Movies wot I saw 2012

Truckman · Old. But wise!

RE: Movies wot I saw 2012

Henglegert Rinkerdink · Sorry... I must have the wrong street.

I saw that Wrath of the Titans on Friday as well, two cinema trips in one week. Go me.

Anyway, it was rubbish, but it was the sort of glorious rubbish I find thoroughly entertaining. I am, however, well aware that very few other people would agree with me :)

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

I probably would. But then I agree with most of the things you say on principle.

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

Hey, did you know that The Avengers was awesome? Honestly, it was the most fun I've had in the cinema for years!

This is the second Joss Whedon movie that I've watched in the last couple of weeks and it was great. Whedon skill lies in writing for and directing an ensemble cast and he doesn't disppoint here. I was concerned that Robert Downey Junior, great though he his, would hog most of the screen-time and all the best lines, but the balance between the various characters is pretty even handed. Until the Hulk shows up , and then I realised that it was actually a Hulk movie. It's not often that a fully computer generated character is the best thing on the screen, but he was.

I was amused to note that in the UK it has been renamed as 'Marvel's Avengers Assemble' so that punters don't get confused between the super hero Avengers and the classic adventures of John Steed and Mrs Peel. I considered this to be a pointless move, believeing that no-one could possibly mistake one for the other until this morning when one of the women in the office declared that she wasn't going to see it because she never did like the old Patrick McNee TV show.

Anyway...

HULK SMASH!!!

-- Edited by ddvmor on Wednesday 2nd of May 2012 08:32:28 AM

Aodan · Teiam Member

I can't wait to see this..... it opens Friday here.

Have you seen the new Dark Knight Rises trailer? I am eagerly awaiting the release of the movie, but I have to admit that the last trailer left me feeling kind of ... meh.

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

I'm very much looking forward to Dark Knight Rises, but it has some big boots to fill.

Also, Prometheus looks fricking awesome, Amazing Spiderman looks promising, The Hobbit's probably gonna be ace, Brave will be great and the new Bond movie will be fun. All in all a pretty good year in the cinema.

What did I miss?

Aodan · Teiam Member

I heard The Raven is good... might wait for that one to hit DVD though

Truckman · Old. But wise!

Aodan wrote:
I heard The Raven is good... might wait for that one to hit DVD though

As a lifelong Poe fan, I'm interested in "The Raven" as well......Ben

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

Superman III
Oh my. What an awful movie this is. Even Robert Vaughn can't save it. It starts off with a terrible comedy street scene that plays out like an ill conceived Rube Goldberg machine. Then it goes downhill.

I'm pretty sure it's a sin to say that I don't like Richard Pryor. But I don't. I just find him really, really annoying. In the same way that I find Ricky Gervais annoying. And he's particularly annoying in this movie.

Oh, and Superman is in it. But It's not really about him. it's about Richard Pryor being annoying.

Alien, on the other hand, is a fricking awesome movie. I watched it in glorious HD. Also, it was the newer cut rather than the origional theatrical edition, so there were a couple of bits in it that I hadn't seen before. This movie sets the standard for Sci-Fi. And Horror. And Sci-Fi-Horror.

Aodan · Teiam Member

I finally got to see The Avengers over the weekend. I haven't laughed that hard during a movie in awhile. I have virtually no complaints about this movie. While I would have loved to see Edward Norton as the Hulk (cuz I think he's pretty), I think Ruffalo did a brilliant job. I really have no complaints about this one -- every moment was a good one.

Also looking forward to Prometheus. I'd kind of written it off after seeing the commercial on television, but the trailer that played before Avengers sold me.

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

How much did it sell you for?

Prometheus is looking pretty damn awesome. And it's another movie that the rest of the world is getting a week before you guys.

Aodan · Teiam Member

about $12 unless ticket prices go up again or I feel the need to see it in IMAX or 3D (not likely as that would cost around $20)

Aodan · Teiam Member

Last night we finally got around to watching Burke and Hare. It's a black comedy starring Simon Pegg (swoon) and Andy Serkis (yay) as William Burke and William Hare -- famous body snatchers/murderers in Victorian Era Scotland. There was a great cast supporting Pegg and Serkis including Bill Bailey, Jessica Hynes (his co-star from Spaced), Tim Curry and a tiny but amusing appearance by Christopher Lee.

It wasn't a great movie, but it was a good one. It's a little gruesome if you're sensitive to that sort of thing, what with the dissection of cadavers and some rotten bodies and all that, but it's just silly looking enough to not be too bad. Walking Dead is squickier.

Recommended for some Simon Pegg goodness :D

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

Aodan wrote:
Last night we finally got around to watching Burke and Hare. It's a black comedy starring Simon Pegg (swoon) and Andy Serkis (yay) as William Burke and William Hare -- famous body snatchers/murderers in Victorian Era Scotland. There was a great cast supporting Pegg and Serkis including Bill Bailey, Jessica Hynes (his co-star from Spaced), Tim Curry and a tiny but amusing appearance by Christopher Lee.

It wasn't a great movie, but it was a good one. It's a little gruesome if you're sensitive to that sort of thing, what with the dissection of cadavers and some rotten bodies and all that, but it's just silly looking enough to not be too bad. Walking Dead is squickier.

Recommended for some Simon Pegg goodness :D

I do like me a bit of Simon Pegg. He has a new movie in the works with Nick Frost and Edgar Wright, which will, of course, be awesome. Pub crawl at the end of the world. What could go worng?

Aodan wrote:
about $12 unless ticket prices go up again or I feel the need to see it in IMAX or 3D (not likely as that would cost around $20)

It's about £7 or £8 over here. And an extra pound or two for 3D. I think that equates to about the same.

Aodan · Teiam Member

I was looking forward to Underworld: Awakening, but I'm glad I didn't spend money on it in the theater. It was ... ok. It seems like it's going the same way the Resident Evil franchise went. First movie was cool with a good story, plenty of ass kicking and a beautiful protagonist. Then with each subsequent movie, the plot disappeared and it just became a compilation of hot protagonist in slow motion fight sequences against bad CGI monsters.

The plot (if there actually was one) felt like it was a rough draft where they just shrugged and said "ahh screw it. Film it anyway". The action sequences were good, but there wasn't enough potatoes to balance out that meat. And the ending sucked donkey.

I love Kate Beckinsale, and I love her even more as Selene, but this movie was -- as you say over there -- pants.

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

I saw Prometheus last week. It was great. Very pretty, well shot and edited as you'd expect from Ridley Scott. A surprising number of actual sets rather than the usual green screen that you get in big budget sci fi. Awesomely acted, by pretty much everybody. Plenty of running and screaming and icky gore for the Alien fans. But no actual Aliens.

I couldn't help thinking that it should have been better. I can't really explain why without spoiling it. Ridley Scott is one of the best film makers there is, so the bar is set very, very high... and it doesn't quite make it. But it's still a pretty damn good movie and you should go and see it.

I also saw Green Lantern. I didn't hate it, but at no point was it in danger of approaching 'good film' status. Ryan Reynolds doesn't have enough screen presence for a superhero. And the script was rubbish, which is weird considering there's decades of material to draw from. there was a Green Lantern animated movie a couple of years ago that was better. Much better.

As an aside... what the hell is with all these movies that get multiple trailers? before Prometheus started, there were two trailers for The Amazing Spider-Man. Two. One was a pretty standard actiony trailer and the other appeared to be a concise, cut doen version of the movie. I will be very surpised if there are any plot points or action sequences or expositions I'm not already aware of as a result of this. I'm not even sure I need to watch the film. I will. I love Spidey. But I'll feel like I'm watching an awesome trailer with a few talky bits added in for good measure.

The end.

Aodan · Teiam Member

ddvmor wrote:
I couldn't help thinking that it should have been better

This seems to be the general concensus on this film. No one can really pinpoint what wasn't right, just that it was kind of.. eh. I'm still going to see it though.

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

Oh, I can pinpoint it. I know exactly what the problem is. It rhymes with 'Lamon Dindelhof'. Go see it. Then PM me and I'll rant at you.

It's a weird thing. It's still better than almost every other film you've seen for ages. But that only leaves you more aware of it's problems. If it was just a horror flick or a popcorn sci fi flick, then it really woruln't be a problem. But it's not. So it is.

Despite Scott's declarations to the contrary I really hope that it gets re-cut for the Blu Ray and we see some extended scenes that fix those problems.

See. Rant.

Aodan · Teiam Member

Watched the English version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Admittedly, I went into it thinking that I wasn't going to like it very much because I liked the original Swedish version so much (kind of how I felt about the remake of Let The Right One In), but I got into it eventually. The opening sequence felt weirdly out of place even though I thought it was cool. I don't know that I love Rooney Mara playing Lisbeth. She was good, but something felt missing. I suspect that I just kept comparing her to Noomi Rapace, and there is no comparison. Noomi *IS* Lisbeth to me. Daniel Craig was good as Mikael, but I think he's kind of good at everything.

Overall, it was good. Not as good as the Swedish version, but passable.

Weird side observation. Both Craig and Mara have a crap load of back moles.

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

I have all three of the Swedish movies on blu-ray. I've only watched the first one so far though. I keep forgetting they're on the shelf! I really need to get them watch. the first one was bloody ace!

It's really hard to jusdge performances objectively when there's a devinitive one begging to be compared to. If you hadn't seen Noomi, would you have come away thinking that Rooney was awesome?

Aodan · Teiam Member

I didn't want to see the other two movies until I read the other two books... but I'm starting to doubt that's ever going to happen so I might as well just watch them. They're on Netflix Watch Instantly I think.

I don't know if not having seen the original would have made a difference. I had a very vivid picture of Lisbeth in my head when I read the book, and Noomi's portrayal was very close. She was edgy looking, but beautiful and for some reason that was something that they tried to hide on Rooney (who is actually a very attractive woman). You also didn't get the sense that Lisbeth had as many layers as she does in Rooney's performance. It was just kind of flat. Not to say that it was bad, not at all, it's just that Noomi's Lisbeth was much... fuller.

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

Which is ironic, because she's not very... full at all...

Aodan · Teiam Member

/facepalm

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

Last night I watched Serenity again. I love this movie. Joss Whedon is a god.

Aodan · Teiam Member

Last night we watched the new 21 Jump Street with Jonah Hill (who normally I cannot stand) and Channing Tatum who actually does funny really well. It was a lot better than I imagined it would be. I loved 21 Jump Street the show when I was young, so I kind of brushed this one off when it first came out as just another attempt to cash in on the stuff we grew up with. The whole movie was very self aware of this fact, and I think that's when I decided to give it a fair shot ;) I was pleasantly surprised. I'm glad I didn't shell out in the theater for this, but for a home rental, no complaints.

Aodan · Teiam Member

Saw the Dark Knight Rises. It was fantastic.

Saw I am Number Four. It was not.

command_z · Extremely Bored Member

Do not...I stress...DO NOT watch the Human Centipede 2. This is a friendly warning...DO NOT watch the Human Centipede 2. Did I mention that I don't think you should watch the Human Centipede 2?

Aodan · Teiam Member

I haven't watched any of the centipede movies, but I did watch a making of short for the second one. Do you know that in order to get them all lined up they had pacifiers attached to prosthetic butts held on with duct tape? It was one of the more amusing things I've seen in a while.

We rented Snow White and The Huntsman the other day. I wanted to be all serious and like this movie, but Kevin and I couldn't help but do our own Riff tracking the entire time. That and I'm pretty sure that Kristen Stewart is acting against her will. Her body language seems to suggest that she's being forced to make these films, and if only someone would read the clues and rescue her...

Other than her, the movie was pretty good.

Truckman · Old. But wise!

Aodan wrote:
I haven't watched any of the centipede movies, but I did watch a making of short for the second one. Do you know that in order to get them all lined up they had pacifiers attached to prosthetic butts held on with duct tape? It was one of the more amusing things I've seen in a while.

I have no idea what that movie is about, but the mental image that it makes is enough for me to heed Command Z's advice and avoid it... evileye ...Ben

Aodan · Teiam Member

That's probably a good idea ;)