Meatwadsprite's Slow Review Thread

Every other actor in the movie is brilliant as a paranoid cheating husband?

You're not in the greatest mood today are you Sleez?

Schindler's List (2 viewings)



This huge World War 2 film about a German businessman's attempts to save as many Jewish people from certain death in the concentration camps - is acted well with a mildly interesting story and features beautiful black and white cinematography.

The movie starts right at the beginning of the relocation of the polish-Jewish people to the ghettos. Schindler (Liam Neeson) is just starting his new factory to produce various sets of pots and pans for the army - and decides to employ an all Jewish staff. Though the black market in the ghettos , Schindler pays his employees with straight goods instead of money. As he sees more and more of the horrible killings of the Jewish people , he decides to try and get as many people possible to work at his camps : where no-one dies.

Schindler's List is shot in black and white , with a few dabs of color and looks really amazing for the most part. Some people may not be able to stomach the gratuitous amount of very realistic and brutal violence the movie often displays : re-enacting all of the horrible things that happened in the holocaust.

As big and realistic as the movie is - it suffers from it's weak focus on characters. Instead of attaching the story to a few people in each situation it doesn't really focus on it's main character or anyone hard enough. You mostly only see major events of Schindler opening his factory , writing this list , and his various business deals - but you rarely find scenes that actually reveal his personality. Something else I really hated in this movie was the ending. I'm not sure if it's real footage or actors at the memorial thing at the end - not that it matters : it's a very dull way to end a movie.

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Saving Private Ryan (2 viewings)



This movie takes place on the other end of the war and has a much more fictional approach for it's story. A small group of solders are sent on a very dangerous and foolish mission to find a mis-dropped airborne solider - Private Ryan.

It opens with the very iconic D-Day invasion , where the allied troops rush out on foot toward the two towering turrets of Normandy Beach. The madness and rapid loss of human life in this battle puts you right into the mind-set of one of the solders. After Captain John H. Miller (Tom Hanks) guides his usual group of solders through the intense battle - he and his troops are sent right back into German occupied areas to search for Private Ryan.

Visually this film is very responsible for the tons of movies that use shakey camera movement , but it's done incredibly well in this movie. The battles are so realistic and shot so excitingly , you're share of eye candy won't be unfulfilled. The huge mixture of the great lighting and constant destruction of the scenery : set this movie apart from any other war movie you will see.

The main characters are what drives the story though and the cast is excellent. It's main focus are the few members of this group trying to save Ryan and the that's what gives this movie something a lot of war movies try to avoid , fun. But , unfortunately again Spielberg closes the movie with a foolish ending. Instead of ending it with main characters , you just see the now much older Ryan (who really is a minor character) at the graveyard for the people who saved him , it just doesn't get more anti-climatic than that.

Mildly interesting it is a horrific true story

Not sure I would have used gratuitous (being without apparent reason, cause, or justification)

They were some of the people he helped to save I found that part the most moving part of all certainly not dull

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Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
Buddha

So you agree there was a reason for them to kill all the jewish people ?

Oh boy ....

She means that Spielberg's use of extreme violence to show the true-life horrors wasn't gratuitous. She certainly wasn't condoning what the Nazis did, and Spielberg obviously doesn't either.

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
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Star Wars Episode IV : A New Hope (countless viewings)



The original Star Wars will always have a dear place in my heart - it's iconic visuals , huge fictional universe , and great actor chemistry make it my favorite (well tied favorite) of the saga.

This one takes place about 19 years after Episode III and begins with Darth Vader capturing Princess Leia to retrieve stolen data plans of the empire's new planet destroying weapon. Luckily droid R2-D2 and his friend C3PO escape with the plans and make their escape in a small emergency pod. The droids eventually are purchased by a moisture farmer , who's nephew - Luke Skywalker wants to leave his boring farm life for a more adventurous purpose. Upon learning about the princesses capture via R2-D2 , Luke seeks out old ben and embarks on his journey.

Even though watching this movie on DVD now is a huge step up in picture quality from when it was originally released. Each shot succeeds from being set in unique places : from the desert , to the millennium falcon , to death star - each place offers it's unique sense of calmness or intensity. The actors are what it really comes down to in immersing you into the fantasy world - and they got what it takes. Mark Hammill , Harrison Ford , Carrie Fisher , James Earl Jones , Alec Guinness , and Peter Cushing all submerge you into the futuristic era and effectively deliver constant emotion.

Morally charged , this episode of Star Wars remains an incredibly exciting adventure of it's own - but fortunately is only one of the many exciting stories of Star Wars.

Sometimes you are a real twit

Bad joke apparently.

Boiling Point (1 viewing)



This is Kitano's least extravagant and poorly designed film of all his career. It's confusing , half-serious , and features the most out of place humor you could ever imagine. It seems more of a black comedy than an actual drama.

Unfortunately I can't tell you the base of the plot - because for the length of the movie , it's hard to tell what Boiling Point is even about. The story jumps from character to character to character - and eventually Kitano jumps in half way in the movie. I pretty much gave up on seeing this as a more serious movie like Sonatine or Fireworks - when Takeshi tells his friend to go have sex with his wife , then throws his wife off the bed in the middle of it and rapes his friend.

The movie also suffers from the cameras used to film it. Darker scenes result in making everything really blurry when someone moves around. Kitano experiments with some different kinds of shots as well (which were never featured in any of his other movies). It does feature a couple very well done camera work though - which is probably the only highlight in this.

Either way - pitch black comedy or downright dumb drama , it's a big disappointment for me. If anything , the best purpose this movie served is to teach Kitano more about making movies.

I wonder what you think of Violent Cop, dude.

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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

Meatwadsprite's Guide to 2008 films

This year has been pretty good for films and I'll go over the good and bad films (i've seen) that came out this year and what's coming up.

On DVD



Cloverfield : This was the first thing I saw this year , and it was a lot of fun back in the theater - but it just was boring when i saw it at home.







Be Kind Rewind : I wasn't expecting what I saw in theaters , but since it's come out on DVD - I've watched it about 5 times. It's so much fun and it's Jack Black's best role he's ever going to do.









Iron Man : I've only seen it once and it was a long time ago - it's about to come out on DVD. Back when I saw it though , I did enjoy it a lot.







Son of Ranbow : I wanted to see this back when it came out , but not enough to go the theater for it. It mixes the occasionally hilarious with the often boring , but to sum it up - it's the poor man's Be Kind Rewind.






In Theaters



Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull : This as fun as the second and third ones (my favorites) and features some really amazing camera work - that you'll never see in the others. I'll have to see if it's as fun at home when it comes out on DVD on November 12th. (right now it's just arriving in budget theaters).







Wall-E : This is the science fiction follow up to my favorite Pixar movie of all time Ratatouille (or is it Wall-E ?). Pixar does is twice in a row - with this visually impressive and wise existential animated film.







The Dark Knight : There will likely never be a superhero or comic book movie to ever topple this. It presents Gotham City as the horrible place it's supposed to be and succeeds at being one of the best crime dramas of all time.





Tropic Thunder : A lost opportunity of a war movie parody. This movie fails to become the movie everyone wanted it to be. It does have some laughs though - but it's not worth renting even if you like everyone involved.







Burn After Reading : Even though it's agreed that it does have some really funny moments - everyone was equally let down by this. Although I might enjoy it much more on the second viewing.



for now ...


Coming Soon



Choke : I'm just about finished reading the book and now I'm really looking forward to this. Even though it's the director's first time - the reviews I've read are very positive - and Palahuniuk really loved it.



prediction



Synecdoche New York : Kaufman's directorial debut (which he also wrote) looks like it may be his best work yet. The only negative reviews I've read don't enjoy it because they think it's too complex or sad. I am looking forward to this , a ton. Oh yeah , when your buying your ticket - it's pronounced Sa-nick-duh-key.



prediction



The Curious Case of Benjamin Button : This unusuall choice for David Fincher is a big change up from his crime movies. The trailer doesn't reveal much - except it focuses on a backward ageing Brad Pitt. Can Fincher follow up his masterpiece ? It comes out Christmas.



prediction



The Spirit : It's hard to look forward to another stylized comic movie - after seeing the Watchmen trailer. But , I might just check this out a couple weeks after it comes out on Christmas.



prediction

I'm actually right about to watch it and then Kids Return (thanks to netflix)

Alright Meat.

Your reviews have been a bit hit and miss with me. Half the time I agree with you, other times I really don't get why you don't rate such films higher with Bladerunner being one that angered me the most. But yeah, you're doing a good job, mate.

Though I have to comment that you (along with many others) have overrated Iron Man, imo. I don't get what the big fuss is with it. Watch it again and see if it's as good as it was the first time round. Robert Downey makes conceals the film's flaws the first time round with his undeniable charisma. But upon sebsequent viewing, the film's weaknesses are a lot more apparent.

Adaptation (2 viewings)



This isn't just a movie - but a movie inside of a movie , inside of a movie , inside of a movie ... etc. The main character's name is Charlie Kaufman (who actually writes the movie) and is writing a screenplay based on a book. While it is lacking in some aspects , because Charlie Kaufman doesn't want this movie to be like any other - it's fun comes , when you're trying to figure out the difference between the Kaufman portrayed in the film and the one in real life.

Nicholas Cage plays Kaufman and his twin brother Donald - using trick photography to capture them both in one frame. It will be hard for you to even notice the effect as Cage plays right into both roles. The problems with this movie , is it shares the flaws Kaufman's in film screenplay does - a strong plot. The movie mocks itself in doing everything Kaufman doesn't want to do at the beginning and continues to divulge deeper into a world inside of a world inside of a world.

Although it's not as complex , fun , and emotionally realized as his later work Eternal Sunshine , it's more than enough reason to think away at the layers upon layers that drive this movie.

How dare you!

Hahahaha.

Touche!

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It was really good , but I'm not gona review it until after I watch it again.


Michael Clayton - second review (2 viewings)



The first time I saw this the movie lost me in it's subtle twists and turns - now seeing it a second time , I fully understand the story - but unfortunately the film is only a little better.

Michael Clayton (Clooney) is a "fixer" for this law-firm - where he is not paid under the name of his actual job. When an important senior lawyer for corporation U/North - Arthur (Tom Wilkinson) , doesn't take his medication - he starts his anti-campaign against the company he used to work for. A U/North executive (played by Tilda Swinton) sees to it that Arthur's clever techniques are not used for the other side and anyone who has the knowledge for the 3 billion dollar lawsuit case is in danger with U/North.

Although the core mystery and plot are very good and there are many great acting performances through-out , the film packs little to no visual and musical punch. Michael Clayton is shot in a very simplistic way of just focusing on the characters talking/walking and blurring everything else out a shot. It really is a boring movie to look at , as for the score - there is a big lack of tense or emotional music in most scenes.

I never thought a movie would be so dull , especially one with a really good story - just because of it's lack of any good visuals and absence of music. This movie has proven me wrong and though I wouldn't give director and writer Tony Gilroy a second chance in the directors chair - he should write another movie soon.

Duplicity, 09'

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I used to be addicted to crystal meth, now I'm just addicted to Breaking Bad.

Michael Clayton only 3 popcorns?