Official RedsZone Movie Thread (pt. III)

[RichRed]

Finally saw "Bridesmaids." Pretty funny but a little more subdued than I was expecting, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. I had no idea that "Roy" from "The IT Crowd" was in it - that was a pleasant surprise.

Also watched "50/50." I thought it was excellent. Poignant, funny, and well-acted. It got awfully dusty in the house during the pre-op scene because it brought back memories of my dad, who's no longer with us, staying by my side when I had cancer surgery.

[Ohayou]

Prometheus - Official Full HD Trailer - Ridley Scott, Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace - YouTube

This is far and away my most anticipated release of 2012.

[KittyDuran]

Originally Posted by Redsfaithful

Going back to the original post, I had a good time watching John Carter.

Same here... Saw it yesterday in IMAX. Just a good old fashioned popcorn flick. The SFX were not eye-popping but seemed very natural-felt I was truly on Barsoom (Mars). The scenes on Earth both at the beginning and the end were well done and tied in nicely. There is also narration, sort of a prologue, for the viewers who might not have read the books, at the beginning. The 2+ hours flew by. It's a shame that the critics, media, fanboys, even Disney announced it DOA because I would definitely go to see a sequel. Planning to see it a few more times before it gets out of the theaters. I'll also give a report if 3D was really necessary or just a waste of money.

[Sweetstop]

michael shannon is excellent in "take shelter".
ditto for patton oswalt in "young adult".. charlize theron, too.

imo, 2 good indy movies.

[WildcatFan]

I also loved Young Adult, and I picked up Take Shelter last night to check out.

I saw Friends With Kids with the girlfriend a couple days ago, and it's good enough for a date movie, but unnecessarily crude.

Saw Safe House, and wouldn't necessarily recommend it. It's got the shaky camerawork, and I still don't buy Ryan Reynolds. I feel like I'm not getting a joke everyone else is laughing at. Denzel is fantastic as always, though.

Next up for me are Hunger Games and 21 Jump Street.

[Caveat Emperor]

I have midnights to The Hunger Games on Thursday.

UC tips at 10:00 on Thursday.

#firstworldproblems

[Redsfaithful]

Friends with Kids would have been much better with a different lead actress, but she wrote it so I guess she gets to be the star.

21 Jump Street was very funny.

[*BaseClogger*]

I just finished Bringing Out the Dead. If anybody else has seen it and would like to share their thoughts, I'm all ears. Is it a black comedy? Was Martin Scorsese on acid?

[Sweetstop]

Originally Posted by Redsfaithful

Friends with Kids would have been much better with a different lead actress, but she wrote it so I guess she gets to be the star..

and jennifer westfeldt is jon hamm's love in life, so she's doin' okay..

[Roy Tucker]

Watched "The Big Year" over the weekend. A modest yet humorous and affable "birding" movie with Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson.

I really liked the non-fiction book this is based on so I was looking forward to this movie. I wasn't disappointed. But I can see why it tanked at the box office. There just isn't much of a market for this kind of movie. No superheroes, big explosions, thundering soundtrack, large breasts, or snickering jokes. Its a group of birders set on a big year, a quest to outdo each other by finding the most species of birds in North America. Their competition is an allegory for the challenges faced in their lives.

[Caveat Emperor]

Two recents:

- John Carter: Loved. It. Just a fantastic good old adventure yarn with some truly amazing effects. The look and feel of the movie is amazing, and the world it creates is one I'd love to see more of (...but we won't, due to the movie's box office status). The movie, more so than most sci-fi spectacles, goes out of it's way to make the characters feel like real people. There's one scene in particular, with Carter running head-long into a fight and clips of his past interspersed, that was just perfect.

This movie deserved a better fate.

B+ / A-

- The Hunger Games: Tremendously disappointing. I've read (and enjoyed) the book series, and the movie does a great job of bringing the scenes and the characters to life. The cast is just about perfect (especially Lenny Kravitz, of all people, as Cinna) and the two leads fit their roles well. The dystopian future "world" is also well realized and seems like it jumped off the pages.

The directing, though, is beyond terrible. The film feels like it was shot by a bunch of people running through the forest with their iPhones out. The shaky-cam "documentary" style is overused in just about every phase of the movie, and it gets so bad during the action sequences that you miss what's going on. I guess that's the point if you want to preserve a PG-13 rating in a movie where kids kill one another, but it makes the entire film difficult to sit through.

Additionally, the writers seemed hell-bent on removing every aspect of the Katniss character that made her an interesting and different heroine in the books.

D+ / C-

[Razor Shines]

Originally Posted by Caveat Emperor

Two recents:

- John Carter: Loved. It. Just a fantastic good old adventure yarn with some truly amazing effects. The look and feel of the movie is amazing, and the world it creates is one I'd love to see more of (...but we won't, due to the movie's box office status). The movie, more so than most sci-fi spectacles, goes out of it's way to make the characters feel like real people. There's one scene in particular, with Carter running head-long into a fight and clips of his past interspersed, that was just perfect.

This movie deserved a better fate.

B+ / A-

- The Hunger Games: Tremendously disappointing. I've read (and enjoyed) the book series, and the movie does a great job of bringing the scenes and the characters to life. The cast is just about perfect (especially Lenny Kravitz, of all people, as Cinna) and the two leads fit their roles well. The dystopian future "world" is also well realized and seems like it jumped off the pages.

The directing, though, is beyond terrible. The film feels like it was shot by a bunch of people running through the forest with their iPhones out. The shaky-cam "documentary" style is overused in just about every phase of the movie, and it gets so bad during the action sequences that you miss what's going on. I guess that's the point if you want to preserve a PG-13 rating in a movie where kids kill one another, but it makes the entire film difficult to sit through.

Additionally, the writers seemed hell-bent on removing every aspect of the Katniss character that made her an interesting and different heroine in the books.

D+ / C-

Wow, really? Just saw it and thought it was very good. Originally I just read the book because I realized "Hey, my wife is an important part of my life and I should take an interest in stuff she likes.". But I really enjoyed the books.


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[Caveat Emperor]

Originally Posted by Razor Shines

Wow, really? Just saw it and thought it was very good. Originally I just read the book because I realized "Hey, my wife is an important part of my life and I should take an interest in stuff she likes.". But I really enjoyed the books.

I liked the books too -- the books go out of their way to portray Katniss as this mostly cold-blooded survivor. Her feelings sometimes get a little muddled, but it's always clear that she believes she's playing a role during the games designed to win her sympathy and support. The movie glosses over that and the end result is a movie that feels like a tween romance.

The ending of the book, where Katniss comes clean with Peeta was a fantastic emotional punch -- and they completely cut that out of the movie for no discernible reason.

[Razor Shines]

Originally Posted by Caveat Emperor

I liked the books too -- the books go out of their way to portray Katniss as this mostly cold-blooded survivor. Her feelings sometimes get a little muddled, but it's always clear that she believes she's playing a role during the games designed to win her sympathy and support. The movie glosses over that and the end result is a movie that feels like a tween romance.

The ending of the book, where Katniss comes clean with Peeta was a fantastic emotional punch -- and they completely cut that out of the movie for no discernible reason.

I guess it was hard for me to separate myself from someone who read the books and someone who was just watching a movie, because i thought all those things were portrayed in the movie just somewhat subdued. It could be they left it a little ambiguous in the movie so that people could see what they wanted. If you knew the story perhaps you would see a stone cold survivor playing a part but still conflicted about her feelings.


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[bucksfan2]

I went out yesterday and saw the Hunger Games. I thought it was an enjoyable flick, wanted to kick the person who decided to shoot the film like that because the first half hour or so was difficult to watch becasue of the camera action.

As for the movie itself it was well done. I have only read the first two books and thought they took too much from what you learn in the second novel and incorporate it in the movie. I don't remember President Snow really playing much of a role in the first novel nor do I remember Katnis being defiant. Overall I give it about a B+, but I am easy to please when it comes to movies.