28 Film Discussion Threads Later

[Dukefrukem]

Iron Man 2: **.5 My biggest disappointment with this film is that I thought it would fill me in on Black Widow, but she's a big fat cipher. She shows up all sneaky and full of possibilities, and then... nothing, really. The reveal that she is SHIELD is underplayed to the point of being boring, and she just kind of hangs around for the rest of the film. Zero insight into her thought processes or motivations. Not even really any clarity on her personality, since she's pretending to be someone else for half the running time.

That's 100% accurate.

[Dukefrukem]

So, I've taken off Friday to watch Godzilla. To psyche myself up, I've been watching my favorite Daikaiju films. Tonight is Gamera 2: Advent of Legion. Man alive, if the new Godzilla can even touch the 90s Gamera flicks, it's gonna be something fierce.

Your post is inspiring me to do the same. I've never taken off a day of work to watch a movie before. Video games yes, but I feel like I could go to the movies at 11am, and still end up going to work for a half day or something.

[Mara]

Marvel Films, cont.

Thor: **.5 I had seen pieces of this before, but not all the way through. It's imperfect, but actually does pretty well if you consider how radically the tone needs to shift between high fantasy, magical world, LOTR-type epic battles; and petty earthly hijinks with pop-tarts and silly jokes. Obviously, Loki is easily the best villain we've had in the Marvel universe, and the casting of Hiddleston was genius. He's in full Iago mode here, complete with diabolical insight into how to manipulate the weaknesses of heroes, and plenty of courtly intrigue. Jane is pretty solid in the sadly obligatory female love interest role, and Portman has a winsome charm, but I feel like we missed the scenes showing her and Thor actually developing a connection. For that matter, it's implied that Jane was instrumental in converting Thor from cocky jerk-wad to selfless hero, and I'm not sure we saw that journey at all. Thor landed on earth, had a few funny scenes, breathed some dust, and voila! Redemption. Good on you, Thor. Way to grow.

Darcy doesn't have much to do, but hooray for having a single female character in any Marvel film who isn't a love/sex interest. First Marvel film to pass the Bechdel test? I'm pretty sure.

Hawkeye showed up for thirty ill-lit seconds. I know I was complaining about Black Widow before, but Hawkeye is totally the red-headed step-Avenger, isn't he? Poor guy. I guess this is all we saw before The Avengers, when he is brainwashed for half the running time, but is interesting and solid in his other... oh, three scenes. Unless he shows up in Iron Man 3, that's all the Hawkeye we have, and that's just pathetic. Jeremy Renner is a good actor. Give him something to do. If you don't want to give him his whole film, he could play second fiddle in someone else's (see Black Widow in Iron Man 2 and Captain America: Winter Soldier.)

Captain America: The First Avenger: *** I had thought I heard that this one was missable, but I totally enjoyed it. Mostly because Steve is a surprisingly winning hero, and Evans does a great job in the role. I've seen Evans in a handful of pictures and never thought he was more than passable, but for whatever reason I think he really has a handle on making Steve gentlemanly and brave without being boring. Baby Steve was totally adorable, and the CGI they used was top-notch, but I wish they had pitched up Evans' voice a little. He sounded like a man with two lungs the size of duffel bags the entire time.

Pacing could have been better. They wanted to fit in so much story (Baby Steve, the transformation, the pin-up phase, the hero phase, the time-traveling phase, etc.) that some arcs were abrupt and didn't feel cohesive. But each story, individually, was interesting enough.

The supporting cast was great, too. I like Stanley Tucci, Richard Armitage, and Hugo Weaving in anything.

But Peggy. Peggy is my queen and my life. I really did not expect to like her as much as I did, and I thought she was the absolute best. I heard that they're making a spin-off show just about her in the fifties and yes please.

[Ivan Drago]

The Dance of Reality is coming to my town late next month.

Hell. Fucking. YES.

[MadMan]

I like all of the Avengers movies that I've seen so far. The last ones I need to see are the new Thor and Captain America ones.

[bac0n]

Last night's featured Road to Godzilla Kaiju Spectacularrrr selection was Godzilla vs. Monster Zero, aka Invasion of Astro-Monster, which was basically a rematch of Godzilla & Rodan vs. King Ghidorah. This movie is notable in that it was one of the last movies starring Nick Adams, who's face was locked in the furrowed-eyebrow I-told-you-so expression the entire film.

This film has Godzilla acting like an overly sugared five year old boy. All he wants to do is rassle and make a mess, and I don't think he really hates Ghidorah or bears him any ill will. He just wants to play. And also, contrary to later films where he's monolithic and just lumbers showly forward, this Godzilla is pretty quick on his feet, even doing some Ali leg shuffles once in awhile.

This movie also is notable that it is the only Kaiju film where Godzilla actually dances. It's such cheesey fun, I love it. I think tonight, I' gonna get a sixpack and watch me the shit out of Pacific Rim.

[angrycinephile]

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me is coming to Blu-ray in July.

It will feature 90(!) minutes of deleted footage.

Here's a trailer:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/criticwir...lu-ray-in-july

[Spun Lepton]

So, I was lent the Blu-ray for this movie called The Raid: Redemption, but it looks like it has subtitles, so obviously it's a bad movie. I don't even know if I'm going to try watching it. I mean, subtitles? Seriously? If they ain't speaking American I have no use for it.

[MadMan]

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me is coming to Blu-ray in July.

It will feature 90(!) minutes of deleted footage.

Here's a trailer:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/criticwir...lu-ray-in-july

Hell yes. Great film.

[Yxklyx]

Hell yes. Great film.

It's alright - has some cringeworthy moments for me though...

Does the Dodsworth DVD really need to be priced at $94 om amazon! I rented this once from Netflix and loved it. I wish it were available again at a reasonable price.

[Mara]

Marvel, Cont.

The Avengers: ***.5 This I had seen before, but I wondered if it was better having seen the previous films. Answer: yes. It does a good job filling in newbies, but there are little nods and emotional notes that ring more true with background. And Whedon really does know what we want from the film: emotional connections between the characters, great action set pieces, heroics, clever one-liners, sentimental moments...

...but most importantly, he knows that yes, we want the Avengers to fight some aliens, but more importantly, we want the Avengers to fight each other. It is super important to us to know who would win in a fight: Thor or Iron Man. Or Thor or Iron Man or Captain America. Could Thor's hammer pierce Captain America's shields? We have to know this. Thor and The Hulk: personal favorite.

But that brings me around to another point: the fight between Black Widow and Hawkeye was fine, but I remember in the theater thinking that it would probably resonate better if I had seen the previous films and known their emotional history. It turns out, there is no history given to us. So why should we care?

Hawkeye gets mild-melded two seconds into the film, is stony and wears uncomfortable contacts for a little over an hour, then finally gets fixed up, has one nice emotional scene with Romanoff (three minutes) and then is comfortably heroic for the rest of the running time. That's it.

Romanoff fares a little better. Her one scene interrogating Loki gives wonderful insight, not just into her past, but also into her skills and the way she thinks. We get more into her head right there than in all of IM2.

Overall, though, this was everything a superhero film should be.

Iron Man 3: *** This settled better the more I thought about it. I went in with pretty high expectations, because I had heard good things, and it wasn't quite what I expected. This really was about Iron Man without Iron Man: the guy (arrogant, heart-broken, sarcastic) behind the suit. I've said it before, but RDjr owns this role. (Is it just me, or do we not see him drinking at all in this film? Is he off the sauce?) There is a nominal villain and crisis, but this is more about subverting what we expect from a superhero film. Our hero is not confident. He is not thinking clearly. He is not even brave. Tony is a hero in spite of himself. (We even have fun skewering the jaded-hero-meets-adorable-munchkin trope. Kid: So you're just going to leave me here? Like my dad? Tony: Yeah.)

We also have several female characters, on a spectrum of morality, contributing substantially to the plot. I think we're getting some progress.

Favorite moment: the poor lackey in the firefight who doesn't even like working here. Everyone is so weird.

[Marley]

Does anyone happen to have an extra invite to Karagarga? I seem to have lost my account. This would be greatly appreciated.

[dreamdead]

Pleasantly surprised by The Great Escape. Very much a less sophisticated but "cool" take on Renoir's The Grand Illusion, replete with honor among nations at war and attempting to cause disruption. What startled me was Sturges's ability to undermine the amiable score with the denouement, [

Show Spoiler

via the firing squad

], which powerfully undoes the almost ease of WW2. While watching it I kept having thoughts of how no one seems to comprehend the atrocities simultaneously being done to the Jews, but then that moment hit and I was surprised at how effective the delay was.

[EyesWideOpen]

I find it amusing that the cover for Beneath the Planet of the Apes has Roddy McDowall as Cornelius even though this was the only Apes film where someone else played Cornelius.

[Sven]

Over the weekend, K and I watched Outrage and Beyond Outrage. I'd seen the first, and a second viewing only solidifies it as one of the funniest damn movies I've ever seen. It's practically perfect from frame one: simultaneously brutally straight and hysterically convoluted, it's Kitano concentrate. A picture built on an immaculate geometry of mannered violence.

Beyond Outrage, unfortunately, is pretty much just a footnote to the narrative function of the first film, unimaginatively structured, which is a shock. Absent even the visual designs and intricacies of the first, outlying from the rest of the filmmaker's oeuvre with its thoroughly conventional cinematography. Lazy, though Kitano's Otomo does galvanize interest a bit.

[Dukefrukem]

[Spinal]

"Lightly-edited improv"

God, yes. That was a fun watch.

[Rowland]

So, I just spent $65 on this limited edition blu-ray release of Zulawski's Possession. It was worth it!...? *shrug*

[Bosco B Thug]

So, I just spent $65 on this limited edition blu-ray release of Zulawski's Possession. It was worth it!...? *shrug*

Yeah, surprisingly worth it.

[Bosco B Thug]

Mostly I just love their description for it:

DEEP-CUTTING CINEMA THAT REACHES THE SOUL

A spiral staircase movie, a never-ending metaphysical game of cat-and-mouse, a moral aspiration to the Heavens, a “spotlight” on God, a scornful detective movie, a horror movie and frightful, high-octane baroque work – Possession is all of that at once.

[Gittes]

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me is coming to Blu-ray in July.

It will feature 90(!) minutes of deleted footage.

Here's a trailer:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/criticwir...lu-ray-in-july

I don't know if I'm more eager to acquire this or The Twilight Zone Blu-ray set. I haven't seen a single episode of either one and I'm so very interested. Both of these sets are little pricey, unfortunately.

[Mysterious Dude]

(how to do visual comedy)

This is a good video. I think the concept behind it applies to all films - not just comedy. Almost all filmmakers choose the laziest way to film a scene, and it's been that way forever.

[transmogrifier]

Ten years on, no film has been released that is better than Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It is almost perfect.

[Dukefrukem]

Ten years on, no film has been released that is better than Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It is almost perfect.

I can name 561 movies that are better.

[transmogrifier]

Why would you want to be wrong 561 times? You a masochist or something?