[Movies] Talk about the last movie you saw 2: Electric Threadaloo

I really liked V for Vendetta...graphic Novel and the movie.

I also thought Watchmen was a decent screen adaptation as well. Actually, I may like the ending better than space squid...it seemed a bit easier to swallow. I remember reading the book years ago and saying "....okay. Huh. I guess?"

Then again, I have a severely testy relationship with Alan Moore.
 
A lot of people have a testy relationship with Alan Moore, myself included (depending on his work; I've never been a big fan of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen). But, uh, let's not get into the Watchmen ending discussion/argument again, please? We've had it multiple times on the forums and it boils down to some people prefer the book ending (like myself) and some prefer the movie ending.

It's funny, though. When it comes to adaptations, I've become a lot more open minded and ambivalent towards changes. I think about an interview I saw once with Steven Gould. They asked him how he felt about all the changes they made to his book, Jumper (which was a so-so to solid, but not great action flick). He turned around in his library and pointed to his shelf. "Do you see the book up there? I can pull it down at any time and read it exactly how it was when it was published. They haven't changed a thing about it."

I think about adaptations like Scott Pilgrim or What Dreams May Come, where both the comic/book and the movie are great for entirely different reasons. "Changes" made in superhero adaptions never bother me anymore since the comics have had so many flipping iterations of the same iconic characters that there's very few mainstays in the story, aside from the bare bones basics.

Yet, for some reason, I still can't have that same open mind with V for Vendetta or especially Watchmen. Honestly, I'm really not sure what it is about those that I can't accept as well. Watchmen looked great, like it was taken right out of the comic. And for all the things they got right, they got really right (Rorschach; which really, if you screw him up, you shouldn't bother making the movie). But for all the things they got wrong, they got them really wrong (Silk Spectre, the softcore porn scene, the ending). It's not even a bad movie by any means, but I've just never been able to come to terms with the changes for some unknown reason.
 
V for Vendetta - Awesome movie if you separate it from the source material. There's just no comparison obviously, the novel goes down as one of the greats. The film is a good movie on it's own.

Everything I said for V stands for Watchmen as well. Both are really decent entrees of their respective media, though Watchmen lacked ALOT of the character development.
 
Hey Synder made Silk Spectre a stronger character, by removing her smoking habit and turning her into Dee-dee from Dexter's lab.

The movie ending is brain dead, and doesn't need someone finding Rorschach's journal for it to fall apart, just someone with the ability to form a coherent thought. Then again considering how Synder felt it necessary to remove any of the subtlety Moore had in the book, and Dr Manhattan consider Ozymandias's plan smart, they're safe.
 
Chinatown

Holy crap, why had I waited so long to see this movie? The directing, the music, the acting, the pacing...everything about this movie was perfect. It's so strange to see Jack Nicholson not playing a crazy man.[DOUBLEPOST=1352641033][/DOUBLEPOST]Seeking a Friend at the End of the World

I really enjoyed this one, though I don't think it captured the right balance of comedy and drama, like it wasn't sure what kind of movie it was. It also shows some of the best performances by Steve Carell, making me think he's got a future in drama. Also really interesting how the movie portrays just about every possible reaction people in society might have to the world ending.
 

North_Ranger

Staff member
The Crazies

An enjoyable film, even though it pretty much follows the basic plot of any "small town apocalypse" film. There's a plane crash, neighbours start acting weird, the military sets up a quarantine, the military starts shooting people, the place gets nuked, the few survivors head to a bigger town and there's a hint that whatever made the neighbors act homicidal is still going strong. Not one for the keeping, but worth a watch.
 
The Crazies

An enjoyable film, even though it pretty much follows the basic plot of any "small town apocalypse" film. There's a plane crash, neighbours start acting weird, the military sets up a quarantine, the military starts shooting people, the place gets nuked, the few survivors head to a bigger town and there's a hint that whatever made the neighbors act homicidal is still going strong. Not one for the keeping, but worth a watch.
Uh oh.... I agree with you on this, quite enjoyable film... uhhh... you are a doo doo head? Damn I'm bad at this when we agree.
 
Chinatown

Holy crap, why had I waited so long to see this movie? The directing, the music, the acting, the pacing...everything about this movie was perfect. It's so strange to see Jack Nicholson not playing a crazy man.
Chinetown is pretty much a perfect film. It's... well... it's just amazing.
 

North_Ranger

Staff member
Uh oh.... I agree with you on this, quite enjoyable film... uhhh... you are a doo doo head? Damn I'm bad at this when we agree.
Just let the hate flow through you, young Gilgamesh. It shouldn't be too hard even for a penguin-loving little garden monkey like yourself :p
 
I remember reading a review of the book online once....eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew. Why would anyone write something so disgusting? And NO, I am not talking about the sex scene. There is something much- MUCH more gross in this movie/book. EW!
 
Me too. Agreed.

Except for the jackhole with the annoying laugh behind me.
Wow, that would be annoying. I've found if you show up 3 minutes before the movie starts on a weekday, you tend to avoid those schmucks. Maybe I'm just lucky though.
 
Wreck-It Ralph

I probably laughed the hardest for all the funny little references throughout the movie. For old school gamers like myself, it's a lot of fun. They even throw in a Konami code joke, which I think is a first for any major, theater-release movie.

On a whole, it's not Pixar-levels of fantastic, but it's still a solid movie with some great characters and great chemistry between said characters.
 
Wreck-It Ralph

I probably laughed the hardest for all the funny little references throughout the movie. For old school gamers like myself, it's a lot of fun. They even throw in a Konami code joke, which I think is a first for any major, theater-release movie.

On a whole, it's not Pixar-levels of fantastic, but it's still a solid movie with some great characters and great chemistry between said characters.
That was one of my favorite jokes in the whole movie! OBSCURE GAME JOKES ROCK! Or is it obscure? Maybe to the chillens I guess.
 
I loved Wreck-It-Ralph for alot of the reasons already stated multiple times, but if I had to lodge a complaint, they spent way too much time of the film in the Sugar Rush game, I found it much more enjoyable seeing the different worlds/areas. Also the trailers were very decieving. They lead us to believe that the storyline was going to be:

About Ralph's journey to become a hero by traversing the gaming worlds and growing as a person. Instead it was about how he grew a heart, which is odd because it seemed he was already a pretty sensitive guy. Oh and the entire Commander Fem-Shep and Felix storyline was completely unnecessary IMO.
 
Yeah they should've explored more video game worlds, lot of missed potential there. Also-
I agree I was expecting Ralph would be a hero to. But I still think a story about accepting and liking who you are is probably better rather than trying to be something your not.
 
Yeah they should've explored more video game worlds, lot of missed potential there. Also-
I agree I was expecting Ralph would be a hero to. But I still think a story about accepting and liking who you are is probably better rather than trying to be something your not.
He could have easily accomplished that by saving people or helping others in need. Spending 3/4ths of the movie to help Venelope (when she was a minor note in the previews) just wasn't what the trailers lead up to)
Again, I really loved the movie, just felt it could have been better.
 
Understandable, I admit its not perfect as well. Personally I was hoping like maybe he'd talk with Donkey Kong or Wario about how they used to be former villains but had their own spin-off games where they are the protagonists. But fleh, maybe that will be in the sequel.
 

figmentPez

Staff member
I'd say most were obscure to anyone, what, under the age of 20?
At the theater today (seeing it for the second time) I waited around for the very end of the credits to see the little reference at the end again. There was a group of teenagers who waited around too, and when they saw it, they were "That wasn't worth waiting around for!"

I thought it was totally worth it, but then I knew what it was a reference to.

 
To this day I do not leave until the credits stop rolling. If I did that, I wouldn't see the trailer to the Avengers, or that adorable scene where Donkey found out he was a dad. Patience is a virtue.
 
I thought Wreck-It-Ralph was pretty damn excellent. Not on par with the *best* Pixar (by which I mean Toy Story 3), but easily competing with a lot of their runnerups. (Wall-E and Up at their best may be better than WiR, but taken as a whole they both have some important flaws, whereas WiR is solid all the way through. And I think it's better than Incredibles)

I can imagine it being a bit better, but I particularly LIKED that the movie you got wasn't what was advertised in the trailers - I'm really annoyed when trailers spoil a whole movie, and much prefer them when they filter the right sort of people into the theater, and then surprise you.

That said... Ralph pretty explicitly did become a hero - I mean dude, he was about to sacrifice himself to save a) an entire arcade that basically hated him and b) one particular kid that he liked, both of which were pretty noble.

And then he went back to his day job, with more self respect. Which is basically what being hero is normally like in real life.

A friend of mine did comment that Felix's arc was a bit awkward. It seemed like they were trying to give Felix and Ralph parallel hero's journey arcs (both of them beginning as archetypical hero/villains and then gradually discovering what "real" heroism" means), and Felix either needed more screen time to do this more effectively, or less screen time so that he was less distracting. I think I agree with that.
 
To this day I do not leave until the credits stop rolling. If I did that, I wouldn't see the trailer to the Avengers, or that adorable scene where Donkey found out he was a dad. Patience is a virtue.
Speaking as someone who works in a theatre and has to go in and clean between shows sometimes, with less than 20-30 minutes grace period before the next starts, I both love and despise the extra bits at the end of the credits.

I would ask that you by all means stay until the end of the credits, but come down from your seats and wait by the exits. That way we can get in there and clean a bit longer and a bit better.:)
 
I admit, Wreck it Ralph had me tear up at two points:

- Ralph wrecking the race car in front of Vanellope
- At the end, "I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me."
 
Avengers

Bought it on BluRay last week and just got the time to watch it tonight.

This really shouldn't come as any surprise, but it's still flocking awesome.

Why can't Warner Bros. get their shit together and pull off something this awesome. :(
 
Brave's out and this is where I'd like to say I bought it and watched it again. However the DVD is still 20 bucks and the BluRay is still 30, so I'm gonna hold off for now.
 
Top