Summer Movies

[ZagGrad]

Since I'm seeing it tonight, I want to know what I can expect from The War of the Worlds. I'm sure there are some people out there who have seen it, so let me know what you think. Also, any other movies out there worth seeing? Anyone interested in Willy Wonka coming up?

[bste_lax]

Two movies that come out either this weekend or next that I want to see:

1) Murderball - looks interesting
2) Wedding Crashers - Vince Vaughn + Owen Wilson + Rated R instead of PG-13 = comedy ensues.

[ACE]

War of the Worlds was good. Don't expect much plot or to try to figure out exactly the aliens thought process. But if you watch it for the action and special effects, its great. Ending could have been a little better.

I thought Batman was really good. This one actually had a story to it. Better than War of the Worlds.

What about Fantastic Four?

[bste_lax]

War of the Worlds was good. Don't expect much plot or to try to figure out exactly the aliens thought process. But if you watch it for the action and special effects, its great. Ending could have been a little better.

I thought Batman was really good. This one actually had a story to it. Better than War of the Worlds.

What about Fantastic Four?

I really liked Batman Begins, my favorite out of the bunch.

I only have interest in Fantastic Four for 1 reason: Jessica Alba, otherwise I could care less about the movie.

[WyoPoke]

I finally got the wife to cave in and we're going to see Sin City at the dollar theater tonight. I've heard really good things from my friends and co-workers about Batman Begins. I agree with Benson about Alba being the only reason to be remotely interested in Fantastic Four.

[ZagGrad]

Saw War of the Worlds Friday night...my opinion: Not good. Of course the special effects were good and Spielberg does some creative things with how the aliens start to destroy the world, but there are tons of loose ends, the plot-line is weak, and the ending is full of holes. For all of you...wait until the rental...if that.

Fantastic Four does not impress me...I never grew up reading that comic. Batman begins sound awesome and I have heard nothing but good things about that movie, so that'll probably be the next one I see.

[jessexy]

DO NOT see Dark Water. I was convinced by some fine girl with big tits to see this movie and we ended up walking out a hour into it cuz nothing happened. she has since had her movie-picking privelige revoked and i get to pick every movie we see until eternity (or until i pick a bad one).

[lil lady lax fan]

Saw War of the Worlds Friday night...my opinion: Not good. Of course the special effects were good and Spielberg does some creative things with how the aliens start to destroy the world, but there are tons of loose ends, the plot-line is weak, and the ending is full of holes. For all of you...wait until the rental...if that.

Fantastic Four does not impress me...I never grew up reading that comic. Batman begins sound awesome and I have heard nothing but good things about that movie, so that'll probably be the next one I see.

My husband has seen/read/heard all things War of the Worlds including the radio broadcasts. He wasn't impressed with the latest remake either. It seemed to him that Spielberg couldn't decide whether to stick with the original story or go the Independence Day route, and ended up somewhere in between. Not very satisfying at all. He much preferred Batman Begins, said it was the best of the bunch.

Me, I have no interest in WotW. Tom Cruise just doesn't do it for me... I want to see Batman Begins (yes, the scumbag went to see it without me--his company paid for it), and Cinderella Man.

I'll let you know what he thinks of Fantastic Four. He's going to see it with some of his buddies tomorrow. They want to see his expression when they make a travesty of his favorite comic book.

[ZagGrad]

It seems as though directors/producers are trying to substitute tremendous special effects for poorly written plots and acting...(and some are even trying to to do it using big name actors ie WotW). Some others which fall under this classification are the Hulk, Fantastic Four, Star Wars...I'm sure there are many others. The movies that can do it successfully, so far (that I have seen) are the Harry Potter movies, which target a younger fan base, and the Spiderman movies. Granted Spider man can probably carry it's own weight based on history alone, but the actors/writers/producers all make it work with the special effects. I think the last successful movie to do that was Independence day and that was about 5 years ago.

[Campbell]

I was not overly impressed with War of the Worlds, although I do think it follows HG Wells original thoughts on the matter. I just dont like HG Wells and watching this movie, espceially the ending, cemented that once again. Batman was great, I thought this was a really well developed movie, some minor physics flaws, but nothing to write home about. I just watched the Machinist yesterday and that is some creepy dark stuff, after watching Bale in Batman, he must have lost 100 lbs to make that movie, pretty freaky. Not really looking forward to any other movies this summer and I am getting pretty sick of the trailer for that new robotic jet movie.

[Dan Wishengrad]

Summer is always when the studios trot out their big action, special-effects-laden, "dumbed-down" flicks or their "vanity vehicles" for stars who insist on displaying how bad an actor they really are. "Good" movies -- that is serious stuff designed to win Oscars, are released in Spring, Winter or Fall, almost exclusively. There hasn't been a movie released during the Summer months for years that the studios actually care much about. Oh, sure -- they'll hype their summer releases incessantly. But the target audience for summer movies is always either 18-24 year old boys with shoot-em-up violence-fests or sappy teen romance trash designed for 18-24 year old girls. The studio honchos know critics take the summers off, too, and try to sneak the stuff they know is crap on a mostly unsuspecting and non-discriminating public.

I read an interview with Mayer (former MGM studio head) who said that if you release a movie that shows youths rebelling against authority, destroying property and having people take their clothes off that teenage boys will spend their money to see it 5-6 times each and the studios can just rake in the profits -- even if the critics tell everyone just how bad the movie really is. The worse the critical reviews are, in fact, the more money they can make. Of course occasionally something really good is released in the summer "by mistake" because the studios fought having it made in the first place and have to try to recoup their production costs somehow. When this happens everybody in "The Biz" gets shocked that the thing is actually good after all. You can tell those movies because they are rarely if ever promoted before release but if word of mouth creates a buzz, all of a sudden you'll see ads popping up for it AFTER it has been playing for a week or two.

[ZagGrad]

Two movies that come out either this weekend or next that I want to see:

1) Murderball - looks interesting

Benson, you see this yet? I don't know if it's even out yet. I just read an article on Page 3 and they were talking about quadriplegics, yet they're in wheelchairs using their arms...Shouldn't that make them paraplegic? Sounds interesting to say the least.

[bste_lax]

Two movies that come out either this weekend or next that I want to see:

1) Murderball - looks interesting

Benson, you see this yet? I don't know if it's even out yet. I just read an article on Page 3 and they were talking about quadriplegics, yet they're in wheelchairs using their arms...Shouldn't that make them paraplegic? Sounds interesting to say the least.

Not yet. It's only out in select cities and select theaters. I almost went on Friday but ended up not going to it. Probably won't this weekend with my family coming into town but I will eventually in the next two weeks or so. The previews now say open in select cities for now, open nation-wide in a couple weeks.

[Dan Wishengrad]

[quote="ZagGrad I just read an article on Page 3 and they were talking about quadriplegics, yet they're in wheelchairs using their arms...Shouldn't that make them paraplegic? [/quote]

The NY Times review of this movie (which is very positive, as are ALL the early reviews) answers that question Chris -- it defines quadriplegia as "at least some impairment in all four limbs". But obviously most of these wheelchair athletes are really pariplegics, with full use of their arms.

Every review of this movie on the link I read gave this 4 stars or higher, which means the studio probably thought nobody would pay to see this and they dumped it out in mid-summer. So it will probably be a critical and box-office smash! Although I'm not sure how many teenagers will flock to see it...

[ZagGrad]

Another possible Hoop Dreams? Hmmm...we'll see.