Movie opinions thread (what have you seen, what did you think?)

[rarehero]

I watched Ran by Akira Kurasowa. My goodness, it's an epic tragedy. Pretty slow in the first 30-45, but it's tremendous and beautifully shot. I was reading it was a Japanese stylized King Lear, which I've never read. I haven't seen many Kurasowa movies, but the ones I have are great.

 

[@M]

Rango

I bought and enjoyed the NDS game years ago (Zelda Lite), but, never watched the film until this evening. The animation is excellent but the story only so-so. It's a decent CG animal Western. I particularly liked Rango's encounter with the Spirit of the West, a homage to Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name (hunting for treasure in the desert with a metal detector on his golf cart of all things). This was the extended version with extra scenes. The bonus educational feature about real desert animals was an okay watch too.

 

[smokehouse]

Rango

I bought and enjoyed the NDS game years ago (Zelda Lite), but, never watched the film until this evening. The animation is excellent but the story only so-so. It's a decent CG animal Western. I particularly liked Rango's encounter with the Spirit of the West, a homage to Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name (hunting for treasure in the desert with a metal detector on his golf cart of all things). This was the extended version with extra scenes. The bonus educational feature about real desert animals was an okay watch too.

We bought that one on BR years ago...my kid loves it to this day. It's an odd movie, like you said pretty so-so plot...but it's kind of a kids movie.

 

[joe8]

Practicing special effects for the faked moon landing the following year...?

I get what the movie's about, I liked the original short story it's based on, and I like the concepts added to the movie. But the movie is so slow and so dry, I find myself just marking time until the great ending. I don't know if you remember, but at the start of the movie, there's a full five minute musical overture with blank black screen before they even show the MGM logo, much less begin the opening credits. Five minutes of black screen in a movie that's already well over 2 hours is excessive. I'm also not a fan of source music being used in place of original score. It's not that I dislike the song choices. Quite the opposite. The problem is that the choices are all so well known and you quickly figure out that whatever is happening slooooooowwwwwwwwwwwly on screen, like the lunar landing, is not going to end until the song finishes. And since you know how much is left of the song, the pacing becomes irritatingly artificial and predictable.

It's beautifully shot, and everything in it holds up visually today perfectly... in many ways much better than 90% of the CG-heavy productions of today. Visually, it's a masterpiece, no question. But it's fucking ponderous. It's probably the only Kubrick movie I don't enjoy watching.



In addition to better pajamas, Solaris also has actual human characters in it. 2001 only has plot-forwarding automatons with human shape. Beep-beep-beep now this happens beep-beep-beep

It helps to understand 2001, if you read the book. Many of Kubrick's films have major differences from the book they're based on. Clockwork Orange, for example. He also liked the endings of his films to be ambiguous, whereas in the books, they aren't.
I would say I prefer Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon to 2001. Barry Lyndon is just as visually impressive as 2001.
2001 actually has more than one theme- there is the black obelisk and the astronaut being reborn as a star child. And there was another narrative in his films, that Kubrick never talked about in the interviews he gave.

 

[terry.330]

That's insight right there folks...

 

[SouthtownKid]

It helps to understand 2001, if you read the book. Many of Kubrick's films have major differences from the book they're based on. Clockwork Orange, for example.
I would say I prefer Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon to 2001. Barry Lyndon is just as visually impressive as 2001.
2001 actually has more than one theme- there is the black obelisk and the astronaut being reborn as a star child. And there was another narrative in his films, that Kubrick never talked about in the interviews he gave.

Clockwork Orange is great, although that's another case where I prefer the book to the movie. And Barry Lyndon is a better movie than both 2001 and Clockwork Orange.

 

[wataru330]

That guy has no talent.

This^.

Saw him open for Chappelle a couple of years ago, and Pete was awful. Terribad.

Not everyone is cut out for Showbiz.

 

[@M]

Yeah, I think kids were probably the primary target audience, but, the setting/characters are kinda dark/gritty too. I'm surprised they couldn't get Clint Eastwood to voice himself--if you can afford Depp, you can afford Eastwood. I dunno, maybe he didn't want to be associated with CG?

 

[fake]

This^.

Saw him open for Chappelle a couple of years ago, and Pete was awful. Terribad.

Not everyone is cut out for Showbiz.

IIRC he has some severe substance abuse issues and his life is frequently in shambles. So yeah, life on the road might not be good for him or the audience.

 

[wataru330]

IIRC he has some severe substance abuse issues and his life is frequently in shambles. So yeah, life on the road might not be good for him or the audience.

It was sad.

He was just coming off Arianna Grande break up, and really had no business standing up and talking in front of 1500 strangers.

He shoulda been taking a nap.

I won’t take pot-shots at someone w/ mental health and substance abuse struggles...but someone(s) from his team, needs to come get they mans.

 

[@M]

The LEGO Batman Movie

Some months ago, I bought the junior novelization and read it during a boring 3-7 AM Covid screening shift at work. Fast forward, I needed some more stuff in my cart to reach $35 to get free shipping at Walmart.com, and the DVD was only $3.74, so, I rang it up.

The movie followed the book pretty closely until Joker got sent to the Phantom Zone, then things took an unexpected and fabulous turn: Gremlins, Sauron, Voldemort, King Kong, The Wicked Witch of the West and her Flying Monkeys, Daleks, etc. Yes! None of that shit was in the book, probably to avoid spoilers and/or licensing issues. So, all-in-all, while the book revealed most of the plot for me, I enjoyed seeing the film in action and all the craziness and inside jokes. I love Batman and LEGO, what can I say?

 

[racecar]

i ran across office space on dvd , i remember watching it in theatre when it first came out . rewatching it for the first time got a pretty good sound track

 

[famicommander]

i ran across office space on dvd , i remember watching it in theatre when it first came out . rewatching it for the first time got a pretty good sound track

That's a classic.

 

[@M]

Hellboy (2004):

I like and have read many of the comics and always meant to see this, finally did, and Del Toro did a pretty good job of capturing the essence and feel of Mike Mignola's creation. My perception of what this film would be was largely shaped by the Mezco and Sideshow figures based on it--I expected Kroenen to be a lot more than Rasputin's puppet for example, seeing how much plastic love he got.
I suppose I'll have to check out The Golden Army sequel one of these days too. I also think that Hellboy, and the BPRD, would work better as a TV show, a la X-files, than films.


Full Metal Jacket:

When Lee Ermey died, somebody here told me that I needed to see this in that thread, so, I finally bought it and just did. The beginning boot camp scenes are definitely the most entertaining parts (minus Gomer's suicide after killing Ermey) and, it's a solid Viet Nam war movie overall, but, not life changing for me either.

 

[LoneSage]

Golden Army sequel is much better than the first, imo.

 

[@M]

Norbit:

Another one I've always wanted to see. I was just going to buy the single film, but, Walmart had a boxed Eddie Murphy 4-disc set with Coming to America, Boomerang, and Harlem Nights in it too, so, I snapped that up instead. I enjoyed Norbit. It's not my favorite Eddie Murphy work, but there were several laugh out loud moments for me. Very Nutty Professor-esque with Murphy playing multiple characters. I probably would marry a woman like Rasputia myself (and make threads complaining about her here every week).

Turkey ass!

 

[@M]

Heavy Metal:

Hard to believe this is about 40 years old already! I first saw this when I was maybe 16 or 17 years old. I think I told you guys the story before of how I watched it on VHS at my friend's house with him, and he pulled his T-shirt up over his knees and covertly jacked off underneath it during the Taarna segment, when she's naked and getting dressed, and I pretended I didn't know what he was doing. The animation is fairly rough by today's standards, but, it still holds up. I actually did watch almost all the bonus content on this one. I had a Heavy Metal subscription for several years in the late 90s, so, I enjoyed looking through that cover art again and the making of feature is interesting too.

 

[2D_mastur]

Heavy Metal:

Hard to believe this is about 40 years old already! I first saw this when I was maybe 16 or 17 years old. I think I told you guys the story before of how I watched it on VHS at my friend's house with him, and he pulled his T-shirt up over his knees and covertly jacked off underneath it during the Taarna segment, when she's naked and getting dressed, and I pretended I didn't know what he was doing. The animation is fairly rough by today's standards, but, it still holds up. I actually did watch almost all the bonus content on this one. I had a Heavy Metal subscription for several years in the late 90s, so, I enjoyed looking through that cover art again and the making of feature is interesting too.

Lol, you didn't say anything to your jack-off friend? Dios mio man, that shit is unforgivable.

Strange, I was listening to that soundtrack today. "Veteran of the Psychic Wars" by Blue Oyster Cult is a stand-out track. Obviously "Mob Rules" is heavy as fuck too.

 

[@M]

It was his room in his house, so, I just let it go. Maybe I should have whipped mine out and joined in too. It's hard (pun intended) to know what the proper etiquette is in those situations, and I didn't have neo_moe's love advice to rely on back in those days.

 

[famicommander]

Lol, you didn't say anything to your jack-off friend? Dios mio man, that shit is unforgivable.

Strange, I was listening to that soundtrack today. "Veteran of the Psychic Wars" by Blue Oyster Cult is a stand-out track. Obviously "Mob Rules" is heavy as fuck too.

Love the movie, love the song.

I like to watch this movie on Laserdisc because the audio mix is so powerful.

 

[fake]

Bicycle Thieves.

Nice, short, and tragic. The way I like my movies. I slept on this for a long time but the Criterion version is on HBO Max. I like seeing the early days of depicting life's struggles on film.

 

[Naika]

A Taxi Driver (the 2017 South Korean film).

It's the FILM to talk about when you want to talk about the Free Press & Democracy. Seriously. Anyone who loves democracy should watch it.

 

[terry.330]

Gangs of New York- I remember really liking this when it came out but man Cameron Diaz really ruins the movie.

War Games Classic, a perfect time capsule.

No Country for Old Men- Still holds up.

 

[evil wasabi]

I never got into Gangs of New York.

It just struck me as an Irish pride thing. I don’t care for the mafias, gangs, or Irish being tough people. It’s a shit message. I’d rather explore other parts of the culture. And no, not Leprechaun in the Hood.

 

[terry.330]

Yeah, I never got it either. Everybody I know that talks up stuff like that always seems to completely ignore the fact that all these people are horrible. Goodfellas, Casino, The Godfather, Untouchables, Scarface etc.