Chasing Amy is my favorite Kevin Smith movie because it's so uncomfortable, and that tension forces the characters to reassess their relationships. Also, no Hollywood ending. Also, Jason Lee is awesome.
any time there's a plot where a homosexual (especially a lesbian) turns straight for the main character kinda feels a little...uncomfortable.
In one of the "An Evening with Kevin Smith" DVDs, he takes a question from a lesbian in the audience calling him out on this. If I remember correctly, they have a fairly long conversation about it. While I agree that this sort of situation is often used exploitatively in the media, Smith's explanation of his intentions, at least, were pretty satisfying to me.
I thought Super 8 was awful. (no spoilers other than the most basic of plot points) So many parts of the story wound up being irrelevant. The characters did not inspire compassion. It felt like a boring retread of the worst parts of a bunch of 1980's movies. In ET, you actually cared about the alien. In Aliens, you were truly scared. In Stand By Me, you actually cared about the kids. Attempts to establish compassion were forced, cliched, and undeveloped. So many behaviors of the characters defied logic. So many plot points were gratuitous.
The movie was seriously terrible. The only positive thing I have to say is that it was visually fun.
J. J. Abrams is the most overrated person in Hollywood. Period.
I watched The Adjustment Bureau the other day. I was expecting a stupid conspiracy movie. I really enjoyed it, even though it was completely bonkers. The love story aspect was the thing that drove the story, not the conspiracy. Normally the conspiracy is the most important thing in such a movie, but it is an inhuman force. In this movie it was both inhuman and non-human, so I just went with the stupidity of it, rather than in most conspiracy movies where I just wonder if everyone is an incompetent psycho.
Just watched Love and Other Drugs tonight. Absolutely loved it. Rarely have I ever seen a relationship in a movie as real as the one in this film. I don't know if it's because of the fact that I miss my own girl a lot, but it really affected me. Highly recommend. Especially if you want to see Anne Hathaway naked, cause she does that a lot.
On Netflix instant I watched The Right Stuff which is about the U.S. space program circa 1947-1963. Very well paced movie for 3+ hours. Next on the list is my late Uncle Ralph's favorite movie Apollo 13, which is memorable because I went to the evening premier with my dad, Ralph and Uncle Lloyd. Uncle Ralph worked for NASA at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville. During the scene where they are trying to make an oxygen scrubber out of what is on the spacecraft, my Uncle Ralph, who I had never heard curse said, "Damn sure as shit they will."
I thought Super 8 was awful. (no spoilers other than the most basic of plot points) So many parts of the story wound up being irrelevant. The characters did not inspire compassion. It felt like a boring retread of the worst parts of a bunch of 1980's movies. In ET, you actually cared about the alien. In Aliens, you were truly scared. In Stand By Me, you actually cared about the kids. Attempts to establish compassion were forced, cliched, and undeveloped. So many behaviors of the characters defied logic. So many plot points were gratuitous.
The movie was seriously terrible. The only positive thing I have to say is that it was visually fun.
J. J. Abrams is the most overrated person in Hollywood. Period.
I have to agree with the majority of your points however I did enjoy the one scene where the kids actually fell into their roles as far as making Charles's movie. The J.J. Abrams name sells, I mean that's why I went to see this movie however I don't believe he's completely overrated. I really, really enjoyed the Star Trek reboot. On the other hand I didn't think too much of Mission Impossible 3. I was one of the few that actually liked Lost but I'm not really into his new show Fringe.
On Netflix instant I watched The Right Stuff which is about the U.S. space program circa 1947-1963. Very well paced movie for 3+ hours. Next on the list is my late Uncle Ralph's favorite movie Apollo 13, which is memorable because I went to the evening premier with my dad, Ralph and Uncle Lloyd. Uncle Ralph worked for NASA at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville. During the scene where they are trying to make an oxygen scrubber out of what is on the spacecraft, my Uncle Ralph, who I had never heard curse said, "Damn sure as shit they will."
That's my dad's favorite scene too! He was like "Look at that, Engineers save the day!" I really do like space program stories.
Does Clerks get any slack for being shot by complete amateurs for $27,000? For what it is, I think it's an excellent film.
I enjoyed the heck out of it.
I love it too. Kevin Smith usually has enjoyable snappy dialogue, and Clerks is the epitome of all that, because that's all the story really has to work with.
I saw X-Men First Class last night. It's the first good X-Men movie. It took the JJ Abrams Star Trek approach of just saying "fuck it, I'm telling my own story" and went off to do it's own thing. You were able to really feel the friendship between Xavier and Magneto, and they were able to to become characters beyond the heads of their respective groups. There were a few things that didn't make sense (Mistique disguises herself as the main villain without having seen him) but the only let down was at the end, Erik walks in to free Emma Frost looking like M Bison and calling himself Magneto. Fuck spandex, I want meta-human vigilantes that don't have to dress up like they're ballerinas. The X-Factor type uniforms I can deal with because they're practical and reasonable, but as Edna Mode put it: "no capes."
Now having watched Pom Poko, I have successfully seen every single commercially available Ghibli film (which is pretty much all of them except for 2 or 3). Without exception, they are all worth seeing at least once, but most of you know that by now.
If one likes Ghibli Animation one may be able to get some enjoyment out of this incoherent piece of shit. Otherwise it's a good example of how not to tell a story.
I really liked it except for that part near the end where I'm pretty sure a hat got shot for no good reason. Old Chow Yun-Fat was great. There were a couple times where I could tell they were making puns that went over my head because of my Level 0 Chinese.
Just re-watched Maniac (1934), a truly classic schlock film. You gotta be patient with the slow parts, but there are some great moments, and it's less than an hour long.
I am watching and re-watching a lot of schlock right now, getting ready for a ConnectiCon panel. Maybe next time I'll propose a panel on actually good films!
I watched Wristcutters: A Love Story. I can't remember who it was, but I remember somebody on this forum saying something about the symbolism being too esoteric. I didn't really see that for the most part. I think the main bit of symbolism in the movie, the little miracles that happen only when you're not looking for them, was a pretty direct metaphor for finding moments of calm and unfettered happiness in a state of suicidal depression and/or anxiety. It was a very touching, entertaining film.
Watched The Room last night. It lived up to its reputation for being unbelievably bad. I gotta read up on the director; from watching his Q&A on the disk, I have to wonder if this film is a mighty expensive troll.
Comments
The movie was seriously terrible. The only positive thing I have to say is that it was visually fun.
J. J. Abrams is the most overrated person in Hollywood. Period.
I miss my Uncles Ralph and Lloyd.
I am watching and re-watching a lot of schlock right now, getting ready for a ConnectiCon panel. Maybe next time I'll propose a panel on actually good films!
The story, pacing, acting, and dialogue felt forced a bit all over the place. Some parts felt they were added just because with no substance.
They will probably make a sequel because they easily opened the door for Sinestro becoming a villain.
Edited for correction. In my defense, I see both movies as "meh".