Films Thread

[Kyyle23]

IMDB Wolverine This thread basically sums up why the movie is horrible. Yes it contains a lot of spoilers.....but i say if you haven't seen the leaked copy who cares if it's spoiled, it's seriously that butchered.

 

I know that they just made up a whole bunch of crap regarding Deadpool's background.

[3E8]

BRUNO TRAILER!!

 

[NorthSideSox72]

So, got off the blue line at Damen yesterday on the way home from work, and they were filming something pretty big. I asked someone there what movie they were filming and they just shrugged their shoulders.

 

[BigSqwert]

Adventureland getting good reviews. Contemplating whether I should check it out.

[DBAHO]

I was exhausted when I saw it, but I lean to it being one of the worse movies I've ever seen.

Probably the worst movie I've seen in a cinema since Shallow Hal.

 

There I said it.

[santo=dorf]

So, got off the blue line at Damen yesterday on the way home from work, and they were filming something pretty big. I asked someone there what movie they were filming and they just shrugged their shoulders.

Probably our guy Michael Mann filming Public Enemies.

[caulfield12]

Agreed, successful comics are usually successful because the character AND the story are great. Fox just likes to exploit the name value of these characters and get butts in the seats, they could care less if the seat occupiers actually enjoy the movie

 

Catwoman with Halle Berry, the Punisher (2X, like the Hulk), would be just a couple of examples...

 

I saw Adventureland yesterday and I really, really, liked it. Definitely 3.5/4 stars. There's just something about Kristen Stewart (she had the same laconic presence in Twilight) that compels you to watch her, even though she's not beautiful by any stretch of the imagination. It reminded me a little bit of Nick and Norah meets a Zach Braff movie with an 80's soundtrack sprinkled in. It's definitely going to play to more of a 15-25 year old crowd, but it was well done and captured that time period (1987) so well without overdoing it and going for the cliches.

 

Fast/Furious was as expected. Jordana Brewster hasn't done very much since the first film, I thought she was going to be a star but it just never materialized.

I'm actually getting to like Paul Walker movies, I guess it's because I have a soft spot for the vastly underrated 8 Below. He would be on the list with Jason Statham and Paul Rudd for male actors I usually enjoy something about their movies even if they are pretty horrific. In some ways, he's become what the likes of Ryan Philippe or Freddie Prinze, Jr., never became...or Josh Hartnett, to name a more recent example. Either 3 or 3.25 stars out of 4, can't decide. Watchable, but nothing great, predictable in a summer popcorn movie kind of way.

 

I guess with Knowing, reviewers either eviscerate Nicolas Cage movies automatically (for the toupee or not pushing himself as an actor like he did earlier in his career before he "sold out") or they tend to like them no matter how bad they actually are.

 

I like Knowing more than The Day the Earth Stood Still, simply because I hate Keanu Reeves with a passion (and not because he's gay, not that there's anything wrong with that, wink wink) and Will Smith's son made me want to have him offed by the Aliens at various times. Knowing, was interesting/thought-provoking in a DaVinci/National Treasure-ish way but it had the same problem as Signs. I really think movies where the "aliens" don't show up at all is the best...or where there's a totally different approach to conceiving them, like "Race to Witch Mountain."

 

BTW, is "Sugar" playing in Chicago anywhere? It's not here in the Quad Cities yet, although part of it was filmed at the minor league stadium here on the riverfront.

Edited April 4, 2009 by caulfield12

[Kyyle23]

Catwoman with Halle Berry, the Punisher (2X, like the Hulk), would be just a couple of examples...

I sort of disagree on the Hulk movies, but only because I liked both movies in their own right.

 

I just dont think that the Punisher will ever translate to the screen like he does in the comics. When you put him in a movie, he just looks like a hyped up comic version of Death Wish. There is no superhero aspect to him, he is just a smart mercenary whose family was killed, and has a seemingly endless supply of guns and ammo. In the comics there is a whole different aspect to the character, you can experience the pain that Frank Castle endures and "theatre of the mind" takes over.

 

Catwoman is also another great example of how to ruin a franchise before it even starts. The Fantastic Four movies were all pretty bad as a whole (even though the Thing and Human Torch were both perfectly casted and scripted), and it will probably be a while before we see anyone get a shot at a re-boot, re-brand, re-start etc. X-Men 3 crashed and burned so badly that they are already considering the next X-men movie to be an origins movie as to re-start the characters from when they were young and get younger actors in their place.

 

And now we have Wolverine, stuffed to the gills with superheros, and one of the cult favorites of Marvel(Deadpool) is having his background changed for the movie's sake. Seriously, Hollywood needs to realize that these scripts are pre-written for them in comic book form, and to change the essence of the characters and where they come from and what they are about is to change what people loved about those characters.

 

The reasons that the Dark Knight and Batman Begins have succeeded is because Nolan went back to what brought Batman into the forefront again, he made Batman dark again. He took away the Schumacher neon lights and unrealistic city and campy lines and close up batman nipple and butt shots(WTF was that) and replaced them with a city that could actually be a real city and people that werent cartoon characters.

 

its really too bad that these major companies like Fox and Universal cannot let directors do what they feel is the proper treatment for a comic franchise.

 

 

[caulfield12]

What's interesting is that making James Bond "dark/er" has had very much mixed results. In a way, he was kind of becoming tired and cliched under Moore and Dalton has a character...now he's something like Jason Bourne, Jr., almost too evolved and too modern and not enough one-liners and meaningless sex. Maybe part of it's a reaction to the parodies too, movies like Austin Powers.

 

I'm still not sure if that last Bond movie was horrible because of the script or Olgy Kurylenko is meant to be a leggy Ukrainian ubermodel and not actress.

[knightni]

Saw Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D today.

 

Pretty cool. Not awful, but not Pixar either.

[shipps]

Saw Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D today.

 

Pretty cool. Not awful, but not Pixar either.

 

I didnt like it, although I didnt see it in 3d.

 

 

[Kyyle23]

Nonetheless, the movie's $55.7 mil take (including $5.5 mil from 124 IMAX screens) is substantially smaller than the $70.9 mil that 300, the last R-rated graphic-novel movie from director Zack Snyder, earned on its opening weekend two years ago. And aside from that theater-count statistic (which almost any film could break at any time, really), there will be no major records to report on this weekend (for example, Watchmen's debut was just the fifth-best opening ever for an R-rated movie).

 

I'd argue, in fact, that this opening is a bit soft, considering the great expectations that came with Snyder's adaptation of Alan Moore's landmark comic book -- not to mention Watchmen's hefty grosses from screenings at midnight on Friday and throughout its first day. After attracting some major initial interest, banking $25.1 mil on Friday, the film's audience dropped off dramatically during the weekend: It grossed $19 mil on Saturday and is expected to bring in just $11.5 mil on Sunday. These are all big numbers, don't get me wrong, but, when combined with the fact that the film got a lukewarm CinemaScore grade of B from an audience that was largely comprised of older men, it all points to a rapid downward trend that may be difficult to reverse in the weeks to come.

 

from ew.com

 

Reality doesn't matter. It's perception. This movie isn't going to go down as a great success, you'll see. You your instincts, you can feel when a movie will be a big commercial success and when it won't, outside of what you think of it as a movie.

 

Im ready to admit I was far wrong in this argument, and you were right.

[knightni]

Im ready to admit I was far wrong in this argument, and you were right.

It's a sad, sad society that we live in when Paul Blart: Mall Cop outdraws Watchmen.

[caulfield12]

I loved Adventureland, and it only made $2.2 million on Friday and will die a quick death.

 

OTOH, Fast/Furious 4 made $30 million in one day already, will end up at around $75-80 million for the entire 3 days...and is one of the most mindless/brainless movies you could ever hope to see. On Sunday, it will be announced that this movie set the ALL-TIME opening for an April release. Hard to believe, isn't it? It's hard to believe there are so many Vin Diesel fans out there, the Asian presence from Tokyo Drift/Part 3 has been eviscerated almost totally and African-American actors/actress (T. Gibson) nowhere to be found. If there is a subniche for this movie, from watching it once, it would seem to be Hispanics, who, along with Asian-Americans, are one of the most difficult audience demographics to predict in terms of ticket buying behavior.

 

I still think that audiences reward "smart/thinking" movies like Taken with good box office numbers (and word of mouth advertising), but I have no explanation for Paul Blart other than the "people in flyover territory like stars they can identify with and movies made for them and not too laden with insidery Hollywood gibberish (see Tropic Thunder or The Player).

 

I will be interested to see if Wolverine survives all the bad press...Valkyrie held up surprisingly well, considering it might even end up making a SMALL profit when you add in the international marketing and box office for the film.

 

Another movie that could go either way (huge hit or bomb, you know Transformers 2 will make bank) is James Cameron's AVATAR.

[Kyyle23]

I loved Adventureland, and it only made $2.2 million on Friday and will die a quick death.

 

OTOH, Fast/Furious 4 made $30 million in one day already, will end up at around $75-80 million for the entire 3 days...and is one of the most mindless/brainless movies you could ever hope to see. On Sunday, it will be announced that this movie set the ALL-TIME opening for an April release. Hard to believe, isn't it? It's hard to believe there are so many Vin Diesel fans out there, the Asian presence from Tokyo Drift/Part 3 has been eviscerated almost totally and African-American actors/actress (T. Gibson) nowhere to be found. If there is a subniche for this movie, from watching it once, it would seem to be Hispanics, who, along with Asian-Americans, are one of the most difficult audience demographics to predict in terms of ticket buying behavior.

 

I still think that audiences reward "smart/thinking" movies like Taken with good box office numbers (and word of mouth advertising), but I have no explanation for Paul Blart other than the "people in flyover territory like stars they can identify with and movies made for them and not too laden with insidery Hollywood gibberish (see Tropic Thunder or The Player).

 

I will be interested to see if Wolverine survives all the bad press...Valkyrie held up surprisingly well, considering it might even end up making a SMALL profit when you add in the international marketing and box office for the film.

 

Another movie that could go either way (huge hit or bomb, you know Transformers 2 will make bank) is James Cameron's AVATAR.

 

Not only part 3. The asian presence was a big part of the first movie as well.

 

I was reading about Avatar, the concept is pretty cool, I did not realize this is the first movie Cameron has directed since Titanic. That is quite a gap between movies, not that he needs the money after Titanic.....

 

[BigSqwert]

I actually enjoyed I Love You Man. About what I expected. Entertaining.

[caulfield12]

Yeah, I remember former model-turned actress Devon Aoki in the first Fast/Furious...there weren't quite as many streets races in this one, but the one they did have was a really good one, FWIW.

 

And the first scene with Michelle Rodriguez and Diesel in the Dominican Republic (didn't see Wilder or Jose Rijo in the background) robbing a 4 trailer gasoline truck will impress the CGI fans out there as well.

[Kyyle23]

Yeah, I remember former model-turned actress Devon Aoki in the first Fast/Furious...there weren't quite as many streets races in this one, but the one they did have was a really good one, FWIW.

 

And the first scene with Michelle Rodriguez and Diesel in the Dominican Republic (didn't see Wilder or Jose Rijo in the background) robbing a 4 trailer gasoline truck will impress the CGI fans out there as well.

 

I saw that scene, that was a "You can watch the first 6 minutes of this movie" preview trailer that came out a few months ago.

 

It was very cool to watch, not believeable in the slightest, but still cool

[knightni]

Spoiler tags you guys...

[Kyyle23]

I loved Adventureland, and it only made $2.2 million on Friday and will die a quick death.

 

OTOH, Fast/Furious 4 made $30 million in one day already, will end up at around $75-80 million for the entire 3 days...and is one of the most mindless/brainless movies you could ever hope to see. On Sunday, it will be announced that this movie set the ALL-TIME opening for an April release. Hard to believe, isn't it? It's hard to believe there are so many Vin Diesel fans out there, the Asian presence from Tokyo Drift/Part 3 has been eviscerated almost totally and African-American actors/actress (T. Gibson) nowhere to be found. If there is a subniche for this movie, from watching it once, it would seem to be Hispanics, who, along with Asian-Americans, are one of the most difficult audience demographics to predict in terms of ticket buying behavior.

 

 

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/04/...e.ew/index.html

 

In the first truly shocking box office result of the year, "Fast & Furious" sped away from expectations to gross a humongous $72.5 million, according to early estimates from Media by Numbers.

 

 

Paul Walker stars in "Fast & Furious," which exceeded expectations after taking in $72.5 million.

 

That result is effectively double what most industry observers had predicted for the debut of the fourth feature in Vin Diesel's car franchise, and it left in the dust a number of notable records:

 

- Best April opening ever, beating "Anger Management's" $42.2 million.

 

- Best Universal Pictures opening ever (three-day), beating "The Lost World: Jurassic Park's" $72.1 million.

 

- Best F&F franchise opening ever, beating "2 Fast 2 Furious'" $50.5 million.

 

- Best opening yet in 2009, easily beating the bows of the more-buzzed-about "Monsters vs. Aliens" ($59.3 million) and "Watchmen" ($55.2 million).

 

- Best opening ever for stars Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jordana Brewster, as well as for director Justin Lin.

 

Oh, and let's not forget that it was the best opening ever for a car-themed movie! (Beating "Cars'" $60.1 million.) This outcome is impressive, indeed, something that has caught Hollywood by surprise and has the potential to really change things up -- like when summer-esque blockbusters are released (rarely does one open so early in the year) and like, you know, what everyone thinks of Vin Diesel.

 

 

[bmags]

anger management and fast and furious, April is a pretty awful month.

[Balta1701]

Kellogg's Frosted Flakes boxes are currently featuring the Enterprise.

[Buehrle>Wood]

Another movie that could go either way (huge hit or bomb, you know Transformers 2 will make bank) is James Cameron's AVATAR.

 

The hype train is 15 years in the making and has who is one of Hollywood's biggest name to it. Anything less than 250 million would be a disaster I would imagine.

[Kyyle23]

The hype train is 15 years in the making and has who is one of Hollywood's biggest name to it. Anything less than 250 million would be a disaster I would imagine.

 

Cameron is planning on revolutionizing the industry with his 3D motion capture style in this movie. Ridley Scott was quoted recently saying that he was inspired by what he has seen of Avatar so much that he is planning on filming his next movie the same way.

Edited April 5, 2009 by kyyle23

[shipps]

The 3D thing is pretty cool but there is something that is so ancient about it. Havent we advanced past 3D by now? I want s*** to be hollagrams without wearing some stupid glasses.