New/Rented Movies: Have Mercy on Michael Bay's Soul, He Knows Not What He Does

[bigblue_dl]

Re: New/Rented Movies: Have Mercy on Michael Bay's Soul, He Knows Not What He Does

Just got done with Martha Marcy May Marlene. Pretty good movie. It really shows the scary inner workings of a cult and how they hook people. Another plus is Elizabeth Olsen regularly gets naked and she's much, much better looking than her sisters. She's pretty good at acting also.

 

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Re: New/Rented Movies: Have Mercy on Michael Bay's Soul, He Knows Not What He Does

Mrs. EoDS just read and loved The Hunger Games, so we wound up seeing that this weekend.

I was kind of dreading a repeat of the Twilight phenomena, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked the movie. There are a lot of details that I thought would be worth expanding upon* that Mrs. EoDS told me are actually part of the book. So, although there were parts of the movie that felt thin to me, I did still walk away feeling like there was a pretty big story in there. To put it another way, my experience of watching it was more like watching the Harry Potter movies (where you get the feeling that there's more going on than what the producers were willing to pay to have in the movie) than watching the Twilight movies (which are just incredibly stupid).

Also, there are a lot of little good cinematic moments in there that helped flesh the whole thing out. The Game Maker's implied execution probably tops the list of those moments.

* By my count, they are: Day-to-day life in District 12; Katniss' role in said day-to-day life; Why people make such a big deal about things like loaves of bread (presumably, this has to do with the "Hunger" portion of the title); the Peeta/Katniss backstory; the garish/vain aspects of the Capitol and why that feeds into the reality-TV-on-steroids/Running Man/Battle Royale element of the event and the culture

 

[busterman62]

Re: New/Rented Movies: Have Mercy on Michael Bay's Soul, He Knows Not What He Does

Hockey Flick! --> Goon

Looks like this one is being released to theaters on March 30, but available “On Demand” now. Checked my Time Warner “On Demand” menu, and sure enough... Goon is listed (in HD) at $9.99 for 48hrs.

Has anyone watch Goon yet? Looks interesting... I may just have to check it out this weekend, but I have a strong feeling I am going to have suppress any pre-conceived negative opinions that may exist resulting from obvious comparisons to Slapshot.

Watched it last night after taping it from a free preview on one of the movie channels. Worth the effort to see. I laughed out loud which is something I don't usually do while watching movies. Told my son to watch it and he & his friends were laughing just as hard as I did. Don't worry about the comparison to Slapshot, any hockey fan with a sense of humor (especially if it's dark) should see this flick.

 

[French Rage]

Re: New/Rented Movies: Have Mercy on Michael Bay's Soul, He Knows Not What He Does

My girlfriend and I have been using Netflix to watch a lot of the old classics to see how they are. We've liked pretty much all of them we've seen so far: It Happened One Night, Casablanca, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, All About Eve, Sunset Boulevard. But The Philadelphia Story suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucked. Can someone explain why it's so highly regarded?

My personal favorites of that list were It Happened One Night and Mr. Smith.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: New/Rented Movies: Have Mercy on Michael Bay's Soul, He Knows Not What He Does

My girlfriend and I have been using Netflix to watch a lot of the old classics to see how they are. We've liked pretty much all of them we've seen so far: It Happened One Night, Casablanca, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, All About Eve, Sunset Boulevard. But The Philadelphia Story suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucked. Can someone explain why it's so highly regarded?

My personal favorites of that list were It Happened One Night and Mr. Smith.

I've seen all those as well. My favorite from that list would be Sunset Boulevard, but they're all very good. I loved The Philadelphia Story myself. You'd have to be more specific as to why you didn't like it. It's a classic romantic comedy. Much better than what they try to pass as one today.

 

[Slap Shot]

Re: New/Rented Movies: Have Mercy on Michael Bay's Soul, He Knows Not What He Does

I couldn't stand Mr. Smith when I saw it 20 years ago - couldn't tell you why now.

 

[duper]

Re: New/Rented Movies: Have Mercy on Michael Bay's Soul, He Knows Not What He Does

In HS I watched odds and ends of Bogart movies here and there, and uniformly loathed them. Finally watched Casablanca a few years ago, then The Maltese Falcon and The African Queen not long after. I didn't know what I was missing.

Oh and Brent, I checked out The Apartment the other day. I dug it.

 

[The Rube]

Re: New/Rented Movies: Have Mercy on Michael Bay's Soul, He Knows Not What He Does

In HS I watched odds and ends of Bogart movies here and there, and uniformly loathed them. Finally watched Casablanca a few years ago, then The Maltese Falcon and The African Queen not long after. I didn't know what I was missing.

Oh and Brent, I checked out The Apartment the other day. I dug it.

I still have to check out those movies you recommended. I might start on them on Friday night.

Saw "Moneyball" last night. It was a solid movie, but nothing spectacular. For anyone who knows baseball, the SABR-metrics specifics were pretty much non-existant. It was just "because the numbers say so" sort of thing, instead of a couple examples here and there.

 

[state of hockey]

Re: New/Rented Movies: Have Mercy on Michael Bay's Soul, He Knows Not What He Does

That because most people just don't give a rip about finite stats, regardless of their importance. Which is why it took Blyleven forever to make the hall.

 

[The Rube]

Re: New/Rented Movies: Have Mercy on Michael Bay's Soul, He Knows Not What He Does

That because most people just don't give a rip about finite stats, regardless of their importance. Which is why it took Blyleven forever to make the hall.

Well, it's part of the main plot of the movie; that's why it's called "Moneyball." One would think they would say "Joe should get the start over Jim because his OPS is higher" (and explain OPS, it's not that tedious of a stat).

 

[REDaero91]

Re: New/Rented Movies: Have Mercy on Michael Bay's Soul, He Knows Not What He Does

My girlfriend and I have been using Netflix to watch a lot of the old classics to see how they are. We've liked pretty much all of them we've seen so far: It Happened One Night, Casablanca, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, All About Eve, Sunset Boulevard. But The Philadelphia Story suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucked. Can someone explain why it's so highly regarded?

My personal favorites of that list were It Happened One Night and Mr. Smith.

Glad to know I'm not the only one who doesn't really like The Philadelphia Story! I find the main characters kind of grating and childish, and the whole situation just becomes annoying after a while.

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: New/Rented Movies: Have Mercy on Michael Bay's Soul, He Knows Not What He Does

Well, it's part of the main plot of the movie; that's why it's called "Moneyball." One would think they would say "Joe should get the start over Jim because his OPS is higher" (and explain OPS, it's not that tedious of a stat).

Why would they explain it when the two characters in the movie already should know that definition. It would seem forced. For the people watching the movie, if you care what OPS is, you already know what it is, if you don't care, you're just there for the storytelling, and not in-depth baseball stats.

 

[Kepler]

Re: New/Rented Movies: Have Mercy on Michael Bay's Soul, He Knows Not What He Does

My girlfriend and I have been using Netflix to watch a lot of the old classics to see how they are. We've liked pretty much all of them we've seen so far: It Happened One Night, Casablanca, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, All About Eve, Sunset Boulevard. But The Philadelphia Story suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucked. Can someone explain why it's so highly regarded?

Well, I can explain why I love The Philadelphia Story. It's entirely about mood -- every time I see it I wind up happier than when I started watching it. I don't like Katherine Hepburn usually, but she's perfect in that movie. I think there is also something very true about love in the relationship between Hepburn and Grant. Something tired and exasperated but wistful. Most movies do not really come to grips with how love is the surrender of self, and that if you've loved long enough you've worn grooves into each other, whether you wanted to or not. Anyway, it strikes me as more true and substantial every time I see it.

One thing about the movies that you liked (all of which I really love) is they have very strong, driving dramatic plots. TPS just meanders along, quietly. So you may simply not like that basically Nothing Happens. Have you ever seen "Smiles of a Summer Night"? That's probably my favorite romantic comedy, and it's aimless and atmospheric very much like TPS.

My advice is, if you don't like it, don't watch it.

 

[RaceBoarder]

Re: New/Rented Movies: Have Mercy on Michael Bay's Soul, He Knows Not What He Does

Just a month till The Avengers comes out.... Haven't been looking forward to a movie this much since the Simpson's movie came out.... I'm not expecting an Oscar, but I think that the movies leading up to this have been entertaining popcorn flicks... Can't wait...

 

[Kepler]

Re: New/Rented Movies: Have Mercy on Michael Bay's Soul, He Knows Not What He Does

Whenever anybody says "The Avengers" I'm always disappointed it's not this.

 

[Proud2baLaker]

Re: New/Rented Movies: Have Mercy on Michael Bay's Soul, He Knows Not What He Does

Just a month till The Avengers comes out.... Haven't been looking forward to a movie this much since the Simpson's movie came out.... I'm not expecting an Oscar, but I think that the movies leading up to this have been entertaining popcorn flicks... Can't wait...

Some how I had overlooked The Avengers until recently when I saw some ads on TV. I would include it in my short list of movies I actually might go see in theaters this year along with Prometheus and Dark Knight Rises.

 

[French Rage]

Re: New/Rented Movies: Have Mercy on Michael Bay's Soul, He Knows Not What He Does

One thing about the movies that you liked (all of which I really love) is they have very strong, driving dramatic plots. TPS just meanders along, quietly. So you may simply not like that basically Nothing Happens. Have you ever seen "Smiles of a Summer Night"? That's probably my favorite romantic comedy, and it's aimless and atmospheric very much like TPS.

I think that's largely it. I don't get a sense for much happening. And it keeps jumping back and forth in mood; at times it's a wacky comedy and at times it's more dramatic, and while in many movies each mood complements and strengthens the others, here it feels like it's jerked from one to the other and they're spliced together. And I know this will make me some like an unkempt youngster who wants explosions everywhere, but there's too many scenes where they talk about nothing to me; I'm not saying that a movie needs to be action Action ACTION, but it should feel like conversation the characters are having has a point, rather than just being put in there to fill five minutes or so here or there.

Maybe I need to watch it again having an idea what to expect to see if it flows better. Plus I was tired the first time I saw it, and that usually doesn't help.

 

[Kepler]

Re: New/Rented Movies: Have Mercy on Michael Bay's Soul, He Knows Not What He Does

And I know this will make me some like an unkempt youngster who wants explosions everywhere, but there's too many scenes where they talk about nothing to me; I'm not saying that a movie needs to be action Action ACTION, but it should feel like conversation the characters are having has a point, rather than just being put in there to fill five minutes or so here or there.

I understand that feeling that sometimes dialog seems to be there just to show us how sensitive or ironic the filmmaker thinks he is. I wish I could cut the dialog track from every Werner Herzog movie (watching them in a language you don't know makes his movies 100x better). But for whatever reason I don't get that antsy "gay cowboys eating pudding" feeling from TPS.

I *do* get it from African Queen, funnily enough. There's a classic that does nothing for me after the first reel.

 

[aparch]

My girlfriend and I have been using Netflix to watch a lot of the old classics to see how they are. We've liked pretty much all of them we've seen so far: It Happened One Night, Casablanca, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, All About Eve, Sunset Boulevard. But The Philadelphia Story suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucked. Can someone explain why it's so highly regarded?

My personal favorites of that list were It Happened One Night and Mr. Smith.

Not sure how a few others feel about it, but if you liked Mr. Smith, you may like Anatomy of a Murder. The movie is a little long, but it's the most real court room drama ever. Makes A Few Good Men seem simple. A lot of scenic shots and good dialog too in Anatomy. Jimmy Stewart plays a down on his luck backwoods lawyer who has to defend an army soldier from a murder rap.

First film to discuss rape as a central plot point (and was almost banned from being shown in Chicago forthe debut).

It's one of the only "classics" I own. (I hang my head in shame)

 

[Kepler]

Re: New/Rented Movies: Have Mercy on Michael Bay's Soul, He Knows Not What He Does

First film to discuss rape as a central plot point

Oh how they forget! There were many pre-code movies that either alluded to or explicitly used rape as a plot element.

"That doesn't speak very well for me, madam." Tod Slaughter is one of the greatest forgotten Ham Actors of all time. He was Vincent Price and Snidely Whiplash rolled into one.

BTW, I highly recommend any of Slaughter's great performances for anyone who wants to see what 19th century Grand Guignol was like on stage. I defy anybody to not hiss his villains.