What's the last movie you've seen? (2nd thread)

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Sinister

Fred Thompson was in it for some reason.

OMG you're right, he was the sheriff. I didn't even notice that, haha. I suppose if you run a joke campaign for President in 2008 and prove you don't have a clue how to do so you might as well just take cameo roles in low budget horror films. What else is he going to do?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Life of Pi

I wanted to see Lincoln, but it was sold out.

In Canada? That's impressive.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Life of Pi

I wanted to see Lincoln, but it was sold out.

In Canada? That's impressive.

In all fairness, we got there about five minutes before it was supposed to start.

I'm referring to that it sold out at all. I mean I'm sure most Canadians know who Lincoln was but he's obviously nowhere near as much of an iconic figure.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Anybody see Savages? I've been able to gather that it's basically a combination of Pulp Fiction and Scarface, so maybe, but if it's just shock value I'll skip it.

It's not exactly just shock value, it's a thriller in a sort of style that has been mostly forgotten since the 90s (that Stone used earlier with Natural Born Killers and was also in movies like The Doom Generation.) It has a lot more character development and plot twists than you'd expect from a movie of that style, however be warned before you see it that the ending pisses off a lot of people. It probably won't bug you as much if you are aware of that beforehand.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Annie Hall.

F**king great, the influence on all comedies up to the modern day is quite obvious. It also showed that liberals in Brooklyn in 1977 weren't much different from people there today, which I found amusing.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

That no even somewhat reasonable person would use the MPAA's standards for ratings is no secret. The only reason anyone pays attention to them is lazy parents don't really have anything else to go off of.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Shattered Glass

Ran a little too long (not that it's a long movie because it's not, but there was a point when it seemed like it should be over and it wasn't), but it was a very interesting story. Seeing people discuss the internet in a movie set in 1998 is pretty funny. "How easy is it to set up a fake website to deceive people?"

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Django Unchained

Read the dedicated thread.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Flight.

It's a good thing it had Denzel Washington, because not many actors could've pulled off that role. He carried the movie. The scene of the accident was also awesome in how intense it was. Be aware that this movie is quite a lot more heavy than the trailer implied. It's actually realistic in that things carry out as they likely would in real life, not how they often do in movies.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Chinatown for the third time and the first time on the big screen. As amazing as ever and it really does get better on every viewing.

*insert obligatory comment about liking someone who rapes 13 year olds*

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

After seeing John Goodman in Argo and Flight, I've concluded a cameo with him can do no wrong.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Eraserhead have you seen Killer Joe yet? I really think you'd like that.

There's a certain deadpan line near the middle that might be my favorite movie quote of 2012.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Killer Joe is great. I love how it just completely embraces its depravity. It's wonderful. Matthew McConaughey is so good in it, I wish he didn't waste his time on horrible romantic comedies.

My favorite exchange from a movie in 2012 as mentioned above (below in white, mind you this is one of those things that will never be 1/100 as funny in print):

Killer Joe Cooper: That poor, miserable bastard set his own genitals on fire just to teach his girlfriend a lesson. I guess he showed her. I wonder if she ever got over it.
Dottie Smith: Was he all right?
Killer Joe Cooper: No. No, he was not all right. He set his genitals on fire.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I saw Zero Dark Thirty last night. I agree the last firefight wasn't as suspenseful as one in a fictional movie would be, though it was quite realistic. The whole movie had nothing but flat characters especially the protagonist, and in a good example of why Tropes Are Not Bad, that kept it on topic and was a straight procedural instead of getting derailed by some silly romantic sideplot or something. Didn't seem that long either despite the actual length. Also it seemed to me that it implied that torture is generally ineffective. The waterboarding didn't seem to get much results, and basically all the CIA people come across as huge assholes except the protagonist (who is more of an odd loner type.)

BTW my theater was packed but didn't sell out. While I was in line there was a notice that A Haunted House sold out and a bunch of people in line complained and then discussed what they'd have to see instead. The fact that A Haunted House even sold out makes me weep for good taste.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Seven Psychopaths

I didn't find it anywhere near as funny as In Bruges and the ending seemed a bit too blatant with the Leaning on the Fourth Wall. Definitely had its moments though.

BTW the poster is quite misleading, those characters are not the "seven psychopaths" of the title, and the two girls have only about five minutes of screen time apiece (and were obviously cast primarily just for looks.)

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Gangster Squad

It basically was a Cliche Storm, but that is not bad, that's exactly the reason it was so entertaining. Kind of lost steam near the middle, but made up for it with the ending, the last shootout was basically like The Matrix in 1949. Sadly the theater scene seems to have been cut and was changed to something else, I'll have to look into what scene replaced it.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Django. (Almost sold out on a wednesday night, btw.)

Eh. Quentin's the master in his own little genre, Campy Violence. I liked it a lot, better than the uneven Basterds. (Though here too, I'd wish the basics the story sets out from were accurate. The plot itself can remain as unrealistic as it needs to be, that's not a problem at all.)

I just realized that every part was no doubt subtitled EXCEPT the part when Schultz and the slave talk in German...the only part subtitled in my theater. Makes sense but still haha.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

No one told QT the Civil War didn't start until 1861? Unless I'm having a complete mental breakdown . . .

I suppose it's possible that in the Tarantino universe the Civil War started a year earlier (much like Hitler dying early in a crowded theater) but I'm not sure how that happens.

I was thinking the same thing as I read it; but it's late in the year and the main part of the movie is in the next year, and of course the secession crisis also begun in late 1860, so with hindsight it's correct.

I assumed the first part had to be in early 1858, it usually doesn't snow before Christmas anywhere that far south. Really having snow on the ground in Texas at all is pretty odd, maybe that scene was supposed to be in the panhandle. The later scenes were clearly spring. But who knows when the Civil War started in the Tarantino universe. Mind you there are plenty of other anachronisms, I'm pretty sure dynamite hadn't been invented yet at that time and a lot of the clothes people at Candie's plantation were wearing were obviously from the 20th century (knowing Tarantino it could've just been some tribute to other films.) And of course at the time Schultz would not speak of "Germany".

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Zero Dark Thirty

Good, kind of disturbing and a little too long. I think someone (BRTD?) mentioned this already but all of the characters are pretty unlikeable. Also the raid at the end left me feeling angry and disgusted, but maybe that was point. I'd like to look into how accurate certain parts of it were. Like The Hurt Locker, it's not something I'd be inclined to watch again but I'm glad I saw it.

Yeah I pointed that out about the characters. All very flat as well, no doubt intentionally.

I think just about everything in the movie was supposed to be morally ambiguous. It was just saying "This is how things work whether you like it or not". Obviously everyone ends up with different opinions.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

It was kind of disturbing though how casual they were about things like gunning down parents in front of their children (even if the parents were particularly despicable and unsympathetic individuals) and how that one guy didn't seem to care too much about threatening to open fire on the onlooking civilians if they didn't leave soon. Of course that's probably how most soldiers operate.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The Master is quite a bit different from There Will Be Blood, though in a sense the general premise (how two characters interact with each other) is kind of the same. The biggest difference though is that while TWBB was this epic long evolving storyline and all, The Master isn't like that at all, in fact you could probably cut the movie down to only about 45 minutes to an hour if you included only the "plot" stuff in it. What it consists primarily of is a bunch of vignettes showing a window as to what's going on with the characters. The reasons to see it:

-Hoffman and Phoenix's performances are both well deserving of their nominations. I remember one of the AV Club editors rated the "processing" scene his favorite scene of any movie of the year (anyone who's seen it knows what's being referred to.) For Phoenix in fact I'd call it the best performance of his career.
-The cinematography is AWESOME.

But it doesn't have much of an epic feel or much in terms of storytelling. If you know that beforehand though, you'll probably enjoy it more.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

What was up with the rabbits in that movie?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Well it has an ending, it's just that the ending doesn't really resolve anything. The whole plot is pretty much just "Drifter meets charismatic cult leader, becomes his right hand man, falls out with him and goes back to being a drifter."

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Donnie Darko: The Director's Cut

There are some things that it did better and some things it did worse than the original. Changing the soundtrack of the famous introduction scene was definitely something it did worse.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Children of Invention - wonderfully bleak!  So bleak it included MLM, so about as bleak as anything I've seen.

Hah, I just watched the seventh seal, if that beats that then I am depressed

I'm embarrassed to admit I've never viewed The Seventh Seal, and I also admit it sounds bleak - however, it does not encompass the ultimate in human despair - MLM.

MLM? So is this a movie Bushie could've benefited by watching three years ago?