Movie Thread

[xRECKONERx]

We will select a new movie every two weeks.

Current rota:
Amadeus
Barton Fink
Raging Bull
The Evil Dead
Let the Right One In
Blue Velvet
The Italian Job
The Graduate
The Big Lebowski
Tremors
The Boondock Saints
Network
Mystery Team
Ghost in the Shell
12 Angry Men
Silent Running
The Shawshank Redemption
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Police Academy 1
Grown Ups
Temple Grandin

Previous films:
May 23rd 2011: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
June 6th 2011: About A Boy
June 20th 2011: Full Metal Jacket
July 06th 2011: Network

Feel free to continue to discuss other popular movies or films you've just seen. While the Movie Club will operate in this thread, it is also for general movie discussion as well.

[Amrun]

I was considering going to see it tomorrow. Why was it so terrible? Can't say I'm shocked, but still.

[JDodge]

So I figure with the spam of movies coming out in the next few months, why not go ahead and create an official movie thread for people to post in rather than clutter up the boards with different topics about different movies.

On a related note, I just walked out on Pirates 4. Terrible, terrible, terrible. I loved the first one, like the second one, and disliked the third one. But the fourth one? I couldn't even sit through it.

i'm guessing you still haven't watched silence of the lambs you cretin

[Cybele]

But - but - Ian McShane?...

[Ythan]

Shouldn't someone else have made this thread.

[Espeonage]

If we can post anything. Thirteen is an absolutely amazing movie. Incredibly powerful and really hit me hard as a girl who was like a close sister to me went through a similar process. Everyone should watch it no matter how young or old they are. The R rating is really sad because the people who should be watching it are younger than that.

[xRECKONERx]

So I figure with the spam of movies coming out in the next few months, why not go ahead and create an official movie thread for people to post in rather than clutter up the boards with different topics about different movies.

On a related note, I just walked out on Pirates 4. Terrible, terrible, terrible. I loved the first one, like the second one, and disliked the third one. But the fourth one? I couldn't even sit through it.

i'm guessing you still haven't watched silence of the lambs you cretin

Shhhhh that comes later

I'll explain why it was so bad with this drunken note I just wrote on Facebook. Slight spoilers about the first fifteen minutes of the movie.

I went to go see Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides with the idea in my head that, hey, maybe Pirates 2 & Pirates 3 sucked, but the fourth one got rid of dead weight and focused the story around the real star of the show, Captain Jack Sparrow himself. Really, I tried to give it an honest chance. About forty-five minutes into the film, I tweeted something so against my nature, that it actually hurt me a bit. Rather than giving the movie a real lashing, I tried to be as positive as I could:

"Pirates4: so far, a bit unnecessary, but all in good fun."

Then a few minutes later:

"I feel it's putting too much stock in Jack Sparrow's mass appeal in lieu of depth or three dimensional characters, though."

So, after taking a monster dump in the bathroom and tweeting the above, I trudged back into the theater and sat down to finish the movie. I honestly tried. But about the time vampire mermaids showed up, I just couldn't take it anymore. I walked outside to smoke a cigarette. I tried to convince myself to walk back into that theater. And for a moment, I did. But as I stood there, staring reluctantly at the door handles, fighting against my brain to let me go back in that theater, I realized something: I couldn't do it.

Yes, this movie became the second movie in history that I've ever walked out on (the first being The Spongebob Squarepants Movie). The film never really had a chance, which sucks for those who put so much work into this movie. I do not doubt that when Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp got the call about doing a fourth, they rolled their eyes until Disney waved a gargantuan paycheck in front of their eyes. And don't get me wrong: this movie will make a shitload of money, based on mass appeal alone. But when it comes to the long and short of it, this was a movie that didn't need to be made, and it shows.

The film opens with "Jack Sparrow" being up for execution. Sound familiar? It should. It was the exact opening of another Pirates movie. Only, this time, it isn't really Jack - it's his first mate, and Jack has kidnapped the real judge so he can break his first mate out of jail. As if escaping out of jail wasn't enough, the jailbreak goes wrong, and they're captured by King George - only to allow Jack to escape again. I'm not sure why a double escape sequence was required, nor am I sure why having Jack's father show back up for a brief cameo (when it's not even Keith Richards) was necessary, but that pretty much set the tone for the entire film.

The plot is a sequence of events that pretty much just serve to fill time. The whole first forty-five minutes of the movie are spent treading water until the actual plot takes off, and even from there, the plot relies on callbacks and popular knowledge (see: Blackbeard) in order to progress the film. From the beginning, it's action scene, followed by rapidly explained exposition in pirate lingo, then another action scene. Which would be okay, if the action scenes were worth watching, but they are tired and played out by now. We've seen swashbuckling sword fights, we've seen Jack Sparrow swinging from ropes, and we've seen just about everything else this movie has to throw at us. The film has nothing new to offer, so even its "high points" have very little to look at of honest value.

Perhaps the biggest failing, though, is in the characters. The decision to make Jack Sparrow the main character might have seemed good on paper, but the problem lies in the fact that Captain Sparrow was never designed to be a main character. He was great comic relief when Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightly were on board, but as soon as you shift the spotlight to him, it becomes clear that he lacks any depth. Sparrow is as fully fleshed out as he can get: a selfish, crafty pirate who will do what it takes to accomplish his goal. There's really nowhere to take him after that, and tossing in a new love interest in the form of Penelope Cruz does nothing more than throw in another placeholder for Kiera Knightly. Depp plays the role with just as much gusto as he did in previous films, but it fails to revive a flat character and a dead script.

This film never was a good idea. From a financial standpoint, it probably was; but from a coherence standpoint, the film never stood a chance. The film was clearly made to make money, and the producers decided the best way to do that would be to cash in on the Jack Sparrow fangirls and throw in a bunch of fight scenes. The plot was only there as a convenience. Don't bother with this movie. I walked out of this one, and for a bit of context, I sat through all of Transformers 2. At least that movie was so bad you could laugh out loud. This one is just sad.

[Cybele]

If we can post anything. Thirteen is an absolutely amazing movie. Incredibly powerful and really hit me hard as a girl who was like a close sister to me went through a similar process. Everyone should watch it no matter how young or old they are. The R rating is really sad because the people who should be watching it are younger than that.

Jeremy Sisto is so satisfying as a creep. Loved him in May and Waitress.

[xRECKONERx]

Also, who would be interested in a Mafiascum Movie Club, where we choose a movie to watch every week, or every other week, or every month, and discuss it together?

[Drench]

still haven't seen source code D:

[inHimshallibe]

Also, who would be interested in a Mafiascum Movie Club, where we choose a movie to watch every week, or every other week, or every month, and discuss it together?

This was attempted, with some success, in the past. Would be in again.

[Espeonage]

Lack the funds for them to be current movies. Need to be older ones that I can ... obtain.

[ChannelDelibird]

still haven't seen source code D:

FIX THIS. It's great, and also has one of the best geek cameos ever.

Also, who would be interested in a Mafiascum Movie Club, where we choose a movie to watch every week, or every other week, or every month, and discuss it together?

I'd be up for this unless it meant being in the cinema to see things that are out in the US but not Europe yet.

-----------

In other news, I saw Hanna the other day. Very exciting, stylistically really good apart from one really annoying scene with the worst shakycam ever (and I say this as a Bourne fan), and Saoirse Ronan was ridiculously good but everyone else was kinda meh.

[ChannelDelibird]

Reck: what exactly were you expecting from Pirates 4?

[Drench]

still haven't seen source code D:

FIX THIS. It's great, and also has one of the best geek cameos ever.

I KNOW I KNOW i stumbled on it about a year and a half ago, got dammed excited for that year and a half and then blehhhh

[ChannelDelibird]

Did you see Moon? One of my favourite films of recent years. Same director's first film.

[Seraphim]

Hanna was bizarre. I came in expecting a straight-forward action movie and I got this strange mix of action and what almost turned into a road comedy midway through.

[Drench]

Did you see Moon? One of my favourite films of recent years. Same director's first film.

seen bits and pieces, and it's been on The List for quite a while but i've never gotten around to it

might fix that tonight, actually

[Kublai Khan]

Also, who would be interested in a Mafiascum Movie Club, where we choose a movie to watch every week, or every other week, or every month, and discuss it together?

This was attempted, with some success, in the past. Would be in again.

The problem the club usually has is that everyone wants to recommend movies, but nobody actually watches/reviews them. I'm up for it though.

[Espeonage]

Have a list. People that chose one last week don't get to choose one the next week. Only have a couple a week and then do a bit of a small opinion bit on each of the ones you watched.

[xRECKONERx]

Essentially, we need a way to figure out how to rotate though a list of films, but a film needs at least X number of recommendations or suggestions in order to be the one we watch.

Also, how often would we do this? Bi-weekly?

[xRECKONERx]

Did you see Moon? One of my favourite films of recent years. Same director's first film.

Moon was fucking amazing. Duncan Jones is a genius. How can he not be, he's Bowie's son.

[Rhinox]

/in 4 the movie club.

Going to see pirates 4 tonight. I'm easily entertained when it comes to movies so I'm sure I'll enjoy it, even if its horrible. Rarely do I actually dislike a movie to the point where I walk out wishing I wouldn't have spent the money to go see it.

[Kublai Khan]

Preview attemps At Movie Review Clubs..

http://www.mafiascum.net/archive/viewto ... c&&start=0
http://67.222.17.61/forum/viewtopic.php ... vie+review

Learn from their mistakes, Reck..

[VP Baltar]

Yeah, I remember the past movie club when people wouldn't watch the films. I'm sure it will peter out as usual. I'd prefer older movies/stuff that streams on Netflix as well.

In a funny coincidence, I just wanted "The Town" and "Gone Baby, Gone" back to back. The Affllacks really like talking about how rough and redneck Boston is.