Movies

[figureaddict]

Who else watches Movies? I know I do.
Just watched Ghost Rider: Spirtit of Vengance for the first time last night. Wow! .................................................T hat was terrible. Glad I didn't go to the Theater last February.

[figureaddict]

Also watched Underworld Awakening last week. Good movie if you like the genre. I'm not seeing how it grossed so much more than the original though.

[Jodo]

I watched Wizard of Oz for the first time today.

[Big Red]

We used to watch a ton of movies. At one point we had over 1600 DVD's. I think we sold off over half our DVD's. We don't have a DVD player in the living room, but we do have a PC hooked up to the TV so we can watch our DVD's on that. We have a TV with a built-in player in the bedroom, but we seldom use that TV at all, let alone the DVD player. We don't have cable and since the switch to digital TV we're unable to get a consistent signal for the local stations about 50% of the time (some stations always come in to a reasonable degree, others are virtually unwatchable and the rest are somewhere in between). The bulk of what we watch is Netflix, followed by PBS, EWTN and The Amazing Race (we watch very little broadcast TV and very few new shows regularly). We watch more TV shows on Netflix than anything, but we'll find the occasional movie on there or Amazon Instant Video that we want to watch.

We rented The Avengers a few weeks ago, which would have been amazing with a different director, but instead kept hitting me in the face reminding me why I hate Joss Whedon. We also watched The Terminator for the first time in years the other night. That was a blast. We watched Planes, Trains & Automobiles and Miracle on 34th Street over the last week or so, both of which are Thanksgiving traditions. Now we're starting in on Christmas movies. We watched One Christmas with Henry Winkler the other day. Not great, but not bad, either. We also watched The Miracle of the Bells with Frank Sinatra and Fred MacMurray. One of the reviewers said it was a Christmas movie. It wasn't, but it was still somewhat enjoyable. I'm wanting to watch The Artist, but my wife has been so tired lately that it's not something she'd be able to sit through.

We'll probably jump into the Christmas movies with both feet next week. I'm eager to see Die Hard again. It always puts me in the Christmas mood.

[figureaddict]

Die Hard, a classic Christmas movie. Who can get through a Thanksgiving withough watching Planes, Trains & Automobiles? It's mandatory.

[Big Red]

We'll usually add Better Off Dead to our Christmas viewing schedule. Another one we try to watch each year is I'll Be Seeing You. It has Ginger Rogers, Joseph Cotten and Shirley Temple. It's about as depressing a Christmas movie as you're likely to find. Joseph Cotten plays a shell-shocked WWII vet who's on leave from the mental hospital. Ginger Rogers is a young lady whose boss tried to rape her and while she was fighting him off, he fell out the window to his death. This being the 40's, she was naturally convicted of manslaughter, but is on furlough for the holidays. They meet on a train, fall in love, but don't want to tell one another what their actual situations are. It's pitiful and depressing, but in a fun, Christmas-y way.

We're trying to decide now when we'll have our annual Scrooge-a-thon. The version that's become one of our favorites is An American Christmas Carol, starring Henry Winkler as Benedict Slade, a Scrooge-like figure in Depression Era America. It was made in the late 70's and also has Dorian Harewood as the Ghost of Christmas Future. He wears a black suit (complete with big gold chain) that makes him look like a negative image of John Travolta in his white suit from Saturday Night Fever. He's from around here, and during my wife's last C-section, we had a Nurse Harewood helping out. They were talking about celebrities and one of the other nurses asked, "He's really your cousin?" I didn't hear who they were actually talking about and I didn't get a chance to talk to the nurse later. I still kick myself because she made it sound like she's in good with this cousin and sees him pretty often, and I missed out on at least a slim chance of getting him to sign my DVD, or at least being able to pass on my praises to the coolest Ghost of Christmas Future ever. Then again, I did have other things on my mind at the time.

[Jodo]

I hadn't seen A Christmas Carol until my professor made me watch several versions this Summer, in preparation for the Fall performance on stage. I can't say I really enjoyed any of them! Hahaha...Just not my favorite stor I guess!

The only film I'm looking forward to is Gangster Squad (which admittedly I thought was released several months ago). I'll also go see Oz: The Great and Powerful, just because I have decided I enjoyed The Wizard of Oz quite a bit, hahaha! A few other films I'll probably see next year are The Evil Dead, to see what all has changed, and then Star Trek Into Darkness, although the trailer wasn't really all that impressive IMO. I wish they'd actually "seek out new life forms", instead of just having another global threat. I'll have to check out Iron Man 3 too.

Going through a list of next year's releases, it looks like there will be a 300 sequel too. I didn't know about that one. I might have to put Thor 2 on the list...And I'll say Ender's Game as well. Oh, and Lone Ranger too. XD If I go see all these, that'll probably be the most shows I've seen in several years. LOL

[Big Red]

How can there be a 300 sequel? Not to spoil anything (I'd hope I'm not since it's based on an historical event), but they all died.

It takes a lot to get me into a theater nowadays. The atmosphere usually ruins the movie, and I can't watch 3D (not only can I not see the 3D effects, but it gives me a headache). Not only that, but I could buy several movies for what it costs to take the whole family, and that's without buying any drinks or snacks.

[Jodo]

I believe the 300 sequel's story is about another battle, that took place on the same day as the defeat at Thermopylae.

I've seen two 3D movies, the first was John Carter (...), and the second was Prometheus (which was amazing). Speaking of which, I loved that movie! I had hoped Sir Scott would released a director's cut, but evidently he claims that the theatrical release was indeed that version. Even though there are several issues with the film, it was hands down my favorite film of 2012, as well as my most anticipated.

[Guido]

Agree totally about Prometheus. This past summer was so busy at work that I literally missed it in the theaters without even realizing it until I saw ads for the dvd release. Now I've got 3 viewings under my belt, and I think I may start to check out some of the web theory stuff that's out there.

[Jodo]

I saw it twice in theaters, once with my friends Matt and Danny, and then a second time in 3D with just Danny. I mention this, because I got pulled over for the first time on the way back from the 3D showing. :p I was going 68 in a 55, as I thought it was a 65 zone. The officer pulled us over, and ran both Danny and I's names. He was at his car for about 10 minutes, but when he came back, he told us to have a good night, and then he walked off. Several days later we found out the the guy doing the ride along with the officer that night recognized Danny's name from college, and asked the officer to let us go. :D Our celebrity saved me several hundred dollars, hahaha!

[figureaddict]

Lucky SOB.

[Guido]

ha! That's a good one, it really is all about who you know/knew!

[Jodo]

Very true! I couldn't believe it had happened! XD

[Guido]

yeesh- blu ray rampage for the past few weeks (for me at least ;)):
Amazing Spider-Man, Dredd, Looper, and MIB3.

I saw Dredd and Looper at the theater, but it was my first viewing for both Spider-Man and MIB3 and I thought both were pretty awesome!

[Jodo]

I just watched Looper with my friends, and overall, not one of us liked it. We started making these funny sort of out there jokes on how the plot was going to end up, and we all three ended up being right. I can't say I enjoyed that movie at all! :(

[Qui-Gon Jim]

I loved Looper. I can see why it isn't everyone's cup of tea.

Saw This is 40. Now I'm not a person that needs a happy ending, or wants every plot wrapped up in a little bow, but fer chrissakes, if you show me that "loaded gun" on the wall three or four times, I expect to see the freaking thing go off! Too much time wasted on plot points that never materialized into anything. A few funny moments, but still no where near as good as 40 Year Old Virgin or Knocked Up. It did however have Megan Fox in an ultra-tiny bikini, so there's always that.

[Guido]

Looper had it's faults, but I liked it enough to buy it almost entirely due to JGL's portrayal of a young BW. Almost as good as Josh Brolin's young TLJ in MIB3, he even nailed the crazy bowlegged walk! And Jemaine was great in MIB3 too- do we have any Flight of the Conchords fans here?

And Qui-Gon... your review wasn't really encouraging until that last line. Horrible actress in tiny bikini=no guilt in objectifying her for it! ;) (confession: I sat through the entire Jonah Hex movie. really. no, I'm not kidding.)

[Jodo]

Nope, sounded all negative to me. XD :p

And without spoiling anything in Looper...I liked the concept of the film. The time travel element was really cool, and how all that worked, but the other plot of the film, which seemed to come out of no where was horrible. They should have stuck with just the time traveling stuff and left the "TK" stuff out of the film.

[Jodo]

Finaly made it to the theater for the first time in 2013! Me and my grandpa hit up Gangster Squad on the last day it was in a nearby theater (as it was only in our local theater for a week). I really enjoyed the film overall, but I had a few complaints, mainly the lack of reloading the weapons being fired. That concept always pulls me right out of a movie, and it was really bad in this film, until suddenly it became an issue for one character who yelled he was out of ammo at one point in time, which was bizarre, as it appeared he didn't bring any spare mags with him either way....

My other issue was that in several scenes, I could barely hear or understand the characters. I don't believe it was a technical issue in the theater, as it was only in certain more quieter scenes. My grandpa, being deaf in one ear, lost out on a few key instances of dialogue, as did I. One example would be the "you can't shoot me, you're a cop" line from the trailer, which was quiet enough in the trailer, but it was nearly inaudible in the theater. Had I not recognized the scene, I would have never known that's what the guy said. I loved this in the trailer, and couldn't wait to see the entire scene, and it was really disappointing.

The only other issue I had, was how Mickey was set up to be ruthless in the second scene of the movie. I wish they would have alluded to how evil he was, instead of being so blunt with it. I'm sure it was meant to be straight to the point, as an example of how sinister the man was, but I would have rather seen this scene built up more than it was.

[Big Red]

I've never even heard of Gangster Squad. I will agree that the lack of reloads takes me out of a movie. There was one my friends & I saw back in college with two guys blazing away at one another. Each had a revolver and the fight went on seemingly forever, with both guys running through some fort or warehouse or something. At one point, one of the guys was even doing the super-fast cowboy method of firing a revolver, as in hold it in one hand and swat at the hammer with the other. Neither reloaded and each fired at least 16,827 times. They ended up facing one another. I think the good guy had dropped his gun. The bad guy gave his smarmy bad guy speech, raised his revolver, pulled the trigger and...click! The good guy, of course, didn't flinch and told the bad guy he'd been counting bullets, then reached down, grabbed his gun and shot the bad guy. It was one of those times I got very angry at a movie and would have thrown the projector if I'd been able.

[Jodo]

It's a film about the gangster Mickey Cohen. I assume that "inspired by a true story" is beyond a strech though. I've not done much research what-so-ever on the guy, or the factual basis of the film, but I would have to guess that a large amount of plot points where just for the movie. It seemed to be very stereotypical in its "movieness", if that makes sense.

[Ewokhunter]

I love gun fights, but I have this tendency to keep track of bullets being fired and yeah, there are many movies that can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on props and stuff but they forget that little bit of info on how many rounds a gun shoots. Even worse when you can clearly see the slide back in "empty" position yet the guy is still shooting. GAH!

[Big Red]

Still never heard of Gangster Squad. Then again, we almost never watch broadcast TV and don't receive Entertainment Weekly anymore, so if someone doesn't tell me about a movie or I don't see an article about it elsewhere, there's a good chance I'm not going to hear about it. I just got an email from my gym with a schedule of all the movies they're going to have in their cardio theaters over the next month. They're all from 2012 and I don't recognize a single one.

[Jodo]

Yeah, the locked slide drives me nuts too!

By biggest gun issue is in Hellboy when Red loads the Samaritan. It only holds 4 shots, yet he fire 6 or more in the library one right after another. It's fairly minor on the infinite ammo scale, but I can't stand the fact he loads them infront of the camera, then walks in and fires more than what the weapon can hold.

Red, I can't say I watch much tv either. I do watch Jon Stewart and Colbert, but that's about the extent of it. In fact, there is public outcry from the majority of people I know, because I don't typically watch movies, TV, or viral videos. :p

[Big Red]

Red, I can't say I watch much tv either. I do watch Jon Stewart and Colbert, but that's about the extent of it. In fact, there is public outcry from the majority of people I know, because I don't typically watch movies, TV, or viral videos. :p

I think I've mentioned before the accusations of abuse because we don't let our kids watch enough TV (those go hand in hand with the accusations that we let them watch too much TV). It's a huge scandal in my family if you don't watch certain shows, and we don't watch any of them. The less appropriate they are to watch around kids, the bigger the outcry.

We had this conversation again recently:

Family Member: "Hey, do you watch XYZ?"
Me: "No. Outside of PBS, all we watch is The Amazing Race and, occasionally, Celebrity Apprentice."
FM: "Well, what about ABC?"
Me: "Again, no. If it's not The Amazing Race, we don't watch it."
FM: "How about DEF?"
Me: "No."
FM: "No?!? How can you not watch DEF?"
Me: "Like I said, if it's not Amazing Race, we don't watch it."
FM: "Well, what about GHI? You have to watch GHI!"
Me: "Does GHI sound anything like Amazing Race?"
FM: "No."
Me: "Then we probably don't watch it."
FM: "Well, you have to watch JKL! Don't tell me you don't watch JKL!"
Me: "We don't watch JKL."
FM: "I call BS! You told me a few weeks ago that you watch JKL!"
Me: "No, you had us watch part of one episode the last time we were over here. That's the only time we'd ever seen it. That didn't stop you from asking us about all the other episodes, but just like then, we've never actually watched it so we don't know who the characters are or what they did when their hilarious-but-dimwitted neighbor dumped eighteen gallons of industrial food dye into their well."
FM: "I could have sworn you told me you watched JKL..."

It wouldn't be so bad, but we have this same conversation at least once every two weeks.

[Jodo]

LOL, I have the same issue, however not as extreme, with people at school. They constantly reference TV shows or movies I've not seen, which we've even talked about me not watching in the past. This usually ends in me getting an extremely long summary of said show, furthering why I have no real motive to tune in, hahaha!

Another movie issue that drives me nuts is that people drive really well while not watching the road. It seems for most characters in films the conversation at hand is more important that watching where they're going on the road.

[Big Red]

I tried movie driving once. I nearly drove off the road.

[Jodo]

I always just assume the coordinator for that day of filming was a woman.