>>the last movie you watched - Page 969

Severian · 08.27.2016, 06:32 PM

I'm gearing up to watch The Nice Guys, Shane Black's summer semi-hit that got pretty solid reviews, but didn't quite break out in a big way. Seems to have been something of a cult affair, with "disappointing" box office returns.
It does have a 91% Rotten Tomatoes score though — not that I give a fuck. I'm watching it because I love Ryan Gosling and Russel Crowe, and have literally never been disappointed by the performances of either, even if the movies themselves have been shit.

Severian · 08.27.2016, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Severian

This was actually quite brilliant. And fucking hilarious. Think All the President's Men meets Big Lebowski with a little Lethal Weapon thrown in there. Extremely worthwhile. Loved it.

evollove · 08.28.2016, 08:03 AM

Wild. I watched that last night too. Excellent set designs/art direction. A few plot points don't make any sense, but it's a mostly fun ride. Although there's a really unpleasant, dark streak running through this if you watch closely.

Also watched KEANU. Key and Peele are brilliant but this was a major disappointment.

ilduclo · 08.28.2016, 09:18 AM

finally got a copy of A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Life (thanks, rappard!), so will rewatch that tonite

Severian · 08.28.2016, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by evollove

Wild. I watched that last night too. Excellent set designs/art direction. A few plot points don't make any sense, but it's a mostly fun ride. Although there's a really unpleasant, dark streak running through this if you watch closely.

I think I picked up on that. Are you referring to the weird little flashbacks that suggest that Healy's character is a desperate, lonely dude who only finds purpose in violence? The "Diner" scene really gave me pause, because he continued to beat the guy into a pulp long after the threat was neutralized. Classic tortuted hero? Or his drinking?

Or are you just talking about the general secondary premise of the entire movie, which is that industry and commerce are more valuable than ethics, moral, or even human beings? Detroit and all that?

Or (Jesus I guess there was a lot of dark shit, now that I rolodex through it all) the fact that Holly had to do all the driving for a never quite specified reason, and was way too involved in her dad's work? How a 13-year old was made to look after her comically charming, but very genuinely hopeless, depressed, degenerate father?

Severian · 08.28.2016, 11:37 AM

I think The Nice Guys was a smarter film than it appears to be at first glance.
There's a lot going on. It pushes buttons, like with that "electric car" comment at the end. Truth is, the US didn't even need Japan to build fully functioning electric cars five years after the events of the movie. We had that shit nailed down by, like, 1981 (well... 1881 if you wanna get real picky about it). But the country is built on the big three (that bit was true enough), and the briefly revitalized electric auto movement of the 1980's, which was in fact a direct response to California fuel emission regulations as I'm sure you recall, was positively sniped by the auto-industry and state and federal governments.

Sorry, not trying to get pedantic, I'm not old enough clearly remember the electric car false starts in the '80s, but I do remember '97.

Anyway, I think the film got a bit "meta" (such a trendy word these days... thanks, Deadpool!) with the whole message about the big three auto companies. It became sort of a real life version of the "experimental" film the film was about, and it did this with several subtle, muted digs at the American auto industry that were peppered throughout the if you kept your ears open. References to ethanol, a by-proxy condemnation of the corruption of the auto companies, made in third person. It's like it was trying to be the very protest film that the movie itself revolved around, but less overtly.

And I hate to say it, but the fact that it was in and out of theaters in 2 weeks despite getting rave reviews, starring two of the most beloved actors of our time and being directed by the dude who made blockbusters like Iron Man 3, is kind of telling. Makes me wonder if strings aren't still being pulled to at least minimize the reach of films that tackle these issues.

It almost reminds me of that Matt Damon/
France's McDormand film about the natural gas companies leading rural communities to the proverbial slaughter by getting them to agree to have their farmland "fracked." I think it was called The Promised Land. Anyway, it wasn't a masterpiece by any means, but it laid bare some unpleasant truths about the fracking industry, and the complete control drilling companies have over public opinion. It was an important movie, but it wasn't given the time of day, and barely spent a week in theaters.

Anyway, this is the stuff I find most unsettling about the film, and it's not really "about" the film as much as the film's subject matter.

That line "nothing can stop Detroit" also hit pretty hard.

evollove · 08.28.2016, 11:51 AM

It has a nasty misanthropic air and too much unpleasant violence, I guess so you'll take it more seriously. The director is kind of dumb and can't really sustain the proper tone. Should I laugh when so and so gets shot or not? I sometimes got confused, like the innocent neighboring lady who accidentally gets shot through a window. I felt bad even through I think I was supposed to be enjoying myself. I'm not sure. You know, more I think about it, it really is a shitty movie. And it seems a setup for an even shittier sequel.

EDIT: I wrote while you posted. Looks like you got suckered. It's a stupid popcorn movie that no one should take seriously as a political statement.

Severian · 08.28.2016, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by evollove

It has a nasty misanthropic air and too much unpleasant violence, I guess so you'll take it more seriously. The director is kind of dumb and can't really sustain the proper tone. Should I laugh when so and so gets shot or not? I sometimes got confused, like the innocent neighboring lady who accidentally gets shot through a window. I felt bad even through I think I was supposed to be enjoying myself. I'm not sure. You know, more I think about it, it really is a shitty movie. And it seems a setup for an even shittier sequel.

EDIT: I wrote while you posted. Looks like you got suckered. It's a stupid popcorn movie that no one should take seriously as a political statement.

Wow, you're a fickle little fucker. AND you write slow.

The director is dumb, sure. The movie was solid though. And yeah, there were some issues with tone. The neighbor getting shot was kind of a bummer, but it was incidental violence, designed to elicit a kind of startled "ha-ah!" rather than an outright laugh. That shit's everywhere, and it's more gruesome in many films than it was in Nice Guys.

I'm surprised at how you can like a film, and then say it was shitty after something like one minute of reflection. Serious about-face. I don't trust your perspective at all now because. Nothing prone to change that quickly should be taken seriously.

Severian · 08.28.2016, 12:20 PM

JESUS but you write slow.

Remember when Marvin got his head blown off in Pulp Fiction? That was incidental violence of the highest quality. Awful, yes, but tell me you didn't laugh out loud the first time you saw that (and every time thereafter). Tell me you didn't laugh, and I'll slap your lying face with a leather glove.

evollove · 08.28.2016, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Severian

I'm surprised at how you can like a film,

I said it was "fun." I think I was thinking of the part where Ryan Gosling tries to manage his pants, gun, door and magazine. Classic. I wish whoever made that scene made the rest of the film.

Maybe I am fickle. I haven't actually liked a film in a long time. They mostly suck, I think.

!@#$%! · 08.28.2016, 12:41 PM

from most recent to farther back

concussion - a 2013 rose troche production about affluent cheating lesbians in post-gentrification new york. it moves at ultraslow pace but the story ultimately proves good.

max manus - 2008 norwegian action movie about their ww2 resistance hero. the story is a bit choppy but the movie is alright.

largo winch - preposterous euro/asian corporate intrigue/revenge action flick that manages to be entertaining in the face of extensive cheesiness if that's what you come to expect, in a transporter 2 kind of way but without so much driving, instead with megacorporations, helicopters, boats, knife fights, you name it

mesrine - 2-part quasi-epic biopic about 70's french criminal jacques mesrine. it's basically a crime/action flick, but really well shot, good writing, and some awesome performances. i enjoyed it.

the names of love - sort of hilarious french romcom of the kind you never could make in 'merica because it would require knowing history and shit like that, but with tits so america would say no again. not a great movie but kind of a breath of fresh air, like-- there was sex but it wasn't rape-like.

potiche - françois ozon in goofy mode looks at women's lib in 70's france, starring catherine deneuve as a bourgeois aged housewife and a mastodontic gérard dépardieu as a communist politician. yes yes, with musical numbers.

wendy and lucy - a slow-moving but nice indie short-story-type neorealist movie about a homeless girl stuck in oregon on her way to alaska looking for work. with carey mulligan doing her best to look plain.

dc cab - worse than i expected and i expected bad

stripes - kinda funny 80s comedy, with tits

coming up next:

renoir (some french biopic)

andrzej wajda's "a generation", first of his much praised ww2 trilogy. been waiting for this one a while

evollove · 08.28.2016, 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

dc cab - worse than i expected and i expected bad

I swear, this is the only one I'm interested in watching.

Severian · 08.28.2016, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by evollove

I said it was "fun." I think I was thinking of the part where Ryan Gosling tries to manage his pants, gun, door and magazine. Classic. I wish whoever made that scene made the rest of the film.

Maybe I am fickle. I haven't actually liked a film in a long time. They mostly suck, I think.

Well, the spirit of the movie had nothing to do with any bloated plot or possible political undertones. It was all Gosling and Crowe. And I just love those guys.

About 15 minutes into the movies I made a comment to the effect of, "this is the most talking Ryan Gosling has done this decade."

He's on his way. He'll be one of the greats in a few years' time.

!@#$%! · 08.28.2016, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by evollove

I swear, this is the only one I'm interested in watching.

it really sucked

i grew up in dc so i wanted to like it but disappoint

2 out of 5 stars

evollove · 08.28.2016, 02:01 PM

If it stars Mr T, it's already four stars, no matter what.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Severian

He's on his way. He'll be one of the greats in a few years' time.

Check out "The Believer." (2001)

!@#$%! · 08.28.2016, 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by evollove

If it stars Mr T, it's already four stars, no matter what

he's not even that much in it, that's part of the problem

Severian · 08.28.2016, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by evollove

If it stars Mr T, it's already four stars, no matter what.

Check out "The Believer." (2001)

Will do. Haven't seen that one. Thanks.

Rob Instigator · 08.30.2016, 09:47 AM

DC Cab rules. crap movie but fun.

Rob Instigator · 08.30.2016, 09:50 AM

Saw this in theater. 3/5 stars. I was bored with the same old action tropes (swarm of bug-like bad guys? check. controlled by a master controller? check. Bad Guy has beef with federation? check)

I liked it enough as an entertaining swashbuckler, but it in no way made me think anything remotely star trek-ian. I like Trek for the moral dillemas, the personal dramas, and the difficult questions that the characters must deal with. this beyond movie has none of that.

Severian · 08.30.2016, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

Saw this in theater. 3/5 stars. I was bored with the same old action tropes (swarm of bug-like bad guys? check. controlled by a master controller? check. Bad Guy has beef with federation? check)

I liked it enough as an entertaining swashbuckler, but it in no way made me think anything remotely star trek-ian. I like Trek for the moral dillemas, the personal dramas, and the difficult questions that the characters must deal with. this beyond movie has none of that.

Sorry to hear that. I still haven't seen it. They pulled it from local theaters after less than three weeks. Odd, considering it received pretty good reviews and made a fair amount of money and was unanimously praised for being better than Into Darkness (which I liked, 'cause it was fun). Oh, and considering it's the 50th anniversary. Stupid local theaters.

I'm still going to see it, and I'm certainly going to give it a chance, but it bums me out a bit to hear your reaction, because I like Star Trek for all the same reasons you do.

08.27.2016, 06:32 PM	#19361
Severian invito al cielo Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 11,746	I'm gearing up to watch The Nice Guys, Shane Black's summer semi-hit that got pretty solid reviews, but didn't quite break out in a big way. Seems to have been something of a cult affair, with "disappointing" box office returns. It does have a 91% Rotten Tomatoes score though — not that I give a fuck. I'm watching it because I love Ryan Gosling and Russel Crowe, and have literally never been disappointed by the performances of either, even if the movies themselves have been shit.
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

08.28.2016, 08:03 AM	#19363
evollove invito al cielo Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 2,879	Wild. I watched that last night too. Excellent set designs/art direction. A few plot points don't make any sense, but it's a mostly fun ride. Although there's a really unpleasant, dark streak running through this if you watch closely. Also watched KEANU. Key and Peele are brilliant but this was a major disappointment.
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

08.28.2016, 09:18 AM	#19364
ilduclo invito al cielo Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 3,305	finally got a copy of A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Life (thanks, rappard!), so will rewatch that tonite
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

08.28.2016, 11:37 AM	#19366
Severian invito al cielo Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 11,746	I think The Nice Guys was a smarter film than it appears to be at first glance. There's a lot going on. It pushes buttons, like with that "electric car" comment at the end. Truth is, the US didn't even need Japan to build fully functioning electric cars five years after the events of the movie. We had that shit nailed down by, like, 1981 (well... 1881 if you wanna get real picky about it). But the country is built on the big three (that bit was true enough), and the briefly revitalized electric auto movement of the 1980's, which was in fact a direct response to California fuel emission regulations as I'm sure you recall, was positively sniped by the auto-industry and state and federal governments. Sorry, not trying to get pedantic, I'm not old enough clearly remember the electric car false starts in the '80s, but I do remember '97. Anyway, I think the film got a bit "meta" (such a trendy word these days... thanks, Deadpool!) with the whole message about the big three auto companies. It became sort of a real life version of the "experimental" film the film was about, and it did this with several subtle, muted digs at the American auto industry that were peppered throughout the if you kept your ears open. References to ethanol, a by-proxy condemnation of the corruption of the auto companies, made in third person. It's like it was trying to be the very protest film that the movie itself revolved around, but less overtly. And I hate to say it, but the fact that it was in and out of theaters in 2 weeks despite getting rave reviews, starring two of the most beloved actors of our time and being directed by the dude who made blockbusters like Iron Man 3, is kind of telling. Makes me wonder if strings aren't still being pulled to at least minimize the reach of films that tackle these issues. It almost reminds me of that Matt Damon/ France's McDormand film about the natural gas companies leading rural communities to the proverbial slaughter by getting them to agree to have their farmland "fracked." I think it was called The Promised Land. Anyway, it wasn't a masterpiece by any means, but it laid bare some unpleasant truths about the fracking industry, and the complete control drilling companies have over public opinion. It was an important movie, but it wasn't given the time of day, and barely spent a week in theaters. Anyway, this is the stuff I find most unsettling about the film, and it's not really "about" the film as much as the film's subject matter. That line "nothing can stop Detroit" also hit pretty hard.
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

08.28.2016, 11:51 AM	#19367
evollove invito al cielo Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 2,879	It has a nasty misanthropic air and too much unpleasant violence, I guess so you'll take it more seriously. The director is kind of dumb and can't really sustain the proper tone. Should I laugh when so and so gets shot or not? I sometimes got confused, like the innocent neighboring lady who accidentally gets shot through a window. I felt bad even through I think I was supposed to be enjoying myself. I'm not sure. You know, more I think about it, it really is a shitty movie. And it seems a setup for an even shittier sequel. EDIT: I wrote while you posted. Looks like you got suckered. It's a stupid popcorn movie that no one should take seriously as a political statement.
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

08.28.2016, 12:20 PM	#19369
Severian invito al cielo Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 11,746	JESUS but you write slow. Remember when Marvin got his head blown off in Pulp Fiction? That was incidental violence of the highest quality. Awful, yes, but tell me you didn't laugh out loud the first time you saw that (and every time thereafter). Tell me you didn't laugh, and I'll slap your lying face with a leather glove.
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

08.28.2016, 12:41 PM	#19371
!@#$%! invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: mars attacks Posts: 42,581	from most recent to farther back concussion - a 2013 rose troche production about affluent cheating lesbians in post-gentrification new york. it moves at ultraslow pace but the story ultimately proves good. max manus - 2008 norwegian action movie about their ww2 resistance hero. the story is a bit choppy but the movie is alright. largo winch - preposterous euro/asian corporate intrigue/revenge action flick that manages to be entertaining in the face of extensive cheesiness if that's what you come to expect, in a transporter 2 kind of way but without so much driving, instead with megacorporations, helicopters, boats, knife fights, you name it mesrine - 2-part quasi-epic biopic about 70's french criminal jacques mesrine. it's basically a crime/action flick, but really well shot, good writing, and some awesome performances. i enjoyed it. the names of love - sort of hilarious french romcom of the kind you never could make in 'merica because it would require knowing history and shit like that, but with tits so america would say no again. not a great movie but kind of a breath of fresh air, like-- there was sex but it wasn't rape-like. potiche - françois ozon in goofy mode looks at women's lib in 70's france, starring catherine deneuve as a bourgeois aged housewife and a mastodontic gérard dépardieu as a communist politician. yes yes, with musical numbers. wendy and lucy - a slow-moving but nice indie short-story-type neorealist movie about a homeless girl stuck in oregon on her way to alaska looking for work. with carey mulligan doing her best to look plain. dc cab - worse than i expected and i expected bad stripes - kinda funny 80s comedy, with tits coming up next: renoir (some french biopic) andrzej wajda's "a generation", first of his much praised ww2 trilogy. been waiting for this one a while
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

08.30.2016, 09:47 AM	#19378
Rob Instigator invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: In the land of the Instigator Posts: 27,976	DC Cab rules. crap movie but fun. __________________ RXTT's Intellectual Journey - my new blog where I talk about all the books I read.
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08.30.2016, 09:50 AM	#19379
Rob Instigator invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: In the land of the Instigator Posts: 27,976	Saw this in theater. 3/5 stars. I was bored with the same old action tropes (swarm of bug-like bad guys? check. controlled by a master controller? check. Bad Guy has beef with federation? check) I liked it enough as an entertaining swashbuckler, but it in no way made me think anything remotely star trek-ian. I like Trek for the moral dillemas, the personal dramas, and the difficult questions that the characters must deal with. this beyond movie has none of that. __________________ RXTT's Intellectual Journey - my new blog where I talk about all the books I read.
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|