Movie

[Froggy]

the scarecrow is to the dark night trilogy as Nute Gunray is to the Star Wars prequels

[Alejandro Rojas]

Nice

[Pavel Bure]

Yea the Joker was without a doubt the only villain worth having on screen. But, I consider the Joker to be the only true arch nemesis of Batman. Everyone else is just filler until the next battle with the Maniacal Clown.

I don't think arch nemesis is the right word for the Joker. It's not that he wants to destroy the bat or even hurt him in a deliberate way. It's that he wants to see how far someone can be pushed and the different ways they can be pushed. "The killing joke." Is the best example of this. When I hear arch nemesis I think of more a Lex vs. Supes thing.

[Rylan]

Yea the Joker was without a doubt the only villain worth having on screen. But, I consider the Joker to be the only true arch nemesis of Batman. Everyone else is just filler until the next battle with the Maniacal Clown.

I don't think arch nemesis is the right word for the Joker. It's not that he wants to destroy the bat or even hurt him in a deliberate way. It's that he wants to see how far someone can be pushed and the different ways they can be pushed. "The killing joke." Is the best example of this. When I hear arch nemesis I think of more a Lex vs. Supes thing.

Maybe main rival would have been a better wording?

[GaryRissling]

Went and saw The Hobbit last night. I've never really believed that 3D adds significantly to a story, and really I thought the high frame rate was a bit distracting. For some reason it seemed to cheapen the experience and made it seem like I was watching masterpiece theater or something.

As for the movie itself, I surprisingly liked how Jackson is adding threads from LOTR which aren't present in the novel. But I think he goes over the top with some of the comedic relief as well as with some of the CGI. Overall I'd give it a B-

[Tim Thomasen]

i just went through streaming netflix, and there is SO much there for bad movie connoisseurs such as myself.

I'm also into bad movies myself, but only if the MST3K crew are riffing it.

[nocera]

Went and saw The Hobbit last night. I've never really believed that 3D adds significantly to a story, and really I thought the high frame rate was a bit distracting. For some reason it seemed to cheapen the experience and made it seem like I was watching masterpiece theater or something.

As for the movie itself, I surprisingly liked how Jackson is adding threads from LOTR which aren't present in the novel. But I think he goes over the top with some of the comedic relief as well as with some of the CGI. Overall I'd give it a B-

I'm planning on seeing it with family over Christmas. How would you suggest I see it? 3D/48fps, 3D/24fps, or 2D?

I'm leaning toward 2D.

[tifosi77]

Went and saw The Hobbit last night. I've never really believed that 3D adds significantly to a story, and really I thought the high frame rate was a bit distracting. For some reason it seemed to cheapen the experience and made it seem like I was watching masterpiece theater or something.

As for the movie itself, I surprisingly liked how Jackson is adding threads from LOTR which aren't present in the novel. But I think he goes over the top with some of the comedic relief as well as with some of the CGI. Overall I'd give it a B-

A lot of the comedy comes from the fact that "The Hobbit" is, at its core, a book for children. This was my big concern upon hearing that PJ was going to graft LOTR and the other Tolkien works into these movies; they aren't really conducive to coss-threading, because the material is so very different in tone and presentation from the first work to the later works. Don't get me wrong, I am loving the opportunity to see some of that stuff dramatized, especially in the hands of capable and enthusiastic people as PJ and his crew.

Refuse to see it in 3D and/or 48 fps.

[GaryRissling]

Yeah, it's kind of ironic that, being he's making a trilogy of movies out of a reasonably short book, the hobbit movies will likely not exclude a single aspect of the book (unlike PJ's LOTR movies), yet will be the most untrue to the book.

That said, I'm open minded about his interpretation, and while this is probably PJ's least best tolkein movie; I'm still looking forward to the rest of the series.

I might check out the regular version of the movie as well, as I wasn't a big fan of the 3d hfr thing either.

[ajh2298]

Question for anybody that has seen The Hobbit. How long was the whole movie experience? What I mean is after all the previews and the film how much time did it take. I want to go tomorrow and see a 11:45 showing of it at the South Side works but I also need to be back in Brentwood by 3:05 to pickup my son from school.

[pittsoccer33]

Refuse to see it in 3D and/or 48 fps.

i wish you could see the hfr without 3D. thats my gripe with so many of these 3D movies - i love seeing films in auditoriums with better sound and projection equipment, but it always comes with 3D too.

im a bit surprised you arent even curious seeing it at 48fps. i think ill see a traditional presentation first. i know what hfr looks like, but ive never seen what a feature length movie created that way looks like.

[nocera]

The latest Hollywood Babble-On (Giant Sized Annual #1) offers really interesting insight into the finances of film and the story of Clerks III possibly getting made soon. Recommended.

[FreeCandy44]

Tell'em Steve Dave ;)

[pittsoccer33]

i mention this every time i watch it, but i love the rocketeer.

disney missed on it big time. they wanted it as a vehicle to sell toys to kids. if they wouldve promoted it differently (it did star the current james bond) and released it as a touchstone picture i think its box office take wouldve been much different.

it has to be among the most underrated in the entire walt disney company portfolio. the bluray is a really good transfer for such a minor film.

its nice to know that in the years since its release that it has gained a considerable following. its production design is fantastic, special effects are really good for its era, and it was extremely well casted. it fights in nicely with the entire 1930s/40s hollywood golden era revival that speilberg and disney were doing in the mid to late 80s.

[Froggy]

i mention this every time i watch it, but i love the rocketeer.

disney missed on it big time. they wanted it as a vehicle to sell toys to kids. if they wouldve promoted it differently (it did star the current james bond) and released it as a touchstone picture i think its box office take wouldve been much different.

it has to be among the most underrated in the entire walt disney company portfolio. the bluray is a really good transfer for such a minor film.

its nice to know that in the years since its release that it has gained a considerable following. its production design is fantastic, special effects are really good for its era, and it was extremely well casted. it fights in nicely with the entire 1930s/40s hollywood golden era revival that speilberg and disney were doing in the mid to late 80s.

yeah, i just watched it a few weeks ago. so good

[meecrofilm]

i saw Lincoln tonight. it was pretty good...

Spoiler:

i have 2 gripes...
1. the opening 20 minutes or so has some extremely bad, klunky, dialogue where they try to cram a whole lot of exposition in.
2. i know it made sense in terms of telling an interesting story, but i thought it was kind of silly to play up the suspense in the results of the vote on the 13th amendment.

other than that, and a few minor issues with the pacing, i really enjoyed it. Daniel Day Lewis is a total chameleon. his performance is extremely good. that being said, the stuff having to do directly with lincoln didnt interest me nearly as much as all the behind the scenes stuff trying to win the 20 votes. Hell, i could have watched james spader and crew for 2 hours. that would have been a great movie.

it almost seems like there were 2 different films here... A historical recounting of maybe the most important year in American political history, and an intimate profile of what Abraham Lincoln was like as a man, with all the legend stripped away. i felt like these 2 concepts were fighting with eachother, and whenever one was featured, i found myself missing the other one.

but great performances, great attention to detail... it was a 2 and a half hour historical epic that held my attention. that's a lot for me.

also, there were a crap ton of people in this movie. Pretty sure i Saw Dann Florek, the chief on Law and Order SVU in the background at the end of the movie. I wonder if it was him as sort of a shout out to when he played Lincoln in The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer, or it was just a dude who looked a lot like dann florek.

I thought Lincoln was solid as well...

Spoiler:

I had some issues with the ending though. Not that I didn't like the ending, but I thought he missed an opportunity for a better one. After Lincoln was summoned to the theatre and said "I have to go... though I would rather stay." And then you have that long shot of him walking down the hall... I was actually surprised when there was more to the movie, as it felt like a fitting end.

And it's not that it would've be a more poignant ending, but it also made more sense story-wise. The movie was pretty much about everything behind/around the 13th amendment, not the life story of Lincoln, so it would've made more sense to end it there considering all the stuff about the 13th came to the end. We all know he was assassinated (and again, his would-be final line there has added poignancy with that knowledge)-- it all felt thrown together, and took away from a more memorable closing shot. Spielberg dropped the ball there a bit IMO.

And I didn't have a problem with playing up the suspense of the vote -- it's all about trying to capture what the atmosphere in the room was, to connect with the uncertainty of the characters, even though we already know how it turns out, and I thought they did a good job of that. And yeah, DDL was simply fantastic in it, and the (absurdly large as you point out) supporting cast was good too.

[Spangler]

I'm a huge LOTR fan, so naturally I was excited to see the Hobbit. I purposely held off of reading the Hobbit so I get that casual ignorance that I didn't get from LOTR.

Although it didn't and couldn't match the Fellowship, I really enjoyed it, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what new material PJ will include next in the Hobbit. The actor who played Bilbo was a great choice. He was able to hold his own following the scope of the Trilogy. I also liked finally seeing characters that weren't in LOTR like Thranduil (I'm hoping we will finally get to see Glorfindel somehow).

I do have concerns with how they may handle action scenes from here on (and this is a trend in all cinema). Movies are trying to make the biggest most ridiculous scenes without reason other than it just looks cool. If you've seen the World War Z trailer, then you've scene that **** "sea of zombies" effect. Totally ridiculous.

There seemed to be a lot of CGI orcs as opposed to LOTR's costumed orcs. Looking back at the trilogy, the live action gave a totally different effect on combat. It just felt so much more streamlined with real orcs as opposed to CGI ones.

This is turning into a rant, so I'm stopping. Basically I feel like the production is overshadowing the charm that the original trilogy had.

[Alejandro Rojas]

The People vs. George Lucas is amazing film making.

[meecrofilm]

Chronicle...

Spoiler:

there really wasn't a turn. The kid was always bad. Well maybe not bad, but unattached to humanity. I think he'd already shown both an aptitude for the abilities, as well as a more reckless tendency in using them. he started ACTING a bit more normal when he had friends, and a shared secret. And that peaked at the talent show. Which led to the harder crash after he was embarrassed at the party. That led to him further withdrawing and killing his friend, and being shunned by his cousin. Then his mom got sick, and he got worse. Then she died, and he got way worse. I actually think his arc was handled really well.

There was a scene around the middle of the movie that really won me over. Right after they are flying, and almost hit by an airplane, they are having a sleepover, and Andrew says this was the best day of his life, and the other two agree. But for them, it was good because they had done something wholly incredible. But for Andrew, it was just because it was the first time in his life he wasn't seen as a weirdo or a charity case. He was an equal... A friend... THIS was the thing that was wholly incredible to Andrew.

This is probably my favorite aspect of the movie. Fantastic stuff, like flying and moving objects with his mind, comes easy to Andrew. being a normal human being, or talking to a girl... These are out of his reach.

I really liked this movie. I really like when big, fantastic stories are told on a small scale like this. I'm really looking forward to what Max Landis does in the future, because I think he is a really talented writer. He apparently has a crap load of scripts in production.

I thought it was pretty good too. However...

Spoiler:

It's actually Matt that said that stuff -- I had to re-watch the scene just to make sure, because I thought it was Andrew just by the material, but it was Matt. Hope that doesn't ruin anything for you

And I did think the end was a bit too big for the rest of the movie -- not that it was entertaining (it was), but it felt a bit disconnected from the more minimalistic feel the rest of the movie had going for it. But I guess it was a necessary evil given Andrew's progression. I sure don't have any better ideas really on how they could've ended it, haha.

And if you like Max Landis, you should check out this nerdist podcast episode with him:

http://www.nerdist.com/2012/11/nerdist- ... ax-landis/

I actually haven't listened to it yet, but they usually do good stuff, so I'd recommend checking it out sometime.

[Rylan]

I watched Clue tonight. Such a quality flick.

[PensFanInDC]

I watched Clue tonight. Such a quality flick.

One of my faves.

THIS IS WAR PEACOCK!

[Rylan]

To make a long story short...

TOO LATE

[PensFanInDC]

Why is J Edgar Hoover on your phone?

Why not? He's on everybody else's.

[eddysnake]

Watched Home Alone last night. While it's still really great, when your a kid watching it, I remember the burglary hi jinx was so awesome. While it's it's still really awesome, its only the last 10 minutes of the movie and then it's over, seemed like a lot longer when you are little.

[Froggy]

Chronicle...

Spoiler:

there really wasn't a turn. The kid was always bad. Well maybe not bad, but unattached to humanity. I think he'd already shown both an aptitude for the abilities, as well as a more reckless tendency in using them. he started ACTING a bit more normal when he had friends, and a shared secret. And that peaked at the talent show. Which led to the harder crash after he was embarrassed at the party. That led to him further withdrawing and killing his friend, and being shunned by his cousin. Then his mom got sick, and he got worse. Then she died, and he got way worse. I actually think his arc was handled really well.

There was a scene around the middle of the movie that really won me over. Right after they are flying, and almost hit by an airplane, they are having a sleepover, and Andrew says this was the best day of his life, and the other two agree. But for them, it was good because they had done something wholly incredible. But for Andrew, it was just because it was the first time in his life he wasn't seen as a weirdo or a charity case. He was an equal... A friend... THIS was the thing that was wholly incredible to Andrew.

This is probably my favorite aspect of the movie. Fantastic stuff, like flying and moving objects with his mind, comes easy to Andrew. being a normal human being, or talking to a girl... These are out of his reach.

I really liked this movie. I really like when big, fantastic stories are told on a small scale like this. I'm really looking forward to what Max Landis does in the future, because I think he is a really talented writer. He apparently has a crap load of scripts in production.

I thought it was pretty good too. However...

Spoiler:

It's actually Matt that said that stuff -- I had to re-watch the scene just to make sure, because I thought it was Andrew just by the material, but it was Matt. Hope that doesn't ruin anything for you :P

And I did think the end was a bit too big for the rest of the movie -- not that it was entertaining (it was), but it felt a bit disconnected from the more minimalistic feel the rest of the movie had going for it. But I guess it was a necessary evil given Andrew's progression. I sure don't have any better ideas really on how they could've ended it, haha.

And if you like Max Landis, you should check out this nerdist podcast episode with him:

http://www.nerdist.com/2012/11/nerdist- ... ax-landis/

I actually haven't listened to it yet, but they usually do good stuff, so I'd recommend checking it out sometime.

I listened to it. Max Landis is an interesting dude. I can totally understand hanging on every word he says, or wanting to punch him in the face. Either way. He had a couple really interesting ideas. One was a trilogy of movies telling the Peter Pan story from Capt. Hook's point of view, and another was a James
Bond movie where Daniel Craig fights Pierce Brosnan and Timothy Dalton, who are rogue former code name "James Bond" agents. He really sells this stuff with his enthusiasm. Probably why he has like 2 dozen scripts in some level of production right now.