Movies

[irishjayhawk]

Yeah, so I saw a lot of movies this weekend.

Elizabeth: The Golden Age - Mediocre, at best. Slow and dragged on. Shorten it to 2 hours and it's golden. It's not, so it fails.

Michael Clayton - Amazing. Everything about it is awesome. However, it's VERY complex and mind bending. You have to think, so be prepared. I still feel like I'm missing key details of exactly what happened. Gotta see it again.

Across the Universe - Perfect is one word that comes to mind. It just works. And, contrary to many people I bet, the movie is best viewed sober. Trust me.

[Sure-Oz]

Im hoping to see some decent reviews of battle LA

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by Sure-Oz

Im hoping to see some decent reviews of battle LA

My inside source says it's fantastic.

Enjoyed the hell out of it. Expendables it was not. The story focused entirely on the platoon being led by Eckhart's character. For an action movie it was indeed pretty heavy. The characterization was good: the first 10-15 minutes was spent setting the tone with the characters (one in particular was really hard for me, if you know me at all you'll recognize it when you see it). You got a feel for a lot of the individual Marines. AK will back me up on it when he sees it: it gets a loooot of little details of Marines correct: bickering over the best MRE, busting each other's chops over stupid shit, etc. It all makes a very effective introduction; you get invested in the characters more than usual for squad-of-Marines action movies.

Cinematography was good. There was some handicam stuff in the action-heavy scenes, but it wasn't a Michael Bay flick by any stretch. It really was used to pretty decent effect, cut in amongst plenty of more stable close-in shots and wider-angle shots that kept good perspective on the whole scene.

All the military folks here are gonna find themselves suppressing the urge to scream "JUST CALL IT A FOB" at the screen about a dozen times; for some reason, they kept spelling it out. But it gets balanced out by the realistic portrayal of the Marines and a great "who gave the Lt a map" moment. The characters take the serious things seriously. Eckhart does a great job.

Anyway that's my take: definitely enjoyed it, great action movie, recommend.

Few further thoughts: I can't emphasize enough, the movie is about the platoon of Marines. There's no presidential speeches, though there is some broad perspective on the invasion in the form of CNN clips scattered throughout. It keeps things feeling menacing; you know little more than the Marines themselves most of the time.

It's an action movie first and foremost. Missiles and bullets flying everywhere. Bodies and blown up cars. The city is destroyed. The handicam use really plays into the immersion, but is not so prevalent as to leave you wondering what just happened at any point.

[Sure-Oz]

Originally Posted by ClayWhit

My inside source says it's fantastic.

Excellent...i have been looking forward to this and plan to go saturday.

[KcMizzou]

Originally Posted by Sure-Oz

Excellent...i have been looking forward to this and plan to go saturday.

Let us know what you think. Looks like my kinda movie.

[bowener]

Megaboner for Battle LA.

[PunkinDrublic]

Anybody seen Cedar Rapids? Looks pretty funny.

[sd4chiefs]

Originally Posted by Sure-Oz

Im hoping to see some decent reviews of battle LA

29% on the tomatometer

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/battle-los-angeles/

[Buck]

Originally Posted by sd4chiefs

29% on the tomatometer

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/battle-los-angeles/

Seriously? Lame

[Sure-Oz]

Originally Posted by sd4chiefs

29% on the tomatometer

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/battle-los-angeles/

Yeah 14 reviews so far...not good...i still likely am going to see it

[L.A. Chieffan]

Originally Posted by Sure-Oz

Yeah 14 reviews so far...not good...i still likely am going to see it

dont watch that crap people, it just encourages themm

[DBOSHO]

I saw hallpass the other day. It was alot funnier than i expected. Definitely worth the ticket. I may go see it again

[Hammock Parties]

Ebert just took a giant shit on BLA

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/...IEWS/110309992

"Battle: Los Angeles" is noisy, violent, ugly and stupid. Its manufacture is a reflection of appalling cynicism on the part of its makers, who don't even try to make it more than senseless chaos. Here's a science-fiction film that's an insult to the words "science" and "fiction," and the hyphen in between them. You want to cut it up to clean under your fingernails.

There is a lazy editing style in action movies these days that assumes nothing need make any sense visually. In a good movie, we understand where the heroes are, and where their opponents are, and why, and when they fire on each other, we understand the geometry. In a mess like this, the frame is filled with flashes and explosions and shots so brief that nothing makes sense. From time to time, there'll be a closeup of Aaron Eckhart screaming something, for example, and on either side of that shot, there will be unrelated shots of incomprehensible action.

Young men: If you attend this crap with friends who admire it, tactfully inform them they are idiots. Young women: If your date likes this movie, tell him you've been thinking it over, and you think you should consider spending some time apart.

[Buck]

****....how could they have made such an epic trailer for such a supposedly shitty movie?

[bowener]

My megaboner has gone flaccid. Looks like I will possibly be downloading this one... might not even bother with that.

[Fire Me Boy!]

My wife really wants to go see Jane Eyre this weekend. Not really my speed, but it's got some good early press on RT.