Pacific Rim

[schild]

I just saw this.

Ya, but you knew going in that realism isn't what a giant-fighting-robot-movie was about.

Correct, but I didn't know the premise through which the monsters/notmonsters came to Earth.

I can't believe this is the sort of shit we get instead of Into the Mouth of Madness.

Also, there was a preview for uhhh, some bullshit Clooney/Bullock vehicle. Gravity, I think it was called. Looks like crap.

[tazelbain]

instead of Into the Mouth of Madness.

Now we get heart of the matter. 

[Mattemeo]

I can't believe this is the sort of shit we get instead of Into the Mouth of Madness.

Also, there was a preview for uhhh, some bullshit Clooney/Bullock vehicle. Gravity, I think it was called. Looks like crap.

John Carpenter's got your six, buddy

Also, Gravity is by Alfonso Cuarón; guy that did Children of Men. Chances are the film could be a lot better than the premise or trailer shows.

[schild]

I meant At the Mountains of Madness, which is relevant because it was canceled (the Del Toro movie). Yea, I know who Cuaron is. But I also knew who Danny Boyle was and Sunshine was unwatchably bad.

Maybe if Pacific Rim hadn't been 2+ hours long and they hadn't like, gone out of their way to explain everything, I would've enjoyed it.

I want my summer movies to be more like Shoot 'Em Up and less like The Alternate Earth History Channel.

[Mattemeo]

I actually thought they'd done a good job with less of the hand-holding in Pacific Rim. Concept is introduced, we see how the Jaegers are manned, 'The Drift' is left satisfyingly unexplained as a mcguffin. Film gets on with it. I've heard ID4 comparisons before but they don't stand up, really. This is not a MURRICUUHHH movie.

As for Sunshine, that movie broke my heart. I was loving it up til the 3rd act. Then... jesus titty fucking christ did it jump the shark. At least there will always be the soundtrack. Oh wait. They never properly released that thanks to publsher fuckery.


I like Shoot 'Em Up a lot but I have to acknowledge it's a terrible movie. But it has the good grace to know it's a terrible movie. I like to double-bill it with Equilibrium, which is also a terrible movie, but has no idea. Yin/Yang.

[tazelbain]

Mountains of Madness died because of Prometheus not Pacific Rim.

[schild]

I'm aware, but I can stick my head in the sand and blame whatever I want.

[schild]

Shoot'em Up is not a terrible movie. It's a fucking masterpiece of brainless action that clocked in at precisely 90 minutes. It is precisely what goddamn Jason Statham has been trying to do with Crank. Equilibrium is actual shit. Shoot'em Up is WAY too self-aware of what it was trying to be to be called "terrible."

Edit: OBVIOUSLY I'm not talking about the "YAY America" portions of Independence Day. Structurally, however, the movie is the same. Seriously, go watch ID4. Then watch it again (because it's better than Pacific Rim). Fuck, even the "win" condition for the movie is the exact same. Pacific Rim was bad and somehow became overrated by nerds. Giant Monsters are still pretty awesome though and these were the ehhhh, third best on Film yet - so it gets some measure of credit for that.

[Teleku]

I think I mentioned before that you hate everything that is good on screen, and also seem to love all that is bad.  I'm going to say that again.  

I loved ID4 when it came out and I was in Jr. High.  The movie is almost totally un-watchable for me now in every aspect (dialog, action, characters, ect).  Pacific Rim was a great action movie.  Equilibrium was also good fun.  Why don't you go just kick a puppy or something now while you're at it?!!!!1!

[Lakov_Sanite]

Prometheus is getting a sequel and people want to shit on logical consistency in a kaiju movie.  This world is psycho.

[schild]

Prometheus is getting a sequel and people want to shit on logical consistency in a kaiju movie.  This world is psycho.

I think pouring an endless stream of some hardening material (Brofellos said Cornstarch would work, i lolled) down a hole to stop Kaiju would've been a fine solution. They certainly didn't need to spend 8 years figuring out how to stop them. It's one of the most reactive civilizations I've ever seen on film.

I think I mentioned before that you hate everything that is good on screen, and also seem to love all that is bad.  I'm going to say that again.   

I loved ID4 when it came out and I was in Jr. High.  The movie is almost totally un-watchable for me now in every aspect (dialog, action, characters, ect).  Pacific Rim was a great action movie.  Equilibrium was also good fun.  Why don't you go just kick a puppy or something now while you're at it?!!!!1!

Alas, I don't believe I am the one with bad taste here. I have a very short list of "things I hate" in film, it just tends to be, for whatever reason, a list of things neckbeards really fucking enjoy in film and I can't figure out why. Equilibrium was not "good fun." Pacific Rim barely qualified as an action movie. It took them nearly the entire war and a somehow racist portrayal on how Japanese people would fight to figure out that swords cut fleshy bits.

[schild]

It should be noted that The Host is the only Gojira-inspired monster movie I've actually enjoyed. Though I liked both Cloverfield (which I think was Blair Witch done right) and Super 8.

[Mattemeo]

Though I liked both Cloverfield (which I think was Blair Witch done right) and Super 8.

I know you play the f13 contrarian for shits and giggles, but really, fuck me. 

[Paelos]

Cloverfield was fun, you people are just being obtuse if you don't like it.

[Margalis]

The fact that all these slight summer movies are so long is going a long way towards killing my interest in these types of movies as a whole. Once you get past 2 hours a fun romp is no longer a fun romp.

[Khaldun]

Transformers had dumb nostalgia and Shia LeBoeuf.

This film has no bankable assets. This thread appears to dramatically underestimate how much box office is driven by the name of the IP and the name of the star.

I'd agree the trailers were awful. They were putting me off before the reviews came in.

This thread underestimates that because there's a bunch of flicks that have made big money without named stars in the last decade. IP name is maybe more important but there are plenty of named IPs that have bombed. I think you are underestimating how much underpromotion matters. But whatever. Since the movie itself doesn't suck and since it's material that folks have demonstrably have come out to see in other summers, name your theory.

[lamaros]

The promotion is shit. They've had ads on TV here a bit and I had no desire to watch it at all until I bothered to click this thread.

Also maybe it's just not as good as some of you think.

[Mattemeo]

Cloverfield was fun, you people are just being obtuse if you don't like it.

No, it was utter drivel and managed to make Godzilla 1999 look good. Hooray, a movie where I spend 95% of the time following around a group of literally the most unlikable fuckwits in recent cinema history (the twats in the flats of Skyline came close) as they slowly stupid themselves to death while holding mobile phones and handycam presented in the form of found footage (so therefore 2 hours of migraine inducing intollerable shakeycam) with 5% screen presence of the actual monster which turns out to be not only fucking stupid looking but also incapable of maintaining any semblance of consistant size or mass. This is a creature that supposedly smashes the Statue of Liberty, destroys half of Manhatten but somehow sneaks up on two morons hiding under a bridge in Central Park? No. Shitty movie is shitty. I would rather hammer nails into my knees than watch it again.

[MediumHigh]

I didn't like cloverfield because of the use of shacky cam. It was an "ok" movie to watch for free. Otherwise I would be pissed I paid for "omg, omg!!" and "quick snap to the left, now quick snap to the right, what was that in the middle again? now quick snap to the left"

[rk47]

....well if they do a macross movie...

[SurfD]

Cloverfield was fun, you people are just being obtuse if you don't like it.

No, it was utter drivel and managed to make Godzilla 1999 look good. Hooray, a movie where I spend 95% of the time following around a group of literally the most unlikable fuckwits in recent cinema history (the twats in the flats of Skyline came close) as they slowly stupid themselves to death while holding mobile phones and handycam presented in the form of found footage (so therefore 2 hours of migraine inducing intollerable shakeycam) with 5% screen presence of the actual monster which turns out to be not only fucking stupid looking but also incapable of maintaining any semblance of consistant size or mass. This is a creature that supposedly smashes the Statue of Liberty, destroys half of Manhatten but somehow sneaks up on two morons hiding under a bridge in Central Park? No. Shitty movie is shitty. I would rather hammer nails into my knees than watch it again.

If WoW has taught me anything, it is that fucking giant ass monsters can actually tiptoe around quite easily.  Goddamned Fel-reavers.

[Teleku]

Dang, I really liked cloverfield.  One of my favorite movies actually.  Lots of strong opinions in this thread!

[schild]

There's nothing wrong with Cloverfield. It just wasn't what people wanted. Apparently they wanted ID4 remade. Who knew?

[Quinton]

This movie was a ton of fun.  Saw it tonight with a bunch of friends in a packed theater.  Enjoyed the whole thing.  It was just gloriously fun.

I think Teleku is right and schild is just broken.  I do agree that it's shit that we got screwed out of a Del Toro Mountains of Madness movie, but I'm not going to take it out on Pacific Rim.

Bonus, a couple neat featurettes on some of the practical set work for Pacific Rim:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSneLGWNOwQ
www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8U16zCxCFM

I was pretty underwhelmed by ID4.  I loved this.

[schild]

I saw it in a theater with about 14 other people and Brofellos. People tend to like things more when they're part of a large group of people that loved a thing. It's the only explanation I have for straight (or, honestly, even gay) guys that like musicals or period pieces. ANYWAY. I'm sure there's some sort of 30 page paper that could be written about people who loved this but didn't like ID4 or found it just mediocre.

Fact of the matter is this:

I liked Rinko Kikuchi more in Brothers Bloom and Survive Style 5+ (man, that movie is super awesome). Charlie Day was, I guess, the best possible replacement for Jeff Goldblum. Everyone else was terrible. Short of putting 2 Will Smith's in an EVA suit, I suppose they did what they could with a budget blown on special effects and Ron Perlman's sweet fucking shoes.

I think my problem with Pacific Rim is that motherfuckers are hailing it as some sort of brilliant piece of summer cinematography. It's not. It's an alright action movie that was too long and had too much talking and totally shitty flashbacks during drifts. I can let that last part go because when you're making an action movie you really have to bludgeon it the fuck into the average viewers brain that "THIS IS HOW SHIT WORKS, ALRIGHT." Anyway, if everyone had just said "This was a pretty cool movie with a lot of eva units punching monsters in the face while there isn't enough sunlight and it's always fucking raining" I'd have been like "Sweet, eva units punching rad  monsters, including one designed by Wayne Barlowe. Will watch on blu-ray."

Instead i had to hear about how Hollywood was PUTTING IT DOWN. How the machine was AFRAID of this, the same way it was afraid of Inception.

Instead I had to hear people say "omgomgomgomgomgsoawesome #yolo see it in imax 3D."

Instead I had to hear that this was like, a real movie that was worth real dollars and a real 2+ hours of my time.

So, instead of blu-ray (code for Pacific.Rim.720p.bluray.blahblah), I saw it in the theater.

Which was a waste of my fucking money.

[MahrinSkel]

Most of Pacific Rim's nonsense can be excused under the Rule of Cool, the results are so damned awesome you don't mind turning off the analytic part of your mind and just enjoying the ride.  I had one in-theater 'WTF?' moment with PR, ID4 had one every ten minutes (how is the dog outrunning an explosion, why don't the alien fighters just stop dead in mid-air and act like turrets, how the fuck is Jeff Goldblum driving out of NYC right now, why are people obeying traffic laws and leaving DC's inbound lanes clear....) so that by the time we get to the bullshit of a Macbook infecting an alien computer with a virus my suspension of disbelief is completely gone.

Comparing the two is not only unfair to PR, it's giving ID4 too much credit.  Much as Sucker Punch can be excused a lot for the sheer awesome of live-action Schoolgirl vs. Demon Samurai, rocket punching Cthulu is worth ignoring physics and logic for a couple of hours.

--Dave

Edit: Really, what did ID4 have for cool moments?  Blowing up the White House and an alien using Brent Spiner for a sock puppet?

[schild]

(By the way, there's nothing wrong with remaking ID4 as a kaiju movie. So, let's not latch onto the wrong point here. Nor am I saying ID4 is the, ahem *wheeeeeeeeeeeeeze* Citizen Kane of action movies.)

(P.S. I pretty much love del Toro, but he's certainly no master story teller) (also, again, Gravity looks like shit. Goddamnit Cuarón.)

[schild]

Most of Pacific Rim's nonsense can be excused under the Rule of Cool, the results are so damned awesome you don't mind turning off the analytic part of your mind and just enjoying the ride.  I had one in-theater 'WTF?' moment with PR, ID4 had one every ten minutes (how is the dog outrunning an explosion, why don't the alien fighters just stop dead in mid-air and act like turrets, how the fuck is Jeff Goldblum driving out of NYC right now, why are people obeying traffic laws and leaving DC's inbound lanes clear....) so that by the time we get to the bullshit of a Macbook infecting an alien computer with a virus my suspension of disbelief is completely gone.

I'm going to give you a "bitch, please" here. I don't know why I'm putting spoilers in a thread about a fucking Action Movie, so I'll stop doing that.

1. Took them 8 years to figure out swords. That part fucking KILLED ME. I wanted to flip the fucking table.
2. They know precisely where the breach is. Do something about it.
3. The wall? Was this some sort of shitass commentary on the inevitability of NOLA getting destroyed again? Why? Why would anyone think that was a good idea? The movie started with the first Kaiju ripping through 35 miles and multiple cities. Fuck.

I could keep going, but don't pretend this movie didn't have 50 wtf moments, especially after you said you would rather turn off your brain for this type of movie (but didn't seem to for a goddamn Will Smith action feature).

Comparing the two is not only unfair to PR, it's giving ID4 too much credit.

It's really, really not. I am 100% sure this movie could not exist without ID4, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Gojira. I'm sorry you're not a fan of at least one leg of that mediocre tripod. Much like Star Wars couldn't exist without Kurosawa.

I don't even know how to respond to the Suckerpunch bit. That's like, just insanely goofy.

[MahrinSkel]

Comparing the two is not only unfair to PR, it's giving ID4 too much credit.

It's really, really not. I am 100% sure this movie could not exist without ID4, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Gojira. I'm sorry you're not a fan of at least one leg of that mediocre tripod. Much like Star Wars couldn't exist without Kurosawa.

I don't even know how to respond to the Suckerpunch bit. That's like, just insanely goofy.

I don't see what possible connection you can draw from ID4 to PR.  There's about a dozen movies that make a more direct thematic parallel, and the CGI has a lot more progenitors that did it earlier and/or better.

[schild]

I don't see what possible connection you can draw from ID4 to PR. There's about a dozen movies that make a more direct thematic parallel, and the CGI has a lot more progenitors that did it earlier and/or better.

Oh, gee, I don't know. Only the entire fucking storyline (and structure) down to the cast and archetypes among said cast.

Once again, I'm not saying that's even a crime. I'm not even saying Pacific Rim is necessarily an actual bad movie. It's a summer blockbuster. Crimes against good taste are an MO for the genre. I'm cool with ALL of that.

It was, however, (literal) SHIT compared to how nerds talked it up. It's just not the movie people are making it out to be.

Also, watch ID4 again.

[MahrinSkel]

I don't see what possible connection you can draw from ID4 to PR. There's about a dozen movies that make a more direct thematic parallel, and the CGI has a lot more progenitors that did it earlier and/or better.

Oh, gee, I don't know. Only the entire fucking storyline (and structure) down to the cast and archetypes among said cast.

Did you see some wierd cut of ID4 where Randy Quaid played the primary character?  Because that's the only way that statement makes any sense at all.  They had a three-act 'fight movie' structure, but it's not like ID4 was even the first sci-fi action movie to do that.

--Dave

Edit: I guess the big difference is that del Toro knows how to hurry past the immersion breaking bullshit to another awesome image, while ID4 actually seemed to be *trying* to make sure they came at moments where you would have plenty of time to think "How fucking dumb was that?"

[rk47]

More cool please.

[schild]

brb logging into my Straw Man gimmick account to discuss the originality of ID4

More cool please.

Why am I the only one that thinks this shit is goofy as fuck? Is there some gene that I'm missing that makes me not automatically like manned giant robot-suits? Also, why do they all look human anyway? Isn't having 4 limbs just the worst idea against things that can bite through metal? Wouldn't they have been better off with 50 million of these:

[Teleku]

The Chinese guys used that strategy.  AND LOOK AT WHERE IT GOT THEM.

[schild]

I wish they'd used that strategy. With each giant buzzsaw being manned by 1 Chinese person. Instead, they used 3 buzzsaws attached to three arms.

I'd like you to imagine a gun. A big fucking gun. With like a thousand barrels. And out of each barrel a small robotic highly maneuverable manned ship is fired. On the front of each ship is a Titanium or whatever buzzsaw. Or shit, apparently a steel knife works. Anyway, all those Chinese people fly their tiny fucking ship at a Kaiju. The gun is called The Cuisinart.

THAT would have been awesome.