Topic: Rate the last movie you've seen

[TJ Spyke]

There haven't really been that many major casting changes. Among the main characters, only Dumbledore changed (and that was because the actor died). The changes were among the minor characters who had little to no lines in the movies anyways (like Pansy Parkinson and Angelina).

[broodwars]

There haven't really been that many major casting changes. Among the main characters, only Dumbledore changed (and that was because the actor died). The changes were among the minor characters who had little to no lines in the movies anyways (like Pansy Parkinson and Angelina).

There's more to a crew than the cast.  There's the director and all the people behind the sets, the script, the artistic design, etc.

[Morari]

Usually far more important than a cast at that.

[mac<censored>]

The books are still leagues better than these movies IMO, but the movies have become a decent substitute if you're not inclined to read them.  Highly recommended, though only if you've seen Part 1 or have read the books.

So... do the books improve after #3?  I've only read the first three, but they were all basically "meh" -- a fun setting but despite some nice bits of humor in the first book, and some appealing supporting characters, seemed very mechanically written.

Harry as a lead character was even worse; he seemed to have utterly no personality at all, nor even really ever do anything .. the basic plotline was "Harry gets caught up in some awful supernatural mess, does nothing ... whoops, saved by deus ex machina!   The end."

[TJ Spyke]

Really? I think the books are really good, but they they improve as they go along. And I don't agree with your opinions that Harry has no personality or that they seemed mechanically written.

[broodwars]

The books are still leagues better than these movies IMO, but the movies have become a decent substitute if you're not inclined to read them.  Highly recommended, though only if you've seen Part 1 or have read the books.

So... do the books improve after #3?  I've only read the first three, but they were all basically "meh" -- a fun setting but despite some nice bits of humor in the first book, and some appealing supporting characters, seemed very mechanically written.

Prisoner of Azkaban's one of my favorite books in the series, but yes starting with Book 3 the stories become much more complex and interesting.  I'm not that big a fan of Book 6 (it pretty much exists to spout exposition, explore Love Triangles, and make Book 2 relevant), but Books 4 5, and 7 are all excellent reads.

[Morari]

I've only read the first three, but they were all basically "meh" -- a fun setting but despite some nice bits of humor in the first book, and some appealing supporting characters, seemed very mechanically written.

They are children's books. You can't expect too much out of them or the films. I've always been surprised by the number of adults that are truly engaged by the series. Though I suppose Twilight also achieved a similar status.

[broodwars]

I've only read the first three, but they were all basically "meh" -- a fun setting but despite some nice bits of humor in the first book, and some appealing supporting characters, seemed very mechanically written.

They are children's books. You can't expect too much out of them or the films. I've always been surprised by the number of adults that are truly engaged by the series. Though I suppose Twilight also achieved a similar status.

They're childrens' books the same way books like The Hobbit are.  They're well-written, enjoyable adventure stories people of all ages can enjoy.  They just happen to be written in a manner that children can easily understand, and the novels certainly mature in style and subject matter as the series progresses.

[mac<censored>]

I've only read the first three, but they were all basically "meh" -- a fun setting but despite some nice bits of humor in the first book, and some appealing supporting characters, seemed very mechanically written.

They are children's books. You can't expect too much out of them or the films. I've always been surprised by the number of adults that are truly engaged by the series. Though I suppose Twilight also achieved a similar status.

They're childrens' books the same way books like The Hobbit are.  They're well-written, enjoyable adventure stories people of all ages can enjoy.

Er, I can only speak for the first three, obviously, but they are certainly a grade or two below The Hobbit on the "well written" scale...

The HP books seem to go out of their way to throw in themes that are clearly intended to appeal to typical childrens' insecurities -- "even if you feel unloved by your family, and are not successful at school or very popular, you might be a legendary wizard...!"  That likely explains some of the popularity amongst kids, but it also makes them a bit painful to slog through sometimes (though JKR tries to use humor to make it go down more smoothly).

[Ceric]

I've only read the first three, but they were all basically "meh" -- a fun setting but despite some nice bits of humor in the first book, and some appealing supporting characters, seemed very mechanically written.

They are children's books. You can't expect too much out of them or the films. I've always been surprised by the number of adults that are truly engaged by the series. Though I suppose Twilight also achieved a similar status.

They're childrens' books the same way books like The Hobbit are.  They're well-written, enjoyable adventure stories people of all ages can enjoy.

Er, I can only speak for the first three, obviously, but they are certainly a grade or two below The Hobbit on the "well written" scale...

The HP books seem to go out of their way to throw in themes that are clearly intended to appeal to typical childrens' insecurities -- "even if you feel unloved by your family, and are not successful at school or very popular, you might be a legendary wizard...!"  That likely explains some of the popularity amongst kids, but it also makes them a bit painful to slog through sometimes (though JKR tries to use humor to make it go down more smoothly).

Really what isn't a step or too below The Hobbit?  That is a very well written dense book.
I put Harry Potter first three books where I put something like "A Wrinkle in Time".

On the Books.  I think they Peak at 3 personally.  That's the one with the best balance between Harry's story and the Wizarding world and side stories.  Every book after that becomes more and more Harry oriented to the point that she starts some side stories but never explores them since the book has Harry Blinders on it.  So if you really like the Harry story specific parts the book get better.  If you like having the side stories and exploring bits of the world more then you won't like them as much.

[broodwars]

So, with my dad out of town, I got roped into spending "Happy Family Time, damnit!" (yes, that's really what we call it) with my mother as she decided to show me the Blockbuster Blue Box rental experience.  The problem is that my mother is really terrible at picking movies, though at least I got to pick one halfway-decent movie.  So it was that we ended up watching Hall Pass, Just Go With It, and The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader (which was my pick).  I really don't have much to say about Hall Pass and Just Go With It.  I expected neither a funny nor good movie out of an Adam Sandler film, and Just Go With It didn't exceed my expectations.  Hall Pass could have been good, but the writers decided to take a decent premise and possibly a good message and utterly destroy it with raunchy humor and explicit jokes/imagery (really, does anyone want to see several guys' junk when they go to the movies?).

As for Voyage of the Dawn Treader, that is my second-favorite of the Narnia books (my favorite being The Magician's Nephew) so I was really looking forward to seeing this movie.  Unfortunately, the book doesn't seem to translate really well to the Big Screen in this script.  There's nothing seriously wrong with the movie, though I didn't appreciate that they rewrote the plot to have a completely unnecessary "villain" in the green "mist".  The movie just comes off to me as pretty bland, even compared to the Lord of the Rings-inspired Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe.  The movie just seems to drag in places and neither the characters (with the exception of Reepicheep, who is still awesome) nor the situations feel altogether memorable.  I had a good laugh as well at seeing that while the writers cut the hilariously goofy "baptism" of Eustace from the books, they still left in the eye-rolling "Well, you can know me in your world by ANOTHER NAME!" line.  The special effects and set design are decent, but the movie just didn't feel like anything special and I think it loses that "light swashbuckling adventure!" feeling the original book has.  Considering my favorite Narnia book is likely next (there's seriously nothing worth filming in The Silver Chair or A Horse And His Boy), I'm concerned with how they could botch that movie as well.

[Ceric]

I still like Dawn Treader better then the other Narnia movies because it flowed better.  Though of all the books that is the one where you could have stayed dead faithful to the book and made a good movie out of it.

So... I saw Cars 2 again but this time in 3D.  We had Free Tickets to it so my Son and I went but the only showing put us out right after my Wife went into Harry Potter so we went immediately from  Cars 2 to Winnie the Pooh

So Cars 2  I still enjoyed it the second time.  I wasn't in the really nice theater this time so the sound wasn't as intensive.  Still present but I did miss the better speakers during the race scenes.  So now that I've seen the 3D and the 2D version  what do I think of the 3D?  I think that the 3D is done really well.  I can't think of a scene off the top of my head where it was gimmicky.  I do think it enhanced the Movie so, if you have the option and its a $1-2 then I say opt for it but, I wouldn't go out of my way.

Winnie the Pooh  This movie is about Pooh's search for Hunny, Eeyore's Search for a Tail, and the Hundred Acres Woods lack of Reading Comprehension and Spelling ability.  In the end if you liked the Winnie the Pooh cartoon you'll like this movie.  It is essentially a movie length episode with all the charm of the cartoon.  Including an interactive narrator.  Interaction with the book they are in.  The biggest thing that breaks it from feeling always like a normal episode is the Hunny fantasy sequences with Pooh.  If you have kids this is an enjoyable movie for them.  You'll get a few laughs and general good time by being able to read different parts of it.  Definitely worth a rent at least when the time comes for Families.

[broodwars]

I actually really want to see that Winnie the Pooh movie, as I've always had a soft spot for that franchise and it's been getting good reviews.  I might wait until it hits home video, though.

[Ceric]

I actually really want to see that Winnie the Pooh movie, as I've always had a soft spot for that franchise and it's been getting good reviews.  I might wait until it hits home video, though.

If you really like the franchise you'll like this movie.  Catch it at the dollar or something to do with small children your affiliated with.  If you had a bad day this would be a good movie to see as well because their is not a heavy theme on it or anything unlike say Toy Story which has abandonment and growing out of things which is very sad from a toy perspective but they make the best out of it.

[broodwars]

I've been on something of a kick lately rewatching older anime, so I've recently rewatched the fantastic 2008 movie The Girl Who Leapt Through Time via DVD.  This movie is a little on the slow side and is very "slice of life", but the concept is just so fresh and original: "what if you gained the ability to travel through time, and you just used it to screw around with minor things of everyday life?"  It's a great little "coming of age" story as the main character gradually comes to understand how her actions both big and small affect the people around her, as well as how much the people in her life mean to her.  The ending's a bit goofy; the artwork isn't among the best I've seen in theatrical anime; and unlike this director's most recent Summer Wars movie there is no big bad villain or a point where the Fate of the World is at stake (which IMO is a good thing since that didn't really work well in Summer Wars, but for some that may be a turn-off), but I still highly recommend it if you've grown a little tired of the crappy trend of modern anime.  The movie just recently got re-released on Blu-Ray as well, which at some point I'll have to pick up.

[TJ Spyke]

Just watched Milk. It was good, but not spectacular. Sean Penn was pretty good as Harvey Milk, and you get a good look at how much this country lacked civil rights back in the 1970s (its gotten better, but still a long way to go before everything has the same rights).

[Ceric]

Just watched Milk. It was good, but not spectacular. Sean Penn was pretty good as Harvey Milk, and you get a good look at how much this country lacked civil rights back in the 1970s (its gotten better, but still a long way to go before everything has the same rights).

Stop Abusing your Toaster!  They are not Second Hand Citizens!  Proper Channel of Immigration for Foreign Toasters!

[TJ Spyke]

LOL, I meant everyone, I wasn't paying attention.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Adjustment Bureau ....5.5/10

An interesting concept wasted on a love story.
I spent the entire movie waiting for the actiony scenes.
I spent the entire movie waiting for it to get interesting.
I spent the entire movie waiting for it to become the movie I thought it would've been based on the previews.
I spent the entire movie waiting for it to end so that I could go to bed.

[Morari]

Adjustment Bureau ....5.5/10

I stopped trying to watch films based on PKD's work a long time ago. "Blade Runner" was great as a film, but totally sidelined so much of what was in the book. On the other hand, "Through a Scanner Darkly" worked with a more amusing tone and yet quickly squandered it with a recap at the end. Few things irk me more in films than recaps leading up to the finale. Catering to stupid and inattentive people is a no-no in my book, film or otherwise.

[Stogi]

So you probably hate Sherlock Holmes books then?

[Ceric]

Adjustment Bureau ....5.5/10

I stopped trying to watch films based on PKD's work a long time ago. "Blade Runner" was great as a film, but totally sidelined so much of what was in the book. On the other hand, "Through a Scanner Darkly" worked with a more amusing tone and yet quickly squandered it with a recap at the end. Few things irk me more in films than recaps leading up to the finale. Catering to stupid and inattentive people is a no-no in my book, film or otherwise.

So you like Columbo where you see the murder and the rest of the time your watching Columbo put it together?

[broodwars]

Few things irk me more in films than recaps leading up to the finale. Catering to stupid and inattentive people is a no-no in my book, film or otherwise.

Some movies really need that, though, like the first Mission Impossible film (which is still my favorite in that franchise) and the last Sherlock Holmes film.  You can't expect the audience to all pick up extremely small details that complicated movies just glaze over when they originally come up, and then remember them all at the crucial moment.  When they're done well, I really appreciate those sequences, actually, because it's like watching a puzzle fall into place.

[Khushrenada]

What about Minority Report? I think that might be Spielberg's best film in the past decade. That was PKD story also.

[broodwars]

What about Minority Report? I think that might be Spielberg's best film in the past decade. That was PKD story also.

I'm partial to Catch Me If You Can when it comes to Spielburg films in the last decade.