[!@#$%!]

oh i haven't watched studio 60 or newsroom yet. as for sorkin, yeah, he's not "great at everything" (who is?) but i guess the verdict "witty, for an american" comes to mind. still i'll check out moneyballz lolol.

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

sorkin is a playwright and screenwriter who i think first got famous with "a few good men". then he went on to write a little tv show called "sports night" that was actually pretty good, considering, and from then he wrote what's probably the best show in the history of network tv (network, not cable)-- "the west wing." he was there for 3+ seasons and then was caught with a rock of crack at some airport and the show kept running for 3 or 4 more seasons but it was shit compared to the beginning.

went into recovery, not sure for how long, wrote "charlie wilson's war" which was pretty good in spite of having tom hanks in it, and more recently wrote the screenplay for "the social network," which you've prolly heard about.

his trademarks-- an obsession with politics, an obsession with smart overachieving characters, snappy clever dialogue (much like whedon but on more grownup subjects such as legal doctrines or nuclear warfare strategy), a strange love of gilbert & sullivan, highly functional drunks (tv ratings experts, white house chiefs of staff, u.s.senators), health-challenged elders (u.s. president w/ multiple sclerosis, t.v. station general manager recovering from a stroke), a weird love of gilbert+ sullivan, and various other "tics" that make him recognizable once you've watched enough of his stuff.

why we hate the prettyboy: exactly for the reason you mention. i remember i first liked his work in "12 monkeys" actually. but it's always grating, like you need to get his ridiculous celebrity out of the way in order to get to his acting. also probably jealousy that he gets to bang angelina raw, ha ha haaaa.

If he wrote the West Wing, then I'm a Sorkin fan without having realised. And your mentioning certain key themes in his screenplays definitely fits with Moneyball, which is ultimately about the behind the scenes politics of baseball.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

I've not seen what she looks like now but in her day she was almost unfathomably beautiful.

 

Anyway, just watched

 

Moneyball

I imagine o lot of potential viewers for this were put off by the fact it's about baseball. It's a real gem, though. Brad Pitt is great in it and well deserved his oscar nomination, although (predictably) Phillip Seymour Hoffman does steal the show a bit. Highly recommended.

Why would Baseball put people off? The movie was great; probably my favorite of 2011. And Pitt hasn't NOT deserved an Oscar nod since the 90s. He's an incredible actor.

[keep poppin pimples]

 

8/10

[to.w]

Joe Dante's "The Hole"
> conventional, but very enjoyable teenage movie. Typically Dante.

[Rob Instigator]

Bane sucked. Bane sucked in the comix and he sucked in the movie. stupid concept, no wit, no intelligence to match against Batman.
Batman uses genius intelligence and physical rigor to defeat insane criminals. Bane was just a stupid oaf. anyone with a gun could have killed him at any time, and ended the whole stupid thing.

I have watched it thrice now, and every time it gets more ridiculous.

Batman never retires, ever ever. He is eternal. It is bruce wayne that is the mask. Nolan is a crybaby bitch.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

If he wrote the West Wing, then I'm a Sorkin fan without having realised. And your mentioning certain key themes in his screenplays definitely fits with Moneyball, which is ultimately about the behind the scenes politics of baseball.

yes... see if you can catch "sports night" somewhere (it's on netflix here) and you'll spot his origins. it's not a great production or anything (looks/feels very 90s), but its characters, if at first perhaps dull, will start to grow interesting after a few episodes.

[demonrail666]

Thanks, I just put it on my Lovefilm list (similar to Netflix). It'll at least break up the Paris Hilton movie marathon I'm currently in the middle of.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

Bane sucked. Bane sucked in the comix and he sucked in the movie. stupid concept, no wit, no intelligence to match against Batman.
Batman uses genius intelligence and physical rigor to defeat insane criminals. Bane was just a stupid oaf. anyone with a gun could have killed him at any time, and ended the whole stupid thing.

I have watched it thrice now, and every time it gets more ridiculous.

Batman never retires, ever ever. He is eternal. It is bruce wayne that is the mask. Nolan is a crybaby bitch.

Bane was an admittedly weak character throughout much of his comic career, but that's a issue of execution. He was supposed to be Batmans equal, in both strength and intelligence. He was never really written that way though. I think Nolan and Tom Hardy did an excellent job of turning him into a realistic, genuinely threatening, and pretty self-contained villain. Thalia is only a "bad guy" for ten minutes. I actually think Bane is somehow more sinister than the Joker was. After all, in Nolan's world he was an agent of anarchy and unpredictability. He's not evil incarnate. He's just THE personification of violent energy and collective social psychological suppression of madness.

The joker had a lesson to teach us (at least until he realized his hypothesis about humanity was wrong, at which point he went batshit and beat Batmans ass faster than anyone ever has before)..,. He gave people a choice. Bane makes a point of giving only the illusion of choice, just so the final damage will hurt thatch more. He just wants to kill people and end lives, and he cares about nothing else (except for Thalia's hot ass which he would no doubt tap if he didn't feel a paternal affection for her).

He was far and away the highlight of the film, which surprised me.

When I saw the Dark Knight trailer, I knew I was going to love it. I didn't know I was going to love the second until after I'd already seen it. It just didn't sound like a great idea, honestly. But he'll, the second time through I was afraid I'd be bored. Instead, I held in my piss until I thought I was going to drown, and I took in every moment. I guess I can see how some might be disappointed, but I have to ask: why spend 9 hours watching a movie that you think (and, for the second and third time, know) sucks?!

The Dark Knight is clearly the best film, with its only flaw being the appearance of the guy who played Spawn as the token black gangster who luckily gets fucking killed. But I am totally happy with the trilogy and the way it ended, and I don't think I've ever felt that way about ANY film trilogy before. This is impressive because I am notoriously picky when it comes to "superhero" based films. There have only been about seven in history that are worth watching, and Nolan just flushed out the top three.

Iron Man 3 is about as exciting a prospect as sniffing a bucket that the guy from Coldplay just farted in.

I am looking forward to Skyfall, but that's a little different.

[fugazifan]

Head on\ gegen die wand

really great

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by Severian

Why would Baseball put people off? The movie was great; probably my favorite of 2011. And Pitt hasn't NOT deserved an Oscar nod since the 90s. He's an incredible actor.

I agree, I've had a bromance crush on Brat Pitt since I was a kid yo, that dude is a seriously great actor at every level. Like Chris Walken, even his really really terrible roles or even bad acting is still decent enough. Though with these recent Chanel No 5 ads, I'm not sure if he is bad acting or going for facetious.

My favorite Brad Pitt moments are in Twelve Monkies, he is the perfect schizo, he can play in and out of sanity better than Gene Wilder

Originally Posted by Severian

Bane was an admittedly weak character throughout much of his comic career, but that's a issue of execution. He was supposed to be Batmans equal, in both strength and intelligence. He was never really written that way though. I think Nolan and Tom Hardy did an excellent job of turning him into a realistic, genuinely threatening, and pretty self-contained villain. Thalia is only a "bad guy" for ten minutes. I actually think Bane is somehow more sinister than the Joker was. After all, in Nolan's world he was an agent of anarchy and unpredictability. He's not evil incarnate. He's just THE personification of violent energy and collective social psychological suppression of madness.

The joker had a lesson to teach us (at least until he realized his hypothesis about humanity was wrong, at which point he went batshit and beat Batmans ass faster than anyone ever has before)..,. He gave people a choice. Bane makes a point of giving only the illusion of choice, just so the final damage will hurt thatch more. He just wants to kill people and end lives, and he cares about nothing else (except for Thalia's hot ass which he would no doubt tap if he didn't feel a paternal affection for her).

He was far and away the highlight of the film, which surprised me.

When I saw the Dark Knight trailer, I knew I was going to love it. I didn't know I was going to love the second until after I'd already seen it. It just didn't sound like a great idea, honestly. But he'll, the second time through I was afraid I'd be bored. Instead, I held in my piss until I thought I was going to drown, and I took in every moment. I guess I can see how some might be disappointed, but I have to ask: why spend 9 hours watching a movie that you think (and, for the second and third time, know) sucks?!

The Dark Knight is clearly the best film, with its only flaw being the appearance of the guy who played Spawn as the token black gangster who luckily gets fucking killed. But I am totally happy with the trilogy and the way it ended, and I don't think I've ever felt that way about ANY film trilogy before. This is impressive because I am notoriously picky when it comes to "superhero" based films. There have only been about seven in history that are worth watching, and Nolan just flushed out the top three.

Iron Man 3 is about as exciting a prospect as sniffing a bucket that the guy from Coldplay just farted in.

I am looking forward to Skyfall, but that's a little different.

 

WAAAY too into it

[demonrail666]

 

Up in the Air

Starts out quite interesting but ends up not really amounting to much.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

I agree, I've had a bromance crush on Brat Pitt since I was a kid yo, that dude is a seriously great actor at every level. Like Chris Walken, even his really really terrible roles or even bad acting is still decent enough. Though with these recent Chanel No 5 ads, I'm not sure if he is bad acting or going for facetious.

My favorite Brad Pitt moments are in Twelve Monkies, he is the perfect schizo, he can play in and out of sanity better than Gene Wilder

 

WAAAY too into it

Hah. ... Yeah.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by Murmer99

I don't give a fuck if it seems "carried away" to anyone else, I'd fuck Batman's cowl till it's modified into a pointed dildo.

Anyways... gonna watch Donovan's Reef in a bit.

Oh! I also saw "Au Hasard Balthazar". I'm going to be honest and say I'm not sure what to make of it. I want to watch it again though. Very powerful film and it looks amazing but I found it strange... the whole thing with the donkey and whatnot. It was disturbing to watch the cruel behavior towards the animal. Interestingly, it's paralleled with the life of the human characters. I think I'll end up loving this film, but I can't say that yet. It's a very compassionate movie, which I admire.

the donkey is god (bresson was catholic)

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

 

WAAAY too into it

i was going to post a turd-in-protest, but you did much better (and classier).

[gast30]

ali g, borat, bruno ..the man is back

 

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by Murmer99

Oh! I also saw "Au Hasard Balthazar". I'm going to be honest and say I'm not sure what to make of it. I want to watch it again though. Very powerful film and it looks amazing but I found it strange... the whole thing with the donkey and whatnot. It was disturbing to watch the cruel behavior towards the animal. Interestingly, it's paralleled with the life of the human characters. I think I'll end up loving this film, but I can't say that yet. It's a very compassionate movie, which I admire.

I wrote a long response to this but edited it down simply to say that I hope you do stick with it. It didn't strike me the first time I saw it either, but one day I watched it again and all I can say is I'm glad I did.

Anyway, to something incomparably different, just rewatched

 

Battle: Los Angeles

The first half hour of this is great, before it turns into a cut-scene from a video game.

[h8kurdt]

 

So the girlfriend wanted to watch this as it was on tv last night. Dreadful, just utterly awful and with the adverts it was 2 1/2 hours longs. Not gonna get that back anytime soon.

[evollove]

"Au Hasard Balthazar" made me weep a little in a theater. Don't tell anyone.

[E. Noisefield]

Knowing.

It's a Nicolas Cage movie, and it is terrible in the worst possible way. Then again, if you're a Christian who enjoys rapture films that trick people into thinking they might be interesting and then turn to complete biblical horseshit, you'll probably love it.