What was the most recent movie I've watched? (Part 2)

[paintmered]

The previous thread reached 1,000 posts.

[Vottomatic]

Watched a movie called "Not Forgotten" with Simon Baker in it last night. Baker and his mexican wife live in Texas near the Mexico border. His daughter is kidnapped and taken to Mexico. He doesn't know why she was kidnapped. As the movie goes on, you find out he's not who you think he is and has a shady past. The kidnapping has to do with the Mexican Mob and some payback toward him.

It was okay. Not great. Not horrible. Kept my attention mostly.

[Ghosts of 1990]

"Without Limits" about Steve Prefontaine

[sonny]

"Without Limits" about Steve Prefontaine

I saw that a couple of weeks ago. The pace is glacial, but the film overall is pretty good.

[RedsManRick]

Toy Story 3. Very good, but surprisingly sad. It played much more like Wall-E or Up than the prior Toy Story movies. There were a few scenes that might even be a bit intense for the youngest part of the crowd.

[Caveat Emperor]

Saw "The Last Airbender" last night.

In a word: Trainwreck.

This movie is "Dune" for a new generation. It's a giant mess that, in what I can only assume is a compulsion to be absolutely faithful to it's source material, ends up glossing over any interesting ideas, leaving whole aspects of the "universe" it exists in unexplained, and creates characters that wold generously be described as shallow and 2D. The acting ranges from hammy to awful, the plot follows no discernable logic, and there is nothing by way of character development.

I'd stay far away.

[savafan]

Saw "The Last Airbender" last night.

In a word: Trainwreck.

This movie is "Dune" for a new generation. It's a giant mess that, in what I can only assume is a compulsion to be absolutely faithful to it's source material, ends up glossing over any interesting ideas, leaving whole aspects of the "universe" it exists in unexplained, and creates characters that wold generously be described as shallow and 2D. The acting ranges from hammy to awful, the plot follows no discernable logic, and there is nothing by way of character development.

I'd stay far away.

What was the unexpected twist?

[Caveat Emperor]

What was the unexpected twist?

It turns out that M. Night's career has been dead since just after finishing "The Sixth Sense."

[ochre]

It turns out that M. Night's career has been dead since just after finishing "The Sixth Sense."

cracked.com argues that it's been even longer than that:
http://www.cracked.com/article_18585...ranchises.html

What Inspired It:
The truth is quite a bit stupider than that. This Academy Award-nominated classic was inspired by something off of the same children's television network that introduced the world to Rugrats, Clarissa Explains It All and Doug. Yup, Nickelodeon.

Technically, SNICK.

It turns out that Shyamalan was one hell of an unofficial member of the Midnight Society in the 90s, since his magnum opus was inspired by an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark?.
The episode in particular, "The Tale of the Dream Girl", is basically the same story as The Sixth Sense except it was written for the same audience that followed Salute Your Shorts.

Just like The Sixth Sense, "The Tale of the Dream Girl" tells the story of a kid who is able to eerily and unwillingly communicate with the dead. In this case, his name is Johnny Angelli, and he's portrayed by the same pretty-boy who played Scott Hope on Buffy. At first it appears that Johnny is being stalked by a girl who is clearly way out of his league, but not only does Johnny think that she's dead, there's something strange going on with Johnny. You see, he has this ring which he can't get off his finger, nobody seems to recognize him at work and his mother is so pissed that you would think he wrecked the car, or something.
Only Johnny's sister believes in him. In fact, she's the only person who has really been speaking to him. Oh, and there's this dramatic scene with the ring, and a totally unexpected--because it was original--twist where... well...

Five years later, Shyamalan gets nominated for an Academy Award for Best "Original" Screenplay.
Hell, considering the work he's done since then, it might pay for him to get some more Are You Afraid of the Dark episodes on DVD (it had a nice run of seven seasons) and see what else he can dig up.

There's enough cinematic gold in this season alone to keep Shyamalan busy for decades.

Also, it's worth noting that "The Tale of the Dream Girl" aired on March 26 1994, which means Shyamalan had to be at least 23-years old during that life-changing Saturday night he was at home watching SNICK

[Razor Shines]

It turns out that M. Night's career has been dead since just after finishing "The Sixth Sense."

And we all know what the twist was in that movie. That dude in the hair piece, like the whole time, that's Bruce Willis the whole movie.

[NJReds]

Saw "The Last Airbender" last night.

In a word: Trainwreck.

This movie is "Dune" for a new generation. It's a giant mess that, in what I can only assume is a compulsion to be absolutely faithful to it's source material, ends up glossing over any interesting ideas, leaving whole aspects of the "universe" it exists in unexplained, and creates characters that wold generously be described as shallow and 2D. The acting ranges from hammy to awful, the plot follows no discernable logic, and there is nothing by way of character development.

I'd stay far away.

My daughter loves the Nick cartoon version, and wants to see this. I've read the reviews and I'm dreading it. I'll avoid the 3D, but I've been doing that when possible for most films. It's not necessary.

I've seen it compared to The Last Compass and Eragon. Two movies that were supposed to be part of the series, destroyed the source material and did so poorly that plans for sequels were cancelled.

[Caveat Emperor]

I've seen it compared to The Last Compass and Eragon. Two movies that were supposed to be part of the series, destroyed the source material and did so poorly that plans for sequels were cancelled.

The Golden Compass is a pretty good comp -- but this movie makes that look like "Citizen Kane" by comparison. At least Golden Compass had some decent actors involved in the project and script that wasn't completely cringe-worthy (I don't think there's any scene of dialogue in "Airbender" that lasts longer than 90 seconds -- which is really good, because whenever people are talking it sounds like they're just announcing plot points).

I've heard the source material for "Airbender" is really good, though. I was too old by about 7 or so years to have caught this when it was first on, but virtually everyone I know (mostly younger friends and friends of my younger sister) loves it and was really excited for this movie. I was planning on giving the show a watch at some point on Netflix-instant just to see what it's all about, but I'm significantly less enthused about that prospect than I was before the movie.

I guess the bottom line is that tween-fiction is tough to do right. For every "Harry Potter" that does things right, there's about a dozen that bomb.

[NJReds]

I've heard the source material for "Airbender" is really good, though. I was too old by about 7 or so years to have caught this when it was first on, but virtually everyone I know (mostly younger friends and friends of my younger sister) loves it and was really excited for this movie. I was planning on giving the show a watch at some point on Netflix-instant just to see what it's all about, but I'm significantly less enthused about that prospect than I was before the movie.

My daughter was too young for Avatar on Nick when it first came out. She just got into it recently, and I've watched it with her. I have to say that it's a creative, well-thought out story with interesting characters. I was surprised, and I actually enjoy watching it with her. I was surprised to learn that it was created by an Italian-American, because the style and substance is very Asian ... mix of Chinese, Japanese and other influences throughout the story.

We watched Golden Compass, too. Wow, that was bad. But I had not read the source material and had no idea what was going on. That movie was all over the place and may be the worst movie I've ever sat through.

Harry Potter and Narnia seemed to get the right balance between source material and movie.

[Ghosts of 1990]

*61 last night.... since the Reds had me pumped about baseball

[Roy Tucker]

We watched "When In Rome" with Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel on PPV as part of my dues in the marriage continuation club. A takeoff on "Three Coins in the Fountain" and "Roman Holiday" but not nearly in he same class.

Just blah. not even any gratuitous nudity or any other redeeming factor. fluff and not very good fluff at that.