What movies have you seen recently?

[Jonesy]

Re: What movies have you seen recently? Part 1

Saw Alice in Wonderland in 3D last night. Hmm, don't really know what to think about it, it didn't blow me away like I expected, so maybe I was just expecting too much. The animation was awesome, but I think the script could have been stronger. Granted, I haven't seen the original or anything so I don't really know the story. Either way, I wasn't really blown away, it was decent and it's worth seeing but I was a bit disappointed.

Was it really dark and "grown up"? There have been some complaints here in Australia about people taking their children to see it and being offended. Obviously they have never seen a Tim Burton movie before.

And holy crap it made a fair bit of money its opening weekend (116mil compared to 2nd place at 13 mil!):

1. "Alice in Wonderland," Disney, $116,101,023, 3,728 locations, $31,143 average, $116,101,023, one week.

2. "Brooklyn's Finest," Overture, $13,350,299, 1,936 locations, $6,896 average, $13,350,299, one week.

3. "Shutter Island," Paramount, $13,225,411, 3,178 locations, $4,162 average, $95,750,005, three weeks.

4. "Cop Out," Warner Bros., $9,289,311, 3,150 locations, $2,949 average, $32,504,610, two weeks.

5. "Avatar," Fox, $8,118,102, 2,163 locations, $3,753 average, $720,607,444, 12 weeks.

[Bellsprout]

Re: What movies have you seen recently? Part 1

The Informant! - Boring for the first half hour. I wanted to shut it off. Then something weird happened...it got good. Stay patient, future viewers, it actually doesn't suck.

Couples Retreat - Completely and totally average. Redeemed only by Kristen Bell in a bikini for half the movie.

[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently? Part 1

The Informant! - Boring for the first half hour. I wanted to shut it off. Then something weird happened...it got good. Stay patient, future viewers, it actually doesn't suck.

I never saw it, but the car he drives in the movie belongs to my good friend's dad. Does it have any action sequences? Do they wreck it or anything? Haha.

[Bellsprout]

Re: What movies have you seen recently? Part 1

I never saw it, but the car he drives in the movie belongs to my good friend's dad. Does it have any action sequences? Do they wreck it or anything? Haha.

I can safely say there's not one single bit of action in that movie.

[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently? Part 1

I can safely say there's not one single bit of action in that movie.

Heh, good to know. Thanks.

I had an opportunity to see a pre-screening for that long before it came out in theaters, but I had meetings all that night and couldn't make it.

[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently? Part 1

Hot Tub Time Machine

Let me begin by saying that I just recently posted my impressions for She's Out of My League, something that I personally gave a 4/10 on the IMDb scale. I held true to that regardless of what other people that also saw it said. I think they'll just say anything to recall that they had some laughs in the theater and they truly forgot what rated R comedy bliss is all about. That said, hopefully they'll be reminded if and/or when they see Hot Tub Time Machine.

This movie is hilarious! The trailers and commercials didn't help set what kind of tone I was going to get with this movie very much, because I was passing it off as some sort of stoner comedy, perhaps along the lines of Pineapple Express or Dude, Where's My Car? In fact, I was so invigorated with the four characters in The Hangover (well, mostly three) that I didn't think I could appreciate the four buddies in this movie quite the same. It took me a while to warm up to the "***hole" in the group (more because the character than the actor), but when I let the movie soak in a bit more, I definitely started to like him. I think they could have written him or casted him a little bit better in the beginning, but by the end they made him who he was.

Each character gets their moments of separation where they all have their own slight uniqueness to themselves and their backgrounds, unlike The Hangover where everything is always with the three guys and never separated. I can't quite say whose "individuality" I enjoyed the most, but the most real one that I think girls would enjoy was that of John Cusack's character. He's a solid actor and knows how to present himself apart from the group. But everyone's favorite will probably have to be from Craig Robinson. Everything that comes out of his mouth is just hilarious, even when he says: "It's some kind of a... hot tub time machine."

I don't really know where I'm going with this review, but in the end this completely dominates She's Out of My League. I'm not saying they're competing with one another, but they both release one week apart and are commercially advertised R-rated comedies, so if push came to shove and you had to see one, I say see Hot Tub Time Machine, no doubt. This had more laughs than The Hangover (perhaps not as funny depending on how you look at it, but it had plenty of laughs). It lasted a strong, original 100 minutes or so, and I may pay to see it again when it's out in theaters if I can get a good group of people along to see it with me.

If She's Out of My League is a 4 for me, Hot Tub Time Machine is a solid 8.

[Evan_OS]

Re: What movies have you seen recently? Part 1

2012 and From Paris With Love, both really good movies.

[SPTO]

Re: What movies have you seen recently? Part 1

Great review blzer!

Okay....how much poking fun of the '80s is there? I hope the humor is a bit more diversified where we get humor at the characters' expenses rather then just lambasting the '80s for all the humor.

[PBlast]

Re: What movies have you seen recently? Part 1

That Hot Tub Time Machine review makes me happy, I'm super pumped to see that now.

[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently? Part 1

Great review blzer!

Okay....how much poking fun of the '80s is there? I hope the humor is a bit more diversified where we get humor at the characters' expenses rather then just lambasting the '80s for all the humor.

I would have to be pretty specific to get some variation I suppose, but aside from some pretty good one-liners here and there, it doesn't have as much to do with actually being in the 80s than it has to do with them being in the past in general. Basically, most of the movie has to do with them being in a night where they all did something that they regretted doing, but to make sure that the kid (that hadn't been born yet technically) was to be born again and for everything to work out correctly, they had to relive these moments. That said, none of these moments had to do with literally being stuck in the 80s itself, but it was very 80s themed obviously with all of the clothes and music, technology, etc.

Again, I'd love to be specific, but I can't. I suppose I'll put a few instances in spoilers, read at your own risk (they won't be spoilers for the story's sake, but it's still part of the movie in general).

Spoiler

- When they first transform back (and they don't yet realize it), they go pull of shenanigans while skiing down a black diamond and feel young while doing it, wiping out. They approach the bottom of the hill and question everyone wearing retro gear, as well as one person talking on a huge mobile phone, ecstatic about it.

- Inside the lodge, they see everything is topsy-turvy with again the clothes, a Mario arcade machine, Ronald Reagan making a live address on television as well as ALF on another TV, 80s music in the background, and t-shirt logos of places that don't exist anymore. Craig Robinson's character asks someone what color Michael Jackson is, and when the person replies and says that he's black, he freaks out.

- As far as humor at the characters' expenses, they return to their cabin and notice their younger selves in the mirror. There isn't far too much otherwise as far as being specific toward the people (except for Craig's character I'd say) rather than the fact that they're in the past and the things they have to redo have to do with things based on the 80s, I'd suppose.

- Nothing again for a while, but the next thing that I recall is in a bar was the 1987 AFC Championship game between the Browns and Broncos with "The Drive", and one of the characters already knew how the game would unfold, so he was determined to place bets per play to make a lot of money. I'll leave the scene to that.

- Everyone is acting hostile when they find the main characters' luggage in their room like an iPhone, laptop, and an illegal Russian soda drink that they believe is some terrorist weapon like a bomb.

- Poison is on tour and performing in this lodging city that night.

- Craig Robinson had a band back in the 80s and he changes things up by performing "a song from the future"... Let's Get It Started by the Black Eyed Peas, which everyone loves.

- The young dude Jacob says that he'll text a girl, which she doesn't understand... then he said he'd e-mail her, which again she doesn't understand.

- The "dick" of the group gets drunk on top of a roof, screaming out random stuff, then says, "John Lennon gets shot! ... did that already happen?"

I'd say don't read the stuff if you plan on seeing the movie, only so that everything is fresh to you. But basically, most of it has to do with them just being stuck in the past in general and trying to redo everything that they had done. Most of the "80s" stuff is just around them, meaning the clothes, hairstyle, surrounding environment, and music. Otherwise there are specific lines or scenes, which I mentioned above, that are decent 80s references.



EDIT: By the way, I just re-watched the red band trailer, and it's not too spoiler-heavy in general. It really only shows clips and lines from the first 40 minutes of the movie or so anyway, and they definitely reserved some of the best jokes for the movie itself (or at least dialogue exchanges, which only sometimes divert to the kind that you hear in movies like Superbad where it's just random back-and-forth mumble). The trailer also had many alternate/non-existing theatrical shots, so you'll still get a slight bit of variation anyway.

On a side note, I do hope there's one small part of a scene that will be edited out for the finished theatrical version. I'll let you guys know about it after you've seen it to see if it's still in there. It just sticks out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the movie for whatever reason.

[Bellsprout]

Re: What movies have you seen recently? Part 1

Up In The Air - All due respect to The Hurt Locker, which I loved, but that was the best movie of 2009.

[LionsFanNJ]

Re: What movies have you seen recently? Part 1

The Crazies - Saw a matinee with my wife today, good movie, didn't go the way i expected though. Had some good tense moments.

[Beantown]

Re: What movies have you seen recently? Part 1

Up In The Air - All due respect to The Hurt Locker, which I loved, but that was the best movie of 2009.

Good to see we've gained another member in our camp.

[jeremym480]

Re: What movies have you seen recently? Part 1

Where The Wild Things Are - Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. From the acting, to the directing, to the way it was shot, everything was just great. A completely enjoyable 90 minutes for young and old.

I watched this last night and thought it was pretty good. I liked the way it was shot and I thought the kid did an excellent job acting. However, the story did leave a bit to be desired, IMO.

[SPTO]

Re: What movies have you seen recently? Part 1

So I like to wander into the world of old foreign films from time to time and this time I picked up The Bullet Train (1975) The premise of the movie is basically the same as Speed but it's a lot more nuanced and gives all the characters their own moments. The story centers around Tetsuo Okita who leads two others in a daring plot in which a bomb is hidden in a bullet train. The bomb will go off if the train goes under 80 KPH. The movie is very meticulous as you see how the National Railway company try to handle the situation especially from the control room to the conductor of the train. We also get to see how the passengers react and if there's one weakness in the film is that they go bonkers just a bit too easily. There's one part where I actually laugh at the madness going on on screen. We also follow how the police are investigating the case and trying to find the bomber while at the same time trying to meet the demands placed on them.

This all sounds fairly pedestrian but it's done in a tense and exciting manner. The movie is 2 1/2 hours long but it didn't feel long to me. The other thing that makes this movie remarkable is that the "villains" aren't BAD people for the most part. They're flawed of course but you can understand why they're doing this and one really can sympathize with Okita as his associates get into trouble. You really get a sense for who these people are and how they got into this predicament through flashbacks and the overarching story of Okita and why he's doing this is very powerful stuff.

I give this movie 4 1/2 stars with a half star deducted due to the passengers on the train overacting at times.

You can find the Japanese cut of this film in this Sonny Chiba (he plays the train conductor) collection:Amazon Link