The thread for movies that aren't going to get their own thread but are still in theaters

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This is for talking about things still in theaters. Obviously the Marvel movies and the like are going to get their own threads, but for quick reviews and things like "----- is(not) as bad as it looks" this is the thread.

Just watched Oblivion. Awesome visuals, mediocre storyline and acting. Strong B+/A- if you watch it for what it is, C if you want things like a plot.

Oblivion

Spoiler:

It is very much a Tom Cruise vessel. While it isn't as Cruise devoted as possible, he's very much the focus. It has a small cast and takes place in an beautiful post apocalyptic world. There's very little animal life, but the CGI landscapes are great. Andrea Riseborough does a decent job, and I wind up feeling sorry for her characters. Also: Olga Kurylenko is shockingly hot.

This movie has no surprises. If you remotely follow Hollywood politics, you'll know anyone who uses drones or nukes is bad, so the shocking reveal isn't revealed until nine seconds into the opening narration when you can put it all together. The number of 2001 homages is high. I kept waiting for one of the drones to say, "I can't let you do that, Jack."

Caught "The Place Beyond the Pines" the other day. Powerful stuff, particularly to me, though the third act seemed a bit unnecessary and made the film seem overlong. Ryan Gosling really shows a lot of presence.

I enjoyed Oblivion. I'm not gonna say (it's) great, but I ain't gonna say (it) ain't.

Has anyone had a chance to see The Colony? I think it has a Canada only release as of now, but it has all of my dials sunk to the right; L. Fishburne? Snow? Post-apocalyptic stuff? Looks promising.

Saw Pain and Gain today and going into it I thought it would be a heist comedy of some sort, as the previews seemed to suggest.

It was far darker and more violent than that.

Spoiler:

Essentially 2 hours of watching meatheads torture/kill people, all based on some twisted true crime story in mid-1990s Florida. Trying to make torture funny didn't do it for me. Honestly, reading old news stories and summaries of the trial would probably be more entertaining and take less time.

I wish I had done more homework on this one coming in. What a waste of time and money.

Saw "Pain and Gain". It starts out interesting, but I found it to be thoroughly reprehensible. In all the ways Michael Bay movies are bad and then whole new ways. I had to leave 15 minutes early because I was sick to my stomach. I should have left sooner.

Duchess wrote:
Spoiler:

Essentially 2 hours of watching meatheads torture/kill people, all based on some twisted true crime story in mid-1990s Florida. Trying to make torture funny didn't do it for me. Honestly, reading old news stories and summaries of the trial would probably be more entertaining and take less time.

Spoiler:

I don't know about you, but man do I find torture to be He-larious! Michael Bay at his finest. Atrocious movie. I don't think of movies that way typically. I tend to overrate movies if anything.

Planning on seeing The Numbers Station next weekend. Looks like it might be a fun CIA/conspiracy action/suspense movie. It's also really short for contemporary movies at 1h29m.

Should be a decent date movie, she's a John Cusack fan and I recently read a book on the history of cryptography.

DSGamer wrote:
Duchess wrote:
Spoiler:

Essentially 2 hours of watching meatheads torture/kill people, all based on some twisted true crime story in mid-1990s Florida. Trying to make torture funny didn't do it for me. Honestly, reading old news stories and summaries of the trial would probably be more entertaining and take less time.

Spoiler:

I don't know about you, but man do I find torture to be He-larious! Michael Bay at his finest. Atrocious movie. I don't think of movies that way typically. I tend to overrate movies if anything.

We are of the same mind DSG! I wish I had done what you did and saved myself a lot of mental pain.

Duchess wrote:
DSGamer wrote:
Duchess wrote:
Spoiler:

Essentially 2 hours of watching meatheads torture/kill people, all based on some twisted true crime story in mid-1990s Florida. Trying to make torture funny didn't do it for me. Honestly, reading old news stories and summaries of the trial would probably be more entertaining and take less time.

Spoiler:

I don't know about you, but man do I find torture to be He-larious! Michael Bay at his finest. Atrocious movie. I don't think of movies that way typically. I tend to overrate movies if anything.

We are of the same mind DSG! I wish I had done what you did and saved myself a lot of mental pain.

Wait, what did I do. I saw it. I endured the mental pain.

You left with 15 minutes to go. I maintain we should have left 15 minutes in and been better people for it. -___-;;

I had thought you had left earlier than that. I think I just want to retcon my viewing experience.

Duchess wrote:

You left with 15 minutes to go. I maintain we should have left 15 minutes in and been better people for it. -___-;;

I had thought you had left earlier than that. I think I just want to retcon my viewing experience.

Fair enough. That last half hour is brutal. So maybe I did do better by leaving a little early.

It's interesting what people are saying about Pain and Gain. MovieBob (who detests Michael Bay stuff for the same reasons I do) did a review of it and seems to come across believing that it's actually one of Bay's better films because it knows exactly what it is and is trying to tell a story about character's you are supposed to hate because they are thoroughly detestable. I was thinking it might be worth a rental on PSN when it comes out but based on what people are saying here, it seems to go too far over the top, yet another very common characteristic of Bay's stuff. MovieBob does tend to go against the grain with many of his reviews though.

Duchess wrote:

Saw Pain and Gain today and going into it I thought it would be a heist comedy of some sort, as the previews seemed to suggest.

It was far darker and more violent than that.

Spoiler:

Essentially 2 hours of watching meatheads torture/kill people, all based on some twisted true crime story in mid-1990s Florida. Trying to make torture funny didn't do it for me. Honestly, reading old news stories and summaries of the trial would probably be more entertaining and take less time.

I wish I had done more homework on this one coming in. What a waste of time and money.

Thought the same thing watching Killing Them Softly with my wife this weekend. Good acting, awful story... was glad when it was over.

Parallax Abstraction wrote:

It's interesting what people are saying about Pain and Gain. MovieBob (who detests Michael Bay stuff for the same reasons I do) did a review of it and seems to come across believing that it's actually one of Bay's better films because it knows exactly what it is and is trying to tell a story about character's you are supposed to hate because they are thoroughly detestable. I was thinking it might be worth a rental on PSN when it comes out but based on what people are saying here, it seems to go too far over the top, yet another very common characteristic of Bay's stuff. MovieBob does tend to go against the grain with many of his reviews though.

On that note, though, after I saw Oblivion I felt MovieBob's review was just one big tangent about how he wasn't a fan of the plot twists or anything that wasn't remotely new or innovative in the sci-fi fiction field rather than an actual movie review. I've come to enjoy his Big Picture series much better, as over time I've found a lot of his opinions to be grating.

Also, on point of one of his arguments...

Spoiler:

His whole position as a supposed feminist is grating to me. This might be P&C territory, but I feel that his irritation of "it's a sci-fi so of course there have to be only two female characters and they get jealous of each other" was definitely a case of projection, or preparation to hate what was clearly going to be a plot point later on. She thinks the two of them are in love, then Jack comes along with someone he claims to be his wife after discussing non-stop about some woman being in his dreams. Now, as cliche as it is, how else would you expect someone to react? Rationally? Calmly? Buh?

That's not to say I enjoyed Oblivion. I didn't not enjoy it, but his analysis of it just seemed to be hardly an analysis at all. If anything, I'd say it's hard to really judge the film on its own merits considering the fact that the trailers literally give away half of the film. I expected all the events from the trailers to take place within the first fifteen minutes, not the first sixty.

Though after that, yeah, you do kind of see a lot of the twists coming.

Spoiler:

For example, Jack's wife being shot in the stomach. As soon as the gun went off I knew what happened. It came as a surprise that they'd kill her off so soon...but that twist served only for Jack to go and basically confirm what we already know: that they're clones all over the place.

So she survives, meaning...well, it just seems strange to have the "twist" of her getting shot, at least in the way it was delivered, and then having her stay alive after all.

The pacing just felt really screwy on the whole.

That said, considering the look of the equipment and weaponry, I'd really like to know what a Mass Effect movie would be like made by this same team.

ccesarano wrote:

a fan of the plot twists or anything that wasn't remotely new or innovative in the sci-fi fiction field rather than an actual movie review.

People seem to use this critisism a lot and in my opinion unfairly. There's very few stories out there that are innovative and new, but i feel if a movie picks up a story and executes it in a well done matter that shouldnt detract from the overall 'score'. Seriously we're lucky to see one truly original idea or story in a year. If i waited for that one gem a year i'd be ignoring or pissing on a large percentage of films.

That said i've yet to see Oblivion, and dont know if 'well made' can be used to describe it or not.

It certainly has its issues, but I think you can complain about something more than "the twists weren't clever/original". I mean, sure, they've all been done before. Hell...

Spoiler:

When Morgan Freeman said "You'll find your answers in the radiation zone" I was reminded of Planet of the Apes.

But I agree with you. It's a matter of the execution, which is kind of rough to judge since you can guess what half of them are based on the trailer. That's more a fault of the marketing department than anything else.

The funny thing is that Oblivion does actually have its own thread already.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

The funny thing is that Oblivion does actually have its own thread already. :lol:

lol so it does and explains why i couldnt find my post in there.

A couple of nights back I saw Mud with my brother. It reminded me of summers spent at our grandparents' place on Chadwick Bay in Sneads Ferry, NC. It wasn't the deep south Mississippi but just the same, we knew kids just like Ellis and Neckbone. We spent months at a stretch fishing, setting crab traps, casting nets for bait, oyster digging, and having adventures along side them. From my point of view the movie got the culture spot-on. I loved every minute of it along with the story that it tells about growing up, and the tough choices you make about what to hang on to and what to leave behind.

I'm still absorbing and savoring what I saw, but there's no doubt it's already a favorite. At the same time, it may be so far removed from some folks' experiences/expectations that I don't doubt it'll be a mismatch for them. Still, it's worth a try IMO.

LouZiffer wrote:

A couple of nights back I saw Mud with my brother. It reminded me of summers spent at our grandparents' place on Chadwick Bay in Sneads Ferry, NC. It wasn't the deep south Mississippi but just the same, we knew kids just like Ellis and Neckbone. We spent months at a stretch fishing, setting crab traps, casting nets for bait, oyster digging, and having adventures along side them. From my point of view the movie got the culture spot-on. I loved every minute of it along with the story that it tells about growing up, and the tough choices you make about what to hang on to and what to leave behind.

I'm still absorbing and savoring what I saw, but there's no doubt it's already a favorite. At the same time, it may be so far removed from some folks' experiences/expectations that I don't doubt it'll be a mismatch for them. Still, it's worth a try IMO.

Plus another amazing soundtrack including Ben Nichols and Lucero

ranalin wrote:
LouZiffer wrote:

A couple of nights back I saw Mud with my brother. It reminded me of summers spent at our grandparents' place on Chadwick Bay in Sneads Ferry, NC. It wasn't the deep south Mississippi but just the same, we knew kids just like Ellis and Neckbone. We spent months at a stretch fishing, setting crab traps, casting nets for bait, oyster digging, and having adventures along side them. From my point of view the movie got the culture spot-on. I loved every minute of it along with the story that it tells about growing up, and the tough choices you make about what to hang on to and what to leave behind.

I'm still absorbing and savoring what I saw, but there's no doubt it's already a favorite. At the same time, it may be so far removed from some folks' experiences/expectations that I don't doubt it'll be a mismatch for them. Still, it's worth a try IMO.

Plus another amazing soundtrack including Ben Nichols and Lucero

Same artist who did Take Shelter, right? I loved that movie last year.

DSGamer wrote:
ranalin wrote:
LouZiffer wrote:

A couple of nights back I saw Mud with my brother. It reminded me of summers spent at our grandparents' place on Chadwick Bay in Sneads Ferry, NC. It wasn't the deep south Mississippi but just the same, we knew kids just like Ellis and Neckbone. We spent months at a stretch fishing, setting crab traps, casting nets for bait, oyster digging, and having adventures along side them. From my point of view the movie got the culture spot-on. I loved every minute of it along with the story that it tells about growing up, and the tough choices you make about what to hang on to and what to leave behind.

I'm still absorbing and savoring what I saw, but there's no doubt it's already a favorite. At the same time, it may be so far removed from some folks' experiences/expectations that I don't doubt it'll be a mismatch for them. Still, it's worth a try IMO.

Plus another amazing soundtrack including Ben Nichols and Lucero

Same artist who did Take Shelter, right? I loved that movie last year.

yep and this has the same director as Take Shelter. Main reason this was on my list to watch.

Mud showed up here this week so I'm gonna go see it tomorrow morning. A blistering 98% on Rotten Tomatoes has me anxious. Plus, Matthew McConaughey has been super solid lately. The Lincoln Lawyer was just awesome.

Ok, so apparently The Numbers Station was poorly received, rated 31% with Rotten Tomatoes, and lasted less than a week in theatres, as we discovered looking it up tonight, trying to find it in local theatres for tomorrow evening. I wasn't expecting Oscar performances from it, but just a fun little conspiracy type movie.

Well, Terrance Mallick finally made a movie that I not only don't love, but actively dislike. I generally give him a wide berth because I consider his movies to be like paintings. Beautiful pieces of art to be taken as what they are and nothing more. But "To the Wonder" isn't even that. Plus it's depressing and cynical even by his standards.

DSGamer wrote:

Well, Terrance Mallick finally made a movie that I not only don't love, but actively dislike. I generally give him a wide berth because I consider his movies to be like paintings. Beautiful pieces of art to be taken as what they are and nothing more. But "To the Wonder" isn't even that. Plus it's depressing and cynical even by his standards.

his work has always seemed masturbatory.

ranalin wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

Well, Terrance Mallick finally made a movie that I not only don't love, but actively dislike. I generally give him a wide berth because I consider his movies to be like paintings. Beautiful pieces of art to be taken as what they are and nothing more. But "To the Wonder" isn't even that. Plus it's depressing and cynical even by his standards.

his work has always seemed masturbatory.

I will never forgive that guy for The Thin Red Line. It was a three hour Obsession perfume commercial that made no sense that was advertised as a war movie.

Nevin73 wrote:
ranalin wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

Well, Terrance Mallick finally made a movie that I not only don't love, but actively dislike. I generally give him a wide berth because I consider his movies to be like paintings. Beautiful pieces of art to be taken as what they are and nothing more. But "To the Wonder" isn't even that. Plus it's depressing and cynical even by his standards.

his work has always seemed masturbatory.

I will never forgive that guy for The Thin Red Line. It was a three hour Obsession perfume commercial that made no sense that was advertised as a war movie.

Well to be fair to him in that regard the book was out there to start with, but yea not a fun movie.

ranalin wrote:
Nevin73 wrote:
ranalin wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

Well, Terrance Mallick finally made a movie that I not only don't love, but actively dislike. I generally give him a wide berth because I consider his movies to be like paintings. Beautiful pieces of art to be taken as what they are and nothing more. But "To the Wonder" isn't even that. Plus it's depressing and cynical even by his standards.

his work has always seemed masturbatory.

I will never forgive that guy for The Thin Red Line. It was a three hour Obsession perfume commercial that made no sense that was advertised as a war movie.

Well to be fair to him in that regard the book was out there to start with, but yea not a fun movie.

Think that's bad. Try Tree of Life.

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