General Movie Thread

[dave from knoxville]

Speaking of which, I had kind of a Kevin-Spacey-in-"American-Beauty" moment last night. I'd been doing the respectable thing for too long! The Man can't keep me down any more! Still a rebel!

I went to see Drive Angry Shot in 3D.

Let me put it this way: There is one very good reason to see this movie. For the rest of your life, every movie you see will seem like a masterpiece.

It always bothered me about 'American Beauty' that the story is 'he rebels, then HE DIES!' (spoiler alert). It implies an extra level of hopelessness as to one's ability to change their life, when actually people do manage to do that sometimes. That wasn't the story they were trying to tell, though, I know.

I think this is the danger in reading/watching one story and trying to apply it to every case. It's made storywriters gun-shy. "What if this left-handed guy is painted as a sociopath? Won't the Legion of Left-Handed People come after me?"

[Steve of Bloomington]

Well in your case Dave, you probably have your hands full countering the 'all mathematicians are nuts' stereotype...

[Bryan]

I wasn't that interested in Drive Angry 3D at first, but am I to understand that Nic Cage literally breaks out of hell in this?

Yeah, I'm with you on this. I've only read bad things about it, but they've all managed to make it sound like the most awesome movie ever made.

But it's no fun, huh?

[cavorting with nudists]

I wasn't that interested in Drive Angry 3D at first, but am I to understand that Nic Cage literally breaks out of hell in this?

Yeah, I'm with you on this. I've only read bad things about it, but they've all managed to make it sound like the most awesome movie ever made.

But it's no fun, huh?

Have you ever seen that Tony Millionaire cartoon where a guy with a thousand-yard stare is sort of manically laughing to himself "Ha Ha Ha Ha" and another guy asks him what's so funny and he says something like "Oh, I was just laughing at the putrid cesspool of futility that is existence"?  Well, if it's fun at all, it's the kind of fun that guy was having.

[Christina]

Finally saw Social Network last night. Did I miss something?

[SJK]

No.

[masterofsparks]

Finally saw Social Network last night. Did I miss something?

I liked it more the second time. It took me a little while to get used to the rapidspeak. There were times when I felt like an editor actually took out spaces in between words.

[Pidgeon]

I was all set to hate it after that obnoxious opening scene, but it was pretty good after that.

[cavorting with nudists]

Finally saw Social Network last night. Did I miss something?

Unless you say what you saw, it's hard to say what you missed, but I thought it was very fine.

[dave from knoxville]

I was all set to hate it after that obnoxious opening scene, but it was pretty good after that.

I loved the opening 15 minutes, then thought it lost momentum

[masterofsparks]

I was all set to hate it after that obnoxious opening scene, but it was pretty good after that.

I loved the opening 15 minutes, then thought it lost momentum

I really liked the whole thing, including the opening scene.

[buffcoat]

8/10.  I really liked it, for a modern day major theatrical release.

[Christina]

I didn't hate it by any means, I'm just really surprised that it got such effusive praise and an Oscar nomination.

[Joe Rogaine]

Finally saw Social Network last night. Did I miss something?

I liked it more the second time. It took me a little while to get used to the rapidspeak. There were times when I felt like an editor actually took out spaces in between words.

I liked the first scene but it threw me off for a second i was worried the whole film was going to be like an episode of Gilmore Girls.

[Kormod]

One problem I had with the Social Network was that it seemed as though "Mark Zuckerberg" was what Aaron Sorkin would be like if he were Mark Zuckerberg, rather than what Mark Zuckerberg is like in real life. From interviews I've watched, Zuckerberg doesn't seem like his movie version at all -- he's inarticulate, nervous, and kind of dull. Compare these videos:

Mark Zuckerberg gets hot under the collar over your privacy issues and sweats
The Social Network clip - Rain
The real-life Zuckerberg is a boring nerd, not some Aaron Sorkin witty-line machine. Changing the guy's personality might have made the movie more entertaining, but -- maybe I'm alone on this -- I would have preferred to see a movie about the real Zuckerberg, even if he is an uninteresting schlub.