The Films and Movies Thread

[boogielicious]

Saw the old classic Sci-Fi Them the other night.  James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, James Arness and the first screen appearance of Leonard Nimoy.  Great movie.  OK, the ant special effects were very 1950s, but the actors and story were excellent.

[saevel25]

Saw Prisoners during the weekend and would give it an eagle on an easy par 5.  Intense thriller, great performances by Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal with a little twist at the end.  Has some Breaking Bad-esque qualities where you might be asking yourself how far  you would go if you were put in this position.  Not the movie to go see if you want a light hearted date night

Like this movie a lot. I could feel the emotion off the screen. The detective work in the movie felt real. The ending was awesome.

Due to a few things that i can fault it, and wont say because I don't want to spoil the movie. I give it a missed 20 footer for eagle, and a tap in birdie.

[newtogolf]

I finally saw World War Z off iTunes the other day, and it was horrible. Zombies are pretty "played out" at this point, and the genre didn't get any help when they released this load of steamy poo. The movie was nothing like the book... aside from the fact that zombies were present. I've said many times that WWZ could only work as a television series given the short storied nature of the novel, but of course, it was turned into a vehicle for Brad Pitt instead. Yikes.

I knew the movie would be bad as soon as I learned who Pitt's character was and that it would be featured heavily... in the first few pages of the novel, his character insists that "his own backstory would not cloud the more important story of what happened to the world at large," or something to that effect. Instead, the movie violated this rule right from the beginning, only concerning itself with Pitt's character and his family. From the beginning, those who read the novel are pretty much told to go eat a dick.

Some of what made the novel so good is that the United States knew the zombies were coming -- the virus originates in China -- and yet cannot do anything to stop it despite months of preparation. In the movie, Americans are all surprised when zombies start popping up -- a classic (and now bad) zombie cliche -- and now even more of the originality of the novel has been stripped away and shat on.

The epidemic supposedly begins with one person whose origins are unknown in the novel. The world has its chances to nip it in the bud, but fails over and over again to take the proper action. Even when it reaches a larger scale and nations get involved in putting their heads together to stop it, the bureaucracies cannot agree on how to proceed, and the epidemic just continues to get worse. There were so many brilliant jabs at our own society in the book that the film just decided to flush down the toilet.

I feel like Hollywood just told me I'm too stupid to understand a zombie film with legitimate political implications to it. Thanks.

They ruined a story with promise.

WWZ gets a big fat double, and I'd give it a snowman if that was part of the rules of the thread.

It's movies like this that make me happy we at least live in the golden age of cable television. I never have to go to the movies anymore!

Your review is dead on, unfortunately this is the case with most movies that are adapted from books.  WWZ was an excellent read, highly recommend it even if you saw the lousy movie.  The movie would have been much better presented as a fictional documentary, though it would have probably required 2.5 - 3 hours to get the full effect which is why I agree, it's better suited for a television series.  Pitt added nothing to the movie other than to give women an excuse to go see a zombie movie with their spouse or bf.

[boogielicious]

My wife and I watched We're the Millers last night.  Very funny.

[iacas]

My wife and I watched We're the Millers last night.  Very funny.

I knew the ball scene was coming (you could tell it was that kind of movie) so I looked away, thankfully.

Also, if by "funny" you mean… this, then yes, it was "funny."

[boogielicious]

Watched Simon Pegg's The World's End last night.  That was good too.  I have had a massive head cold since Wednesday, so I have been watching a lot of TV.  I saw Hot Fuzz during the day, which is also excellent.  Great casting in both, and some of the same actors.

[iacas]

The Adjustment Bureau was a lot better than I thought it would be. Seriously, it was pretty good, considering. And for $0.99 I bought the book (short story really) on which it was based, and enjoyed that too - even though it was nothing like the movie.

I give it a birdie.

I'm tempted to watch all of the Fast and the Furious movies today for obvious reasons. But that's over ten hours. Maybe if Paul had starred in a trilogy…

[nevets88]

I really liked The Adjustment Bureau, it didn't get much attention. 5 foot birdie.

RIP F&F; star, but I'm meh about the movies. They're fun, but I wouldn't go out of the way to watch. If they happen to be on or I had free access and nothing else to watch, I'd watch, only seen the Rio one, which wasn't bad.

Recently watched Shaun of the Dead and Silver Linings Playbook. 25 foot birdies for both.

[Ernest Jones]

Just finished watching The Empire Strikes Back with my 7 yr old, we watched Star Wars A New Hope last week. Needless to say, awesome. I give A New Hope a birdie and The Empire Strikes Back an eagle .

[jamo]

Just finished watching The Empire Strikes Back with my 7 yr old, we watched Star Wars A New Hope last week. Needless to say, awesome. I give A New Hope a birdie and The Empire Strikes Back an eagle .

I assume you've seen Return of the Jedi. Where does that fall on your scale? I've always been of the opinion that it's easily the worst of the first trilogy. It might be the second worst of all 6, ahead of only The Phantom Menace for me.

[nevets88]

I assume you've seen Return of the Jedi. Where does that fall on your scale? I've always been of the opinion that it's easily the worst of the first trilogy. It might be the second worst of all 6, ahead of only The Phantom Menace for me.

I'd rate The Phantom Menace a quadruple bogey. I'd give Jar Jar Binks a quintuple bogey, spit spit spit. Return of the Jedi , a par. Bogey for Ewoks. E cha wa wa!

Someone invent a blocker for anything to do with the upcoming Star Wars movie.

[saevel25]

I assume you've seen Return of the Jedi. Where does that fall on your scale? I've always been of the opinion that it's easily the worst of the first trilogy. It might be the second worst of all 6, ahead of only The Phantom Menace for me.

If I had to rank all the Star Wars Movies out of 10 it would be,

9/10 Empires Strikes Back

8/10 Revenge of the Sith

5/10 A New Hope

5/10 Return of the Jedi

3/10 Attack of the Clones

0/10 Phantom Menace

I personally like the darker two of the 6 movies. Phantom Menace was way to kiddish for me. Sitting around with kids yelling for Jar Jar was just horrible. A New Hope and Return of the Jedi are a close, so they tie for 3rd. Attack of the Clones was so so for me. Though seeing Yoda break out the crazy bad-ass Jedi moves at the end was awesome!

[Ernest Jones]

I assume you've seen Return of the Jedi. Where does that fall on your scale? I've always been of the opinion that it's easily the worst of the first trilogy. It might be the second worst of all 6, ahead of only The Phantom Menace for me.

I think Return of the Jedi could have been awesome, apparently it was originally titled Revenge of the Jedi and was supposed to be much darker but the smell of money led Lucas (may he rot in hell) to the Commercial Side. You see glimpses of what could have been in the opening seems when Luke chokes the pig-nosed dudes. Anyway, I'll watch it next week with the boy and give my opinion then. Definitely think that ESB was the best of the three. I won't even discuss the "other" three. Edit* I forgot how hot Carrie Fisher was back in the day. Yum yum.

[Crim]

I saw Hunger Games: Catching Fire the other day. Did not want to see it. I was fairly entertained through the whole thing. I give it a really lucky birdie. So close to being a par. You have to see the first one to understand that crap.

--------

Damn it, double post. Oh well I guess if I can't figure out how to delete this post I'll do another review. I wanted to watch a really mindless action flick the other night. I found Immortals on Netflix. The action scenes were bloody + brilliant, very 300-like. EVERYTHING else was pretty bad. Dialogue and acting was MEH. But it lived up to my mindless expectations. The unlimited arrow bow was completely badass and needed to be in the movie more. Overall it deserves a PAR.

[jamo]

If I had to rank all the Star Wars Movies out of 10 it would be,  9/10 Empires Strikes Back 8/10 Revenge of the Sith 5/10 A New Hope 5/10 Return of the Jedi 3/10 Attack of the Clones 0/10 Phantom Menace I personally like the darker two of the 6 movies. Phantom Menace was way to kiddish for me. Sitting around with kids yelling for Jar Jar was just horrible. A New Hope and Return of the Jedi are a close, so they tie for 3rd. Attack of the Clones was so so for me. Though seeing Yoda break out the crazy bad-ass Jedi moves at the end was awesome!

People really hate Jar Jar, and I don't disagree, but he wasn't even in the top two worst things about The Phantom Menace for me. The Midi-chlorians thing was dumb and the looooooong-ass pod race was borderline intolerable. The lightsaber battle with Darth Maul was okay though. I would put Attack of the Clones a bit higher, but otherwise my rankings are pretty similar. ------------- Instead of talking more about Star Wars I should probably mention a movie I saw recently. I watched Sleepwalk With Me on Netflix a few days ago. It's a semi-autobiographical movie by comedian Mike Birbiglia. I thought it was pretty good. I give it a birdie.

[MULVn8tor]

Watched prisoners and I give it a hole in one. Not a fan of thrillers but boy did this movie have me on the edge of my seat. Were the millers was a surprising burdie

[nevets88]

People really hate Jar Jar, and I don't disagree, but he wasn't even in the top two worst things about The Phantom Menace for me. The Midi-chlorians thing was dumb and the looooooong-ass pod race was borderline intolerable. The lightsaber battle with Darth Maul was okay though. I would put Attack of the Clones a bit higher, but otherwise my rankings are pretty similar. ------------- Instead of talking more about Star Wars I should probably mention a movie I saw recently. I watched Sleepwalk With Me on Netflix a few days ago. It's a semi-autobiographical movie by comedian Mike Birbiglia. I thought it was pretty good. I give it a birdie.

Have you seen The People vs George Lucas? Should be on Netflix.

[butt3r3dt0ast]

Saw Catching Fire over the weekend. I thought it was pretty great, so I'd give it a birdie. It helps that I read the books back when they came out too though. Plus, who doesn't love a little Jennifer Lawrence