Films of 2014: Summer

I'm all in for Captain America 2!!!!

thejokeriv wrote:

I'm all in for Captain America 2!!!!

Looks incredible, like it may be a step up from the first film. I'm a little bewildered at the chosen directing team--the directors have only experience with TV comedies (albeit good ones like Community).. Regardless, I think it's gonna be a blast.

Captain America 2 is one I'll definitely be seeing. In fact, it will be showing at our local drive-in with Need For Speed (meh).

corplhicks wrote:

thejokeriv wrote:

I'm all in for Captain America 2!!!!

Looks incredible, like it may be a step up from the first film. I'm a little bewildered at the chosen directing team--the directors have only experience with TV comedies (albeit good ones like Community).. Regardless, I think it's gonna be a blast.

Doesn't matter to me at this point - all great directors were once no names.

As a studio doing their own productions (which basically started with Iron Man), they've done a great job - with Iron Man 2 being the only possible misstep. All the movies have been fun entertainment. Really looking forward to this one!

thejokeriv wrote:

corplhicks wrote:

thejokeriv wrote:

I'm all in for Captain America 2!!!!

Looks incredible, like it may be a step up from the first film. I'm a little bewildered at the chosen directing team--the directors have only experience with TV comedies (albeit good ones like Community).. Regardless, I think it's gonna be a blast.

Doesn't matter to me at this point - all great directors were once no names.

As a studio doing their own productions (which basically started with Iron Man), they've done a great job - with Iron Man 2 being the only possible misstep. All the movies have been fun entertainment. Really looking forward to this one!

That's exactly what I'm thinking; Marvel has been on a roll (I've yet to see the rest of the Iron Mans) and the creativity has been above average, so this one should go well.

Marvel is "technically" their own studio but in reality they are just a corporate arm of Disney, they are even located on the Disney lot in Burbank. Believe me, it's Disney that are writing the paychecks and financing the films.

When this new wave of Marvel films started I had zero interest, I have never been a comic book fan, never owned a single Marvel or D.C. comic in my life. But Iron Man was such a good film, so completely unexpected that I took notice.

I don't think all of the films are of the same quality, Iron Man 2 was one of the worst sequels I've ever seen and honestly I think the Thor movies pretty much suck (especially the second one) but The Avengers was awesome and Captain America was close to that level as well.

We're starting to see the second wave now, movies that went into production after Joss Whedon was hired to supervise the entire universe. It was his decision to hire the Russo brothers to direct Winter Soldier, he also supervised the hiring of James Gunn (Slither) to write and direct Guardians Of The Galaxy and he hired Edgar Wright (Shaun Of The Dead) to direct next years Ant Man film. Thankfully he had minimal involvement with Thor: The Dark World so I won't blame that on him.   

S.D. wrote:

It was his decision to hire the Russo brothers to direct Winter Soldier...

Now it makes sense! Thank you! I've been scratching my head over this for so long now.

corplhicks wrote:

S.D. wrote:

It was his decision to hire the Russo brothers to direct Winter Soldier...

Now it makes sense! Thank you! I've been scratching my head over this for so long now.

There were a lot of people scratching their heads when Whedon was hired to direct The Avengers, "the guy who did Buffy The Vampire Slayer?". All of them shut up REAL QUICK when the film got rave reviews and earned over $1.5 Billion at the box office.

S.D. wrote:

corplhicks wrote:

S.D. wrote:

It was his decision to hire the Russo brothers to direct Winter Soldier...

Now it makes sense! Thank you! I've been scratching my head over this for so long now.

There were a lot of people scratching their heads when Whedon was hired to direct The Avengers, "the guy who did Buffy The Vampire Slayer?".  All of them shut up REAL QUICK when the film got rave reviews and earned over $1.5 Billion at the box office.

Not me, I was happy as a clam. Of course, I was already a fan, but what really sold me was his work on Serenity and how wonderful he is at writing for an ensemble cast. But it's not like everyone knew that at the time.

007 wrote:

Captain America 2 is one I'll definitely be seeing. In fact, it will be showing at our local drive-in with Need For Speed (meh).

CA2 looks good. I saw Need for Speed on opening weekend, though, and didn't like it. I like the video games, but the movie? Thumbs down.

Surprised nobody has mentioned Oculus yet, I figured some of the horror movie fans on this board might be interested in that one.

Regarding Noah. Here's what my Facebook feed looks like thus far. Keep in mind that, out of the 417 friends I have, more than 75% of them are fundamental christians.

Before first showing:
"Amped to see Noah!"
"Praise JESUS Noah will be soooo inspiring!!!!"
"About to see Noah! What a man of GOD! So happy we get a movie about him!"
"Going into Noah after seeing God's Not Dead what a night for the victory of Jesus"

After first showing:
"How terrible, and sad God was nowhere to be found."
"Noah was so bad! Filled with the Liberal Agenda! Avoid!"
"I walked out. Very innacurate [sic] and Godless."
"See God's Not Dead instead! Noah was disappointing."

That's just a fraction of it, and now I'm finding out the critics are enjoying this movie. Didn't expect that. Anyway, I did take it upon myself to bite my tongue except to humbly inform people that this account of Noah is based on the non-canonical book of Enoch, which is a fragment of the account found in Genesis. It's a much wilder and more fantastical read.

Here's what those boneheads are missing.

IT WAS NOT INTENDED AS A RELIGIOUS MOVIE.  Aronofsky approached it as a great story, that's it, no different than making a movie about The Odyssey or whatever.  He never came out and said "this is a word for word (even though it's only like 4 pages long) retelling of the classic bible story", that was not his intent.  People are getting pissed off about it because they misunderstood what that intent was.

S.D. wrote:

Here's what those boneheads are missing.

IT WAS NOT INTENDED AS A RELIGIOUS MOVIE.  Aronofsky approached it as a great story, that's it, no different than making a movie about The Odyssey or whatever.  He never came out and said "this is a word for word (even though it's only like 4 pages long) retelling of the classic bible story", that was not his intent.  People are getting pissed off about it because they misunderstood what that intent was.

Exactly. He came out and said the opposite, from what I understand.

Also important for people to note, as hard as it is to swallow for the fundie crowd, is that many biblical scholars of faith do in fact agree that the story of Noah was one of mythology, purely allegorical. There are so many logical fallacies, inconsistencies, and conflicting cross-references that it's pretty obvious there's no way this could have taken place, especially considering the authorship in that particular fragment of Genesis. So it's not exactly going "against the cross" when one takes liberties with the original story, because at the end of the day, it's just that. A story.

corplhicks wrote:

Regarding Noah. Here's what my Facebook feed looks like thus far. Keep in mind that, out of the 417 friends I have, more than 75% of them are fundamental christians.

Before first showing:
"Amped to see Noah!"
"Praise JESUS Noah will be soooo inspiring!!!!"
"About to see Noah! What a man of GOD! So happy we get a movie about him!"
"Going into Noah after seeing God's Not Dead what a night for the victory of Jesus"

After first showing:
"How terrible, and sad God was nowhere to be found."
"Noah was so bad! Filled with the Liberal Agenda! Avoid!"
"I walked out. Very innacurate [sic] and Godless."
"See God's Not Dead instead! Noah was disappointing."

That's just a fraction of it, and now I'm finding out the critics are enjoying this movie. Didn't expect that. Anyway, I did take it upon myself to bite my tongue except to humbly inform people that this account of Noah is based on the non-canonical book of Enoch, which is a fragment of the account found in Genesis. It's a much wilder and more fantastical read.

Here was a review I saw online:

Quote :

"alot of Christians people got ribbed off by the name of the Movie. We thought is was going to be real. That writter should be thrown in jail for lying about GOD’S WORD. I should’ve demanded a refund from the movie Theatre. I think I’ll find all our tickets & still do that. That false doctrine movie needs to be put out of business. We the Christians should start stand out at the Theatre & incourage People not to waist their money on “NOAH” since they don’t realize how wrong it is written."

And another one:

Quote :

" This movie should be banned! And why do I suggest such a drastic approach? Because it has distorted Gods truth!!! It is a lie. It has taken liberties with Holy word from God. There are some things no one should treat so shabbily. And anyone who sees it and has not read their King James Bible which by the way is still holy….will be misled. And for that they will stand before God. For it’s deception. God is not mocked"

I've seen some of the Noah posts online..... I haven't seen it but will wait until it's out on Blu-Ray and netflix... I mean, what do people expect from a movie made by a Jewish kid from the Bronx? That it will fit the Christian doctrine of (insert name of Church)? It seems like the typical response - ban the film, arrest the film makers... they have to "protect the Gospel" (really? I didn't know God needed protecting...)

Required Fields wrote:

Here was a review I saw online:

Quote :

"alot of Christians people got ribbed off by the name of the Movie. We thought is was going to be real. That writter should be thrown in jail for lying about GOD’S WORD. I should’ve demanded a refund from the movie Theatre. I think I’ll find all our tickets & still do that. That false doctrine movie needs to be put out of business. We the Christians should start stand out at the Theatre & incourage People not to waist their money on “NOAH” since they don’t realize how wrong it is written."

And another one:

Quote :

" This movie should be banned! And why do I suggest such a drastic approach? Because it has distorted Gods truth!!! It is a lie. It has taken liberties with Holy word from God. There are some things no one should treat so shabbily. And anyone who sees it and has not read their King James Bible which by the way is still holy….will be misled. And for that they will stand before God. For it’s deception. God is not mocked"

Erm, wow!  

Boris2008 wrote:

Erm, wow!  

Yep, welcome to the US, where we take batshit crazy to a whole 'nother level.

I finally saw American Hustle. I liked it. My only complaint is David O Russell encourages his actor's to improv and ramble too much. He needed to reign in some of the performances. Still a very good movie though.

S.D. wrote:

Here's what those boneheads are missing.

IT WAS NOT INTENDED AS A RELIGIOUS MOVIE.  Aronofsky approached it as a great story, that's it, no different than making a movie about The Odyssey or whatever.  He never came out and said "this is a word for word (even though it's only like 4 pages long) retelling of the classic bible story", that was not his intent.  People are getting pissed off about it because they misunderstood what that intent was.

I don't think it's unreasonable for a person to expect a movie called Noah about Noah from the Bible to be a religious movie. Most moviegoers aren't going to be aware of who a particular director is, let alone what they have said about a film. Frankly, the whole concept of a big budget, action Noah movie is beyong stupid.

Witchfinder wrote:

I finally saw American Hustle.  I liked it.  My only complaint is David O Russell encourages his actor's to improv and ramble too much.  He needed to reign in some of the performances.  Still a very good movie though.  

That is actually one of the things I most admire about his films.  His characters feel ALIVE, because he allows the actors to truly inhabit them.  In real life people ramble, they talk over each other, they don't talk in perfectly constructed sentences and then wait patiently for the other person to finish before speaking again.  People are messy, Russell understands that and captures it.  Because it is designed as entertainment it is of course stylized to a certain degree, but most movies use some form of exaggeration, it's part of the medium.  

I would rather see an an actor improvise and occasionally stumble, than play it 100% safe. Improvisation (whether in music or film) is where the real magic happens when the situation is right.

S.D. wrote:

Witchfinder wrote:

I finally saw American Hustle.  I liked it.  My only complaint is David O Russell encourages his actor's to improv and ramble too much.  He needed to reign in some of the performances.  Still a very good movie though.  

That is actually one of the things I most admire about his films.  His characters feel ALIVE, because he allows the actors to truly inhabit them.  In real life people ramble, they talk over each other, they don't talk in perfectly constructed sentences and then wait patiently for the other person to finish before speaking again.  People are messy, Russell understands that and captures it.  Because it is designed as entertainment it is of course stylized to a certain degree, but most movies use some form of exaggeration, it's part of the medium.  

I would rather see an an actor improvise and occasionally stumble, than play it 100% safe. Improvisation (whether in music or film) is where the real magic happens when the situation is right.

Sure, improv is great when done well. Here I think some performances were a bit over the top and brought me out of the film. However, it's was still one of the best films of last year and well worth seeing.

Witchfinder wrote:

S.D. wrote:

Here's what those boneheads are missing.

IT WAS NOT INTENDED AS A RELIGIOUS MOVIE.  Aronofsky approached it as a great story, that's it, no different than making a movie about The Odyssey or whatever.  He never came out and said "this is a word for word (even though it's only like 4 pages long) retelling of the classic bible story", that was not his intent.  People are getting pissed off about it because they misunderstood what that intent was.

I don't think it's unreasonable for a person to expect a movie called Noah about Noah from the Bible to be a religious movie.  Most moviegoers aren't going to be aware of who a particular director is, let alone what they have said about a film.  Frankly, the whole concept of a big budget, action Noah movie is beyong stupid.  

I disagree. To non believers, the Noah story is another folklore tale and there have been dozens of big budget action folklore tale movies. I'm looking forward to seeing it. I don't agree that most people going to see Noah will be unaware of who Aronofsky is, i think that his track record will be a big reason for a lot of people to go and see it.

Boris2008 wrote:

Witchfinder wrote:

S.D. wrote:

Here's what those boneheads are missing.

IT WAS NOT INTENDED AS A RELIGIOUS MOVIE.  Aronofsky approached it as a great story, that's it, no different than making a movie about The Odyssey or whatever.  He never came out and said "this is a word for word (even though it's only like 4 pages long) retelling of the classic bible story", that was not his intent.  People are getting pissed off about it because they misunderstood what that intent was.

I don't think it's unreasonable for a person to expect a movie called Noah about Noah from the Bible to be a religious movie.  Most moviegoers aren't going to be aware of who a particular director is, let alone what they have said about a film.  Frankly, the whole concept of a big budget, action Noah movie is beyong stupid.  

I disagree. To non believers, the Noah story is another folklore tale and there have been dozens of big budget action folklore tale movies. I'm looking forward to seeing it. I don't agree that most people going to see Noah will be unaware of who Aronofsky is, i think that his track record will be a big reason for a lot of people to go and see it.

The people getting angry aren't the non-believers obviously. Your average religious person would assume a Noah movie was about the biblical character. Also, I think you radically overestimate the average moviegoer's knowledge of directors. Unless the name is Lucas, Spielberg or Bay, most people don't know, or care, who a director is.

Not that it matters to me really, I was never going to see this absurd film anyway. It had no appeal to me whatsoever and I am not religious, and I have seen all of Aronofsky's other films. I have no idea why he would be involved with this turd.

Aronofsky has been dreaming of making a film version of this story since he was 13 years old.  It was a passion project, one that could only be made with the financing of a major studio behind it.  Controversy or not it looks like the gamble will probably pay off, has made over $90 million thus far, as long as it makes a total of at least $300 million it will be considered profitable.  

I have no desire to ever see this, a shame since I generally enjoy his films.

Witchfinder wrote:

The people getting angry aren't the non-believers obviously. Your average religious person would assume a Noah movie was about the biblical character.

And according to the more open-minded reviewers of the film that is exactly what it is.  Still, that is why the studio released the disclaimer that said "inspired by".  When your source material is only 4 pages long, you are going to have to make up a good deal of character and plot development to create a feature length film.