thegeeklounge

What was the last movie you saw?

As for me, the last movie I saw was the Incredible Hulk last weekend. I do cover a review of this movie for Entertainment Geekly. But I still saw it, nonetheless, and it was awesome.

I saw "Get Smart" the other day. Sure, it's silly and perhaps lacking a plausible story. But I loved it. A light-hearted comedy about a show I loved, with more heart and charm than I expected. (since seeing the slapstick-filled trailers) I'm not sure if non-smart fans will "get this", but I hope so. I loved it!

I am excited for this movie. I plan on seeing it in a couple of days.

The most recent movie I have seen is The Incredible Hulk and I'll post my thoughts there.

In the meantime. I'm trying to catch up on the Riddick series, which looks interesting.

I assume when you say "Riddick" you mean the Vin Diesel movies...

I truly enjoyed Pitch Black, and the Animated Chronicles of Riddick movie, Dark Fury, was pretty good too (although I never was a big fan of the "Aeon Flux" animation style). The actually live action Chronicles of Riddick film though was just atrocious in my opinion. The action was alright, but the story felt forced and Vin Diesel has all the acting skills of a 2x4 (IMHO).

I still haven't seen Get Smart either. It seemed genuinly funny, but I just have a hankering for some good ol' Mike Myers funny. Love Guru is topping my list of movies to see right now.

Having seen The Incredible Hulk & Iron Man, my superhero fix has been satiated until Dark Knight comes out. (Both we're great adaptations and did the comics and characters a lot of justice). For those who haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Absolutely hilarious!

FS Marshall was FUNNY! It had some of the most funny reality-based humor I've seen in a while. I swear the whole thing looks like a collection of their funniest improv moments. Highly recommended... and a film I'd like to see reviewed at the board... hint hint Mr. D..

I just saw Get Smart yesterday!

HILLLLLARIOUS!!!! All I can say about that one. I just may have to see that again.

I recently saw WALL-E and Wanted and I wished to drop my two cents regarding the two films.

WANTED was a lot better than I expected. I think it’s the first time I’ve enjoyed the movie more than the comic book it was based on. In the comic, WANTED was about Super-villains who banded together, took out all the heroes and secretly ran the world. In the movie, WANTED is about a fraternity of assassins who must kill in order to maintain the greater balance of in society.

Great action, interesting (although not great) plot, refreshing ending.

Since the Matrix, anytime action heroes bend the laws of physics you end up rolling your eyes and saying to yourself “seen it.” That didn’t happen this time, even with guys shooting around corners and curving bullets. It was presented in such an original and stylish way, that I didn't seem to care.

****SPOILERS*****

Thank god this movie dropped the whole super-hero motif of the comic. I think that stuff works in the comics, but it would have translated HORRIBLY on the screen. I also felt that the internal power struggle within the fraternity was better plotted in the movie.

I liked the idea of a "loom of fate" guiding the assassins and how the code of the Fraternity was created to maintain the objectivity of the loom. They were keepers of the will of fate, after all. However, the Loom of Fate's introduction almost immediately rendered the "plot-twist" of the film predictable.

While not a fan of the film's ending, I must credit the movie for not taking the obvious out regarding Wesley and Fox. It would have been so easy to have Wesley and her walk into the sunset. Thank god they didn’t opt for such an ending.

Ladies and gentlemen: WALL-E is a bona-fide, all out masterpiece. While I expected the film to be good (Pixar studios has never really produced a bad film), I had no idea just how good until I experienced it first hand.

****SPOILERS*****

The trailers for the film, while cute, don’t even scratch the surface of this surprisingly complex film. The first forty minutes of the film are very Chaplin-esque, with Wall-E acting as kind of a robotic “little tramp” character using very little dialogue. While I adored the first part of the film, for me it really kicked into high gear once Wall-E ends up on Eve’s spaceship. While there he encounters humans for the first time, and this is where the social critique, and more complex part of the film begins. Humans of the future have basically de-evolved into morbidly obese, chronically lazy, life forms due to over-reliance on machines to carry out even the simplest of tasks. In the future, people don’t even walk. They float around on little levitating beds with built in computers. Basically the rampant materialism and consumerism of mankind leads to it's downfall. The film presents a pretty frightening view of the future, and really hammers home the fact that as a culture- we need to be more active, and less focused on comfort.


Of all the humans- Jeff Garlin has the most substantial role, as the slovenly captain of Eve’s ship who gradually comes to acknowledge the shallowness of mankind’s existence in the future. Compared to them Wall-E & Eve are the true individuals, and their love story is surprisingly touching. It also has to be said that Wall-E is one seriously cute robot and every time he did something cute or tried to talk, girls in the theater would coo “awwww”, or “he’s soooooo cute!”. At one point in the film, Wall-E gets hurt, and I could hear people in the theater (adults, not children) sobbing uncontrollably. I honestly haven’t heard this many sobs since my sister and mother saw THE NOTEBOOK.

Social critique aside, Wall-E despite its surprisingly heavy subject matter, is still an incredibly fun, and touching film. It’s perfect family entertainment as it’s one of the few films that I’ve seen recently that truly has something for everyone. Kids (and many adults) will like the cute gags, while more serious audience members will appreciate the deeper aspects of the film’s story line.

It’s also worth noting that WALL-E is also quite visually stunning and if at all possible, try to catch it projected digitally. You’ve really got to hand it to the folks at Pixar. They put together a damn good product and WALL-E is destined to be a classic.

So far in theaters I have seen Iron Man, Indiana Jones, and The Incredible Hulk. Renting I have seen 10,000 BC, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Rambo, Jumper, Definitly, Maybe, and that's all I can think of at the moment.

I thought Iron Man was fantastic. Indy, I liked a lot... but expected more... maybe my hopes were to high. As for the Hulk, I liked it better than the first.

Dave, how was 10, 000BC, and Spiderwick? Should I pick them up at Blockbuster?

I saw Hancock this week.

Thought it was good, but that's all I thought of it. Just good. Visually it was quite stunning. Just seemed to fall flat a little at the end. But, like I said, still good.

Last movie..

Hellboy 2. AMAZING!!!!!!!! The visual are just amazing, but then I like dark so I loved it. Much better than the first one.
I love that director. Pan's Labyrinth is just incredible. I'm waiting for The Orphanage to arrive from Netflix.....

Wall-e was Absolutely adorable. Gotta love social commentary in a kiddie flick. LOL. It has to be Pixar's best. So far, I'm calling Wall-E the best movie I've seen all year. It is visually stunning, great story I can't say enough about it.

Saw Iron Man saw Indy. Liked Indy.

Other than Dark Knight , I'm OVER superhero movies. I know I'm probably in the minority here. 5 Superheros movies in 1 Summer. Anyone else think its a bit much? Why not space em out?

I'm still gonna see Dark Knight, but if Heath Ledger wasn't in it I'd be waiting for the DVD. In my mind you cannot beat the Tim Burton Batman.
It does look sickening dark Which is a good thing.

I think I've been to the movies once a week since the beginning of May.

you'll prob all see it before me. So lemme know how it is.
kurai(carrie)

BATMAN!!!

... was the last movie I saw. It was really really good, I'm definitely seeing this again before it leaves theaters.

The only two criticisms I dealt with was that my friend didn't like Maggie Gyllenhall (I was OK with her, although I liked KH better) and the fact that GOTHAM looked a little TOO much like Chicago. I wanted to see Gotham City look a little more Burton-esque... kinda like how Gotham City was a "Character" in Batman Begins.

EVERYTHING ELSE was fantastic, I applaud ALL that were involved.

To be honest I don't like Maggie Gyllenhall either, but not because she's bad in TDK! I just want to clarify myself as best I can before we continue. There are certain actors and actresses that I just don't like for any valid reason. Maggie Gyllenhall falls into that category alongside Ashton Kutcher and Ryan Seacrest. No matter what they accomplish, I want nothing to do with them (YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID SEACREST)! Maggie did a great job in her role and was infinitely better than Katie Holmes in the original (despite the "Oh no, not her/him" factor she held for me).

In regards to Gotham looking too much like Chicago, Matt, you do have an interesting point when it comes to the city's representation. On the one hand, Batman (at least in the comics) exists in a world of darkness and bleakness. Gotham was always the city that fell into criminality and decay, until Batman that is. However, the Nolan franchise of Batman films looks at this with realistic eyes. Can you honestly envision a major metropolitan where every few feet a gargoyle statue on a ledge exists? Least we forget, Gotham is supposed to be the sister city to Metropolis in the comics, and as such is supposed to be as much a modern marvel as other towns. The gothic stylings worked in the original 1989 Batman, because Burton developed the city and characters around the style.

Nolan's approach was decidedly different. It showed us a true city gripped by crime and fear and one man's struggle to save it. By showing us a new and modern Gotham, instead of trying to incorporate the gothic feel (if not style) throughout all the set pieces, Nolan let's us envision a world where Gotham really exists. Downtown Gotham could be downtown anywhere. By restricting the darker feel to the "lowlier" parts of town it showed the dark contrasts between the well-off and disfranchised that Batman tries to help.

Now I'm not saying that your critics don't have merit. Everyone is entitled to take what they wish from the film. But I just thought I'd throw my opinions out there to hopefully change your mind and help you get a little more enjoyment from the film.

I see what your saying, and I understand the realism that this movie was going for, but to me, Gotham is a HUGE city. I didn't want too much Burton, but enough to show Gotham's industrial size... that little something extra to show us that Gotham is a little more than a "chicago", (and a helluva lot darker) =)

Matt & myself just watched Mummy 3 not too long ago. My expectations were already low from what I've seen in the trailers and the movie somehow managed to limbo right under that bar. In fact, it dug a crawl space under it's own all time low!

Couple of major problems. First, absolutely NONE of the original charm and wit made it's way into the fourth installment (Scorpion King counts in my books) of the franchise. The original Mummy movies had a certain pinache that made them feel like homages to the classic pulp-movies of yore... This feels like a tired and overused gimmick. It may as well have been The Mummy Goes Hawaiian! Like Shanghai Knights (set in England) and Rush Hour 2 and 3 (set in France and China), the screenwriters seemed to think that transposing to a new locale is all that was needed and neglected every other part of the script as they crammed as much "Chinese" lore into the act.

While the argument can be made that the supernatural elements always existed in the series thus far (giant sand & water walls chasing them down), they were used in a context that made sense. The Dragon Emperor could control all the elements, transform into several mythical creatures (and yes, a dragon is one of them) and of course, can resurrect an army. Not to mention the Yetis and 2nd army of undead.

I also missed Rachel Weisz. She brought such warmth to the character that she will forever be my "Evy". Maria Bello did a fine job, but it's apples and oranges as far as I'm concerned. I wanted apples.

Lastly, although this has nothing to do with the movie itself, they have made a Scorpion King PREQUEL! I'm not kidding! It's a straight to DVD tale about how the teenage Scorpion King toppled yet another kingdom. So not only did they make a bad sequel, they're dilluting the series even more by making a even crappier prequel to their own prequel (the original Scorpion King)!

I refuse to recognize these two pictures and will be clutching my "Mummy Collector's Set" containing the original three films closely to my chest.