Seen Any Good Movies Lately?

[Meddling Mike]

I figure a general thread about movies in theaters and people's thoughts about them might be a handy reference.

Iron Man - 9 out of 10
I recently saw Iron Man in theaters and was thoroughly impressed. For a time I was a bit worried that Iron Man might suffer the same problem the first Fantastic Four movie faced with taking too much time to develop the hero gaining/growing accustomed to their new power and not taking sufficient time to develop the conflict, but the conflict development was just subtle; rather than non-existant. Robert Downey Jr. nailed the role of Tony Stark and Jeff Bridges and Gwyneth Paltrow provided solid supporting cast. My only criticism was some questionable editing choices early in the film and some general predictability of the storyline. THERE IS AN EASTER EGG AFTER THE CREDITS, DON'T LEAVE!

Some Other Films I'm looking Forward to seeing this summer:
-New Indiana Jones Movie
-New Chronicles of Narnia Movie "Prince Caspian"
-New Will Smith Superhero Movie "Hancock"
-New Incredible Hulk Movie with Edward Norton as the Bruce Banner, can't be worse than the last one.
-M. Night Shyamalan's "The Happening"

[Demonic Attorney]

Choke.  Adaptation of the Chuck Palahniuk novel by the same name, release date 8/28/08.  Choke was my favorite Palahniuk book, and Fight Club my favorite move of all time to date.

Invisible Monsters.  Adaptation of the Chuck Palahniuk novel by by the same name, due out sometime in 2008.  Invisible Monsters was the first Palahniuk book I read, and it inspired me to pretty much immediately go out and buy all the others. 

Silent Hill 2.  Adaptation of the Konami video game franchise by the same name, with lots of confusion surrounding the release date.  At one point I heard late this year or early 2009, and I'm hoping imdb is wrong in its current prediction of 2010.  The cinematic adaptation of SH1 was excellent, and the SH games are in my top 3 favorite game series.

Sex and the City.  Adaptation of the visually-administered lobotomy by the same name.  Dreaded sometime this year, hopefully soon so we can just get it the hell over with and go back to holding our collective breath for the sweet day on which everyone mercifully forgets about this vapid tribute to shallow selfishness and college girls stop quoting its ham-fisted dialogue in their AIM profiles like it's the Tao Te Ching.  My #1 pick for Movies To Avoid Seeing At Any Cost in 2008.

Futurama: The Beast With A Billion Backs.  Out on 6/24/08 and will hopefully mean more Futurama TV episodes.

Batman: The Dark Knight.  Sequel to Batman Beigns, out on 7/8/08.

The Kids of Widney High.  Due out 8/8/08.  If you know what this is, you'll laugh, like you did at "Insects."  If you don't, you'll probably be offended by how politically incorrect it is.

The Darkest Evil.  Based on the H.P. Lovecraft novel by the same name.  Out in late 2008, possibly Halloween.

[Klep]

Obviously everyone loved Iron Man, but a movie I've really enjoyed this year that's likely to fall through most peoples' cracks is In Bruges, an independent film starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes.  Farrell and Gleeson are a couple of hitmen sent to the city of Bruges in Belgium by Fiennes for some unknown reason.  I went into the film expecting a fairly generic action movie with some good deadpan British humor, but I got something that was much much better. I highly recommend it.

EDIT: Movie Highlight - a scene in which a stoned dwarf warns an equally stoned Farrell and Gleeson of the impending race war.

[Mr. Nightmare]

We have a thread for summer movies on The Source, too.  I might as well C/P from there:

Movies coming out over the summer with my thoughts, for what they're worth:

May

• Speed Racer - May 9 - Blockbuster visual movie, which will look amazing on the big screen, with much lost on dvd.  I'll probably see it for that reason alone, but I'm not really into the storyline, even with John Goodman and Christina Ricci involved.
• What Happens in Vegas - May 9 - Anyone else sick of Ashton Kutcher?  Oh, right, we all are, cause we aren't 14 year old girls.
• Frontier - May 9 - Stereotypical horror garbage.  Expect lots of quick cuts, bright flashes, and cheap starts.
• Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - May 16 - Stoked, but I'm a big fan of the books as well as the first movie.  Eye candy for sure, but they didn't screw up the first one too bad, which gives me hope for the whole series.
• Reprise (limited release) - May 16 - Won't see it.
• Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - May 23 - I swear to fucking god, if Sheia LaBeouf screws this movie up, I'll find and kick his stupid Even Stevens ass.  You are not a badass hollywood gangsta.  No one is impressed with your fucking parking citations, and you're not above the law, so show up for your court dates, fucker.  GOD DAMN I hate him.  Except in Holes.  That movie ruled.
• War, Inc - May 23 - Cusack as a hitman again?  Sign me up.  Oh, and Marisa Tomei instead of Minnie Driver?  Bonus.
• Postal - May 23 - Uwe Boll.  Nuff Said.
• Sex and the City - May 30 - FUCK NO.
• The Strangers - May 30 - Seems like a suspense type thriller, which could be ok, although it will fall into stereotypical American horror drivel territory for sure.  Don't go through there, bitch!
• The Foot Fist Way - May 30 - Looks like an action comedy in the vein of Kung Pow: Enter the Fist, without the sucking.  IMDB says it's gonna compete with the Apatow crew for funny this summer, so I'm interested on that basis alone.  Them's fighting words, for sure.

June

• Don't Mess with the Zohan - June 6 - Adam Sandler has jumped the fucking shark.  I'm tired man.  I'm tired of being force fed his terrible retard comedy.  Stick to being a producer, and make Grandma's Boy 2 or something, cause at least your friends are still funny.
• Mongol (limited) - June 6 - Won't see it.
• Kung Fu Panda - June 6 - Jack Black is the lead vocal talent in this movie, which makes me hope it's a musical.  It's animated, which means there's a good chance.  I dunno, I'll probably Netflix this one, cause it's not gonna be worth the $10, even if I love JB.
• The Incredible Hulk - June 13 - I'm hesitantly optimistic about this one.  Here's the thing, this is going to be the real litmus test of the "New" Marvel movie direction.  Iron Man was awesome, but it's gonna take a few shots before I start forgiving them for Spiderman 3, you know?  If we can get two or three really good comic adaptations out of them in a row, I'll start to get excited for the future of the genre.
• The Happening - June 13 - M. Night Shamalan's new flick, starring Marky Mark Wahlburg, Zooey "My sister and I are H-O-T hot" Deschanel, and John "The Pest" Leguizamo.  I'll bet you $10 there's a twist ten minutes before the end of the movie.
• Get Smart - June 20 - I can't think of a better actor to play Agent Smart than Steve Carell.  I'm slightly too young to remember Get Smart in it's entirety from TV, but I have seen a bunch of episodes in syndication, and I'm confident in Carell's abilities to capture the heart of this character.  It should be a solid comedy.  For those unfamiliar, this is the inspiration for the Naked Gun movies, without a doubt. 
• The Love Guru - June 20 - Hey look!  Mike Meyers gets a free pass at insulting another race of people!  It's ok though, cause he plays an "American raised in India."  That makes it less racist, right?  Fuck this movie.
• Wall-E - June 27 - Pixar is amazing.  This movie will rule, no doubt.  They just keep getting better and better.
• Wanted - June 27 - Another comic adaptation, this is the first English language release from the director that gave us the "Night Watch" movies.  Our German friends may be more familiar with these - I've seen the first of the two, and it was excellent.  I have high hopes for this film, it should be another excellent example in a growing line of good "dark comic" adaptations (see: Sin City, etc.).  By the way, this is listed as "Angelina Jolie movie" in Rotten's list.

July

• Hancock - July 4 - This movie is Will Smith's return to the Fourth of July, a weekend he owned for a good five years running back in the late 90's - Early naughts.  He's a drunk Superman, antihero kinda guy who finds redemption and becomes the hero.  I'm sure it will be all Hollywood, but the early acts, where he's a dick, will make this move worth watching.
• Hellboy 2: The Golden Army - July 11 - Uh, I loved the first Hellboy movie, and I gotta say, the trailers make this one look even better.  Another one I'm genuinely excited for this summer.
• Journey to the Center of the Earth: 3D - July 11 - I'll try to see this just cause Brendan Frasier is in it, and the story is a classic.  Plus, 3D!
• Meet Dave - July 11 - Eddie Murphy is a bunch of aliens or some shit.  Whatever, dude.  How many fucking people do you plan on being in this one?  Eddie Murphy:  Taking every job on the set since 1961.
• The Dark Knight - July 18 -  I just came.
• Mamma Mia! - July 18 - No.
• Space Chimps - July 18 - This movie has Jeff Daniels in it.  Yeah, that's right, Lloyd from Dumb and Dumber.  Which is convenient, since this movie is gonna be dumb.
• Step Brothers - July 25 - Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly play some guys who do absurd things and talk really loud.  We get it.  I know I'm in the minority here, but I'm over Will Ferrell.
• The X Files: I Want to Believe - July 25 - I've recently gotten into the show "Californication" on Showtime, which stars David Duchovny.  If this is anything like that show (it won't be) that would be awesome.  I dunno, I might go see it, but I was never an X-Files guy.
• The Longshots - July 25 - I only put this in here cause it's directed by Fred Durst (the singer of Limp Bizkit) and stars Ice Cube.  That's almost worth ten bucks.  Almost.
• Henry Poole is Here - July 25 - Not sure what this one is all about, but I guess the director did some good work on TV and MTV, although he also did Mothman Prophecies (which made no fucking sense at all).  I might give it a shot if I'm bored, but I doubt I will be.

[goobafish]

Obviously everyone loved Iron Man, but a movie I've really enjoyed this year that's likely to fall through most peoples' cracks is In Bruges, an independent film starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes.  Farrell and Gleeson are a couple of hitmen sent to the city of Bruges in Belgium by Fiennes for some unknown reason.  I went into the film expecting a fairly generic action movie with some good deadpan British humor, but I got something that was much much better. I highly recommend it.

I loved this movie. For some reason it reminded me of Boondock Saints, and someone else said the same when they walked out of the theater.

[Mr. Nightmare]

I really don't like Colin Farrell, but I do like Brendan Gleeson, so maybe they'll cancel each other out.  Have to check that out.

[Kowal]

Iron Man was incredibly good.  The only thing that would have made it better is running less actual Iron Man and more Tony Stark.  Seriously, I would have been willing to shell out $20 just to watch Tony Stark being an asshole for three hours.

[Mantis]

Also I can't wait to get the Sex and the City hype to be over. My girlfriend watches it all the time. A few weeks back I just awoke, it was a bright and sunny day, I had the whole day off and was looking forward to it. I walked into the living room where my gf was watching TV. She was ofcourse, watching Sex and the City. But just imagine the sheer horror of waking up and the first thing you see is a monstrosity with a HUGE frigging mole on her chin having an orgasm. Man, do I hate Sex and the City. I mean come on, couldn't they find any good looking women so it would at least be watchable for men?

Anyway, just seen Vantage Point last week and I really disliked it (I know, it's probably old in US but in Europe we tend to get the movies a little bit later). The story just kept starting over again and it really was a drag. The movie was predictable, cliché and the story could've been told in under an hour. However I did enjoy Forest Whitaker, he's a brilliant actor. Matthew Fox, alas I think I've been watching too much Lost, so I wasn't convinced.
My verdict is, avoid this movie it's a waste of time.

Anyway, I will check out Iron Man sometime soon.

@Kowal; 20$ to go to the movies? I wouldn't shelve out 20$ to see any movie. Not with Bittorrent still alive and kicking.

[EnialisLiadon]

@Kowal; 20$ to go to the movies? I wouldn't shelve out 20$ to see any movie. Not with Bittorrent still alive and kicking.

It's usually $7-$10 for most theaters.  I believe Kowal was just saying that watching Tony Stark be an asshole for three hours would be worth $20, despite costing $10 or less.

So he'd be getting quite a deal!

[Meddling Mike]

So I finally got around to seeing I Am Legend. Not bad, I'm usually a big fan of these post-apocalyptic themed movies. Will Smith was excellent and the use of flashbacks to gradually provide the background story was an interesting approach. I do have one bone to pick, those who haven't seen the movie consider this your spoiler alert.

Did anybody else think it was just a bit of a stretch that almost immediately after his only companion in the world died and years of isolation his desperate attempt to contact other human beings comes full circle right before he's about to be killed? It just struck me as way too much of a coincidence. So much so that I assumed that both the woman and child were nothing more than figments of his imagination, which would be consistent with the mental break he seemed to have right after the dog died and he started expecting the mannequins to talk back. IMO this would have been a much more realistic direction to take the movie in and would've provided an interesting twist when later on he realizes they were only figments of his imagination, perhaps after reaching the survivor colony. Also, I wouldn't have minded some clarification on that snare trap that almost got him killed. Did the diseased humans learn from watching him capture one of their own with the snare trap then move the mannequin to draw him towards it, or was it just a series of random coincidences?

[Nefarias]

Did anybody else think it was just a bit of a stretch that almost immediately after his only companion in the world died and years of isolation his desperate attempt to contact other human beings comes full circle right before he's about to be killed? It just struck me as way too much of a coincidence. So much so that I assumed that both the woman and child were nothing more than figments of his imagination, which would be consistent with the mental break he seemed to have right after the dog died and he started expecting the mannequins to talk back. IMO this would have been a much more realistic direction to take the movie in and would've provided an interesting twist when later on he realizes they were only figments of his imagination, perhaps after reaching the survivor colony. Also, I wouldn't have minded some clarification on that snare trap that almost got him killed. Did the diseased humans learn from watching him capture one of their own with the snare trap then move the mannequin to draw him towards it, or was it just a series of random coincidences?

This is a continuation of the spoiler alert.

I didn't really notice the coincidence thing, outside of the fact that they show up just in time to save his life. It was definitely lame, but I just chalked it up to standard Hollywood fare, which thinking about it now kinda sucks because the movie was generally pretty light on it.

As for the snare, it confused me a bit too, but I chalked it up to being one that he had set previously that never went off. At first I assumed that this was when they would introduce a new survivor, but that never happened. What set me off to this conclusion was the fact that it is pretty similar to the one that he had set previously, using the car at the other end. I could certainly be wrong, but that was the most sense that I could make out of it.

[Demonic Attorney]

Spoilers below, highlight to view.

I thought the greater implausibility in I Am Legend was the striking inconsistency between Will Smith's sustained efforts, over the course of years, to send a message to other people to join him in NYC, and then when people finally arrive, his monologue about how there is no way there are any other people left in the world and that the notion of a survivor's colony is absurd. 

If he really thought it was so impossible for there to be any other survivors left, why did he broadcast his message to other potential survivors for years?  And when that woman finally arrived in NYC, confirming that other survivors did in fact exist, Smith's response was to go on a rant about there is no possible way there are any other survivors?  I just shook my head and more or less tuned out for the rest of the movie at that point.   

[jcb193]

Indiana Jones

I used to say National Treasure was a good movie as long as you didn't have any Indiana Jones to watch.  Except for Harrison Ford's godliness, it would be hard for me to say Crystal Skull was better than even National Treasure.  Why didn't we lynch George Lucase after Phantom Menace. 

[Nick_]

I don't think Indiana Jones was as good as it should have been.  It didn't feel like an Indiana Jones movie, and it wasn't nearly as good as Raiders.  I liked it though, but it could have been much better.

Spoiler-

I thought that you could see the twist coming.  Five minutes or so in, when the Soviets were asking about what Jones and some other people found and put in the box ten years ago, I figured that it was aliens because they were not only in New Mexico at the time, but the Roswell stuff happened in 1947.  When they found the Crystal Skull, it was elongated.  If anyone has read Domain(and spoilers for this too, but it was a great book.  You should read it, but the sequel isn't as good) by Steve Alten, his theory on Kukulcan and the other people with elongated skulls were that they were aliens.  It just reminded me of that, and it was further proof to me that somehow aliens are involved.  At the end, I was disappointed, because I was right and saw it coming the whole time.