Miscellaneous Movie Musings the Sequel

[CoasterMatt]

Hi-def monitors still need to be calibrated to look their best - CRT, DLP, LCD or LED.

Some of the best "looking" displays in the store, look absolutely hideous in normal home viewing conditions.

[Strangler Lewis]

Indeed. That's what the hue knob is for.

[innerSpaceman]

I finally saw Prince of Persia ... wasn't very high on my must-see list, obviously.


Not as awful as I was generally led to believe. Yeah, did not deserve to become a franchise or anything, but it was a fine bit of Arabian Adventure. Perfectly serviceable. Jake is appealing, as always. You could do worse for a villain than, um, Ben Kingsley. Alfred Molina got critical praise for his comic-relief performance, well-deserved.

It was by-the-numbers and nothing special, nothing terrible. I find it hard, though, to fault movies that - if they'd only been made in a previous era, would have been fantastic. This is an old-schooler harkening back to the Errol Flynn genre. Sadly not suitable for the 21st century, but a fine mid-20th movie. Tsk, tsk, all that beautiful body building Jake went through for just the one picture. The least I could do was drool.

[flippyshark]

Originally Posted by CoasterMatt

Hi-def monitors still need to be calibrated to look their best - CRT, DLP, LCD or LED.

Some of the best "looking" displays in the store, look absolutely hideous in normal home viewing conditions.

Believe me, I played with adjustments like crazy on HP7a, and it stayed dank and dark. (Though it was WAAAY worse when I tried it on my DLP projection system) Mind you, I dislike the desaturated or hue-shifted look of so much current summer blockbuster cinema. It doesn't heighten mood for me. It just seems like lazy post production fiddling. Real cinematography should involve how the set was lit, not Adobe filters. Getting old and cranky.

[alphabassettgrrl]

X-Men prelude and Hot Tub Time Machine.

Highly recommend both.

[CoasterMatt]

Originally Posted by flippyshark

Believe me, I played with adjustments like crazy on HP7a, and it stayed dank and dark. (Though it was WAAAY worse when I tried it on my DLP projection system) Mind you, I dislike the desaturated or hue-shifted look of so much current summer blockbuster cinema. It doesn't heighten mood for me. It just seems like lazy post production fiddling. Real cinematography should involve how the set was lit, not Adobe filters. Getting old and cranky.

Not getting old and cranky at all - it's like suddenly they have a huge color gamut, but to be "edgy" or "moody" they desaturate to the point of hardly being color at all. HP7 though, is a "challenging" film for DLP systems - it looked great here, but we have a really controlled light environment.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

X-Men: Competent and fun, but really mostly all about the awesomeness that is Michael Fassbender. He was the only one who stood out and though I loved Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's Bone I found her a bit flat here. January Jones is a terrible actress with some of Grace Kelly's looks and none of her talent, though a mighty fine pair o' boobies. She had something in Madmen Season 1 but whatever it was has since been lost. I think a few reviewers oversold it as better than X-Men and X2 and I still prefer those films.

The Hangover Part II was always going to be a ridiculously massive hit despite how lazy it was. I didn't think it was any more or less mean spirited than any of Phillips' films, and the only one I really like is The Hangover. I watched Due Date right after my dad died and thought it was hilarious. Rewatched it recently and it's unfunny and fairly awful.

Eager to see:
- Tree of Life
- Submarine
- Green Lantern (finished; I only saw an early cut and quite enjoyed myself)
- Rise of the Apes (which looks like awesome sauce to my eyes, and does make me excited about the franchise again)
- HP7 Part II
- Cowboys and Aliens
- Captain America (preview intrigued me more than I would have thought)

Going to see Captain Blood tonight, as part of Last Remaining Seats. Yay!

[Alex]

Yes, January Jones is an awful actress.

It's funny but when you said her name my reaction was "January Jones was in X-Men?" Weren't the only women pretty much Mystique, the moth lady, and the CIA lady? None of those were Jones, were they?

I had to go to IMDb and be reminded that Emma is in it. Jones just immediately evaporates from the brain.

[innerSpaceman]

Have to agree about Jones. She's become less fine and less relevant as Mad Men has dragged on. I think they should write her out, along with that whole useless storyline of the main character's divorced family that no one really cares about anymore (least of all the main character).

However, I think cold frostiness was appropos for Emma Frost, and I liked the movie better than all the priors except X2, which remains my fave.



Looking forward to seeing Super 8, Cowboys and Aliens, Tree of Life, Apes, Last of Potter, and Green Lantern - - wasn't a certain someone going to attempt arranging a group screening outting?

[Cadaverous Pallor]

None of the comic book movies appeal to me anymore. The Green Lantern ads/trailer/billboards/etc all just look like a noisy mess to me. The movie looks like a wacky cartoon with that guy's face glued onto it. The posters are all diagonal, what's up with that? It's annoying. Getting old and cranky like flippy. I might see the X-men prequel on Netflix but that's not even a 50/50 possibility.