The Movies thread!

[CRASHER]

I liked it a lot too. That said, I've never actually seen the original ( ) so I don't know if this origin story jibes or not. Fun movie, nonetheless.

It really doesn't (BTW, I do highly recommend the originals....well except the 2nd, that one was pretty awful, but amazing movies for their time), this movie kinda stands on its own from the Tim Burton embarrassment (well it has to, it has a good plot, story, you care about the characters and it's not getting screwed up by Burton's "vision"), and it had some nice nods to the original (the Space Ship scenes)...this is totally how you reboot a movie and franchise!

[iamtheprodigy]

I just saw Source Code the other day. It was entertaining; not a bad film at all. I'd probably give it a 7/10. Jake Gyllenhaal does a fine job as the lead and Vera Farmiga is also solid. I found parts of it to be a bit predictable but there were enough twists and turns to keep me interested.

[njskaguy33]

Firstly, sorry for missing the Week In Reviews over the last few weeks. Life has been exceedingly busy and I just haven't had the time!

Saw The Tree of Life the other day. As a big Terrence Malick fan I was very disappointed in his latest film. As always, there are moments of true beauty to be found, but at times it almost felt like a parody of Malick's own work (how many times do we have to see the sun through the trees or hear someone whispering to God?). Tree of Life's epic scope has drawn comparisons to 2001: A Space Odyssey but this one is nowhere near Kubrick's classic, and not nearly as transcendent and poetic as some reviews make it out to be. Every image in 2001 supports the story, but Tree of Life's seemingly random scenes just result in a pretentious mess.

100% agree, Atterr! While I'm holding off on a proper review until I see it again, mostly at the behest of my Rotten Tomatoes readers who mostly love it, but I found it over long, boring and highly pretentious. The acting, with the exception of the woman who plays the mother, is average, the themes get muddled amongst the pretention of the filmmaking and the whole thing just seemed drawn out and dull. Going to watch it one more time before reviewing it but I doubt my feelings are going to change.

I have to say that Cowboys and Alienswas one of the worst movies I've ever seen.

Hmmm, I'm still strangely curious but I'll reserve this for a Netflix viewing.

It really doesn't (BTW, I do highly recommend the originals....well except the 2nd, that one was pretty awful, but amazing movies for their time), this movie kinda stands on its own from the Tim Burton embarrassment (well it has to, it has a good plot, story, you care about the characters and it's not getting screwed up by Burton's "vision"), and it had some nice nods to the original (the Space Ship scenes)...this is totally how you reboot a movie and franchise!

The trailer looked awful which is why I'm shocked everyone is enjoying it so much. I may just bite the bullet, and my pride, and see it this weekend but man, I thought this was going to be a stinker! Then again, like you said, anything would be better than the Burton Planet...talk about junk!!

I just saw Source Code the other day. It was entertaining; not a bad film at all. I'd probably give it a 7/10. Jake Gyllenhaal does a fine job as the lead and Vera Farmiga is also solid. I found parts of it to be a bit predictable but there were enough twists and turns to keep me interested.

Not sure if you caught my full Source Code review from a few pages back, but what killed that movie for me was the tacked on ending. Just went too far, took too hard a twist and made nowhere near enough sense. Outside of that, though, it was a very decent flick.

[iamtheprodigy]

Not sure if you caught my full Source Code review from a few pages back, but what killed that movie for me was the tacked on ending. Just went too far, took too hard a twist and made nowhere near enough sense. Outside of that, though, it was a very decent flick.

I didn't see it, I'll go back and read now (I'm new to this thread, lol). But I totally agree. The end opened up a lot of plot holes and didn't really even seem to fit the tone of the rest of the film anyway. I would have been much happier if it had simply ended on the freeze. Still, it was an enjoyable film. What bothers me is that on some other message boards I've seen people compare it (sometimes even favorably) to Inception, which I think is way off.

Edit: Okay so I just read your review and I must say that you are pretty much spot on. Nice write-up. One of those movies that are flawed in a few ways, but still fun to watch.

Edited August 11, 2011 by iamtheprodigy

[Mayday]

movies these days are becoming way to predictable especially some action movies...odds are always stacked up against them but you already know theyre going to make a 'miraculous' fight and win yada yada

[Atterr]

The trailer looked awful which is why I'm shocked everyone is enjoying it so much. I may just bite the bullet, and my pride, and see it this weekend but man, I thought this was going to be a stinker! Then again, like you said, anything would be better than the Burton Planet...talk about junk!!

I didn't like the first trailer as well. But what a difference a second trailer makes... That one really convinced me to go see it and I'm glad I did. Although I could do without a couple of references to the original, I totally agree with Crasher and DaneykoIsGod, it's a really good movie. Unlike most summer movies, the focus is all on the characters (sometimes it's even a little too ambitious in its drama), but that makes the final action set piece (maybe the best of the summer) so much more rewarding.

Immediately after, I saw Super 8. It's a fun homage to 80s movies such as The Goonies, E.T., the kind that Spielberg used to make/produce. Spielberg is the producer on this one as well and his influence is greatly felt as the movie contains very Spielbergian-themes (lonely kid growing up without a mother). Although I enjoyed it, it was unfortunately never really original, the end seemed rushed and without any logic and the monster was simply not interesting. The kids do a great job though and are the real strength of the movie. Them and one of the best (albeit somewhat over-the-top) train crashes ever put on film.

[DaneykoIsGod]

Saw Cowboys & Indians. All the predictable ingredients are there. Typical cowboy movie stuff with the dusty town, horse-riding, six-shooters, conflict with Indians, gang of roughneck bandits. Typical alien movie stuff with hostile takeover intentions, evil experimentations, weaknesses that need to be discovered, cool weaponry. Blend them together with more typical things like Daniel Craig being badass and Harrison Ford losing a family member, and you get Cowboys & Aliens.

I like cowboy movies, I like alien movies, I like Daniel Craig and I like Harrison Ford. IMO, it was entertaining. I could see how others might not enjoy it, though.

[Guest BelieveinBrodeur]

paranormal Activity 3 looks pretty good

[njskaguy33]

Just wanted to give you all a quick update on a weekend of movie going and my thoughts. Each flick is going to get a full review, but I thought I'd post my quick thoughts first.

Planet Of The Apes - Well, I did as promised! I bit the bullet, saw this flick and, I have to say, I'm damn happy I did! While I felt the cast, with exception of the actor playing the ape, was merely good enough, the film embraced it's B-movie sensibilities and delivered some very enjoyable summer action. The work of the main character was really wonderful, CG enhanced and all, as I really forgot I was watching a computer generated monkey and lost myself in the character. Good flick and I'm glad my expectations were exceeded!

The Guard - Directed by John Michael McDonagh, brother of the famous Irish playwright Martin McDonagh, The Guard is a dark comedy starring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle as an American FBI agent and a local Irish cop on the hunt for a trio drug dealers in Ireland. Playing like a buddy cop movie with a morbidly comic edge, the film, while providing a few laughs, falls flat in the characterization of the two leads providing little in the way of chemistry and interest. A flatly made film, The Guard was one of my more anticipated films of the summer that, despite the many fine reviews, fell well short of good for me.

Captain America - Probably the hardest review I'll be writing this week, Captain America was just fine as it did everything it intended; it created an interesting 1940's world of hidden technology, put some very exciting action set pieces together and connected many of the dots in the Avengers franchise. Not a stupendous film by any stretch, but one I quite enjoyed while in the theater.

Edited August 16, 2011 by Bulletproof

[iamtheprodigy]

I just saw 30 Minutes or Less yesterday. Kind of a difficult movie to review. I've seen a lot of really negative reviews for it, and I think some of them are a bit exaggerated. It's not an awful film, and it has some funny moments, but overall, it doesn't fully live up to its potential. I'm not really sure how to organize my thoughts for this so I'm just going to give you some bullet points of my thoughts:

-It's pretty short. I believe it's only about 80 minutes long. It went by pretty fast, almost feeling a bit rushed at times. I wouldn't have minded at all if an extra 10-20 minutes of character development were added in.

-The tone is a little sporadic. A few times it almost feels like there was a "happy, feel-good" version and a "darker" version of each scene and they just alternated randomly between the two. The filmmaker perhaps was unsure of which way to go with this film and it never seems to settle on one style, which makes it feel a bit odd at times.

-Reminds me a bit of Pineapple Express, in that both contained more violence and action than I expected from a seemingly silly, laid-back comedy. Although, I believe that Pineapple Express was the better overall film.

-Aziz Ansari had perhaps the best comedic delivery and timing out of all the characters in the film. He and Jesse Eisenberg had pretty good chemistry and I wish there were more scenes expanding on the relationship of their characters, which is only touched upon.

-Danny McBride and Nick Swardson, two comedic actors who I often find to be a bit obnoxious, were not bad as the dim-witted villains. Some of their comedy feels a bit tired, and some of their improv dialog is too predictable to really be laugh-out-loud funny. One of the jokes right at the climax of the film is a "that's what she said" joke, which I'm pretty sure stopped being funny or clever like a year ago.

So overall, it's not a terrible film, but I can't really compare it to any of the other comedies that came out this summer since I didn't see them. I'd say it's an average comedy flick, with enough twists and turns to at least make it enjoyable to watch, but in the end it is not particularly memorable. I'd say 6/10 is fair.

Edited August 17, 2011 by iamtheprodigy

[DaneykoIsGod]

I saw 30 Minutes or Less yesterday and you summed up how I felt about it pretty well. I thought it had the potential to be hilarious. Ended up being OK. Just OK.

Aziz Ansari is hilarious, though.

[iamtheprodigy]

I saw 30 Minutes or Less yesterday and you summed up how I felt about it pretty well. I thought it had the potential to be hilarious. Ended up being OK. Just OK.

Aziz Ansari is hilarious, though.

Aziz was without a doubt the best part of the film. I've liked him in everything I've seen him in (Flight of the Conchords, Observe and Report, Funny People, etc.) and I hope he continues to get some bigger roles in films. He's very funny. His stand-up is pretty good too.

[njskaguy33]

I just saw 30 Minutes or Less yesterday. Kind of a difficult movie to review. I've seen a lot of really negative reviews for it, and I think some of them are a bit exaggerated. It's not an awful film, and it has some funny moments, but overall, it doesn't fully live up to its potential. I'm not really sure how to organize my thoughts for this so I'm just going to give you some bullet points of my thoughts:

-It's pretty short. I believe it's only about 80 minutes long. It went by pretty fast, almost feeling a bit rushed at times. I wouldn't have minded at all if an extra 10-20 minutes of character development were added in.

-The tone is a little sporadic. A few times it almost feels like there was a "happy, feel-good" version and a "darker" version of each scene and they just alternated randomly between the two. The filmmaker perhaps was unsure of which way to go with this film and it never seems to settle on one style, which makes it feel a bit odd at times.

-Reminds me a bit of Pineapple Express, in that both contained more violence and action than I expected from a seemingly silly, laid-back comedy. Although, I believe that Pineapple Express was the better overall film.

-Aziz Ansari had perhaps the best comedic delivery and timing out of all the characters in the film. He and Jesse Eisenberg had pretty good chemistry and I wish there were more scenes expanding on the relationship of their characters, which is only touched upon.

-Danny McBride and Nick Swardson, two comedic actors who I often find to be a bit obnoxious, were not bad as the dim-witted villains. Some of their comedy feels a bit tired, and some of their improv dialog is too predictable to really be laugh-out-loud funny. One of the jokes right at the climax of the film is a "that's what she said" joke, which I'm pretty sure stopped being funny or clever like a year ago.

So overall, it's not a terrible film, but I can't really compare it to any of the other comedies that came out this summer since I didn't see them. I'd say it's an average comedy flick, with enough twists and turns to at least make it enjoyable to watch, but in the end it is not particularly memorable. I'd say 6/10 is fair.

Fine review, prodigy! It's interesting how you mention tone as that is single hardest thing to achieve other than timing, in a comedy. Many times, directors will sacrifce an even tone for something funny and while that moment may be hilarious on its own, the movie suffers a bit for it. Well done!

[njskaguy33]

New Movie Review

Captain America: The First Avenger

Note To NJDevs Readers: This review, like all my reviews, are posted on Rotten Tomatoes and the first line references one of the commenters on that site. Also, this review got a 6 out of 10 rating by me, which explains the final paragraph. Enjoy!

Famed Rotten Tomatoes contributor Mr. Taylor has been writing over and over again about the Superhero Overload of 2011 and, finally, I'm starting to feel the strain. So far this year, in the span of only eight months, we've seen five major superhero movies come out in theaters, the same amount as the last two years combined. In fact, we haven't had a year like this since 2008, when there were a whopping eight movies released in the comic / superhero genre. Unlike that year, which was dominated by the universally praised The Dark Knight, the caped popcorn munchers of 2011 have all seen the same level of quality. While they're all good enough movies, nothing has stood out as amazing, making the influx seem monotonous and one noted. Captain America: The First Avenger is the final big budget hero flick to hit theaters this summer and while it's not a bad movie by any stretch, it's not a particularly great one either and provides the final explosion filled flatline to a summer full of caped crusaders.

Staring Chris Evans as the shield wielding super soldier, Captain America tells the story of Steve Rogers, a Brooklyn based Army wannabe who supplements his wishey washey physique with a heart of gold. After applying and getting rejected for the armed forces multiple times, a scientist, played by Stanley Tucci, selects him for a secret government experiment that transforms him into the muscle bound Captain America. Up to this point the film is entertaining yet uninspiring but when the film takes an unexpected turn, taking on the notions of pro capitalist propaganda, the movie starts to show signs of life. The shift is awkward, but at least it's different, providing plenty of 1940's nostalgia and pompous energy. Unfortunately, about twenty minutes into this new thread, the movie shifts back to the type of action set pieces that's dominated the genre for the last decade, inexplicably dropping the new plot point. While I get that director Joe Johnston needed to get to the action, the hamhanded way he goes about it makes the side track seem out of place and unnecessary.

Luckily, that was one of the few missteps made by Johnston as Captain America is a well directed action movie. Once Cap dons the uniform, he spends most of his time jumping on moving trains, saving scores of American POW's and fighting laser gun toting villains dressed like the 1940's version of The Gimp from Pulp Fiction. The action is fast, frenetic and is on par with the set pieces offered in the other Marvel films from this summer. One of my favorite aspects of the film, however, has to do the with the excellent art direction. Johnston took great pains to make sure the high technology would seem believable given the World War 2 setting and the result is a great blend of period elements and comic book pop. Much like Johnston's other work in the Rocketeer and The Wolfman, the film has a great look to it, a very nice change from the standard dank cities we're used to seeing in this style of movie.

Sadly, all the great action in the world can't save a weak main character and this is where The First Avenger hits the skids. Despite an earnest performance by Evans, the character of Captain America doesn't have an arc: he starts the film eager to help the world and ends up the exact same way. Just to make a relative comparison, consider other modern heroes: Batman in Nolan's Dark Knight series learns to deal with his demons, Tony Stark learns humility in Iron Man and even Thor gains a touch of maturity, but Captain America stays strident and brave. While being a shining example of American bravado may work as a plot point, this limits the Captain's growth as a character and that hurts the film immensely. Although it's nice to see him get the brawn to go with the bravery, once that happens we're left with seventy minutes of Captain America simply being awesome. Sure, there are some low points in the story of Steve Rogers' fight against Nazi extremists but the core of the character never changes, creating a lead that's not bad, just uninteresting.

The rest of the cast does a more than adequate job with the archetypical roles presented to them and you better believe that all the action flick stereotypes are firmly represented. You have the tough as nails love interest (Hayley Atwell), the curmudgeonly drill sergeant (Tommy Lee Jones), a young, vibrant Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper) and the wise scientist (Stanley Tucci). All of the cast members, while stuck in the confines of their roles, do a fine job with them, especially Tommy Lee Jones who gives off a sense of tough comedy as the US commander. The other notable performance is the one given by Hugo Weaving as the nefarious Red Skull, leader of the underground Nazi offshoot Hydra and the film's main antagonist. Weaving is deliciously over the top as the crimson faced baddie, strutting in his M. Bison inspired uniform, chewing lines and bellowing in unintentionally hilarious close ups. Weaving plays the part with comic book gusto but, like most of the characters in the film, suffers from gross underdevelopment. Yes, he was fun to watch but again, not that interesting.

That, in fact, is best way one could sum up the Captain America experience. While the movie features an impressive visual style and some lightly entertaining action, the film meanders around mediocre, failing to provide an interesting protagonist or villain for audiences to latch onto. Like a loud Harley with a quarter tank of gas, the film has all the potential to be big, explosive and awesome yet quickly runs out of steam before reaching the finish. Easily the weakest of this year's Marvel offerings, Captain America: First Avenger is worth a viewing for "Avengers Completeness" but falls a few strides short of the company's previous efforts.

Also, one more note on my final score: walking out of the theater I was ready to give the movie a 70% but now, about one week later, my feelings have dropped a notch and it has nothing to do with acting, action or directing. To be perfectly honest, the Superhero Overload of 2011 has taken its toll and I'm now officially sick of the genre...that is, of course, until The Avengers comes out in 2012.

[iamtheprodigy]

Fine review, prodigy! It's interesting how you mention tone as that is single hardest thing to achieve other than timing, in a comedy. Many times, directors will sacrifce an even tone for something funny and while that moment may be hilarious on its own, the movie suffers a bit for it. Well done!

Thanks. Next time I'll try to actually put some effort into putting the review together like a proper piece of writing. I was too lazy this time, haha.

Great review of Captain America. I haven't seen it but you summed up basically what I've come to expect from most superhero/comic book films - some flair, and nice moments, but ultimately lacking the kind of substance and character development that marks a truly compelling film. I risk revealing myself as a Nolan fanboy by saying it, but nobody seems to be able to match what Nolan's done with the Batman franchise.

[njskaguy33]

Thanks. Next time I'll try to actually put some effort into putting the review together like a proper piece of writing. I was too lazy this time, haha.

Great review of Captain America. I haven't seen it but you summed up basically what I've come to expect from most superhero/comic book films - some flair, and nice moments, but ultimately lacking the kind of substance and character development that marks a truly compelling film. I risk revealing myself as a Nolan fanboy by saying it, but nobody seems to be able to match what Nolan's done with the Batman franchise.

Thanks for the props! Have to agree, nobody has created a more complex superhero than Nolan and it really isn't close. Despite my issues with Inception, Nolan is a visionary filmmaker and he created the most complex superhero character in history with the new Batman. Really looking forward to the third installment!

[iamtheprodigy]

Thanks for the props! Have to agree, nobody has created a more complex superhero than Nolan and it really isn't close. Despite my issues with Inception, Nolan is a visionary filmmaker and he created the most complex superhero character in history with the new Batman. Really looking forward to the third installment!

Uh oh, let's not get into Inception, I don't want to start an argument, haha. Actually, as much as I loved it, it's probably not in my top 3 Nolan movies (probably Memento, TDK, and The Prestige). Tough to decide, they're all so good. I'll try not to get carried away because I could talk about Nolan movies all day, haha.

I'm also looking forward to TDK Rises, the teaser especially got me very excited about it (Bane looks scary). I've heard that some videos and pictures have leaked onto the internet, but I'm avoiding them like the plague. I don't want anything ruined for me. Going to be tough to avoid them for a whole year though, but I'll do my best. If anybody posts spoilers here I'll hunt you down.

[njskaguy33]

Uh oh, let's not get into Inception, I don't want to start an argument, haha. Actually, as much as I loved it, it's probably not in my top 3 Nolan movies (probably Memento, TDK, and The Prestige). Tough to decide, they're all so good. I'll try not to get carried away because I could talk about Nolan movies all day, haha.

I'm also looking forward to TDK Rises, the teaser especially got me very excited about it (Bane looks scary). I've heard that some videos and pictures have leaked onto the internet, but I'm avoiding them like the plague. I don't want anything ruined for me. Going to be tough to avoid them for a whole year though, but I'll do my best. If anybody posts spoilers here I'll hunt you down.

I'd have to agree with you on your top three, as The Dark Knight could be considered the best superhero movie ever made. Just a classic.

As for TDK rises, I think it's will be awesome and I'm with you, I'm not the type who likes all that sneak scenes / sneak pictures stuff. When the movie comes out, I want to enjoy and be taken in by it completely.

As for Inception, here's a link to the review I wrote for it last year. I'd reference the review in this thread, but it would take ages Also, sorry I couldn't link the actual page, as RT is weird like that, but the full review in on this page:

Inception Review

[CRASHER]

Thanks for the props! Have to agree, nobody has created a more complex superhero than Nolan and it really isn't close. Despite my issues with Inception, Nolan is a visionary filmmaker and he created the most complex superhero character in history with the new Batman. Really looking forward to the third installment!

Batman (when done right, fvck you Tim Burton) is also the most deep and complex mainstream Comic Hero out there, so it leans itself in the right hands to being deep, dark and complex character based on his roots alone...and again Nolan is doing a fantastic job at it I agree, but campier heroes like Thor, GL or even Capt America, the story doesn't lead to the gritty as easily

[njskaguy33]

Batman (when done right, fvck you Tim Burton) is also the most deep and complex mainstream Comic Hero out there, so it leans itself in the right hands to being deep, dark and complex character based on his roots alone...and again Nolan is doing a fantastic job at it I agree, but campier heroes like Thor, GL or even Capt America, the story doesn't lead to the gritty as easily

Agreed, but you don't have to be gritty to be good. Sure, Batman lends itself to a more dramatic tone, but you can develop the other characters in different ways. To me, Captain America drastically lacked in the development department but overall was an entertaining adventure. Maybe Batman just works better cinematically, but the others can be done well and have been done reasonably well this summer.

[CRASHER]

Agreed, but you don't have to be gritty to be good. Sure, Batman lends itself to a more dramatic tone, but you can develop the other characters in different ways. To me, Captain America drastically lacked in the development department but overall was an entertaining adventure. Maybe Batman just works better cinematically, but the others can be done well and have been done reasonably well this summer.

The only thing I think they could have done with Cap, was maybe focus on him more in the modern time....seeing him make that adjustment and learning that anyone he cared about was 40 years older or dead.....could have made some more interesting options to show some character ranger

[DaneykoIsGod]

Speaking of dark comic book movies, isn't the new Superman supposed to be darker?

[iamtheprodigy]

Speaking of dark comic book movies, isn't the new Superman supposed to be darker?

Well, Nolan and his crew were brought in to the project to help as "creative consultants", and they supposedly helped set up the script, but I've read that they've since backed out of the project and are letting Zack Snyder take over.

[Atterr]

I'm probably the only one who prefers Raimi's Spider-Man 2 to The Dark Knight. Sure, TDK may be the better movie but I think Peter Parker is the better character. Maybe it's just that a child billionaire who has all the money in the world to buy and develop the latest technical equipment, is harder to sympathize with or feel sorry for...

On the topic on comic book movies, I saw Captain America the other day. I really enjoyed the origin of Captain America (especially the scene in which he was used for War propoganda was brilliant) but once he was finally thrown into WWII, it quickly became a mess. Sloppy storytelling, uninteresting action set pieces and one of the worst bad guys in a comic book movie to date. The whole movie felt like an unnecessary prologue to The Avengers, but a bad one as it did not really get me excited for next year's blockbuster.

[devilsfan26]

Just saw Exam the other night, I thought it was awesome. Here is the trailer for it.

It's about eight candidates that have reached the final stage in a job application that involves them being in a room for 80 minutes taking this exam which consists of one question, but they first have to figure out what the question is before they can answer it.

Edited August 29, 2011 by devilsfan26