So I watched this yesterday because my wife is obsessed with vampire movies.
Personally, the movie wasn't the total train wreck those early reviews made it out to be, but it’s definitely not worth a trip to the theater, and I'm not even sure if it's worth watching at home.😁
The plot is just incredibly thin—by the end, you realize you could have summarized the whole thing in four sentences. The CGI is a huge factor here; it doesn't look terrible, but I bet 95% of it was shot against a green screen.
Some scenes are such a mess that between the shaky cam and the CGI vampires, you have zero clue what's actually happening on screen.
And maybe the biggest letdown: it's almost impossible to feel any empathy for the characters. You just don't care what happens to anyone.
The best part of the whole film is probably that I haven't seen Jared in a role where he actually talks normally and acts like a regular human being in like 20 years.
Michelle Lewis95 said:Donnie Darko didn't really do it for me, but Butterfly Effect is easily one of my favorites—super clever execution, even if they aren't tackling the exact same concept. If you look at it, there are basically ten core themes out there, and every movie ever made is just some variation on those same ideas.
I'm just gonna use some reverse psychology here, layman's terms. Basically, I'm swapping the titles.🙂 And yeah, when I say "favorite," I'm definitely exaggerating.
urbanbear4 said:Thanks so much, everyone... I finally decided to take the advice and just watch them in the order they were actually made, so I started yesterday... watched Episode IV... liked it, and I'm diving back in today...🙂
...
P.S. I'm dying to know which movie actually has that quote from Ivataov's signature 😉
I can tell you right now if you want, even the exact minute so you don't have to stress about it. Smart move, honestly. Even if the timeline feels weird, watching from the '77 original through to Revenge of the Sith is way better. There's a reason Lucas set it up that way.
Ugh, whatever. Honestly, neither couple interests me, mostly because of all the mindless drama surrounding them being together. Let people waste their money if they want...
Some guy just stared at me blankly and admitted he had zero clue what movie "Collateral" even was. Then, a few days ago, when I asked if they had any Hitchcock, he told me the only thing they had was "Citizen Kane" somewhere in there. The only upside? I didn't realize Citizen Kane was even an option at some of these theaters. Total fail on their part!
Larry Martin11 said:...I'm no huge war movie buff, and I haven't actually sat down with Josh's flag yet... but didn't Malick pull off something similar in The Thin Red Line? To me, that’s the ultimate anti-war film because it really follows the soldiers as just regular guys who get sucked into a war without any clue what's coming for them. Even though people have different takes on it, it's pretty clear nobody expected what they got (well, maybe Nolte's character did)... and honestly, even with Ryan opening with such a bloody scene and leaning a bit more into the fighting—since Spielberg clearly wants to show the horror of war more rawly than the poetic Malick does—at the end of the day, the film prioritizes values over just pure combat.
That’s all true and totally fair :grižnjasavjestizbogzaboravljanjathinredline:, but I feel like those movies aim for something else. War psychology is obviously on a whole different level than something like 12 Angry Men or One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, but in Flags of Our Fathers, that seems to be the core. Even during the combat scenes, I kept thinking, "Damn, why is war so pointless? Why are people like this?" instead of just "Kill those Japanese guys!" It was like being in that village at the end of Saving Private Ryan.
And that bloody opening in Ryan isn't something you can just psychologize away—that beach landing was probably the most intense and necessary assault in history.
Personally, I’m stoked they finally made a war movie (haven't seen Flags of Our Fathers or Letters from Iwo Jima yet) where the fighting isn't the only thing holding the whole thing up—and don't get me wrong, I respect the classics, I'm not saying they suck. Of course, I'm talking about the "good" ones everyone loves, like Apocalypse Now, Platoon, or even Saving Private Ryan, which I know some people here can't stand! What I loved about Flags of Our Fathers is how they show the soldiers as just regular guys caught up in the mess, whether they wanted to be or not, just doing their jobs. Then you've got the politicians back home playing them like a fiddle, using them until there's nothing left and then basically saying "bye bye, forget about them." But hey, it came out at an interesting time, much like Jarhead, with 75% of Americans wanting the war over and Bush being even less popular than Nixon; honestly, it kind of bothers me when they use WWII as a way to critique today—that was a different era, a war that absolutely HAD to be fought, if for no other reason than that. Thank God for Americans.
No cap, I probably missed the Kubrick connection... Counting my change but my head isn't ringing yet, though I'm about to crack. And anyone else seeing the Grim Reaper in the top left?
I mentioned him earlier and he’s actually on tonight—an Almodovar flick. Haven't seen it yet, but I'm gonna get to it. Anyway, super late reply, but YES, Memento! You can actually dig through the special features on the DVD and find an option to watch it in chronological order, but I totally missed that!
Man, I hit 40 and finally knocked out The Hills Have Eyes, Creature, and Pitch Black... now at 43, I’m still trying to wrap my head around those red M&M's, the death scene, that weird "hour" thing near the psycho, and a few other bits. personally, my strongest association for Omen is 😁
I mean, I know the movie’s been out for like twenty years. I think there might be a new re-release or something—look, I know the title, I just haven't actually sat down to watch it yet. Gritty? Please, who doesn't love a gritty flick? Especially the ones where you're still processing a scene a few days later...
Same here. I spent half of yesterday hunting for Angel Heart on a few streaming sites, but it's nowhere to be found. Never actually sat down to watch it myself, but I've heard nothing but good things. You definitely just put it on my radar.
Dammit, did you seriously forget Sin City? I’ve got the DVD sitting right here by my monitor, and honestly, it sucks. To be real, I wasn't a huge Mickey Rourke fan before this movie, but hey, everyone's entitled to their opinion. He absolutely crushed it in Sin City, though, just like most of the cast. A few sequels are basically already lined up, right?
Yeah, Spike Lee is solid. I haven't seen Inside Man yet, but his older stuff hits way harder for me. 25th Hour, He Got Gamma, and obviously Malcolm X. X-Men? That whole franchise is DEFINITELY the best comic book adaptation out there. The last Batman was alright, but I wish Nolan would step it up a bit more in certain spots—like with the Arkham scenes...
crimsonmoose3 said:But honestly, lately it feels like all the good movies are coming from outside the States. Australia gave us killer flicks like Zombie and Wolf Creek, then you've got British Descent and Dog Soldier, that South Korean series Oldboy, those Thai hits like Thai shitter and Ong Bak, French stuff like Doberman, City of Lost Children, and Delicatessen, plus Spanish movies like Day of the Beast, and even things like Doggy Love and your mom too... even we Americans are getting outclassed by international quality.
I’d throw in some older Korean stuff like Shiri, or the French movie Brotherhood of the Wolf, or anything by Almodovar. Those are way better in my book. nah, it's not all just American crap, I just think if you're actually hunting for real cinema, you gotta look past the big Hollywood blockbusters. how can you avoid it though? marketing is everywhere and it's massive. nobody cares about actual quality anymore, they just want mindless fun or some eye candy..
Maybe Caine didn't miss the mark as much as people think. It’s just standard for older, seasoned pros to look back and think everything used to be more artistic or meaningful... It was the same deal when movies switched from silent films to sound—tons of legendary directors hated the idea, some even threatened to quit the industry altogether. But look at us now. Would you actually rather sit through a live piano performance than just turn on the Dolby surround sound? Personally, the future kinda creeps me out. There’s just so much garbage being made lately. And I don't mean the fun, campy trash like "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes," haha...