Latest movie thread.

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Destiny_Gundam
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Re: Latest movie thread.

Saw Jack Reacher yesterday. It was pretty good over all. Plenty was changed from the novel but nothing that wasn't understandable. Cruise did a good job despite not looking the part. He definitely nailed the attitude (even if he acted like every other Cruise action movie lead, but I won't deny that Reacher wasn't like that in the books).

However Cruise's lack of height did cause a major plot hole.
Spoiler
Reacher is framed for murder, a girl having been punched really hard and left behind Reacher's motel. In both versions the head cop asks "You got any guests that could kill a girl with one punch?" and the motel lady is all "Yeah, this guy in room X. You'll know when you see him." Since Reacher is such a big guy in the books, it's clear from looking at him that he could kill some one with one punch. However Cruise doesn't look like that, so there's no reason for him to be the suspect in this death.
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MechLife
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Re: Latest movie thread.

The last thing I saw was The Hobbit...pretty good, but definitely stretched out too long to make 3 movies.
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Dark Duel
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Re: Latest movie thread.

Les Misérables. Magnificent movie - Hathaway, Jackman, and Crowe in particular were mind-blowing, but the one who really stole the show was the absolutely adorable Isabelle Allen, who played the young Cosette.
Honorable mentions to Helena Bonham-Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen as the Thénardiers, as well as to Samantha Barks and Amanda Seyfried as the older Éponine and Cosette, respectively. Eddie Redmayne wasn't bad as Marius, either.

Ah, who am I kidding? They were all brilliant. But I still think Isabelle Allen stole the show.
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Amion
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Re: Latest movie thread.

Dark Duel wrote:Les Misérables. Magnificent movie - Hathaway, Jackman, and Crowe in particular were mind-blowing, but the one who really stole the show was the absolutely adorable Isabelle Allen, who played the young Cosette.
Honorable mentions to Helena Bonham-Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen as the Thénardiers, as well as to Samantha Barks and Amanda Seyfried as the older Éponine and Cosette, respectively. Eddie Redmayne wasn't bad as Marius, either.

Ah, who am I kidding? They were all brilliant. But I still think Isabelle Allen stole the show.
I was really psyched about this movie, having truly enjoyed the book, but I heard from my older sister that the movie is not true to the story and kills everyone in the end. So is it true to the story or does it deviate wildly.

Looking at the Hobbit, I was under the impression they were going to do two movies, so it's actually three like I was told...blast it. I'm really worried now. Two is a fine number for a story like the Hobbit, but it looks like we're in for some more filler. How DARE they do this to my precious childhood favorite?! Ahem, then again, they may decide to make the later half of the movie events leading up to The Fellowship, such as Aragorn and Gandalf searching for Gollum. Even then though, that still leaves a lot of time open for the rest of the story, unless they amp up Smaug's screentime significantly.
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Dark Duel
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Re: Latest movie thread.

I was really psyched about this movie, having truly enjoyed the book, but I heard from my older sister that the movie is not true to the story and kills everyone in the end. So is it true to the story or does it deviate wildly.
Having, I must confess, not read the original novel (is ashamed), I cannot speak from personal experience as to any differences. However, I do know that the film does indeed deviate somewhat from the story, as it is an adaptation of the Broadway musical rather than a straight adaptation of the book.
Mind you, they don't kill everyone, and I have been told that some characters who DO die in the novel appear in the film far after the point in the story where they die in the original text. Also, a relative of mine who has read the novel told me that the character of Éponine Thénardier is portrayed in a somewhat more positive (relatively speaking) light than in the original book.
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"You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turn of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down. Tells you she's hurting before she keens. Makes her a home."
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Destiny_Gundam
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Re: Latest movie thread.

Yeah, the movie was an adaptation of the play, not the book. I've actually seen the play and the movie followed it pretty much to the letter... Which is part of the problem. With the play there are pauses for set changes and such, but the movie doesn't need those. As such, it just launches from one song into another without any establishing shots for the scenes so it comes off as jumpy and rushed. The passage of time isn't shown all that well other than the 2 or 3 times we get on screen text telling us how much time has passed.

I thought the movie was fine, but the presentation made me notice flaws in the story itself. Most of the performances were great (even if Hathaway and Allen only had 5-10 minutes of screen time), but I disagree with Dark Duel. Crowe was terrible. It was like he wasn't trying at all.

At the end of the day I'll take the Phantom of the Opera movie over Les Mis every time.

I need to watch the Les Mis anime, though.
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Re: Latest movie thread.

Got to see Django Unchained and Dredd 3D in the same night. Suffice to say, blood, gore, and body count rose far above average.

In a quick recap, comparing the two (which I probably shouldn't), I found Django overtly long by about 20-30 minutes. Dredd, by comparison, was pleasantly surprising in the sense that it had set limits to itself in scope and in time, which was quite sufficient to tell the story it wanted to tell. I also wondered, briefly, during Dredd, that why Django's age limit was lower, but then that got sorted in the next brain-splattering scene. :D

Dredd didn't have room for a deeper analysis (which was fine by me). Django probably could be analyzed a bit more, but I don't really see the point. :P It may open such a can of worms in the vein of "why can't you just enjoy a movie". :twisted:
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zerogradius
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Re: Latest movie thread.

I got through a whole bunch of movies:

The Last Stand - Typical Arnold action movie that makes no apologies for itself
Gangster Squad - Captured the late 40s well enough, though the violence at times was over the top
Parker - Not my favorite Jason Statham movie, but a solid one none the less
Hansel and Gretel - The plot was flimsy, but the action made up for it
A Haunted House - Really funny in some spots, tiring in others
DuelGundam2099

Re: Latest movie thread.

Earlier I finished the Casshern movie and now I understand why people seriously disliked it: Massive adaption rape, slow pacing that draws everything out too much, constant color filter changing, and skipping around on the editing. Unfortunately it was trying to be artsy and since the art style was amazing the entire time I unfortunately have to give it a perfect score. :( I will say this, it is more faithful to the franchise the Return of The Living Dead 4 and 5.
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zerogradius
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Re: Latest movie thread.

Saw A Good Day to Die Hard yesterday. I'm a big fan of the Die Hard franchise, but this movie seemed to be missing something. Still though, the car chase near the beginning was worth the price of admission.
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Re: Latest movie thread.

Finally picked up the courage to watch Dictator.

I had been with Cohen ever since the original UK Ali G Show, but by Borat (the movie), the joke had worn just too thin and I steered clear from any subsequent releases (or even the older stuff). After a few years of distance from his style of humor, the Dictator actually felt funny to me. :shock:
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SlowTurtle
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Re: Latest movie thread.

Saw Oz: The Great and Powerful an I must say I was shocked by how good of a movie it was.
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QuessParaya
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Re: Latest movie thread.

Fright Night.

Got roped into it by a bunch of friends of mine and I ended up liking it. It's one of those movies to pass around a huge bowl of popcorn and laugh at.
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Defiant
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Re: Latest movie thread.

Hobo with a shotgun... One of Rutger Howard's greatest movies.
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halo1000
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Re: Latest movie thread.

Defiant wrote:Hobo with a shotgun... One of Rutger Howard's greatest movies.
You mean Rutger Hauer, and despite how good hobo was, I thought he gave a damn good performance in The Hitcher.
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Dark Duel
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Re: Latest movie thread.

YMMV whether it fits, but I just watched FAFNER: Heaven and Earth dubbed on Blu-Ray.
Still an awesome movie, and I love being able to watch it in high-quality instead of a low-res stream on my dinky little 13" laptop screen.
I am really, REALLY grateful that Funimation picked up the license for this awesome sequel that, in a way, acts as a conclusion to the story told in the anime, and while like its predecessor its ending is bittersweet in a way, it still in my view completes the story in such a way that, really, it counts in my book as a happy ending - whereas I don't consider the series to have been that.
As for the dub, well unfortunately it looks like the original dub cast did not return, and that's too bad, because I thought JYB and Steve Cannon were great, as were most of the others. Well, it was a great dub, really. On the plus side, HaE's still a great dub, and they sound similar enough to the cast of the series that it doesn't bother me all that much.

I also recently saw Chasing Mavericks with Gerard Butler - about the story of pro surfer Jay Moriarty, based on a true story. It's kinda interesting, the movie from what I've heard has been almost universally panned by critics - I guess a movie in which everybody keeps all or most of their clothes on, nobody shoots anyone else into a pasta strainer, and nothing gets spectacularly blown up just doesn't appeal to them. *shrugs*
And yet, while it has its slow moments, overall it's a great movie, and a touching and inspiring story. I thought it was a great movie.
// ART THREAD // NOT ACCEPTING REQUESTS

"You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turn of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down. Tells you she's hurting before she keens. Makes her a home."
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Re: Latest movie thread.

Right after being psyched about Pacific Rim yesterday, I done gone and ruined my high with World War Z, which, for a person who read and liked the book, was disappointing as a movie. Sure, I might come off as a hoity-toity "oh the book was so much better" aficionado of in-depth storytelling, but still...

Admittedly the movie could've been terri-bad, instead of just plain bad.
Spoiler
All the social commentary of the book ditched, entirely new zombie conception, new logically dubious cure introduced, a magical plane crash, and then there was BradPittBardPittBradPitt.
It's hard to find the good sides of a movie that had worked so well as a book of multiple perspectives and social insights. Maybe there shouldn't be any brains in the zombie-genre movies (pun intended). As a standalone I probably would've found it more entertaining, with the "zombie-waves" and all, because it was pretty to look at.

Related to this, I also watched G.I.Joe - Retaliation with the express intent of grievous bodily self-harm. It did not fail my expectations in that regard. Never. Again.
-We will not be caught by surprise!
*Almost everyone I've killed uttered similar last words.
-Then I am glad once again that you are on my side.
*They've often said that too.
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