Cool News
AICN-Downunder: CLOVERFIELD, CHARLIE WILSON, News, And More!!
This was a particularly bad case of somebody being cut in half.
AICN-DOWNUNDER
It's always fun compiling a best of list. You get to revel in the great films and tear into the bad ones... although there wasn't really anything I saw in '07 that was as gloriously bad as FANTASMA in '06 (which I declared to be the worst film I'd ever seen), so I didn't really get that same joy. But still, it's a blast.
It's also kinda fun trying to predict Oscar nominations, but it's a bit of a hollow pursuit. Sure, they're the highest-regarded awards in the world, but even if your number one pick gets their deserved gong (go, Marty!), you need to leave yourself some wiggle room for when an undeserved nominee gets it. That way you can still dismiss them as political and unfairly weighted, because, let's face it, we know better.
I mention all this, because when I started to write this article, it was with the express intent of trying to predict my Best of 2008 list. When I started compiling that list, I realised it was a fairly standard list of the most highly-anticipated films of the year (Soderbergh, Coens, DARK KNIGHT, etc), and the things that make a Best Of list interesting -- ie: the unexpected gems -- can't possibly be predicted, for the simple fact that you don't see them coming.
So, though I salivate in anticipation of Ledger's Joker, of James Franco's pot dealer, and of Pixar's Wall-E, it's the films I haven't even heard of yet that I'm going to toast here. Arthouse/foreign/independent film I've never heard of: I look forward to our introduction.
NEWS
Nicolas Cage clearly can't get enough of Melbourne. After the raging success of GHOST RIDER, he'll be returning to Australia's Prague (I just made that up) for Alex Proyas, who is from Sydney, but still made DARK CITY (thus equalising his karma). The pair will make KNOWING, about a man who likes to shout intermittently at unexpected moments, who then finds a time capsule containing chilling and accurate predictions of the past. And, more excitingly, chilling and accurate predictions of the future. I could have sworn Richard Kelly had something to do with this film, but imdb.com doesn't have him listed... and imdb is never wrong... or is it? OMG -- the capsule predicted it!
AWARDS, FESTIVALS AND SCREENINGS
2008 FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL
Technically, it's the 2008 Alliance Française French Film Festival, but who wants to type out all that? Anyway, I was looking at the playlist, and this one that anyone who loves film, speaks French, or enjoys things should check out. The festival begins in early March, and will be playing in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. That's right, all of the capital cities! Except two whose names escape me. Impress your postgraduate girlfriend by booking tickets here: http://www.frenchfilmfestival.org
BOX OFFICE
JUNO managed to get an impressive fifth place (given the competition, number of screens, and my assumptions about the stupidity of the general public), and is easily the best thing on the list. CLOVERFIELD isn't a big surprise in the top spot, and though 27 DRESSES doesn't look like it's worth the time, I'm happy for any James Marsden-related success.
1. CLOVERFIELD
2. 27 DRESSES
3. AMERICAN GANGSTER
4. ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS
5. JUNO
REVIEWS
If you missed my thought on CLOVERFIELD, click here and be amazed at how opinions can translate to text so well.
LUST, CAUTION
I knew nothing about this film other than it was directed by Ang Lee, but that was enough. There are a lot of filmmakers who automatically command your attention, without the need to ask "What's it about?". Ang's earned that, particularly given he hasn't lost his mojo after going to Hollywood. (I'm a proud member of that small group that considers HULK a total masterpiece, by the way.)
This is, however, a review, and so the question must be asked: what's it about? Well, it's about sex.
No, that's not true. It contains sex. The sex doesn't start until about an hour and a half into the thing, but it pretty much doesn't stop once it gets going*. It's important to mention this, because there are many who would avoid a film that has so much intersexualcourse in it, and many more who would make a point to see it because of this. I think the latter is more likely to read this column.
So, okay, it contains sex, but what's it about? Well, that's the thing. The plot itself concerns a young woman living in Japanese-occupied-Shanghai, who finds herself as a key player in a plot to assassinate a high-up Japanese official. It's a very good story that would nicely fill out a two hour film. Two and a half hours, it must be said, it pushing it. It's overlong, and by the time you get to the finale (which we'd seen parts of in the obligatory and over-used device of showing bits of the end at the start), you're resisting the temptation to look at your watch.
However, the film is rather brilliant. Ang Lee said in a recent interview that he found shooting the sex scenes to be quite uncomfortable and hard. I remember wondering, whilst reading the interview, why he'd put them in. Surely the sex scenes are the one thing that could lift out easily? No. In fact, they're absolutely integral to the film, and in the future when I find myself fervently arguing against censorship, this is a film that will be recruited to my cause.
The sex is an absolute representation of the invasion itself. Wong Chia Chi is Shanghai, Mr Yee is Japan, and Guy-Who-Deflowers-Wong is also Shanghai, but specifically the part that collaborates with its invaders. It's an indictment of not only Japan's brutality during this time, but of those elements within China that acquiesced. Or possibly, it's an indictment of China's own human rights abuses. I'm not sure, I'm still trying to figure out what the "deflowering" scenes represent. But the Mr Yee scenes are unmistakable in their analogousness, with the brutality of Yee's behaviour easing, but ever-present.
It's a difficult concept to discuss given I suspect its complexity is greater than my ability to communicate. Also, it's one of those things that really only becomes clear after a half dozen viewings and a good year to mull it over. Either way, despite the film as a whole not being a brilliant piece of art, I'm convinced and quite blown away by the way the film created a metaphor for the invasion using the ultimate form of invasion there is.
WALK HARD: THE DEWEY COX STORY
For a few months now, we've been hearing about how the musician biopic is dead. What's interesting about that statement is which film it attributes this death to. It's been said of CONTROL, of I'M NOT THERE, and of WALK HARD. I think it's a terrific trifecta. Three films that could not be more different from one another, each highlighting exactly what your standard biopics do wrong.
Though we've suffered through many stock standard biopics in the past, it was the one-two hit of RAY and WALK THE LINE that really highlighted the genre's cliches. Neither of these films are particularly bad (nor particularly great), but they echoed one another so closely, it was impossible not to find the unintentional humour. Traumatic childhood event? Check. Drugs? Check. Rehab? Check. Extra-marital affairs? Check. Seeing the light? Check.
Obviously, if you're examining someone's life and their story contains all of these elements, it's foolish not to include them. After all, you're telling a story, and a story needs certain beats. With these beats pre-written, why not use them? Why not use the most significant moments in a person's life when you're telling their story? Well, the answer is that with so many of these lives following a similar path -- a rise to the top will frequently have humble beginnings, and the temptations this rise gives way to will inevitably include drugs and sex -- you're left with basically the same story over and over again.
My favourite biopic to date has been THE LIFE AND DEATH OF PETER SELLERS, which, going in, I didn't think was going to work. The reason it did is that instead of giving us that checklist of highs and lows and big life moments, the film attempted to examine who Sellers actually was. Who he was is more interesting that what he did, particularly in a life story. That's why biopic like RAY and WALK THE LINE ultimately fail, and why WALK HARD could not have come at a better time.
WALK HARD is such an intensely funny and sharply satirical film, I really don't see how any self-respecting filmmaker could make another stock-standard biopic ever again. The cliches of the genre are so brilliantly lampooned that anyone who has seen even one of the films that it's sending up will recognise every single one of them.
The central concept of the film is that it doesn't know it's a comedy. The fact that the film clearly believes itself to be a big Oscar contender, and thusly treats its subject with similar reverence, is one of the greatest launching pads for a film that I can think of.
From John C. Reilly playing Dewey Cox from age 14, to the men from the record company, to Dewey's introduction to pot smoking (possibly the best scene in the film), to his rehab, to everything involving Jenna Fischer, this film is brilliantly funny. There are moments where it falls a little flat, and there are a handful of scenes that don't quit hit their mark, but I was close to tears for the majority of the film's running time, so those moments are easy to forgive.
I very rarely get the temptation to repeat jokes from films to people who haven't seen it, but it's been very difficult to bite my tongue with this one. It's very, very quotable, insanely funny, and -- if there's any justice -- will change the genre it's so aptly sending up.
I will be utterly amazed if we get another comedy this year that's even remotely this funny.
CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR
To say that I think scripts are better when they're written by Aaron Sorkin is an understatement. A more accurate description of my feelings about the man would be: if you have a script, rub it over Sorkin's body, and it will instantly become at least 70% better.
So, basically, I was geared to love this film. Script by Sorkin, direction by Mike Nichols, and performances from three actors who are, frankly, at the top of their game. Yeah, there was no way this was going to disappoint.
With a setup like "There was no way this was going to disappoint", this is the sentence where I'd turn the review on its head and tell you that it fell short. Only it didn't. I loved it in exactly the ways I was expecting to. The script is top notch, the direction is excellent, and the performances are flawless. It was everything I knew it would be.
The cleverest part of the film is its lack of judgment. It mixes America's successes with its failures, and never praises or condemns. There is one moment towards the end where we get a beautiful, brilliant moment where future events regarding Afghanistan are alluded to, but it's handled with the perfect amount of subtlety. The film never beats us over the head (see: LIONS FOR LAMBS), or dumbs itself down (see: THE KINGDOM), or tells us what to think (see: FAHRENHEIT 9/11).
It's also a very funny film, and one that manages to inform and entertain us in ways that only Aaron Sorkin can. Must see.
DEATH DEFYING ACTS
I suspected, for the first half of DEATH DEFYING ACTS, that the film didn't really know what it was about. During the second half, I came to realise that the film knew exactly what it was about, it just chose to keep the audience in the dark. And not in the good way, either. For the first half, the script is so consumed in its own motivations, that it never actually gets around to letting us in on what these motivations are.
I quite like writer Tony Grisoni, and I'm unfamiliar with the other writer, Brian Ward, but this script feels one big draft away from being ready. Catherine Zeta-Jones gives it her all, but her character never quite convinces. See, she's a destitute woman trying to raise her daughter under difficult conditions. She'll do just about anything for money, which usually involves conning members of the public. So when the mega-rich Harry Houdini turns up, appears to fall in love with her, and begins his wooing, she resists. Why? It's never made entirely clear.
For a lot of the running time, Houdini's attraction to Mary is quite inexplicable. When it's revealed why he's infatuated with her, it's a resolution to a mystery we didn't know was there. I wish it had been set up as a mystery, or that the film acknowledged that there was something going on there. Until we're given the "explanation", it just seems like poor characterisation. That left me torn between trying to watch the film and trying to go back through the film to unweave many of my initial problems, which were no longer problematic.
The motives of Houdini's manager Sugarman and Mary's daughter Benji are not quite as muddled, but nor are they crystal clear. This is not to say I'm adverse to some character depth -- I don't need everything spelled out -- but, as I said in the beginning, the way in which these character inconsistencies are presented makes us feel as if the writers know exactly what these characters are up to, and keep forgetting to tell us.
These are the problems that were most frustrating during the film, which is otherwise quite good. It's a bit frothy, but then it's supposed to be. Guy Pearce is terrific as Houdini, and Saoirse Ronan is very good as Zeta-Jones's daughter. (Apparently, Ronan was in ATONEMENT, and will be in CITY OF EMBER and THE LOVELY BONES, which is all good news based on her performance here.) Australian Gillian Armstrong does a great job with the direction, and I wish she'd go after more films in this vein -- it seems to bring out the best in her (keen-memoried readers will recall that I was not a big fan of her last film, the docu-drama UNFOLDING FLORENCE).
Not the work of genius that the talent involved may suggest, but still worth a look.
NEXT WEEK
- George Miller reveals the big changes he wanted to make to the now-halted JLA movie included the heroes not engaging with any villains, but simply waiting for their karmatic punishment in the POETIC JUSTICE LEAGUE
- Frank Oz to direct appropriately-named Native American actor Litefoot in progressive kids' movie sequel THE INDIAN IN THE CLOSET
Jack White cancels plans to appear in his own series of spy thrillers after receiving the screenplay for THE WHITE SUPREMACY
Peace out,
Latauro
AICNDownunder@hotmail.com
-
+ Expand All
-
It could happen.
-
Anyone?
-
Dewy Cox was terrible. Lust was good. The Chipmunks rocked. Where is that review guys?
-
kudos pal, I laughed pretty hard.
-
There once was a chipmunk movie that did not suck: The Chipmunk Adventure (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092752/). Why rape a perfectly good childhood memory by CGI-ing the shit out it?
-
Jan 21, 2008 9:38:53 AM CST
Cloverfield CAM torrent is out, CAM for a movie filmed with CAM
by orionsangels
-
confused.
-
And it's a shame that the ONLY thing critics wanted to talk about was the NC-17 nooky.
-
Here's to still believing you're right when the whole world tells you you're wrong. :^)
-
For 20 million it looked great. too bad they advertised it as a big blockbuster. I was expecting more. But they did a pretty good job of hiding the not-so-great FX. SHAKY CAM STILL SUCKS!
-
I thought it was 30 mill.. at any amount, I'm sure the product placement helped pay for the monster.
-
I don't get the hype. Generally from old critics who don't live in reality.
-
i dont totally love the score, but i think everything else is awesome.
-
Is that a joke? Am I missing something here?... Why the hell not, all these rapper/actors, and what not. Does Will Smith count as a rapper/actor? How about Ice Cube? This is a guy who use to be in NWA. ANd he never tried to do that thing where they try to start using the name their momma gave em. MOS DEF is the worst rapper/actor ever! He looks like he's always acting, and he sounds like he's always trying to act... black. Saw him on Bill Maher, and his performance as Mos Def was terrible.
-
And click that little red dot next to Under Construction for what will be hours of brain bending fanboy messing around with the construction cameras.
-
20 mins of people you couldn't give one shit about chatting about shit you couldn't care about, while shaky cam does its work.
and then you get to see the camera really shake and a sliver of a monster. repeat x4. 80 mins later, credits roll. -
Holly Jeebus Harry, WTF MAN?! I fucking LOATHED BLAIR WITCH, so why did I buy up all the hype surrounding this POS so called "movie" that everyone so desparetly wanted to not compare to BWP?
I walked out after 30min. I tried to give it a shot, it started out TERRIBLE and the Characters in this POS SUCKED.
You can't even call it a movie, call it a fucking Pre-Natal Abortion that never developed through. Call it what it really is, A FUCKING RIPOFF!
I'd be pissed for shelling out Cash for that POS Monster from Tippit, jeeebus man, FUCK HOLLYWOOD ONCE AGAIN for getting over, I hope everyone involved in this never works again in Hollywood.
Thank you very much for helping to whore this POS out, I hope you enjoy the nice big check you got from Abrams for your review.
Fuck Abrams and his next take on Star Trek, what an unoriginal HACK! I'll gladly skip anything he's attached to. Yes I'm dissapointed in Cuntfield because I thought it had potential from the ads. There was never any payoff and it was completely unwatchable, like someones bad wedding video, WTF!!! -
its the snake to my mongoose. Or, the mongoose to my snake. Either way, its bad...I dont know animals.
-
Bring it ON!!!
-
All of you who are dumping on this movie are just bitter, snobish chumps. The fact that many of you insult the look and lifestyles of the characters speaks volumes about you. Sorry you are evidently ugly and poor, but many of us are in fact attractive people with good jobs and nice homes. But go ahead and keep using your bitterness over your own short-comings as an excuse to dislike any movie featuring attractive people. This movie brought YOU into the heart of a situation where you didn't know all the facts and took you on a journey to do the right thing. Maybe it made you angry that pretty people weren't portrayed as the shallow creatures you think they always are. Sorry some of you who claim you can't stand Hollywood's formulaic rendering of virtually every topic have exposed yourselves as the bitter hypocrites you really are. I am sure many of you will swear up and down that 'The Host' was brilliant and this sucks, but all that says is you will reach as far as you can for self-validation. And to those of you insist you 'walked out', I say: Guess what? They still have your money and you are still a chump who went to see this knowing full-well you were going to walk out to try and make some stupid statement. The only statement you really made is that you are a bitter geek who claims to have a lock on what ought to be up on the big screen. Have a good weekend and enjoy watching 'The Brown Bunny' or whatever other crap you think is so 'genius'...
-
Because someone had an opinion on cloverfield. I love it when people yell at each other on the internet. Dance monkeys! Dance for me and entertain!!!
-
you win at the internet. anyone who doesnt think like you is ugly. happy?
but that doesn't change the disposable characters in a thin story with the backdrop of BWP meets Godzilla.
A Coen brothers script it aint. -
Nothing in either of those says anything substantive with regard to my observations as per the majority of the negative responses to the movie. How exactly would you have liked to give more depth to the characters without interupting the flow of the movie? The whole point is that you don't know everything about either the characters or the events. What is it exactly that you would have liked the movie to be?! And yes, you are actually right about this not being a Coen brothers' movie: This movie actually made sense in large part. Not that I don't enjoy their work, but come on...
-
"20 mins of people you couldn't give one shit about chatting about shit you couldn't care about, while shaky cam does its work.
and then you get to see the camera really shake and a sliver of a monster. repeat x4. 80 mins later, credits roll."
THIS is exactly what I am talking about. Why exactly do we 'not care about' these people right ff the bat, friend? The fact that they are attractive and have nice lives is somehow reason to hate them? If the camera work had been perfect, thia is the same guy who would have screamed bloody murder about how 'unrealistic' that was. Seeing a pattern here yet? You just can't win with some people. They grasp at any straw they can to hate something if it looks like they wouldn't have been invited to the party to begin with. Again: Bitter. Geeks.
-
"Seeing a pattern here yet?"
yeah, jj creates straightforward projects for uncomplicated people.
but there are people that consider michael bay a genius. i don't worry about the world's windmills. each to their own. -
I'd almost agree with you. I want to see Cloverfield bad (I'm in Ireland). Sadly you sound like a massive shithead! I'd nearly hate this movie just so I'm not associated with you.
This is a fucking class-war. Nobody likes yuppies. That's why I want to see them die. While I don't agree with Palewook, he doesn't have his head up his ass, which is something I respect. -
to deny disabled Vietnam veterans their benefits in: BOURNE IN THE U.S.A.I always have to throw one in the talkbacks, Latauro. thanks for the only really good Cloverfield review I've read, I agree 100% so much time and effort on the marketing and FX, you can't get ONE decent screenwriter for the dialogue? "you came back for me!" "yes, I did come back for you." "it is true, that is what you did" "indeed, you can see right now, that it has happened" vomit...and perhaps you can explain to me why geeks love James Marsden? he played Cyclops, but in my opinion, pretty woodenly, and that gets him a free pass?
-
loved cloverfield, liked juno, loved kite runner, how come nothing on that? also loved 2 days in paris.
-
he was a fucking pussy!
That's what happens when you put the focus on one character for pretty much all of the fucking movies.
I hated X-Men so much... -
I'd almost agree with you. I want to see Cloverfield bad (I'm in Ireland). Sadly you sound like a massive shithead! I'd nearly hate this movie just so I'm not associated with you. This is a fucking class-war. Nobody likes yuppies. That's why I want to see them die. While I don't agree with Palewook, he doesn't have his head up his ass, which is something I respect.
Um...I actually come from VERY humble stock and busted my ass to get into and finish law school so that I could have nice things, a sweet pad, and a comfortable retirement. Does that mean I am some yuppie who deserves to die?! Again, when the reason you hate a movie is because the people in it are out of your league and thus in your eyes wirthy of contemot, that's not an honest assessment of the film, it's you venting at your perceived impotence. Not my fault... -
Why must one film dominate all talkbacks! And in each and every talkback there's people screaming about how there's too much hype. Hello? You're making the hype! Don't like it? Don't see it! Don't talk about it. Get over it.
-
which completely ruined it, enough with that fucking folk bullshit please!
Cloverfield will be gone next week once the deeply divided opinion gets furthur out.. It really was shit. But then, people like Lost..who knows -
at least we know we're being presented with dumb yuppie scum who will deservedly die without pretending we're 'documenting' their hokey romance
-
Right there with you on Charlie Wilson's War. And Aaron Sorkin in general.
Fantastic film in all the right ways. -
Look you can spout any long ego-boosting sentence at me. I don't care. You sound like a douche. It's not what you're saying. It's how you're saying it. Stuck-up is the only word for it.
-
... because it's cool to hate yuppies, being that success is so damned contemptible. Personally, I thought they seemed like regular, run-of-the-mill twenty-somethings. No more shallow or deep than the next twenty-something with chicks on their mind.
I also thought that the logic flaws in Cloverfield (super indestructo-cam, finding a fully charged phone battery in an electronics store and convenient proximity to giant monster at all times) were kind of necessary evils in order to keep the narrative from being bogged down in irrelevancies. You have to balance these things with a level of verisimilitude that doesn't undercut the dramatic tension. As for shakey cam... well, you can either deal with it or you can't. Personally, I could deal with it. The one point where the camerawork really bugged me, however, was when they were caught between the monster and the army. I wanted to just grap the camera off Hud and point it at the fucking monster. It wasn't a perfect movie, but I thought it was a great, intense thrill ride. -
....you're the perfect explanation for why people hate those yuppies in Cloverfield, right off the bat. Because somewhere in their lives they've run into some stuck-up douche like you who thinks that everybody hates them (or should hate them) because in their deluded small little minds, they are "attractive" (yeah, right) and "successful". As opposed to hating them for what they really are, which is..... vain, shallow, stupid, vapid, stuck-up, douches......you know, like you.
-
i couldnt agree more. Fuck rutgersjaffo
http://tinyurl.com/pv8do -
Bragging about working hard so you can have "nice things" and a "sweet pad" pretty much makes you a yuppie, and kind of a dick on top of it.
Cloverfield was awesome, by the way, even if the characters were a bit cliche. The guys who wrote and directed the movie used to work on Felicity and Buffy. What do you expect? -
There's a shock. I was going to go with either that or advertising executive. The characters in the film are douchebags because they're douchebags, no because they're successful. In fact, beside the "main guy" who is moving to Japan, I don't even know that they were successful. Maybe there's some truth to the notion that the characters in this film are the type of people geeks on this site hate...not because they're successful but because they're the type of people they cast in Dockers commercials, go to business school and trade tapes of each other dating raping girls at the frat house. But I actually think that's what the filmmakers were going for.
-
hello is it any wonder we're all fucking doomed then if that's even vaguely typical of the vacuous fucks out there. I dont know anyone like that, i mean as in, i meet them and avoid them like the plague they are.
It's not envy of success you tool, its the revulsion of people play acting throughout their lives. -
Was it the way they risked theselves to travel across a city under attack to rescue a loved one? Or because they demonstrated interest in the opposite sex?
Exactly what behaviours characterised them as vacuous? I'd rather hang out with them than the toolbags on this site who predict suckage for films they haven't yet seen and whine about irrelevant tripe like flames on Optimus; where the Enterprise was constructed; or whether or not Greedo shot first. -
maybe we'll just hang out, play pool and talk about our stocks and the share price
-
Why are you here then?
-
that Greedo definitely shot first. That's how ballsy Solo is! He toyed with Greedo. Let him think he's got the upper hand and then BAM! he blasts the alien nuts off him!
-
What are you powers of perception that weeney that you didn't notice how delightfully perfect everyone was? How hokey the 'romance' was?
-
Evilgeek1 - I'm here to discuss movies.
Quantize - Were they "beautiful people"? Sure. But you and I have watched enough movies to know that's how it goes. Hokey Romance... probably... sure, but at the risk of sounding cliche, haven't you ever had one of those "one perfect days" that happens in the beginning of a relationship and is quickly forgotten in the ups and downs that follow?
Look, I'll admit, the character work wasn't perfect. But I don't think the characters were despicable either. I gotta say (at the risk of sounding like a pansy), it engaged me at the end, when the bombs were falling and Rob finally tells Beth he loves her - he'd fucked it up with her, and it took a giant fucking monster attack and imminent death to tell her how he felt. -
Do you think it makes you superior to these characters to make pithy judgements on people you don't know based on the opinion of one film? THAT'S vacuous.
-
to know you can cast people who dont look like the perfect 20 something's and it resonates a helluva a lot better, and in this case that would have added some credibility to the whole approach of the film, rather than completely distracting from it. It was a one trick film, but the trick was very poorly done. That's why i believe it was contrived (in a way it was patently trying not to by its very style and execution) and people should expect much better.
-
But that's the thing about expectations - they're very rarely met.
Although I reckon the type of naturalism they needed is something not a lot of actors can do right. So their reach exceeded their grasp in that respect. Same with the writer nailing completely naturalistic dialogue.
In the whole scheme of things, though, those things didn't ruin the movie for me. I thought it succeeded on just about every other level (IMO).
They had a red hot go of it and made a good, but not genre-defining film. -
was pretty meh...
I wanted to see more of the "Zombies"
Whatever.
Its a good thing Harry's wheelchairs e-brake was engaged when he was watching this.
-
Bad Mr Wonka: My James Marsden love comes from Enchanted. Moderately okay film, but one of my favourite performances of all time.Regarding Cloverfield, the point isn't that they're young, attractive and rich. The point is that they're young, attractive and rich INSTEAD of being interesting. Instead of giving us people who looked and sounded like they'd be in the real world (and I'm talking writing and performances here), we got characters who honestly looked like they'd walked off the set of Dawson's Creek. Filming them with a shakey cam doesn't make them "real". Also, if they'd been intentionally unlikeable -- ie: if we were supposed to want to watch them die -- there would have been a lot more moral ambiguity, instead of wall-to-wall heroics.
-
The monster was generic. I hard a lot of people proclaiing that it looked crazy or something, indescribable even... BULLSHIT!!! I've seen way way WAY freakier designs in manga and anime episodes!!! The look of the monster is a giant letdown... that said, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie! But yeah the shaky cam can get annoying at times... but hell it's still better than Bourne Supremacy. Frankly I'm down for proping money down to get an actual standard movie about the Cloverfield events and mysteries. Or even some more found videos or new clips or military footage that actually flesh out the story behind the monster, you know, something inventive...
-
One great purge and its goodbye to unemployment checks and social security........and dunkin doughnuts.
-
"Again, when the reason you hate a movie is because the people in it are out of your league and thus in your eyes wirthy of contemot, that's not an honest assessment of the film, it's you venting at your perceived impotence." awwww...look at you trying to be a smart guy...well Rutts, nice try, you get a star next to your name today in class. Notice you're the elitist that brought up the classism in this. I just thought the actors were bland and couldn't act their way out of a Burger King (insert corporate movie tie in sponsor here) Bag.
I have a degree and work at UCLA in the medical field and make nice dough (ooh he said "dough", that means he's not educated..oooh wowzers) there! I love all the beautiful smart women that I have the pleasure to work with there as well, but I haven't forgotten where I've come from,..."Humble Stock" LMFAO!!! You're as subtle and humble as a fucking train wreck.
That being said, 10bucks is 10bucks, and I'm pissed that I contributed to this POS "movie". No hard feelings though Jerkoff, enjoy your latte and michael bolton cd's. -
Who says they aren't real, who says people don't act like that, there's 250 million americans, who says 4 of them aren't like that. From what I recall you're a Melbourne boy from a trendy suburb like Northcote or Brunswick.
-
only pretty yuppies can
-
Well, I'm not from a trendy suburb, but exactly how would that invalidate my opinion? I'm perfectly aware that people like that actually exist, but nothing they did or said was remotely interesting, so why make them the central characters? And again, I have zero problem with the characters being attractive, rich and young, and honestly, I don't really have a problem with them being annoying, but none of it felt real. It all felt like dialogue from a Dawson/OC show. The actors didn't sound like they were speaking naturally; they sounded like they were trying to make obviously scripted dialogue sound like it was natural. For a film whose central premise relies on you believing you're watching genuine camcorder footage, it's thoroughly self-defeating.
-
There's a lot of people who are getting up and leaving this show, because of the motion sickness that it causes. I'm one of them and left after 30 minutes. Theaters in LA are handing out barf bags now. I really didn't think that it was a good movie anyway, mainly because the characters were unlikeable from the very beginning.
-
and a dickwad
-
interesting talkbacks... I mean, I'm sitting here and actually reading some argument about classwars, and yuppies who work at UCLA and lawyers and shit. That's so tacky. Let's keep it clean, folks, and let's discuss shit that's pertinent. And you're wrong about Han, EG. But that's exactly why Han is so damn cool.
-
have we been sucked back into the 80's? who cares? Surely the fact that they are (from all accounts) vapid, 2 dimensional cardboard cut out characters is more relevant. And Laturo, that stallone question you submitted is fucking shameful and a complete waste of one of our precious chances to ask something good.
-
A yuppie could never have the emotional range and deep awareness like some of you fat fucks.
-
Shit man, I apologise so much. See, when Harry said we could ask Stallone anything we wanted, what I read was "Here's the chance to deprive someone else of a question that they may want to ask!". I've been wanting to know for years if the rumour was true. Now I know, as do many others. There's nothing shameful about it. Conversely, there's something mildly pathetic about you trying to call me out on two separate talkback boards because you personally didn't like the question. But hey, if you want to hear for the fiftieth time how hard his workout routine is, or what he thinks of other action movies/stars, there's yet another round of them. Don't get pissy at me because your question didn't get picked.
-
So sorry about that. I didn't see your earlier reply. May I refer you back to the Stallone TB.
-
yours was just worse.
-
...I have never consumed a latte in my entire life, was born and raised in a trailer park, and much prefer Judas Priest and Iron Maiden to Michael 'assclown' Bolton. But keep blasting me for being successful. It bolsters my point about hating people you were never allowed to hang with--be they real or imagined--over and over again. Lattes?! That's really what you have been reduced to? Again, for people who claim to want something different, you sure seem to be crying a lot because you 'Didn't see the monster enough'. Loved Godzilla I guess?
-
'Yuppies'...that's really rich. Hey, while we're living in the past, can I live in 1840? The Wild West was sooooo cool!
-
I am with him on this. I too am sick of people blasting this movie, while citing almost retarded examples. Almost all of the blasting that is mentioned, centers around one of three things.
Yuppies
Comparison to 9-11 by oversensitive pieces of unartistic shit.
Attempting to compare this to other monster movies.
You will fail everytime when you try to slam this movie without throwing some really great logic behind it. Sure, everyone is entitled to their opinion but everything that Rutgers is responding too was pretty assinine to begin with.
The record setting numbers at the box office show that this movie had enough pep to draw a crowd. People who bash this really have no intellect in the world of high concept. Sure, a monster movie isn't very high concept, but the way in which it was executed was. Anyone who works on a lot, even the janitors, will tell you that high concept is the only thing that someone can truly bank on these days. Try writing a spec, or producing anything with a low end concept and watch the script get trashed, or you funds dry up like Bea Arthur's snatch.
It's time to wake and smell the crab-cakes, fellas. Cloverfield is money, and anyone who says otherwise is "dictating"* themselves.
*Exerpt from Goonies...couldn't help it. -
It's always good to know that I am not jousting at windmills as it were and that yes there are in fact other intelligent people going to see movies. Nice Goonies reference too, still waiting to see if the sequel rumors pan-out!
-
those faggots who get motion sickness from a movie and the homos who still insist that the guy was saying, "Lion."
Here is the audio, slowed and filtered to prove he says ALIVE: http://tinyurl.com/dnm7v
Goonies sequel was shitcanned, or at least put on hold for now. The story idea was weak, and thought through even less. Last I heard...dead. -
Well, at least I can still pray they bring Deadwood back for a big finish...
-
"Anyone who works on a lot, even the janitors, will tell you that high concept is the only thing that someone can truly bank on these days"...wow, that's a deplorable statement, but accurate though because it shows how stupid american audiences have become, don't even try to argue this point, shut up and sit down. So then I guess what you're saying to justify your misguided thoughts is that all movies that make a ton of cash are good then? Great argument from you guys, no really, pat yourselves on the back for that...sounds about as serious as "my older brother could beat up your older brother" in the school yard. Either way you people will always win due to that type of idiotic mentally when you start bringing your own ideals into a movie review chat room about a shitty ass monster "high-concept-LMFAO-movie".
Can't wait for the shocking new HIGH CONCEPT scenes Abrams and Lucas bring with the new Star Trek, I heard the Enterprise Crew will be stopping by Jabbas Palace for some Beer n Chicks, and that they plan on "Rastafying" Spock with some Dreadlocks and making a CG Poochy the Dog sidekick for Sulu to get him to chillthefuck out...now that's cool hip and extreme for todays market! -
I have heard that tune before. Too many times...from the same washout hacks that never could make it. The guys who couldn't even come out with something that The Asylum would create. It's okay, guy. Let it go, and retreat into the peace that is your mediocre life.
The fact remains that while a lot of the movies that come out are weak and lame, the ones that thrive, create buzz and get people juiced are all high-concept. Plain and simple. Anyone who doubts that is one of the many Hollywood Inepts who squander their days bashing movies that are better than anything they could create, and people far mor talented than they will ever be. I pity you, but not long enough to waste any time. -
OMG LMFAO!!!
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- Whitney Houston 1963 - 2012 -- 383 total posts 380 posts
- New JUDGE DREDD post production footage pops up -- 111 total posts 111 posts
- WTF HOLLYWOOD: SOLARBABIES -- 75 total posts 73 posts
- HANNA's Saoirse Ronan to boss around seven little people -- 71 total posts 68 posts
- Does ‘SNL’ Rhyme With ‘Deschanel’?? Learn Which SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Vet Hosts After Sexy Zooey!! -- 77 total posts 55 posts
- If the Behind the Scenes Pics of the Day drops her pen, pick it up, but don’t look at her legs or else it will be on your record. -- 54 total posts 48 posts
- There's a STAR TREK video game that is going to lead into JJ's STAR TREK 2 apparently... -- 165 total posts 41 posts
- Herc’s Seen Tonight’s Return Of THE WALKING DEAD!! Discuss Also DOWNTON ABBEY, FEAR FACTOR, PAN AM, ONCE, SIMPSONS, DYNAMITE, LUCK, SHAMELESS, BAIT CAR, THE GRAMMYS And More!! Sunday Is Sweeps Day 11!! -- 41 total posts 41 posts
- To Commemorate The 3D Release Of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, George Lucas Wants You To Know...Greedo Shoots First!! -- 500 total posts 35 posts
- Avid Comic Reader Hercules Does Battle With Tedium During Kevin Smith’s COMIC BOOK MEN! -- 28 total posts 28 posts