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General Discussion => The Speakeasy: OOG/Off-topic Discussion => Topic started by: Lunarisse Aspenstar on 14 Nov 2013, 16:12
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What movies are you watching in the theatres (if you even still go to theatres) when you are not on Eve?
Right now, we recently saw Free Birds and Willy Wonka (original) in a double feature, before that we saw Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, Ghostbusters, Despicable Me2, Monsters University, Smurfs2 (save me - horrible movie!), Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters, Epic, Planes, Escape from Earth, the Croods, all in double features at the drive in. *trails off.... :oops:* The best was probably Despicable Me2 and Planes was a feel good movie.
Sigh. Looking at this I am painfully aware of the demographic these are aimed at. :bash:
Theone grown up movie was Star Trek into the Darkness on date night which was sort of fun if you didn't think too hard about the numerous plot holes and excruciatingly painful for a long time trek fan to watch.
So.. any good movies for grown ups this year?
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The last one I saw recently was Gravity, and this was a total blast. Awesome.
I think the one I saw before that was The Hobbit in last December...
I don't go a lot to cinema, it's damn expensive. It has to be worth it.
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I saw Ender's Game last weekend.
It was ... eh, pretty good. Not great, certainly left some things to be desired—primarily in its poor explanation of early events, and how the whole plot felt crammed into a time frame of a couple weeks or months instead of the couple years (I think?) that the novel was spread over—but the visuals were very engaging, especially the space battles, and the cast was decent enough I guess. Some scenes were really able to achieve some great feeling and emotion, I thought the scenes with Bonzo and Ender were pretty great, and the post-battle stuff at the end too. But most of the movie fell short of doing anything but (briefly) explaining what happens next, and that's just a shame.
All in all? I don't think it's a classic, but it's not a debacle either and I suppose that's relief.
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I'll be skipping Ender's Game. Pity too, I remember I did enjoy the books when I read them, years ago.
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I saw Ender's Game last weekend.
It was ... eh, pretty good. Not great, certainly left some things to be desired—primarily in its poor explanation of early events, and how the whole plot felt crammed into a time frame of a couple weeks or months instead of the couple years (I think?) that the novel was spread over—but the visuals were very engaging, especially the space battles, and the cast was decent enough I guess. Some scenes were really able to achieve some great feeling and emotion, I thought the scenes with Bonzo and Ender were pretty great, and the post-battle stuff at the end too. But most of the movie fell short of doing anything but (briefly) explaining what happens next, and that's just a shame.
All in all? I don't think it's a classic, but it's not a debacle either and I suppose that's relief.
Lucky you. I had to go see the John Carter Disney made a few years back.
That's the closest I've ever come to planning a violent murder spree. I think Disney owes Burroughs money for the rape of his franchise's soul.
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Recently got into the X-Files and progressed onto the movie after watching series 5.
Surprisingly good, would reccomend
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Last movie I saw in theatre was The Hobbit, and likely I'll go see the next part as well.
Other than that, there aren't that many movies that I really have to see on the big screen these days.
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The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is worth seeing. You don't need to have read or seen the first one, but it would help a lot if you have (Netflix night!). The ending leads into Mockingjay (which starts next year), so it's full of "to be continued~".
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How to Train Your Dragon 2. Hopefully it won't succumb to the usual issues with sequels. Still, the kids have a pretty low threshold to be satisfied so I am sure they will enjoy it :)
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Just watched Rush. Good movie.
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Haven't seen anything in theaters for ages, but I regularly borrow stuff from the local library system (it's pretty amazing, tbh).
Latest features include "White Heat" (James Cagney playing a slimeball like a boss), "NO" (about the effort to oust Augusto Pinochet), and "Wreck-It Ralph" (video game silliness galore).
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Just caught the absolutely brutal "The Rover" with Guy Pierce.
Post apocalyptic and bleak. One far will someone go who has absolutely nothing left to lose?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChM2icbWo9w
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NEW MAD MAX TRAILER.
YES.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO0jUAzOsV8
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NEW MAD MAX TRAILER.
YES.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO0jUAzOsV8
:eek:
NICE
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NEW MAD MAX TRAILER.
I kept thinking, "who is the girl with the bionic commando arm? She looks really familiar, I've seen her in something."
Then I saw the cast, and there was a weak but audible implosion inside my skull.
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I've seen some good sci-fi recently, so wanted to share.
Highly recommend Snowpiercer, which was just released. Crazy French feel to the world and storytelling style (reminds me of Jean Pierre Jeunet, the dude behind Amelie, A Very Long Engagement, Delicatessen, and other great flicks).
And an old one I discovered recently is Black Mirror: 15 Million Credits. Black Mirror is a short film series in the UK that features stories with a focus on tech/sci-fi, looking ahead into the future at how they might change our world. 15 Million Credits is so on point with regards to social media and advertising it hurts. "The Commodification of Resistance" best sums up the closing thesis, which is fucking brutal to watch unfold. Brilliant film. Also it has Sybil from Downtown Abbey (Jessica Brown Findlay) and she's an awesome actor. You can find it online to stream with a little poking around.
I thought Transcendence was kinda fun too. My wife kept asking "What? How is that possible?" and being able to scram "NANITES, BABY. YEAH!" is always a plus in my book.
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Ok, now I don't know how I missed Snowpiercer. Add a korean director and a highly acclaimed 1984 comics and i'm sold. :hipster:
And apparently it met a really good reception too, which is awesome. I'll try to watch it asap.
I heard of Black Mirror and totally forgot about that a year ago. I must watch that, thanks for the reminder !
UK tv channels seem to feature nice series these days, I'm totally in awe enjoying Utopia (best damn series I have ever seen to that date).
For Transcendence I saw that movie pictured everywhere on the adds a while ago, but I heard almost only negative feedback about it... Is it really good ?
I also heard about "Her", if anyone has seen it ? Was hesitating to go watch it and then forgot about it...
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Just watched The Raid 2 recently. Good martial arts movie. Not for children, though.
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Just watched The Raid 2 recently. Good martial arts movie. Not for children, though.
Having seen the first one a few times, I imagine that is something of an understatement :lol:
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And an old one I discovered recently is Black Mirror: 15 Million Credits. Black Mirror is a short film series in the UK that features stories with a focus on tech/sci-fi, looking ahead into the future at how they might change our world. 15 Million Credits is so on point with regards to social media and advertising it hurts. "The Commodification of Resistance" best sums up the closing thesis, which is fucking brutal to watch unfold.
I heard of Black Mirror and totally forgot about that a year ago. I must watch that, thanks for the reminder !
Black Mirror series was amazeballs.
And yes, 15 Million Credits was the one that stood out most in my mind. It's sort of like The X-Factor meets Requiem for a Dream. Er. Sort of.
White Bear was also a great one.
edit: also, for more weird and wonderful things that've come out of my country, Misfits was surprisingly good.
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Just watched The Raid 2 recently. Good martial arts movie. Not for children, though.
Having seen the first one a few times, I imagine that is something of an understatement :lol:
You got me. I admit: It's a really great, very entertaining and cinematically intriguing martial arts & action movie.
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And yes, 15 Million Credits was the one that stood out most in my mind. It's sort of like The X-Factor meets Requiem for a Dream. Er. Sort of. White Bear was also a great one.
That's an excellent description. I totally got that Requiem vibe from its ending. I'll have to check out White Bear. And Misfits (never heard of it).
For Transcendence I saw that movie pictured everywhere on the adds a while ago, but I heard almost only negative feedback about it... Is it really good ?
It's pretty pulpy. The subject matter is right up my alley, which probably blinded me to a lot of its flaws. I quite liked it, though. I felt like they pushed things to an interesting closing act and conclusion (but that's where most critics think it all fell apart). There were a few holes in the overall logic, and some suspension of belief required, but to me it was a fun sci-fi flick.
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Black Mirror - White Bear is absolutely chilling. 100% worth the watch.
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Took the boys to see Guardians of the Galaxy. A good and enjoyable movie (with a lot of in jokes for those who grew up or remember the 80s).
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Not a recent film but one I hired a few nights ago called "Lost in Translation" with Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson. A film highlighting the connection between two people and their feelings of displacement at an obvious level being lost in a different culture but also personally with their relationships. Quite slowly paced and romantic even if disillusioned in the end but well worth watching if you enjoy "grown up" themes. I hired it on iTunes and the description there is misleading and I definitely wouldn't class it as "comedy". It has its amusing moments but its a serious film with some quite melancholic and thoughtful scenes.
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So I watched Snowpiercer and that thing is the most amazing movie I have seen in years. Hands down. Total blast.
Also watched Black mirror mini series as suggested above, it's a really good show. But for me my personal preference didn't go to White Bear or 15M Merits, which are awesome dystopian futures, but I was more touched by the Waldo Moment episode. It's closer to our world, and a lot more subtle about it. It also goes rather deep into problems around democracy/populism in itself.
Watched Transcendence, and I found it to be a very decent movie, even good on some points. Even with a bit of a stretch sometimes (how the hell do you introduce a digital virus into a living being before uploading her lol ?), I was pleasantly surprised by the conclusion, which is, for once in a while in american cinema and blockbusters (or video games while we are at it), not a bland criticism of apocalypse brought by new, evil technologies. Good to see that the film is ambiguous enough until the end.
Watched Noah too. It's not an extremely good movie per se due to, I think, a subject that is a bit lacking and overly too much crocodile tears, but the themes brought up and overall the screen direction being Aronofsky's are rather good. Entertaining in any case.
Also watched Utopia season 2, that show is still freaking awesomesauce. Best series.
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The last movie I watched was Zero Charisma ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5YOJ7I-Jfk ). I was flipping through free you-tube movies a few months ago and it was actually available for free. It is about a tabletop role-playing game master that takes his game too seriously and how shitty his real life is.
The first time I watched it, I shut it off half way through because it seemed to be a horribly depressing movie. I read somewhere that they are actually going to be screening this movie at a local theater in a few months. I thought maybe I didn't give it a chance, maybe there is something towards the end of the movie that made it worth paying money for. So I watched it again, all the way through, and it's still a horribly depressing movie. :bash:
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Just watch Contagion, which is a fairly realist portrayal of the troubles brought by a highly lethal contact-spread virus, and how scientists race against the disease and people taking advantage of innocents to provide a cure. Very good movie in its own right, as it avoids some of the worst cliches about the genre (the evil megacorporation, the misunderstood low-level lab tech, the heroic reporter revealing the truth about the situation) for a far more realistic look at what would happen. Also fairly chilling in light of the ongoing Ebola epidemic.
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That 'Rover' looks fantastic.
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Also watched Utopia season 2, that show is still freaking awesomesauce. Best series.
I'm a bit behind, just finished season 1 and really enjoyed it. Apart from...
[spoiler]
...the eye torture. I'm not usually very squeamish, but I just cannot cope with eyes.
Chillis? Sand? Bleach? Spoon?
NO. Nonononono. Noooooooooooooooo.
That is not ok. NOT OK.
:ugh: :ugh: :ugh: [/spoiler]
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Spent most of the week watching Film 4's Fright-fest horror movie binge. Best one I've seen so far is The Divide, a nuclear attack movie, based around 8 survivors forced underground into a shelter, and their experience dealing with the cramped conditions and slowly worsening food and water situation. Good film, tense and claustrophobic. Some gore/violence.
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Also watched Utopia season 2, that show is still freaking awesomesauce. Best series.
I'm a bit behind, just finished season 1 and really enjoyed it. Apart from...
[spoiler]
...the eye torture. I'm not usually very squeamish, but I just cannot cope with eyes.
Chillis? Sand? Bleach? Spoon?
NO. Nonononono. Noooooooooooooooo.
That is not ok. NOT OK.
:ugh: :ugh: :ugh: [/spoiler]
(http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2013/1/15/1358263508599/Utopia---look-away-now.-010.jpg)
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NOT OK.
(furthermore, it is not ok that the dialogue for that particular scene is in the soundtrack :( )
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Upcoming sci fi pew pew space horror...
We've seen this movie 50 times already but could be interesting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYf5MqxUFA4
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"One day on Earth" via Netflix streaming (US)
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Last week I re-watched The Big Lebowski and La Vita É Bella.
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I saw La Vie d'Adèle last night.
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Watched Under The Skin (https://play.google.com/store/movies/details?id=5ITIlMYSGbY). It's a very disturbing movie set in Edinburgh and stars Scarlett Johansson.
[spoiler]It starts off as kind of a horror flick about what seems to be a serial kidnapper. There is a lot of full nudity, not something you'd want to see with the family for sure. Most of the people in the movie are not actors. The first thing I noticed about the movie was its realism. It gives the viewer a glimpse into contemporary life in Scotland. Being from the USA and never having left, it's cool to see how real people are abroad. Trigger warnings: There is a very disturbing scene in the film where a toddler is left to die and the protagonist is also almost raped and is set on fire at the end.[/spoiler]
It's a short sad movie, but I'd still recommend it.
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The Red Tent (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx2tHrw4SRo)
This movie is raw!
Jacob marrying four of his cousins (whom are all sisters) for the price of one.
Blood goddess Inanna idol worship.
Mass circumcision.
Sex!
Slavery!
Mass murder!
I loved this movie.
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Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3069212/ (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3069212/)
I presumed it was a b-movie to watch while half awake or intoxicated by... something. So i watched it while half awake one evening. Doing so created a small problem: it's a bit of an art movie and homage to the game by people who clearly played an awful lot of it as kids back in the 90's. I really should have been awake to follow the plot as it unfolded. Fortunately watching it a second time while wide awake and alert, helped a great deal.
If the film has any flaws, I'd point to the two primary actors and moments in the script where they exclaim things, or make choices only children or teenagers might. Which leads to occasional moments of wincing while viewing a pair of adults behave like teenage boys. Otherwise this is both a faithful video game originated and accurately choreographed martial arts movie, with an engaging, mature story.
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That reminds me:
I recently watched Lesbian Vampire Killers.
The movie is actually better than it sounds, but don't let that raise your hopes too high.
The main plus of this movie is the way it deals (or does not deal) with clichés.
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Can greatly recommend Horns with Daniel Radcliffe.
Radcliffe is clearly trying to separate himself from the Harry Potter franchise with this one; it is weird and artsy and sometimes very violent. Lots of swearing and sex. Amazing soundtrack coupled with a relatively interesting storyline that mixes romance, crime and supernatural aspects with some skill left me very happy with this movie.
TL:DR - Nothing like Harry Potter, watch it if only to see a group of journalists beat the shit out of each other to the sound of Marilyn Manson.
Is currently on Netflix (US)