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15 Films To See In December (what are you watching?)

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140.85

Cognitive Dissonance, Distilled
squeakquel-590x317.jpg

HOT
 

stupei

Member
In order of interest:

The Lovely Bones (by a mile)
The Princess and the Frog
Nine
The White Ribbon
Invictus
Up in the Air
Sherlock Holmes

Will probably end up seeing Avatar with family.

I love the book The Lovely Bones and it really seems right up Jackson's alley. I really hate the trailer, though. Not just kind of bad, but it gives away too much but out of context everything just plays flat. I have faith in him, though. I'm hoping for something as great as Heavenly Creatures.
 

Zeliard

Member
Rustymonke said:
I did see the Imaginarium in October and it's a great, glorious mess of a film BUT I expect most people will hate it. Certainly, its uneasiness (and rough edges) are a far cry from the polished spoon feeding most cinema goers expect.

Sounds like a Terry Gilliam movie alright. Can't wait.

I'm also really interested in Nine. I'm not that huge on musicals, but Daniel Day-Lewis' performances are always incredibly entertaining and gripping to me, so I'll be watching it for that. Holmes, too, for Downey (I'm also curious to see what Guy Ritchie can do these days). I'm probably going to watch several of those movies at some point mostly for the acting, like Invictus, The Lovely Bones, The Last Station and A Single Man.

Avatar, too, of course. Gonna be neat to see how that turns out in the midst of all the hype & the hate. The tech is undeniably incredible. I'm also interested in it as it'll be the first 3D movie I ever watch in the theaters, or even really at home, and I figure this is a pretty good choice for your first time with it.
 

Meier

Member
Seeing a screening of Youth in Revolt with a Cera Q&A tomorrow followed by Up in the Air on Thursday. Can't wait!
 

AlternativeUlster

Absolutely pathetic part deux
Snowman Prophet of Doom said:
Just out of curiosity, what is your general opinion on Terry Gilliam?

Brazil a top 10 all time, Time Bandits a top 50, still love Baron Manchusen, Fisher King, & 12 Monkeys, loved Fear and Loathing when I was younger but thought it hasn't aged well, like Jabberwocky, don't like Brothers Grimm, & never saw Tideland for the trailer really turned me off.
 

Cosmic Bus

pristine morning snow
btrick said:
MY GOD. Penelope Cruz is so hot. This may be just enough to make me go out and see it.

If you just want to see Cruz looking gorgeous, go see Broken Embraces instead of wasting your time with another of Rob Marshall's bags of cinematic shit.
 
Cosmic Bus said:
If you just want to see Cruz looking gorgeous, go see Broken Embraces instead of wasting your time with another of Rob Marshall's bags of cinematic shit.
After seeing Broken Embraces I'd bet that she shows more skin in Nine.
 
I have precisely three movies on my radar for the rest of the year: The Road (John Hillcoat and Nick Cave and McCarthy make it a total circlejerk of dudes I'm obsessed with), Fantastic Mr. Fox (I have a hard-on for stop motion animation and love Wes Anderson even if I wasn't nuts about Darjeeling), and Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus strictly because Tom Waits plays Satan.
 

Brobzoid

how do I slip unnoticed out of a gloryhole booth?
I'm pretty excited for Sherlock Holmes actually! Looks like one of those smart popcorn movies, been a long time since I saw one of them. And I'm most definitely going to check out Dr. Parnassus. Tom Waits is up in that bitch.

The White Ribbon is a fantastic movie btw, didn't realize it hadn't screened in the Americas (caught it at a local festival). I put it on my list in the 'top 10 of the decade' thread - In case anyone was just waiting on my praise before deciding to go see it.... no? :(
 
Cosmic Bus said:
If you just want to see Cruz looking gorgeous, go see Broken Embraces instead of wasting your time with another of Rob Marshall's bags of cinematic shit.

But musicals are awesome, and it has Daniel Day-Lewis. There's literally no reason why somebody shouldn't see it.
 
Snowman Prophet of Doom said:
I DON'T UNDERSTAND

I really do not understand what is so repellent about musicals to some people. I cannot wrap my head around it.
People don't like to give things they aren't familiar with a chance. Just look at that stat about the extremely low amount of original work in the top grossing films of the decade.
 

JORMBO

Darkness no more
Just Avatar for me. Maybe the new Disney one that comes out soon since I like their animated movies :D
 
If you think about the plot for Did you Hear About the Morgans? for more than 30 seconds it falls to shit. A couple with their marriage on the rocks witness a murder and have to be placed in the witness protection program. That's fine. But the two people are about to get divorced, so why the fuck did the Witness Protection Program decide to play cupid and move them to the same place and have them live together? Didn't their lawyers step in and make sure that they would live separately? It makes no sense right on it's face. They just wouldn't do that, period. They would move them to separate locations and they'd have separate caretakers/chaperons/whatever they're called.
 

Cosmic Bus

pristine morning snow
DanielPlainview said:
Have you seen Once? It's my favorite musical. There are good ones, just have to discover them.

Once isn't a musical. And of course there are quality films in the genre - hundreds of them, in fact. Just none that the incompetant, bumbling Rob Marshall has or ever will touch.
 
Cosmic Bus said:
Once isn't a musical. And of course there are quality films in the genre - hundreds of them, in fact. Just none that the incompetant, bumbling Rob Marshall has or ever will touch.

Of course it's a musical. Even the official site says so. It just doesn't fall into the safe, familiar categories that one thinks of when thinking of a musical.
 

J2 Cool

Member
I don't like musicals simply because the act of knowing it's a performance takes me out of the film. I don't enjoy using a song to advance plot, because at that point the plot doesn't interest me. The only thing I do enjoy in musicals, is music used for mood - if that's the purpose of the film. Like Singin' in the Rain. But in general, there's a good chance I won't even like the music used, if they get the function of it right.

In closing, I don't like musicals. Though I have thought about reevaluating the musical, and trying again to actually get into it.
 

Brobzoid

how do I slip unnoticed out of a gloryhole booth?
Snowman Prophet of Doom said:
I DON'T UNDERSTAND

I really do not understand what is so repellent about musicals to some people. I cannot wrap my head around it.
A world where people burst into song and dance in a synchronized fashion is one I'd opt out off as soon as I had motor control in my trigger finger. It's just that special type of cheese that is so obnoxious to me that I can't stand it. Unless it's Grease of course...
 

Blader

Member
J2 Cool said:
I don't like musicals simply because the act of knowing it's a performance takes me out of the film. I don't enjoy using a song to advance plot, because at that point the plot doesn't interest me. The only thing I do enjoy in musicals, is music used for mood - if that's the purpose of the film. Like Singin' in the Rain. But in general, there's a good chance I won't even like the music used, if they get the function of it right.

In closing, I don't like musicals. Though I have thought about reevaluating the musical, and trying again to actually get into it.

Wow, that was straight out of Curb. :lol

"I don't like musicals. Having said that, I think I want to get into musicals."
 
J2 Cool said:
I don't like musicals simply because the act of knowing it's a performance takes me out of the film. I don't enjoy using a song to advance plot, because at that point the plot doesn't interest me. The only thing I do enjoy in musicals, is music used for mood - if that's the purpose of the film. Like Singin' in the Rain. But in general, there's a good chance I won't even like the music used, if they get the function of it right.

In closing, I don't like musicals. Though I have thought about reevaluating the musical, and trying again to actually get into it.

I guess I just don't understand the mentality; the use of song is just a convention of the genre, so I'm not sure why it would take somebody out of it. Just a matter of opinion, I guess.

Brobzoid: why is song and dance cheesy? Take Sweeney Todd, for example; it has song and dance, but there's nothing cheesy about it.
 

Brobzoid

how do I slip unnoticed out of a gloryhole booth?
Snowman Prophet of Doom said:
I guess I just don't understand the mentality; the use of song is just a convention of the genre, so I'm not sure why it would take somebody out of it. Just a matter of opinion, I guess.

Brobzoid: why is song and dance cheesy? Take Sweeney Todd, for example; it has song and dance, but there's nothing cheesy about it.
Just because it's a convention of the genre doesn't mean it can't take someone out of the experience. I disliked theater for the longest time because the players are aware of the audience.

And Sweeney Todd was cheese enough for me. Any time you sing and dance your way out of a predicament or to illustrate or expound on a situation it's cheesy as fuck to me.
 

J2 Cool

Member
Snowman Prophet of Doom said:
I guess I just don't understand the mentality; the use of song is just a convention of the genre, so I'm not sure why it would take somebody out of it. Just a matter of opinion, I guess.

Brobzoid: why is song and dance cheesy? Take Sweeney Todd, for example; it has song and dance, but there's nothing cheesy about it.

wikipedia said:
The musical film was a natural development of the stage musical. Typically, the biggest difference between film and stage musicals is the use of lavish background scenery which would be impractical in a theater. Musical films characteristically contain elements reminiscent of theater; performers often treat their song and dance numbers as if there is a live audience watching. In a sense, the viewer becomes the deictic audience, as the performer looks directly into the camera and performs to it.

It's pretty easy to understand, if someone doesn't enjoy theater. I don't like being performed to. It's usually not truthful to what the character wants/needs in the story, to sing a song or dance, and I don't enjoy the diversion. Mostly, I just don't get it. A lot of people seem to be into it.
 

-NeoTB1-

Member
Nine just shot onto my radar, thanks to the mention of Daniel Day-Lewis. He's easily one of my favorite actors.



polyh3dron said:
I've heard that Brothers is HORRIBLE, and it looks like Pearl Harbor without the special effects. So I'm going to hold off on that and may watch it if I get a screener in the mail.

I'll be seeing:

-The White Ribbon - Loved Caché, hated Funny Games (US), but this got the Palme d'Or so I'll give it a chance
-Sherlock BADASS BLACK BELT SUPER HERO Holmes - Looks like a fun popcorn movie (not a real Sherlock movie though, lol)
-Invictus - I never miss Clint's flicks
-Lovely Bones - Bestselling book, Peter Jackson directing = sold
-Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus - Gilliam, Ledger = sold
-Up In The Air - I've heard too much positive hype to not see it, plus the initial trailer blew me away. Jason Reitman hasn't made a stinker yet IMO and I'm a sucker for Clooney flicks, even if they suck like "Goats"
-AVATAR - Already have my IMAX tickets. Unlike all of you overly cynical "Ferngully Delgo Pocahontas Smurfs lololololol they're blue looks like a videogame cartoon worst cgi ever how could a movie be so bad hur hur hur" fucks, I'm genuinely hyped for this movie. The 15 minute 3D presentation blew me away. It's going to do crazy numbers and you're all going to get really tired of eating all that crow.
-Princess & The Frog - I'm a sucker for Disney.

I MIGHT see Nine. I didn't know until recently that it's adapted from an existing broadway (off broadway? I dunno) play, and it's basically a musical adaptation of 8 1/2. Rob Marshall's name itself can push me away from a movie, so can the fact that it is a musical, but Daniel Day Lewis almost cancels those out.


I pretty much agree with all of this...
 

Gabroni

Banned
I think Princess and the Frog (I'm a sucker for traditional musical 2D animation) and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus are the last movies I'll see this year
 
I just saw Armored, can't imagine there will be an official thread for this. The first half of the movie was so terrible, but then it picked up in a nice B-movie fashion from then on. I would say it's worth a watch on cable down the road, but don't waste your money now.
 
DanielPlainview said:
I just saw Armored, can't imagine there will be an official thread for this. The first half of the movie was so terrible, but then it picked up in a nice B-movie fashion from then on. I would say it's worth a watch on cable down the road, but don't waste your money now.

That doesn't sound good for PREDATORS.
 

bud

Member
DanielPlainview said:
No, I just don't see how ALL 14 other films are things to completely "avoid." It's funny how someone can write a number of films off so easily without giving anything a try. It's pretty ignorant.

uh, you're doing the exact same thing in your first post.
 
bud said:
uh, you're doing the exact same thing in your first post.

Repost: Ignoring 14 promising films is much different then ignoring a very few that look terrible. I'll eventually see them and eat crow if warranted. I did it with 17 Again, which turned out to be very fun.

Scullibundo said:
That doesn't sound good for PREDATORS.

The directing was actually a strong point, the story is just so damn standard and forgettable. There was a well filmed car chase during the beginning and some of the tricks that happen towards the latter half work quite well. With a better cast, budget, producers and script I still have faith in Antal.
 
Invictus was not good....at all. So hamfisted, tedious, and repetitive. District 9 was more realistic.

What the hell Clint Eastwood?
 

Blader

Member
DanielPlainview said:
Invictus was not good....at all. So hamfisted, tedious, and repetitive. District 9 was more realistic.

What the hell Clint Eastwood?

Sounds like Gran Torino.
 
DanielPlainview said:
Invictus was not good....at all. So hamfisted, tedious, and repetitive. District 9 was more realistic.

What the hell Clint Eastwood?

That's disappointing. Maybe other reviewers will vindicate it for me, though; I love Eastwood, and I want this to be good. Should we be discounting Oscar buzz for Freeman's performance?
 
Blader5489 said:
Sounds like Gran Torino.

It kind of fits with Gran Torino though, the story is so silly and the end is ridiculous. This film, on the other hand, was trying to be as realistic as possible.

Every single scene ends with some message about integration and coming together, it gets so laughable by the end :lol There are two scenes in particular that made me want to walk out of the theater:
colorblind
and the
plane scene
. They are both so over-the-top you wonder if anyone actually watched the film before sending out. Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon give fine performances, but for such an interesting person you feel very little connection to Mandela. Oscar voters will likely eat it up to no end though. I've only been shockingly disappointed/upset in three films this year. The other two were Law Abiding Citizen and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
 

Blader

Member
DanielPlainview said:
you see Nine?

Totally forgot about this, sorry :lol And no, I didn't get to go, something came up and I wasn't able to make it.


Anyway, has anyone seen Crazy Heart? It's been getting pretty good reviews but it sounds exactly like The Wrestler.
 
Blader5489 said:
Totally forgot about this, sorry :lol And no, I didn't get to go, something came up and I wasn't able to make it.


Anyway, has anyone seen Crazy Heart? It's been getting pretty good reviews but it sounds exactly like The Wrestler.

Yeah, I really want to see it.

btw I saw It's Complicated. It was a good time and one of Nancy Meyers better works. Alec Baldwin and John Krasinski were amazing.
 

bjork

Member
I rarely see stuff right away, so this week I caught:

Christmas Carol - I don't usually like Jim Carrey, but this was pretty good. I can do without the stuff flying at the screen for the sake of 3D, and the chase scene could be cut out and you wouldn't miss anything, but aside from that I liked it. Still partial to the disney one with Scrooge McDuck, though.

Fourth Kind - I saw this and wanted to come home and check out the videotaped footage on youtube, because it looked pretty cool.
then I found out it's all made up, and it seemed way less cool. Blah
At least Milla is tasty as always.

Princess and the Frog - I went to see this yesterday, and I wasn't expecting much. I think the last disney animated thing I saw was Aladdin. But it was fun and it didn't beat you over the head with "the princess is black" like I thought it might. Also,
Ray dying is up there with the death of Optimus in TF1986 or Will Smith's "how come he don't want me, man?" on Fresh Prince. Totally got me.
Of the things I saw this week, this is the best.

Orphan is still MOTY though, unless I can catch Imaginarium before New Year's and it's as good as I want it to be. Tom Waits :)
 

AlternativeUlster

Absolutely pathetic part deux
DanielPlainview said:
Yeah, I really want to see it.

btw I saw It's Complicated. It was a good time and one of Nancy Meyers better works. Alec Baldwin and John Krasinski were amazing.

There is a screening of A Crazy Heart soon in Austin and it opens on January 8th here so I should be able to see it hopefully after I get back from Seattle. I am looking forward to it even though it does indeed reek of the plot of the Wrestler. Let's just hope this time he
doesn't die while throwing everything else away doing what he loves which is playing country music probably during a county fair with other washed up country musicians
Also the spoiler is for people who haven't seen the Wrestler.
 
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