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Post by OurLadyWar on Jun 29, 2010 9:18:39 GMT -5
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Post by takewithfood on Jun 29, 2010 9:35:38 GMT -5
I never read the books. When they first came out, I knew a few guys and girls who got into them and they explained a little about the story and characters, and I rather hastily decided that it wasn't my bag.
I have watched most of the movies, and they're entertaining, but they aren't really good. I think a lot of people enjoy them, but there isn't actually anything spectacular about them. (I would say that the special effects in The Goblet of Fire were particularly excellent, but that's about it.) The acting isn't that great, the stories are incredibly simplistic and full of holes, the entire world treads back and forth over the line between plagiarism and homage, and I just really don't have many good things to say about them. But they don't offend and they offer a sense of belonging to fans, and I'm pretty okay with that. It's a global phenomenon, and people like to be a part of something. I totally get that.
My best friend and I have a tradition of sorts that each time a new Harry Potter movie comes out, we rent the old ones (or at least some of them, these days) and watch them with her Dad. Her Dad invariably forgets most of what has happened between movies, so it's all sorta new again. I buy some of these REALLY delicious cinnamon buns that are so terrible for you from the store up the street, and the rule is that we don't get to eat them until someone in the movie says the word "Brilliant". Most of the time it's Ron. God bless that kid.
~TWF
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Post by WildKnight on Jun 29, 2010 9:36:39 GMT -5
I have been a big fan of the movies... but then, I stopped reading the books, so unlike many movie watchers, I'm not constantly comparing the movie to the book.
I honestly feel like calling anything "the movie event of a generation" these days is ludicrous. The fact of the matter is that there are no more "Star Wars's" out there. Its not that people don't make quality films anymore, its just that there are sooooo many mega-hyped blockbusters every year, that by the time most movies finish their run at the theaters, theres already another bloated megafilm taking its place. Sad to say, Titanic may have been the last film that could genuinely call itself a definitive film. Everybody and their Mother saw that thing.
If we had to call any movie the current "generation defining" film, I think intellectual honesty would force me to give Avatar that spot. It made more money than anything else, and inspired a ridiculous amount of controversy and love and hate.
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Post by takewithfood on Jun 29, 2010 9:57:25 GMT -5
I never saw Titanic. Neither did my mother. Actually, I don't think anyone in my family saw it.
I don't think Avatar is a very generation-defining film, either. It made a big splash, but I don't think it will have a very lasting effect. It's already sorta being forgotten. It didn't embody much about the times we live in (it tried to, but only by recycling plot lines, and failed in that respect) and it wasn't as loved as the hype made it out to be. A lot of my friends didn't like it. My brother and his wife loved it, though. I think it was pretty hit-and-miss.
I totally agree on the mega-hyping of blockbusters, though. I think a big part of the problem is that we're told to like movies before we even have a chance to see them. Trailers come out earlier and earlier, they're longer and contain more key material, and they're often just the film versions of stories we already know. It's hard to be truly moved anymore. It's pretty friggin' arrogant to proclaim a movie "the movie event of a generation" or whatever when nobody has even seen it yet, and won't for half a friggin' year. Ah well.
~TWF
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Post by WildKnight on Jun 29, 2010 10:21:00 GMT -5
I don't think Avatar is a very generation-defining film, either. It made a big splash, but I don't think it will have a very lasting effect. ~TWF I actually agree, 100%. Sorry if my intended point got muddled there. All I was saying is that if anything could be called "generation defining" in movies these days, there are candidates ahead of the Harry Potter flick. Or at least, of equal status.
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Post by takewithfood on Jun 29, 2010 10:26:00 GMT -5
Oh, yeah, agreed. ^__^
~TWF
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Post by Brainstem on Jun 29, 2010 10:37:37 GMT -5
I saw Grown-Ups last night with my parents. It was very close to being unbearable.
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Post by WildKnight on Jun 29, 2010 10:49:37 GMT -5
Grown-Ups is the next "Hot Tub Time Machine" in my marriage. By that, I mean my wife really wants to see it, and I passionately want not to see it.
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Post by OurLadyWar on Jun 29, 2010 10:52:14 GMT -5
If you guys aren't interesting in blockbusters and being part of the "phenomenon", I totally recommend this movie I recently saw called "Ink". It's low budget, indie, but not reeking of hipsterness.
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Post by WildKnight on Jun 29, 2010 10:54:49 GMT -5
I have real trouble taking indie film seriously. I've seen a handful that I enjoyed, but for the most part I've found them to be just plain bad.
In the interest in fairness... most mainstream movies are also just plain bad, though.
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Post by slimgoodbody on Jun 29, 2010 17:28:38 GMT -5
Yeah, seeing movies is bad enough when you've got your own hangover. ;D Ha! Touche. edit: OLW, that movie looks really fun! Thanks for pointing it out, I'll definitely look it up. In return, have some Human Centipede. I haven't see it, and I don't think I particularly want to see it.
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Post by takewithfood on Jun 29, 2010 17:40:46 GMT -5
That trailer looked pretty neat. Ambitious for an indie film.
I watch a lot of foreign stuff these days. Same goes for TV. I find it refreshing, but that's only because I'm not yet bored of the tropes they probably abuse. (One thing I have noticed from watching Korean TV is that the only polite way for a man to show a woman affection in Korea is to put his jacket on her when she is cold. And for some reason Korean women are always cold. Optionally, you can find some excuse to give her your handkerchief, which she will then keep as a treasured memento. *shrug*)
EDIT: I KNEW SOMEONE WOULD POST HUMAN CENTIPEDE! I should have called it when I had the chance. My friends were going on and on about the trailer, and they built it up to be more than it was, so I wasn't impressed. But it sure left a mark on them.
~TWF
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Post by OurLadyWar on Jun 29, 2010 21:01:49 GMT -5
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Post by WildKnight on Jun 29, 2010 21:29:23 GMT -5
Sounds kind of interesting in the "thats odd" sort of way. I'd be more excited if Depp weren't attached. I'm starting to get sick of Johnny Depp (Secret Window and The Ninth Gate notwithstanding)
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Post by takewithfood on Jun 29, 2010 21:53:35 GMT -5
Johnny Depp is overplayed lately, but this is just voice acting. I can dig that. ^__^ Looks neat!
~TWF
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