Club409
Talk about movies
Need something to watch? I'm supposed to be studying but instead here's a list of all 409 level 5 rated movies so far:
There Will Be Blood - Mike
The Dark Knight - Bill Mike Drew
Bedtime Story* - Arif
500 Days of Summer - Scott
Avatar - Mike
Up in the Air - Shawn
I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell - Scott
Winter's Bone - Mike
Toy Story 3 - Shawn
Limitless - Scott
Friday Night - Scott
The Raid: Redemption - Mike & V
Casino Royale - Drew
The Prestige - Matt
Slumdog Millionaire - Shawn
The Spirit** - Scott
Serenity - Drew
*"who buys these movies" scale
**Matt: "probably the worst thing i've seen in about all time"
Couldn't agree more on both Primer and Man Of Steel
i still don't know what friday night is even after looking it up. and yes the spirit is so bad that it warrants a 5 star rating.
Ender's Game - I tried to evaluate it separate from the book but really I can't I keep comparing it. The level of characterization is just barely sufficient for a few characters: Ender Col Graff and Bonzo. In fact I thought Bonzo was the only one who seemed to have much of a personality the kid playing him did pretty good. Every other character is just occupying a space. For story telling they needed a few things: the only exposure we get to the intial Formic war is a swarm of bugs that blow up 2 jet fighters before they get blowed up. We really needed to see some worldwide destruction to get a sense of oh hey these bug guys are a problem. This adds to what I think is the main problem in the movie: the movie doesn't understand Ender correctly. At the end of the last battle he feels duped angry and guilty for having won and he lamented that there had to have been another way. The way I read the book was that he understood that there wasn't another way and while he could feel the burden of what happened he didn't feel guilty about it. I'm not sure why they took it that route of making him angry and guilty. I guess that's what viewers would expect and because that level of characterization just wasn't therefor him to feel otherwise. It would've required the movie to show him interacting with all the other characters and going through all the experiences he had. I felt like we were just moving through a checklist of story items as fast as possible to get to the end. Things we needed more of were Bean Alai battle school tactics and trials during command school. Ender's brother and sister were minimalized a lot but they would only really be needed if they wanted to keep making more movies so that's alright. They show a quote from the book about how when Ender understands his enemy right before he defeats them he also loves them. It's a weird sentiment but in the book you kind of get a sense of what he means. The movie really doesn't get us there though. The sergeant at one point tells Ender "I will never salute you" so you know he's going to later but when he does it seems like he's only doing it because he said so earlier not because Ender earned it. Also they did a poor job of revealing the twist really low impact. 2.5 out of 5 zero G whirlyball tournaments. Who's down?
Gravity - intense movie not entirely scientifically accurate but it's hollywood and some suspension of disbelief will always be required... The intensity actually does get a little old at points but overall it's a good story with lots of action. I'm usually not a fan of 3D but this movie does it right and it's gorgeous. 4.5 out of 5 exploded satellites
Arif i didn't know you were in show business. you may want to send a complaint to the actor's guild. they misspelled your name.
saw some movies the past week or so:
White House Down - I expected it to be silly and it was. There was some really bad blue screen work where Maggie Gylenhall(?) is Reporting On The Situation in front of some DC landmark and it's really obvious blue screen shenanigans. I think I got a couple chuckles out of some one-liners. 2.5 out of 5 exact same movie plots.
Olympus Has Fallen - I heard it was a little less silly but it was just as silly but trying to be serious so loss of cool points there. Here's a tip to movie Secret Service agents: if someone is firing on the building with a machine gun don't all funnel out the front door into the open and get shot and die. Also the stakes get raised to 11 and it's really silly. Also how hard is it to make a movie where they say they don't negotiate with terrorists and then they don't? Can somebody please be a grown up? 2 out of 5 exact same movie plots.
Europa Report - It's like Blair Witch in space but it's scifi and not supernatural stuff. The acting was kind of shaky and they seemed like they were pretending. So with these found footage type movies the thing they usually do well is create atmostphere and Europa Report does that. But the problem generally happens when the found footage movies try to have payoff and Europa Report has kind of weak payoff. It did a pretty good job of pulling me in to the stakes of the situation and I think it's a good reminder that yes pioneering is tough. 3 out of 5 2001 A Space Odyssey tributes.
Also in the two president movies I enjoyed looking for background extras playing secret service agents that were just standing there blankly staring at a random spot because that's obviously what a secret service agent would do.
The Hunger Games: Getting Hungrier - It's pretty much the same movie as the first. I mean I guess they have to follow the books and all; I didn't read them or anything. Katniss is once again in the Hunger Games and everyone subtly resists the oppression. My favorite bits ended up being the parts with the Elizabeth Banks character. She's amusing and the best part of the movie is where for a second she drops the facade and expresses some well wishes and concern. It conveys a feeling that SGR (shit's getting real prob will be using this from here on) and things are changing. Otherwise pretty much more of the same but from the way it ends up it looks we'll move the plot along in the next movie. 3.5 out of 5 32 oz beers in a plastic cup because we were at Phipps and not Movie Tavern :(
Enemies Closer - an aweful movie in the best way possible. it was uploaded to our media drive so i thought i would check it out. it opens with a cesna crashing into the water. then it introduces you to the protagonist a park ranger through a series of scenes which establishes him as a super great guy who puts up with no nonsense on his watch. then we cut to some ICE agents who are investigating the crash believing it to be drug smugglers. they get a knock on the door and it is the canadian mounted police offering help which the agents "politely" refuse. then walks in Jean-Claude Van Damme in a mountie get'up and really bad hair. that's when i knew this movie was going to be awesome. he then proceeds to kill all of the ICE agents; one with a mother-fucking compact disc. that set the tone for just how kick-ass this movie was going to be. this film does not fuck around. there are some pretty sweet fight scenes and 30 seconds after the villain is killed the movie ends; no scene of happily ever afters. just bam! done.
i give it 4 out of 5 evil vegan Van Dammes