Recent Movies Due A Reappraisal

[kidsick5000]

He's on it, in terms of number of sketches, more than anyone other than Kristen Wiig at the moment.

He's in sketches, but not leading like Wiig. He's always guy no2 and often the straight man instead of being a chracter. . He should be more prominent. Very few characters. I guess he's tied up doing Digital shorts

MacGruber is another one. It looked awful and didn't get many great reviews, but it was pretty damn funny too. The repeated

Spoiler alert

"I will suck your dick"

[close]

line is just puerile enough to make me howl with laughter.

The sex scenes were hilarious. But it was another case of good scenes, not making a whole

[Pepotamo1985]

Yes, in retrospect I see the mistake I made there. Describing Requiem for a Dream as "a modern-day Reefer Madness with added dildos" makes it sound far, far more enjoyable than it actually is. "A nasty little misogynistic melodrama" is much more apt.

I know it's not particularly recent (11 years old or thereabouts), but I'm absolutely gobsmacked at the enduring affinity afforded to the fucking turgid turd of a film American Beauty by seemingly so many, as it continues to rank very highly in 'Best Films EVAAAA' lists (it's currely 39 in the IMDB top 250, and used to be a lot higher - this said, Inception's at number 4, so I daresay those IMDBers aren't representative of society, or the film going public as a whole). For a film so flagrantly plebby, it does fancy itself bit as a thought-provoking oasis of profundity and social commentary, but no, just no. All of the domestic disturbance scenes are almost comic in how fucking tame and intensity-free they are, Spacey's hopelessly miscast, and the ending is probably the most vomit inducingly smug example of pseudo-profundity I've ever seen. I loved it when it came out, I will concede (I was 11), but seriously guy, can it not be forgotten now, as it's tripe?

[bloogoon]

Can any body tell me what's so bad about All The Pretty Horses. Like most of us (I imagine) I loved No Country For Old Men and The Road (Mortensen is just class in anything) and having read both books was keen to keep on the McCarthy thread. In the by the same Author list was ATPH's so I thought I'll read that next. Well I was sat up late recently watching what I thought would be the last decent film of the evening on Film4 when during the break they announced that ATPH's was on next. I had no idea there was even a film of the book. Others may disagree but I really enjoyed it in the way you can with a film when you've got no preconceived ideas. Directed by Billy Bob Thorntonn - Beautifully shot, good characters, good story etc. Afterwards I checked IMDB and it says it failed to get a general release?

I agree about Kingdom of Heaven it really is quite good.

[ThickAndCreamy]

I know it's not particularly recent (11 years old or thereabouts), but I'm absolutely gobsmacked at the enduring affinity afforded to the fucking turgid turd of a film American Beauty by seemingly so many, as it continues to rank very highly in 'Best Films EVAAAA' lists (it's currely 39 in the IMDB top 250, and used to be a lot higher - this said, Inception's at number 4, so I daresay those IMDBers aren't representative of society, or the film going public as a whole).

IMDB is an extremely good website in all, but it is best to ignore the top 250 as a definite list. I had an idea to watch every film on it a few years back, until I looked at the list. Crash is on it, Memento is on it, Lock Stock is on it etc. Not necessarily awful films (although Crash is) but not exactly inspiring either. It is also very bias towards modern films due to people rating them highly immediately or even before they've seen them. Looking at the list though, I think I've not seen about 100 of them now but I'd never bother to actively seek them all out now either. I know I'd hate films like Casino so what's the point in bothering?

As for Movies due to a reappraisal, I'd add Speed Racer to the thread. I know lots of people on here loved it also, but it honestly was one of the most incredible films visually I've ever seen.

[gmoney]

Can any body tell me what's so bad about All The Pretty Horses. Like most of us (I imagine) I loved No Country For Old Men and The Road (Mortensen is just class in anything) and having read both books was keen to keep on the McCarthy thread. In the by the same Author list was ATPH's so I thought I'll read that next. Well I was sat up late recently watching what I thought would be the last decent film of the evening on Film4 when during the break they announced that ATPH's was on next. I had no idea there was even a film of the book. Others may disagree but I really enjoyed it in the way you can with a film when you've got no preconceived ideas. Directed by Billy Bob Thorntonn - Beautifully shot, good characters, good story etc. Afterwards I checked IMDB and it says it failed to get a general release?

I agree about Kingdom of Heaven it really is quite good.

I haven't seen the film, but I sure I remember reading about a huge blow up between Thornton and Miramax, probably relating to edits they wanted to make. If Miramax aren't happy with you, they'll bury the film. I don't know if that's definitely the case though, perhaps someone else knows more.

[gmoney]

Just looked it up in Peter Biskind's Down and Dirty Pictures. Apparently it was due to be released by Columbia, but they couldn't persuade Thornton to cut it down from 3 hours. Eventually, Miramax took over the domestic release, with Harvey Weinstein claiming he could convince him to cut it down. He did a cut down to 1 hour 55 mins and changed the score without Thornton's approval. They tried to market the film to teenagers by suggesting it was a love story, while the film ended up with an R rating so they couldn't go and see it anyway.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Spacey's hopelessly miscast

What, hopelessly miscast as the one character the guy was born to do? I think American Beauty is a touch overrated, yes. But his performance is crucial to the success of the film.

[bloogoon]

Just looked it up in Peter Biskind's Down and Dirty Pictures. Apparently it was due to be released by Columbia, but they couldn't persuade Thornton to cut it down from 3 hours. Eventually, Miramax took over the domestic release, with Harvey Weinstein claiming he could convince him to cut it down. He did a cut down to 1 hour 55 mins and changed the score without Thornton's approval. They tried to market the film to teenagers by suggesting it was a love story, while the film ended up with an R rating so they couldn't go and see it anyway.

Cheers for that. It sounds about right doesn't it creative vs commercial nonsense. I'd like to see the full 3 hr version.

[small_world]

Thanks to this thread I now have a new favourite (probably top ten) comedy film.... Hot Rod...
One of the best non Ferrel, Ferrel type movies. And a great soundtrack.

Whhiskey.

[Tiny Poster]

Thanks to this thread I now have a new favourite (probably top ten) comedy film.... Hot Rod...
One of the best non Ferrel, Ferrel type movies. And a great soundtrack.

Whhiskey.

I think it was originally written for Ferrell, by one of the SNL writers. I watched it earlier this year and can only remeber two things about it: Ian McShane, and Chris Parnell being amusing towards the end.

[Dead kate moss]

Not sure reappraisal is the right word as I remember it getting ok reviews, but rewatching V For Vendetta the other night, I think it's a. definitely the best Alan Moore adaptation (not hard, but I also quite liked Watchmen) and b. going to go on to be a kind of cult classic must-see for any young would-be-rebel struggling with authority issues, and also a hit with girls who may feel the same way politically, or just get off on the sexy mysterious figure who both saves and also kidnaps and tortures her and ultimately liberates her from fear. It really is quite touching in many places, like Beauty and The Terrorist, and it's quite amazing how V is as cool on the screen as he was in the pages of Warrior when this 15 year old fell in love with him.

[Small Man Big Horse]

On a very loose tangent (since it was originally a script for Ferrell) I wish Hot Rod got more credit as the best 'stupid' comedy of the last few years.

I just wanted to echo the love for Hot Rod, I watched it tonight and cannot remember laughing at a film so much. It's perfectly paced, sublimely ridiculous, and the ending is absolutely perfect too - I watched most of the final 10 minutes with blurred vision as I was laughing so much. My only complaint is that for once Will Arnett underacted, they could have made so much better use of him, but despite this it's instantly become one of my favourite comedy films.

Oh, and the

Spoiler alert

town riot scene? That was just beautifully done.

[close]

[kidsick5000]

Oh, and the

Spoiler alert

town riot scene? That was just beautifully done.

[close]

Oh yes. Perfect song to use.

[small_world]

My only complaint is that for once Will Arnett underacted,

Ha, I watched it for the first time in bed on my mobile, with headphones on so as not to disturb Miss Small. And I actually thought that offensive BF guy, played by Will Arnett, was Bradley whatever from The A-Team and Hangover.
Then a few nights later I showed the film to a few friends and mentioned it had "That Hangover guy in it". When he made his first appearance they jumped on the fact that it wasn't him... I was SURE of it though.
I still say they look a hell of a lot like each other.

[Incandenza]

Hello all, been reading the boards for years and have only been kicked into action to defend what I see as a criminally underrated flick:

I'm a big film buff, and after myself and a few like-minded individuals have retired to the drawing room to discuss Tarkovsky, I like nothing more than to start violently defending what I see as one of the best action films made in the past few decades: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 3.

Most people haven't even seen it, and I remember going to the cinema with a mate and seeing it as there was literally nothing else to see, and was blown away.
True, it's got a daft ending, few too many scenes of 'hot' cars and 'hot' women, and it features Ving Rhames, but the pacing is relentless, Cruise gets an action role that actually has some form of personality, and Seymour Hoffman is a fucking brilliant baddie. The opening exchange is absolutely brilliantly well done, and throws you slap bang in the middle of everything immediately.

I can't be fucked with either of the first two films, but I think MI3 is a brilliant counter to everything that's been wrong with action films for ages, and takes it back to it's roots: A really good bad guy, and a good guy who is actually vaguely vulnerable. True, Cruise spends a lot of the film doing impossible stunts, but the level of pain he takes and injuries he sustains, as well as other characters getting picked off now and then, actually sustains a bit of tension, something every other action flick of recent times has missed out on. It seems producers now think all we want are action heroes who are gruff badasses with no weaknesses or emotions. If you think about who I would say is the greatest action film hero: Indy, you can see the formula there worked brilliantly. At the end of every film he's had every shade of shit kicked out of him, and he generally doesn't want to be out there anyway, he'd much rather be in his lecture theatre. I can get behind that 100%, unlike every other wise-cracking pumped up douchebag that features in 99% of Hollywood's output.
I think Abrams did a top job and for my money it's a better film than his much more celebrated Trek reboot.

In response, good call on Solaris, I spent most of my dissertation arguing that it's a better film than Tarkovsky's. I love Tarkovsky but think his Solaris is much more flawed than Soderbergh's, and his open disinterest in the subject matter works against him in a way that it doesn't in Stalker, which is streets ahead of Solaris IMO. Clooney turns in a brilliantly understated performance, and the sense of loss and grief sits on top of the film in an incredibly claustrophobic way that I find a lot more powerful than any of the scenes between Kelvin and his wife in Tarkovsky's film.

I also think War of the Worlds is the best thing Spielberg's done for ages. It has a wobbly ending, but it's an incredibly well put together film, and the terror in each frame is fantastic. I also love how it's a completely perspective-set film. We don't see anything Cruise doesn't see, so often feel his sense of unease and trepidation as we get to each new location. And again, Cruise turns in a great performance, and I think the main reason it wasn't widely noted as such is because he's just far too famous now to be playing a working class Brooklyn Dad. Despite this, and his general odd behaviour, I'll stand by him predominantly because he was so fucking good in Magnolia.

[CaledonianGonzo]

As popcorn flicks go, MI:3 is certainly superior and one of the better ones I've seen in the cinema over the last decade or so.  However, the ending is just way too abrupt. The film just sort of stops when you think there's still a climax forthcoming.

(see also Jurassic Park III).

Can any body tell me what's so bad about All The Pretty Horses.

For me, McCarthy is a difficult writer to adapt as plots are by no means his core strength.  While it's not fair to say that any film of ATPH was doomed from the get-go, the novel is made by prose and the style, not by the events that occur.  The released cut pretty much just shows what happens in the novel without at least having a stab at the surreal sort of elegaic mood that McCarthy conjures up.  Maybe that's all in the three hour cut, though.  Personally, I thought it was a pretty woeful movie.  Most of his other books would be bastards to get right as well - I'm not surprised that The Road, no Country and ATPH remain the only ones to have been filmed.

[Famous Mortimer]

Incandenza, did you bag your username from my favourite novel ever, "Infinite Jest"? Good work, sir, if so. If not, then good day sir.

[MojoJojo]

Not sure reappraisal is the right word as I remember it getting ok reviews, but rewatching V For Vendetta the other night, I think it's a. definitely the best Alan Moore adaptation (not hard, but I also quite liked Watchmen) and b. going to go on to be a kind of cult classic must-see for any young would-be-rebel struggling with authority issues, and also a hit with girls who may feel the same way politically, or just get off on the sexy mysterious figure who both saves and also kidnaps and tortures her and ultimately liberates her from fear. It really is quite touching in many places, like Beauty and The Terrorist, and it's quite amazing how V is as cool on the screen as he was in the pages of Warrior when this 15 year old fell in love with him.

Hmmm... not sure about that. It's an OK film, but certain bits break/confuse the message. Spolier just in case

Spoiler alert

like the Fascists having engineered the crisis that propelled them into power, suggesting that being fascist is Ok as long as you're not evil too

[close]

. The Stephen Fry stuff just ends up being a bit silly, and that bit at the end with dead people turning up all over the place just didn't work with the mood of the rest of the film.
A lot of the problems I have with it are to do with the way they changed it from the comic, although I think there are a plenty of other problems with it that will stop it becoming a cult classic.

[Cerys]

Incandenza - welcome aboard, and congratulations on using the word 'brilliant' more often than I do :)

[Marty McFly]

Kickass.

I just don't get the praise it's getting. I really wanted to enjoy it, but bar the odd fun scene, I found it all pretty underwhelming. Yet everywhere you look, 5 STAR REVIEWS! Empire nearly tossed itself to death over it, and is still trying.

I didn't really find the little girl swearing shocking or funny, but she was still easily the best thing in it. Central character was too much of a dozy donk to be likeable to me, and the baddies were completely faceless and unthreatening. I also didn't find the OTT, comical, action-scenes as fun as most people. They were pretty standard and uninspired, really. The savage original beating of main character was quite well done, though.

I can see what they were trying to do, but it really fell flat for me. The neverending praise is starting to grate, as the Emporer looks a bit naked to my eyes. And Nic Cage didn't get to punch any old women.

Just watched it. Can't help but echo pretty much everything you said. Nicolas Cage (channelling Adam West whenever he had his superhero outfit on) and Chloe Moretz were the best thing about the film.

Another recent film that seems to have been completely overlooked, probably down to its basic DIY Superhero plot which echoes that of Kick-Ass, is the Woody Harrelson-starring Defendor. It's a much better film, and although the ending is a big downer, it's infinitely more satisfying than Kick-Ass.

[Incandenza]

Indeed it is from Infinite Jest- What a masterful, brain melding work of genius. I want to work in another reference but can't think of a way so: HOWLING FANTODS.
There should definitely be a thread just for Dave Wallace.

I'm so glad there's echoes of people not thinking Kick Ass is "blates the best film eva". I enjoyed it to a level, but honestly think Jane Goldman is a fucking appalling screenwriter. I mean no disrespect, as she seems very nice, but Stardust had the worst dialogue I've ever heard in a film, and Kick Ass had a script that felt very back-heavy, the first 30 minutes being particularly badly structured: a series of montages over a looped track- Fuck you, audience, I couldn't be arsed to write an actual beginning.

After seeing it, I got so sick of countless people saying how hilarious and exciting it was, and although it's a pretty decent Saturday night flick, it's a curiously bland experience, with lots of emotional shortcuts taken along the way, and the whole thing is filmed with a lack of any kind of directorial style. I mean FIVE STARS? Really? This film delivers a FIVE STAR experience. Empire in particular are guilty of handing five stars to any old piss.

To be honest, I think the whole superhero thing will be dead after next year, 2011 is completely oversaturated with comic book movies and I can't see the general public (particularly in England) handing over their notes to see Thor or Captain America or The Green Lantern, even if they do get good reviews. Same old with Hollywood, once one thing is successful, run it into the ground and rape it a few times on the way down.

Also, thanks for the welcomes!

[Jack Shaftoe]

Solaris

Doesn't that start with George Clooney chopping up a carrot and cutting his finger a bit, and end with

Spoiler alert

George Clooney chopping up a carrot but not cutting his finger this time?

[close]

Because I can't remember anything else that happened in between, making it basically the longest kitchen safety film ever made.

[Jack Shaftoe]

Also:

honestly think Jane Goldman is a fucking appalling screenwriter.

Oh thank god, not just me then.

[Icehaven]

Incandenza you also appear to have Jimmy Corrigan as your avatar, for that reason alone a thousand welcomes :)

[Tiny Poster]

Shame on those who led me to believe MacGruber might actually be worth watching. It's not often you watch something and think "Mike Myers did all this - but better".

[boxofslice]

Watched Centurion over the weekend and really enjoyed it.  Sure there wasn't much depth to it and could've done without the 'happy' ending but as a piece of entertainment it was great for a Saturday night.  Pacey with plenty of action and bloodletting (which is what you want from a film set in Roman times), some great shots of the landscape and Michael Fassbender was engaging in the lead role.  Neil Marshall can be hit (the Descent) and miss (Doomsday) but this is well worth your time.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I thought Doomsday was great, trashy fun. I was annoyed that Centurion didn't play at my local, as Marshall is probably my favourite genre film director currently working. Having said that, I didn't feel inclined to get Doomsday on DVD after seeing it at the flicks and I hate buying DVDs that I only watch once, so I'm a bit cagey about getting Centurion.

[Famous Mortimer]

Shame on those who led me to believe MacGruber might actually be worth watching. It's not often you watch something and think "Mike Myers did all this - but better".

I was convinced by the reviews that MacGruber would suck ass, but I thought it turned out surprisingly well (although my very low expectations going in probably helped).

I thought Doomsday was great, trashy fun.

Aaaarrrrrgghhhhhhh it was so bad it made me want to stick pins into my brain on the off chance I'd remove the bit of it that had the memory of this film in it.

[Tiny Poster]

I was convinced by the reviews that MacGruber would suck ass, but I thought it turned out surprisingly well (although my very low expectations going in probably helped).

I hoped that it would be, at the very least, an amiable if forgettable SNL comedy, a la Hot Rod.

It's not just your fault I watched it, by the way, as Doug Benson suggested it was any good recently as well.

[The Duck Man]

Coming into this thread afresh, so apologies if it's been discussed before. The under-rated Master and Commander has just started on Film4. Catch it on +1 if you can, it's great.