Movie/TV recommendations

[Patrick R]

Woody Allen happens to be my favorite director!

 

Woody Allen Ranked For Recommendation Purposes

 

Early Funny Ones
1. Love and Death

2. Sleeper

3. Bananas

4. Take The Money and Run
 

Dramatic Romantic Comedic

1. Annie Hall

1. Manhattan

3. Husbands and Wives

4. Hannah and Her Sisters

 

Fantasy-Comedy

1. Purple Rose of Cairo

2. Zelig

3. Stardust Memories

4. Deconstructing Harry

5. Shadows and Fog

 

Straight Drama

1. Crimes and Misdemeanors

2. Interiors

3. Match Point

 

Other Assorted Films That Don't Quite Fit On These Lists But Are Still Good

1. Radio Days

2. Broadway Danny Rose

3. Bullets Over Broadway

4. Mighty Aphrodite

5. Vicky Christina Barcelona

6. Sweet and Lowdown

7. Midnight in Paris

 

 

 

All these movies are really worth seeing, several being some of the best films ever made. 

[Argobot]

Hmm, maybe I need to rewatch Love and Death. I don't remember liking it very much, certainly not more than Sleeper.

[osmosisch]

Sleeper is my favourite Allen movie. The giant fruit & veg never cease to crack me up.

 

The Polish knock-off Seksmisja is also amazing.

[Patrick R]

Hmm, maybe I need to rewatch Love and Death. I don't remember liking it very much, certainly not more than Sleeper.

 

Taste may vary, but Diane Keaton is so so funny in Love and Death. Maybe it works better on people who don't have any knowledge of the Russian literature it lightly parodies? I know you know way more about that stuff than I do.

 

 

"A tremendous amount of wheat."

[tegan]

Oh yeah! I saw Man of Steel yesterday!

 

There was a lot to like about it, and a lot to hate. Here's some points!

 

• It's weird that Man of Steel feels at the same time like it's trying to diverge from the accepted notion of Superman as much as possible (no Lex Luthor! No Kryptonite!) while also tossing in a lot of weird little continuity nods (both the Phantom Zone and the stupid Kryptonian Birthing Matrix thing from the nineties play roles in the film). The friend that I saw it with said that it reminded him most of the Star Trek reboot, which is a fair comparison.
• Snyder's usual annoying fast-and-slow camerawork is thankfully absent from the many, many instances of dudes punching each other.
• The trend of these big action blockbusters having as much property damage as possible is really grating to me. Every time someone knocks over a building I can't help but wonder how many hundreds of people just died when there's a dude right there who's supposed to save them.
• there's a handful of weird bits that are clearly supposed to be comedic but are so infrequent, so flat, and so uncommented upon that they just kind of distract you.
• why do all of the kryptonians have pseudo-british accents except for one guy who has a german accent
• I just know that people are going to complain about her, but this might be my favourite depiction of Lois Lane.
  Although Supes occasionally has to help her out, she never feels like a damsel in distress. Most importantly, she's actually good at the thing she's supposed to be good at. It's always been kind of absurd that an investigative reporter couldn't figure out that her coworker who looks exactly like Superman is actually Superman, and this movie plays off of that beautifully.

• Mann O'Steele follows in the tradition of Batman Begins and the like of having my favourite part of the movie be where the hero isn't yet a superhero but more of an urban legend. Clark Kent slumming around as some kind of immortal hobo and hearing people's third-hand descriptions of what he's done in the past is just the best thing.
• the moment he gets the suit, his beard disappears. where did he find the time
• the more you flesh out Krypton, the dumber Krypton gets; and this version is pretty damned fleshed out. It just raises more questions than it answers.
  Like why a council of people genetically engineered to be the perfect leaders would disregard the environment enough to get a matter of days from their whole planet imploding, and then not do anything about it. ...Though I guess maybe that was meant to show the whole deal about how the Krypton caste system is flawed and leads to psychopaths like Zod? I think that would be giving it too much credit.

• movie does not pass the Bechdel test
• There is a heck of a lot of military presence in this movie. Like Michael Bay amounts of military presence. And they continue to fight despite being shown time and time again that their weapons are completely ineffective and only cause collateral damage. One particularly egregious example has a dude challenge Faora-Ul to a knife fight after unloading all of his ammunition into her at point-blank range with no effect.
• Mana Steal has some really, really bad dialogue; like a short monologue from a character with no grasp of how evolution works. Also: "There's only one way this ends... Either you die, or I do." That's two ways, you stupid fuck.
• the whole bit with the transmission from Zod's ship seemed like it was from a completely different movie that looks much more interesting.

• I never want to hear the word "codex" again in my life.
• Whatshisface does a decent Superman: an idealist  who's had to learn to restrain himself. I liked his interactions with Ma Kent.
• I really like that the movie doesn't frontload itself with origin story like so many others. It's still mostly frontloaded, but leaves quite a bit to slowly trickle out over the course of the film through flashbacks.
• it's hard to do super speed, flight, etc. convincingly on-screen, and for the most part they did a damned good job. Flying in particular has a very powerful, aggressive nature to it that works well.

 

At this point I'm yammering. I think overall I enjoyed the movie, but it's like a two-and-a-half-stars-out-of-four kind of enjoyment.

[miffy495]

A buddy of mine has passes and invited me to it next week. Your evaluation has made me a bit more curious. Really, this was just an excuse to hang out with someone I haven't seen in forever.

[Gwardinen]

• movie does not pass the Bechdel test

 

I thought this, but on the way home one of my friends brought up a scene that might just about get it to scrape by:

 

Doesn't Faora briefly speak to Martha when she and Zod are trying to find out where the codex is?

[Twig]

I'm going to see the movie tonight. I expect to enjoy a movie about super dudes super punching super each other.

[Ben X]

I thought this, but on the way home one of my friends brought up a scene that might just about get it to scrape by:

 

Doesn't Faora briefly speak to Martha when she and Zod are trying to find out where the codex is?

 

No!

Faora chokes here while Zod interrogates her, then Martha's eyes go to the barn.

No dialogue twixt the ladies as far as I remember.

 

Tegan is spot on with everything, though I'd rate it one and a half stars out of four. Far too much Revenge Of The Sith and Transformers in there, not enough Batman Begins.

[toblix]

So this looks god damn amazing:

It doesn't seem super-funny to me, but the quality of animation and attention to detail is astonishing.

[Roderick]

I've been completely indoctrinated now by the current discussions on feminism and the Bechdel test, but there are so few Lego ladies in this trailer. The only ones are Wonder Woman and the Love Interest whose primary function/joke is to make the lead character act like a horny ape. Well, fuck.

 

The animation is superb, this might actually turn out pretty fun. I love the attention to detail, like 1980something Space Guy's chipped helmet - which happened all the time IRL with those early helmets.

[BigJKO]

Yes, I'm so happy that the animation is choppy so it feels like stop-motion. I'm sold!

[Twig]

Man of Steel: Best Comedy 2013

 

I'm pretty sure I laughed at that movie more than I laugh at most actual comedies. Take that for what you will.

 

I mean I don't expect much from comic book movies. But something went horribly wrong here.

[tegan]

I've been completely indoctrinated now by the current discussions on feminism and the Bechdel test, but there are so few Lego ladies in this trailer. The only ones are Wonder Woman and the Love Interest whose primary function/joke is to make the lead character act like a horny ape. Well, fuck.

 

There's the mermaid too!

Being a huge, huge Lego fan; I am unabashedly excited.

[Twig]

One particularly egregious example has a dude challenge Faora-Ul to a knife fight after unloading all of his ammunition into her at point-blank range with no effect.

Hey to be fair he was trying to stall her so the missile would hit her.

 

That the missile proved ineffective is whatever, but it was probably the biggest thing they'd thrown at the Kryptonians at that point in time.

 

Also thanks to Convenient Supes Timing Number 1278476519287, she ended up being far enough away from that guy SOMEHOW so that the missile wouldn't hit him, even though he said make the missile hit THIS SPOT and oh boy I'm getting all giggly again!

 

edit: eh, i put it in spoilers tagses

[brkl]

I love the guy who plays Zod. That's the only reason I'm interested in this movie. I really dislike the resent trend of turning old landmarks such as Star Trek into nothing more than stories about some guys fighting.

[Twig]

Actually Zod was the high point for me. Aside from a few shitty lines (which can't really be blamed on the ACTOR), he was awesome.

 

Which is weird 'cause of all the Superman villains I know about, he's like wayyyyyy at the bottom of my Care list. Not that I really CARE about any of them, but, well, you know.

[Max Ernst]

Thank you thumbs for the Woody Allen stuff. I am a changed man.

[Gormongous]

Actually Zod was the high point for me. Aside from a few shitty lines (which can't really be blamed on the ACTOR), he was awesome.

 

Which is weird 'cause of all the Superman villains I know about, he's like wayyyyyy at the bottom of my Care list. Not that I really CARE about any of them, but, well, you know.

 

I'm really glad to hear that, whether or not I see the movie. I've been a fan of Michael Shannon since before Jeff Nichols got ahold of him, even back in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans, and I was worried that Zod would be the kind of thankless role that would hound a great actor from the public eye. If he turned in good work, that's wonderful news.

[TheLastBaron]

I am currently 20 minutes into watching Mystery Men and I don't have any recollection of it ever taking place in a dystopian future or having Tom Waits

[tegan]

Oh, as a side note on the Lego Movie... who else actually saw Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs? Because it's a really, really fantastic film that was marketed as though it was some terrible Dreamworks thing. The same directors also created Clone High, which should give you some idea of what it's like.

[Ben X]

Yep, Cloudy is amazing, and the 3D is great too. Looking forward to the sequel!

[I Saw Dasein]

I saw "This is the End". The first 30 minutes or so reminded me of a filthy but awesome episode of Curb. The rest of the movie was a lot weaker, except for Danny McBride who owns everything ever. 

 

For that reason, I started watching Eastbound and Down, which is also highly amazing so far. Funny and super dark. 

[melmer]

Just caught up with this season of madmen, the last two episodes have been great. I've loved all the Peter Campbell vs Bob Benson stuff, and the "OH MY GOD, THEY'VE KILLED KENNY" moment.

And Sally :0

And...

Classic classic classic moment

[Patrick R]

I saw "This is the End". The first 30 minutes or so reminded me of a filthy but awesome episode of Curb. The rest of the movie was a lot weaker, except for Danny McBride who owns everything ever. 

 

For that reason, I started watching Eastbound and Down, which is also highly amazing so far. Funny and super dark. 

 

I kind of felt the opposite. The first 30 or so minutes felt too much like a Funny or Die sketch (seriously, how long has it been since Entourage made celebrities portraying unflattering versions of themselves the norm in comedy? Nearly 10 years?) but once the cameofest ended, it felt freer and funnier. I really like how they fucking WENT FOR IT with the explicitly biblical apocalypse. Most studio comedies would be afraid to go that religious.