OMG, this was a bad movie (just finished watching it):

The Human Centipede

I just watched it. I hadn't realized that I had seen it before until about half way through. I seem to remember I enjoyed it back then as well. For some reason, it reminded me of this (which I will watch tomorrow). Formula 51:

Avatar made mad sad.

Mostly, I think this was because I really like a lot of Cameron's other work. Terminator, T2, Aliens, The Abyss... Ok, none of it was really ground-breaking drama, but they were good, fun movies that you could really get into none the less.

But Avatar? Ok, props for being probably the most visually interesting film ever created, and props on inventing all sorts of new technologies to make that happen. And there were so many scenes where I found myself asking "Ok, so that had to be a composite, but which parts were live action and where are the matte lines?" And of course, it was all CGI. And until I watched the "making of" (which, btw, was a lot more compelling to watch than the actual movie) they honestly had me fooled.

As to the actual film itself? I couldn't get into it. There wasn't a story. Or at least, not one that couldn't easily have been conveyed in 2 paragraphs with absolutely no loss of fidelity. It was just so... formulaic. So predictable. Halfway through I found myself looking at the elapsed time / time remaining, wondering if anything interesting was ever going to happen. And by interesting, I don't mean big explosions and ships buzzing around everywhere, I mean interesting. As in "Wow, I didn't expect that" or "Huh, I wonder what that's about?" Just didn't happen for me.

Also: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/aliens_avatar

I've been wading through a friends mind-boggling array of movies on VHS and Beta. Must be at least 1000 titles (bought out a video store) of all sorts. I've seen some good ones, and some terrible ones.

Prize for absolutely horrible plot line, designed to get in yet another violent scene without furthering the story at all goes to a Chuck Bronson film. "The Evil that Men Do".

Opening scene is graphic depiction of torture. It goes downhill from there.

A couple years ago we decided that we needed to see some of the classic films. Casablanca was pretty damn good. The Sound of Music was way too goddam long, but having never seen it before I suddenly got some of the Family Guy references I hadn't previously understood. It also taught me that it's okay to dress your children in living room curtains. Gone With the Wind was also way too goddam long, and not as good as TSOM. But I can say I've seen it, so... meh.

Probably the worst of the "classic" (which apparently means nothing more than "old") movies I saw was Breakfast at Tiffany's. When the movie was finally over, I was angry at myself for having sat through it. Terrible, just terrible. My wife kind of liked it, and now I understand why wife-beating was much more common back in the 1960s.

One movie that doesn't make it on everyone's list of classics but that I kind of enjoyed is Cinema Paradiso. It's a drama but not over-the-top chick-flicky. Not much action, but has good character development and a good story. It's in Italian though, so if you a no speaka boppa di buppi, you'll have to read subtitles.

:bowrofl: I almost shot beer through my nose on that one.

LOL!!! The funniest part of this thread was when I clicked on the youtube to watch "The Human Centipede" video, it said "the video has been removed because it's content violated YouTube's terms of service."
Gee I wonder what the issue was...

You sir, i hope you get ban for this.

Well, since thirdgen so kindly dug this thread up from it's stinking grave, I'll throw in my $0.02.

Avatar was neat and worth my 3D IMAX money, but here's the plot for ya.

Really? Nobody mentioned Smokey and the Bandit? That black & gold Trans Am, Burt Reynolds at his absolute cheesy-ass zenith, a wheels-off Jackie Gleason, a cute/sexy Sally Field, and the incomparable Jerry Reed showing off his acting chops and providing one of the best theme songs ever.

Here's the rest of my short list:
Lebowski
Blues Brothers
American Beauty
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Ferris Bueller
No Country for Old Men
Risky Business
Bladerunner
Raiders of the Lost Ark

Arise and Walk, old thread!

I must admit, I missed out on "FernGully", and I think I intend to keep on missing out on it.

There have been some great satires on Avatar and similar takeoffs

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But I think that's kind of old news...



Films I enjoyed recently?


A Mighty Wind, brought to you by the creators of Spinal Tap, it's largely the same story but with folk musicians.

Paul sometimes felt a bit too overly self-conscious about all the meta humor, but was still a fun little film, very much along the lines of Adventureland or Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel, both of which I also recommend.

A Prairie Home Companion fictionalizes the popular radio show of the same name, and is probably only of interest to those who actually listen to the show on a regular basis, but is good way to kill a couple of hours on an airplane.

Wes Anderson's first venture into the world of stop-motion animation, Fantastic Mr. Fox ticks all the usual boxes, bringing the same great brand of martini-dry wit (and the same ensemble cast) as The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic into the world of furry little creatures.

90's horror/sci-fi films are underrated.

* < Princess Bride

Yeah, what, bring it...

Usual Suspects

So I finally watched Scott the Pilgrim.

It's funny how, within the first 20 seconds (eg: just the Universal Pictures logo itself) you can automatically tell this is going to be an interesting movie.



I must have rewound and watched that one ident a dozen times. :bowrofl: (Surprisingly, you need a good sub to appreciate this one. It's very Metroid / Contra-esque, despite the fact that most of the VG SFX in the movie were ripped directly from Sonic the Hedgehog.)

Here's the 16-bit Wing Commander version:

I really look up to some of you as intelligent humans...

Which is why it pains me that any of you would find that God-awful abortion of a movie "Avatar" to be even remotely entertaining. It's pretty much everything wrong with cinema today rolled into a "fuck you" cocktail of fuckery.

I don't want to go down the tired, beat into the dirt path of "fightclub, boondock saints, snatch etc etc etc etc" (even though they are fabulous), but "layer cake" was freaking awesome.

For weird Asian films: "old boy" is the ish! A must see. Too bad the other two films don't live up to its standard. "Audition" is more overrated than Nirvana. BOR-ING

Kelly's Heroes, Lawrence of Arabia, Easy Rider.

You're all wrong.

Lucky number Slevin is just epic.
The dialogue is the best ever written, and it's like the perfect movie.

Every single line is the perfect comeback to the previous line. It consists of all the things you think about 30 minutes after you were supposed to say them.
"Ahh, that's what I should have said.."
And who can forget the timeless quite from Slo: "Tell it to the one legged man, so he can bump it off down the road"

Boondock Saints, Snatch, Lock Stock and Revolver are also epic. Revolver is the only movie to ever make me think and affect my personal life. (Exept for the anger I felt after watching The Butterly Effect. I DIDN'T WANNA FUCKING KNOW!!)

Also, when Optimus Prime held his speech in the end of the first Transformers movie, my goosebumps were so powerful, I was actually shivering and almost weeping. But that's a nostalgia thing, not a "great movie" thing.