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Last movie watched...

Started by SmallBlueThing, 04 February, 2011, 12:40:44 PM

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Radbacker

just watched All Star Superman, fricken cool, not quite on the level of the comic but pretty close.  This is the live action Superman story they should make.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zPv6DiA_eM

Cu Radbacker

Professor Bear

God I'm dreading the All Star Superman 'toon after the horrendous adaptation of For the Man Who Has Everything, which I am apparently alone in thinking a dumb, hateful and pointless reworking of a classic Superman tale by a team who arguably could have done much better if they'd gone their own way with the material rather than shoehorning the Moore original into an extant continuity.

Another vote for the EE of LotR, as I never thought I would say this but they are movies that are improved by more Sean Bean.  The strand that follows his family across a couple of generations between the three films adds a lot of heart to what in the theatrical cut amounted to a huffy teen falling out with his grumpy working-class dad.
I have to say that while I comprehend a lot of the perfectly valid criticism of the trilogy, I don't understand the idea that the films are reviled from some quarters for anything other than their accessibility and popularity.

radiator

Well imo Fellowship EE takes an age to get going - the one and only time I have tried to get my girlfriend to watch LOTR she was bored before they even left Rivendell (which is the bit when it starts to get exciting). I suspect that if I had had a copy of the theatrical cut to hand, she would have liked it more - my abiding memory of seeing FOR in the cinema was how pacy and exciting it was.

Little things like the 'concerning hobbits' opening v/o, the giving of the gifts, the bit where Frodo and Sam see the elves in the forest... they're hardly essential to the overall plot and from the point of view of the casual audience all they do is slow the pace down. The casual viewer couldn't give two shits about minor plot points, they're just there for the spectacle.

For a lot of people, just knowing a film is 3.5 hours long is enough to put them off it. Don't get me wrong, I prefer the EEs, but if I were to invite some family round to watch LOTR, it would definitely be the theatrical cuts that I put on.

Keef Monkey

We just watched I Love You, Man and really, really enjoyed it. A very funny film and actually pretty touching, and most guys will probably relate to it. The whole bromance rom-com angle is pretty different and handled really well. Good stuff.

radiator

#139
Glad you enjoyed it Keef - I thought it was a really sweet and funny film - the plot was refreshing in that it didn't at all go where I expected it to - the trailer and tagline (He Needed a Best Man, He Got the Worst) leads you to think that Jason Segel's character is going to be some sort of boorish oaf, but he's actually really likable and appealing.

Have you seen Swingers Keef? If not you should definitely track down a copy - it's broadly in the same genre of comedy as ILYM and is similarly smart and funny. The naturalistic shooting style and dialogue  makes it seem like it belongs in the Apatow/Rogen/Rudd family of comedies and gives it a fresh, contemporary feel despite being almost 15 years old. One of my favourites.



Also, I've a feeling that you might like Hot Rod - a comedy vehicle by Andy Samberg (who plays Rudd's brother in ILYM) it's very, very silly and has no pretensions of being anything other than a dumb formulaic comedy, but it's well worth a watch. Shockingly it went straight to DVD in the UK, so it might have sailed under your radar...



You've probably see Office Space, but if you haven't, get hold of that too - another one that didn't make it to cinemas AFAIK. That film is absolute genius, and is such a spot-on satire of work.

I, Cosh

Quote from: radiator on 13 February, 2011, 07:42:45 PM
You've probably see Office Space, but if you haven't, get hold of that too - another one that didn't make it to cinemas AFAIK. That film is absolute genius, and is such a spot-on satire of work.
Incredibly, this is on Film4 in an hours time. It is pretty funny.
We never really die.

radiator

Ha! I recently watched Idiocracy, Judge's follow-up to Office Space, but it's nowhere near as good. There's the bare bones of a good film there but it never lives up to it's concept. Apparently it was a troubled production and the budgetary issues are very evident on-screen. Probably wouldn't watch it again.

JOE SOAP

I think the debacle over it's release was more troubling.

Roger Godpleton

Not a movie but I just watched S2E2 of Breaking Bad; "Grilled". Jesus Fucking Shit.
He's only trying to be what following how his dreams make you wanna be, man!

TordelBack

Thanks for the heads-up on Office Space, peeps.  The missus and I just watched it with two bottles of our first homebrew batch of Pinot Grigot as our Valentine's substitute, and it was most amusing.  Hot Valentines tip:  some of M&S' 'Valentine Meal at Home' elements haven't been selling as well as expected in Tallaght, so they're flogging 4 Orkney crabs for €3.  I know there's cheaper ways to get crabs in Tallaght, but these are pretty nice with wine aged for a generous fortnight.

Mardroid

Revolver

It lost me. Partly my own fault as I missed a bit, and it's the kind of film you really have to be paying attention. It seemed rather confused and while I'd usually find the stuff portraying characters flashing between their inner and outer worlds interesting, this was used too much and ended up grating.

Good ideas, but after all, not very good. I guessed one of the twists though. [spoiler]And the bit when the accountant looking hit-man character decided he'd had enough was brilliant.[/spoiler]

Keef Monkey

Quote from: radiator on 13 February, 2011, 07:42:45 PM
Glad you enjoyed it Keef - I thought it was a really sweet and funny film - the plot was refreshing in that it didn't at all go where I expected it to - the trailer and tagline (He Needed a Best Man, He Got the Worst) leads you to think that Jason Segel's character is going to be some sort of boorish oaf, but he's actually really likable and appealing.

Have you seen Swingers Keef? If not you should definitely track down a copy - it's broadly in the same genre of comedy as ILYM and is similarly smart and funny. The naturalistic shooting style and dialogue  makes it seem like it belongs in the Apatow/Rogen/Rudd family of comedies and gives it a fresh, contemporary feel despite being almost 15 years old. One of my favourites.



Also, I've a feeling that you might like Hot Rod - a comedy vehicle by Andy Samberg (who plays Rudd's brother in ILYM) it's very, very silly and has no pretensions of being anything other than a dumb formulaic comedy, but it's well worth a watch. Shockingly it went straight to DVD in the UK, so it might have sailed under your radar...



You've probably see Office Space, but if you haven't, get hold of that too - another one that didn't make it to cinemas AFAIK. That film is absolute genius, and is such a spot-on satire of work.

Yeah, have seen those ones (I loved them though so your recommendations are spot on). Hot Rod is pretty fun, like you say it's very very silly, but I like how it pushes that in some more bizarre directions than your more generic teen comedies ('cool beans' is a bit of a catchphrase round here now).

Swingers and Office Space are both fantastic, it's been a while though so will need to give them a rewatch. Even if it means hearing Vince Vaughn's laugh again.

radiator

#147
Watched Burn After Reading last night. I'm not an aficionado of the Coen Brothers - if I'm honest I tend to find their films to be pretty overrated in general. I liked Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski, but stuff like Oh, Brother... just flies over my head.

I enjoyed it - twisty turny plot, some funny bits, great cast - JK Simmons is amazing in everything, isn't he?

This sounds like a massively back-handed compliment, but one of the things I most liked about it was that it was short and sweet - pretty much 90 minutes on the nose. Too many films are too long these days, it's refreshing to see a film that doesn't outstay it's welcome. 90 minutes is the perfect length for a movie, and should be the standard.

Jim_Campbell

Quote from: radiator on 14 February, 2011, 10:41:38 AMToo many films are too long these days, it's refreshing to see a film that doesn't outstay it's welcome. 90 minutes is the perfect length for a movie, and should be the standard.

Whilst I don't think any film should be made to a 'target' length, I will cheerfully agree that there are a great many two-hour films that could quite comfortably see 20-30 minutes trimmed out of them, and that Burn After Reading* is perfectly paced to its refreshingly compact running time.

Cheers

Jim

* Once I overcame my disappointment at discovering that it wasn't about an arsonist's tour of the dormitory towns of Berkshire...
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Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

radiator

I reckon that the reason that most cult 1980s movies are still held in such high regard is, nostalgia aside, that they're by and large quite tightly written and generally about 90 minutes long, which seemed to be the standard back then. Strange that, when attention spans are shrinking, the average running time of movies seems to be creeping ever upwards.

Quotethere are a great many two-hour films that could quite comfortably see 20-30 minutes trimmed out of them

Yeah - take Inception - I really enjoyed it, but have never felt the urge to rewatch it because it was so bloody long - anything longer than 100 minutes and it seems like a big time commitment to sit down and watch it. Someone made a point earlier about bingeing on TV series box sets - I think a large part of the appeal of them is the low commitment factor - each episode of something like The Sopranos is like a bite-sized movie.