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oLahav said:

Did you watch a good movie in the cinema lately and want to recommend it to people? Any must-sees out there?

How’s the new Indiana Jones movie? Was Iron Man any good? etc.

Are you waiting for any big films to hit the screen in a few weeks? That martial Panda movie maybe?

Please help me choose what movie to see this weekend by posting your suggestions here!

Thanks.

Derick said:

I’m sure you’ve heard of it, but the only recent movie that I’ve really liked was Juno.

It looks like a generic teeny-bopper romantic comedy on the surface, but those similarities are purely in the superficial attributes which there’s nothing wrong with. The humor is very intelligent and the plot – not the initial premise, but the way it develops into a plot – is quite original and creates some very entertaining conflict of values. I also don’t think I’ve seen a movie weave between humor and genuine drama as seamlessly before.

laurellion said:

I didn’t like Juno. I thought it was over hyped. “I also don’t think I’ve seen a movie weave between humor and genuine drama as seamlessly before.” Don’t think it really got to be that great for me. I just couldn’t connect with the characters. They seam real but in a fake hollywood kind of way. Maybe it was just the actors for me. It was an okay rental but wouldn’t rent it again.

hcraig said:

Iron is a fun night at the movies. I even went with my partner, who is a pretty big comic book geek and he wasn’t completely offended by the movie ;-)

One movie I can’t wait to see is Burn After Reading It’s got a great cast and doesn’t seem to take itself that seriously. All things I like in a movie. Shame that it doesn’t come out until September.

laurellion said:

As poor as some of my movie tastes sometimes can be…. I’m actually looking forward to Get Smart and Mamma Mia this summer…. Sometimes a movie should just entertain and it’s always good to put your brain in park once and awhile.

oLahav said:

Oh right, Mama-Mia is coming up! I can’t wait for that one. And you’re right Laurellion, sometimes you feel like a deep movie with a meaning and sometimes you just want to munch on popcorn and let your brain rest while watching explosions or stupid jokes. I haven’t watched Juno though, so I’ve got no say.

Heather- I actually watched Iron Man already. I’m a big Iron Man fan, there’s something about building a power suit to beat up bad guys that just makes for a great goal in life. And I wasn’t disappointed either, Downey Jr. is a great cast for that role. Although I would’ve been better if they’d let me play it… maybe next time.

acrosstheuniverse said:

A great movie to look into is Son of Rambo. When you see the previews you think it’s a made-up action spoof, but don’t let that fool you. It’s a really genuine film about two boys and their childhood friendship, twists, turns and all. They make a great use of all aspects of cinema, engaging both the visuality and even auditory goodness great films can bring. It won awards at the Sundance Film Festival, got 5 N’s from NOW Magazine in Toronto and two thumbs way up from me.

lechuck said:

Run, Fatboy Run is one of the better movies I’ve seen lately! It’s worth going to see in the theatre if it’s there there.

I just saw Indiana Jones and the Crystal Alien Skull. It had some pretty good Indy moments and then it totally trailed off and went totally George Lucas. sigh The best Indiana Jones story has to be the Fate of Atlantis, an old school adventure game no one played.

Derick said:

I don’t see how characters can feel real in a fake way.

I certainly don’t think Juno is a “rest and watch stupid jokes and explosions” sort of movie. It deals with sexuality and young people and includes humor, so I think people (forgivably) instantly think “teeny bopper nonsense.” I probably would have done the same if the issue at hand wasn’t so personal to me. I find it to be very intelligent, personally.

mcaers said:

I love watching movies which is why I started the Hollywood community. I thought Juno was a good movie and the cast performed their parts well. There were moments when the bravado and jokes of the main character were more cavalier than could be expected in reality. But it did touch on some key points facing young people today.

If you are interested in a good action movie I have to recommend The Bank Job. It is fast paced, humorous and clever.

For a tear jerker (love story).. P.S. I love you has a great cast and sheds some light on what one experiences when you lose a loved one.

The Bucket List has two of my favourite actors – Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Reminds us all to live our lives to the fullest without getting too sappy. It definitely had some humorous moments.

lechuck said:

I just saw Kung-fu Panda and it was REALLY REALLY good. I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys a funny cartoon-like movie. Especially those who enjoy Jack Black (his good stuff). My girlfriend Jolene, who normally is not a big fan of animated movies really enjoyed this as well… so that’s saying something.

oLahav said:

I just ended up watching the Incredible Hulk (just because my friend was an extra on that movie and we wanted to see if she ended up in any of the shots. She didn’t)... after Hulk a few years ago I was afraid it’ll be awful, really awful.
I was surprised to learn that it wasn’t all that awful… not as fun as Iron Man, but it’s decent. And the final battle scene is actually pretty cool. Hulk is still one of the Marvel superheroes I dislike the most (his character has very little depth. And yeah, comic book characters do have some depth usually for you skeptics), but that Norton guy does a fine job of keeping it real.
Don’t watch it unless you really don’t have anything better to do, but if you don’t, it’s fine.

So, did anybody else watch some good/bad movies lately?

lechuck said:

I just watched Semi-Pro (the Basketball movie with Wil Farrel and Andre 3000) and it was TERRIBLE! My girlfriend fell asleep and I watched it only because both Jolene and my cats were laying on me and I couldn’t get up or fall asleep. The humor was horrid and the story was painful.

Don’t watch it!

oLahav said in response to:

Yeah, I hate when Will Farrel tries to be funny.

My favourite Will Farrel movie is “Stranger than Fiction”. He plays a fairly neutral, non-funny character and he does it 100 times better than any of his ””funny” ones. He just goes too far trying to make a crazy character and he ends up with a cartoon that makes no sense. I can easily believe that Semi-Pro is a bad movie, and I won’t watch it.

ameliorator said in response to:

I know this was posted 20 days ago, but I wanted to say YES! Son of Rambow was one of the best films I’ve seen this year! And to add what everyone else said, I loved Juno, was pretty impressed by Iron Man, thought the Incredible Hulk was ok, really want to see Run Fatboy Run, (Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead were both brilliant!) and am now interested in seeing Kung-Fu Panda. I am tempted to see You Don’t Mess with the Zohan…although my favorite Adam Sandler movie is Punch Drunk Love, which is not the same kind of comedy :-) Anyone see that one (The Zohan) yet?

oLahav said:

Movie news! No, joking.

I’ve heard good things about WallE… but I don’t know, I never liked those Pixar movies. I don’t really have any other reviews…

I can’t believe Mama Mia and the Dark Knight are coming out the same weekend! I’ll probably only watch one, and I can’t choose… I get the feeling that with all the hype around the new Batman, it’s going to end up a mediocre film. And then stage translations into the big screen aren’t always great either…

Any opinions?

acrosstheuniverse said in response to:

I would definitely suggest Wall-e. It’s animation mastery that Pixar has been working on for a long time. The themes in the movie were a little different than originally expected but very well received from me anyway. It’s humorous, but not to the point where that’s the whole message. There is hardly any talking, which probably just adds to the effect of you taking in the graphics and stellar animations as a thing of beauty unaided.

I never saw the broadway version of Mamma Mia, but I really wish I did. This movie is bound to be a good one, I’m thinking much like Hairspray or Rent.

The Dark Knight is definitely anticipated. Some have said Heath Ledger is the James Dean of our time. His acting was definitely at a prime and it will be an experience to see this film.

NormGreen said:

I have been pleasantly surprised by how much I have enjoyed my summer movie watching. 3 in a row that I felt were worth the money. The common thread in Ironman, The Incredible Hulk and Wanted was the quality of the leading actors-all well cast and all giving strong performances. I dragged my wife to Wanted, and although she viewed much of the movie through her fingers, she was delighted with the craftsmanship of the plot: not predictable and very fast paced. Great character development with McAvoy-unusual in this type of movie.

oLahav said:

Norm, I would have to agree with your point about the actors. What sets a mediocre action movie from a really good one is the acting- you can find explosions and effects everywhere, but it’s less common to find an action movie with an actor that can really fit the lead role. The movies you mentioned are surprising examples.

That’s also why I can’t wait for the new Batman movie- Bale was a good cast in Batman Begins, and if Ledger’s performance is as good as it’s supposed to be, it should be thrilling. The Joker may be the role that drove him nuts and caused his untimely death, who knows… It’s a tough character to interpret and get into. I personally didn’t like Jack Nicholson’s Joker at all, hopefully this time they get it right.

oLahav said:

Dark knight rules!

I watched it over the weekend, and I think I may have to go watch it a second time- it’s that good. Ledger’s Joker kicks Nicholson’s lower back. It’s a very exciting and dark movie, with cool plot twists and characters that make you think about things. I seriously believe this may be the best comic-book based film yet. The only very disappointing part is the fact that Ledger won’t be able to play Joker in a sequel or something like that.

I highly recommend it to anybody who likes good action movies and knows anything about the batman. And just anyone in general, I really enjoyed it. Anybody else wants to comment on it?

Did anybody get a chance to watch Mama Mia yet? How is it?

acrosstheuniverse said in response to:

I also saw Dark Knight over the weekend, and I have to second you there Oren, it really was a great film, and I don’t even care for action movies that much! At points there were people clapping at parts of the movie, just because it was that well done.

I would definitely recommend seeing this one on the big screen.

lechuck said:

Wait, Oren, you said the only sad part is that Ledger won’t be able to play Joker in a sequel… does that mean he doesn’t get snuffed? AH SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!!!

oLahav said in response to:

I said it because Ledger died… or did I? Comic book deaths never count.

Spoiler spoiled. Besides, it would’ve been a pretty tiny spoiler compared to everything that’s going on in that movie… it’s pretty long, but not too long.

chelseaFC said:

I keep hearing the Batman movie is well worth the time, I have yet to see one.

chelseaFC said:

And I think the big build up is due to the death of the actor

hcraig said in response to:

I dunno, there was buzz way before Heath Ledger passed – it’s a comic book movie, the geek community will always be buzzing about stuff like that!

oLahav said in response to:

Hey, we may be geeks, but we’ve got some awesome movies on our side!

But I have to say that some of the build up was due to Heath Ledger’s mysterious death… I know I wanted to see what role drove him insane or whatever it was that really happened in that hotel room.

lechuck said:

The Dark Knight = Awesome. My only issue, and it’s a minor one is the last 30 mins of the film seems too Superhero for how the rest of the movie played out.

acrosstheuniverse said in response to:

There are a few instances where his character as the joker fakes to be dead and it just adds to the eeriness of his character and the story outside of the film. It really, really, creeped me out.

chelseaFC said:

The fact that masses flocked to watch Batman is one thing. Seems as though all the reviews are quiet positive.

oLahav said in response to:

Not only that, IMAX theatres are already all booked up for a couple of weeks, with no tickets available!

So, who’s a geek now, Heather? (joking, joking)

acrosstheuniverse said in response to:

Turns out there’s either a huge comic book following, actor following, or just those who knows it’s going to be a great hit.

oLahav said:

I’m watching too many movies lately… I feel bad, it’s sort of a waste of money. At least I don’t buy the totally overpriced and probably cancerous popcorn!

Anyway, I did watch Mama Mia last weekend. It was pretty cute actually, and the acting wasn’t awful. Of course, the soundtrack was great. And the vocal performances didn’t disappoint me too much even though I’m used to the ABBA versions (then again, I’m not an ABBA fanatic whatsoever). It makes for a nice date movie.

Did anybody else watch it and would like to comment?

hcraig said:

Oren – My life is full of geeks… In fact I live with two comic book geeks. I haven’t been able to stop my partner from gushing about Ledger since he saw the movie.

I’m still not 100% sure I want to see the new Batman movie. Am I the only person out there who is annoyed that they’ve just decided to ignore all of these movies have already been made? It’s in the lexicon now; you can’t just change it!

oLahav said in response to:

To be honest, with Batman Begins I was a bit skeptical about the fact that they ignored the last films. But then again, most of them were pretty bad, even by comic book film standard (and I’m not just talking about the extra batsuit features). And you couldn’t really take the old Batman films to a new level, their problem was that they had too much flashy characters and tuning it down would hurt the series. So they started over with a new one.

I think things like movie remakes and relaunches aren’t a bad thing, in general. Every director (and viewer really) has their own concept of how a film should be made, and seeing the different takes on the same story can be interesting.

chelseaFC said:

hcraig said: Oren – My life is full of geeks… In fact I live with two comic book geeks. I haven’t been able to stop my partner from gushing about Ledger since he saw the movie.

I’m still not 100% sure I want to see the new Batman movie. Am I the only person out there who is annoyed that they’ve just decided to ignore all of these movies have already been made? It’s in the lexicon now; you can’t just change it!

Your not the only one because most of these movies are crap. There is no originality or heart, they are simply made to be made for the purpose of getting people to buy the tickets. The movie industry is running out of ideas and that is a reason they use old concepts.

KathyGreen said:

Call me shallow and infantile-but I enjoyed Journey to the Centre of the Earth-3D…easily amused-but nice to see something that did not leave me totally exhausted or pondering for days:)

oLahav said in response to:

I didn’t watch the movie… I can’t, 3-D gives me bad headaches. But I don’t think it’s shallow and infantile, everybody likes to watch simple, fun movies once in a while. For example, a lot of people enjoyed Wall-E (which I didn’t watch yet actually). I did watch Mama Mia, which isn’t too much of a serious, powerful film, it’s just amusing and pretty cute. It’s a great date movie. So yeah, no need to feel bad about enjoying silly movies.

lucyinthesky said:

Mamma Mia was cheese but entertaining and cute, and a good cast too. I mean it’s Meryl Streep…

I don’t even like action movies or comic book movies, but I watched The Dark Knight and it’s probably one of the best movies I’ve seen in a while – just the way it deals with the complexes of morality in our society, plus with good acting and some nice plot – it’s quite good.

I watched Pineapple Express and I must say I was sort of disappointed. I expected it to be along the lines of Knocked Up or Superbad, but the jokes here weren’t really witty, just stupid. A typical stoner movie, I suppose, which has some good moments but overall not my thing…

oLahav said:

So the Summer is over, and so is the big movie season. But we still have some good movies coming up the horizon, don’t we?

Any big winter/fall movies you’re waiting for? Or ones you’ve just seen and really enjoyed?

oLahav said:

When did this discussion die out? It’s really too bad. To be honest I haven’t seen any movies lately myself…

However, I’m really excited about Quantum of Solace, the new Bond movie out very shortly!

Any opinions on Max Payne? or any other recent movies for that matter?

lucyinthesky said in response to:

No idea…but hopefully we can revive it. I’m really looking forward to seeing The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – so much so that I made a lesson on it!

Quantum of Solace looks pretty good, and I don’t even usually like action movies…other than that, I’m not really sure what other movies are coming out.