Movie News, Reviews, & Reactions 2011

[Mister Andersen]

Saw Hugo yesterday. If you have any sort of love for silent films, the beginnings of film history, or Christopher Lee, it's well worth watching.

[Crafty_Pat]

Just got back from Haywire ... Gina Carano and Steven Soderbergh deliver the goods. Paid full price and don't feel I was cheated in the slightest. Gina is liable to be the next big female action heroine on her own.

But can she be Wonder Woman? Because that's the question I'm hearing here and there. She's probably got some acting chops to grow into, but does she carry the right physicality?

IMHO, maybe. She's got the muscle and tone, and she's mui caliente, but she's also a rather stocky gal.

[Desertpuma]

Gina is 5'8" about 150-160 lbs. She seems more stocky than she actually is because she has big thighs and most of her weight is either muscle or breasts.

[Crafty_Pat]

Remember that flick I pointed you guys to a while back called The Raid? The one that seems like two hours of insane brutal police-take-tenement action?

Well, there's another trailer and two new clips.

My recommendation: watch the trailer first. If you find that too gruesome, or even close to too gruesome, do NOT watch the following clips. Trust me on this.

Clip 1

Clip 2

Me? I'm so totally sold on this one it ain't even funny.

[Desertpuma]

Yep .. totally sold on it!

Should almost be a Convention one-shot!

[Mister Andersen]

You know, the other thread where people are asking what the core D&D experience is? Make the criminals into orcs and goblins and replace the guns with swords, and yeah, this is pretty much it.

[Bill Whitmore]

You know, the other thread where people are asking what the core D&D experience is? Make the criminals into orcs and goblins and replace the guns with swords, and yeah, this is pretty much it.

Well, almost.  The random piles of gold, jewels and other senseless treasures are missing.  Other than that, it would be about spot on.

[tracker7]

Tracker, have you ever heard fist-impact sound effects like Josh Hartnett's? I've never heard fist impact FX that sound that brutal before.

Nope! I don't even know how to describe it. This is staying on the instant queue for drinking-and-BSing nights. People need to see this.

[Desertpuma]

Tracker, have you ever heard fist-impact sound effects like Josh Hartnett's? I've never heard fist impact FX that sound that brutal before.

Nope! I don't even know how to describe it. This is staying on the instant queue for drinking-and-BSing nights. People need to see this.

Kind of the way I feel about the Swedish films on the Millenium trilogy.

[Crafty_Pat]

Matthew Vaughn on board for another X-Men: First Class Movie (yay)

John Carter Concept Art

[ludomastro]

Just finished Bunraku off Netflix' instant queue. 5 stars, baby. It's a 30-degrees-off-kilter post-apocalyptic steampunk-noir kung-fu brass knuckles badass puppet-show fable, green screened against an origami background and featuring a ludicrous cast that's clearly having a ball delivering some of the most awesometastic dialogue I've heard since Pulp Fiction.

Watched it last night while the wife and kids were sleeping.  I liked it for the cinematography and over the top nature.  It tried to be a puppet show where *we* know the characters are puppets but *they* don't.  It worked at that level but I doubt history will remember it fondly.

[Desertpuma]

But for those needing the espionage fix... all of MI-5 (here in the States) or Spooks (in the UK) and all of the original Mission Impossible TV series are streaming on NetFlix...

BTW, here is a little murder mystery comic gem on NetFlix streaming from 1988: Plainclothes. ... I love this little known film. Just listen to everything being said (like Robert Stack as the principal on the loudspeak). What if you were 24 yrs old and went back into high school as an undercover cop to find out why your brother is being framed for murder and you KNOW how all the cliques work. Cast: Arliss Howard, Robert Stack, Diane Ladd, Abe Vigoda, George Wendt, Suzy Amis, Alexandra Powers, Kevin Dobson, Max Perlich, Harry Shearer and a brief cameo by Reginald VelJohnson (before he did Die Hard). Well worth it!

[Desertpuma]

Just got back from Chronicle and it is an amazing film! This is a must see! They really handle the idea of superpowers and their emergence really well. The whole thing is done documentary style so there is always a camera watching from some perspective but not like we the audience are watching it like a director through the lens. Whether by handheld camera or CCTV camera footage, everything is recorded.

[Agent 333]

I thought Chronicle was pretty good, but they could have done more with it.

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I was a bit disappointed that the socially awkward loser was the one to turn evil, and the cool hip black guy was the first one to die. I mean the first part I guessed from the trailers, but I was really hoping it would be a fake out. I was also kinda hoping that the black guy's funeral would be a fake out too, and it would reveal instead that Andrew's mom had died while he was out having a pity party for himself.

Also, what happened to the blond chick? Did anyone else feel like she was supposed to have a bigger role but it was cut for time reasons?

[Desertpuma]

More specifically on Chronicle ...

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Part of the idea of Andrew being that he is in need of acceptance and has a shitty life which is why he reacts the way he does to things. As for Steven, his death was really used to show how bad things could get with Andrew in foreshadowing. As for the blond chick, I agree. I think she was meant to have a larger role that got excised in editing.