A few films recently watched.

[awepittance]

not that i think I'm going to love his new movie or anything but seriously Zaphod when is the last time you enjoyed a new film, i genuinely want to know. movie tickets are expensive and you seem to go to the more often than i do.

[perunamuusi]

michael moore is an idiot

[Guest Scott Howard]

antichrist - Lars Von Trier

8/10

[Guest zaphod]

not that i think I'm going to love his new movie or anything but seriously Zaphod when is the last time you enjoyed a new film, i genuinely want to know. movie tickets are expensive and you seem to go to the more often than i do.

 

i've been to like four movies in the last two months...the last new film i enjoyed in the theater was the hurt locker. the last film i enjoyed according to this thread was there will be blood. favorite movie this year so far has been star trek. sorry that i didn't like in the loop very much, you seem to have turned on me since i posted that i thought it was a mediocre example of a comedy. keep in mind that the last three movies i've seen in a theater were jennifer's body, surrogates, and capitalism...

[Guest KY]

I attempted to watch Akira after not seeing it in 10+ years, but couldn't get through all of it with out fast-forwarding or taking breaks. Everything about this film, except the animation, is so god damn terrible 0/10

hahahahahaha fucking awesome, and I agree.

 

this is why i still haven't watched it

 

 

 

The Informant! - 4/10

 

Very scattered funny moments, the set-up was interesting but really didn't work for me in general.

[Guest Mirezzi]

i've been to like four movies in the last two months...the last new film i enjoyed in the theater was the hurt locker. the last film i enjoyed according to this thread was there will be blood. favorite movie this year so far has been star trek. sorry that i didn't like in the loop very much, you seem to have turned on me since i posted that i thought it was a mediocre example of a comedy. keep in mind that the last three movies i've seen in a theater were jennifer's body, surrogates, and capitalism...

This might be irrelevant to In the Loop.

 

But, I'm really worried about comedy. Will we have to endure another 10 years of this Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant revolution? I still rate the BBC original, The Office, as one of the greatest television shows ever made. In fairness, there was a Canadian television show called Newsroom that came out in 1996, a staggering five years before The Office. The show's creator, Ken Finkleman, basically gave birth to the mock-documentary comedy, but far more importantly, the Squirm-Com. E.g. - Somebody says something incredibly offensive in mixed company, everybody gasps, then goes quiet, then the audience is afforded several "awkward" moments during the pregnant pause to laugh. Newsroom was a very clever and very funny show, but most likely because it was Canadian, it never caught fire. Still, The Office perfected the form.

 

Regardless of the greatness of Newsroom or The Office, I think it's beyond ridiculous that sitcom after sitcom, movie after movie, lazily replicate the form. Maybe it's all part of a neverending fascination people have with political correctness.

 

Anyway, I'd like to hear what other people think about this topic. I recently watched the first episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Virtually everybody I know thinks this show is genius, or at the very least, "fucking hilarious."

 

Within 30 seconds of the first fucking episode, the three white guys that own the bar, Paddy's, are closing the bar and cleaning up. A friend of the cocktail waitress walks in. He's black. He's told the bar is closed. He says, "I know." Telegraphed from a mile away, one of the lanky, awkward white guys steps right up and blurts out, "Hey man, we don't want any trouble." That's the first 30 seconds of the show. The rest of the episode was more of the same. SUPER EMBARRASSING AND HILARIOUS SOCIAL GAFFES.

 

I mean, I know comedy often depends on discomfort. We unmask painful topics because it helps us cope with life's miseries if we can laugh at them. Still, it's getting soooo fucking boring to watch all these lazy fucking replicas of The Office. Am I alone here? Do other people find this particular form of comedy to be endlessly fruitful?

[Guest KY]

frownland 8/10 - really did remind me of isolationist city dramas of the 70s or 80s, incredibly tense for two hours straight. loved the somewhat out-of-place carpenter-esque soundtrack

 

joint security area 8/10

 

scott walker: 30 century man 6/10 dig the music, but his career wasn't filled with incredibly dramatic highs and lows, pretty boring doc.

 

dr bronner's magic soapbox 4/10 marketing scheme for the son of the soap's inventor?

 

bigger, stronger, faster 6/10 really had great moments, but overall the director never really presented an opinion at all

 

billy the kid 9/10 this

 

the five obstructions 9/10

[takeshi]

the five obstructions 9/10

 

Was this the original or Von Trier's version?

[Guest zaphod]

i've been to like four movies in the last two months...the last new film i enjoyed in the theater was the hurt locker. the last film i enjoyed according to this thread was there will be blood. favorite movie this year so far has been star trek. sorry that i didn't like in the loop very much, you seem to have turned on me since i posted that i thought it was a mediocre example of a comedy. keep in mind that the last three movies i've seen in a theater were jennifer's body, surrogates, and capitalism...

This might be irrelevant to In the Loop.

 

But, I'm really worried about comedy. Will we have to endure another 10 years of this Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant revolution? I still rate the BBC original, The Office, as one of the greatest television shows ever made. In fairness, there was a Canadian television show called Newsroom that came out in 1996, a staggering five years before The Office. The show's creator, Ken Finkleman, basically gave birth to the mock-documentary comedy, but far more importantly, the Squirm-Com. E.g. - Somebody says something incredibly offensive in mixed company, everybody gasps, then goes quiet, then the audience is afforded several "awkward" moments during the pregnant pause to laugh. Newsroom was a very clever and very funny show, but most likely because it was Canadian, it never caught fire. Still, The Office perfected the form.

 

Regardless of the greatness of Newsroom or The Office, I think it's beyond ridiculous that sitcom after sitcom, movie after movie, lazily replicate the form. Maybe it's all part of a neverending fascination people have with political correctness.

 

Anyway, I'd like to hear what other people think about this topic. I recently watched the first episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Virtually everybody I know thinks this show is genius, or at the very least, "fucking hilarious."

 

Within 30 seconds of the first fucking episode, the three white guys that own the bar, Paddy's, are closing the bar and cleaning up. A friend of the cocktail waitress walks in. He's black. He's told the bar is closed. He says, "I know." Telegraphed from a mile away, one of the lanky, awkward white guys steps right up and blurts out, "Hey man, we don't want any trouble." That's the first 30 seconds of the show. The rest of the episode was more of the same. SUPER EMBARRASSING AND HILARIOUS SOCIAL GAFFES.

 

I mean, I know comedy often depends on discomfort. We unmask painful topics because it helps us cope with life's miseries if we can laugh at them. Still, it's getting soooo fucking boring to watch all these lazy fucking replicas of The Office. Am I alone here? Do other people find this particular form of comedy to be endlessly fruitful?

 

totally agree. i've been rewatching bits of the office, and it's gotten better with age. but seeing this kind of comedy, especially on the big screen, movie after movie, is just depressing. what really bugged me about in the loop was the hand held camera, pseudo documentary feel of it. but the comedy in that relied more on cleverly written dialogue (which was clever) but just wasn't all that funny. and then maybe what it had in common with something like the office or any of these other shows was that i simply didn't want to watch it after thirty minutes because the characters were so irritating. i really hate a couple of the office clones that are on now...i think parks and recreation is one. everything has to have the same set up for jokes: guy says something awkward, camera zooms in on reaction shots, guy says something more awkward, rinse repeat.

i'm not even sure what i find funny anymore, but there doesn't seem to be much pattern to it. i'll love a will ferrel movie one minute but then i'll watch something like walk hard or step brothers and have to turn it off. funny is funny, i guess.

[awepittance]

The Office and Newsroom would not exist it were not for the Larry Sanders show. So for me to complain of people replicating the office probably doesn't have the same impact for as it does for Office lovers. The awkward moments, conversational dialogue and stye of characters all feel very directly lifted from the Larry Sanders template. And there is nothing wrong with that, it's a great format to do well written comedy in. I like the british office a lot but don't hold it to this high standard of quality or perfection or especially originality. And i don't mind when comedies are done in a faux documentary style because well all of them feel like they were inspired by Larry Sanders or Spinal Tap to me.

Zaphod, You might like the BBC show version better 'The Thick of it'

I think 'In the Loop' and 'The Thick of it' bring just as many new things to the table to the Sanders template as the Office did. And the fact that it is also a British show and that's its faux documentary are really the only similarities in my mind, they are very different comedies. The Thick of it is heavily based on swearing tirades by 2 of the main characters, something unfortunately the Office cannot offer.

 

edit: i think also if you have no interest in politics, The thick of it or In the Loop probably won't be very funny or worst case scenario won't many very much sense. To me its the perfect political commentary of our age. Your idea of a good Iraq war movie is Hurt Locker and mine is In the Loop. that shows how much on opposite sides of the spectrum we are

[plstik]

finally finished season 2 of Lexx, definetly worth a look for everyone with 12 year old fantasies about spaceships, cheap softsex and mild brutality

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAUgKOu7rKU

[Guest zaphod]

The Office and Newsroom would not exist it were not for the Larry Sanders show. So for me to complain of people replicating the office probably doesn't have the same impact for as it does for Office lovers. The awkward moments, conversational dialogue and stye of characters all feel very directly lifted from the Larry Sanders template. And there is nothing wrong with that, it's a great format to do well written comedy in. I like the british office a lot but don't hold it to this high standard of quality or perfection or especially originality. And i don't mind when comedies are done in a faux documentary style because well all of them feel like they were inspired by Larry Sanders or Spinal Tap to me.

Zaphod, You might like the BBC show version better 'The Thick of it'

I think 'In the Loop' and 'The Thick of it' bring just as many new things to the table to the Sanders template as the Office did. And the fact that it is also a British show and that's its faux documentary are really the only similarities in my mind, they are very different comedies. The Thick of it is heavily based on swearing tirades by 2 of the main characters, something unfortunately the Office cannot offer.

 

edit: i think also if you have no interest in politics, The thick of it or In the Loop probably won't be very funny or worst case scenario won't many very much sense. To me its the perfect political commentary of our age. Your idea of a good Iraq war movie is Hurt Locker and mine is In the Loop. that shows how much on opposite sides of the spectrum we are

 

well i have a bachelor's in political science so i tend to think i have a pretty heavy interest in politics. and i'm not sure we're on opposite ends of the spectrum politically, if your posts in other threads are to be believed. the hurt locker is a war movie, in the loop is a political satire; to compare them is kind of ridiculous. i just happen to think in the loop isn't very accurate or funny but if i were a soldier in iraq i might think the same of the hurt locker. also, that movie had no real political motive, whereas in the loop has a very distinct bias, or at least intent to skewer a target. again, not really worth comparing, although i get what you're trying to say.

 

one thing we can agree on is the larry sanders show. i always forget about it, but you're right, it's the main influence of the office, and it is brilliant. although garry shandling seems like either a genius or a sociopath in the video i've seen of him. there's one where he invites ricky gervais out to visit him and then proceeds to subject him to about an hour of the most awkward dead air possible. just total cold shoulder, basically calls gervais a nazi, but then the entire thing has this slant to it where shandling very well may be pulling one over on gervais, putting him through the same awkward routine he exploits on the office. it's actually pretty brilliant.

 

edit:

 

paranormal activity - 9/10

one of the better horror movies i've seen. the theater experience was insane. i've never seen a group of people so frightened of a movie.

[YEK]

war of the worlds- i went in knowing it got bad reviews. i saw some bad yes but there was a lot of action and the suspenseful bits hooked me. 7/10

[awepittance]

 

one thing we can agree on is the larry sanders show. i always forget about it, but you're right, it's the main influence of the office, and it is brilliant. although garry shandling seems like either a genius or a sociopath in the video i've seen of him. there's one where he invites ricky gervais out to visit him and then proceeds to subject him to about an hour of the most awkward dead air possible. just total cold shoulder, basically calls gervais a nazi, but then the entire thing has this slant to it where shandling very well may be pulling one over on gervais, putting him through the same awkward routine he exploits on the office. it's actually pretty brilliant.

 

 

yeah that whole exchange was very intense to watch, i've re-watched i maybe 10 times just to study the thing, it's either a genius stroke of comedy and/or a sociopathic mind game. either way it's sure as hell entertaining.

[awepittance]

well i have a bachelor's in political science so i tend to think i have a pretty heavy interest in politics. and i'm not sure we're on opposite ends of the spectrum politically, if your posts in other threads are to be believed. the hurt locker is a war movie, in the loop is a political satire; to compare them is kind of ridiculous. i just happen to think in the loop isn't very accurate or funny but if i were a soldier in iraq i might think the same of the hurt locker. also, that movie had no real political motive, whereas in the loop has a very distinct bias, or at least intent to skewer a target. again, not really worth comparing, although i get what you're trying to say.

 

i think comparisons can be drawn, but i have not seen Hurt Locker so i can't say for sure. judging by the reviews it seems to intentionally try to not fall on either a pro or anti war stance. I just think In the Loop is one of the best movies i've seen about modern warefare, it's a complete comedy, but i think it's a good way to show the insanity involved in for example what the Downing st memo actually implies (which after repeated viewings i think In the loop is either an allegory for or directly about the memo in question depending on how you look at it). The whole act of fixing the facts and spinning things behind the scenes it's only natural it can be done in a comedic style. I'm sure no one you've worked with is as insane as Malcom Tucker, but on the same token wouldn't be surprised if there were people actually like him out there.

 

ps: the guy also made a sketch comedy show on UK channel 4 called "The Armando Iannucci Shows" ,

 

here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ew8rdu7ZY4

 

if you like monty python or mr show you may like it

[Guest A/D]

inglourious basterds. 6/10. not bad, seemed kind of disjointed. loved the writing/acting of the nemesis character. the scene in the theater made me sad. maybe i'm old but i thought this was a fundamentally sad movie about people killing each other for no reason. i think i could tell that wasn't really the spirit of the film but i don't know. i think they could have done better than brad pitt.

[Guest Mirezzi]

Zaphod - So, Paranormal Activity, despite the trailers, is not another Blair Witch Project clone? It looks fucking horrible.

 

Good call re: Larry Sanders Show. That show as sublime, particularly Rip Torn and Jeffrey Tambor.

 

Anyway, what's this Shandling/Gervais thing you guys are talking about?

[Guest Benedict Cumberbatch]

The Thick of it is heavily based on swearing tirades by 2 of the main characters

 

maybe i just haven't watched thick of it recently but my main complaint about in the loop was that it was basically a malcolm tucker film. i don't remember the tv version relying on the shouting/swearing as much. yes its there but not the main joke as it was here. i don't like the new mp either. doesn't bode well for the new season

[mosca]

UP

 

and it was fucking brilliant.

[Guest zaphod]

Zaphod - So, Paranormal Activity, despite the trailers, is not another Blair Witch Project clone? It looks fucking horrible.

 

Good call re: Larry Sanders Show. That show as sublime, particularly Rip Torn and Jeffrey Tambor.

 

Anyway, what's this Shandling/Gervais thing you guys are talking about?

 

you and i would disagree then. i loved the blair witch project when i saw it in theaters, at a relatively young age. it scared the shit out of me. this is not a blair witch clone though, it's quite a bit scarier, it just uses the same found footage concept. to better effect. but you'd probably hate it, if you hate that.

 

here's the shandling/gervais thing (i can't find the whole thing):

 

[awepittance]

"don't touch me"

 

"what are you controlling?"

 

the only good part missing from this edited version of the interview is a section where Garry goes off onto why Larry Sanders was such an important show psychologically for him, and that he used it as an excuse or an experiment to explore his own psyche. while he described the show this way and how 'larry cuts off his own avenues for self exploration during his own half baked quest for self exploration and reflection' he seemed to get so emotional almost to the point of crying, you could tell how close to his heart the show is and what it has meant to him. I found it an interesting revelation because i always felt like Larry Sanders show was always trying to inject almost like parable like morality tales into comedy, but unlike most sitcoms where those are mostly cliche as fuck and inconsequential in larry sanders they can actually sometimes hit you directly in the heart. In other words they actually are effective on not just an emotional level but an intellectual one. an example of this is the series finale, where i swear as a grown man i cried a little bit at the end. i dont think a comedy has ever done this to me before.

 

edit: i can also offer a clue as to why i'm so forgiving of Judd Apatow movies and spinoffs. it's because besides Todd Holland and Larry Sanders himself, Apatow is credited to being a main driving force behind the funniness in the Larry Sanders show, he produced, wrote and directed a shit load of episodes. and while i do think he's severely overhyped, i do think the man has some authentic funny bones in his body, even if he doesn't show them very often anymore

[Worlds Most Johnsson]

abysmally bad

 

I would really like to se a 10's remake with good cgi and a fat budget.

[data]

transformers 2. turned it off after about 50 mins, such a waste ..

 

2/10 for pretty good sound design.

[chaosmachine]

 

http://www.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=1287

[Guest Benedict Cumberbatch]

 

ps: the guy also made a sketch comedy show on UK channel 4 called "The Armando Iannucci Shows" ,

 

 

 

he was also behind:

 

the day today (co-wrote/produced. great news mock)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Bq_dkPkQUU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_F3PWGr2jg

 

saturday/friday night armistice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJEqbMV-Cns

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDWHRR-FI2o&NR=1

 

alan partridge (co-wrote/produced?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5jpVbEL0jc

 

time trumpet (wrote/presented.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKQ29aR3uK4

 

 

not to mention his radio stuff