[Movies] Talk about the last movie you saw 2: Electric Threadaloo
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I believe we are both right -- I had assumed that Charlie's statement was limited to theatrical releases.
In a way, yes. He couldn't ever solve the problem he wanted to, much like he'd never solve the case he wanted to. But at least in his fight against crime in Gotham, he could try to keep it at bay until inevitably his enemies died or grew too old, like himself. He didn't win, but he kept them from winning too.
I am pretty sure I saw Mask of the Phantasm in theaters! But I can't recall much of it, don't think I've seen it since I was really young.
I think The Dark Knight has higher highs than Batman Forever, and better scenes/performances, but it's still pretty uneven.
I think The Dark Knight has higher highs than Batman Forever, and better scenes/performances, but it's still pretty uneven.
You are correct; it did have a theatrical release.
I don't think I've seen all of Mask of the Phantasm at once and I've seen NONE of Mystery of the Batwoman. I've seen Subzero a few times.
Return of the Joker is by far my favorite though.
Return of the Joker is by far my favorite though.
Return of the Joker is great; I love Terry's final confrontation with Joker.
But damn, when Mask of the Phantasm has this:
But damn, when Mask of the Phantasm has this:
Or this:
It something that almost seems unique in the way the story of Batman is treated -- the tragedy of Bruce Wayne isn't that his parents were murdered; it's that he can't escape being Batman.
Batman is Quintus Fabius Maximus.
fade
Staff member
Mask of the Phantasm is the best Batman movie, hands down. It's really the only one to explore the psychological side of the character.
I do see how people like the campy Batman movies, but I don't. It's not Batman to me. Honestly, most fictional concepts are pretty silly--even the purely realistic dramatic ones--when you think about them in the light of day. But it's not just the silliness that bothers me about Forever and B&R. I feel they're just badly made technically, even accounting for camp.
I do see how people like the campy Batman movies, but I don't. It's not Batman to me. Honestly, most fictional concepts are pretty silly--even the purely realistic dramatic ones--when you think about them in the light of day. But it's not just the silliness that bothers me about Forever and B&R. I feel they're just badly made technically, even accounting for camp.
Interstellar on IMax tomorrow after work, woo!
The Theory of Everything ***
Steven Hawking based his life's work around exploring the boundaries of the universe, testing them, seeing where they were. Film can be a boundless medium. It starts with a blank page, and can go from there to show someone's inner thoughts, wildest fantasies, their future, their past in any mix or order imaginable. It's so disappointing that what could end up as Hawking's definitive biopic is so trapped in the bounds of every bad biopic of recent memory.
It's also a shame that Eddie Redmayne's revelatory performance is trapped here too. He does some really great, subtle work even before the drastic physical transformation takes place. The budding romance with Felicity Jones' Jane in the first act easily contains the movie's best scenes. The party sequence where Hawking uses his knowledge of laundry detergent to entice Jane is a definite highlight. Their first kiss under booming fireworks is a bit of a cliché, but a very tender and beautifully shot cliché. Redmayne portrays the following physical challenges with crushing, brutal honesty. By the time we get to the third act, Redmayne is doing more with just slight hand movements, word choice, and his eyes than most actors can emote with their full voice and range of motion.
Unfortunately, that first kiss under the fireworks is one of precious-few visually interesting moments to be found. Much of the slightly-bloated middle looks like it's shot with a bad Instagram filter. There are a couple wedding and family montages done like this, going for the look of old home movies, but it just comes off distractingly ugly. Most of the interior shots seem blown out in that same fake golden light. It only seems to ever get cloudy when thematically relevant.
cont., mild spoilers follow
Steven Hawking based his life's work around exploring the boundaries of the universe, testing them, seeing where they were. Film can be a boundless medium. It starts with a blank page, and can go from there to show someone's inner thoughts, wildest fantasies, their future, their past in any mix or order imaginable. It's so disappointing that what could end up as Hawking's definitive biopic is so trapped in the bounds of every bad biopic of recent memory.
It's also a shame that Eddie Redmayne's revelatory performance is trapped here too. He does some really great, subtle work even before the drastic physical transformation takes place. The budding romance with Felicity Jones' Jane in the first act easily contains the movie's best scenes. The party sequence where Hawking uses his knowledge of laundry detergent to entice Jane is a definite highlight. Their first kiss under booming fireworks is a bit of a cliché, but a very tender and beautifully shot cliché. Redmayne portrays the following physical challenges with crushing, brutal honesty. By the time we get to the third act, Redmayne is doing more with just slight hand movements, word choice, and his eyes than most actors can emote with their full voice and range of motion.
Unfortunately, that first kiss under the fireworks is one of precious-few visually interesting moments to be found. Much of the slightly-bloated middle looks like it's shot with a bad Instagram filter. There are a couple wedding and family montages done like this, going for the look of old home movies, but it just comes off distractingly ugly. Most of the interior shots seem blown out in that same fake golden light. It only seems to ever get cloudy when thematically relevant.
cont., mild spoilers follow
One of those clouds comes in the form of Charlie Cox as the hunky widowed church choir conductor destined to tempt Jane just as her marriage to Steven becomes the most challenging. Right on cue out of the biography movie handbook. Their courtship is restrained compared to Steven and Jane's, yet equally cute. Here is where it's most obvious that the screenplay is based on Jane's memoir, as she comes across as holier than most saints. Jane and Steven's marriage falls apart in a beautifully-acted scene that's a great showcase for both Jones and Redmayne. It wouldn't be a great surprise to see it on both of their Oscar reels.
Any time a serious, Oscar-pedigree film unspools a slow motion montage that recalls the underrated parody film WALK HARD more than something like WALK THE LINE, well-- it's not good. The last ten minutes also play out much like the "Beautiful Ride" song from that same movie. The flashbacks of the nostalgia-tinted flashbacks are enough to make one queasy. The most interesting scene does come in the midst of this. At a talk for his latest, greatest book, time seems to stop as Hawking straightens up in his chair, stands, strides across the room, and picks up a pretty coed's pen. It doesn't entirely work, and it's still too little too late. But it at least shows some kind of pulse and a willingness to try to color outside the numbers. That's more than can be said of most of the rest of the movie.
Any time a serious, Oscar-pedigree film unspools a slow motion montage that recalls the underrated parody film WALK HARD more than something like WALK THE LINE, well-- it's not good. The last ten minutes also play out much like the "Beautiful Ride" song from that same movie. The flashbacks of the nostalgia-tinted flashbacks are enough to make one queasy. The most interesting scene does come in the midst of this. At a talk for his latest, greatest book, time seems to stop as Hawking straightens up in his chair, stands, strides across the room, and picks up a pretty coed's pen. It doesn't entirely work, and it's still too little too late. But it at least shows some kind of pulse and a willingness to try to color outside the numbers. That's more than can be said of most of the rest of the movie.
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Excellent positive reinforcement good sir. You're a gem.
fade
Staff member
Your positive reinforcement of his positive reinforcement is some of the best I've seen. Really top notch stuff.
I'm trying to step up my movie writing game somewhat. If anything in those is awkwardly worded / grammar wrong / whatever, I'd welcome criticism. I added links to my Letterboxd/Tumblr that has more of the same / similar in my signature
That's the best positive reinforcing of someone's positive reinforcing someone's positive reinforcement I've ever seen!
Thanks @fade. You are a gentleman and a scholar!
@ThatNickGuy you're aces! An all-star super fan of Superman!
I threw spoilers on the last ~half just to be safe
I think the only noteworthy thing that's an 'error' is that it's Stephen - with ph, not v- Hawking.
Anyway, I basically agree with you, though I'd probably be harder on it than you were, but I am great at 'going negative' so...
Interstellar: Space scenes make it totally worth that extra money for the IMax.
Well, that's the thing. I still think I liked it. Just barely. Since there are some good moments and Eddie Redmayne is SO good in the role.
Whiplash 2014
★★★★★
WHIPLASH, a film centered around a jazz band drummer, starts with a long drum roll. There's nothing really wrong with that, but it did make me slightly bristle at the cliché. Thankfully, about 45 seconds into the movie, this was the last clichéd moment. The movie bowled me over and exceeded my expectations. The acting and the script are both essential to creating two great lead characters. Every aspect of the movie comes together in a thrilling climax that is one of the best movie endings I've seen in years.
J.K. Simmons is a great actor, and all of his praise is completely deserved. But Miles Teller steals the show and really anchors the movie. He fills up every minute of the movie in a breakout role that pushes him to the limits physically and mentally. Lead character Andrew destroys his body and soul in his quest to be the best drummer in history. You can read all of that on Teller's posture, tone of his voice, and look in his eyes.
But did Andrew have a soul to begin with? That's a more interesting question. Before he gets too far down the rabbit hole, he has a few scenes with his family and new girlfriend that suggests Mark Zuckerberg in THE SOCIAL NETWORK more than a hero we should keep cheering. He only gets the temerity to approach said girlfriend after getting a bump upwards in his drumming career. His happiness is not about forging relationships with people or making his parents happy, it's only about his one passion - to be great.
Of course, the music is amazing. This isn't too much of a surprise, since writer/director Damien Chazelle was a drummer in a similar band in high school. Despite drumming and jazz being central parts of the story line and every major sequence, the film is still incredibly easy to follow if you know absolutely nothing about music. It shows you how the world works and teaches you some of the terminology while still treating the audience as an adult. Andrew's dad never asks "so what is tempo anyways?".
The script is very suspenseful and surprising, but the film doesn't really rely on twists. Everything that happens completely makes sense and it doesn't take the characters on a 180, or even 90 degree turn, it just simply deepens them and makes them stronger. Simmons' FULL METAL JACKET band leader of course has some moments where his guard comes down, where he shows emotions other than pure rage, but they don't come off as cloying or token humanization. They also pay off wonderfully in the third act.
The ending sequence of the movie turned out to be everything I wanted and more. I have to admit that it was built up fairly strong in my mind by seeing countless tweets from writers, critics, actors praising it. It was simultaneously surprising, but also completely inevitable. The direction and editing is masterful, and features clever visual callbacks/echoes of previous shots in the movie. In a semi-empty theater, people around me all finally let out that breath they were holding when the credits started. And, of course, Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons are never better than their final scene together.
The next drum roll for WHIPLASH will likely end with- "and the Academy Award goes to…"
★★★★★
WHIPLASH, a film centered around a jazz band drummer, starts with a long drum roll. There's nothing really wrong with that, but it did make me slightly bristle at the cliché. Thankfully, about 45 seconds into the movie, this was the last clichéd moment. The movie bowled me over and exceeded my expectations. The acting and the script are both essential to creating two great lead characters. Every aspect of the movie comes together in a thrilling climax that is one of the best movie endings I've seen in years.
J.K. Simmons is a great actor, and all of his praise is completely deserved. But Miles Teller steals the show and really anchors the movie. He fills up every minute of the movie in a breakout role that pushes him to the limits physically and mentally. Lead character Andrew destroys his body and soul in his quest to be the best drummer in history. You can read all of that on Teller's posture, tone of his voice, and look in his eyes.
But did Andrew have a soul to begin with? That's a more interesting question. Before he gets too far down the rabbit hole, he has a few scenes with his family and new girlfriend that suggests Mark Zuckerberg in THE SOCIAL NETWORK more than a hero we should keep cheering. He only gets the temerity to approach said girlfriend after getting a bump upwards in his drumming career. His happiness is not about forging relationships with people or making his parents happy, it's only about his one passion - to be great.
Of course, the music is amazing. This isn't too much of a surprise, since writer/director Damien Chazelle was a drummer in a similar band in high school. Despite drumming and jazz being central parts of the story line and every major sequence, the film is still incredibly easy to follow if you know absolutely nothing about music. It shows you how the world works and teaches you some of the terminology while still treating the audience as an adult. Andrew's dad never asks "so what is tempo anyways?".
The script is very suspenseful and surprising, but the film doesn't really rely on twists. Everything that happens completely makes sense and it doesn't take the characters on a 180, or even 90 degree turn, it just simply deepens them and makes them stronger. Simmons' FULL METAL JACKET band leader of course has some moments where his guard comes down, where he shows emotions other than pure rage, but they don't come off as cloying or token humanization. They also pay off wonderfully in the third act.
The ending sequence of the movie turned out to be everything I wanted and more. I have to admit that it was built up fairly strong in my mind by seeing countless tweets from writers, critics, actors praising it. It was simultaneously surprising, but also completely inevitable. The direction and editing is masterful, and features clever visual callbacks/echoes of previous shots in the movie. In a semi-empty theater, people around me all finally let out that breath they were holding when the credits started. And, of course, Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons are never better than their final scene together.
The next drum roll for WHIPLASH will likely end with- "and the Academy Award goes to…"
Man, I remember Anchorman 2 at least being kind of okay, but I had to just turn it off halfway through. Shit is just not funny.
Okay, so it's not just me. My friend and I were watching it a couple of weeks ago, and aside from the anchor-fight, we were incredibly bored.
Honestly? I wasn't really crazy about the first one.
I went in with high hopes- and was tremendously disappointed.
It did have some laughs (two in total I think). But the first one was infinitely quotable.
Thinking about it, I think Paul Rudd and David Koechner were really underused in the second one, and it relied too much on Will Ferrel.
Movies with Ferrel or Adam Sandler, with one exception, I avoid.
My exception, Bedtime Stories with Sandler. I don't seek it out, but won't run out of a room or change the channel if it comes on.
watch Punch Drunk Love or Funny People or Stranger Than Fiction or Everything Must Go
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See I like Will Ferrel but as part of either a duo (Step Brothers*), or as part of an ensemble (Anchorman, Old School). Anchorman 2 really didn't do much with the actual news team.
In short: More David Koechner please, Hollywood. More Paul Rudd too, but he's in basically everything now anyway so thanks for that.
*But not Talledega Nights. Fuck that movie.