Inception.

[Natural Man]

Only dumb people enjoy watching films that make no sense. They are used to not understand things and acting like they actually do, they are superficial. These are the same who will say that sfx were amazing aswell, even if they have absolutely no clue about the meaning of scenario.

[BayGBM]

Opinion is opinion, we're all different, we all have different taste, and we like different movies.....  I'm a huge movie buff (My home collection is 300+ maybe 400, of all genres action, comedy, drama, romance, kids, etc) but I never read or watch any movie reviews, aside from the fact that I just said we all have different tastes, movie critics always have incredibly strong opinions about movies, sometimes they're just plain bitter, and I hate hearing someone tell me what I will like or dislike, you're not me, go formulate your own opinion, don't skip a movie just because someone said its bad!

And sometimes film critics have the experience, perspective, and intelligence to place a movie in context (a historical context, for example).  Does the film set out to do what it purports to do?  Does the script make sense (does it have too many plot holes)?  Is the acting up to par?  The direction, cinematography, editing, etc.  How does the film compare to others in the genre?  How does this film compare to the source material be it a novel, play, historical event, or another film/screenplay?  It is the difference between having an impulse and having a brain.  Everyone has the former, not everyone has the latter.  It is easy to “like” a film when one is too daft to know any better.  Like all good art, good film welcomes criticism, bad film cannot withstand it.  Of course, not all film critics are created equal.  Robin Wood and Richard Dyer were both excellent critics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Wood_(critic)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dyer

A lot of movies come down the pike that are not worth one’s time, attention, or money.  Film critics are there to help us sift the wheat from the chaff. Just because a film has a big budget and names behind it doesn't mean it is any good.  Finding one or two critics you respect and are in sync with is the way to use them; the rest you can ignore.  For example, I don’t read him, but Peter Travers, the film critic at Rolling Stone, has a large following.  

Of course a 14 year old brain is not interested in film criticism; they just want to sit down, turn their brains off, and watch.  Some people (adults) like to watch with their brains turned on.

[NaturalWonder83]

it was good
i liked it

[The Abdominal Snoman]

Saw it today in a packed theater and no one said a word after it was over. Usually people will clap when they like what they seen on the screen. But in this case there was dead silence.

I've also been looking forward to seeing it and have heard that it was an intelligent piece of work, but I failed to see any intelligence in it at all. In fact my best description of the story is that it was pretty stupid.

Dreaming inside of a dream inside of a dream and then physically partaking as an active participant with others in that dream who are also sleeping and dreaming tended to put me to sleep too.

And it took damn near forever for that damn van to fall off that bridge while all its passengers were dreaming about being somewhere else doing something entirely different.

The only emotional response it got out of me was the short scene where Leonardo's character finally got to see his kids again.  Otherwise I could have cared less if none of them ever did wake up.

It's supposed to make $45 million this weekend and it probably will do even better than that figure, but I bet it 'don't got legs'.

I want my $3 back!

Stunt, if you don't mind could you rate the movie "The Matrix" and the the movie "Momento" from 1 to 10. 10 being fucking awesome and 1 being dog shit. Thanks in advance.

[stuntmovie]

Sno, I hope this ain't a test to measure my dumbness or stupidity, but I'll try to answer anyway.

I got a strange feeling here that there is an ulterior motive in your question though ... but that's fine by me so here goes .....

I really can't answer you directly!

I can only 'rate" how I felt immediately after seeing each of those fine films .... and it's funny that you mentioned Memento.

I saw both those films many years ago and liked each of them for different reasons. But too many years have passed to rate my feelings toward each of them on a scale of 1 - 10.

But I'll tell you what I did like and did dislike most of all about each of them.

Matrix - I liked the special FX - mainly the bullets scene. I disliked the ending which I sort of recall was a telephone conversation scene. Overall - I did not like it as much as the general movie going public liked it. But I considered it to be a likeable SciFi fantasy movie.

Memento - I actually saw Memento a bit before it was released and I do recall it being very unique due to its "time sequences/editing process".  This was a movie that actually made you think of logical ocurrences .... not illogical nonsense.

I don't know which version you saw though but the original was excellent
 
A short while back I purchased Memento for $5 at a video store and watched it only to discover that it had been re-edited .... and by doing so .... all the original 'magic' of that 1st edition was gone.

I gotta admit that I liked both Matrix and Memento, but for very different reasons.

Right now I really HATE the following bullshit which is filmed in way too many movies now-a-days .....

I don't know how many of you GetBiggers have ever blown up a bridge. or a building, or a gathering of 'bad guys'; but I've done one of the above more than once and it is impossible not too watch how much damage and destruction you have caused when the big bang occurs.

But you set the fuse properly and always watch from a very safe distance while keeping your head and ass as low as possible.

But in many of today's movies, the good gang of tough guys always set the charge and casually walk away without looking at or paying one bit of attention to the destructive explosion occurring to their immediate rear.

For one tine in one movie, I'd like to just see one of those guys turn around and look while all the others give him a ration of shit for doing so.

Even better would be to shoot that 'casual walking away from the huge explosion' scene with each of them getting blown away towards the camera in the process.

Don't kill them in the script, but make it evident that tough guys like to watch what they blow up and they know that bad things can happen while trying to look like rough and tough casually walking assholes.

Also I hate those scenes where thousands of bullets fly in your direction and no one gets hit, or panics, or shits his pants.

And don't even ask me about car chase scenes! Or killing kids on the silver screen like that Mel Gibson movie many years ago (The Patriot??). I actually got sick to my stomach in that one.

But the one scene I'll always remember was a scene in an old Paul Newman movie about lumberjacks where his brother (or best friend) gets stuck beneath a fallen tree in a river. At first they laugh at this situation, but they get serious when they realize that the river is rising and it'll take a while to pull him free. And needless to say, the brother drowns while the other bro is doing all he can to save him.

That scene haunted me for years. And still does. (I think it was The Big Trees, but I'd rather not know.

Sorry for not giving a direct answer to your question, Sno .... but I tried my best in a round about way.

Did I pass, or what?

[stuntmovie]

Since I'm on a soapbox here, I wanna say this!

Scary movies never scared me as a kid .... Frankenstein and his wife, Dracula, Wolfman, etc!

I loved those guys! And the Misses.

But then one Saturday afternoon my older cousin took me to see the Vincent Price origial version of "THE FLY' at the now gone SF Fox Theater (Google it) and in the final scene Mr Price goes into the 'fly machine' to turn himself back into a normal human being.

But something goes terribly wrong and instead of a real man coming out, a small fly flies out and the camera zooms in to show a close up shot with Mr Price's head on that little fly's body.

And that movie ended on that close-up with a pleading voice-over begging, "Help me! Help me!

And that voice turned into a "Help me, help me!" buzzing sound during the closing credits.

Years later I met Vincent Price and told him that that one scene scarred me for a lifetime and he said. "A lot of people have told me that! It scared me too when I first saw it".

The only memory I have of being scared while watching a movie. But 'sick to my stomach' might be a more descriptive term.

[The Abdominal Snoman]

Sno, I hope this ain't a test to measure my dumbness or stupidity, but I'll try to answer anyway.

I got a strange feeling here that there is an ulterior motive in your question though ... but that's fine by me so here goes .....

I really can't answer you directly!

I can only 'rate" how I felt immediately after seeing each of those fine films .... and it's funny that you mentioned Memento.

I saw both those films many years ago and liked each of them for different reasons. But too many years have passed to rate my feelings toward each of them on a scale of 1 - 10.

But I'll tell you what I did like and did dislike most of all about each of them.

Matrix - I liked the special FX - mainly the bullets scene. I disliked the ending which I sort of recall was a telephone conversation scene. Overall - I did not like it as much as the general movie going public liked it. But I considered it to be a likeable SciFi fantasy movie.

Memento - I actually saw Memento a bit before it was released and I do recall it being very unique due to its "time sequences/editing process".  This was a movie that actually made you think of logical ocurrences .... not illogical nonsense.

I don't know which version you saw though but the original was excellent
 
A short while back I purchased Memento for $5 at a video store and watched it only to discover that it had been re-edited .... and by doing so .... all the original 'magic' of that 1st edition was gone.

I gotta admit that I liked both Matrix and Memento, but for very different reasons.

Right now I really HATE the following bullshit which is filmed in way too many movies now-a-days .....

I don't know how many of you GetBiggers have ever blown up a bridge. or a building, or a gathering of 'bad guys'; but I've done one of the above more than once and it is impossible not too watch how much damage and destruction you have caused when the big bang occurs.

But you set the fuse properly and always watch from a very safe distance while keeping your head and ass as low as possible.

But in many of today's movies, the good gang of tough guys always set the charge and casually walk away without looking at or paying one bit of attention to the destructive explosion occurring to their immediate rear.

For one tine in one movie, I'd like to just see one of those guys turn around and look while all the others give him a ration of shit for doing so.

Even better would be to shoot that 'casual walking away from the huge explosion' scene with each of them getting blown away towards the camera in the process.

Don't kill them in the script, but make it evident that tough guys like to watch what they blow up and they know that bad things can happen while trying to look like rough and tough casually walking assholes.

Also I hate those scenes where thousands of bullets fly in your direction and no one gets hit, or panics, or shits his pants.

And don't even ask me about car chase scenes! Or killing kids on the silver screen like that Mel Gibson movie many years ago (The Patriot??). I actually got sick to my stomach in that one.

But the one scene I'll always remember was a scene in an old Paul Newman movie about lumberjacks where his brother (or best friend) gets stuck beneath a fallen tree in a river. At first they laugh at this situation, but they get serious when they realize that the river is rising and it'll take a while to pull him free. And needless to say, the brother drowns while the other bro is doing all he can to save him.

That scene haunted me for years. And still does. (I think it was The Big Trees, but I'd rather not know.

Sorry for not giving a direct answer to your question, Sno .... but I tried my best in a round about way.

Did I pass, or what?

There is no motive with me. I really like the Matrix and Memento(Nolan brothers wrote and directed Memento). If you would have given any of these movies low ratings, then I would personally disregard your opinion on Inception. However since you rated these two movies pretty high, then you may be on to something when it comes to Inception. I will go see Inception but now I won't go in thinking I'm gonna see the best movie ever made .

Thanks

[El Diablo Blanco]

Saw it this evening.  I give it 5 out of ten.  The script was went downhill early in the film and never recovered.  The "idea" of this film was well executed in the Matrix; it was poorly done here.  Sure, the effects were good, but nothing groundbreaking (as in the Matrix) and the script couldn't keep up with the effects.  You had to pay a lot of attention to this film for it to "make sense" but the effort was not worth the reward.  I can see a 14 year old loving this film (like Avatar), but not an adult.  I am a big fan of scifi/fantasy but this is a Netflix movie, at best.  

Ellen Page was miscast.

I have to agree about Ellen Page.  Why the fuck did they pick her for this movie?  She should be in some teenie bopper movie.  She actually ruined the film for me.

[stuntmovie]

OK, Sno, I hope you enjoy it.

Another movie comment ... I think I judge films by the emotional involvement it gets out of me.

For instance, the latest Karate Kid was not a great film but those fight training scenes got me fired up. And that forced me to like it.

So if a movie makes me laugh or cry or show any other sign of emotion, I usually end up liking it a lot.

I experienced none of that while watching Inception. I only wanted them to either die or get the job done as soon as possible so that they could all wake up and get on with their lives so that I could get the hell out of there myself and carry on with mine.

[El Diablo Blanco]

OK, Sno, I hope you enjoy it.

Another movie comment ... I think I judge films by the emotional involvement it gets out of me.

For instance, the latest Karate Kid was not a great film but those fight training scenes got me fired up. And that forced me to like it.

So if a movie makes me laugh or cry or show any other sign of emotion, I usually end up liking it a lot.

I experienced none of that while watching Inception. I only wanted them to either die or get the job done as soon as possible so that they could all wake up and get on with their lives so that I could get the hell out of there myself and carry on with mine.

the key to bringing out emotion= sappy music + video montage.

Have you ever seen Primer?  people talk about movies making you think, Primer is the prime example (no pun intended).  I watched that movie about 5 times until I was able to figure out the timelines.  That is a brilliant movie and possibly the best time travel movie ever created.

[Stark]

The problem is  (and I know this is cliché) Hollywood runs out of ideas, BUT it true to some extent.
Back in the 50th there was maybe one movie release a month, today its several a week,  too many people trying to make a
Buck out of movies and too many young no name directors trying to jumpstart their career, the realization is that
Most of today’s movies are badly regurgitated overhyped crap.
And I am talking about Hollywood – because there are plenty of good and solid movies – but the shame is they never make
Further than your artsy fartsy run down student cinema or Cannes.
The general population is not interested in movies like “the orphanage” they don’t see the beauty in “Lola rent” and find
Movies that require to use your brain in any way or form a waste of time.
Because let’s not forget here why most people go to the cinema in the first place, they don’t want to use their brains, they have
No fucking interest in being mentally challenged or mentally stimulated, what 99.9% of all cinema viewers look for is cheap and
Cheerful entertainment, something that makes them forget how shitty their nine to five job is and how fucking much they
Hate their boss.
The most successful movies are the once that find a happy medium, a movie were both spectrums are satisfied, the
Thick burger king munching idiot with his gallon coca cola drum and the somewhat more intellectual person that looks for a
Watertight story and believable acting.

[Stark]

Sno, I hope this ain't a test to measure my dumbness or stupidity, but I'll try to answer anyway.

I got a strange feeling here that there is an ulterior motive in your question though ... but that's fine by me so here goes .....

I really can't answer you directly!

I can only 'rate" how I felt immediately after seeing each of those fine films .... and it's funny that you mentioned Memento.

I saw both those films many years ago and liked each of them for different reasons. But too many years have passed to rate my feelings toward each of them on a scale of 1 -....

I think it was called Sometimes a Great Notion but I could be wrong- I agree the scene was very very good and I also chocked when I saw it first.

As a matter of interest how did you like "The road@?

Found it:

[stuntmovie]

Hey, MON! I do pay attention to most stuff you guys say on here and I do recall that you mentioned Primer in an earlier post so I searched for it back then and either saw parts of it or read an extensive review.

Now that you mentioned it again I want to watch it from beginning to end  and see if I agree with you.

Where can I find it? I'll check out NetFlix this morning.

Thanks

[El Diablo Blanco]

Hey, MON! I do pay attention to most stuff you guys say on here and I do recall that you mentioned Primer in an earlier post so I searched for it back then and either saw parts of it or read an extensive review.

Now that you mentioned it again I want to watch it from beginning to end  and see if I agree with you.

Where can I find it? I'll check out NetFlix this morning.

Thanks

Netflix has it.  It is an IFC film.  They say it cost them $7000 to create the film.  This movie proves you don't need all of the millions spent on special effects to have a great film.  Watch it and try to figure out where you get lost in the timelines.  The key scene is where he explains taking a time machine with him in his time machine.

[stuntmovie]

Stark, based on my most recent HOLLYWOOD experiences, you've said some very interesting things which will take me some time to comment on, so I'll put that aside until I wake up and have a bit more time.

Thanks though.

[Palpatine Q]

And sometimes film critics have the experience, perspective, and intelligence to place a movie in context (a historical context, for example).  Does the film set out to do what it purports to do?  Does the script make sense (does it have too many plot holes)?  Is the acting up to par?  The direction, cinematography, editing, etc.  How does the film compare to others in the genre?  How does this film compare to the source material be it a novel, play, historical event, or another film/screenplay?  It is the difference between having an impulse and having a brain.  Everyone has the former, not everyone has the latter.  It is easy to “like” a film when one is too daft to know any better.  Like all good art, good film welcomes criticism, bad film cannot withstand it.  Of course, not all film critics are created equal.  Robin Wood and Richard Dyer were both excellent critics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Wood_(critic)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dyer

A lot of movies come down the pike that are not worth one’s time, attention, or money.  Film critics are there to help us sift the wheat from the chaff. Just because a film has a big budget and names behind it doesn't mean it is any good.  Finding one or two critics you respect and are in sync with is the way to use them; the rest you can ignore.  For example, I don’t read him, but Peter Travers, the film critic at Rolling Stone, has a large following.  

Of course a 14 year old brain is not interested in film criticism; they just want to sit down, turn their brains off, and watch.  Some people (adults) like to watch with their brains turned on.

Meh.....I can figure out a good plot, acting, cinematography, editing and the like all by myself.

I don't need some pretentious boob telling me what he likes.

[kiwiol]

The problem is  (and I know this is cliché) Hollywood runs out of ideas, BUT it true to some extent.
Back in the 50th there was maybe one movie release a month, today its several a week,  too many people trying to make a
Buck out of movies and too many young no name directors trying to jumpstart their career, the realization is that
Most of today’s movies are badly regurgitated overhyped crap.
And I am talking about Hollywood – because there are plenty of good and solid movies – but the shame is they never make
Further than your artsy fartsy run down student cinema or Cannes.
The general population is not interested in movies like “the orphanage” they don’t see the beauty in “Lola rent” and find
Movies that require to use your brain in any way or form a waste of time.
Because let’s not forget here why most people go to the cinema in the first place, they don’t want to use their brains, they have
No fucking interest in being mentally challenged or mentally stimulated, what 99.9% of all cinema viewers look for is cheap and
Cheerful entertainment, something that makes them forget how shitty their nine to five job is and how fucking much they
Hate their boss.
The most successful movies are the once that find a happy medium, a movie were both spectrums are satisfied, the
Thick burger king munching idiot with his gallon coca cola drum and the somewhat more intellectual person that looks for a
Watertight story and believable acting.

Spot on, Stark. Great post.

[stuntmovie]

STARK, where the hell did you find that video scene!?

Damn!  You brought it back to fuck me up once again, cause I know I'm gonna have to watch it just to see if it's the sickening scene I mentioned earlier.

I hate ya! But thanks anyway!

No can you find that Fly one!?

[stuntmovie]

THE ROAD .... I just saw it on video and got too much to say about it right now, but give me a bit of time to respond..... There was a lot of behind the scene stuff regarding the making of that movie which I am not privy too, but ......

[Megalodon]

The problem with Primer was that it made no money. It was shot in 2004 and Shane Caruth, the director, hasn't made a movie since. It's a tremendous commitment timewise making a movie. Most people can't go without pay for a year on speculation that their movie project will turn a profit. If they do have the time to make a movie, they'd be smart making a film that can make money and bring them future work. Primer made no money and the producer/writer/director hasn't directed since.

Most found Primer confusing. A few really liked it. Unfortunately, not enough liked it allow the director to make another film.

[stuntmovie]

Stark, I think I read in “SAVE THE CAT” (or some other noteworthy movie script writing book) that there are only 8 possible story-lines in existence throughout the universe.

Only eight types of stories that everyone on the planet can write about.

I’ll try to find that and list them here before I sign off or shortly after.

I can’t disclose these GetBiggers but a few of us have been discussing ‘life-experiences” that would make damn good material for a movie script or a TV series, but in each case it appears that none of us believe in ourselves enough to get it written down on paper and then continue to develop it over the next few month or years or eons or whateva.

And as you mentioned sorta, this is the shit that Hollywood really needs and is searching for.

But Hollywood’s big problem is that they never listen to the ‘little guy” with just a few exceptions such as Stallone’s fight to get Rocky on the silver screen and the in-house battles over Star Wars (the original) and so many others that are unknown to us little guys.

So when Hollywood runs out of original ideas, they’ll wake up and suddenly come a searching for the little people with big wads of cash in hand.

But right now and in most cases, those high powered Hollywood hot shots who make million dollars decision to make a movie are mostly relying on the Hollywood agents to present a package for their consideration which includes the stars and all the other big time guys who will build the story from the ground floor up.

One that is done, the studio opens the sound stage and production begins. (Brief synopsis).

BUT …. Those darn agents who build these packages just won’t give the little people any consideration unless that little person has already done something Hollywood-ish to garner their attention.

But nowadays these damn sequels have not been paying off too well so now they got to start looking for something new……

But these new Super Hero movies with the skinny Super Hero stars are being shot with the hope of saving the bottom line and only time will tell if it is working.

SO Hollywood continues to search for something original. Something new!

And that “NEW” could be “YOU”!

But “YOU” don’t have the slightest idea how to proceed …. so you just sit back and hope someday someone will come into your kitchen and offer you a contract and make you the next Tom Cruise.

You gotta believe in YOU!

Once again no names mentioned but I drove a very very major star to his first interview and on the way to that meeting I sort of laughed about him possibly ever becoming an actor or a star in major motion pictures. But one thing I did not take into consideration was the fact that he had utter confidence in himself and his ability to do the impossible.

And sure enough he got that part and went on to become a major motion picture star.

So believe in yourself and go for it.

Take acting lessons or find a writer to develop your idea.

Easier said than done, but give it a try anyway.

[El Diablo Blanco]

THE ROAD .... I just saw it on video and got too much to say about it right now, but give me a bit of time to respond..... There was a lot of behind the scene stuff regarding the making of that movie which I am not privy too, but ......

BY the way.  I loved Kicked Ass as well.  It was pretty motivating to watch.  Amazing to find out that the lead dude who is about 20 years old just got married to a 47 year old lady who directed the first british file he was in.

[stuntmovie]

Disturbia, don't read this!

The Road. I read that book when it first came out and liked it but failed to understand all the hype over it.

Then someone told me that it was gonna be made into a major motion picture.

I like to see any movie that was made from a book I had read beforehand so I looked forward to seeing  The Road on the screen.

Then one day I saw the previews at my local neighborhood motion picture show and ... "Wow! I'll be able to see it soon!"

But a couple of years managed to pass with no appearence of The Road in sight.

Then just a couple of months ago I saw it as a DVD at Blockbuster and I rented it for the evening.

And BOY!!!... That was one hell of a depressing evening! I almost turned it off but stayed with it to the  even more depressing ending.

I don't recall if it ever played in a movie theater ... and I can see why! Half the people would have committed suicide before the final curtain.

It really was that depressing ..... an end of the world story about a father trying to protect his young son from cannibalism.

But I gotta admit.... I liked the acting and the depressing visuals.

I hated that Will Smith end of the world movie too. Especially the part where the dog gets kilt.

More to say, but I'm getting too damn depressed.

[noworries]

Disturbia, don't read this!

The Road. I read that book when it first came out and liked it but failed to understand all the hype over it.

Then someone told me that it was gonna be made into a major motion picture.

I like to see any movie that was made from a book I had read beforehand so I looked forward to seeing  The Road on the screen.

Then one day I saw the previews at my local neighborhood motion picture show and ... "Wow! I'll be able to see it soon!"

But a couple of years managed to pass with no appearence of The Road in sight.

Then just a couple of months ago I saw it as a DVD at Blockbuster and I rented it for the evening.

And BOY!!!... That was one hell of a depressing evening! I almost turned it off but stayed with it to the  even more depressing ending.

I don't recall if it ever played in a movie theater ... and I can see why! Half the people would have committed suicide before the final curtain.

It really was that depressing ..... an end of the world story about a father trying to protect his young son from cannibalism.

But I gotta admit.... I liked the acting and the depressing visuals.

I hated that Will Smith end of the world movie too. Especially the part where the dog gets kilt.

More to say, but I'm getting too damn depressed.

HEY WHERE ARE YOU

[Megalodon]

'The Book of Eli' was a similar genre as 'The Road'...post apocalyptic with bands/tribes of Mad Max-ish desperate unmerciful violent cannibals.
 
Book of Eli had a better storyline and was more optimistic.

The Road:   budget: $25 Million   Domestic gross $8 Million     Worldwide: $26 million
Book of Eli:  budget  $80 Million   Domestic gross $95 Million   Worldwide: $155 million