Box office roundup

[Merusk]

Black Adder =! Mr. Bean

Someone bit! Wow, that never happens.

[Oban]

For that, I make your eyes bleed.

=p

[HAMMER FRENZY]

I checked out the Simpsons Movie this weekend. I thought it was pretty funny. Not sure if it was worth the wait, but I am glad I saw it.

[Abagadro]

You can't dump the Sunshine mess on "studios" or "Hollywood." It was independently produced with monetary assistance from the UK Film Council. Fox Searchlight just picked it up for distribution. The turd of a third act can be laid directly at the feet of Garland and Boyle.

[Bunk]

Picked up Hot Fuzz last night. It wasn't quite what I was expecting (shocker! the trailers were misleading), but I really quite enjoyed it. Simon Pegg's character is almost a polar opposite to Shaun, but he pulls it off really well. Completely stupid, intentionally over the top story - especially the maniacal Timothy Dalton - yet it's played as straight as they could, if that makes any sense. A nice blend of silly with some well done subtle humor, which is what made Shaun of the Dead work so well. Oh, and a few spectacularly gory death scenes thrown in for fun.

[HAMMER FRENZY]

Yeah I really like Hot Fuzz a lot. There is a lot of good scenes in that movie, it is just well done.

[Tale]

I have to pimp Sunshine's closing music again (via special version of the trailer), because it's from my favourite band I Am Kloot and they are criminally undervalued.

I finally saw the Harry Potter movie yesterday and thought it was bland. I know there was a lot to cover, but they left so much out that it felt like barely anything happened. The school year seemed so short. Back to reading the new book.

I was pleased to see the trailer for The Golden Compass as I've been hot for that movie since last year and the website is so well done in the spirit of the books. I think it's inevitable for the film to be weak compared with the books, but it will be good to see how they portray its world(s).

[Margalis]

It was event horizon reskinned, and I have never been more pissed at studios for bringing us regurgitated hollywood trash again instead of the innovative sci-fi movie it started out as. The movie could have been SO MUCH BETTER but instead they decided to disolve it all into a psychokiller thing at the end. It had a great start and fairly interesting characters with very human personalities and that's all thrown away for a chase scene. Fuck you, hollywood.

The Salon review of this was good. Their point was that the Sun itself was the bad guy; you don't need another one and having one just reduces that epic scope. I mean, it's the fucking sun.

At some point the writers probably decided it needed to be more "punchy" or something...

[schild]

GO SEE BOURNE ULTIMATUM. GO SEE IT NOW.

[Ironwood]

No.

[schild]

Well, you're missing out. And you probably can't see it since you live in a 6th world country, wiseass.

[Ironwood]

Matt Damon really flexing his Acting Chops in a tense action movie where folks get hit in the face and the plot is given away in the 5th minute to anyone with a brain.  For the 3rd time.

I repeat; No.

[schild]

Ironwood, just say it, you're too grumpy to like fun.

[Tale]

6th world country

[Rasix]

GO SEE BOURNE ULTIMATUM. GO SEE IT NOW.

It was good.  Not omg-face-melt good, but just a solid movie throughout.  I don't think it warrants CAPSLOCK, but I don't see many people seeing it and not being pleased by what they're watching.

I've learned to ignore Ironwood's taste in media.  I mean shit, fawning over the Transformers movie?

Worst thing about the movie was the line.  We arrived 30 minutes early, which in Tucson time usually means any seat in the house is open.  Line was extremely long and it took a super human eyes trained by years of Tetris and Lumines to spot the 4 empty seats (thank god no one was saving) at the top row.

[Ironwood]

I don't think you've seen me fawning over anything.  Like, ever.

 

[Merusk]

I don't think you've seen me fawning over anything.  Like, ever.

 

Your daughter.

[Ironwood]

You're Mistaken.

Well, possibly Sam.

Look, I don't want to come across as some shitheel, but I watched the first two Bournes and, to be honest, I probably couldn't even tell you which was which right now.  Except that driving a mini at that speed is stupid unless you're Michael Caine.

If I had to Choose, I'd probably take Die Hard.  I'm just too old I guess...

Yeah, that's it.  Too old.  And my Motherboard's fucked, so I'm grumpy.

[schild]

Bourne Ultimatum was way better than it should have been. And way better than the first two. It was to the first two as Daywatch was to Night Watch. It was so much better that the other 2 movies are better by proxy.

[Oban]

Look, I don't want to come across as some shitheel, but I watched the first two Bournes and, to be honest, I probably couldn't even tell you which was which right now.

Easy solution.  In the first one, boy mets girl.  In the second one, boy loses girl.  In the third one, boy rekindles an old relationship setting the stage for a fourth installment.

[Sky]

I didn't think the first Bourne was too bad. All I remember from the second is wanting to change the channel because of all the horrid edits and quick pans. It gave me a headache.

[Riggswolfe]

GO SEE BOURNE ULTIMATUM. GO SEE IT NOW.

Nope. If a competent action director had done it instead of Paul "my cameraman has epilepsy and ms" Greengrass I'd see it.

I didn't think the first Bourne was too bad. All I remember from the second is wanting to change the channel because of all the horrid edits and quick pans. It gave me a headache.

Exactly. The second was so literally painful to watch I vowed not to see the next one if they got the same director.

[kaid]

The movie was very good. The shaky camera work however did detract from the film for me. If not for that I would say it was one of the best movies I have seen this year otherwise its a very good film and worth watching if you don't have motion sickness issues.

[Riggswolfe]

The movie was very good. The shaky camera work however did detract from the film for me. If not for that I would say it was one of the best movies I have seen this year otherwise its a very good film and worth watching if you don't have motion sickness issues.

For me, it's not even motion sickness. It's supreme irritation. I paid my money to see the movie, and if it's an action movie I expect to see the action. I don't need to be "in the moment." I want to be able to see the fight choreography and see who actually hit who, etc.

[naum]

Bourne Ultimatum was good, but it really was the same movie as the first two… …same music, same plot line, a bunch of chases, a whole lot of super agent dude pwns the government bully spooks poppycock… …only thing different about the last two was the herky jerky shots on the close up combat that on the big screen is tediously annoying…

Simpsons movies was alright, not great, but definitely worth seeing, at least the first 30 minutes are pretty funny, then the next 50 minutes or so is just extra stuff to stretch a TV show into a movie…

Sicko was a great movie, though the Cuba piece of it was really stupid IMV…

Evan Almighty — Mrs. Naum heartily enjoyed, but I thought it was too cheesy, but a few funny scenes…

Oceans 13 — a Mrs. Naum pick, but one that was not as objectionable as first appeared to be, though Al Pacino is miscast, and that is a first…

Spider Man 3 — there was a good movie in here, but in got entangled in a web of absolute silliness…

[Venkman]

Why did Ultimatum make $70mil this past weekend? I mean, it set a freakin' record and so far everything I hear about it is ho hum. Which is about what I expected. I long ago gave up with them even trying to reference the original Ludlum writings save the premise (amnesiac human weapon spy), so am really only thinking about the movies as they are delivered. They seemed ok, pretty well done cinema, but they lacked, err, character or something. I'm with Ironwood. As a whole, Die Hard is the better series, even if the premise is different.

[Rishathra]

Greengrass took the shakycam to new levels of excess in Bourne Ultimatum.  There was some really good fight choreography in this movie.  You could see that they worked really hard on them, only to have Mr. Epilepsy shake the camera all over them, so you had a hard time following what was actually happening.  No joke, there were scenes with two people in a room talking to each other, nothing else going on, and the camera was shaking!

Now, that being said, everything else about the movie was pretty awesome.  It was just that stupid shaking shit that annoyed me.  Even the action scenes were excellent, if you could filter it out.

[Ookii]

Why did Ultimatum make $70mil this past weekend? I mean, it set a freakin' record and so far everything I hear about it is ho hum. Which is about what I expected. I long ago gave up with them even trying to reference the original Ludlum writings save the premise (amnesiac human weapon spy), so am really only thinking about the movies as they are delivered. They seemed ok, pretty well done cinema, but they lacked, err, character or something. I'm with Ironwood. As a whole, Die Hard is the better series, even if the premise is different.

On RottenTomatoes.com it has a 94% with "Reviews Counted: 137 Fresh: 129 Rotten: 8", here are some quotes from reviews:

A great action movie, exhilarating and neatly crafted, the kind of picture that will still look good 20 or 30 years from now. And while it isn't a cheerful picture, I found it to be an oddly comforting one. - Stephanie Zacharek - Salon.com

A knockout roller-coaster ride custom-made for adrenaline junkies, it’s easily the savviest and most satisfying spy movie in years, besting both of its preceding Bournes -- Identity and Supremacy.  Rex Reed - New York Observer

Fresher, leaner, and faster than any action movie in years.  Dana Stevens - Slate

Not only an improvement over its very fine predecessors -- it's easily one of the best movies of the year. Scott Weinberg - Cinematical

I saw it as well, and it was freaking good.

[Sky]

Greengrass took the shakycam to new levels of excess in Bourne Ultimatum.  There was some really good fight choreography in this movie.  You could see that they worked really hard on them, only to have Mr. Epilepsy shake the camera all over them, so you had a hard time following what was actually happening.  No joke, there were scenes with two people in a room talking to each other, nothing else going on, and the camera was shaking!

I'm an admitted cinematography fan, especially of camera work. Stuff like this REALLY bothers me, and can ruin an otherwise good film (along with gratuitous use of CGI). Likewise, a well-shot film can work for me, even if the substance is a bit lacking.

Apparently I'm in the minority. Nothing new there.

[Abagadro]

They mock the shit out of Greengrass in one scene in Ocean's 13 which made that movie for me.

[Murgos]

I was wondering if there could be a way to auto-encrypt data on wi-fi?  Why couldn't the host computer ask the client to generate a public/private key pair based on whatever algorithm and then they swap public keys?

So the algorithm would look something like:
Handshake
Agree on encryption protocol
Key generation
Swap public keys
begin encrypted session

OK, there is still a man in the middle attack possible (by spoofing which hotspot you are connecting to) but otherwise it should be secure.  Doesn't seem like too burdensome an overhead for 'sitting at the coffee shop checking my email'.  But I'm still pre-coffee so it could be gibberish.

[Ironwood]

What ?

Did you mean to post that somewhere else ??

[Riggswolfe]

I'm an admitted cinematography fan, especially of camera work. Stuff like this REALLY bothers me, and can ruin an otherwise good film (along with gratuitous use of CGI). Likewise, a well-shot film can work for me, even if the substance is a bit lacking.

Apparently I'm in the minority. Nothing new there.

This is actually a fairly intelligent summary of my thoughts as well.

[Murgos]

What ?

Did you mean to post that somewhere else ??

Yes.  The thread about exploits.  I apparently was less awake than I thought since mostly I just described what SSL does AND posted it in the wrong thread.

 :-D

[bhodi]

So has the 4th bourne book been written?