Meatwadsprite's Slow Review Thread

I'm not talking about bullet-time , I'm talking about the ending. It just goes from one predictable turn to another , and eventually ties in everything for a nice happy ending.

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The Prestige (1 viewing)



Although it's still very reliant on twists , it shows Nolan's making his films more mature since his backwards debut Memento. It definitely doesn't have the power of his Batman films , but a visually pleasing behind the scenes look at this magician rivalry - has just enough character emphasis to keep you engaged.

You'll go back and forth trying to pick which magician (Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman) is in the right and it constantly turns around each one at rapid pace. As this rivalry gains momentum it continues to get more violent as well - leading up to the truly insane conclusion. Although it does work very well to keep you on your toes , it doesn't look as grand when viewed in whole.

This is what I assume most people who didn't like it hated about The Prestige , it's not able to string all of these events into each other - instead it plays out like a series of episodes. Anyway , even with this holding it back from being an amazing movie - it's still a very enjoyable one and I look foward to my next viewing when knowing the ending.

Oh boy ... just went back to back with these bad movies. Don't want to waste a lot of time telling you how much I didn't enjoy them.



I was actually very drawn into this movie , but the transfer on the criterion DVD is unwatchable. It flickers white and dark gray the entire time - probably their worst looking DVD they have made.

DVD rating



Philip Seymour Hoffman almost made it bearable ... almost.






The best depiction of american gangs I've seen on film , but it's just a downright goofy movie.





At first it was very interesting - visuals , sound design , and everything. About an hour in though I completely lost interest and it all went downhill from there.



I'll still be searching for new favorites

The Prestige rocks!

I haven't seen Slumdog Millionaire, but all I have heard has been good stuff about it. It looks good, but not amazing or anything. Interesting to see a negative rating for it.

I'm going to see Gran Torino (that's the third movie, right?) later tonight. That is the first really negative review I've seen for it. Will post thoughts later.

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

Yeah...didn't get the whole "Prestige" ending thing. Had to Google it...yeah, not the brightest guy at MoFo...

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I have been formatted to fit this screen.

r66-The member who always asks WHY?

I pretty much agree. One of the best parts of Reloaded was the highway scene which was, in itself, a technical masterpiece, except when they totaled the Aurora.

Anyways, the appeal of the second two, for me anyways, is the massive overload of philosophy. The first one is essentially an action film, while the sequels are merely just a philosophical tour de force (not perfectly pieced together, but certainly a lot of different ideas jammed into the two films).

The Matrix films are just flicks I can watch when I wanna be in a mindless stupor, or a mind blowing batsh!t crazy outlook at life. Either way it fits the bill.

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"This is that human freedom, which all boast that they possess, and which consists solely in the fact, that men are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has been determined." -Baruch Spinoza

I'm a little confused on your rating of Drunken Angel. Was it the film you gave a "zero", or the transfer? Could you elaborate on your rating system, perhaps?

He's giving the DVD a 0/5 although I've read many of the reviews of the visuals of the Criterion DVD and none said it was unwatchable. However, meaty did give a "watchable" version of Rashomon a 1.5/5.

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My IMDb page

There should either be separate reviews, or not at all in that case...

Review Frost/Nixon

Yep I'm in no way saying Drunken Angel the film is terrible , but I wouldn't know - because it hurts me eyes watching this DVD. All the DVD reviews I read of it have complained about the flickering and how dirty / messed up the film was for the movie, criterion probably went through hell to get it as good as they did , but it's still awful. (most of the reviews also mention the VHS version is completely unwatchable).

This video is low quality to begin with , but you can kind of see how the color is constantly changing.

&feature=related

I should probably also mention I didn't really enjoy Throne of Blood (or Ran) - I find Kurosawa's original stories much more interesting and exciting : than these Shakespeare adaptations.

I've seen the Criterion transfer and I had no trouble watching it...

Again, I'd like to know how your rating system works. You seem to give a lot of low scores to some undeserving films...

MEATWADSPRITE'S BEST OF 2008

In 2007 we saw an incredible amount of great releases and while 2008 did not have as many , it did make up for with some very high quality flicks. So here my top picks and I advise you go out to see any of movies mentioned here.

Funniest Film - Be Kind Rewind



This came out way early in the year and I've watched it so many times since , Jack Black gives his funniest performance of his career - he's just the perfect guy for this movie. Michel Gondry uses his clever camera tricks to give this a very home-made quality (while at the same time filming the rest of the movie in a very professional manner).

Best Acting Performance - Heath Ledger



In a year full of amazing performances , Heath Ledger still stands out for becoming such an iconic personality. No matter how realistic Philip Seymour Hoffman (Synecdoche New York) and Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler) played their respective characters , Ledger was able to make you believe that The Joker (a very outlandish character) could actually exist.

Runner Ups :

Best Musical Score - Synecdoche New York



Even though The Dark Knight might have my favorite song this year , Synecdoche New York has song after song after song of great music. It's also a very original score , that works with the movie and at the same time doesn't dictate the emotion of the scenes.

Runner Ups :

Best Visuals - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull



From start to finish - Indiana Jones continues to put together such an amazing collaboration of lighting , camera work , and CGI to make this one of the best looking movies of all time. This is easily the most impossible category to pick though because Wall-E , Iron Man , Synecdoche New York , and The Dark Knight all with different things to offer.

Runner Ups :

Films of the Year - The Dark Knight and Synecdoche New York




Choosing between these two amazing films is impossible for me. Each one will most likely be the pinnacle of their respective director's careers and neither one has a single boring moment. Synecdoche New York has an abundance of small details and is a very satisfying marvel of complexity. On the other hand The Dark Knight is an extremely intense and iconic morality tale , that boils the very essence of crime to it's inner core. Both movies jam pack amazing actors into these ensemble teams and bring out some of their best performances of their careers.

Runner Ups :

I urge you to go out and see all the movies listed above and let's hope that 2009 continues to bring us amazing movies.

2008 in Review
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The Dark Knight
The Wrestler
Synecdoche New York
Wall-E
Be Kind Rewind
Iron Man
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Frost/Nixon
Kung Fu Panda
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Pineapple Express
Burn After Reading
In Bruges
Gran Torino
Slumdog Millionaire
Cloverfield
Tropic Thunder
CJ7

I have to ask, where do you get all these small images and stuff? Do you make them, because I want to do something like that with my reviews, and I see a lot of people on here using them.

Well if you upload them to tinypic.com you can choose what size you want them to be. Some of the pictures are also just thumbnails from google image search.

Hmm, I'm gonna go upload some to tinypic.com, thanks for the info.

Anyway, I think I may do a 'Best Of 2008' thing in my review thread as well.

Grand Illusion (1 viewing)



This landmark film works superbly when it's about escape , but it's message about a general humanity in all people - is much too simplistic and works against any tension there could be.

In the midst of World War I , two French aviators are gunned down and captured during a reconnaissance mission. They are taken to a very humane German prison camp where troops of both sides treat each other with respect. Here the two befriend fellow allied soldiers and begin their escapes.

It's very well filmed and has an abundance of great scenes , though it comes with some big problems. So many characters are introduced - at the same rate other important characters disappear. Times when it does focus solely on the characters , it often rushes through the scene. Then there are times when it completely shoves it's story out of the way to illustrate the similar morality of the opposing sides.

Nearing the end is does not feel like a singular movie , instead a handful of situations. You'll still be compelled to watch it to the end - for the very entertaining scenes that are scattered around , but when it was all over it felt only a modest illusion.

hey meat, your "best of" post was nicely done. tried to leave a comment, but that wasnt working, so there you go!

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