The World's End is a weird one. I only saw it in theaters and I remember telling myself that I liked it. But months later, I think I was just telling myself that because it was SUPPOSED to be so good. But basically, it was just really sad and not very funny. I think Pegg put in a great performance, but it was really depressing and I never liked him. I always have issues with movies where I never root for anyone.

The deal with The World's End, and why it's great. Like, really great.

http://www.edgarwrighthere.com/2013/10/ … r-edition/

Have you read that essay?

Because it's a very well-written, fascinating critical piece on a film that's way more thematically dense than it lets on and might illuminate some aspects of the movie you haven't considered.

I watched it again after reading (and then read the piece again) and expanded my appreciation.

Hulk calls The World's End "thematically complex", Mike called it "confused".  Which are the same thing, depending on whether or not you like the movie.

Stylebot is great for Film Crit Hulk. Setting the type style globally on a page is a gift from god, it turns out, because one of the best film critics working today has decided that all-caps is fun.*

(*yes I get why he does it but I am now installing chrome extensions just to read him)

I will strike down with great vengeance and furious anger upon those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers by saying good things about Saving Mr. Banks.

That movie shall be the bellwether example of a new term, "fridge emotion," and that's before we even start in about it being a forgery of history.

What's crazy is I don't even give a shit about the retcon stuff.

Like, I could pretend to, but I don't. I'll leave that to either Brian or Paul, depending on the tone of the Disney-related conversation we're having at the time.

But my god. Consider this my foreshadowing for the commentary. "Fridge-Emotion." That fucking movie.

I'm glad Stand Up Guys got a last minute recommendation. My Mom and I watched it on Netflix on a whim. After the first 10 minutes or so, where you have to suffer through really cliched jokes (the old man took too many boner pills and now his boner is dangerously big and won't go down), the film becomes genuinely funny, entertaining and surprisingly moving. There's some really insightful dialogue near the end that I was not expecting at all. Not a lot happens in the movie, but the stuff that does happen is fun to watch.

A movie I feel similarly about from this year that I'm surprised wasn't discussed was Luc Besson's The Family. It was his first American film in ages and for me, ended up being one of the better action comedies I'd seen in a long time. There's a really ridiculous plot contrivance involving a newspaper but outside of that, I can't find any other faults with the picture.

I've not seen The World's End, yet. From the sound of it, I'm worried I may have the same feelings I had with Scott Pilgrim, which is that I'll probably like it but it won't be a "good" film due to having unlikable leads and unearned character "arcs". Also, while I'm sure that essay makes a good case in favor of the film, the film should still be able to speak for itself and stand on its own to be good. If it can't/doesn't do that and one has to consume outside material after the fact, then I think the movie failed.

Wouldn't it be amazing if Saving Mr. Banks did what Wolf of Wall Street did, and it was a veiled critique/satire of the corporate moviemaking process?

I don't think Brian had seen the movie when he said this, and I don't know if he's seen it since - he was actually just kidding, I think. But it occurs to me is a fairly trenchant observation about the different types of enjoyment people get out of films.

Huh. It totally is. Then again, I don't think it's a binary thing for each person, or even each movie. I loved Upstream Color, and I really enjoyed Pacific Rim. But that's because I didn't go to each film looking for the same thing. If I'd gone to UC expecting the thrill, excitement, and fun of PR, I would have hated it. And if I went into PR expecting the lyricism, complexity, and emotional depth of UC, I would've hated that film too.