Burt Gummer’s Rec Room – November 2013 – Febuary 2014
A gathering place for paranoid survivalists and those who worship at the Church of Chang
Winter 2013, Colder than an Eskimo’s freezer.
Disclaimer: This is the part of the Church that is the most no holds barred. None of it is intended with malice, and although it can on occasion seem a little bit fraught, it is banter rather than venom. So, be warned that this is like taking a naked swim in a piranha tank and not recommended for the faint of heart.
Werewolves On The Moon 
Finally saw entirety of THE WAY OF THE GUN. A mixed bag. It feels dated, and probably would feel dated when it came out in 2000 as it is definitely part of the 90s trend of hip crime movies (PULP FICTION, USUAL SUSPECTS, DESPERADO, PHOENIX), and is more concerned with attitude and being clever than plot, characters or emotional investment.
Still, the movie has some great moments, from a Sarah Silverman getting her big mouth smacked to a great car chase and final shootout (I believe Xi had that at #1 for that list we did awhile back). The characters and story might not feel authentic but the tactics and situations do.
The film’s parts are definitely better than the whole, and those few great moments make the film very much worth seeing.
No doubt they tried to make it stylized, but I quite like it. The final gun battle is awesome, complete with the doc getting a good shot in and the two of them getting left the way they did.
I think my favorite part in that entire film is when Ryan Philippe jumps into the well onto the broken bottles.
Always look before you leap over a wall is my motto.Because there have been a couple times where I didn’t and it hurt.
That’s why I loved that moment, Xi. Even though it was funny and shocking, it had that feeling of authenticity. It made that gunfight suddenly feel not necessarily more “realistic” but much more “truthful”, if that makes any fucking sense.
That males all the sense in the world Conti.
That’s a fair review Conti and I agree with it mostly. Only thing I disagree with is I don’t think it’s dated and I never got a douchey Tarantino hack too hip for the room vibe from it. I really connected with the characters hell I could easily be the characters in this film. I also deeply appreciated that they took time to properly demonstrate tactics and firearm use and that low speed chase sequence was excellent.
I have mixed feelings about the “dated-ness”. I wonder if it’s supposed to feel that way. I think the QT comparison is apt, but I wonder if maybe it feels slightly Tarantinoesque because McQuerrie was criticizing QT and other 90s stylish crime movies, and that criticism went over my head.
Another thing that bothered me was how the two leads were so well trained considering they never even hint at a military or police background, and only earlier we see them jerking off to make ends meet? Is this McQuarrie just trying to be hip and irrelevant, or is saying something that I’m too dumb to get?
Still, you can’t not but like a movie that has James Caan saying “I can promise you a day of reckoning you won’t live long enough to never forget” and “Karma is justice without the satisfaction. I don’t believe in justice.”
I like the ambiguity of the leads past. Not knowing about it didn’t bother me but then again they used tactics employed by Special Operation so I just figured they were that once upon a time. The training is most evident in the car chase and exfiltrating Juliette Lewis from the Doctors office.
That slow car chase still blows me away. I’m surprised it’s not mentioned more often.
Yeah i don’t get that about the car chase its probably one of the best ever on film yet it’s hardly ever mentioned.
That car chase is brilliant. The other one that never gets mentioned is the one in We Own The Night.
Never saw We Own The Night. What was so good about it?
The film itself is just okay, but the car chase scene is damn good. It’s shot in heavy rain, and (if memory serves, it’s been a while) a lot of it is shot from inside the car looking out through the windshield. So with the driving rain, the wipers etc obscuring things, it kind of takes it up a notch in the danger stakes. It feels a bit more raw, and authentic than your usual super choreographed car chases. I might watch that flick again.
That sounds interesting i will track it down and give it a look.
It’s not a bad flick. Your standard new york cop drama flick, but it’s well acted by Phoenix, Marky Mark and Duvall so it’s definitely worth checking out once.
I just got it from Amazon
My favorite moment in combat sports last year (even more than Tim Bradley vs. Provodnikov).
She’s quite the acrobatic little minx.
Season 3 of Rake (the real version) starts tonight.
Nice.
The fake one sucks. Out of morbid curiosity I tried to watch the pilot but couldn’t get through to the first commercial break
I managed to watch the whole episode. It’s complete shit and they’ve totally fucked up the main character.
Is Rake a big deal down there, does it get good ratings?
Yep it seemed like they totally whiffed on the character and turned him into a sitcom sort of character instead of self destructive object lesson.
It’s not a huge deal, but it’s gets decent coverage. At least, from what I can tell since coming back.
I’m surprised it’s not bigger since it’s so damn good.
Season 3 is off to a good start.
Also finished season 3 of Justified. Think that one might have been my favourite season so far. Definitely better than season 2.
Just saw the first episode of Mob City.
I now want to punk Frank Darabont in the fucking face.
You want to punk him in the face? Is this some sort of disgusting new sexual thing or what? heh
But seriously, I watched the first double episode thing of that show and binned it. It was pretty shit.
Fucking autocorrect on my iPhone.
But it is such a fucking cliche. I mean it’s like a bad parody of noir it is so full of cliches.
It made Gangster Squad look like LA Confidential, and GS was a piece of shit.
But I’m still going to watch the next episode because that’s what kind of idiot I am.
DEDICATED idiot.
No, I surprised myself and turned it off and watched a French movie.
Conti you made the best possible choice. Nothing good comes from watching Mob City Says the guy who watched that boring train wreck all the way to the end.
Mob City gets worse as it goes on, a lot worse and it’s utterly forgettable which is a worse sin. Darabont isn’t cut out for TV(or movies for that matter) he fucked TWD from the jump and made a terrible period gangster show and ruined a good book in the process.
Watched something with Zombieland kid and Danny McBride in it called 30 minutes or less. I think it’s a comedy thriller.
Totally meh.
The best you get with Danny McBride is meh.
Darabont blows, basically. Pure fanboy WANKery his reputation is. Away with him.
New job today. Really enjoyed it.
Basically same as my old job, but without the pain and suffering. Lots of positives.
Seriously thinking about applying for the full time post there.
Very cool. Always nice to get back into the swing.
that’s awesome news Jarv! Congrats man!
Yep that is truth Tom numb nut fanbois overblow his skill and ability
Eh, watched Safe House with Denzel and Reynolds. I still can’t buy that ending. Nope, not one bit.
So I caught the recentish Muppets movie Finally, or at least tuned in where Kermit’s finishing his song w/ all the picture frames etc. going by. It’s pretty good. It’s not great. But it’s def. a real live Muppets flick, and was entertaining for what it was. I remember when it came out same time as Hugo Harold did his usual Harry hit job on it, but what the fuck he was inhaling I donno. Hugo put me to sleep despite having some really nice parts-the whole Meliers segment was fine. But gimme a break. Muppets was fine.
Harold can fuck himself on that one. I loved that film and Hugo was a steaming sack of patronising and boring shit.
Muppets FTW!
Agreed completely. Was a pretty witty flick and I even liked Jack Black in it.
Best he’s been in years. Loved it. I’d seriously consider a maximum
Pictures in My Mind is a great section of the movie.
I think the moopets is my favourite thing about the movie. Gangsta Fozzy makes me laugh. But it’s pretty great as a whole.
Moopets was a riot. Fozzy is cool too in that getup. And the Swedish chef, too.
Muppets is a billion times better than Hugo.
Oh and for Conti Pops, saw ‘Blood on the Sun’ w/ Cagney in Japan as a reporter, Sylvia Sidney as a half chinese lass. It wasn’t bad, has that famous judo/karate fight on the docks etc. Worthwhile if dated stuff.
I love that judo fight. It’s not realistic but all the moves are real.
Yeah it was typical Rocky type fighting, everyone lands a haymaker etc. but it was pretty entertaining.
I tried….tried watching some of Lethal Weapon 3. Fucking sucks. Bad guys suck. Russo sucks. Seriously, it didn’t work trying to have her be the semi-female version of Riggs.
It’s the worst one. Even worse than 4. Female Riggs. House building supervillain. Blonde haired Joe Pesci. All shit.
Yup, even though 4 seems an hour too long and Rock is annoying as hell…it has Jet Li and the action is better.
Nah, 4 is painfully bad. 3 is dire, but in terms of cunt hair splitting I like the opening, which is better than 4.
Yeah Lethal Weapon Three was awful…
So Shirley Temple is dead. Waiting w/ baited breathe to see Harold tell us about falling in love w/ her watching the Good Ship Lollipop song. Sounds of wretching to follow.
http://youtu.be/EEfELVFsrHw Just knowing Harold dislikes this movie makes me like it all that much more.
I’m guardedly optimistic about the Gotham TV show.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/foxs-batman-prequel-gotham-casts-679207
I’m hoping it is more like BOY WONDER meets ARROW and less like BATMAN & ROBIN meets SMALLVILLE.
I wasn’t optimistic until I saw it was the show runner from Rome. It has a chance.
I didn’t know that. My optimism has gone from “guarded” to “careful.”
Saw THIS IS THE END last night. A couple of honestly funny moments but overall an annoyingly smug movie. Vain, self-absorbed actors who think it is witty to point out and mock how vain and self-absorbed they are.
I liked it.
Of course you did.
This is the end was 98% unfunny naval gazing horse shit created by untalented douchetards.
Conti I see that Mob City is now cancelled so you are free to re-purpose your time in another direction since MC sucks so hard.
Thank god. But my friend likes it so I’ll probably watch the first six episodes with him.
Mob City was unmitigated junk. I admit, I liked Darabont initially. I know you didn’t care for it Xi, but Shawshank was a very good movie in my eyes, I enjoyed much of the Green Mile–but confess it felt bloated and overcooked in many scenes–and mildly enjoyed The Majestic. I quite liked The Mist but thought the ending–so lauded by many–is probably a good example of where Darabont’s fanboism gets the best of him.
And it’s been getting the best of him ever since then. If he had a new movie tomorrow, I’d approach it with caution.
Talk of Mob City has reminded me of a series–now canceled I guess–that I saw when wandering through a Best Buy a few months ago in search of Christmas gifts. It’s called Magic City, with Jeffrey Dean Morgan in it. Have you seen it Xi? Has anyone? Is it worth catching up with?
Darbont really screwed TWD which is just showing signs of recovering from. Green Mile was OK but like you said bloated and very over wrought. I liked the Mist ending and all. Shawshank blows goats and Mob City was just painfully embarrassing. Darbont is probably a better screenwriter then director or producer.
No I have not seen Magic City. I think Barfy watched it some but said it wasn’t all that good.
That’s too bad because I think JDM is really underrated as an actor.
I stumbled upon a vastly stupid and greatly entertaining chow called Strike Back which I am watching now. It’s Banshee level dumb but amazingly fun and has copious amounts of female nudity. It is dumb though so, so, so friggin dumb.
never heard of it, but I’ll check it out.
These days, honestly, I’m more in search of shows that are fun these days than “deep” or “heavy” shows.
The reason is, most of the time the fun shows are better made and more engaging, and the more serious stuff often has its head up its ass. Not always, but often.
Strike Back is purportedly about Enlish Intellifence service counter terrorsim operations. The first season, before Skinamax took over, it tried to be somewhat in the realm of reality. Series one had Thorin Oakenshield and rick Crinmes in it as the leads.
The Skinamax season threw reality out the window added a boat load of nudity and two new leads that are very likable super human operators. Nothing at all makes sense or has a shred of reality to it but its fun and fast moving.
Clarification on The Mist ending. I was fine with the first part of the ending, with the really grueling aspect of the story. What I didn’t think worked as well was the immediate Twilight Zone twist, and the way in which it was ham-fistedly slammed onto the audience, with the woman and her two kids just staring down at him breaking apart emotionally there.
Just too much when a tad less would have gone a long way.
Apparently Sid Ceasar is gone–! boys another one. I liked him.
Just finished the Red Riding Trilogy.
Man, did I find that to be overrated and disappointing.
Haven’t seen it. Only managed to find the 1974 segment. I think Jonah rated it very high indeed, if I remember the best of the decade reviews.
I’m not going to criticize anyone for liking it because obviously they saw something in it I didn’t, but I will say I personally found it excessively bleak and cynical. I felt like I was drowning under all the nihilism. Cynicism for the sake of cynicism, which Red Riding felt like to me, bores me.
It didn’t make my best of decade, but it was at my top for 2010. I liked the series very much, personally. While I agree with the bleakness and cynicism, I’m not sure I’d say it was all for the sake of itself. They did decide to tell a story that focused on the darkness, but I’d say that once they set themselves on that course, they didn’t keep upping the ante or offering extra edge. It was just a very dark and uncompromising kind of a story.
I didn’t feel the bleakness as much because I thought the characters were strongly conceived, and the way the three segments were presented and woven together was exceedingly well done. It’s gritty yes, but I’d say one of the things I appreciated was that the darkness felt genuine and not just edginess for the sake of itself.
What I remember enjoying about it was the tone and the way it co-opted a procedural and made it a fascinating portrait of a community.
Xi, it’s BBC three-part miniseries based around the case of the Yorkshire Ripper, and each part tackles a different decade and is handled by a different director.
The Yorkshire Ripper actually only factors in one of the films. The focus is on child murders and police corruption.
The Yorkshire ripper was the big bad boogeyman for a lot of my childhood. My mother was a teenager in Manchester just after the Moors Murders, and my parents were living in Sheffield when Sutcliffe was caught.
Not only was the sheer scale of the ripper killings unheard of for England at the time, but he was actually caught in the road behind the School my sister went to. I think he was only arrested about a year before I was born as well.
As such, his name was genuinely used to scare the shit out of us when we were kids about not trusting strangers by my mother and teachers and shit. Ignoring the fact that he murdered hookers, naturally.
Was the series well made and well acted? Yes, I won’t deny it. But to paraphrase Robert Towne, every episode felt like the darkness at the end of the tunnel. I don’t mind dark, depressing endings, but I expect them to be that way to serve a point. This series was just frustrating nihilism and defeatist, imo, because they felt that somehow makes it more serious. Simplistic cynicism disguised as insight.
I mean the series is really about police corruption, and how does it end? Without any resolution. C’mon. I just invested 7 hours in this show, don’t leave me hanging.
The series uses the Yorkshire Ripper as a backdrop, as sort of the tip of an invisible iceberg of corruption. I’m not sure if the novels were devised as conspiracy theorizing, or just attempts to tell an interesting mystery thriller about corruption. Either way, they are connected here to show a sprawling picture of cover-up and rot that extends across the canvas of a bigger plot.
I think what worked for me was that the series kept battering on and exposing the extent of the corruption to the point that solving or curtailing it would be ultimately impossible. There’s a measure of redemption or resolution for individual characters in the last segment of the third film, but no, there’s not a reckoning at large for the evil committed here. At the same time, that approach feels like a stronger indictment of it than a film where’s it used as a plot point or to balance a “good vs evil” struggle.
That being said, I only really felt that way after a second watch of all the segments. The reasoning for watching them a second time was I only understood about 70% of the dialogue the first time out.
The ripper got away with it because of incompetence not corruption.
right, this isn’t as directly related to that case solely–it’s a child murder case that remains unsolved over the course of the series–but I’ve a feeling without knowing much of the real-world background, that the author is maybe a conspiracy theorizer.
The list of fuckups with the Ripper was unbelievable. By accident he was crossing jurisdictions, and he was actually interviewed by the police something like 9 times in the course of the investigation. In the end he went to Sheffield to try to break the pattern he’d formed in Leeds and Bradford.
I’m not sure the West Yorkshire constabulary were actually corrupt at the time. Racist, for sure and prone to brutality, but I don’t think they were competent enough to be corrupt.
Jonah, tell me about it. I had to turn the subtitles on.
Conti, the first time I saw it I did via a screener they sent. I actually had to write them back and ask for a hard copy with subtitles. I noted too, that the regular version even placed subtitles for some of the really difficult accents.
What’s the Red Riding Trilogy?
Right- first week at new job was good. Really good. Had to photograph the girls learning to play Aussie No rules and I nearly puked laughing.
Got next week off, sadly, as I’m on day rate.
Anyhoo, Halloween 4 scheduled for Monday, and I’ll get Halloween 5 done as soon as I can bear to think about it.
Good to hear.
It’ll take a massive meltdown from Australia to lose this. And frankly the Saffas deserve nothing.
I cannot believe that Australia have managed to turn Johnson from a fucking laughable clown into a real menace.
I think a lot of it has to go to Clarke’s captaincy. He never allows mitch more than a few overs in a row, so if his radar goes wonky (which it still does), then he gets pulled off before his confidence goes. It also keeps him fresh and at top speed.
Probably the perfect way to use him.
Bastards.
On England’s front it’s now passing beyond a joke. Apparently, Flower is still holding a lot of power in the ECB, despite having been shitcanned for that fiasco.
As such, KP has been sacrificed, while Cook looks ironclad as captain. Ashley fucking Giles is head coach (boak), with Collingwood appointed to the staff. The pros of this are that colly is a good coach, but giles should have gone with Flower, while Gooch and Saker both seem to have kept their jobs.
So, no chance of a clear out of dead wood.
Finally saw THE WRESTLER. Like it a lot. Sure it’s maudlin and bleak, but so is life sometimes. And as a fan of 80s pro wrestling growing up, no way I wasn’t going to like this.
Yesterday, in my horribly hungover state I watched a triple bill of meh.
The Heat, Mortal Instruments and The (aptly titled) Hangover 3.
None of them were shit, but none of them were any good either.
Hangover 3 is shit, but gets sort of a pass by being miles better than 2.
The obsession with unfunny squeaky Chinese guy hurt that series badly.
I expected it to be worse if I’m honest. Definitely too much Chang, and Alan gave me the shits too. Haven’t seen 2.
Don’t. 2 is worse than The Change Up.
Second worst film of that year behind Sucker Punch.
Not only is it a lame rehash of 1, but it’s less funny, has too much Chow and is horribly mean spirited.
Also watched A fantastic fear of Everything.
Pegg is miscast, and the film was misrepresented. Had I known it was based on a short story by Bruce Robinson, I would have been better prepared for it.
It’s not good, mind.
Problem is that Pegg isn’t a good enough actor, old-looking enough, or physical comedian to carry it.
When I was watching it, I was struggling to work out who could. The Chin could have about 20 years ago (think going mad in Evil Dead 2), but it’s a rare combo needed.
I’ve had that for yonks. Never bothered to watch it.
Not really worth it.
Totally meh, but the last act is bizarre.
You seen the cricket? Brilliant from the kiwis.
Yeah, I was tracking it earlier. Amazing innings from McCullum. Would be crazy if they pulled off a win.
Can’t stand this India side as well.
It’s been a funny few months- Mitch turned from clown to destroyer, England imploded, SA imploding, and the Kiwis completely dismantle India.
heh Is his name Chow? I just watched it last night and he’s in most of the movie. That’s how much the film registered with me.
Anyhoo Halloween 4 up.
Annoyingly, I have this week off work (bah) so am going to finish all that damned series bar remakes.
Watched ep 5 of True Detective. Was wondering the other day if this was just a one off series, and if not then how they were going to extend the story to more than one season. I figured they might just make the show about detectives in general, so each season follows some new characters. After watching ep 5 I think this story will wrap up, so it’ll be interesting to see if/how they make second season.
Did you like the Marwan From 24 escape ability ol’ Russ has?
Yep this season is a one off, next season will be all new characters and setting,.
You mean the end part of ep 4?
I like the idea of the new characters and setting thing.
yep. Instead of going upstairs he just walsk out the back door.
McCullum got to 300. Then got out two balls later. Great knock. They’re 375 ahead now. Should declare and go for the win.
Fantastic. 500 scored for the loss of 1.
Neesham century on debut too
Yeah, he’s a number 8 too? Kiwi’s are starting to look like a decent team.
India’s bowling is shit though, outside of India.
Amazing effort from them. Don’t hang around and waste the best of the conditions.
That prick Dhoni was bowling himself again. That’s 3 amazingly inept captaincy efforts from three of the 4 best sides- Smith, Dhoni and Cook. Well, 2 of the best and England.
Southee gone. That’ll be it. Sharma has the worst bowling figures I’ve seen for a long time.
Just declare FFS.
This is pointless now. Declare, FFS
Must be trying to bat India out of the game totally.
Neesham’s strike rate is nuts for a number 8 saving the game…
I know they’re 1 up in a 2 test series, but christ, they’re not England here. They’re not coached my Andy Flower. Go for the win!
Totally agree. As much fun as it is watching neesham tonk demoralized bowlers, enough.
Last night I watched OZ: The Great and Powerful. Much to my surprise I thought it was mildly entertaining. This, despite the fact that 3 out of the 4 leads were miscast. Weisz was alright. Waste of Raimi. Not even remotely close to the quality of the Garland one. But overall, it was okay.
Ugh.
Thought that was utter shit. Horrible effects when they first landed in Oz as well.
Yeah, it was blue screened to death. I thought I’d hate it. I was expecting something like Alice in Wonderland. But it was passable.
I preferred Alice. Although I thought that was shit too.
I’d OoD Alice.
It’s shite, but I don’t think I’d OoD it.
I didn’t like Oz but I liked it much more than Alice.
Oz screamed “3D!” at the top of its lungs.
I clearly need to rewatch Alice. Because I couldn’t stand Oz.
The moment he landed in Oz and that horrible blue screen shite kicked in the film was an endurance trial for me.
I thought it was a good idea to have a square screen in b/w and then for the widescreen to kick in for Oz. Debatable whether it works or not…
It was a good idea- like it was in Garland’s. just horribly executed.
That’s another film that seemed to go out of its way to remind me of a much better source.
Christ, I couldn’t remember that in Garland’s… Movie points duly deducted.
In my defence I was only a kid when I saw it.
Aye. Kansas is black and white. Also same device of people in Kansas showing up in Oz.
Wasn’t the Wizard of Oz the first movie in colour? So the Kansas opening in B&W was deliberate so that the movie could “WOW” the audience when it suddenly burst into colour when she got to OZ? I might be 100% making this up.
I’ve had a quick look and it does indeed appear that I’m making it up.
Oz the Great and Powerful was mostly fluff to me. I agree completely with the miscasting statement. The thing is, what I noticed when I watched it was that Raimi wasn’t remaking Oz as much as he was remaking Army of Darkness. It hits every single one of the same plot points, with not nearly half the imagination.
It’s a cut above Alice, for sure.
That’s funny about the similarity to army of darkness. Quite true. With the added strange fact that OZ somehow looks faker than a movie with matte painting backgrounds and stop motion skeletons.
I kept waiting for him to look at Glinda and say ‘That was just pillow talk, baby!”
Or a scene where he’s reclining against a circus tent back in Kansas “But my place is here, so I drank the juice, said the words…and here I am.”
Don’t know why I’d go on about it at all, but the Kansas people showing up in Oz is actually probably the biggest narrative issue I had with Raimi’s movie. In the original film, you had the added ending that heavily implied that Dorothy had dreamed everything due to the corrolating characters in both worlds.
That’s fine, but it makes no sense when the wizard goes to Oz–arguably implied to be a real place this time–and then meets a group of characters who perfectly correspond to people he knew in the real world. That implies that one of the universes–Kansas or Oz–is existing only in his head.
That kind of thing made sense in Garland’s movie, but just feels vague and haphazard in Great and Powerful.
I was going to mention this because I had the same thought. But I wasn’t sure if the original showed whether or not is was a dream. Didn’t she have the slippers on when she woke up at the end? It’s been at least 20 years since I’ve seen it.
Funny you should mention that, because for years I had people telling me they remember an alternate tv ending where Dorothy pulls off the sheet and reveals the ruby slippers, or that as the camera pans away (pretty much none of Oz is shot like that, so it’s be odd to begin with) you see Dorothy’s slippers under her bed in Kansas.
I’ve seen the 39 Oz probably more times than any other movie I can recall, and on vhs/dvd/tv and Blu-Ray I’ve never seen an ending where she’s wearing/or has the ruby slippers in Kansas.
The internet suggests a mass delusion where people seemingly imagined this, because apparently no version of that ending exists out there.
This happens a surprising amount- end of Halloween is another good example- a mass delusion about his face.
Hehe. Wizard of Oz is greatest fake happy ending of all time.
Dorothy goes to Oz because the next door neighbor is having toto put down.
At the end, she’s back in Kansas and nothing has changed. Ergo, toto’s fucked.
Just realized tomorrow night is Pompeii screening. An epic disaster where humanity gets covered in hot exploding goo (Anderwank). Apparently it’s also about a volcano erupting.
Decent article on pace bowling.
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/feb/18/the-spin-south-africa-australia-mitchell-johnson-speed
Eh, watched Gangster Squad, which was quite Meh. No character development, just cardboard cutouts from other gangster flicks, so when one dies, nothing….yawn.
GS is complete shit.
Looks like it could be alright. More interesting than Captain Amehica 2 anyway.
And from the looks of its release date, it’s my birthday movie this year.
Yes, it definitely will be if the only other choice is a James Brown biopic.
The trailer is decent, and I tend to like the more off-the-wall comic ideas like this, they usually resist the seriousness that kills some of the more prominent titles.
I’ll say this though; there’s something about it that feels like it might be trying too hard. One minute I’m getting a Mystery Men or Fifth Element vibe, and the next it’s Tank Girl (not a good thing).
I’m guessing this might be the first Marvel movie to do meh business and AICN and their ilk will bellyache no one paying attention to its brilliance.
I tend to want to root for any movie with an ill-tempered, gun-toting raccoon, but knowing it comes from the guy who did Slither and Super makes me suspicious.
Hey, don’t knock Tank Girl. That movie had a half man, half kangaroo Ice-T in it. That’s the kind of movie that is so committed to its bizarre world that it’s got to be admired.
I’ve got no beef with Tank Girl as a concept, and I was amused by Lori Petty, but the world-building was where I had a problem. The whole thing felt cheap and rushed and too jokey. I went into the theater hoping to see something nutty and interesting, and about the half-way mark I felt like they had lost track of what they were doing.
I have no ill-will towards Tank Girl, I wanted it to like it very much, but the sum felt like the director throwing random parts at the wall and seeing if they stick.
A Kanga-T is indeed an interesting thing, but it helps if you also give it something interesting to do within the concept of the movie.
Apparently the director complained of studio interference.
Note I never said the movie was good. But when I saw it back in the mid-90s I liked it for its bizarreness. I don’t pretend to claim that everything I like is actually good!
Anyway, enough about nerd wank Marvel movies. I watched Runaway Train last night. Love that flick.
One from the 70’s or the Denzel one?
Neither. From the 80’s. With Voight.
Shit. Thought it was late 70’s. that’s the one I meant.
Haven’t seen it in years.
Yeah, it’s a damn good flick. Unstoppable is very similar in many ways.
Wasn’t Eric Roberts Oscar nominated for it?
The problem about the trailer for me is not that the film seems to be trying too hard, it’s that the trailer is trying too hard to introduce these characters that no ones ever heard of.
Yea, I meant the trailer is trying too hard. The movie can’t be known either way, yet, but the way the trailer organizes them in a “here’s the team you never heard of way” and tries for laughs when it feels like the scenes themselves aren’t actually committed to the joke, makes it all feel sort of forced. The Hooked on A Feeling scene for instance, is just him asking for his jams back and getting tazed, not particularly memorable or funny, but since it’s a tune we recognize–and they plan to play for the rest of the trailer–it’s laid in there like a centrepiece.
Also, like JPT says, the fact none of the cgi characters had a lick of dialogue in the trailer makes it hard to really get a clear idea if it’s going to work at all. Ok, you’ve got the raccoon. The first scene of the trailer should have been a scene that finds a good way to introduce the raccoon, let it talk, and then move on to showing us the world and hints at the characters.
I think with that jams/tazed scene, we were supposed to think he was going to beat up the big guy, so the gag was him getting tazed. But no, the joke didn’t land.
Still, it could be alright. And as I said before, I’d watch this over Crap 2 if I had to choose.
I will fully admit if I am wrong, but it looks like the action could be okay but….we didn’t hear boo from any of the other characters which has me worried. Plus it has a fucking raccoon in it. I can’t stress that enough. We saw just snippets of him in action, but how will it play out? I just think it could be jarring when watching everything else, and then you see a raccoon waltzing around.
The trailer itself: the intro to all the characters was lame. The trailer should have piqued interest into wondering who the hell are these people, not brought everyone up to speed as to who they are. Let the audience discover that on their own, but they must have zero confidence in that.
Will the fact it’s voiced by Bradley Cooper matter either way?
That’s not in Marvels play book. They’re all about safe. They won’t let an audience discover anything for themselves. There’s even a pointless quick shot of Benicio Del Toro in the trailer to help establish that it’s still in the established marvel universe.
That did nothing for me at all inf act it reinforced my dislike for the Che asshole from The OC.
Okay I actually liked that-being totally unfamiliar w/ the non-Charlie-27/Martinex version of this group. Groot and Draxx were 70’s Marvel dudes you didn’t see that much of. And it DOES have Michael Rooker as Yondu-blue alien cherokee archer guy-so that might be kinda fun, too. If it doesn’t work, oh boys then it veers into Van Helsing territory, and we don’t want THAT, either. I liked the Blue Swede tune, though.
Gamora, Starlord and Rocket Racoon were all 70s character too, Tom. Bronze Age rules!
But still, I’d prefer an Adam Warlock movie with Gamora, Starlord and Pip the Troll vs. Thanos instead of this.
Any giant robot lion sightings there?
He Xi, can I email you a review?
sure anytime you want.
de Kock. How unfortunate. But appropriate. He is a Saffa after all.
Alviro Petersen is out with a “viral infection”. In other words, he’s been shitting himself for the past 3 days at the prospect facing Mitch again.
He’s shit anyway.
Fucking boring from the Saffas. 62-2 at lunch. Piss poor. They’re going to struggle to do 250 in a day.
5-214. Dull as dogshit.
Last night I watched this dogshit movie called The Rescue. A wannabe Red Dawn type movie from the 80s where a group of army brats go to North Korea to save their captured dads. Starring Kevin ‘Drama’ Dillon and “Skippy” from Family Ties. It was complete shit.
Watched John Dies At The End.
Like it. It’s odd as Wales, but unlike that shithole is interesting and quite funny.
Bit of a waste though- Coscarelli should be doing Phantasm’s End- if Avary is out of gaol.
Thought it was a bit shit. Okay in individual moments, but overall a bit of a fucking mess.
Terrible. 300 per day should be minimum. Aussie over rate was horrible but that is no excuse.
They’re so scared of Mitch, that fucking Lyon and Smith are taking wickets on a first day Saffa pitch.
I watched a bit of the first session. They put up a stat that the average first day at that ground in 7-233.
I’ve seen the first day at that ground, and that stat is true- but that’s back when it was like Perth, Wellington or Headingly- the ball swung like a cunt.
They’ve relaid the pitch or something, and from what i saw yesterday a pm it wasnt doing the same- Lyon and smith were more of a threat.
Damn South Africans!
I caught a bit of that John Dies….wacky for sure, but didn’t seem too good. Granted I only caught 15 minutes smack dab in the middle of the movie, so what do I know.
The whole movie feels like a compilation of only catching 15 minutes smack dab in the middle of a movie. It goes from one weird, but pretty shit scenario to the next without giving you a clear idea what the fuck the movie is about. The best part is the opening.
By a long way.
The problem with it is the source material- although they did through some of that out (thankfully). Also needed more Kurgan.
Info on the SN spinoff. It doesn’t sound very good.
http://au.ign.com/articles/2014/02/20/supernatural-tribes-spinoff-casts-first-two-actors
Hey Xi I emailed you a review at your gmail & yahoo accounts.
Watching warm bodies.
Total shit.
Yeah, that was pretty lame.
I quite liked that.
Warm Bodies was fun to me. Nothing amazing, but enjoyable enough the first time through. I’ve seen far worse takes on zombie comedy.
got it and will get it up for you.
I don’t like how that sounds.
ah don’t be coy you should be flattered I still care.
Youra rticle is posted.
Started rewatching Veronica Mars. 4 episodes into season one and glad to see that it’s holding up rather nicely. Only disappointment so far is seeing Paris Hilton’s birdlike mug on the show.
I re-watched VM a few months ago and was also happy to see that its still good and didn’t lose a step. I found a few things I missed on prior viewings, nothing big or anything must small lines of dialogue or references that flew by me the first few times.
New Ti West flick.
So now we have a Jonestownsplotation genre? Becasue that looks suspiciously like a direct rip off of The Jonestown cult murder/suicide from the late 70’s. My guess is though a t the end the devil or something will show up and is caught on tape.
mmm… sacrilicious
Ha. No, thankfully that doesn’t happen. At the same time, it ends up being a pretty inevitable story. If you aren’t overdosing on the supernatural, then there’s about one way for this all to end. I thought it was ok, but not up to House of the Devil or Innkeepers.
best cult-related movie of recent years was Sound of My Voice, which almost no one saw.
What is Sound of my voice?
4 episodes in to Sleepy Hollow. When the fuck is this prick going to change his get up? He’s still in the dirty ancient outfit he was buried in for 200 years.
They have some fun with that idea keep watching.
Wow Harold Ramis has died at 69. Boooooooooooooooooooooooooo. Who we gonna call?
Apparently he has been sick for awhile.
Geriatric news flash: two more potential Indiana Jones films on the horizon.
Oh goody.
Indian Jones and the Search for Stewed Prunes. catch phrase I have a coupon!
I just saw Talkbacker but up a podcast that features DVader, Choppah, and Asimovlives
http://shutupkids.podbean.com/2014/02/24/episode-28-the-lords-of-talkbacker-vol-1/
They even mention us about 5 minutes in
Noted_Sage D.Vader, you understand.
What did they say? I can’t sit through anything that has Creepythinman and Goatfucker being held up as anything but punching bags.
They just mentioned us as one of the first groups to branch off from AICN. Asi sounds as annoying as you’d imagine
I made the mistake of listening to a few minutes of an earlier broadcast with him, he’s a schmuck.
He’s the one that posts in all caps right?
Also Asi admitted to being Memories of Murder
Yeah creepy is all caps. So goat fucker finally copped to something that was already general knowledge? What s sport.
yeah, it’s not like anyone didn’t know that was who it was
it was like a state secret…
I don’t know much about creepythinman, I think I left before he came to AICN. I’ve seen some of his posts but if he was around when I was posting I never paid him any attention
I sometimes troll those two over there but its weird people actually like those two numb nuts which is odd. One of their mods threatened to ban for goofing on goat fucker.
I’ve only been there a few times, most of the people there I don’t know from the AICN days other than chop or Col tigh
yeah its lot of later generations.
it sounds like this would is going to be a series over there. I could only imagine if it was Asi, Braffed, and Xi hahaha
It would just be me calling him a cunt repeatedly in every language I know. Hell I would even buy the Rosetta stone language software for Portuguese so I could call him names in that shitty knock off Spanish language,
LMAO. I’d pay to hear that
do you still talk to most of the Bale guys, Xi? I talk to Abom some and s-mart, and I see Danny post once and awhile. Stuntcock doesn’t like me anymore for some unknown reason
yes i do mostly on twitter.
Yes, TomBando, no way I could leave you guys out of the convo!
Yes, TomBando, no way I was going to leave you guys out!
I’m actually touched and moved that we’ve been noted, D. Vader, thank you very, very much… (Wolf dabs at his eyes with a hankie)
Here’s something for Jarv:
http://screenrant.com/judge-dredd-2-sequel-happening/
Listening to Asi I kept picturing Eli Wallach from Good the Bad and Ugly.
Recent Viewing has been…
Afder Erf… Not as bad as I thought it would be, but it’s so plainly intended as a vehicle for Will Smith Jr it’s a bit hard to accept. Especially since Jr can’t act, and Sr seems to recognise this and puts in his worst performance this side of Seven Pounds to accomodate. Essentially, it’s Outlander without the awesomeness, so just watch Outlander again.
Identity Thief… Wannabe Planes, Trains and Automobiles type shit. Still trying to figure out why people consider the fat one from Bridesmaids funny. Unless “funny” is a fat, crass, stupid, vile woman. The character not the actress. I have no idea what the actress is really like (apart from the obvious). Anyway, the movie sucks.
Dr No… Okay. Does Bond just flat out murder people in cold blood in any of the subsequent Bond flicks? I was a bit surprised when he shot the unarmed bloke.
Sleepy Hollow… The TV show. Not bad. The leads are okay. A bit of a Sherlock/Watson vibe. My main complaint is more to do with the writing. Early eps of Almost Human suffered from the same thing. The show tries to stuff the “bonding” of the lead characters down our throat. This show repeats this in nearly every episode. Just let it build naturally. And don’t wait until episode 10 to address the wardrobe issue, and then the only outfit he tries on are a pair of fucking skinny jeans. But anyway, it’s okay enough that I’ll watch next season. Just could have used a bit more silliness (and head lopping) like the pilot ep. And zombie George Washington was a let down. Only because I thought they might embrace the stupid and have him appear in current day. Anyway, John Noble makes everything better.
Casino Royale in the beginning? Black and white segment.
To answer your Bond question: Yes. He murders people.
It’s pretty integral to his character- he has no qualms about this sort of shit.
Does he murder people because he has to, or does he have options? For example, in Dr No, the guy is disarmed. Bond sits back and casually shoots him. That’s cold blooded murder. He had the option of arresting him, handing him over to authorities and whatnot.
Killing minions in a gunfight is not what I’m talking about BTW.
It wasn’t a minion that he killed in Casino Royal, nor was it a gunfight. He was sent to specifically kill the dude if I remember correctly.
That film is painfully shit
Looks decent.
I think that is a solid trailer. Now, who knows how the filler storyline will play out when the big guy isn’t on screen, but I think that trailer is pretty effective in setting up the destruction.
The ASM 2 trailer was out too, I just don’t see any difference between what has come out before it, whether it is Raimi’s flicks or the previous reboot.
Basically zero confidence in it.
Pillows just pooped his pants in excitement.
At least I don’t have poop for brains. What an appalling idea.
Stupid bitches. They should get Peter Jackson to direct a four hour Spidey movie, or better yet, Venom movie. Because people are clamoring for just that.
This is stunningly stupid news!
Gerard Butler and some fucker I don’t know in the Point Break remake. Fuck off with that.
I watched Shaun of the Dead (excellent) and Battleship (not so excellent), though I have to say picking up Battleship with only a hour to go is the best way to watch it. I should have muted it too, or maybe watched it in French or something. I’m positive that was done completely on purpose, the writing being littered with cliches.
Re: Bond.
Sorry, but to jump into this discussion, but I feel compelled to.
Yes, Bond murders people. Murder is a legal term, and Bond’s job as a spy is to go into other countries and do things against their laws, like murder people. Spies are not cops, they are criminals who serve a government. It’s the nature of the business.
And yes, they are fantasy but they are fantasy built on the real world idea of what you are required to do in espionage (especially Cold War espionage). Bond doesn’t willy nilly shoot and kill people because he likes to, but because he is ordered to. He’s a soldier in a war, a shadow undeclared war where there is no uniforms or Geneva Convention.
And Bond doesn’t turn over a lot of enemy agents over to the authorities because in the world of espionage, in the world of James Bond and to a degree the real world espionage of the 50s and 60s, that would create even more problems. They could contact their higher ups, get Bond tangled up in all kinds of legal problems, cause embarrassment for the British government, or just be released because you need hard evidence in legal cases and espionage doesn’t often deal with hard facts.
I imagine Bond has already been given instructions, orders, to eliminate people involved. He’s just following protocol. It’s ugly but it is the “truth” of the world of espionage that Flemming came from (more like what he heard about).
Wow. Why is my post way up there?
Anyway, Bond was taking place before the Church hearings and the Cambridge Five were outed. During the 50s and early 60s the US and UK really did some shadowy shit, kind of like what Bond does (even if his is super-hyped up for entertainment value until it is practically superhero fantasy).
Was reading about Sandy Bollocks earning $70m for Gravity, and found out that Keanu gave the FX and costume departments $80m of his Matrix sequels payout. How charitable of him.