Rate The Last Movie(s) You Watched
Same as the Rate the Last Game You Finished topic but with movies. There should be more film talk around here. So, I'll start off with the movies I've seen in the past few days.
Law-Abiding Citizen - 5.5/11
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World - 7/11
Sword of the Stranger - 9/11
Blade Runner: Final Cut - 11/11
Blade Runner is one of those films I want to love but also want to hate.
Law-Abiding Citizen - 5.5/11
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World - 7/11
Sword of the Stranger - 9/11
Blade Runner: Final Cut - 11/11
Blade Runner is one of those films I want to love but also want to hate.
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Aand... That's it.
The Concert 8/10
The Propositon 8/10
Gegen die Wand (Head-On) 10/10 (again)
Blade Runner is a weird case too. I don't know if I like the story but it still holds a spot in my top 3 sci-fi. The story goes downhill for me when it's focused too much on the Rachel and Deckart relationship. I preferred the beginning where he did some sleuthing and went to all these cool locations in the shopping district.
But what makes this movie so great is the atmosphere/music/setting. It's my favourite futuristic post-apocalypse world. If I had to choose a fictional world to live that would be one of my top picks.
Great action, great mindfuck, I kind of wish that it was a 'location' film with more time spent on the protagonist in his cell, but it probably wouldn't have been very entertaining. Stylish violence, great plot, and a few boobs thrown in just to even it out. Something for everyone
Inception - 8.5/10
A victim of its own hype and possibly needlessly complicated so it can be seen as 'deep' or something. Still very entertaining, novel and refreshing. Has quite a long running time but never gets dull
The Truman Show (one of my favourite flicks ever) - 9.5/10
Every time I watch this show I notice or reflect on something different about it, be it social commentary or the motivations of those around Truman. People'll pan it because it has Jim Carrey in it, and if you watch a Jim Carrey movie you're branded a moron. Carrey plays his role fantastically and his world is so well-realised. Not to mention Ed Harris as the 'show's' creator turning in a fantastic performance.
Children of Men - 9.5/10
This film blows my arse half way across the room without fail everytime I watch it. Yeah there's technical brilliance in some epic shots, and the story's very good and everyone turns in a great role. But this film feels real, and that takes something special. A true modern classic
Taken (Extreme, in you face, stealing your stuff, clogging your toilet and not being at all sorry cut) 7/10
It's not rocket science, Liam Neeson's ex-CIA or something, daughter goes missing, he
isn't happy. He shoots his way around Paris showing how hardcore he is and how he still can't do an American accent. Lines such as "I need a plane" "When for?" " an hour ago" and explosive action are all pulled off nicely, and it's enjoyable stuff. Action films are hard to do for myself, bacause they're inherently dumb by nature, but Taken does it right
Remember Me - 4/10
This is what happens when you let someone without the dangly genitals rent a film out, you end up with this. It wasn't all terrible, that blade who plays Claire from Lost turned in a good performance, and there's a comic relief character you'll have a love-hate relationship with. but for the most part I was gagging on Robert Pattinson doing his damndest to look deep and mysterious whilst sucking on a cigarette. his character has daddy issues, and his daddy is played by Pierce Brosnan, a man who couldn't act his way out of a phonebox. With the door left open. And a big "EXIT" sign above the door. Add some nauseating dialogue about how nobody understands and a plot-twist that's as depressing as it is offensive and you've got a stinker. All points were awarded on the premise of Emille de Ravin not screaming "THE BAYYYBEEE!" or "CHAWLIEEE!!"
As you can see, i'm not much of a critic. But stuff it
Don't get too excited, I love Cool Runnings and Half Baked
Buttcrack is a movie about a guy's room mate whose buttcrack is always showing. Well, oneday the room mate gets a bit fed up with ol' buttcrack and when he blasts his music in the tub he gets angry and when trying to turn off the radio he drops it in the tub killing Buttcrack. Then Buttcrack's Voodoo Witch sister puts a curse on the roommate to where when someone says the word "buttcrack" 12 times in one breath Buttcrack gets pulled from Heaven and has to come to Earth and kill the person or else Buttcrack can't return to Heaven (I know, we all agreed this was the douchiest curse, and curse Buttcrack more then the roommate).
SGT. Kabukiman NYPD 10/10 (saw it at 3:30, was AMAZING)
It's about an NYPD SGT who gets the ancient powers of Kabuki and must stop an old Japanese Prophocey from coming true. He at first rejects the power of Kabuki because they're ruining his life. He then decides to accept them and train to be SGT KABUKIMAN NYPD!
This likely loses points because people I know were talking the whole time. I wanted to punch them all in face by the end of it. But what I did hear was not bad.
Phantom of the Opera- 3/10 My thoughts when the phantom was about to hang the fiance of the girl whose name escapes me at the moment. "Oh my god, you idiot. Attack him! ATTACK HIM!" I swear a good chunk of the plot there could have been avoided.
Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland 7/10
How to Train Your Dragon 8/10 (could have been written just a little better with characters other than Toothless and Hiccup being well-developed and likeable, but it's still a fantastic movie that I'm proud of Dreamworks for)
Kick-Ass 7.5/10
Toy Story 3 9.5/10 (nearly perfect, but the nit-picks bothered me a little too much to ignore them, still the best movie I've seen this year though)
Despicable Me 7/10
Splice 4/10 (offended me just to watch it, I'm not sure how I was convinced to see it, either)
Inception 8/10 (great visuals, great concept, great plot, but sometimes movies that are overly-glacial bother me)
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World 9/10 (second best movie this year, I thought, I wish people outside of the internet would notice it more)
Percy Jackson and the Olympians 3/10
Clash of the Titans 5/10
Megamind 8.5/10 (I felt the characters were just a bit more well-developed and the plot was a little more engaging and unpredictable than HTTYD's. To me, this is more of my preferred style of 3D animation and Dreamworks' best CGI movie to date, but that's all in the eye of the beholder.)
Maybe it's my tolerance for mediocrity surfacing again, I don't know, but I didn't think it was a bad movie. Certainly not the gem the first one was, but not without its own redeeming qualities. The action wasn't bad, the comedy was pretty good. I really only had a couple of notable problems with the movie.
First, Eunice, while somehow endearing in her own right, just does not fit with the rest of the film. I get that she's supposed to clash with everyone, but the whole Southern belle thing just did not work in Boston, and she's a poor replacement for Smecker. Plus her boobs are fake, though that's another complaint entirely.
Second, there's the death toll. Yeah, I know they killed
So yeah, other than those two gripes, I really enjoyed it.
[/pedantic]
ADDENDUM: Am I the only geek in the world who can't be arsed to give a single shit about Scott Pilgrim?
True enough, that's three gripes, but one of the gripes wasn't exactly about the movie.
I'll join you in that. I'm sure it's good for what it is, but i've no time for films where meek little Michael Cera gets the girl, and so can you!!! As for the comics, i'm not really a comic guy
Scott Pilgrim is too....I dunno, "intentionally cult" for me. It's hard to explain, but the way it goes about presenting itself feels very self-referential, in a bad way. Like, "Hey, look what I just did there? I did a video game thing. There's an anime thing here too. See? Look how cool and nerdy I am". It comes off very insincere. That, on top of the fact that it's a bloody Mary Sue sugary sweet romance story for nerds just makes it not my cup of tea. I can't swallow or stand it, though who knows if it's actually good at doing that for people that want that, or something. I've liked dumb things before, so maybe this is somebody's entertainment equivalent of comfort food or something, I guess. I just don't like when something without much substance is lauded as some great thing, you know? Yeah. I'm done talkin now.
Time for a little word association, moi druga.
Image Comics : Rob Liefeld.
District 9: ?/10. This is a movie I've seen three times and still don't know how I feel about it. It's not BAD, by any stretch of the imagination (as someone who makes a hobby out of purposely watching bad movies, I KNOW a bad movie when I see one) but I just didn't love it either. I'm not even 'meh' on it I just...don't know. I think I'm leaning towards liking it, but even then I'm in this weird limbo about the whole experience.
Leprechaun: 3.5/10 Why did I decide to revisit this? Do I hate myself that much? (The answer is yes, for those wondering.) Regardless, not the worst horror movie I've ever seen, but someone must have temporarily brain damaged me to make me think it was worth a second viewing...
Personally, I will disagree. I vastly prefer the Directors' Cut of Bladerunner to the Final Cut. The footage difference is enough to make the movie a little too meandering for my tastes, but, again this is personal preference.
I heard a ton of bad stuff about this movie. So I was sort of surprised when I enjoyed it. Though some people definitely don't get Tracy Morgan, so that may account for some of the bad reviews.
My thread spawned a spinoff thread? I'm so *sniff* proud. :'D
Ugh, my dad knows that this absolutely should be a bad movie. He knows that most people despise it. And for some perverse reason, it's still one of his favorite movies.
It was really good actually, and Johnny Depp did a good job as The Hatter.
It's more than just him. I know of three people in my house here in York who swear it's their favorite movie, terrible flaws and all.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - 10/11 - I adore this film. I adore it's direction, craziness, filthiness, and its performances.
Where the Buffalo Roam - 8/11 - Not as good or stylized as FaLiLV but Bill Murray plays Thompson equally as well as Depp did in Gilliam's picture.
Nice entertainment.
Also, you say it's "technically skillful", but then say it would have worked better as a book. What? That doesn't make any sense. You can't write this shot, you can't write deep focus, the excellent score, the fantastic effects, the elaborate sets meant to communicate as much to the viewer as the fucking words, or many of the things that make Citizen Kane an almost objectively incredible film. To just walk in and say "I don't like it, that is all, goodnight" is just to kick up shit just for the sake of kicking up shit.
Citizen Kane is a miracle of cinema. You have a score by Bernard Hernman(who later would write scores for Psycho and other Hitchcock films, Taxi Driver, and The Twilight Zone), cinematography by game-changer Gregg Toland, a screenplay by Herman J. Mankiewicz(whose witty and satirical style of humor came to define an era, on top of being fucking hilarious), and a cast and crew that brought with them a diverse range of knowledge in terms of design from a range of creative disciplines including radio and the stage play, which is part of the reason why Citizen Kane is such a strongly dialog-driven film(but, due to other aspects, is also hardly something that could be done without major and regrettable loss in radio, stage, or book formats). Fuck, I'm not even scratching the SURFACE of why this film is so great. The AFI didn't say it was the greatest American film as some sort of joke, or due to some academia version of peer pressure. There are damn-near objective reasons to call this film one of the greats. Greatest? Maybe, maybe not, but it sure as Hell deserves better than a fucking 45%.
But perhaps it's not entirely your fault. Citizen Kane was never meant to be seen on a screen the size of your average television computer monitor. Modern films are often framed so that they will perform just as well on video as they do in theaters, which was a non-factor in the time of Citizen Kane. I've known people who never really appreciated the film until they've seen it on a large enough screen, because this film? It's fucking DENSE. And I mean that in the best possible way, the film is layered, intelligent, and almost playfully communicative. The details are so prevalent that it's one of those films that makes you say "Wow, I noticed a new thing every time I watch it".
This film is not only a great movie, it's an American treasure, and it deserves a great deal of respect and value, far more than your three small-sentence blurb gave it.
Yes, Citizen Kane is an utterly unique, brilliantly shot and wonderfully atmospheric film. I don't think there's any real debate about that. However, personally I find the story to be lacking. It's an analysis of a man whose noble goals degrade into grab for power, but while I recognize the potential power of such a narrative, I find myself unable to really sympathize or care about what happens to Kane. This may just be that I really find Orson Welles an impersonal actor who, while bringing a lot of power to his role, seems to leave his humanity back in his trailer.
Ultimately, I don't DISLIKE Citizen Kane so much as I feel that it personally does not effect me the way a truly great film should. I finish the film with an 'well, it was a gorgeous film' but no deeper emotional reaction than that.
This isn't the only 'classic' film that I find I don't care for either. Casablanca is considered one of the greatest love stories put to film and honestly I'd put it on the level of the English Patient in terms of sheer tedium. It's possible to make an interesting character based film, but Bergman and Bogart have little onscreen chemistry in my mind, and Bogart is really a one-note actor on the whole. Don't get me wrong, I'm a HUGE fan of film noir, particularly Bogart's Sam Spade stuff like The big Sleep and The Maltese Falcon, but he does just play the same jaded character in all his films.
Again, this is not to say the film is bad, by any stretch of the imagination. I make it a hobby to hunt down the worst films possible and take the piss out of them, so believe me I know bad cinema. My problem, again, is that I'm not personally effected by Casablanca. I don't see it as this glorious love story everyone makes it out to be. Sleepless in Seattle, a film much less highly rated, made me care a hell of a lot more.
This is just my opinion though, I was just throwing it out there for consideration.
Now allow me to disagree. For one your post in its entirety and reactions like it to any person daring to not adore this movie is one of my first problems with this movie. If you dislike it, if you have a differing opinion about it, you're automatically a moron. No matter what you know. You could praise Casablanca until you're practically jerking off, you could marvel at the technical beauty and spectacle of Brazil, and you could praise and applaud Sergio Leone's beautiful cinematography until you're blue in the face. But once you dare to do anything but lovingly idolize Kane you're a bluthering nincompoop. When people begin to tell you what to think about a film you lose all personal connection to it.
Any point can be stated like that. I didn't say it sucks. I rated it based on my personal evaluation of it based on how much I liked it. I didn't like it. I didn't enjoy it. I have problems with it. And I can still praise it for the things it did well.
Except me.
I thought it was because people have differing opinions. I'll have to change my name to Citizen Kane Fan #2556584848954 or perhaps I'll be shot at sunrise for treason.
That's just hilariously over-exaggerated.
As a book I would just enjoy it much more than watching it, regardless of how well the film is built. This particular thing just comes down to enjoyment. I would rather spend my time reading the story of Citizen Kane than watching it.
I thought that was the point of the whole damn topic. Simple ratings.
Amazing. You're selling it AND telling it.
Screw the AFI. I'm not the AFI.
Right. Anyway when I said it was technically skillful, I mean in cinematography, production, acting, music, tone, screenplay, music, atmosphere, art design, etc. That's what the five points was for. Plenty of films are much better.
Kane isn't the only movie Toland did work on. His work on the Grapes of Wrath and Wuthering Heights is fantastic and those are better films. However, I've decided to change my score.
Citizen Kane - 1/11
Because now that you've told me what my opinion about the film should be, preached me a sermon, labeled me as a film heretic, talked down to me as if I don't already know the film's history as if you're the most righteous knowledgeable encyclopedia on the subject (I knew everything you preached to me about the films production already btw because I wanted to seriously evaluate every aspect of this well-praised film before coming to a serious conclusion on rating it and I still don't know all of my reasons hence why I said it will take me months to figure them out) and the champion for Kane's rights plus self-proclaimed biggest Kane fan, etc. I wouldn't be able to enjoy the film again if it spit gold at me. I'm not going to watch it again ever. But hey. I guess it's my loss. And don't come at me claiming I'm venomous or antagonistic. You started this argument, not me. You're the one with a spear up your ass because I don't like your beloved film, and who came to me about it with your heroic crusade. I rated it how I thought it was fair after a lot of serious deliberation. I gave it that courtesy because of it's reputation, and because I wanted to be fair. And I'm not sorry in the slightest. I'm sure that while my big bad 45% score is chomping at Kane's heels, Citizen Kane can rest easy knowing that the entire rest of the world is soothingly licking it's feet clean from my drivel. Oh wait, it doesn't care. It's a movie.
This is a big reason for me. I cared about Kane for the first half of the film and I really began to like it, and then it went downhill from there.
Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland - 5/10. The visuals and special effects were pretty cool, although for some reason it looked super flat in some places, like the characters were obviously standing in front of a backdrop. The thing that bothered me the most was the story.
I mean, instead of stating why you don't like the film, you just went: BAWWW YOU'RE MEAN I DON'T LIKE THE FILM NOW.
No I haven't. I'd like to see you prove it or are you just assuming I don't based on my opinion of this one film like all the other pretentious pricks?
I stated clearly my greatest reason for not liking it. Let me make it nice and big for you so you can't possibly generalize my rational explanations into sentences that make me sound like a retarded toddler.
It's technically skillful but I didn't enjoy watching it. I didn't care about Kane, I didn't care about Rosebud, I didn't care about anyone. I have no personal connection to this film and I never will.
Oh, and shouldn't that be BAWWWW You're mean I didn't like the film before and you've made me have an even lower opinion of it because you're mean?
You guys. Chill out.
...Let's be friends.
Notice how I haven't told you guys your opinions suck or you don't know shit about film because you differ from my opinion? Yeah I didn't go there. Because I'm not an asshole. Okay, I am an asshole, happily, but not in this case. I'm trying to be respectful and failing hard. That's hard to maintain when I end up in front of the firing squad.
I'm starting to think I should make this my new avatar around here nowadays-
In some ways, it's more of a documentary than a movie in the more usual meaning of the term.
I think it's a bit like the Mona Lisa. If you just look at it, it's a yellow woman who's not very good looking. But if you're an art student, you see so many painting techniques characteristic of the time, and the Mona Lisa is one painting that encompasses them all. As a result, it's a good representation of all the new breakthroughs in paintings in Vinci's time.
As a piece of entertainment, I would say Kane fails utterly, in my opinion. I didn't care about any of the characters and I managed to forget most of the details before the movie was even over, because none of them seemed relevant to anything. But technically, it's certainly impressive, and I think that's why it's worth seeing, and why it's considered such a great movie.
Yes, and those are all valid points that I will willingly agree with them. However, most times one comes into a movie to be entertained and if one does not come into Citizen Kane with the correct mindset, it is a completely unenjoyable experience. Dune is actually similar in this regard now that I think about it...
But yeah... everything's been said already on this topic, so I'll just add this: Thank the gods of good taste that Hollywood hasn't remade Citizen Kane. Can't we all get along under this great truth?
This. It pretty much sums up why I don't read movie reviews, (unless they're hilariously negative) what entertains me won't necessarily entertain others. (hell, I love Wild Wild West and apparently that makes me a heretic even if I have seen the original series as well)
And I really don't like it when people say "if you don't like X then you know nothing about films/music/gaming/literature". It's a bit 'Emperor's New Clothes' really.
This is pretty much how I see it. It always rubs me the wrong way when I see someone degrading other people's tastes when they don't like something, even if a lot of people do. It could be a masterpiece for sure, but it's all on how people's preferences play out. I've heard a philosophy before that if someone is able to relate very heavily with a certain piece of art they're more likely to like it less.