Movie Thread: The Dissection Room

[Garrett Gilchrist]

We used to have a whole forum for this, but a thread will do.

The World's End. Very good movie. Bleak, and Simon Pegg's lead character is quite a messed-up creation. The turn the film takes 1/3rd of the way through to make it more of an Edgar Wright/Pegg/Frost film is a big one, and predictably lost some reviewers. I lost interest too for a few minutes, but the film is so so assured, energetic and bonkers that it's very difficult to hate. Even Pegg's character is very difficult to hate in the end, as the whole thing revolves around him. Pegg plays it all with theatrical aplomb. It's a dark, even subdued bit of work, more so than Shaun of the Dead, which may leave you questioning what you've just seen. But it's undeniably entertaining and lives up to its predecessors, Shaun and Hot Fuzz.

[Garrett Gilchrist]

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa. Whatever the other failings of Steve Coogan's career, the Alan Partridge character has usually been reliably funny, and he makes a great leap to the big screen here as the clueless, narcissistic Norwich radio DJ and former television host gets tangled up in a hostage crisis.

[JustinHoskie]

Frozen. In my humble opinion, it was fine; Just like I expected, it wasn’t the best movie Disney ever made, but it certainly wasn’t the worst.

The songs were great. I wasn’t 100% on board with some of the lyrics, and “Let it Go” felt a bit out of place with the rest of the songs, but I loved the idea of being introduced to the world with a work song. (I remember Christophe Beck saying a frequent mantra was “What would Howard do,” and I felt the influence of “Fathoms Below” from Mermaid in "Frozen Heart".)

The story was simple, yes, but entertaining nonetheless. And I loved the idea of messing with the “true love’s kiss” plot-point that's in almost every Disney princess movie and having the love story as, really, a background element. (Though, I feel like Hans’ plot twist should’ve been hinted at more. I saw a few hints, but a couple more small ones would’ve been nice.)

As always with Disney, the casting was perfect.

As for the animation? Eh. It was fine, but it didn’t feel like Disney to me; there was something about it that seemed to be missing. Also, this is inexcusable to me.

Also, can we please talk about the fact that it’s called Frozen and not The Snow Queen? It’s like calling Aladdin “Wished” or The Little Mermaid “Wet” or Beauty and the Beat “Hairy” or Sleeping Beauty “Comatose” or Rapunzel "Tang—

Hey, wait a minute....

[Garrett Gilchrist]

I watched the ending to the movie in theaters and it seemed distressingly simplistic. I didn't care about anything I was seeing. Obviously not the right circumstances to be seeing a movie though.

[JustinHoskie]

It was simple, but that's what I expected and it seemed to fit the movie. I go into a movie like this blowing up all the criticisms I've heard as much as I can so my expectations are as low as possible. (Most of the time, this works and I enjoy the movie, and other times it's Dark Shadows .) I went in expecting the entire movie to be so simple it was idiotic, and it was a nice surprise when it was just simple.

Though I thought it was too easy to give Olaf his own private flurry. I wanted him to die, if just for a second.

[Shamanic Shaymin]

Personally, I think Frozen may be one of my new favorite Disney movies, and I'm glad I pushed aside tumblr controversy and actually see the damn thing. Contrary to tumblr's whining, Frozen is definitely a feminist movie; the spotlight is centered first and foremost on Elsa and Anna and their sibling relationship, receiving way more focus than the male characters in the film. I love the twists the movie took with the Disney formula; sure, Disney's been doing that since Enchanted, but it's especially noticeable in Frozen. I loved the "true love" twist and I loved that Hans was the villain. His revelation may seem out of the blue to others, but to me, this was the point. (Especially since if you meet an abusive love interest IRL, their mustache twirling isn't laid in front of you until it's too late) If we're given even one obvious slip that Hans was bad news, we wouldn't be as shocked as Anna was. But it's not entirely without foreshadowing; if you watch the film a second time, you'll see little subtle hints that Hans isn't what he seems (See: "Love is an Open Door," like when Hans sings "I've been searching my whole life to find my own place" while referring to Arendelle castle) and Elsa and Kristoff make a big deal about how engaging to a man you've just met is a big mistake. If it turned out that Hans was an okay guy, their warnings would have been rendered moot. Plus, even if Anna chose Kristoff at the end and Hans was still good, the audience would just end up feeling sorry for Hans.

I loved the direction they took with Elsa. Instead of a villain like they originally planned, they made her a sympathetic character that many people could relate to (According to TV Tropes: "Many people interpret Elsa's story as an allegory of some kind. Few people agree on what that allegory is actually about.") That, and we finally get a prominent Disney queen who isn't evil! (Sure, there's Kida, but she doesn't become queen until the end of her movie) "Let It Go" is a major part of her character arc, so I disagree about it being "out of place" with the rest of the songs. Also, I want to thank the gods that she wasn't given a love interest. Learning to accept herself and her responsibility as queen is the most important thing to her; you don't need to shove a man into her story to make it meaningful.

I came into the movie expecting to be annoyed by Olaf, but he actually isn't that bad at all, and used rather sparingly. The black humor approach Disney took with him was awesome. ("Ohh, look at that. I've been impaled! *gleeful laughter*") It's actually the trolls I didn't care so much about, but that's a flaw that can be overlooked.

[M-M]

Though I thought it was too easy to give Olaf his own private flurry. I wanted him to die, if just for a second.

After The Princess and the Frog I was expecting one of the peripherals to get the axe.

[JustinHoskie]

Hairspray, 2007. Not since Little Shop of Horrors have I been so on board and enthralled with a movie since the first frame.

That's it. I can't think of any real bad thing to say about it. The casting was almost perfect, with the weakest link being John Travolta (So... Is Edna southern or?...), but it's only a minor chink in the armor. And now I remember why I love Amanda Bynes so much, despite her very apparent spray-tan, especially during "Without Love."

And this is the first time I was able to watch a movie musical after I watched a performance of the original musical, and I think it was a perfect adaptation. The took out the overt campiness that's nearly impossible to do on film, Leslie Dixon and Adam Shankman were able to make the song placement seem natural (I never thought ""Why is this song here and not there?"), and it all just seemed to click. The only thing I didn't like going in was the cutting of "I Can Wait," but after seeing the film, and seeing the deleted scene, it was the right choice.

The only thing I didn't like was that there were some plot-holes in it, -- Why isn't Tracy arrested at the end? There's a warrant for her arrest and the place is surrounded by cops. -- but since they're in the musical too, I'm willing to bet they're holes that come from the original film. I'll find out tonight when I watch it.

Also, I watched Frozen again a few days ago, this time with family and friends, and I was more into it and I was more into the songs. (I think I had already listened to "Let it Go" a few times, and it feels more contemporary than anything else, so I felt it didn't fit next to the other songs.) However, I was less impressed with the animation and everything, especially during the ball scenes, seemed flat, like they were made out of plastic. There was no real texture -- the one thing computer animation has over traditional animation -- on any of the characters, but I'm not sure if that's how the film actually is or if that's just how it looked on the screener. I'll wait until the Blu-Ray comes out, and I can watch it in HD, before I judge it too much.

[Garrett Gilchrist]

There are two kinds of bad writing at play in Seth MacFarlane's TED.

The first is screenwriting that just doesn't hang together. They'd figured out the plot and what they wanted to happen in each scene, so things happen and characters behave a certain way or make decisions because that's what's happening in this scene, now, not because a human being would ever behave in this way. There is no character continuity - no thought pattern that makes the characters behave the way they do. There is very little characterization anyway, no motivation beyond the fratboy loutishness that is MacFarlane's bread and butter.

And that's the second kind of bad writing at play. These are horrible, reprehensible monsters, not people. They behave terribly, and we're supposed to forgive them and root for them regardless. It's "offensive," and we excuse that because it's a Seth MacFarlane film, and he's allowed to be racist, sexist, and have his characters indulge in every sort of bad behavior. It isn't funny. Ted, the titular teddy bear who talks like Family Guy's Peter Griffin, is high at a party, and attempts the "knife trick" on some random guy's hand. Ted screws up and stabs the guy, possibly crippling him for life. This is a throwaway scene. I guess it's supposed to be funny, but it's not, it's just unpleasant and makes you hate these characters, since they have no obvious redeeming qualities otherwise. Ted and the lead character beat the crap out of each other at length at one point. Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis, as you might expect, have no charisma as the leads. Stuff happens for no reason. It's all mean-spirited and unpleasant. There is a stereotype Asian character who attacks the lead with a knife while screaming in broken English. The whole joke of Patrick Warburton's character is that he's gay, and only just realizing this. The supporting characters, if they have any character development, are horrible monsters who should be in jail.

There's a scene in TED where Ted (who is high) has apparently spent a lot of time thinking about starting a restaurant and whether he should let Jews into the place. He's decided Jews are allowed in, but not Mexicans.

It's 2014 and that was written by Seth MacFarlane, who is worth 150 million dollars.

I used to respect Seth MacFarlane and I do believe he has talent. He deserves some credit for making a Hollywood feature film which reflects his style of humor and isn't especially watered down. But really, he's creating unpleasant, indefensible garbage. I could forgive him a little more for that if the movie was funnier, or made any sense.

I don't necessarily hate Seth MacFarlane. I most definitely hate anyone who would enjoy, without question, the work of Seth MacFarlane.

[Shamanic Shaymin]

...Fuck.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/philip-seym ... at-age-46/