Yeah, I fucking hate it when blockbusters actually try to be good movies too.
Wash: Were I unwed, I would take you in a manly fashion. Kaylee: 'Cause I'm pretty? Wash: 'Cause you're pretty.
'Heart Of Gold'
Buffista Movies 4: Straight to Video
A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
Polter-Cow - Jun 29, 2005 5:32:11 am PDT #4849 of 10002
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
Steph L. - Jun 29, 2005 5:38:30 am PDT #4850 of 10002
this mess was yours / now your mess is mine
Yeah, I fucking hate it when blockbusters actually try to be good movies too.
How DARE they!
Nutty - Jun 29, 2005 5:49:16 am PDT #4851 of 10002
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."
I have a working theory that it's almost impossible for a blockbuster-type action movie (i.e., big budget) to balance the serious with the whizbang, and the best that one can hope for is a mixture of both, so that the one causes amnesia for the lack of the other, in tandem, depending on which is onscreen at any given moment. I originated this theory to explain why the 1980s Bond movies failed, and why the Jason Bourne movies are so manic in tone, but I think it applies well to more than just the spy genre.
Jim - Jun 29, 2005 5:50:43 am PDT #4852 of 10002
Ficht nicht mit Der Raketemensch!
There's a crucial distinction between "good" and "glum". To some extent I agree with her; I think Batman Begins would have been a better film if it had leavened its dourness with a bit more exhilaration. I think there's a trend, of late, towards pomposity in SF/fantasy/comic movies; as if the makers are so keen to avoid campness and triviality that they forget that blockbuster movies are supposed to be fun.
Jim - Jun 29, 2005 5:52:58 am PDT #4853 of 10002
Ficht nicht mit Der Raketemensch!
I have a working theory that it's almost impossible for a blockbuster-type action movie (i.e., big budget) to balance the serious with the whizbang, and the best that one can hope for is a mixture of both, so that the one causes amnesia for the lack of the other, in tandem, depending on which is onscreen at any given moment.
Hmm. I'd argue that both XMen and both Spiderman films managed it near-perfectly, but I think you've put your finger on the problem with so many blockbusters.
bon bon - Jun 29, 2005 5:54:43 am PDT #4854 of 10002
It's five thousand for kissing, ten thousand for snuggling... End of list.
I think Batman Begins would have been a better film if it had leavened its dourness with a bit more exhilaration.
Agreed. I don't remember Batman having much fun, just looking cool.
Calli - Jun 29, 2005 5:57:36 am PDT #4855 of 10002
I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul—Calvin and Hobbs
Campy tv aside, Batman and dour tend to go together like milk and cookies. You could have people around the Bat experiencing the exhilaration, but I'd argue that the scenes in BB where Gordon was in the Batmobile brought a bit of that. I suppose there could have been more. I'd need to watch it again and think about it a bit.
Vonnie K - Jun 29, 2005 5:59:22 am PDT #4856 of 10002
Kiss me, my girl, before I'm sick.
Does Stephanie Zacharek have a bug up her butt?
Hmmm. I usually like her reviews, even when I don't agree with them. (Her writing strikes me as very... fannish at times, in both the good and the bad way.) Didn't read her Bats review since I wasn't particularly keen on having my mellows harshed, but I'll go read this one since I'm fairly indifferent to WotW.
I may still go see WotW, because sometimes, I like things to go BOOM.
Signed, pointed and laughed, but still had a pretty good time watching The Day After Tomorrow.
Jim - Jun 29, 2005 5:59:50 am PDT #4857 of 10002
Ficht nicht mit Der Raketemensch!
I don't want Batman to have fun. I want Jim to have fun. And I didn't have fun often enough.
tommyrot - Jun 29, 2005 6:04:28 am PDT #4858 of 10002
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
I may still go see WotW, because sometimes, I like things to go BOOM.
Me too. I love a good disaster flick, and by "good" I mean "lots of disaster."
Signed, pointed and laughed, but still had a pretty good time watching The Day After Tomorrow.
Vonnie K is me. Although I suspected that after our Shark!man crapfest.