Last Movie Watched Thread

Given how utterly ridiculous the Maze Runner books get after about halfway through the second one, I really shouldn't be surprised that the movie sucks. And don't even get me started on how silly the Divergent series gets. 

I hope the backlash against Tom Cruise has died down, because it feels like he's keeping the Big Dumb Expensive Sci-Fi Movie industry afloat all by himself (Jupiter Ascending notwithstanding).

The trailers for the Divergent sequel actually make sense if you've read the book, I'll post why below. But as you pointed out, people shouldn't have to read the books to understand what happened in the movie.






SPOILERS!!!


She spends most of the sequel in the "fear chamber" type things they use in the first movie. So nothing they're showing in the first trailer that was released for Insurgent is happening in real life. It's still a stupid friggin' story though. You could have made a perfectly interesting story about a society divided in that way without adding all the conspiracy bullshit that gets added. 

Bound, the '96 film. Came for the lesbians, stayed for Joey Pants. I saw this when it came out, and it was much as I remembered: overblown, ridiculous fun, with some pretty effective and tense scenes. I have nothing to say about the sex scenes, so don't go looking for it. Joey Pants is great, a furious amalgalm of Joe Pesci and Klaus Kinski. I also just like saying Joey Pants.

The People vs. Larry Flint

Normally, I have an aversion to biopics, simply because the vast majority hit the 'Greatest Hits' theme too hard. Where's the spontaneity? Where's the life? 

So, much to my pleasant surprise, I found that the film took that approach and yet gave it a much needed piquancy and excitement. Okay, the first half felt a bit like it was going through the motions, but the second half, following Larry Flint's attempted assassination, was splendidly done. It helps the film had a  sense of humor, while never undermining or overplaying the quiet tragedy that was Larry and Althea's relationship. It's the performances, though, those are what really sold the film. Woody Harrelson is a great actor and his metamorphosis in this role is remarkable. Courtney Love gave one of the great star-is-born performances. So many actresses look for that opportunity to shed their vanity and play 'gritty' for some gold dude named Oscar. With Love, the rawness is completely natural and it just illustrates the depth to her work. Althea could have been cliché, but Love finds her mischievous humor, her quiet intelligence, and her air of sadness and blends them all till they are indistinguishable. It's fantastic work and it's a shame she didn't get an Oscar nomination for it. 

Update: I am not a sociopath. I am, however, greatly embarrassed by how much I cried.

Went to work early to work on a disc. Instead of sitting around doing nothing waiting for it to compile and burn, I decided to go see Jupiter Ascending, because fuck it. Will report back with findings on two hours!

I am not at all excited to see this goddamn thing, and the only other people in this theater are two teenage girls who will definitely be laughing about me afterward.

Fuck you, Wachowskis.

I wonder if he'll like it.

Two Days, One Night: Completely riveting. Marion Cotillard gives a stunning performance in a plot that respects her and the subsidiary characters she comes across. No one is right and no one is wrong. It left me completely devastated and simultaneously hopeful and I have no idea how. Grade: A

Force Majeure: This is another foreign film that asks a morally tricky question. It reminded me of Margaret, in that a traumatic event happened that the protagonists simply cannot shake off. I appreciated this movie a lot but it didn't completely blow me away. Grade: B+

I have such a crush on him in that movie. Not in anything else though, which is weird. 

@iffy and I just watched I Origins and Obvious Child. The former was disappointing and dull, and it should have been better. It had the power to! The latter was an enjoyable little flick with good performances all around. Not the most memorable of movies, but I'm glad I watched it.

I gave Her a rewatch last night and wowza, what an incredible film, it more than holds up. Easily still the best movie from 2013, and honestly one of my favorite films ever.

A weekend of documentaries.

Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures (dir. Jan Harlan, 2001). 

The Aristocrats (dir. Penn Gillette & Paul Provenza, 2005). Okay, I only knew vaguely about this joke - that comedians have their own spin on it, it involves varying degrees of grossness and the "punch line" is "The aristocrats!"

But jesus that is an incredibly unfunny joke, no matter how it is told. More mystifying - and annoying - is that much of the film is not simply just comedians giving their spin on it, but cracking themselves up doing so, and the behind-the-scenes crew at the same time. I mean, I'm with Dick Smothers, the South Park kids and some nameless PA for The Daily Show, all of whom get some screen time: It's just not funny and the fixation on it is mind-boggling. Watching people double over, over and over, with laughter over something that you don't find particularly funny... Meh. Sorry I watched.

Religulous (dir. Larry Charles, 2008). Loved it and I don't think of myself as a Bill Maher fan at all.

The Adventures of Tintin.  Not a bad little movie, but not hard to see why it didn't take off.  Afterwards it occurred to me that Tintin doesn't change at all; all of the character development is with the drunken Captain Haddock.