What was the last movie you watched?

[Relaxing Dragon]

I didn't find any problem with Super 8 "not knowing what kind of movie it wants to be."

I've seen videos of him having crew literally shine flashlights into the cameras from the sides.

I just mean it in the sense where it was sometimes a horror monster movie, and then a childhood romance, and then coming-of-age, and it never really settled on anything. Which is a problem, since those different styles never really clicked with each other. It's too bad, since the movie still manages to be quite good (I've seen a rather good argument that the movie would've worked wonders without the alien altogether).

[RoninFox]

Just watched Temple of Doom for the first time in awhile.

All these years and I never noticed until today that the guy that meets Indy Willie and Short Round at the airfield in the opening sequence is friggin' Dan Akroyd.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

I guess I don't see that it ever sat in any of those genres firmly enough for it to be an issue. It was just a story about some things that happened to some kids, and just because one thing happened doesn't mean they stopped being kids or caring about other things.

Thinking about it after it's pretty much a story about loss, it's the theme that applies to all the plot lines, even the monster.

I think the movie is good because it isn't stuck in one genre too much.  I don't think it would have worked at all as a straight up monster movie.  I suppose it could have worked without the monster if it were replaced with something else, but then it would just be a copy of "Stand By Me".

[Invader_quirk]

I think the idea that movies need to stick to one established genre is detrimental to the art. Life includes many types of events and feelings... of course life doesn't include big aliens, but IF IT DID....

[Tripe]

Yeah I think that's a fair assessment, Genre is a useful concept for appreciating and creating but it shouldn't be a straight-jacket.

[mrbasehart]

Ninjas vs Bruce Lee - FUCK THIS MOVIE.  It did not have Bruce Lee in it.  It did not have any Ninjas in it.  There was some guy named Bruce Le and he fought some gangsters, poorly and for a long ass time, but goddammit Netflix, you conned me!

Street Dance 2 3d - The British version of the Step Up series gets a sequel and demonstrates how to use 3d properly - by showing horrendously talented dancers doing things that would break normal people's bodies into bits.  The story's paper thin, the acting juuuust about passes for human, but the main lady, Sofia Boutella, is boomtracular. 

[MontyServo]

I actually thought Iron Giant was kind of cliched, myself. I felt that way the first time I watched it, and my opinion didn't change when I watched it about a year ago. Not a bad movie by any means, but not a masterpiece, in my opinion.

I agree. I liked it, but don't see it as the masterpiece that most other people seem to.

Well, I wouldn't call it a masterpiece either.  I enjoyed it quite a bit but it was not without it's problems.  The animation was shoddy in spots and took away from the story for me.  A lot of the story is cliched as said, but it was cute enough for me to overlook that.

Now that I have seen it, I can honestly say that it would not make my LoC of Top '90s films.  And would probably not even rate on my Top Animated Films LoC.

Decent and worth a watch, definitely.  But not some sort of game changing, life changing experience.

[Relaxing Dragon]

I guess I don't see that it ever sat in any of those genres firmly enough for it to be an issue. It was just a story about some things that happened to some kids, and just because one thing happened doesn't mean they stopped being kids or caring about other things.

Thinking about it after it's pretty much a story about loss, it's the theme that applies to all the plot lines, even the monster.

I think the movie is good because it isn't stuck in one genre too much.  I don't think it would have worked at all as a straight up monster movie.  I suppose it could have worked without the monster if it were replaced with something else, but then it would just be a copy of "Stand By Me".

Yeah, that sounds about right (although they had their movie to work on, that's something else right there). Still, despite my continued enjoyment of the movie, I could never shake the feeling that it all just wasn't put together quite right.

Anyway...

Detention. what the actual fuc If ever was there a movie where I'm simply at a loss for words as to how to describe it, it's this one. It starts as a super-parody of meta-commentary high school movies, then brings in a slasher element, then swings back for some teenage romance troubles crossed with more high school hijinks and then more slasher. And also aliens and a time-traveling bear are involved. And the whole movie is completely bathed in crazy colors and outfits and things are are either hipster to the extreme or the mocking thereof. And it's all put together and edited in a way that reminds me mostly of Scott Pilgrim. So yeah, it's a pretty gonzo flick, and one that does get fairly confusing and more than a little full of itself. It actually would be pretty easy to hate (and by 5 minutes in you'd know if you did), but I actually quite liked it. A lot of the jokes were really funny, the characters carry on quite well, and it really does seem like there's some greater overall purpose to this madness, some flash of brilliance that this movie really does know what the heck its doing. Whether its some kind of grand satire, parody, commentary, self-awareness of being self-aware, or all of the above crossed with none of the above I couldn't really say, but it's definitely... something. One of those movies you really should see, if only because it's so outlandishly creative and you need to try to wrap your head around it all.

[lassieface]

Young Adult

I (sort of?) liked it. I thought Charlize and Patton did a great job, but I liked Reitman's other stuff more, but not Juno. I guess what I'm saying is I don't care for Diablo Cody that much.

[MontyServo]

Nine Months

Really funny sit-com like romantic comedy starring Hugh Grant and the absolutely lovely Julianne Moore that also happens to be one of my favorite guilty pleasure movies.  A bit slap-sticky at times but enough of the jokes hit their mark that it is a fun movie to watch.

[Kete]

Phantom Menace 3D

I took my 5 and 9 year old daughters to see it, just so they could see it in theaters.  I haven't seen it for a few years, and I probably haven't given it my full attention since it first came out.  The biggest impression from seeing it again is.....holy crap the acting is horrible.  Even worse than Jar Jar, the pod racing, and C-SPAN in space, the acting takes the cake.  I wonder what the conditions were on set, because every line is delivered as if the actor is bored and tired.  I don't want to hijack this thread, so I'll just leave it at that.

I saw it at the dollar theater, so it was pretty cheap ($2 for the movie, $2 for 3D glasses).  By the way, what do we call the dollar theater now that the regular price for a movie there is $2?  The dollars theater?  The theater was packed with kids, so it was quite unpleasant.  Afterwards my 5 year old daughter kept talking about how bad the other kids were being.

It was fun to see it in 3D.  Believe it or not, I enjoyed the pod racing in 3D, as well as the final duel, but for a lot of the time, I forget that it's in 3D.  I wonder if 3D movies would be more enjoyable if they exaggerated the space differences a bit more.

Overall, I'm glad I went, but I'm also glad a didn't drop $10 per person.

[Nunyerbiz]

Adventures of TinTin

I didn't grow up with the books... I do have a vague memory of reading a few of them to my younger cousins when my mom would occasionally babysit for them back when I was 12 or 13 years old... but that's about it. So I went into the movie with pretty much a blank slate. Anyways, I quite liked it... I still find the motion capture / CGI animation hybrid to be a bit creepy at times... Especially with that butler character who looked like a normal person wearing one of those oversized masks they use at Milwaukee Brewers games for the sausage races... but overall things looked great. Just a fun, lightweight adventure movie. Good for the kids for sure... The villain is presented within the first few minutes and there are never any real twists or surprises in the plot... just kick back and enjoy the adventure.

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (US Version)

I'm not familiar with the book or the Swedish version... another one where I went in cold. A pretty good thriller for the most part. Fincher made everything look great and had some great touches... like the sound of wind blowing through the open door at one particularly important part of the script. The acting was also good throughout, even if Daniel Craig wasn't given much to do, the titular Dragon Tattoo girl was good... playing a character that is both vulnerable and pretty badass at the same time. I felt the script suffered a bit in the same way that a lot of stuff developed from a book or series of books suffer from... namely too much stuff to get through... even with 2.5 hours of running time to work with. The initial "mystery" of the movie when things start out becomes basically a footnote towards to the end... then a whole separate, seemingly insignificant early plot point becomes the thrust of the final 30 minutes of screentime... As a result, the conclusion seems rushed, tacked on and somewhat incongruous from everything else. Maybe this effect would have been lessened had I already read the book.... not sure... but after a very deliberate pace for most of the movie... the whole vibe of things sped up and changed gears towards the end. I'd still recommend it, and my wife and I want to check out the Swedish version at some point, but it struck me as coming from source material that was a tad too unwieldy to make into a great script.

[goflyblind]

By the way, what do we call the dollar theater now that the regular price for a movie there is $2?  The dollars theater?

the toonie theatre, obviously. you silly americans with your strange currency.

[Kete]

I felt the script suffered a bit in the same way that a lot of stuff developed from a book or series of books suffer from... namely too much stuff to get through... even with 2.5 hours of running time to work with. The initial "mystery" of the movie when things start out becomes basically a footnote towards to the end... then a whole separate, seemingly insignificant early plot point becomes the thrust of the final 30 minutes of screentime... As a result, the conclusion seems rushed, tacked on and somewhat incongruous from everything else. Maybe this effect would have been lessened had I already read the book.... not sure... but after a very deliberate pace for most of the movie... the whole vibe of things sped up and changed gears towards the end. I'd still recommend it, and my wife and I want to check out the Swedish version at some point, but it struck me as coming from source material that was a tad too unwieldy to make into a great script.

This is how the book was too....maybe even worse.  The first and third books are very anti-climactic, and there is a ton of names and information to keep straight (even worse when all the names are Swedish).  I still really enjoyed the book and the US movie even with their flaws.  I didn't like the Swedish movie much because I didn't like the casting or the pacing.

[MontyServo]

Beavis And Butt-head Do America

Still a laugh riot after all these years.  I will admit you have to be in a pretty silly mood to enjoy this, and I certainly did.

Girl Happy

I have always had a soft spot in my heart for Elvis movies.  My Dad was a big fan of them, so I saw most of them when I was growing up.  Turner Classic Movies had three of them on overnight last night so I DVR'd them and watched the first one this morning.  This one is above average for the Elvis movie genre and has some great songs.

Convoy

Classic '70s trucker movie that is probably more well known for it's title song.  Had to turn this off after a few minutes though as the version on Netflix Streaming is really poor quality.  Will have to keep an eye and see if it turns up on TCM or one of the other premium HD movie channels.
Edit: Coincidentally enough this is actually on right now on MGM-HD and looks great in HD and in original aspect ratio.  Scheduled it for later in the week to record it on the DVR.