Movie/TV recommendations

[Roderick]

Can I comment that Crispin Glover is even more amazing with that beard and a sharp suit?

[melmer]

Just watched Killing them softly great cinematography and music, great proformances. Apart from Brad Pitt... He's not bad in it, I love Brad Pitt, but it's just Brad Pitt playing gangster Brad Pitt.

I'm kinda amazed at the 6.3 on IMDB, that's BS

[syntheticgerbil]

As far as Up goes, it's in my mind a lovely short film (the opening about young Carl) with a whole lot of pointless stuff following it.

:tup:

Wow, other people whom I agree with about Up! I usually try to keep my opinions about Up to myself as people tend to eat me alive when I criticize that atrocious movie, but spot on Osmosisch.

 

I'm probably going to get massive shit for this but one beloved Pixar movie that I hated was Ratatouille. I just never understood what was supposedly so special about this movie. Between the granny blowing her house to pieces with a shotgun while going after a rat, the rat talking to a human ghost cook (or thinking he is talking to a human ghost cook), the rat being able to talk to humans, and the main guy acting like a marionette puppet when his hair was pulled I just felt like everything in the movie was surface level dumb stuff to make kids laugh. Maybe there was something deeper that I missed but it didn't seem like it was anywhere near the level of Toy Story or Wall-E.

Ratatouille is maybe the only Pixar movie I actually love, but I suppose you'd also have to like slapsick stuff even though the underlying story is basically about how difficult it is to be an artist. But I'm not really going to defend it that much because in general I don't have an amazing amount of respect for Pixar and American animated movies all tend to share the same problems that don't allow the medium to be taken seriously in this country in the first place. There are a bunch of other animated movies, shorts, shows etc. that I could defend and mean it 100%.

 

I'm pretty much done with every seeing the standard American animated movie ever again at this point. I dragged myself to Brave because Steve Purcell was the co-director, but anything I love in Steve Purcell's work was not really anywhere to be found in that movie. Wouldn't sell toys, I'm sure.

 

We took our daughter to see this, and yeah, pretty much what you said. It was a pretty said ripoff of Revenge of the Nerds if you ask me and was predictable all the way through. It was okay at the surface level I guess for just an average, stereotypical college movie but it was definitely the worst Pixar movie by far. I don't understand why it was even made.

Action figure prices are rising these days and John Lasseter's collection is waning. I'm sure he also needs a few more Hawaiian shirts.

[Gormongous]

Action figure prices are rising these days and John Lasseter's collection is waning. I'm sure he also needs a few more Hawaiian shirts.

 

The patronizing intros he does before Miyazaki movies, where he congratulates the viewer on their good taste and promises that they'll have a good time, must not be paying the bills these days.

[Patrick R]

You guys are nuts. Up and Ratatouille are far and away Pixar's best movies*, BECAUSE they are so weird. I feel like most every other American animated film in the past ten years are mostly just beautiful and shitty comedies. Pixar's "It's like Toy Story, but they're..." movies (Finding Nemo, Monster's Inc., Cars) do not hold up at all for me, and Toy Story 1 & 2 have also fallen in my opinion (never been a fan of the disingenuous Toy Story 3 and Wall-E). 

 

Up and Ratatouille are the Pixar films that have boundless imagination AND are brutally honest in their approach to their themes (mortality and the horrible mediocre taste of the masses, respectively) which I can't really say about Pixar's other movies.

 

*Hyperbolic statements of objective quality are to demonstrate how emphatic I am, not an actual belief that your opinions are objectively wrong.

[Frenetic Pony]

To be honest, I didn't expect entirely otherwise. Pixar has somewhat disappointed me ever since The Incredibles (which doesn't really hold up after repeated viewings either, by the way). Up I downright (left) hated. The whole sector of animated movies hasn't been able to hold my interest. Sure, I heard good things about How to Train your Dragon and Tangled, but haven't seen those yet. The last film in the genre I really loved was the awesome Rango. It was delightfully off-kilter and a-typical.

 

Also; holy shit look at Siskel getting steamed. Go for the jugular, Ebert!

 

: ( Wall-E is my second favorite Pixar movie, and I think your over expecting of the Incredibles. Really enjoyed it the first and second times, just rewatched it for the first time in years a week ago and it was still good. Not sure what you mean by that though, I mean some people do pedestal the hell out of it which is overboard for me.

 

Also wtf Patrick? Finding Nemo is brilliance incarnate, the second best edited movie in history after Star Wars: A New Hope. Up and Ratatouille are two of Pixar's most conventional movies. A movie about following your dreams and having them come true combined with intelligent animals is about as least weird as you can get. And while Up has some unique aspects, shoving a paltry story about having an unfulfilled life and not having children is about as dead cliche as you can get. I mean, like them away but their themes are far from unique and the same goes with their humor.

[Frenetic Pony]

Just watched Killing them softly great cinematography and music, great proformances. Apart from Brad Pitt... He's not bad in it, I love Brad Pitt, but it's just Brad Pitt playing gangster Brad Pitt.

I'm kinda amazed at the 6.3 on IMDB, that's BS

 

The story is too slow, there are entire sections that could have been cut out without the story changing a jot. And I don't think Brad Pitt ever just plays "Blank: Brad Pitt" in fact I thought he was the most amazing thing in it by far. Has Pitt ever even played a Gangster? Yes, in The Assassination of Jesse James, and he was completely different in that movie from this. Nor can I really can't see his detective from Se7en, or Benjamin Button, or his concerned father from World War Z in Killing Them Softly. The most I can say I see in common is Tyler Durden, but they're both a kind of murdering psychopaths and I suppose there's only so many you can play without overlap coming eventually.

[Patrick R]

Also wtf Patrick? Finding Nemo is brilliance incarnate, the second best edited movie in history after Star Wars: A New Hope. 

 

 

I don't think we're going to agree on much film stuff, you and I. 

 

But if you think honest portrayals of dashed hopes and the oppression of mortality are more common than dads who are trying to save their kids...well, you maybe exist in a different world than I. I'd like to be there, in your world, where the most conventional thing you could do is explore the human condition and the least conventional thing you could do is have a bunch of horrible fish jokes ("WHAT IF A SCHOOL OF FISH WERE ACTUALLY A SCHOOL, IF SEAGULLS SPOKE ENGLISH WHAT KINDS OF THINGS WOULD THEY SAY, HEY ARE HORRIBLE SURFER CARICATURES  STILL THE MOST FUNNY THING EVER, OH THEY ARE, GOOD, LET'S DO SEA TURTLE VERSIONS OF THAT FOR A WHILE TOO."). Because that'd mean there'd be a lot of beautiful and meaningful films about life, and very few that are just a series of lame jokes and visual puns.

[Twig]

y'all a buncha movie snobs

[Gormongous]

Up and Ratatouille are two of Pixar's most conventional movies. A movie about following your dreams and having them come true combined with intelligent animals is about as least weird as you can get. And while Up has some unique aspects, shoving a paltry story about having an unfulfilled life and not having children is about as dead cliche as you can get.

But if you think honest portrayals of dashed hopes and the oppression of mortality are more common than dads who are trying to save their kids...well, you maybe exist in a different world than I. I'd like to be there, in your world, where the most conventional thing you could do is explore the human condition and the least conventional thing you could do is have a bunch of horrible fish jokes. Because that'd mean there'd be a lot of beautiful and meaningful films about life, and very few that are just a series of lame jokes and visual puns.

 

I don't really know if I agree with either of you, but you both have your thumbs pretty heavy on the scales when describing the Pixar movies you don't like. Finding Nemo has as much to say about fatherhood as Up has about old age. Neither is particularly paltry or jokey, but I could see either not working for someone.

[Dirk Anger]

I've just watched "Europa Report", and I'm still pretty much floored (or rather: iced. Haha!).



I'm a sucker for Hard Science Fiction, and boy, did this movie deliver. I don't think I've ever seen a more realistic depiction deep-space exploration since "A Space Odyssey".
Although there's a main cast of 6 (six!) full people, comparisons to "Moon" will be inevitable - but they'll be justified. The direction, atmosphere and performances are great, conveying the utter desolation and danger of space, but at the same time, ever so slightly, an ambiguous sense of discovery and adventure. Nevertheless, this is essentially a horror movie, but let that not discourage you, silly people who don't like horror movies. There is exactly zero bullshit in this movie, and absolutely no cheap jump scares.

My greatest problem with this movie is that I found the faux-documentary parts to be pretty much redundant, and at times anticlimactic. I would've very much prefered if the movie had actually ended on the last frame, without the Not-Tilda-Swinton CEO lady explaining why the last frame was so significant (not a spoiler, or so I hope). But those sections comprise about 5 out of 90 minutes, so it's a minor complaint.

Anyway: "Europa Report" is, in my humble opinion, the best Science Fiction movie since "Moon". You should watch it.

[Frenetic Pony]

I don't think we're going to agree on much film stuff, you and I. 

 

But if you think honest portrayals of dashed hopes and the oppression of mortality are more common than dads who are trying to save their kids...well, you maybe exist in a different world than I. I'd like to be there, in your world, where the most conventional thing you could do is explore the human condition and the least conventional thing you could do is have a bunch of horrible fish jokes ("WHAT IF A SCHOOL OF FISH WERE ACTUALLY A SCHOOL, IF SEAGULLS SPOKE ENGLISH WHAT KINDS OF THINGS WOULD THEY SAY, HEY ARE HORRIBLE SURFER CARICATURES  STILL THE MOST FUNNY THING EVER, OH THEY ARE, GOOD, LET'S DO SEA TURTLE VERSIONS OF THAT FOR A WHILE TOO."). Because that'd mean there'd be a lot of beautiful and meaningful films about life, and very few that are just a series of lame jokes and visual puns.

 

I didn't say Finding Nemo was original in its main theme, just that it was superbly well edited. I was just pointing out that Ratatouille and Up aren't weird or original at all really. You've confused the argument.

[osmosisch]

At least we can agree that there's a Pixar movie for everyone to love

[Zeusthecat]

And hate.

[Patrick R]

I apologize for that, I was just in the car for 14 hours previously, and too cranky to be posting on a forum. But I really do hate the John Lasseter "For bugs, a pu pu platter would be a POO POO platter!" sense of humor, and an awful lot of Finding Nemo are those kinds of dumb jokes.

[Twig]

Puns are great, silence your mouth.

[Frenetic Pony]

And hate.

 

It's called Cars, too easy

[Zeusthecat]

It's called Cars, too easy

 

Yeah, I think that might actually be the one we all agree on. 

[tegan]

I actually saw Cars 2 at the cinema, because I got a free ticket when I bought The Incredibles Blu-Ray. When the movie got to the shot where a bunch of model tiny planes scatter into the air like birds, my brain just started screaming.

[gregbrown]

The patronizing intros he does before Miyazaki movies, where he congratulates the viewer on their good taste and promises that they'll have a good time, must not be paying the bills these days.

At least he'll always have that fallback job at Trader Joe's.

[tegan]

I actually like the Miyazaki intros, because it's a nice reminder that Lasseter is a huge fucking nerd in the form of completely unwarranted hero worship.

 

I find it hard to hate the guy after he

1) convinced Miyazaki to start releasing Ghibli movies in the west again after the Warriors of the Wind fiasco, unedited, with actual marketing and everything

2) made Toy Story 2 after coming to the realization that he was kind of an asshole for not wanting his kids playing with his collectibles

[Thyroid]

I don't think not allowing your kids to play with a prized possession is indication you're an asshole.

 

I haven't seen Nemo in the better part of a decade, but I loved it then and I think I would still love it now.

[tegan]

I don't think not allowing your kids to play with a prized possession is indication you're an asshole.

 

It is if you became famous by making a film about toys and how they're made to be played with.

His words, not mine.

[syntheticgerbil]

I apologize for that, I was just in the car for 14 hours previously, and too cranky to be posting on a forum. But I really do hate the John Lasseter "For bugs, a pu pu platter would be a POO POO platter!" sense of humor, and an awful lot of Finding Nemo are those kinds of dumb jokes.

Oh man, I used to get so angry at the fake bloopers at the end of the earlier Pixar movies. What was the point of that shit if they were not actual bloopers? One of the cuts always ended with a character farting and another character waving their hand around awkwardly. And I am not being high brow here, I felt embarrassed for Pixar in elementary and middle school when seeing these, when dick and fart jokes were prime.

 

The other best trend with CG animated movies when I still bothered to watch some of them, was the ending with an awkward and embarrassing dance sequence to some generic pop song. At some point the villains would inevitably let go of their shame and start dancing too. I swear there's some movie Dreamworks movie where the villians were released from prison for the sake of the dance. I think only Pixar didn't do the dance sequence endings, but it's possible one or two of their movies gave in.

 

I actually like the Miyazaki intros, because it's a nice reminder that Lasseter is a huge fucking nerd in the form of completely unwarranted hero worship.

Meh, it's for sure more in the self marketing department. The dude also does thrilling intros to the Tinkerbell CG movies that started after the Disney/Pixar merger. Which Lasseter to trust?

 

1) convinced Miyazaki to start releasing Ghibli movies in the west again after the Warriors of the Wind fiasco, unedited, with actual marketing and everything

 

This is pure Lasseter propaganda.

 

Lasseter was not there when the original Miramax/Disney deal was formed over Princess Mononoke. I recall a comment thread on a news post on Cartoon Brew years ago by an early involved Ghibli translator for who was Streamline pissed that Lasseter now takes credit for somehow bringing Miyazaki for everyone to see in the United States, uncut. I can probably dig it up if you are interested. All the while you don't hear much about Jerry Beck for majorly helping Japanese animation studios get exposure in the States in the first place by starting Streamline, as there was never any intro by him on the earlier Akira Laserdisc and VHS release. Streamline brought over Kiki's Delivery Service and Laputa before Disney, uncut. Usually you're going to find Streamline was responsible for most early officially translated (quality) anime in the 80s and 90s.

 

Upon looking further, it also appears Jerry Beck was involved with another company on the first uncut English version of Totoro as well, with a VHS and Laserdisc release. Really you can thank Jerry Beck for a lot of things, like overseeing the DVD releases of all of the early Warner Bros. releases for the Golden Collection uncut as well as the uncut Droopy set. Just the guy is not really a self marketer nor a mogul like Lasseter but a lover of cartoons and I always appreciate when I see his name popping up.

 

Ugh, Lasseter. Fuck that guy.

[I Saw Dasein]

Not strictly TV or movie, a short documentary/PSA from Werner Herzog on texting and driving. Weirdly Herzog's style is a really good match for PSAs.