Spilled Popcorn and Sticky Floors: The Movie Discussion Thread

[paulpriest]

I agree.  Iron Man was a lot of fun and Downey Jr. made the movie with his performance.  I had heard it was well reviewed and still pleasantly surprised at the quality of the movie.  And I've been wanting to see The Savages for about six months and haven't gotten around to it.  Glad to hear you thought it was worth seeing.

[Mukey]

I rented Batman: Gotham Knight from redbox last night. It's 6 animated stories, think the Animatrix but for Batman. Worth a rental, prehaps even a purchase.

[Mukey]

Finally saw the new Indiana Jones movie this evening & I must say I was kinda disappointed. Too many instances of uber-craziness than even a fan of action movie absurdity could take. Some of the dialogue made me wince like I hadn't since the newest 3 Star Wars movies came out.

[JCthrills]

Saw Hancock this past weekend, very good.  Nice little plot twist about 3/4 through. My only gripe is that it wasn't on the Imax screen.

[tjdub26936]

Finally saw the new Indiana Jones movie this evening & I must say I was kinda disappointed. Too many instances of uber-craziness than even a fan of action movie absurdity could take. Some of the dialogue made me wince like I hadn't since the newest 3 Star Wars movies came out.

I tend to agree, but take it for what it is, an old formula that was perfected 20 years ago that they futilely tried to improve.  Still an enjoyable movie.

I saw Wanted on Saturday, flawed movie that gave up after 75 minutes.  Decent action scenes, kinda Matrix-y.

[Mukey]

Finally saw the new Indiana Jones movie this evening & I must say I was kinda disappointed. Too many instances of uber-craziness than even a fan of action movie absurdity could take. Some of the dialogue made me wince like I hadn't since the newest 3 Star Wars movies came out.

I tend to agree, but take it for what it is, an old formula that was perfected 20 years ago that they futilely tried to improve.  Still an enjoyable movie.

I saw Wanted on Saturday, flawed movie that gave up after 75 minutes.  Decent action scenes, kinda Matrix-y.

Crap, I read the comic source material for that movie (Wanted) and thought it had promise, guess the comic was better

Tatted up Angie Jolie might be worth seeing it a the $1 show tho 

[Jon Brakel]

Saw Hancock this past weekend, very good.  Nice little plot twist about 3/4 through. My only gripe is that it wasn't on the Imax screen.

[geek rant]Although the size of the screen is nice in the IMAX theatre I miss the digital sound of the regular (digital) theater. Also if it's not an IMAX movie then it isn't being shown on the big format so the effective resolution is lower on the IMAX screen. Some movies you can't tell and other movies look terrible. IMAX has 20 year old sound technology. IMAX should really update their sound specs.[/geek rant]

[Bruce Brakel]

<img src="http://img3.glowfoto.com/images/2008/07/10-0959182703M.jpg" alt="free image hosting" border=0 />

[Mukey]

Saw "The Dark Knight" today, and I've got to say it pretty much lived up to the hype. Solid performance from Bale again, but it's Ledger that makes the movie as a convincingly horrifying/sickly funny Joker. As Dave puts it, worth 1st run money.

[Mukey]

Finally saw the new Indiana Jones movie this evening & I must say I was kinda disappointed. Too many instances of uber-craziness than even a fan of action movie absurdity could take. Some of the dialogue made me wince like I hadn't since the newest 3 Star Wars movies came out.

I tend to agree, but take it for what it is, an old formula that was perfected 20 years ago that they futilely tried to improve.  Still an enjoyable movie.

I saw Wanted on Saturday, flawed movie that gave up after 75 minutes.  Decent action scenes, kinda Matrix-y.

Crap, I read the comic source material for that movie (Wanted) and thought it had promise, guess the comic was better

Tatted up Angie Jolie might be worth seeing it a the $1 show tho 

Tyler is right about this one, it starts out with some promise but boils down to usual action movie BS, and this is coming from an action movie fan. If you were disappointed by the movie pick up the collected graphic novels, you'll like it better

[Jim Bassett]

The Dark Knight
Ledger was great, story was convoluted, sound was murky, Chicago looked great, an hour too long, liked the first one way more.

[Chainmeister]

The Dark Knight
Ledger was great, story was convoluted, sound was murky, Chicago looked great, an hour too long, liked the first one way more.

I like this one more than Jim did.  That extra hour just breezed by for me.  This one really sat nicely on the border between comic book and reality and I let it take me along.  I also thought Aaron Eckhart ( you have to see him in Thank You for Smoking)was great as Harvey Dent.  I thought this was good old fashioned Hollywood entertainment.   All the things you have read about Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker are correct.  He was wonderfully creepy. I have to think Jack Nicholson saw this and smiled.

[jimklem]

I saw Neil Young's film: "CSNY: DejaVu" yesterday.
Yes, it was a liberal, Bush-bashing lovefest.
It was filled with great music - Young's new material is very strong - even if it was politically driven.
This documentary used Mike Cerre (embedded reporter in Iraq and Afghanistan) as the reporter on the CSNY tour.

Both positive and negative reaction from the public and the mainstream media was captured.
The central theme of Neil Young was Stop The War and Bring Home the Troops.
The music was well done.
Filming was excellent.
Content was just a little too preachy, even for a left-wing hippie like me, but the film was thought-provoking and honest.

The best thing:  those fat old guys still rock out!

[Dan Michler]

The Dark Knight
Ledger was great, story was convoluted, sound was murky, Chicago looked great, an hour too long, liked the first one way more.

I like this one more than Jim did.  That extra hour just breezed by for me.  This one really sat nicely on the border between comic book and reality and I let it take me along.  I also thought Aaron Eckhart ( you have to see him in Thank You for Smoking)was great as Harvey Dent.  I thought this was good old fashioned Hollywood entertainment.   All the things you have read about Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker are correct.  He was wonderfully creepy. I have to think Jack Nicholson saw this and smiled.

I agree with Barish.  Dark Knight lived up to the hype.  The Joker character was more dark and more intense than anything from any of the other Batman films.  I feel like this movie isn't something you'd even want to take a 9 or 10 year old to, it was that intense.  For me, any movie over 2 hours is tough to handle, but I didn't even notice the time really during Dark Knight.  Pretty steady action from start to finish.

One of the best movies of the year for sure.

semi-SPOILER:

Although I thought the ending dialogue was way too corny and over-dramatic, they did an awesome job setting the Batman series up for another good movie.  To me, Batman is awesome when he's the scary, crazy, vigilante dude who the public and criminals are all scared of because nobody knows what he's capable of.  As soon as Batman becomes the guy who plays by the rules and the public counts on to fight crime in his little bat-suit, then it gets boring and stupid and very predictable.  This movie kept that from happening which means the next movie also has potential to be entertaining as well.  Batman is now even more feared by the public and criminals as a killer, which is how it should be.

[Tom McManus]

New movies:

Saw Step Brothers on Saturday. It was good, by no means great, but there were some good laughs.

There Will Be Blood. A very good movie with a great performance. Daniel Day Lewis was unbelievably good as a crazed oilman in the late 1800's early 1900s.  I wasn't sure I was going to like this movie, but it was a very good film.

Daniel Day Lewis gave an unbelievable performance. Originally I was pulling for Vigo Mortensen in Eastern Promises (a movie I enjoyed more than There Will Be Blood), but Daniel Day Lewis was great.

Also saw Chaos Theory, a good movie to see with a wife or girl friend.

Other recommendations:

The Bank Job
American Gangster
3:10 to Yuma Christian Bale's character was more interesting than the Russell Crowe character.
Twelve Angry Men from 1957, it is a great great movie. I never get tired of watching this film.

[Chainmeister]

Rented I want Someone to Eat Cheese With.  I give it a moderate thumbs down.  I really wanted to like this movie.  I like Jeff Garland in Curb Your Enthusiasm and he uses a lot of local comedians including Tim Kazurinsky and Bonnie Hunt amongst others. He also has Dan Castelenta (Homer Simpson) behind the register at a convenicne store and Sarah Silverman as a potential love interest. His character is a lifer at Second City who can't break into the big time.  He lives with his mother and discretely pigs out on junk food. Garland tries to make a small movie about a guy who struggles with his weight, his career, his mother, his love life. He tries to tie in the movie to Marty which was also about a loveable loser in the 1950's. With all that going for it the movie, like the title character, is sort of a sad sack that you really want to like but just don't.  There are very few big laughs and not many little ones despite the plethora of comedians.  There are great Chicago sights, but that's not a reason to see a movie. The movie did have a heart. Perhaps that is why it didn't work.  If it was more ruthless it might have been funnier.  It had moments, or lets say seconds, of tenderness and pathos.   It came across like a good student movie or an amatuerish professional one.  I liked it only slightly more than another Chicago movie about tyring to find yourself and find love, About Last Night, which had Jim Belushi. Enough said, that was a lousy movie.  I can't say this is lousy. Its just not good.  I always have a soft spot for what I call noble failures- movies that have good intentions and good ideas but don't work. (Spike Lee's School Daze for example) This one falls short of that standard. Again, the film mirrors its title character...Eh.

[Jon Brakel]

Rented I want Someone to Eat Cheese With.  I give it a moderate thumbs down.  I really wanted to like this movie.  I like Jeff Garland in Curb Your Enthusiasm and he uses a lot of local comedians including Tim Kazurinsky and Bonnie Hunt amongst others. He also has Dan Castelenta (Homer Simpson) behind the register at a convenicne store and Sarah Silverman as a potential love interest. His character is a lifer at Second City who can't break into the big time.  He lives with his mother and discretely pigs out on junk food. Garland tries to make a small movie about a guy who struggles with his weight, his career, his mother, his love life. He tries to tie in the movie to Marty which was also about a loveable loser in the 1950's. With all that going for it the movie, like the title character, is sort of a sad sack that you really want to like but just don't.  There are very few big laughs and not many little ones despite the plethora of comedians.  There are great Chicago sights, but that's not a reason to see a movie. The movie did have a heart. Perhaps that is why it didn't work.  If it was more ruthless it might have been funnier.  It had moments, or lets say seconds, of tenderness and pathos.   It came across like a good student movie or an amatuerish professional one.  I liked it only slightly more than another Chicago movie about tyring to find yourself and find love, About Last Night, which had Jim Belushi. Enough said, that was a lousy movie.  I can't say this is lousy. Its just not good.  I always have a soft spot for what I call noble failures- movies that have good intentions and good ideas but don't work. (Spike Lee's School Daze for example) This one falls short of that standard. Again, the film mirrors its title character...Eh.

Steve Dahl had a small part in Someone to Eat Cheese With (don't know if it made the final cut) and he "met" Sarah Silverman. He said most stars that you meet in person just don't look as good without the lighting and camera angles and stuff. But not Sarah Silverman. He ran into her while she was on her cell phone while chewing gum and filing her nails...three things that Steve hates and she was still incredibly gorgeous. He said he couldn't stop looking at her. She even caught him looking at her...she didn't seem to mind.

[Tom McManus]

I really liked About Last Night.

[Chainmeister]

Dahl made the cut.  He had a cameo. 

[Jon Brakel]

I really liked About Last Night.

About Last Night has its moments and its one of the few watchable Jim Belushi (funniest LIVING Belushi!) movies. That movie FEELS like a Chicago movie. Many "Chicago" movies feel like they are fake and you can tell that no one involved on the creative side ever spent any time in the area.