What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Saw a trailer last night for American Hustle on tv which pretty much only featured Jennifer Lawrence in it. That's somewhat misleading as she's not in the movie all that much compared to any of the other stars. Kinda weird as it's so good it doesn't need to focus on her performance to draw in the punters IMO.

She's a box office draw, more so than the others as she kind of crosses all ages and sexes with her appeal.

Mickeroo

MilanPan!c wrote: »

I assume you've seen all the Miyazaki stuff as well...?

Iron Giant at least easily stands alongside most of Miyazaki's films imo, I wouldn't be as quick to put HTTYD at that level as I've only seen it once but it wasn't very far off I thought.

krudler

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Still annoyed that they lost the Oscar to The Social Network! :mad:

That was a great score as well to be fair it suited the film perfectly, the HTTYD one is just exhilarating to listen to though, Test Drive and Coming Back Around are absolutely superb pieces of music.

ButtersSuki

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

She's a box office draw, more so than the others as she kind of crosses all ages and sexes with her appeal.

Bigger than Christian Batman Bale? Bigger than DeNiro? I hear you on one level but it's not like this film will struggle to get bums on seats. Just found it a bit weird…..

ButtersSuki

Ok, some others I've seen recently:
Runner Runner Con movie with Ben Affleck, Justin Timberlake and Gemma Arterton. After the highs, class, style and sophistication of American Hustle, this is like the TV3 version. Affleck is as wooden and stiff as Pat Kenny on the Toy Show, Timberlake is pretty awful too and Arterton is just there for a bit of eye candy. Pretty awful - the kind of movie you watch on a plane when you've seen everything else and then regret it afterwards. 3/10

Fruitvale Station
Re-telling of the true story of a black man shot by the SFTP (San Francisco Transit Police) on New Year's Eve at a BART (DART but for the Bay Area!) Station. Covers topics such as racial profiling, police brutality etc. Note: there's real footage of the actual shooting online. Surprisingly good seeing as I barely recognized any of the actors in it. 7.5/10

Friends with Kids
OMG. Truly awful and possibly the worst film I've seen in the last 10 years given the cast. Reuniting the stars of Bridesmaids (Maya Rudolph, Kristen Wiig, Jon Hamm and Chris O'Dowd) along with Mrs. Jon Hamm Jennifer Westfeldt and Adam Scott as the leads. Wiig is barely in this save for a few scenes, as is Hamm and Rudolph. O'Dowd is cast as basically a lazy and forgetful man (thank God for stereotyping eh?) and has an American accent that rivals Tom Cruise's Irish accent in "Far & Away" for sheer awfulness - it's that bad. Written by Westfeldt, I can almost certainly say it would never have been made if her surname wasn't Mrs. Jon Hamm. It tries to be crude in places and fails; tires slapstick and fails; tries subtle comedy and fails; tries rom com and fails. It's hard to find a redeeming feature to it. Scott is saddled with delivering the corniest and most cringe-worthy line I've ever seen/heard in a movie in the final scene - how he did it with a straight face I'll never know. Watch at your own peril - you have been warned! 1/10 - and I genuinely thought about giving it 0.

Try this for a taster:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0DS8pUwHzc

Rush
After all the hype (incl. a lot on here!) I finally got to see this before Christmas. Came away disappointed I have to say though not surprised. From the moment I saw Ron Howard's name and the "Working Title" logo I pretty much knew I was in for a bit of schmaltz, which is ok in places; but surely a little out of place in this kind of story? The sound was good, the story felt a little rushed at times and the acting was fine (Bruhl in particular) - I'm not saying it's a bad movie or anything; it's grand for what it is and it is entertaining. The racing scenes which I'd been led to believe were incredible, were just so-so IMO (I'll expand on this later) - they felt very CGI/fake to me. I'd give it a 7/10 maybe but just felt a bit underwhelmed by it all. It just seemed to have that "Love Actually" type vibe most Working Title films seem to give off regardless of the subject matter, if you know what I mean? If you want to see a real racing movie, with real driving/racing scenes and sound to make your jaw properly drop, go out and get yourself a Blu Ray copy of Le Mans.
Note: I just checked my old posts and I gave Le Mans 7/10 at the time, but it is a far, far better driving film than Rush.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Bigger than Christian Batman Bale? Bigger than DeNiro? I hear you on one level but it's not like this film will struggle to get bums on seats. Just found it a bit weird…..

Yes, I think she's a bigger draw, or at least appeals to a wider audience than any of the others. I wouldn't watch a film just because Christian Bale was in it. Personally I thought the Batman films he's in were terrible. Well, that's unfair, I only watched the first one and found it so bad I couldn't bring myself to watch the other ones. As good an actor as Robert De Niro is he's not exactly appealing to young women who aren't huge film fans.

As with all films, if you're a general fan of the cinema you won't need any particular trailer or promotional campaign to entice you to something like American Hustle, but for the wider audience they obviously feel they have to hook them with something and you'd be hard pressed to find someone more universally liked than Jennifer Lawrence at the moment.

Not saying it makes it right, obviously, but I'm not at all surprised they're pushing her presence. I've seen her name used a few times in connection with the new Dumb and Dumber and as far as I know it is literally a cameo she filmed for it.

MilanPan!c

Mickeroo wrote: »

Iron Giant at least easily stands alongside most of Miyazaki's films imo, I wouldn't be as quick to put HTTYD at that level as I've only seen it once but it wasn't very far off I thought.

I would completely agree.

Though I think Mononoke Hime edges out even IG, if not also Cagliostro and Totoro.

Though the last two might be my sentimentality.

ButtersSuki

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Yes, I think she's a bigger draw, or at least appeals to a wider audience than any of the others. I wouldn't watch a film just because Christian Bale was in it. Personally I thought the Batman films he's in were terrible. Well, that's unfair, I only watched the first one and found it so bad I couldn't bring myself to watch the other ones. As good an actor as Robert De Niro is he's not exactly appealing to young women who aren't huge film fans.

As with all films, if you're a general fan of the cinema you won't need any particular trailer or promotional campaign to entice you to something like American Hustle, but for the wider audience they obviously feel they have to hook them with something and you'd be hard pressed to find someone more universally liked than Jennifer Lawrence at the moment.

Not saying it makes it right, obviously, but I'm not at all surprised they're pushing her presence. I've seen her name used a few times in connection with the new Dumb and Dumber and as far as I know it is literally a cameo she filmed for it.

I hear you and honestly agree with most of your points. But her role in this is practically a cameo she's in it for so little screen time. I think people who go to see it just for her will be very disappointed. Batman was probably a bad example for Bale; was using that for star quality rather than acting ability.

And don't get me wrong, as well as being a fine actress I think she's so damn sexy I'd happily watch her paint a fence for a few hours ….just find it a little sad to see this type of trailer for this type of movie. Normally this ploy is reserved for stuff that stinks and they sell it on sex appeal etc., just think American Hustle is so good they don't need to revert to this.

MilanPan!c

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

She's a box office draw, more so than the others as she kind of crosses all ages and sexes with her appeal.

Exactly.

With her you have fans of:

Silver Linings Playbook
X-Men
Hunger Games

With Bale you have:

Batman

She's a much bigger star.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

ButtersSuki wrote: »

I hear you and honestly agree with most of your points. But her role in this is practically a cameo she's in it for so little screen time. I think people who go to see it just for her will be very disappointed. Batman was probably a bad example for Bale; was using that for star quality rather than acting ability.

And don't get me wrong, as well as being a fine actress I think she's so damn sexy I'd happily watch her paint a fence for a few hours ….just find it a little sad to see this type of trailer for this type of movie. Normally this ploy is reserved for stuff that stinks and they sell it on sex appeal etc., just think American Hustle is so good they don't need to revert to this.

I doubt the PR guys will care if people are disappointed by her lack of screen time, once they get bums on seats they're happy.

I'm not sure who's responsible for these decisions but I remember The Perks of Being a Wallflower being heavily promoted as starring Emma Watson when she's really just one of a few supporting characters in the film. I had no idea what that film was actually about based on the promotional material that was out around it's release, just that they were clearly targeting her (Harry Potter's) massive fan base.

The ads I've seen for American Hustle tell me nothing about it other than everyone's been nominated for awards and Adams and Lawrence have boobs.

ButtersSuki

MilanPan!c wrote: »

Exactly.

With her you have fans of:

Silver Linings Playbook
X-Men
Hunger Games

With Bale you have:

Batman Trilogy
American Psycho
The Machinist
Empire of the Sun
3:10 to Yuma
etc. etc.
She's a much bigger star.

Really? Depends on the metric you use I guess:

Data as of:
Rank Title(click to view) Studio Lifetime Gross
1 Avatar Fox $760,507,625
2 Titanic Par. $658,672,302
3 Marvel's The Avengers BV $623,357,910
4 The Dark Knight WB $534,858,444
5 Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace Fox $474,544,677
6 Star Wars Fox $460,998,007
7 The Dark Knight Rises WB $448,139,099
8 Shrek 2 DW $441,226,247
9 E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial Uni. $435,110,554
10 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest BV $423,315,812
11 The Lion King BV $422,783,777
12 Toy Story 3 BV $415,004,880
13 Iron Man 3 BV $409,013,994
14 The Hunger Games LGF $408,010,692
15 The Hunger Games: Catching Fire LGF $407,488,000

I say this as a fan of both!

ButtersSuki

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

The ads I've seen for American Hustle tell me nothing about it other than everyone's been nominated for awards and Adams and Lawrence have boobs.

Review of the year! Thanks Tickle, that gave me a giggle!

krudler

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Bigger than Christian Batman Bale? Bigger than DeNiro? I hear you on one level but it's not like this film will struggle to get bums on seats. Just found it a bit weird…..

In fairness when was the last time a De Niro movie was a big draw? He's been crapping on his legacy for over a decade now. Lawrence is a Hollywood darling at the moment, between the oscar, having a huge franchise under her belt and generally being likeable she is well on her way to being a bankable leading lady.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Anyways, to get back on track.... I watched Oslo, August 31st today.

A bleak but realistic (I assume) look at drug addiction and recovery. Anders is a few weeks away from being released from a rehab facility and gets a day release to attend a job interview in Oslo. He uses this opportunity to catch up with old friends and family. He struggles with the idea of returning to this world full time and seems to be searching for a reason or a point to it all.

The interesting thing for me here was the idea of how different it is for an addict to be clean in a safe and isolated environment compared to being set free in the real world again. You can role play all you like in group sessions it's not the same as being confronted with real temptations.

It's quite a slow burn but you never lose interest and the main actor is perfect as Anders. An excellent watch.

old hippy

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Anyways, to get back on track.... I watched Oslo, August 31st today.

A bleak but realistic (I assume) look at drug addiction and recovery. Anders is a few weeks away from being released from a rehab facility and gets a day release to attend a job interview in Oslo. He uses this opportunity to catch up with old friends and family. He struggles with the idea of returning to this world full time and seems to be searching for a reason or a point to it all.

The interesting thing for me here was the idea of how different it is for an addict to be clean in a safe and isolated environment compared to being set free in the real world again. You can role play all you like in group sessions it's not the same as being confronted with real temptations.

It's quite a slow burn but you never lose interest and the main actor is perfect as Anders. An excellent watch.

And one which all the knee jerk reactionaries on any thread about addiction should really watch.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

old hippy wrote: »

And one which all the knee jerk reactionaries on any thread about addiction should really watch.

Indeed. Maybe even shown to families of people with addiction problems. A bit of an eye opener.

MilanPan!c

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Really? Depends on the metric you use I guess:

Data as of:
Rank Title(click to view) Studio Lifetime Gross
1 Avatar Fox $760,507,625
2 Titanic Par. $658,672,302
3 Marvel's The Avengers BV $623,357,910
4 The Dark Knight WB $534,858,444
5 Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace Fox $474,544,677
6 Star Wars Fox $460,998,007
7 The Dark Knight Rises WB $448,139,099
8 Shrek 2 DW $441,226,247
9 E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial Uni. $435,110,554
10 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest BV $423,315,812
11 The Lion King BV $422,783,777
12 Toy Story 3 BV $415,004,880
13 Iron Man 3 BV $409,013,994
14 The Hunger Games LGF $408,010,692
15 The Hunger Games: Catching Fire LGF $407,488,000

I say this as a fan of both!

Where are these numbers from?

Hunger Games 1
$691,247,768
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=hungergames.htm

Hunger Games 2
$830,888,000
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=catchingfire.htm

Plus there's two more coming.

X-Men First Class
$353,624,124

Plus another around the corner.

Silver Linings:
$236,412,453


Plus an Oscar for best Actress (Bale has a supporting actor Oscar).


Dark Knight Rises:
$1,084,439,099
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=darkknight.htm

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=darkknight.htm
$1,004,558,444

All numbers from http://www.boxofficemojo.com/

You can do the maths, but I'd say that Lawrence's making more money than Bale in the mainstream, and if not, it's very very close.

longshotvalue

Yeah box office taking an all is great but the main thing is this is Jennifer Lawerence

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

OMG! She's got boobs! Brand new information!

hefferboi

Jesus I love her!

ButtersSuki

Jaysus lads I said she was so damn sexy I'd watch her paint a fence for a few hours and that I liked BOTH of them (her and Bale, not her two….I'll stop now ). Give me a break here!

I just said that if you saw the trailer I'd seen it looked like her movie when in reality she's in a few scenes for a few minutes in a 2hour plus movie that Bale OWNS with his performance. Check my reviews, I've always praised her acting ability and performances and I bet I've seen more of her movies than a lot of "y'all"!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Jaysus lads I said she was so damn sexy I'd watch her paint a fence for a few hours and that I liked BOTH of them (her and Bale, not her two….I'll stop now ). Give me a break here!

I just said that if you saw the trailer I'd seen it looked like her movie when in reality she's in a few scenes for a few minutes in a 2hour plus movie that Bale OWNS with his performance. Check my reviews, I've always praised her acting ability and performances and I bet I've seen more of her movies than a lot of "y'all"!

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

I've seen a whopping.... 3!

Quality not quantity.

MilanPan!c

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Jaysus lads I said she was so damn sexy I'd watch her paint a fence for a few hours and that I liked BOTH of them (her and Bale, not her two….I'll stop now ). Give me a break here!

I just said that if you saw the trailer I'd seen it looked like her movie when in reality she's in a few scenes for a few minutes in a 2hour plus movie that Bale OWNS with his performance. Check my reviews, I've always praised her acting ability and performances and I bet I've seen more of her movies than a lot of "y'all"!

I ... I don't know how to admit this, but here goes...

I LOVE movies. If it wasn't for being able to make a living in music, I'd work in movies.

I love directors and cinematographers and have chosen to see many a movie based simply on who does that job.

But.

Aside from a few basically negligible times, I've never gone to a movie based on who's in it.

(Though I have NOT watched movies based on the star.)

I often find myself not even consciously knowing who the actors are in movies, which is frankly embarrassing after paying in.

So.

Saying that.

I literally didn't know it was Christian Bale in American Hustle until almost the end.

I didn't try to figure it out either.

He honestly was amazing in that role and more than anything else I've seen him in (which is a lot of things) he seemed to just disappear.

Wow!

So.

As much as I love love love JL and DeNiro (in his prime), Bale stole the film.

Amazing movie really.

ButtersSuki

MilanPan!c wrote: »

I ... I don't know how to admit this, but here goes...

I LOVE movies. If it wasn't for being able to make a living in music, I'd work in movies.

I love directors and cinematographers and have chosen to see many a movie based simply on who does that job.

But.

Aside from a few basically negligible times, I've never gone to a movie based on who's in it.

(Though I have NOT watched movies based on the star.)

I often find myself not even consciously knowing who the actors are in movies, which is frankly embarrassing after paying in.

So.

Saying that.

I literally didn't know it was Christian Bale in American Hustle until almost the end.

I didn't try to figure it out either.

He honestly was amazing in that role and more than anything else I've seen him in (which is a lot of things) he seemed to just disappear.

Wow!

So.

As much as I love love love JL and DeNiro (in his prime), Bale stole the film.

Amazing movie really.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!

ButtersSuki

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

I've seen a whopping.... 3!

Quality not quantity.

Thus far I've seen her in:
American Hustle (reviewed/detailed on this thread, will own when released)
The Hunger Games (own it on Blu Ray)
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The House at the End of the Street (own it on Blu Ray)
Silver Linings Playbook (detailed on this thread, own it on Blu Ray)
X-Men First Class
The Beaver
Winter's Bone (detailed on this thread, own it on Blu Ray)
The Burning Plain (detailed on this thread, own it on Blu Ray)

X Men and The Beaver I can live without seeing again :rolleyes:

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Thus far I've seen her in:
American Hustle (reviewed/detailed on this thread, will own when released)
The Hunger Games (own it on Blu Ray)
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The House at the End of the Street (own it on Blu Ray)
Silver Linings Playbook (detailed on this thread, own it on Blu Ray)
X-Men First Class
The Beaver
Winter's Bone (detailed on this thread, own it on Blu Ray)
The Burning Plain (detailed on this thread, own it on Blu Ray)

X Men and The Beaver I can live without seeing again :rolleyes:

Those are the 3 I've seen and if they were all I ever saw of her films I'd be fairly impressed. Hunger Games don't appeal to me enough to pay to see them. I'd probably make an effort to catch them if they were on TV. Hope to see AH before it's gone from cinemas.

I'm also looking forward to seeing her in Serena, also starring Bradley Cooper. Weirdly it was filmed between Silver Linings and AH but hasn't got a release date yet?

I don't think anyone was trying to argue that Lawrence is a better actor than Bale, just that she has a broader appeal to the general public.

ButtersSuki

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Those are the 3 I've seen and if they were all I ever saw of her films I'd be fairly impressed. Hunger Games don't appeal to me enough to pay to see them. I'd probably make an effort to catch them if they were on TV. Hope to see AH before it's gone from cinemas.

I don't think anyone was trying to argue that Lawrence is a better actor than Bale, just that she has a broader appeal to the general public.

True, those 3 are probably her best performances. I'm still not sure on appeal though - think people might be underestimating how many Batnerds there are out there!

MilanPan!c

ButtersSuki wrote: »

True, those 3 are probably her best performances. I'm still not sure on appeal though - think people might be underestimating how many Batnerds there are out there!

I think her appeal is broader.

And I really enjoyed the HG movies.



I've been to the Ozarks so many times I really can't be bothered to watch Winters Bone. I guess I should though.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

MilanPan!c wrote: »

I think her appeal is broader.

And I really enjoyed the HG movies.



I've been to the Ozarks so many times I really can't be bothered to watch Winters Bone. I guess I should though.

If Winter's Bone is an accurate representation of the Ozarks I'm not sure why anyone would make one visit never mind multiple ones.

ButtersSuki

MilanPan!c wrote: »

I think her appeal is broader.

And I really enjoyed the HG movies.



I've been to the Ozarks so many times I really can't be bothered to watch Winters Bone. I guess I should though.

It's quality, watch it. Pretty cool soundtrack too - and I'm not even into that kind of stuff. Looks like a scary place, not sure I'd be visiting without a gun!