I just saw...

[kuranes]

Originally Posted by MacGuffin

Lawrence of Arabia
Nearly 4 hours long it is worth time invested. A film of this scope demands nothing less.

Agreed. This film sets a high bar for other movies to aspire to. I saw it as a kid and it just blew me away.

[MacGuffin]

Iron Man
My favorite superhero growing up was Iron Man (and a soft spot for Superman of course). I think I was supposed to be an X-Men fan. You know, outsider kid, reads about people born "different" with special powers... yeah! That'll show all those kids at school! Once I zap them with my laser eyes they'll think twice! Whatever. I never cared for those whiney mutants. Iron Man was different. At first he's forced into that suit of armor. Badly wounded on a battlefield and forced to create destructive weapons for the enemy; Tony Stark creates the suit to save his life and escape. Back to his old life. An old life that is my dream life - a genius that likes to drink, chase skirts, and is obscenely rich. Instead he chooses to become a superhero. Much like Batman, without all the angsty dead parents baggage.
I was a bit skeptical when I heard of an Iron Man film. He's not one of Marvel's top line heroes. I figured we'd get a cheap CGI-crapfest. Then I heard Robert Downey Jr. was going to play Stark. I never thought of him for the role, or think he'd want to do it. Brilliant move. He's funny, sexy, and angry in all the right places. Few could have elevated this movie above the standard superhero movie. Enlisting a cast that includes Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, and Gwyneth Paltrow was also a wise move. Little things, like Stan Lee's best cameo yet, Downey's snarky one liners, and a post-credits scene worth waiting for made me appreciate the effort put into this film.
In short, I like Iron Man.
Highly Recommended.

[elfsprin]

cat soup

34 minutes long. very unique. i feel the same after watching this film, as after watching fear and loathing in las vegas. an ex once told me that it was about the industrialization of japan. hmm.

metropolis

excellent soundtrack =) a young girl and her companion race about trying to save their friends and their city. en route, they discover that she's a robot. she goes through a kind of existential crisis. the ending is surprising.

this is a film that managed to tug at my emotions without making me want to smack the director. highly recommended.

[elfsprin]

they shoot horses, don't they?

this film will leave anyone who has ever contemplated the nature of existence dumbstruck. it is disturbing, engaging, hilarious, and thought/compassion/rage/zeal - inspiring. i cried freely. er... optimists maybe should not watch it though.

i think it's one of the best microcosmic expressions of a worldview that i've ever seen. i guess i'd say the worldview it models is an existentialist one, but i don't want to go into more detail than that. just don't expect to go away with warm fuzzies.

[outmywindow]

Originally Posted by elfsprin

metropolis

excellent soundtrack =) a young girl and her companion race about trying to save their friends and their city. en route, they discover that she's a robot. she goes through a kind of existential crisis. the ending is surprising.

this is a film that managed to tug at my emotions without making me want to smack the director. highly recommended.

Eh, the remake.... Try watching the actual source material (make sure you get the Kino version -- it's the most complete). It's far superior.

[V. Profane]

The Mist - Creatures that didn't make the cut for Half Life 2 attack a load of hateful morons in a supermarket using the fog cheat. I'm really at a loss to figure out just how Frank Darabont managed to make such an stunningly bad movie. Not-scary I can understand, over-long is usual for him, but mind boggling stupidity is not something I predicted. When I saw the trailer, or at least the first 30 seconds of it, I thought "this might be good". Then I saw the rest of the trailer and thought "well what's the fucking point now? You've just given away everything!". I should have left it at that. The fact that I hate a movie, a horror movie, with a fundamentalist Christian as the main antagonist, speaks volumes about just how bad The Mist is. Ropey CGI, flat, or as in the case of leading man Thomas Jane, fucking piss poor performances, thuddingly leaden dialogue, and scene after scene of !

But apart from that...
1/10

[Oso Mocoso]

Originally Posted by V Profane

But apart from that...
1/10

Ugh. I agree for the most part, but I liked that one scene near the end where there are lots of the CGI monsters running around at the same time. The movie was WAY too long. I never cared about any of the characters, and the ending was just awful. Especially so since it carried no emotional weight.

[Uberfuhrer]

I just got back from seeing Iron Man, awesome movie.

Best Marvel movie since Spider-Man 2.

The effects were awesome, too, except for a few shots during the raid in the Afghanistan village (right around the sequence with the tank).

The film had an almost perfect balance of action, humor, drama, and effects. There was neither too much nor too little.

I'll hopefully type my full review tomorrow.

[V. Profane]

Originally Posted by Oso Mocoso

I agree for the most part, but I liked that one scene near the end where there are lots of the CGI monsters running around at the same time.

Yeah, the Jurassic Park-esque scene near the end with the huge creature was quite impressive, but it was only brief respite from the exasperating awfulness.

[Oso Mocoso]

Originally Posted by V Profane

Yeah, the Jurassic Park-esque scene near the end with the huge creature was quite impressive, but it was only brief respite from the exasperating awfulness.

Yes. Sort of like the major battle scenes in Lord of the Rings if you were bored silly by the rest of those movies.

Today, I saw Iron Man. I thought it was really odd how that movie was an actiony comic book movie, but it was mostly kept from sucking by the fact it was so very well acted. The movie had to live or die by whether or not you got into the characters in it. And I think the cast did an incredible job, especially Robert Downey Jr. He's the only person I think could have made Tony Stark come off as believable.

There were some very, very well acted scenes in that movie. The special effects almost played second fiddle to the quality acting. It was a really human-driven movie, kind of the opposite of last summer's Transformers.

I never would have thought that dude from "Swingers" would make a movie like this.