistic depictions of busy restaurant kitchens. Some decent performances, some poor, some not believable, some annoying. Ditto with the variety of intertwined story lines. I'd like to give it 2.5/5 but Netflix won't let me. 3/5 is too high, though. And 2/5 is too low but closer to how I feel.
The Rules
Copper- behave toward others to elicit treatment you would like (the manipulative rule)
Gold- treat others how you would like them to treat you (the self regard rule)
Platinum - treat others the way they would like to be treated (the PC rule)
I hated Pearl Harbor. Had to end it with the (ridiculously over-stated) bombing run on Japan because the movie producers thought America was too vapid to stomach a movie in which the good-guys get kicked in the balls and fall over. They're probably right, except nobody was up in arms when Dumbeldore died. On the other hand, he's a Brit, so . . . .
Also, I had the misfortune of seeing a few minutes of the 6th Day. Horrible. Re-watched most of Minority Report the other day, not too bad. I think the vertical highway technology's a bit stupid. You'd think with tech like that they'd have invented a better gun. And the eye scanning tech is ok, I guess, but if I were writing the screenplay I'd have done it with embedded RFID tags. It would work the way depicted, though more plausably than super-cameras that can scan your eye from across a crowded concourse while you're walking and looking the other way . . . On the other hand, getting your eyes replaced is a better gimmick than getting a chip dug out of your upper arm or something.
The Rules
Copper- behave toward others to elicit treatment you would like (the manipulative rule)
Gold- treat others how you would like them to treat you (the self regard rule)
Platinum - treat others the way they would like to be treated (the PC rule)
Pearl Harbor. It is worth sitting through the dreadful plot, the endless teary-eyed schmaltz, the blatantly obvious token black man in Cuba Gooding jr wedged randomly into the story line, and Ben Affleck, just for those battle scenes. They are out of this world.
~
Saw the first 45 minutes or so of Dirty Dancing last night. My lady insisted as it just so happened to be on a movie channel. Stopped at the halfway point as it was late and I had to be up early this morn, so we recorded the second half to watch another day.
Why oh why oh why oh why oh why oh why oh why oh why do girls love this movie so much? There are no subtleties to the plot, the actors and acting are below average, it is as predictable as the sun rising tomorrow morn, and about as engaging as sitting in a mud-puddle. Yet women go nuts for this diabolical dollop of dullness.
Nobody puts Baby in a corner.
The Rules
Copper- behave toward others to elicit treatment you would like (the manipulative rule)
Gold- treat others how you would like them to treat you (the self regard rule)
Platinum - treat others the way they would like to be treated (the PC rule)
you could have Just said ... AFLAC. The curse of Ben Affleck.
The combat scenes did rock though
Yeah, pretty good; they didn't butcher this Phillip K. Dick story. And Tom Cruise didn't spoil it too much with his bad acting.Also, I had the misfortune of seeing a few minutes of the 6th Day. Horrible. Re-watched most of Minority Report the other day, not too bad. I think the vertical highway technology's a bit stupid. You'd think with tech like that they'd have invented a better gun. And the eye scanning tech is ok, I guess, but if I were writing the screenplay I'd have done it with embedded RFID tags. It would work the way depicted, though more plausably than super-cameras that can scan your eye from across a crowded concourse while you're walking and looking the other way . . . On the other hand, getting your eyes replaced is a better gimmick than getting a chip dug out of your upper arm or something.
Fer Pete's sake don't see Paycheck (2003), which is also based on a Phillip K. Dick story, but which really was pretty bad after the first 45 minutes (which was the Dick story). Oh, and guess who? Ben AFLAC.
Oh yeah. Most of them were absolutely phenomenal. But the special effects to plot/acting ratio was even worse in Pearl Harbor than in Titanic. Even worse than Avatar! {I also shuddered at the Cuba Gooding Jr. token black role. Good God, they couldn't put something more meaningful in there? And yes, the chest thumping patriotic end. Gack.}
I have four words for you: Patrick Swayze. No Shirt.Saw the first 45 minutes or so of Dirty Dancing last night. My lady insisted as it just so happened to be on a movie channel. Stopped at the halfway point as it was late and I had to be up early this morn, so we recorded the second half to watch another day.
Why oh why oh why oh why oh why oh why oh why oh why do girls love this movie so much? There are no subtleties to the plot, the actors and acting are below average, it is as predictable as the sun rising tomorrow morn, and about as engaging as sitting in a mud-puddle. Yet women go nuts for this diabolical dollop of dullness.
For what it's worth, my wife mocks that movie. May well be why I married her.
Last edited by ']['ear; 12-13-2010 at 10:58 PM. Reason: stray smiley
Ehm..Cuba played Dorris Miller, who was real and fairly well known.
I remember reading about him in school.
First black man to win the Navy Cross.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doris_Miller
Yes, they said that at the end of the film. But the story was so flimsy from the plot standpoint that Cuba's role felt very contrived. When you add that up to a point he also seemed like he had walked in off the Radio set, the role was also a bit condescending (though it was cool when he got behind the AA gun and took down some zeroes.)
Bottom line is that you can't get the interpersonal drama and sweep both in the same film. The original Tora, Tora, Tora was much better this way: they played it as a simple history of the attack rather than an unwieldy gemisch of romance, action and band of brother camaraderie, not to mention the straight up bizarre jump to the bombing raid on the Japanese mainland (where yeah, right, they recruit some fighter pilots to fly a B-29 mission. ) Pearl Harbor could have played it like Tora, Tora Tora with lots of cameos but less in the way of character-driven stories. 70s disaster movies were good that way, and they didn't suffer from the burden of having to have a happy ending. Thank the gods!
Last week saw an 80s movie called Miracle Mile (1988). 3/5 Mixed feelings about this. In some ways it is just bad, with some very streaky acting, shaky scenes. In others ways it was a lot of fun, and a little thought-provoking. For one, I doubt it will appeal to anybody who doesn't clearly remember the fear of nuclear war. It just won't; you can't understand that underlying current that was there for decades, and understanding that fear is key to understanding the movie. Second, while you won't come away saying "this was a great movie," you will probably get some chuckles, and some nudges from some interesting plot twists. So while it's got some definite stinker movie moments, it's also got a weird appeal. So, so very 80s though.
Yes, that's what I think.
He was a man that fought with exceptional bravery, and I don't think him happening to be black makes his story "token" or a throw-away part that was jammed in for racial reasons.
His role in the battle deserved to be told, and shouldn't be confused as another of Hollywood's bad habits of including token characters of race in their movies.
@Tear...bad scriptwriting and acting is another matter of course, and in Pearl Harbor's case, hard to defend...
I stand educated.
Still, Hollywood is renowned for throwing in token black parts, and this seemed like a perfect example in that he had nothing to do with the central characters nor central storyline in the movie.
But I guess, to take a sympathetic view, his part in the movie did help portray the events as they unfolded on one of the ships bombed to hell while stationary in harbour.
Hmm, maybe it's not as crap as I thought after all then. Just the trailers made it seem like an incredibly sucky, cliché action movie with an improbable plot full of holes and some nice hero bravery to save the day. E.g. not my type of movie at all (of course, it could be a good movie in that genre too, but I would still hate it).
I saw Pearl Harbor in the avant premiere. There was an introduction, and the guy also said that the first half was full of sappy romance but if we hated it too much, the action after the break would be good. He was right! Apart from the battle scenes the movie really sucked though.
Saw Buried in the cinema last night (yay, free tickets ). Was pretty decent! Better than I expected.
Spoiler:
Then later at home we watched O Brother, where art thou?, great movie! Really made me laugh
And when I was standing in line at the cinema the woman behind us gave me a free movie ticket valid until wednesday What to see, what to see.. I don't think there's anything good besides maybe Harry Potter. And next week I'm supposed to get another free ticket in the mail next week for filling out a questionnaire about the cinema It's a good year for free movies, I think about half of the movies I saw in cinema this year were for free
And less than a week until the Tron Legacy avant premiere
Keep on keepin' the beat alive!
Ian McShane is in the next Pirates of the Carribean movie.
"Arrr...walk the plank, ye scurvy cock-sucker"
In the future, the Berlin wall will be a mile high, and made of steel. You too will be made to crawl, to lick children's blood from jackboots. There will be no creativity, only productivity. Instead of love there will be fear and distrust, instead of surrender there will be submission. Contact will be replaced with isolation, and joy with shame. Hope will cease to exist as a concept. The Earth will be covered with steel and concrete. There will be an electronic policeman in every head. Your children will be born in chains, live only to serve, and die in anguish and ignorance.
The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.
The Rules
Copper- behave toward others to elicit treatment you would like (the manipulative rule)
Gold- treat others how you would like them to treat you (the self regard rule)
Platinum - treat others the way they would like to be treated (the PC rule)
The Siege with Bruce and Denzel.
Mmmm not bad not bad. 6.5/10
Much of it seemed relevant, even though it was made pre 9/11. The argument against state-sponsored torture was well-made I thought.
American chest-thumping patriotism toward the end was a bit cringe-worthy, which lost it a half mark.
Wnt to see The Kids Are All Right, it was pretty good
Keep on keepin' the beat alive!
Has anyone seen 'Unthinkable'? If so, what did you think of it?
I want to see Black Swan over the holiday.
I've always liked Natalie Portman, and ballet! Last time I remember a good ballet movie was....The Turning Point, with Anne Bancroft and Shirley MacLaine. Also "Introducing" Mikhail Baryshnikov and Leslie Browne. Great movie
Cookies for anyone who recognizes the narrator in the trailer.
Gurren Lagann: The Movie.
Everyone who liked the Tv show should watch it, and if you haven't watched the tv show, you should.
I enjoy blank walls.
Rumour has it Portman does some lady on lady sex scenes.
The Rules
Copper- behave toward others to elicit treatment you would like (the manipulative rule)
Gold- treat others how you would like them to treat you (the self regard rule)
Platinum - treat others the way they would like to be treated (the PC rule)