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

I really enjoyed Lucy. Very entertaining fun. But I wasn't expecting any kind of scientific reality in it.

Think of it as Luc Besson's take on Akira.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

Think of it as Luc Besson's take on Akira.

(Heavy breathing)

Yea I liked it. Some of the CG bits weren't that good, but if you buy into the conceit (granted isn't based on reality) it's a fun ride.

Edit:

Oh not sure why but it made me think of William Gibson and cyberpunk themes. Guess the combination of drugs and computers along with the enhancement of the mind.

I, for one, expect nothing but utter and complete scientific accuracy from the mind behind The Fifth Element, aka the First Good French Film.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to my research on giant black oil/lava balls of pure evil in space. Doctors Hawking and DeGrasse Tyson are both eagerly awaiting my results.

SpacePPoliceman wrote:

I, for one, expect nothing but utter and complete scientific accuracy from the mind behind The Fifth Element, aka the First Good French Film.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to my research on giant black oil/lava balls of pure evil in space. Doctors Hawking and DeGrasse Tyson are both eagerly awaiting my results.

That's basically what excited me about Lucy. I like Luc Besson. Sue me. I liked "The Messenger" as well and most people hated that movie. It's probably *less* factual than "Lucy" and I still thought it was great.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

Think of it as Luc Besson's take on Akira.

And somehow I swung from uninterested to interested. You suck, Quintin.

DSGamer wrote:

I liked "The Messenger"

I guess everyone makes mistakes.

Seriously I thought that one was Paul W.S. Anderson. Terrible.

When it comes to Luc Besson films, at least written by him, my favorite will always be Wasabi. It's curious that he really has a thing for the "Dad (figure) protecting the daughter (figure)" story (he was a co-writer for Taken I believe), but Wasabi is just really good. This is one of the funnier scenes, BUT it also basically gives away all the major spoilers of the film in regards to the main plot, so watch it at your own peril.

I highly recommend it to everyone, but with the mild warning that he's basically beating up on cross-dressing criminal men at the start. I don't know if they'd count as transexual, but I can imagine enough members here finding elements of the sequences offensive or just distasteful.

I propose that everyone's review of Lucy is accompanied by whether they liked Fifth Element or not. That should give people a good idea of similar tastes and whether or not they should see this.

If something like this is in the movie I'm in.

http://vimeo.com/37987363

How in the world do you think a movie about someone using 100% of their brain is completely serious? It's called science 'FICTION' for a reason

I loved the Fifth Element. The problem with Lucy is that it takes itself completely seriously, where the Fifth Element is whimsical. Lucy tries to stand up as a straight action movie with hard science, and while it succeeds on the action side, the "science" is completely bullsh*t.

Makes me sad, because Besson is a great director, everything else about the movie is fantastic. Great production design, costuming, fight coreography. He put together a great team for the film: the cinematography is great, the editing is great, the acting is very good, ILM special effects: great. If it had presented itself as even a little bit tongue in cheek or over the top fantasy I would have been able to enjoy it, but no.

The basis of the film's science is this lecture by Morgan Freeman at the beginning and everything coming out of Professor Freeman's mouth was hogwash.

Because it is played 100% straight. It plays out the same way you would expect a serious drug mule story by Luc Besson to play out. Except magic. It is a fantasy movie, not science fiction. There is no science in this movie.

How would you compare it to the people getting annoyed by the bad science and such in Pacific Rim? The fact that I don't know enough about science to care about any of that is reason enough for me to believe that, even though I'm sick of the "100% of your brain" garbage in Hollywood, Lucy would still be a fine film for me.

ccesarano wrote:

How would you compare it to the people getting annoyed by the bad science and such in Pacific Rim? The fact that I don't know enough about science to care about any of that is reason enough for me to believe that, even though I'm sick of the "100% of your brain" garbage in Hollywood, Lucy would still be a fine film for me.

I was annoyed with the EMP and analog explanation and point it out, but it didn't stop me from enjoying the movie. If I buy into the world where you can have kaiju and mechs I can accept their science isn't the same as ours either.

Same applies here.

BadKen wrote:

Because it is played 100% straight. It plays out the same way you would expect a serious drug mule story by Luc Besson to play out. Except magic. It is a fantasy movie, not science fiction. There is no science in this movie.

Then it's all fantasy by that definition.

Science fiction is a speculative narrative and continually revised - paraphrased from William Gibson. I see this falling into that group nicely.

BadKen wrote:

Because it is played 100% straight. It plays out the same way you would expect a serious drug mule story by Luc Besson to play out. Except magic. It is a fantasy movie, not science fiction. There is no science in this movie.

I didn't see the words "science fiction" on the movie posters, so what does it matter?

Star Trek is full of magic and no one seems to mind.

Star Wars even more so.

The movie is built around Morgan Freeman's character's "scientific" belief that unlocking higher percentages of your cerebral capacity gives you magic powers. If people are ok with that, they can enjoy the movie for what it is.

I finally get around to watching Snowpiercer, and everyone has moved on to talking about Lucy.

I will say that Snowpiercer is one of the the least violent films I've seen this month (It's been a weird month).

People you are arguing with 9%ers. You are not going to be able to make them understand.

ccesarano wrote:

How would you compare it to the people getting annoyed by the bad science and such in Pacific Rim? The fact that I don't know enough about science to care about any of that is reason enough for me to believe that, even though I'm sick of the "100% of your brain" garbage in Hollywood, Lucy would still be a fine film for me.

Pacific Rim was stupid because it didn't follow it's own logic. If you have f*cking sword on the robot that kills exponentially faster than punching it, then you should use the f*cking sword the whole time. Not save it for when you are getting your ass kicked and then whip it out.

And dozens of other similar things. Like the aliens invading at the same spot, so not just building a base close to there instead of waiting for them to come to land and destroy things and kill tons of people.

farley3k wrote:

People you are arguing with 9%ers. You are not going to be able to make them understand.

well done.

I liked Lucy. It establishes itself from its opening shot as something stylish but not serious and then happily runs with its absurd premise just as far as it can go and no further. It's not as gloriously silly as The Fifth Element, but it's not Leon, either. It's exactly the movie it sets out to be: wonderful,, colorful science fantasy with a dash of stylish violence.

Sounds like what I want from it.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I liked Lucy. It establishes itself from its opening shot as something stylish but not serious and then happily runs with its absurd premise just as far as it can go and no further. It's not as gloriously silly as The Fifth Element, but it's not Leon, either. It's exactly the movie it sets out to be: wonderful,, colorful science fantasy with a dash of stylish violence.

Werd. Saw it today. Was a little put off by beginning of the ending, but it pulled me back in.

BadKen wrote:

I loved the Fifth Element. The problem with Lucy is that it takes itself completely seriously, where the Fifth Element is whimsical. Lucy tries to stand up as a straight action movie with hard science, and while it succeeds on the action side, the "science" is completely bullsh*t.

So you're saying it wasn't fantastical enough? Films like Eragon and The Hunger Games are played pretty straight, but they're clearly fantasy rather than science fiction.

SpacePPoliceman wrote:

The Fifth Element, aka the First Good French Film.

I think you got your dates confused, Delicatessen (the single greatest French film ever made) came out like six or seven years before Fifth Element did.

ruhk wrote:
SpacePPoliceman wrote:

The Fifth Element, aka the First Good French Film.

I think you got your dates confused, Delicatessen (the single greatest French film ever made) came out like six or seven years before Fifth Element did.

Noooooooooo... So... Many...

I like plenty of other French films, but none of the others are Delicatessen.

What's amusing is that the French pioneered a lot of filming to make it what it is today, so I think the idea of saying France didn't have a great film until recently is a bit amusing since a lot of modern film wouldn't exist without the French.

I liked "Brotherhood of the Wolves"... Just saying!

fangblackbone wrote:

I liked "Brotherhood of the Wolves"... Just saying!

That is such a fun romp of a film. One of the best mishmashes of genres ever done.