Box office roundup

[Merusk]

Something about the old guy character in that trailer bothers me.  I've seen similar character designs in that anime that had "Lil' slugger" and it bothered me too.  I just can't quite place my finger on what, because it's only the old men.   Something about the cheeks and line work use to convey old age/ older people I think.

The overall design and style looked fantastic, though.  The Times quote gave me a chuckle, because it's been true for so long.

[Engels]

I don't get it. More japanime with opened mouthed gasping girls/women with tentacle crap chasing after them. Don't get me wrong; I think there are some superlative japanime movies out there, from Sprited Away to Ghost in the Shell, but the above trailer seems pretty commonplace.

[Teleku]

It looks really imaginative and had great artwork.  It actually reminded me alot of Spirited Away, though more adultish perhaps.

More japanime with opened mouthed gasping girls/women with tentacle crap chasing after them.

I mean, if thats how you describe what you saw in that trailer, then you could easily use that exact same line to describe Spirited Away....

[Oban]

If it makes you feel better, no tentacles penetrate any actresses during the movie.

[Murgos]

If it makes you feel better, no tentacles penetrate any actresses during the movie.

Guess I'll wait until it's on video then.

[schild]

There aren't words for how excited I am about Paprika.

[Oban]

Guess I'll wait until it's on video then.

Relax, I said no tentacles, it is still good.

[Engels]

It looks really imaginative and had great artwork.  It actually reminded me alot of Spirited Away, though more adultish perhaps.

More japanime with opened mouthed gasping girls/women with tentacle crap chasing after them.

I mean, if thats how you describe what you saw in that trailer, then you could easily use that exact same line to describe Spirited Away....

You're probabaly right. The thing is, what made Spirited Away a fantastic movie was the story. The 'art', to me, was pretty standard fare, and a trailer for it would probably not have impressed me anymore than this trailer for Paprika. Aside from the 'art', can someone provide some other compelling reason why Paprika is teh new cool?

Ghost in the Shell too, was fab, but due to the actual story telling. The graphics were good but so were Akira's, and lord knows that story blew chunks. I'm not trolling. I know there are people who have very fond memories from childhood about Akira and all that, but really, step back for a moment and consider the narrative differences between Ghost in the Shell and Akira, and you'll see what I mean.

[schild]

What? I'm one of those people who enjoyed Akira as a child and I knew the story blew chunks then. And you know what, so did Ghost in the Shell's story. Both were shit. Both were INCREDIBLY beautiful. But both were shit for stories.

When you don't watch much anime, Akira and Ghost in the shell are inevitably brought up. I wish those movies had never happened. They're... just bad. Appleseed too.

[Teleku]

Meh, I'll have to agree with him on that.  I loved the story in Ghost in the Shell a hell of alot better than Akira.  But you know I like GiTS, and I know you hate it, so we should probably stop the meaningless argument right here ;).

[Murgos]

He keeps saying that about the story for GiTS.  And it's just wrong.  It's the same story as Blade Runner, Neuromancer and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.

When are our creations their own entity and what rights will then devolve onto them and what is the morally, ethically and legally correct way to deal with the situation?

The story isn't shit.  It's one of the greatest themes in modern Sci-Fi and in GiTS it's well told and coherent.  Get a grip.

[Yegolev]

Past weekend I ended up watching more movies, mostly against my will.  Again I saw The Prestige, this time in Bluray.  Also watched American Psycho in DirecTV-TiVo form.  Christian Bale is super.

Prior to that, the first movie of the weekend was Ghost Rider.  I can't say it was Daredevil bad, but it was not good.  Also, we were watching a crappy low-res torrented version from Killjoy's Zune attached to my 360, so at least I didn't pay for it.  Still, I would recommend anyone see this crap movie based solely on Eva Mendes.

The funniest part of watching a torrented movie is that Killjoy's girlfriend works at Carmike Cinema with the "what movie goes to what theater" job.

[stray]

I like the basic Ghost in the Shell story and characters, but the dialogue just runs on for too long for me. Not that I don't understand it -- but I think it's a little too wordy for it's own good. Same with the series. Too much subtext and philosophy worded out, too many monologues. To each his own though. It's just my opinion. I mean, I can appreciate that kind of thing, but as far as movies go for me, actions speak louder than words. If there's a way to show the same point, rather than tell it, then I want that as much as possible.


I recently watched that HBO original movie about Sitting Bull and Wounded Knee (My Heart at Wounded Knee). It was really good. If you have HBO, check it out.

[Velorath]

Just got through watching the Fantastic Four.  Can't say I felt any sort of sea of bile.  Worse than that, the movie didn't elicit any sort of reaction out of me, good or bad.  Then again, I've always found the Fantastic Four to be the vanilla of comic books anyway.  They're bland.  I guess maybe kids like this stuff.

[Chimpy]

Teenagers who live in households where they are unable to access the real internets go to see Fantastic Four movies because Jessica Alba is in a tight body suit.

That is my hypothesis.

While she is by no means unattractive, I just don't see what all the hype about her is. Of course, I don't see what the hype about a lot of the 'hot chicks' is all about. I guess I am an old fart.

[Chenghiz]

He keeps saying that about the story for GiTS.  And it's just wrong.  It's the same story as Blade Runner, Neuromancer and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.

When are our creations their own entity and what rights will then devolve onto them and what is the morally, ethically and legally correct way to deal with the situation?

The story isn't shit.  It's one of the greatest themes in modern Sci-Fi and in GiTS it's well told and coherent.  Get a grip.

While I absolutely agree with you, you have to realise he's talking about the original movie. Standing alone, the movie's story was an absurdly abridged version of the manga's main plot, and it really didn't come off well at all. Akira had the same problem except that movie abridged the plot from 2.5 books of the 6-volume series.

[schild]

Of course I'm talking about the original movie. I wasn't aware this thread was about TV show spinoffs ;)

[Velorath]

Don't turn a perfectly good thread about real movies into a discussion of anime.  I like it better when that stuff is contained in its own thread so I can ignore it. 

(Paprika is an exception.  Even my theater is showing trailers for it.)

[schild]

Whether you like it or not, there is a such thing as a movie that happens to be anime. Including Paprika!

[Paelos]

Whether you like it or not, there is a such thing as a movie that happens to be anime. Including Paprika!

Paprika will always just remain a spice to me.

[WindupAtheist]

I miss doing roundups.  I did one in blog form, but then I spent ten times as much time trying to get the format right and going "What the hell is an RSS feed?" because I don't really do the blog thing or know anything about it.  I think I'll give it another go once I get my new PC.

Yeah, nobody cares.  But here's my one-movie micro-roundup anyway:  Hostel 2 had like an eight million dollar opening weekend and is at something like fourteen million now.  Yes it only cost ten, and everything is profitable on DVD, but at least this one really is having to squeak by based on it's cheap budget.  Previously the Saw movies were making this torture-porn shit look like free money, costing four or five million to make and grossing nine or ten times that.  Maybe they'll quit making so many of these movies now.

By the way, exactly who goes to see shit like this?  I'm envisioning some bloated shaggy pimply albino in a ratty Cannibal Corpse t-shirt and baggy shorts, with fat hamhock calves and soulless dead-fish eyes, a grease-stained copy of one of those dumbass dimestore "Necronomicons" clutched in his dirty-nailed hands.  The sort of guy who kills himself after being thrown in prison for raping a three year old.

But there can't possibly be enough of those guys to explain the success of these movies, so what gives?

[schild]

And here I was just looking at Saw and Hostel as next-gen slasher flicks. That's what they feel like to me at least. Which is to say, no, they'll never stop making them.

[croaker69]

My wife watches every single slasher flick she can get in our Netflix queue.  She's no Goth or anything either just your average suburban housewife.  She may be a man though since her favorite movie is Aliens.  I can't stand the slasher-type horror shit and won't watch them with her.  Give me Lovecraftian stuff like Carpenter's The Thing please.

[Paelos]

And here I was just looking at Saw and Hostel as next-gen slasher flicks. That's what they feel like to me at least. Which is to say, no, they'll never stop making them.

Slasher flicks are sort of an out-there fantastic though. It's usually monsters who can't die and run amok in a morality play. These Hostel kind of torture flicks are too close to home to be anything more than an exercise in depravity for me.

[Chimpy]

My wife watches every single slasher flick she can get in our Netflix queue.  She's no Goth or anything either just your average suburban housewife.  She may be a man though since her favorite movie is Aliens.  I can't stand the slasher-type horror shit and won't watch them with her.  Give me Lovecraftian stuff like Carpenter's The Thing please.

I am a bit disturbed when someone says "she may be a man though" when talking about his own wife.

 

[murdoc]

I've never really liked slasher flicks, but give me a good (good is not a requirement either) monster or zombie movie and it's all 

[HaemishM]

And here I was just looking at Saw and Hostel as next-gen slasher flicks. That's what they feel like to me at least. Which is to say, no, they'll never stop making them.

If they were just slasher flicks, they might be tolerable. I don't put Saw and Hostel in the same boat. Saw at least had a somewhat interesting plot and some bit of style. Hostel was just disgusting. It was how badly can we torture people and show it on screen while still getting an R-Rating. It was a fucking snuff film. I have no idea who pays money to see this shit. I watched Hostel on a pirated DVD that someone gave me because it disgusted even him.

It's like that video from the Ring, only instead of killing you, it makes you want to kill Quentin Taratino.

[Morfiend]

I've never really liked slasher flicks, but give me a good (good is not a requirement either) monster or zombie movie and it's all 

Totally agree. Slasher flicks just make me feel sick. Give me Laviathan, Aliens, Event Horizon, or some thing like that. The horror movies of the late 80s early 90s are much more my thing.

[MrHat]

Damn, I should go buy Event Horizon and Mouth of Madness again.  Lost them to some dickwad in college.

[schild]

Event Horizon is sooooo good.

[Lantyssa]

...up until the last fifteen minutes. :-D

[climbjtree]

I watched 1408 this weekend. I was very unimpressed. Aside from some some jump style scares that scare the majority of the crowd, the movie just wasn't that great. This may or may not be tainted by the fact that the audience was the worst I'd seen in a long time. One group actually brought Denny's to-go into the theater.

I saw it at about 10:30 and I struggled not to fall asleep.

[Riggswolfe]

...up until the last fifteen minutes. :-D

Agreed. Event Horizon had alot of potential but it felt like they didn't know how to end the movie properly.

[Ironwood]

Watched Dungeons and Dragons 2 last night.

I came for the suck and I was dissappointed.

[Bunk]

D&D2 came across to me as a movie made by a guy who wanted to do a D&D movie justice, but only had a half million dollar budget. The acting was iffy and the effects were weak, but it was a decent effort for the budget involved.

Infinitely better than the first one.