The Movie Thread, -most movie related content goes here

Maybe I'm just getting old, but it doesn't seem like it was that long ago that we had all the other Bat Man films, the ones with Michael Keaton and Val Kilmer as Bat Man. Even though Bat Man was one of my all time favorite fictional characters when I was a kid, I'm kind of burnt out by it.

Bale plays Bat Man in this film - he was also in the film American Psycho, and I hated him in that, and I hated that movie.

Review: 'Batman Begins' Stunning New Beginning Of Movie Saga

"Batman Begins" is more than just the title of the latest Batman movie, it is the perfect description of the movie rebirth of one of the comic books' most enigmatic, dark and mysterious heroes.

Now, the director of such mind-bending films as "Memento," Christopher Nolan, has grabbed the grappling hook and taken hold of the franchise with a decidedly firm hand, bringing it back to basics and grounding the mythology in reality. Although fantastical, much of the gee-whiz factor here seems very plausible.

Instead of relegating Batman's history to flashbacks, Nolan devotes a good part of the film to showing us exactly why and how Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) became an angel of fear dedicated to helping the helpless and then disappearing into the mist. Does that sound a little boring? It could be a tad confusing at first as the director flashes back and forth between several time periods, but it is never boring.

Two traumatic events in childhood and a thwarted attempt at revenge push Wayne into a quest to run away from his fears. His encounter in an Asian prison with the mysterious Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson) leads him over glaciers and mountains to the hideaway of the League of Shadows, a ninja-like training camp supposedly run by Ra's Al Ghul (Ken Watanabe). It is during these scenes that we learn the code of ethics Batman lives by and is driven by.

It is a mystical, violent, terrifying regimen in which Wayne is taught how to accomplish his ultimate wish: "Instill fear into those who prey on the fearful." But Wayne is not willing to be as ruthless as his teachers, so after an abrupt end to his training and his trainers, Wayne sneaks back into Gotham City after supposedly being dead for six years.

When he returns, Wayne discovers that Gotham has disintegrated into a cesspool of poverty, larceny and corruption. With the help of his butler/surrogate father, Alfred (Michael Caine) and a gadget genius Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) -- who has a bunch of rejected or forgotten inventions just hanging around -- Wayne invents his alter ego out of one of his biggest fears: Bats.

... Wayne's childhood friend, Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes), who is now a district attorney, finds herself in the middle of the turf war, and the only one who can save her is a man dressed like a bat who is striking terror in the hearts of all who see him.

... However, among these fine actors, Holmes comes across as a lightweight. With Bale's maturity, I think an older actress would have been a better fit.

The gadgets are better than anything you have seen in a James Bond movie; the action is dark, relentless and thrilling; and the Batman legend steeped in realism, morality and passion make Nolan's "Batman Begins" the ultimate thrill for a fan of the Dark Knight comic books.

As for this part: Bat Man goes to a "..ninja-like training camp..." - wth? I'm fine and dandy with film makers making a "darker" film, but it doesn't seem to fit with the Bat Man character I know, to have him go off to a training camp for ninjas.

From The Washington Post (excerpts - Bat Man and Freud):

But as good as the performances are, and as dutiful as Nolan has been in preserving the Kane legacy in "Batman Begins," there's something joyless about the enterprise, which recalls "Robo-Cop" and "Blade Runner" in its somber tone but possesses neither the wit of the former nor the narrative sophistication of the latter.

As at least two families led their youngsters out of a recent screening -- both times during one of the movie's endless and surprisingly brutal fight scenes -- it became clear that this movie is not only inappropriate for children, it might even prove too long and morose a haul for teens.

That raises the question of who, precisely, "Batman Begins" is for. Geeks and gearheads? Grown-ups attracted to the Caped Crusader's fetishistic assortment of sharp, shiny objects?

Clearly, only adults will be able to sit through a sprawling story that involves endless fight and chase sequences, arcane explanations of a panic-inducing hallucinogen threatening Gotham and a climactic scene featuring zombies straight out of a George Romero B-movie.

After nearly 2 1/2 hours of psychologizing, punching and brooding, it's clear that "Batman Begins" all right; the question is whether it will ever end.

Zombies in a Bat Man movie? WTH?

I just saw this movie last night, and I can't figure out why the reviewer thought there were zombies in it. I don't want to give anything away in case anyone is planning on seeing it, so I'll just say that some people are exhibiting what could be called zombie like behavior, but it's clear they act this way because of a substance released by the bad guys.

If we paid as little attention on our jobs as some of these reviewers, we'd have been fired.

I actually enjoyed it. I guess Christian Bale has grown on me since he scared the crap out of me in American Psycho.

Fantatic Four Has Few Fans in Fandom

Those nasty fanboys are at it again.

In the days approaching the opening of this weekend's would-be blockbuster "The Fantastic Four," (search) comic book fans privy to sneak previews have been doing what they do best: trashing the film.

“It was disappointing. They wanted it to be lighthearted but a little edgy, but it doesn't find its stride. It’s as if they knew all the pieces of a good comic book movie, and they’re all there, but they don’t fit together," said Rob Worley of comics2film.com.

Based on Marvel Comics' (search) longest-running series, "The Fantastic Four" is about four astronauts (played by Michael Chiklis (search), Jessica Alba (search), Ioan Gruffudd (search) and Chris Evans (search)) who develop superpowers after being accidentally irradiated in space: Super-strength, invisibility, stretching and flame.

.... The movie was in development for years, and fans have been awaiting it for decades. But ever since the first trailer was released last year, comic fans have been bashing the film on sites like aintitcool.com.

"The first shot — the FIRST SHOT — of a superpower is Reed Richards (Gruffudd) catching a falling wine bottle before it hits the floor," laments one blogger. "He's Mister g*d*mn Fantastic. So he has the superpowers of an Olive Garden waiter?"

Worley said the film tries to stay true to the spirit of the comic — which is very important to fanboys and girls — but fails as a movie.

....Worley also had an issue with the villain, Dr. Doom.

"Dr. Doom didn’t seem to have much to do — he had no real great motivations in this movie other than be the bad guy. You don’t understand what he’s after."

Other fans have bemoaned the filmmakers' decision to include Dr. Doom in the space accident, rather than leaving him as a normal (albeit evil) human being.

....As for his complaints, he had the same issues as Worley.

"Sue Storm/Alba is kind of boring. Mr. Fantastic is not that exciting. Dr. Doom is changed quite a bit, and that’s OK — but some of the changes don’t make any sense, like why would you need a mask when your body is turning to metal?"

That said, he also had some good things to say about the film.

"Chris Evans as The Human Torch/Johnny Storm is the breakthrough in film. Michael Chiklis is great as The Thing. They are the two most important characters in the comic and the two most important in the film."

....Chiklis, Emmy-winning star of TV's "The Shield," seemed to portray the film honestly when he told FOX News:

“It's unpretentious. It doesn't pretend to be something it's not — the tongues are planted firmly in cheek and eat your popcorn and enjoy, folks. It's fun — it's a great ride."

Seems like the other three stars agree: all four have signed on for a sequel, and a third installment is also in the works.

'Cooter' Urges Fans to Skip 'Dukes' Movie

Excerpts:

If television's "Crazy Cooter" has his way, fans of the "Dukes of Hazzard" may be speeding away from a new movie version of the cornpone classic faster than the Duke boys running from Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane.

Ben Jones, a former Georgia congressman who played the wisecracking mechanic on the popular series from 1979-85, said profanity and sexual content in the film make a mockery of the family friendly show.

"Basically, they trashed our show," said Jones, who now lives in the mountains of Washington, Va. "It's one thing to do whatever movie they want to do, but to take a classic family show and do that is like taking "I Love Lucy" and making her a crackhead or something."

Jones said he read a script of the movie, which is scheduled to be released next month, and that it contained profanity, "constant sexual innuendo and some very clear sexual situations."

Please click link above to read entire story

Some Vets Condemn 'Wedding Crashers' Site

Some Vets Condemn 'Wedding Crashers' Site
Sunday July 24 5:33 PM ET

Some military veterans and law enforcement officials are angry about a Web site promoting Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn's comedy "Wedding Crashers."

To win the affections of attractive bridesmaids in the movie, two fun-loving partiers pretend to be Purple Heart recipients.

New Line Cinema's movie Web site includes a fake, paper Purple Heart to cut out, with the spoof: "Carrying a Purple Heart in your jacket guarantees you attention, admiration and plenty of free booze."

"I challenge the producer of that movie to go to Walter Reed Hospital and walk through the ward and see if he still wants to print out a fake Purple Heart," said Thomas Cottone, Jr., a special agent with the FBI who enforces a federal law that prohibits wearing, manufacturing, buying, selling or trading a Medal of Honor.

"Talk to some of these people who don't have legs anymore and see how funny they think that movie is."

New Line Cinema, which produced the movie, did not return a phone message.

A bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives Friday would expand federal law to allow prosecution of anyone who falsely claims to have earned a military medal or a Purple Heart.

"Here's an example of Hollywood imitating life. Hopefully it brings to the American conscience that this is what is happening," said Doug Sterner, a Vietnam veteran who runs a Web site dedicated to Medal of Honor recipients.

"Movies I have no intention of watching" - thread

"Sky High." It just looks painfully, incredibly, amazingly, stupid. Have nothing against Linda Carter, Kurt Russel and whoever else is in it, but please, it looks idiotic.

I hope that bill passes. That is soooo messed up (this coming from someone whose family has a strong military background). Medals and their recipients should not be mocked like that.

"Sky High" seems like a live-action version of "The Incredibles". I don't think it will do particularly well.

I have zero intention of seeing the number one movie, "Wedding Crashers" because it's yet another oversexed comedy. As if we don't have enough stupid sex comedies in this world.

Anything by Spielberg. I can't stand the hype, and still don't see why there was all this fuss about "E.T."

Wedding Crashers - yes, thanks for reminding me, that's another one I wouldn't want to see. Not only looks kind of stupid, but the premise (guys who lie to have sex with lots of women) is too sleazy for me to take.

Spielberg films: I like some of them, others I can do without. I did enjoy E.T., but one annoying thing about his movies is that they usually 'feel' the same - very schmaltzy in tone. I liked the first Jurassic Park (the novel it was based upon was better, though).

One movie that came out a few months ago that looks just as appealing to me as the Sky High movie (which is to say not at all!) would be The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl. Even if I had kids, I would not take them to see that.

I can't believe I don't have more movies to name than this - I'm all the time seeing commercials for upcoming movies where I think, "That just looks like it will be really dumb!," but now I'm drawing a bit of a blank.

Oh wait - one just did pop into mind. I think it's called "Stealth" (or it has that word in its title). I first saw a preview for it when I went to the movies with my ex-fiancee a few months ago, and lately, I've been seeing commericals for it on tv.

If I remember the plot line correctly, it's about a U.S.-military- created plane that has artificial intelligence. It becomes sentient and starts to shoot down our guys ('our guys' being human American Air Force - or are they Navy? whatever - pilots). It just looked very dippy, and it seemed to be a little of a 2001 Space Odyssey rip-off (where HAL, the computer system, takes over the space ship).

Unfortunately, Wedding Crashers' tops weekend box office

- but -

About a week ago, I saw stories on the news that the company behind the film changed the film's website - they removed the fake purple heart (that people could print out and wear).

I've never been to the Wedding Crashers site (http://www.weddingcrashersmovie.com/),
so I cannot personally confirm it either way.

I haven't yet seen any online news articles about the follow up story saying that the company changed the site in response to the criticisms.

All I've seen are more like this -
Vets Blast 'Wedding Crashers' Web Site

Movies: Expectations don't match reality - thread.

Have you ever seen previews or ads for a movie thinking it's going to be one way, or it's going to be really good, and it turns out to be either terrible or not what you expected (or both)?

A few examples from me -

Matrix 2 and Matrix 3. Loved the first Matrix - cool looking, interesting story line etc, but the two follow ups? Great premise ruined by boring movies - although part 2 still looked pretty slick (I liked the costumes the characters wore). It's been awhile since I've seen part 3, so I can't remember much about that one, except that it was kind of dull

The Star Wars prequels - Revenge of the Sith was pretty good, I thought, but Phatom Menace and Clones were let downs.

Underworld.

Felicity's boyfriend was in this movie (remember the tv show "Felicity" and how she pined after Ben?) - "Ben" played a werewolf who gets turned into a werewolf-vampire hybrid.

This is a movie about a clash between a vampire society and a werewolf society. I like scary movies, so when I saw the ads for this film a few years ago, I thought I'd enjoy this.

Based upon the clips I saw of Underworld, it looked as though it would be a piece of eye candy too, a dark and gritty "Matrix" type thing, another thing which sold me.

HBO has been airing this movie for the past couple of months, and I've watched it twice. IMHO, it's bad. Not the worst movie I've ever seen, but it wasn't what I thought it would be.

The visuals weren't quite what I thought they'd be, or weren't as good as I thought they'd be. The look turned out to be a warmed over or watered down Matrix.

The monster design for Ben's vampire-werewolf hybird looked like Papa Smurf with sharp teeth - not very scary or convincing.
The plot wasn't bad, but it was just so-so, IMO.

Changing Lanes

Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson were in this.

From the trailers / ads, I was expecting a scary, Fatal Attraction type of story, where two guys stalk one another and try to kill each other, but in the end, it turns out to be a story about two guys who disagree with each other but who resolve their differences peacefully - in the real world, that's all good. For a movie? Dull, dull, dull.

It was more like an episode of NBC's Law and Order than a chilling, frightening drama.

- Edited to Add -

Home Fries, starring Drew Barrymore and Luke Wilson. Nothing against either one of them, but this movie was rather boring.

This film came on HBO the other night, and I watched it.

I was expecting Home Fries to be a cute film about a single, lonely, struggling, poor pregnant woman (played by Barrymore) who wins a new guy (Wilson) who will love her and support her, and yeah, in a way, that is what happens, but the film makers tossed in some bizarre sub plot about Wilson's step brother (played by Busey) who tries to kill Barrymore's character with a helicopter.

If they had left off that helicopter sub plot and just presented an adorable film about a young mother-to-be who wins herself a nice guy, that would've been much better. It would've been an "Awww, how sweet, that movie made me feel good" kind of experience.

As it stands, they tried to make it a bit of a screw ball or dark comedy, but that kind of comedy did not work in this movie. It seemed forced, faked - when it wasn't boring. Seemed out of place.

Movies that start annoying trends - thread.
Or, Annoying trends in movies.

*** SPOILERS CONTAINED BELOW ***

Movies with "twist endings."

I'm afraid that The Sixth Sense started this trend in the mid or late 1990s ("I see dead people!" - and the Bruce Willis character turns out to be a ghost). Now every other movie that comes out, esp. if it's a thriller/scary film, has to have a "twist."

The Village (from the same guy who made The Sixth Sense) had another twist ending, and another one that came out with Dakota Fanning and Robert Dinero had a twist ending (I forget what it's called; maybe Hide and Seek?).

Some of you may be able to remember others.

Well, maybe it didn't start with The Sixth Sense; maybe it really started with The Crying Game - isn't that the film where the main female character turns out to be a male? I think that Crying Game was released in the 1980s (maybe early 90s?).

Cop Buddy Movies

I don't know which came first, the Mel Gibson-Danny Glover buddy cop movies (what were they called? Lethal Weapon?) or Eddie Murphy with that scroungy looking actor (was it Gary Busey??) in 48 Hours.

Along came Chris Rock with Jackie Chan in their franchise of buddy-cop movies. There have been many more, but I can't think of any.

I guess this phenomenon is a carry over from t.v. series such as "Starsky and Hutch" or "Dragnet?"

Based on a TV Series

I think the latest one is Dukes of Hazard.

The aforementioned Starsky and Hutch is another (wasn't Dragnet made into a movie, with Tom Hanks in one role and Dan Aykroyd in another?).

Scooby Doo. The Brady Bunch. Flintstones. Bewitched. The Beverley Hillbillies.

Any Tom Cruise movie because after what he said about psychiatry, I lost respect for him and I'm boycotting his movies.

I agree that Matrix Revolutions is dull but I love the first two. I got really bored from watching Phantom Menace and I didn't even bother watch the second one.

I think Cruise was an insensitive horse's ass over his anti-Brooke Shields/psychiatry rant, but I still like Rain Man and Minority Report.

I didn't care for the Mission Impossible movies, though. Or Top Gun, Cocktail (whatever it was called, he was a bartender), or Risky Business. Never saw Jerry McGuire.

I'd be willing to watch movies with him in them - but in spite of him, not because of him.

I used to have a co-worker who had a big crush on Cruise. I wonder if she still does, after all his recent nut ball behavior on Oprah etc?

My Mom and I just saw "Skeleton Key". It was entertaining. I don't know that I'd call the "twist" ending a "trend", or anything. Let's just say it kind-of keeps it on the level of such thrillers as "Rosemary's Baby".

Alright, I thought it'd be interesting to see what kind of movies all y'all have in your Netflix queue, IF you have a Netflix account. When I'm not working, I try to watch as many movies as I can.

So, here's mine, and I admit that I must be really bored to type all of this out!

Meet The Fockers
Film Noir Collection: Scarlet Street
Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope
My Own Private Idaho
To Die For
John Waters Collection: Extras
Seven Up / 7 Plus Seven
21 Up
28 Up
35 Up
42 Up (the last five are a continual documentary on a group of people and their lives, updated every seven years.)
sex, lies, and videotape
The Joy Luck Club
Normal
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
In the Mood for Love
The Garbage Pail Kids Movie
Discovering the Real World of Harry Potter
Bloodhounds of Broadway
Oscar Wilde: Wit's End
Mildred Pierce
Talk to Her
Humoresque
Queen Bee
Reflections of Evil
Peyton Place
The Watcher in the Woods
FahrenHYPE 9/11
Dreamscape: Special Edition
The Last Starfighter (a movie I was obsessed with as a kid and haven't seen in years.)
The Ice Pirates
The Beastmaster
William S. Burroughs: Commiss. of Sewers
I Shot Andy Warhol
Nico Icon
Cocaine Cowboys
Inside Deep Throat
Coffy
Bucktown
Trick Baby
Disco Godfather
French & Saunders: On the Rocks
French and Saunders: Live
Eddie Izzard: Definite Article
Crash
Flesh (Andy Warhol)
The Cement Garden
Sin City
Orlando

In my SAVED queue:

AbFab: Gorgeous Little Things (Bonus)
Brokeback Mountain
I Saw What You Did
Supergirl
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown