The movie holds its own up until about the halfway point—it’s actually pretty decent then. But as it heads toward the finale, things just spiral into this excessive, over-the-top gunfight nonsense that I found grating. A real shame, honestly—they had all the ingredients to make something much better than this.
The reviews weren't exactly glowing—not by a long shot—but I'm still planning to catch it in theaters since I've always been a fan of Robert Zemeckis...
There’s one specific studio that makes a living churning out bottom-of-the-barrel knockoffs of major blockbusters—the kind of stuff you only see on a bargain bin shelf at Walmart. It’s their whole business model. When Transformers hits the big screens, they drop Transmorphers. When The Day the Earth Stood Still is out, they push their own version of The Day the Earth Stopped. Now, it’s the exact same story with 2012.
In my book, Rob Cohen ranks among Hollywood's worst directors—right up there with guys like Tim Story or Shawn Levy. I’m expecting absolutely nothing from this film.
goldenhound32 said:If all else fails, just fight back against public broadcasting by refusing to pay your license fees.🙂
But honestly? I think we have ourselves to blame. If people actually wanted to watch Russian cinema, there’d be more of it on TV.
I'm with you on that. Those films might pull in a tiny handful of cinephiles, but everyone else would just tune out—complaining about how boring or "pretentious" they are because they're in black and white. Unfortunately, modern audiences have developed this taste for high-end filler—they want endless loops of CSI or glorified music videos instead.
Watched it yesterday and, honestly, I was a bit let down. It doesn't quite hit the heights of the previous films from Appatowa—but then again, it’s still miles ahead of most other American comedies out there right now.
David Price5 said:But you're forgetting there wasn't nearly this much competition back then. Between all the different media outlets now and how easy it is to just stream everything online, things have changed.
I'm with you on that—the pressure on movie theaters is massive right now between streaming, gaming, and cable TV. Still, it's much easier for a hit like Ice Age 3D to pull in $200 million across the USA when tickets in a place like New York City are priced at, say, $15.
Most of these are relatively recent releases. Let’s be honest—with what movie tickets cost in the US today, smashing box office records is a lot easier than it used to be. If you actually factor in inflation, the real all-time heavyweights are still the classics—think Gone with the Wind, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, or My Fair Lady...
Disney's animation features top-tier voice acting. Disney maintains incredibly high, rigid standards for their productions—they oversee every detail and hand-pick the exact right voice for every single character.
A decent enough effort, though it feels a bit formulaic—just like most biographical dramas lately. In certain scenes, it’s almost as if Penn is just recycling his performance from I Am Biting. The film didn't quite earn those heavy-hitting nominations, but let's be clear: Van Sant is still a top-tier director.
Nicholas Walker3 said:They dropped a new edition last year, now this, and then a Blu-ray... they’re overdoing it.
Of course they’re overdoing it—but there’s always some collector willing to drop cash on whatever the "definitive" version happens to be. Just look at how many times they've repackaged classics like The Wizard of Oz, 300, The Matrix, or Casablanca. Take 300, for example. They’ve churned out single discs, double features, collector's box sets, standard Blu-rays, and now a Blu-ray with a booklet and unreleased footage—all within a tiny two or three-year window. It’s the exact same pattern we see with The Matrix.