General Movie Thread

[mostlymeat]

The Cabin in the Woods is fantastic. If you're even a little bit interested, avoid all information and head immediately to the theater. It's so much fun I didn't even mind the three old ladies chatting who sat directly behind me despite the entire theater being empty and ultimately they grew audibly to hate the movie!

It's a very love/hate kind of movie. I loved it.

Cabin in the Woods was incredible. I've been calling it a MASTERPIECE (though MONSTERPIECE is maybe more appropriate) and will probably see it again in theaters. Hilarious and frightening in equal measure, with great tunes to tie it all together. GO SEE THIS ONE!!!

[fonpr]

GO SEE THIS ONE!!!

W.W.O.T.?

[Crusherkc]

The Cabin in the Woods is fantastic. If you're even a little bit interested, avoid all information and head immediately to the theater. It's so much fun I didn't even mind the three old ladies chatting who sat directly behind me despite the entire theater being empty and ultimately they grew audibly to hate the movie!
It's a very love/hate kind of movie. I loved it.

Cabin in the Woods was incredible. I've been calling it a MASTERPIECE (though MONSTERPIECE is maybe more appropriate) and will probably see it again in theaters. Hilarious and frightening in equal measure, with great tunes to tie it all together. GO SEE THIS ONE!!!

I'm with the three old ladies on this one, man.  Not on board the Joss Whedon Express. Inside jokes, genre references, and special guest appearances alone do not a story make.  It started off promising and had a fantastic ending, I'll give it that.

[crumbum]

The Cabin in the Woods is fantastic. If you're even a little bit interested, avoid all information and head immediately to the theater. It's so much fun I didn't even mind the three old ladies chatting who sat directly behind me despite the entire theater being empty and ultimately they grew audibly to hate the movie!
It's a very love/hate kind of movie. I loved it.

Cabin in the Woods was incredible. I've been calling it a MASTERPIECE (though MONSTERPIECE is maybe more appropriate) and will probably see it again in theaters. Hilarious and frightening in equal measure, with great tunes to tie it all together. GO SEE THIS ONE!!!

I'm with the three old ladies on this one, man.  Not on board the Joss Whedon Express. Inside jokes, genre references, and special guest appearances alone do not a story make.  It started off promising and had a fantastic ending, I'll give it that.

I enjoyed it quite a bit, especially the third act, but in hindsight I've been souring on it. The straight-ahead slasher stuff was rote and boring, and I found the overall structure confounding. I'm genuinely puzzled as to why people are talking about it in terms of twists and surprises, since the 'secret' is revealed very early (with some blanks filled in later on) and the only real shock is the comically over the top gore at the end (the only part I would actually want to see again). Most of it however was neither scary nor funny to me, and rather than subverting the conventions of the slasher genre, it just kind of points to them.

[cavorting with nudists]

Saw Von Stroheim's Greed in a crystalline new print at Film Forum last night. Those who concur with Tom that old movies stink will not care. But I note it here for what must be the coolest director's credit ever: "Personally Directed by Eric von Stroheim." Now that's style!

[cavorting with nudists]

Also just let me note--and if you've seen Greed you'll know what I'm talking about--that the last 20 minutes made me think of po' Chris Gethard.

[mostlymeat]

MIAMI CONNECTION

Lost classic from 1987 about a rock band in Orlando, Fl whose members are also black belt Tae Kwon Do. They get into some trouble when they replace the house band at an orlando bar, and the two bands have a big fight. They also get in trouble when the sister of a criminal joins the band and falls for their gangly bassist. The criminal has ties to a group of biker ninjas in miami, so they have to fight them, too.

This is a very badly made movie that succeeds on so many levels it almost feels trancendant. While most "bad" movies are tedious, this one is engaging for every single minute and when it's over you wonder how it could have gone by so fast. The screening in SF was marred by hecklers but if this movie ever comes to your town I highly recommend seeing it.

-AG

[iAmBaronVonTito]

i didn't bother to see if Savages has been discussed, but i watched this recently and although i loved the movie, i had absolutely NO sympathy for the blake lively character.

who would sympathize with that??
...with the exception of the video that gets shown to her at the end.

[Barry in Ireland]

Argo.

Pretty good! John Goodman and Alan Arkin could act the phonebook and I'd watch it. Suffers from Affleck's tendency to crowbar in unnecessary human interest into stories that don't need them (cf. the last scene of The Town ), but very compelling and genuinely tense at times.

I give it 4 Barry In Irelands out of 5.

[JonFromMaplewood]

I keep starting Into the Abyss and then getting interrupted.

So far, so bleak.

[Greggulator]

The two movies I have seen the past few months since I never go to the movies:

Lincoln This was really good for a mainstream historic biopic made by Spielberg. Hats off from this history nerd for making it about the political drama behind the 13th Amendment, showing how Lincoln had to get dirty to get the deal done, etc. Daniel Day Lewis is going to win about 5,000 awards for this. He's really good although it's not as epic a role as Daniel Plainview. The movie also allowed for there to be a lot of screentime for Tommy Lee Jones' character and to develop the relationships and interests of the various factions involved in the political squabbling. There was one downside to this movie, however, and that's the presence of James Spader. I have not held an opinion on James Spader one way or the other throughout our entire relationship. He's absolutely terrible in the supporting role he has. It's embarrassing to watch.

Taken 2 So I didn't work for a few months and had a depressive episode. I went up to stay with my parents for a weekend for a change of scenery.  When you're 34 and unemployed and your parents ask if you want to see Taken 2, you don't say no. This is ESPECIALLY true if you get to go to a movie like this with my father, whose favorite genre of film is "Rage-fuled revenge." My dad owns something like 300 DVDs and almost all of them (I think he owns Meet The Fockers) contain revenge as a major thematic component.

I was a little worried going into the movie that I wouldn't get the subtle nuances since I didn't see Taken. However, by the time a teenage girl was tossing grenades around Istanbul without any penalty, I was sold. Taken 2 was really great and dumb. It also had one of the strangest little scenes ever in any movie. SPOILERS! -- At the end of the movie, Liam Nesson and his family are getting ice cream. They are joined late by the daughter's new boyfriend. The family all ordered chocolate ice cream but got the boyfriend strawberry. WHAT IS THE FILMMAKER TRYING TO SAY WITH THIS CHOICE?

[masterofsparks]

Taken 2 So I didn't work for a few months and had a depressive episode. I went up to stay with my parents for a weekend for a change of scenery.  When you're 34 and unemployed and your parents ask if you want to see Taken 2, you don't say no. This is ESPECIALLY true if you get to go to a movie like this with my father, whose favorite genre of film is "Rage-fuled revenge." My dad owns something like 300 DVDs and almost all of them (I think he owns Meet The Fockers) contain revenge as a major thematic component.

I was a little worried going into the movie that I wouldn't get the subtle nuances since I didn't see Taken. However, by the time a teenage girl was tossing grenades around Istanbul without any penalty, I was sold. Taken 2 was really great and dumb. It also had one of the strangest little scenes ever in any movie. SPOILERS! -- At the end of the movie, Liam Nesson and his family are getting ice cream. They are joined late by the daughter's new boyfriend. The family all ordered chocolate ice cream but got the boyfriend strawberry. WHAT IS THE FILMMAKER TRYING TO SAY WITH THIS CHOICE?

I haven't seen Taken 2 but I can recommend the first one, especially since it seemed like you enjoyed the second one. It definitely fits into the "dumb junky action thriller set in a European city" genre that seems to be Luc Besson's life's work. I went into Taken having heard Mark Kermode's review, which said something along the lines of "This movie is Liam Neeson kneeing foreigners in the face for 90 minutes." It delivered on that promise.

[Bryan]

Yeah, I would have really liked Taken, but I found it unsettling that the ticking time bomb element was that the virgin teenage daughter gets raped by sinister arabs if Liam Neeson takes too long to beat up Europe.

[Omar]

Best film of 2012:

http://imposterfilm.com/

[dave from knoxville]

Best film of 2012:

http://imposterfilm.com/

Is this a sincere recommendation, Omar?