Ya, the characters come from a strictly christian household (similar to the one Malick grew up in), but the movie in no way suggests they are correct (they are never answered back or anything like that). I see it as more like 2001, in the way it tries to be a universal story of humanity. Yes, it leans towards there being "some" kind of other beyond our lifetimes, but it's intentionally super vague about it, you could read it as pretty much any faith.

Ya, when I say cut it down, I don't mean changing the whole idea and meaning. Malick is a very spiritual guy, and I don't mind the "we'll all be reunited one day" stuff. It doesn't push any specific theology at all, nor does some form of afterlife imply a god-figure pulling the strings. The best thing about the movie is the way it suggests that either a creator doesn't exist, or if he does, he doesn't give a fuck about you as he's kinda busy creating and shaping the universe and all of space-time.

I would keep the intent and meaning the same, just trim out 20-30 minutes throughout.

Sidenote - I hope his IMAX documentary assembled from all this footage happens at some point, cause it's probably the best-looking representation of the creation of the universe and life on earth that's ever been put together

You can literally fan-edit Tree of Life into an all-time great film, all the material is there, the rough outlines story-structure wise work (the history of the universe, juxtaposed with the proverbial blip in the time-stream of a single kid's childhood), the performances are great. The ambition is staggering, it's just 20 minutes too long. I can't dislike a movie that tries for so much when most movies don't try at all.

Also, it not winning for Best Cinematography was a crime.

I think there's a masterpiece buried inside Tree of Life, if you were to completely strip out all the fucking narration and cut out 25 minutes. But ya, as much as I love a lot of what it's doing, it's just too self-indulgent for it's own good. You should give his earlier stuff a chance though, he started out with much more straightforward, mainstream storytelling.

Regarding True Lies - I fully acknowledge the problems, but the high points of that movie are so jaw-droppingly good they completely erase any 2nd act problems for me. It's got possibly Cameron's best pure action sequences, it's got Schwarzeneggar's best performance, it's got Tom Arnold in the best movie of his career. I can't call any movie bad when it delivers like 4 different all-time-great action set-pieces.

Interestingly, it's also clearly the blue-print for Michael Bay's movies in a lot of ways (the misogynistic comedy, the glorifying of american military hardware), which just goes to show how shit Michael Bay is as a filmmaker, when he isn't even able to get close to Cameron's weakest movie.

Ya, the whole Princess Bride thing completely passed me by. When I finally tried to watch it I barely got through it. It's a satire of a genre I have no interest in, so it's just not my cup of tea at all. Galaxy Quest is truly great though. That's one I'd be really surprised if someone didn't like, as it totally succeeds as a movie in like 5 different genres simultaneously.

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(262 replies, posted in Episodes)

You know what everyone wants to see from a movie about vegas magicians? Blatantly CGI magic tricks of course!

Death Proof is awesome. Like, legit, unironically excellent.

I happened to rewatch it for the first time in a long while as part of Halloween festivities, and I was really surprised how good it is throughout. All the detractors make it out like everything outside of the ending car-chase is bad, or a waste of time, and this re-watch confirmed for me that those people are full of shit. I will grant that the opening 15 minutes drag badly, however, the moment Stuntman Mike walks into the bar, I think the writing is as good as any other Tarantino movie, and stays that way all the way to the end of the movie. Everything with Kurt Russell is absolute gold. Then it heads into the amazing "Psycho" mid-movie killing sequence which is great, and we're introduced to the 2nd set of girls. And I'll go on record here and say that I love all their conversations, and they do a great job of subtly laying exposition into casual banter.

I'm kinda baffled by all the shit these dialogue sequences seem to get online, and I really think there's a sexist aspect to it. Because it's 4 girls instead of a bunch of guys in suits, people want to get to the killing and think everything being said is a waste of time. Well I absolutely disagree, and in fact, I would say the final 4 girls' conversations in this are way more relevant to the plot of the movie than anything in the diner scene in Reservoir Dogs, and no less entertaining.

And of course, once it kicks into the car chase, it's an awesome extended action set-piece, all done practically with the real actors. And on top of that, it's something we have never seen before, a totally unique car-chase idea that's played out to it's fullest extent.

So ya, Death Proof rules. And for the record, I think Planet Terror is infinitely worse, a glorified 90 minute joke that stops being funny after about 10 minutes, whereas Death Proof establishes an identity of it's own and succeeds on it's own terms completely divorced from the Grindhouse concept.

I think it holds up. For an 8 year old at the time, it was practically earth-shattering, so I completely understand the cultural impact. Viewed in retrospect now, it's rougher around the edges and somewhat dated (all the stupid goth leather costume stuff), but I still think it's an extremely well structured and executed action movie. It does that thing which it feels like modern hollywood is almost incapable of, where the entire 2nd half of the movie is just an exponential curve of rising tension, stakes, and action set-pieces, assaulting the viewer.

It's smart enough to take it's time during the 1st half to setup all the rules and character dynamics needed for when the action kicks in, and then delivers on that action.

I think a lot of people's re-evaluation of it now has been the hatred of the sequels somewhat poisoning the original, but I think if you put those out of your mind, it's very successful.

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(473 replies, posted in Episodes)

Ya, but they want it out in Summer so they can sell the toys all through the Fall shopping season  roll

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(473 replies, posted in Episodes)

So Disney's totally rushing this thing you guys: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/s … ney-651482

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(449 replies, posted in Off Topic)

That trailer is TERRIBLE though, so over-the-top serious and sentimental (with the most predictable trailer music possible) while having all these people running around in wacky costumes. Ugh, so lame.

Any movie you really like, there's someone out there who hates it. Best to get used to it and ignore it.

Just as an off-hand observation, I would say that my generation seems way more obsessed with "plot" and way less interested in "theme" or "story". If I had to speculate, I'd say the rise of long-arc highly-plot driven television (I'm thinking Lost/24) has really shifted people's perceptions of what storytelling should be. A "good" story for a lot of people now seems to be something that's got a lot of plot-points, which would explain why so many movies are overly convoluted and have to have 3 different villains and multiple twists. It's why something like Drive, which would be considered a well paced, well-told action film 30 years ago, can be considered "slow and boring" by a lot of mainstream viewers today.

Ya, for the record I also think Gravity is a great movie, right up there with Jurassic Park, T-2, Abyss as milestone FX-driven films that transcend their technical innovations.

I just think it's more than a bit premature to make that kind of statement, Scorcese has 20 years of movies on Cuaron, and he's still had some really good ones the last decade. If in 20 years Cuaron has still had nothing but hits, then we can talk, but statistically speaking he's probably going to have some bad movies down the line, it's just what happens. It's just way too early to make this kind of comparison one way or the other.

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(36 replies, posted in Episodes)

Apparently Hitchcock was really pissed that De Palma essentially remade Vertigo when he did Obsession (talk about on-the-nose titles).

I will second Hermann's amazing score in this, it's so gloriously operatic and theatrical, I love it.

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(100 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Invid wrote:

(If you like, we can have our heroes fleeing under the feet of two monsters fighting, sort of an updated War of the Gargantuas)

For what it's worth, it sounded like the clip they showed at comic-con was exactly this, so fingers crossed

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(100 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Yes, but the difference is the human plots in the movies you mention are almost uniformly terrible.
I'm not saying there should be no monster action, but it's way more narratively engaging when it's about the impact of the destruction on people, versus just empty eye-candy from a god's eye POV.

It's why the opening sequence in War of the Worlds works so well, and it's the best thing about Cloverfield. You can't tell me that something like the end sequence of Children of Men, but done through a city getting destroyed by Godzilla, wouldn't be vastly more intense and thrilling than yet another typical giant monster fight.

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(100 replies, posted in Off Topic)

I remain skeptical that you can make a serious approach to a movie like this work (though I'm glad they're trying). At the end of the day, so much of the concept and appeal, at least from the fanboys, IS the destruction porn, and yet that is kind of exactly the stuff that drags the material down and makes it not work.

I know there's no way they'd do this for an actual Godzilla movie, but I would so much rather watch a version of this where it's just following the scientists and first-responders trying to figure out what to do with the situation, and Godzilla is only really ever glimpsed as a towering thing in the background and on monitors. It'd be similar to Cloverfield,  but from the POV of the scientists and without the shaky found-footage approach.

Unfortunately, there's a large segment of the fanbase that just wants monsters fighting, and would complain like crazy if this was the studio's approach to it, but I think fundamentally it's the most interesting way to handle the material, and I hope Gareth Edwards and WB have the guts to try something like this.

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(30 replies, posted in Off Topic)

This is one of the most cynical pieces of product I've ever seen, like you can practically imagine the computer algorithm that came up with the pitch. And being based on a comic doesn't excuse anything, everything is based on a comic these days, that's the fucking problem. Aaron Eckhart, you are better than this crap

Curse you iJim, you beat me to it. Though it should really be

Tyler Perry's What Are You Doing, Malaria? Based on the Novel Push By Sapphire

You crazy, awesome bastards. This is gonna be amazing big_smile

Return of the Jedi sucks. The pacing is bad, the story is lazy, the characters (Han in particular) aren't consistent with what's come before, it's the worst looking of the first 3 by a long-shot (hate the cinematography), ewoks, and that awful ending music. A handful of moments keep it from being out and out terrible, but for my money it's almost as bad as the prequels.

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(45 replies, posted in Movie Stuff)

ya, it kinda pisses me off cause I really wanna see it again in Imax, but I might not have time this weekend, which will basically be the last chance. I hate the short-ass release windows nowadays. And especially that it has to give away it's screens to junk like Ender's Game and Thor, 2 releases I couldn't care less about if I tried.

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(45 replies, posted in Movie Stuff)

deadline/hollywoodreporter have the budget as 100 mil, and I'm pretty sure that's accurate.

It opens in China on Nov 20'th: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/s … -20-648892

For reference, China has 13000 screens (?!!!!!!), which would explain why every US movie desperately tries to break into that market. Avatar made over 200 mil just in China, so I think Gravity will do at least 100 there.

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(45 replies, posted in Movie Stuff)

After this weekend it's at 280 globally, and hasn't even opened in China yet, where I predict it will be huge. I'll call it right now, I bet it ends up close to 500 mil when all is said and done, maybe even more.