2014 Movie Discussion Thread

[Death Roe]

(Keeping the Jurassic World thread as its own, its Jurassic Park for effs sake)

What movies are you looking forward to seeing this summer? We can obviously update this later in the year for fall/winter releases.

For me, it started with Captain America.

-Godzilla
-Maleficent (no homo)
-X-Men: Days of Future Past
-22 Jump Street
-Transformers: Age of Extinction
-A Million Ways to Die in the West
-Guardians of the Galaxy
-Neighbors
-Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

[WhiteBoyHatcher]

Placeholder for Ozy.

[Bizarro Fletch]

Placeholder for Ozy.

  

  

[Bizarro Fletch]

A Million Ways to Die in the West is a total swing for the fences - it's either going to be brilliant or a total disaster. I'll probably give it a shot because Ted was awesome.

As I mentioned in the Jurassic thread, I'm embarrassed to say the new Cruise sci-fi movie actually looks interesting.

[Cym Jim]

I'll probably give it a shot because Ted was awesome.

You weren't left frustrated that John and Lori never really resolved the issues that had led to their relationship crisis?

[Cosmo_Kramer]

From looking at the showtimes, most movies suck nowadays.

That Seth Rogen-Zac Efron film looks atrocious.

[Other Teams Pursuing That]

Godzilla for sure.

But I agree with Cosmo, that "Neighbors" movie I have seen previews of looks fucking awful. I can't believe that shit gets approved in Hollywood.

[InTenSity]

I don't know if I can take any more superhero movies. Every single one of them follow the same plot points. Introduce SH, give back story or current story, introduce bad guy, show how bad s/he is, first fight SH loses, SH goes and either trains more or learns how to better use their ability, epic 20 minute battle in which not one drop of blood is spilled by either side, yet somehow the SH comes out on top although half a large metropolitan area is destroyed (no fatalities). End the movie with a teaser showing the new big bad guy who is more powerful than the last one.

[Stoops21]

Really looking forward to Godzilla. To me it's like when they re did batman from the previous movies in the 90s. The trailers make it look amazing and well done. Can't wait.

[tig ol bitties]

godzilla looks good.

transformers looks awful. can't believe people are still paying to see transformer movies.

[Free Plax]

I'm not really into the Superhero/Comic Book movies but I really dug Captain America: Winter Soldier. I love the 70's conspiracy thrillers like Parallax View, The Conversation, Three Days of the Condor, etc... and I thought CA:WS was a cool homage to those films.

I'm really stoked for a film called Blue Ruin that comes out Friday in theaters and on VOD. Here's the trailer....

[Bizarro Fletch]

I have a hunch you guys are setting yourselves up for disappointment with Godzilla. It looks like an Independence Day ensemble cast deal where everyone miraculously has connections. For example, Walter White is a scientist who works on a nuclear reactor and COINCIDENTALLY his son is a soldier who ends up on the front lines defending NYC.

Yes, I know it's a summer flick and plot isn't supposed to be important, but I guess I wish Hollywood would find a way to produce more entertaining action fare like Inception.

[Rocinante]

A Million Ways to Die in the West is a total swing for the fences - it's either going to be brilliant or a total disaster.  I'll probably give it a shot because Ted was awesome.

As I mentioned in the Jurassic thread, I'm embarrassed to say the new Cruise sci-fi movie actually looks interesting.

Edge of Tomorrow... Worth a shot. I really liked Oblivion.

[Other Teams Pursuing That]

I don't know if I can take any more superhero movies. Every single one of them follow the same plot points. Introduce SH, give back story or current story, introduce bad guy, show how bad s/he is, first fight SH loses, SH goes and either trains more or learns how to better use their ability, epic 20 minute battle in which not one drop of blood is spilled by either side, yet somehow the SH comes out on top although half a large metropolitan area is destroyed (no fatalities). End the movie with a teaser showing the new big bad guy who is more powerful than the last one.

I think you just described every Transformers movie since the first movie.

[Floyd Robertson]

I don't know if I can take any more superhero movies. Every single one of them follow the same plot points. Introduce SH, give back story or current story, introduce bad guy, show how bad s/he is, first fight SH loses, SH goes and either trains more or learns how to better use their ability, epic 20 minute battle in which not one drop of blood is spilled by either side, yet somehow the SH comes out on top although half a large metropolitan area is destroyed (no fatalities). End the movie with a teaser showing the new big bad guy who is more powerful than the last one.

Thanks, you just saved me a ton of dough this summer.

[Spartan Nachos]

Interstellar by Christopher Nolan. this will be one of the best movies of the year

[Death Roe]

Interstellar by Christopher Nolan. this will be one of the best movies of the year

Oh hell yeah man. (Huge Nolan whore here)

We haven't seen any real footage besides maybe a few seconds in that teaser from last November. I'm really excited.

[Ass Dan]

Jacked for sin city

[JEK]

I don't know if I can take any more superhero movies. Every single one of them follow the same plot points. Introduce SH, give back story or current story, introduce bad guy, show how bad s/he is, first fight SH loses, SH goes and either trains more or learns how to better use their ability, epic 20 minute battle in which not one drop of blood is spilled by either side, yet somehow the SH comes out on top although half a large metropolitan area is destroyed (no fatalities). End the movie with a teaser showing the new big bad guy who is more powerful than the last one.

There's no demand for drama or original storytelling anymore. Television has taken over that arena. Fortunately, AMC/HBO/Showtime/FX are doing it really, really well.

[Ass Dan]

I have a hunch you guys are setting yourselves up for disappointment with Godzilla. It looks like an Independence Day ensemble cast deal where everyone miraculously has connections. For example, Walter White is a scientist who works on a nuclear reactor and COINCIDENTALLY his son is a soldier who ends up on the front lines defending NYC.

Yes, I know it's a summer flick and plot isn't supposed to be important, but I guess I wish Hollywood would find a way to produce more entertaining action fare like Inception.

It's a movie about a giant iguana destroying a massive metropolitan city for no reason, and you're picking at the fact that they found a way to tie another story line in?

Also, inception sucked

[Death Roe]

It's a movie about a giant iguana destroying a massive metropolitan city for no reason, and you're picking at the fact that they found a way to tie another story line in?

Also, inception sucked

This Godzilla is more of a natural creation rather than just a giant iguana. You seem like a person that enjoys Nickelback and Hinder.

[Ass Dan]

This Godzilla is more of a natural creation rather than just a giant iguana. You seem like a person that enjoys Nickelback and Hinder.

Butt rock >>>

Inception was fucking dumb. Dream within a dream bullshit want thought provoking, it was annoying and really simple to follow if you could Get over the mental hurdle of the premise of dreams and whatnot.

I'm really excited about Godzilla, I think its gonna be awesome, but don't go into it expecting it to win an Oscar for best script is all I'm saying.

[Floyd Robertson]

There's no demand for drama or original storytelling anymore. Television has taken over that arena. Fortunately, AMC/HBO/Showtime/FX are doing it really, really well.

Hell, you can add USA Network to that list.

[SpartanGuard]

Captain America was AWESOME.

Going to be girly on these next two, but I'm looking forward to "Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1" (though I don't think they needed to split it up) and "Into the Woods", though I have to wait a while for both. I haven't seen "Divergent" yet, but I want to.

"Guardians of the Galaxy" looks like it will be hit or miss; but Marvel seems to know what they're doing.

[Guest]

Watched WOWS the other night. That had to be raunchiest man stream film I've ever seen. Leo gives an awesome performance.

[Cosmo_Kramer]

Godzilla for sure.

But I agree with Cosmo, that "Neighbors" movie I have seen previews of looks fucking awful. I can't believe that shit gets approved in Hollywood.

Not hard to understand why: people pay to see the shit movies, i.e. Hangover 3, Grown Ups 2, etc. A sucker is born every minute, and that's not just a saying.

[Bizarro Fletch]

Interstellar by Christopher Nolan. this will be one of the best movies of the year

Whoa - I didn't realize his latest was coming out this summer. After Inception that guy could put out two hours of footage of Tanner doing this and I would still pay to see it. 

[Bizarro Fletch]

It's a movie about a giant iguana destroying a massive metropolitan city for no reason, and you're picking at the fact that they found a way to tie another story line in?

Also, inception sucked

Yes, I'm crazy enough to believe that popcorn movies can also be somewhat smart.  Every now and then Hollywood actually pulls it off and it makes you realize just how bad the rest of the shit is we're paying to see.  Compare Nolan's Batman flicks to the comic book movies that were coming out before them, for example.

And if you didn't like Inception, perhaps Transformers 4 is more your style.  

[Bizarro Fletch]

Watched 2/3 of Pacific Rim this weekend on HBO before I got bored and changed the channel. Great example of everything wrong with Hollywood "blockbusters."

Beautifully made, horrendously written. Every action movie stereotype character was represented - the hunky leading man who ignores authority to do what he thinks is right, the quirky, geeky scientist, the brooding general/sergeant/boss who holds back the leading man until he has no other choice, etc. etc. All so painfully predictable and cookie cutter.

Unfortunately we've been so beaten down by Hollywood crap that we've been trained to say "Hey, it's a summer action movie - who cares about the characters or the plot making sense? Stuff blows up and looks cool!"

[AMwood]

Watched 2/3 of Pacific Rim this weekend on HBO before I got bored and changed the channel.  Great example of everything wrong with Hollywood "blockbusters."  

Beautifully made, horrendously written.  Every action movie stereotype character was represented - the hunky leading man who ignores authority to do what he thinks is right, the quirky, geeky scientist, the brooding general/sergeant/boss who holds back the leading man until he has no other choice, etc. etc.  All so painfully predictable and cookie cutter.

Unfortunately we've been so beaten down by Hollywood crap that we've been trained to say "Hey, it's a summer action movie - who cares about the characters or the plot making sense? Stuff blows up and looks cool!"

and this is exactly why i haven't seen a hollywood blockbuster in years.

[Other Teams Pursuing That]

I know it's coming out in 2015, but has anyone heard anything about the Entourage movie? Honestly, however they make it I will like it just because I'm a huge fan. Drama and Ari are some of the best characters on TV.

[Space Coyote]

There's no demand for drama or original storytelling anymore. Television has taken over that arena. Fortunately, AMC/HBO/Showtime/FX are doing it really, really well.

I'll actually disagree with this. I know it's typical for people to look at a previous age and claim things were better in a different era, but I think the movie industry does a pretty good job mixing in all the genres of film.. Certainly they bank way too much money into certain projects and don't greenlight as many dramas as I'd like, but those are still out there in vast amounts.

This is coming from a guy that isn't big on comic book movies and has seen every movie on the IMDb Top 250. The key is just knowing where to look (and not forgetting that every other era had a ton of crappy movies as well, you just don't see them or remember them now). But in the 2000s alone, I think for Drama you can look at a lot of Pixar movies (if you'll give into animation), plenty of foreign movies ("After the Wedding", "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring" to name a few), some great adaptations ("No Country", "Doubt", "A Single Man", movies have been adaptations forever, it's about the same percentage now at worst), some smaller budget films ("The Visitor", "Take Shelter"), and some major studio stuff ("Up in the Air", "Mystic River"). You can even get into combo genres, like Sci Fi ("Eternal Sunshine", "District 9"), historical ("Gladiator", "Downfall"), comedy ('O Brother"), Western ("The Proposition").

You just have to find where to look and how to weed out the ones you're disinterested in. But there are plenty out there.

[AMwood]

the problem is when they put that kind of money into a project, they need to get a certain amount of asses in the seats. it's not about art at that level. big explosions guarantees a certain amount of asses.... hot actors guarantees a certain amount of asses... etc. it's all a formula.

[Cool Runnings]

Saw Grand Budapest Hotel this weekend and I thought it was great. If you like Wes Anderson, it won't disappoint. Ralph Fiennes was awesome as well as all of the other usuals in WA films.

[Bizarro Fletch]

the problem is when they put that kind of money into a project, they need to get a certain amount of asses in the seats. it's not about art at that level. big explosions guarantees a certain amount of asses.... hot actors guarantees a certain amount of asses... etc. it's all  a formula.

Yup. It's a formula now rather than an art. Every exec wants to know if it will hit multiple demographics, sell in China, etc.

Coyote makes a fair point about some decent options that have been out there, but my chief complaint is with bigger budget studio movies. When the big money is on the line, they inevitably play it safe and churn out another comic book sequel with a different villain but same plot instead of taking any chances. I pulled up a calendar for summer movies and almost every weekend the major opening is either a sequel or a re-make:

Amazing Spider Man 2
Godzilla
X Men 12 or whichever one they're on
Maleficent ("reimagining" of an old movie)
22 Jump Street
Think Like a Man Too
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Transformers 4
Dawn of Planet of the Apes
The Purge 2
Planes: Fire and Rescue
Step Up 2
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Expendables 3
Leprechaun: Origins (seriously!)

I stopped there because I ran out of patience.

Yes, there are good movies made in Hollywood. But you have to have immense power and dick to swing around like Nolan to make an expensive movie that is sharp like Inception, and there are very few people that have that kind of sway.

[Space Coyote]

Yup.  It's a formula now rather than an art.  Every exec wants to know if it will hit multiple demographics, sell in China, etc.

Coyote makes a fair point about some decent options that have been out there, but my chief complaint is with bigger budget studio movies.  When the big money is on the line, they inevitably play it safe and churn out another comic book sequel with a different villain but same plot instead of taking any chances.  I pulled up a calendar for summer movies and almost every weekend the major opening is either a sequel or a re-make:

Amazing Spider Man 2
Godzilla
X Men 12 or whichever one they're on
Maleficent ("reimagining" of an old movie)
22 Jump Street
Think Like a Man Too
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Transformers 4
Dawn of Planet of the Apes
The Purge 2
Planes: Fire and Rescue
Step Up 2
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Expendables 3
Leprechaun: Origins (seriously!)

I stopped there because I ran out of patience.

Yes, there are good movies made in Hollywood.  But you have to have immense power and dick to swing around like Nolan to make an expensive movie that is sharp like Inception, and there are very few people that have that kind of sway.  

I certainly feel there is far to much that goes to the "safe" way of doing things. A few things though: Hollywood has done remakes and sequels forever, and at just as high of a rate. People come to what they are familiar with. I think the issue isn't even really that, it's that they get caught up in certain visions that are "safe" to make money, and that kills many projects. I mean, some of the projects you hear about how badly they got messed up in post-filming, or with two many writers, etc. I think there are plenty of writers and directors that would make exciting stuff, new stuff, or have cool and interesting additions or re-imaginings of things that have been done before, but with a lot of the things that are supposed to be block-busters, that gets washed out.

So I think we'll agree and disagree. I think Hollywood still produces plenty of good movies, but I think they've screwed up how they've produced most of their "blockbusters". The way they've forced many blockbusters to fit within all these boxes, how they waste money on things, etc, I think gets annoying and tiring. And it's based very much on a dated way of thinking by the execs (which is why you see so many huge box office busts these days too).

Basically, I think Hollywood is mostly fine in general, but agree with the common complaint about a lot of the blockbusters. I think blockbusters could be better, more exciting, and more original, especially with the budgets they are given.

[Cosmo_Kramer]

Like anything, if the idiots keep going to see these movies, then Hollywood will keep making them. Star Wars would be fine as is if they weren't making 7, 8, 9 -- but they know the movies will rake in a billion dollars.

Nothing is sacred anymore. Seriously, who are these people who see Saw V in theaters? Especially with how much movies cost, and giving away the plots in the trailers.

[Bizarro Fletch]

I certainly feel there is far to much that goes to the "safe" way of doing things. A few things though: Hollywood has done remakes and sequels forever, and at just as high of a rate. People come to what they are familiar with. I think the issue isn't even really that, it's that they get caught up in certain visions that are "safe" to make money, and that kills many projects. I mean, some of the projects you hear about how badly they got messed up in post-filming, or with two many writers, etc. I think there are plenty of writers and directors that would make exciting stuff, new stuff, or have cool and interesting additions or re-imaginings of things that have been done before, but with a lot of the things that are supposed to be block-busters, that gets washed out.

So I think we'll agree and disagree. I think Hollywood still produces plenty of good movies, but I think they've screwed up how they've produced most of their "blockbusters". The way they've forced many blockbusters to fit within all these boxes, how they waste money on things, etc, I think gets annoying and tiring. And it's based very much on a dated way of thinking by the execs (which is why you see so many huge box office busts these days too).

Basically, I think Hollywood is mostly fine in general, but agree with the common complaint about a lot of the blockbusters. I think blockbusters could be better, more exciting, and more original, especially with the budgets they are given.

I'm not convinced Hollywood has always churned out remakes and sequels at this particularly insane rate, but I could be wrong.

And yes, we basically agree - I'm just asking for 2-3 popcorn movies that are 1) Original and 2) Decently written in addition to being fun summer flicks. Apparently that is too much to ask these days. It's too tempting and easy to make a seventh X Men when you know you have a built in audience than it is to take a chance on something completely new and original. The studio execs can justify $20 million bombs in the name of art, but when they're spending $150 million or more it's their jobs on the line and there is no incentive for them to take chances. And that's too bad, because there are things that could be done with that kind of money that just can't be done with a much smaller budget, but nobody will write that check any more for an unknown quantity.

[InTenSity]

Like anything, if the idiots keep going to see these movies, then Hollywood will keep making them. Star Wars would be fine as is if they weren't making 7, 8, 9 -- but they know the movies will rake in a billion dollars.

Nothing is sacred anymore. Seriously, who are these people who see Saw V in theaters? Especially with how much movies cost, and giving away the plots in the trailers.

I always thought Lucas wanted to do 9 movies. That is why I don't complain too much about SW, as long as that was the original vision. Someone else mentioned that TV shows are great, and part of the reason I'll keep HBO as long as I can afford it is because of the original programming. That being said, I have become very picky about choosing a movie, I don't have as much time as I used to, and if I waste 2.5 hours watching something that I don't like, I'd be disappointed that I wasted that much time. I thought that Gravity was better than I was expecting, I'm not a big fan of Julia Roberts or Sandra Bullock, whichever one was in the movie, but my wife wanted to see it.

[Cosmo_Kramer]

I have become very picky about choosing a movie, I don't have as much time as I used to, and if I waste 2.5 hours watching something that I don't like, I'd be disappointed that I wasted that much time.

Me too, exactly

[Sponsored content]