The UN-Official Movie Review Thread!

[Ape]

I don't know, Delta Farce could have been really funny though. Its about a group of soldiers (4 of them) who crash their plane in Mexico, and they think they landed in Iraq. It's a funny plot, but nothing funny actually happened. It was just...boring.

I don't know why most recent comedies have sucked though. Maybe it's because film makers are trying to take that 'internet humor' we all laugh at and trying to spin it into a movie, and failing. Maybe it's because they'd rather pay The Rock to try to be funny because he's a 'celebrity' even though he isn't funny because he'll sell more tickets at the box office. I think it might be because movies generate most of their money from the theatre's. With things like that Netflix(pay a monthly fee and watch any movie you want whenever you want) I think the film industry is making less from actual sales and more from the box office. For this reason, you are better off making a HORRIBLE movie with a big-name celebrity that will attract movie-goers instead of making a good movie that will do less good at the theatre but great later on.

If your movie is one of those "OMG the whole world must see it!" movies, which are usually determined WELL after the movie has been released on DVD, then people will just check them out from Netflix. The movie won't make as much money in theatre's, and I'm pretty sure they don't make money for each check-out from Netflix (They probably get 1 big sum of money and that's that.) so if it turns into a brilliant classic the film makers aren't making much money from it any more. Put The Rock in your movie, millions of people see it in theatre's because they recognize his name, and you're rich! And you'll get the same amount of money as the "classic/awesome" movie when it's released on DVD from Netflix.

While the "OMG AWESOME CLASSIC" movie will probably generate alot of money over time from DVD sales whereas the shitty movie will be forgotten, you are probably better off making a few movies with The Rock and getting a few huge sums of money and living happily every after.

Or I could be completely wrong, that was all off the top of my head, but it seems plausible. *cough*

[piñata]

I actually think The Rock is funny (have you seen The Scorpion King?), but I see what you're saying. They do tend to use the same 9 or 10 people in every movie, for the most part. There's even a lot of instances where the filmmaker will reuse "favorite" actors from his previous films (the George Lucas/Harrison Ford combo seems to have started this trend, but now there are several people who do it... Robert Rodriguez has worked with several actors multiple times, especially Antonio Banderas, and Greg Grunberg is in everything J.J. Abrams ever did, though he usually gets killed off).

I'd certainly like to see lesser-known actors get more big breaks, especially the female ones as they're usually porn stars trying to break into "mainstream" film (which means that they're extremely hot), but as long as we have capitalism in America, nothing will be fair.

Yes, I know that last comment was more suitable to the debate forum, but the topic of capitalism as it pertains to the film industry does have some bearing on this discussion.

[Ape]

You know what, I don't think I've ever seen any of The Rock's movies. We have Doom around her somewhere, but I never watched it...probably because it starred The Rock. I should probably give him a chance, I just can't imagine him being a good actor considering he probably learned how to act...on a wrestling show. Also, usually in commercials for comedies, they show some of the funniest lines from the movie but...I've never seen The Rock say anything funny, even ads where they cut things to make them funnier than they really are... *shrug*

Have you seen 40-Year-Old Virgin? I'm sure you've seen me bring it up plenty of times (hell, I've probably asked you before) but it's seriously like, the best comedy ever! And somewhat recent.

[piñata]

Yes, I've seen it twice. It is indeed an awesomely funny film. And I think we did talk about it before (I saw it on the big screen the first time, so that had to be a month or two after the film's initial release date... I wait for the crowds to die down usually before going outside the house to see a movie, as I'm not fond of having people sit very close to me unless they're hot chicks). Anyway, that would have been a while ago, so I forget whether we did talk about it or not.

I've not seen Doom, but I can tell you that The Rock was excellent in The Scorpion King, and not quite as good (but still better than one would expect from a wrestler) in The Rundown. Both are action movies, but have strong senses of humor. The Rock hasn't actually been in a good straight comedy yet, but that's been the fault of the people who wrote the scripts so far... when he's funnier -- intentionally -- in action films than he is in comedies, then you know the comedies wouldn't be good films even if they got other people to do them.

Comedies I liked, in no particular order:

All of the Naked Gun, Airplane!, and Pink Panther movies
Most of the "Scary Movie" flicks (they've gotten progressively worse, but even the last one was pretty funny)
Almost all of the Judd Apatow (40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Superbad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) comedies; Superbad had one vomit scene too many, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall relied too much on awkward situations, which actually aren't funny but, well, awkward. When I'm squirming instead of laughing, I know it would have been better as a horror flick (Dismembering Sarah Marshall, perhaps?).
Mean Girls (no, it's not a chick flick -- it's a laugh riot)
Fargo (it's considered a "dark comedy", and it is quite funny if a bit strange and extremely bloody)

Those are all the ones I can remember right now, anyway.

[Predator-Fan]

Mean Girls sucked like hell, Some of the Rocks movies were okay, but I haven't-no wait, I take that back.

The Dark Knight kicked ass! Shame that Ledger died though. Hey, they are talking about making Johnny Depp as the Riddler.

[piñata]

Johnny Depp would totally kick ass as The Riddler (or as a replacement Joker, for that matter). Christopher Nolan sucks as the Batman director, though... the action scenes just totally blow.

What didn't you like about Mean Girls?

[Predator-Fan]

Lindsay Lohan. SHe just sucks as an actress

[piñata]

I actually didn't think she was too bad in that movie, though I get what you're saying... in most movies she's there more for her looks. Not that she'll have those much longer if she keeps drinking the way she has been... she already looks like she's pushing forty, and she's younger than me!

[Predator-Fan]

OMFG....that was awesome

[Predator-Fan]

Does anyone check out youtube? There are three videos that I highly recomend:
1. Tickle me Emo
2. Two stupid guys_funny as hell
3. The Fresh Prince of Gotham

[piñata]

Sorry, but my dial-up doesn't like Youtube very much.

*veers back on topic*

Burn After Reading
****
Everybody should see this movie, unless they're offended by cluster f-bombs. It's a hilarious film, one of the best things the Coen Brothers have ever done.

Eagle Eye
2.5 stars
Good story, good acting, Michelle Monaghan (and Julianne Moore, who does the voice on the phone and sounds incredibly sexy)... this movie's got a lot going for it. But in the end, the bad directing kills it just like every other American action movie... every scene where something even remotely violent happens is filmed so close-up you can't tell what's going on.

[Predator-Fan]

My friends went to see that on opening night......and they said they hated it with a passion. They were expecting so much more from LeBouf

[piñata]

Meh, I didn't see anything wrong with Shia Lebouf in that movie... I thought he did a good job. The director sucked, pretty much everything else worked.

[Predator-Fan]

Thats for damn sure....will directors ever learn? Btw...has anyone seen V for Vendetta? That movie kicked ass!

[piñata]

I wanted to, but never got a chance. It was good, eh? I'll have to search for it on the cable channels.