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Rate the latest movie you've seen.

Started by GalacticBusDriver, February 16, 2013, 12:37:09 AM

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SGOS

Quote from: Hydra009 on July 15, 2020, 12:40:46 AM
Check this out after you finish it:
That review covers most of my criticisms exactly but could have gone even further:

Quote from: Hydra009 on July 15, 2020, 12:40:46 AM
the plot itself is rather dull - macGuffin central, monologues, and the world's simultaneously most boring and important-sounding speech in cinematic history.
OMG; The speech!  Laurence Fishburne as an actor must have been embarrassed to be called upon to deliver that scene.  I was embarrassed for him just watching it, and then it was followed by what the review called a "rave."  I called it an orgy, but "rave" could also be used; It had the sensual dance moves in Dirty dancing, but much more graphic visuals  centered around intensely erotic cleavage that was missing from the the Dirty Dancing classic, while Neo and Trinity fuck in some nearby alcove apparently designed specifically for copulation.  Talk about tropes;  "The world is about to end!  Lets fuck one more time."

Your observation of the monologues is a good one.  They come one after another for the first 35 minutes, and all of them are boringly pompous.  These are interrupted by action scenes.  After which, the monologues start up again. 

Quote from: Hydra009 on July 15, 2020, 12:40:46 AM
Its most glaring flaw is that there's very little character agency (characters driving the plot) - instead it's the plot happening to the characters - things are happening to them and they're just reacting.  If that sounds familiar, that's how the Star Wars prequels operated and look how it worked out for them.  And while this lack of agency does tie into the central theme of Matrix Reloaded, it makes for a very, very dull audience experience.
I wasn't actually aware of this in Star Wars.  I just know that the sequels were uninteresting to me, but in Reloaded, the idea of predestination is right in your face and gratuitously pompous.  The movie does capture the essence of real life debates over free will and predestination that mimic the heady philosophical arguments we are familiar with.

Actually, I haven't finished the movie, and I don't think I ever will, unless I find the need to exercise more critical observations.  Other than that, I have little motivation to finish the movie.

Hydra009

Quote from: SGOS on July 15, 2020, 06:22:14 AM
OMG; The speech!  Laurence Fishburne as an actor must have been embarrassed to be called upon to deliver that scene.
I was talking about the Architect's monologue, but that works too.

QuoteI wasn't actually aware of this in Star Wars.
Almost all the major plot points in the first two prequels are things that happen to the protagonists rather than the protagonists making a choice.

https://youtu.be/yUzr5JW3fSk?t=330

Skip to 5:30 for the part about agency.

QuoteThe movie does capture the essence of real life debates over free will and predestination that mimic the heady philosophical arguments we are familiar with.
I really wish they had gone about it better.  Neo and crew go on a series of ops that go south - the Agents always seem know what they're going to do before they've done it.  Neo is plagued with self-doubt starts wondering about his agency.

It galls me that professional writers and millions of dollars went into a very simple plot interspersed with monologues about predestination that never really get resolved one way or the other.

Hydra009

For an example of this done well - a character who feels trapped and seems destined to fail, but retains agency - check out Babylon 5's Londo Mollari.

The audience can empathize with this guy because he does have an internal struggle and an actual personality, unlike most prequel characters.  And they can easily put themselves in his shoes and wonder what choices they'd make in his place, and hooboy, does he make some HUGE decisions!  That's what studios should shoot for.

Sal1981

The Old Guard - 5/10

The action scenes were mediocre. The philosophical dialogue for the characters that have lived a very long time (not quite immortal) was a patchwork of sloganisms about seeing everyone around you fade away. Highlander did a much better job at that angle. Not very memorable or interesting. Meh.

Sal1981


Gawdzilla Sama

Quote from: Sal1981 on July 22, 2020, 02:17:53 PM
Jojo Rabbit - 10/10


Saving that one for when I'm tied down to a respirator.
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers

Baruch

Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on July 22, 2020, 02:50:00 PM
Saving that one for when I'm tied down to a respirator.

Hitler is the funniest German ever.  Especially his cute little moustache!

If you can't laugh at Hitler, you are probably Stalin ;=)
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

aitm

After x years, finally thought I would watch Easy Rider......meh, won’t get that time back....
A humans desire to live is exceeded only by their willingness to die for another. Even god cannot equal this magnificent sacrifice. No god has the right to judge them.-first tenant of the Panotheust

Baruch

Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

SGOS

Maybe it's the times, when that movie came out it was widely acclaimed.  I watched it years later and didn't understand what all the attention was for.  But some movies don't age well.  Gone with the Wind is often named as one of the all time best films, probably by a lot of people who never saw it.  I rented it just to be knowledgeable or something.  It was over acted, over dramatic, and uninteresting in every way other then I was watching one of the top ten classics of all time.

Mike Cl

Saw Easy Rider when it first came out.  It was during Nam and was an anti-establishment flick.  I loved it--I was in the Army then and was anti-Nam, so it fit into my 'rebellion' mode at the time.  Not sure how it would look to me today.   
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?<br />Then he is not omnipotent,<br />Is he able but not willing?<br />Then whence cometh evil?<br />Is he neither able or willing?<br />Then why call him god?

Gawdzilla Sama

Quote from: aitm on July 24, 2020, 07:37:39 AM
After x years, finally thought I would watch Easy Rider......meh, won’t get that time back....
[spoiler]Hopper is an asshole all the way through.[/spoiler]
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers

Mike Cl

Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on July 24, 2020, 09:54:57 AM
[spoiler]Hopper is an asshole all the way through.[/spoiler]
Isn't that the role he always played?
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?<br />Then he is not omnipotent,<br />Is he able but not willing?<br />Then whence cometh evil?<br />Is he neither able or willing?<br />Then why call him god?

Baruch

Quote from: Mike Cl on July 24, 2020, 08:59:04 AM
Saw Easy Rider when it first came out.  It was during Nam and was an anti-establishment flick.  I loved it--I was in the Army then and was anti-Nam, so it fit into my 'rebellion' mode at the time.  Not sure how it would look to me today.

Would your fat ass fit in a motorcycle seat? (sarc)

Speaking of classic movies ...

Citizen Cain

High Noon

Vertigo

How do they rate?
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

SGOS

Quote from: Mike Cl on July 24, 2020, 10:03:48 AM
Isn't that the role he always played?
I can't think of him any other way.  He sure makes a great asshole in the movies.  I wonder what he's like in real life? 

As for the time I last watched it, I would describe the plot as banal.  Two guys on choppers driving across the country to deliver drugs meeting various characters along the way.  And they have long hair, so rednecks hassle them.  Three years later those same rednecks would be worshiping Willie Nelson, and the rest of the Country Western stars with long hair singing about God, America, and their heartbreak.  Timely then, but just a bunch of shallow stereotypes today.