The Latest Movies (Non-Anime) You Are Watching Right Now

[_D_]

Saw World War Z the other night. Okay for a PG-13 zombie flick. Not gory and the first 2/3 of the movie is a taut thriller. Was sick this past week so I haven't had time to check out new films. Will report later...

In case the embedded image won't work: http://s3.amazonaws.com/theoatmeal-img/ ... wz/wwz.png

You did read this didn't you?

http://www.horror-movies.ca/2013/06/wor ... bout-film/

[greg]

Also, watched "Green Lantern", I don't watch superhero films all that much (unless I have to review them) but I'll need to watch "Thor" and "Captain America" (the newer one not the old one, which I did watch on BD a few months ago)

Green Lantern is pretty much a guide on now not to make a superhero movie, from what I understand. Thor was okay, and Captain America is passable. It takes nearly half the movie before Captain America does anything really awesome. Also, the futuristic laser guns and such the Nazis used would have been much cooler if they didn't look like they came out of a modern-day SF movie. If they had been designed to look as though they had been designed by 1940's Nazi scientists, like retro steampunk-style of weapons, it would have added a lot more to the movie.

[davemerrill]

I dunno if it counts as a movie, but we're enjoying the HBO series FAMILY TREE, starring George O'Dowd from THE IT CROWD. It's produced by Christopher Guest from SPINAL TAP, BEST IN SHOW, A MIGHTY WIND, etc, and stars a lot of his crew - Michael McKean, Ed Begley Jr., and the always great Fred Willard. It's produced with the same kind of improvisational low-key comedy mindset.

[greg]

My sister is really into his movies. I've never seen Spinal Tap, but I watched Best In Show. I couldn't get into it. Then again, I love Wes Anderson movies, and I can imagine why people won't get a kick out of movies like The Life Aquatic like I do. My sister assumed I'd like Christopher Guest movies as a result, but I just didn't care for it. I won't knock it though, as I can understand why others may like it.

A few weeks ago, I watched Saving Private Ryan. I hadn't seen that movie in a very long time. I can't say anything negative about that movie.

[llj]

Wes Anderson is usually hit or miss for me. I loved Moonrise Kingdom though. My favorite American film of last year, actually.

There are a few directors I really like that many others don't care for. I'm a big fan of Whit Stillman, but you either hate the way he writes dialogue or you believe that's just the way he sincerely prefers the world should talk like. I'm in the latter camp.

Otherwise, I would say I'm not a particularly discriminating person when it comes to films. I can find entertainment value in "bad" films. I can get into a variety of genres--rom-com, horror (though not the torture kind a la Hostel), action, lowbrow comedy (yes, I can still enjoy an Adam Sandler comedy on occasion), fantasy, sci-fi, existential artsy fartsy, etc,. I would not make a particularly good film reviewer since there are some really bad films out there I can be fond of.

I will admit, though, that I have severely lost interest in the superhero film genre in general--even the "good" ones don't really interest me anymore. So I'm usually always the last person to see the latest Iron Man/Avengers/Batman etc. Which is funny since I was a big superhero comics reader back in the day. Still got hundreds of superhero comics back in my parents' house.

[greg]

Superhero movies are the only movies that seem to interest me anymore, but only Marvel for me. I can't bring myself to care much for DC characters or their movies. (I was coerced into watching the first Nolan Batman movie, but I never did see Dark Knight because the whole world and somebody else kept telling me to watch it. At that point, my stubbornness becomes policy.) Plus I'm interested in seeing the next Hobbit movie. Unless it's stuff like that, I just don't really get excited about movies anymore. Too much stupidity these days.

[llj]

I think the Nolan Batman movies (yes, I did finally finish all of them recently) represent the height of this genre's inflated sense of self-importance. They're all bloated, preachy, and to be honest, actually not all that fun to watch if you don't have any attachment to the character. Now, I happen to like Batman and I do like some of Frank Miller's "pretentious" Batman comics (loved Year One, disliked DKR) but comics in general tend to move much faster than movies do, and there's always a sense of fun in the comic form even when it's being super serious. The Nolan movies on the other hand go on and on and on about themes which only 13 year olds would find profound. It's not fun to watch. There's also the problematic issue that Batman is basically a fascist, which is much easier to tolerate in comic form than in film, where they try to constantly justify Batman's worldview to the audience.

I liked the first Spider-Man movie from Sam Raimi and those early steps in the 2000s towards making "good" superhero movies that started to come out when Hollywood had finally started mastering CG. Make no mistake, the emergence of CG has been a big factor in this film genre's success. But at some point in time, I had pretty much got everything I wanted out of superhero films. I can't even really enjoy them on a guilty pleasure level anymore.

Sometimes I much prefer to watch a "bad" film that doesn't try to please everyone and is comfortable with what it is.

[davemerrill]

By the time the last Batman movie ended, I was so done with the whole thing. I mean, I liked the Nolan movies, they're well-crafted and everything, but so serious. So self-important. I felt like the entertainment I was getting had to work its way through a whole layer of pomposity. It's strange, because Nolan's INCEPTION was filled with big, important ideas, yet moved quickly and deftly, and on the whole more enjoyable to watch.

I don't really feel the need to see the super-hero movies any more, I'm feeling the burnout. I might be in for the next X-Men movie because it's adapting the big X-Men storyline that was THE SHIT when I was 13, so there's some nostalgia for that, but apart from feeding my inner child the things don't have a lot of appeal for me.

[greg]

I might be in for the next X-Men movie because it's adapting the big X-Men storyline that was THE SHIT when I was 13, so there's some nostalgia for that, but apart from feeding my inner child the things don't have a lot of appeal for me.

Wow, so what's that? The last I heard, it was some back story about Magneto or something. I dug the First Class movie, although the actress who played Emma Frost was terrible and was apparently only given the role due to her bra size. Unfortunately, the X-Men movies aren't even compatible with each other. I didn't even mind the Last Stand one too much; it had some cool parts to it, at least. IIRC, Cyclops was getting killed off and replaced in the comics, too. It could've been done better.

I never got to see Iron Man 3. I may as well just buy the DVD when it comes out. I'll be excited about another Avengers movie, and I think another Captain America movie, too. The problem is that they really started overdoing themselves with the comic book movies and making movies about characters who people don't really care a lot about, such as Daredevil, Electra, and Ghost Rider; or taking interesting characters and pissing them down their pant leg, such as Green Lantern. And rebooting Spider-Man way too soon and making it a terrible movie. I won't ever bother with that one. Marvel is doing a better job than DC, at least. Nolan's Batman movies got everyone excited, but that's about it. I wonder if this new Superman movie is flopping? From what I understand, it deserves to.

[llj]

So they're doing the Dark Phoenix Saga in X-Men? That's pretty cool, but I feel like that storyline's better for a TV serial format than movies (even if broken up into a trilogy)

Nolan is a very good craftsman, but he takes himself SO seriously. None of his movies have any humour in them. Not even black humour. Inception, Insomnia, Memento, the Batman movies...all of them take themselves Very Seriously. They're very well made and even exciting at times, but stuck in a certain gear. I think that's one of the reasons why I still put him below guys like Michael Mann and David Fincher, who are similarly "macho" filmmakers but they at least know when to have a little fun. He's their equal in terms of his level of craftsmanship, but until he learns to loosen up a little, he's always going to be stuck on his current level.