Wednesday, September 4, 2013

F This Movie! - F This Summer (2013)

Patrick, Doug and JB try to be positive about Summer 2013. They try.



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31 comments:

  1. Anyone who hasn't seen Mud yet should definitely do so. It's certainly one of the better movies of this year. I didn't think of the To Kill a Mockingbird similarities as I was watching it, but I feel like that angle makes me like it even more. I think Fast and Furious 6 was my favorite movie of the summer, followed closely by The World's End and This is the End. All of those movies were great, and some of the best times I've had in a theater all year.

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    1. And on the bad end, I tried to stay away from movies that were being widely panned, but I did see Now You See Me, because I like the concept of magic, despite the fact that a story centered on that subject doesn't usually make for the best movie. I'm sure it wasn't the worst movie to come out this summer, but definitely the worst that I saw. Good actors, dumb or underdeveloped characters. Also, failure to execute what should have been a good premise and bad direction.

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    2. I watched Mud last night, excited by all of the positive reviews, and was underwhelmed - I could feel there was something there and I would still say I liked it, but it didn't hold my attention very well. I'm hoping it's just a mood thing - I'll definitely give it another chance.

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    3. I would give it another try, but it could just not be your cup of tea or something. That's entirely possible. I liked the story and setting, and I've been impressed more and more by Matthew McConnaughey and the choices he's been making lately.

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    4. I hate to say I agree with Sol, I was a little let down although it's hard for me to nail down why. Take Shelter blew me away, but I didn't connect with Mud as much. McConnaughey was amazing though. Watched this back to back with Killer Joe, and there couldn't be 2 more different characters brought to life by the same actor. MCconnaughey is on a "mid-90's Nic Cage-esque" roll right now.

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    5. Mud is one of the best movies about romantic relationships that I've seen in a long time. The main child actor, Tye Sheridan, gives such a good performance in that movie. I think he (and Michael Shannon) almost steal it from McConaughey.

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    6. I think any of the problems I had with Mud were a product of my expectations - the performances were all really good - I thought both kids and MM were awesome - but for some reason I kept thinking it was going to turn super-dark and when that never happened it kinda fizzled for me. I suspect I will appreciate it much more the next time and it was a good lesson in not letting my expectations get in the way of enjoying the movie.

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  2. I'd just like to pre-emptively express my correct opinion that Iron Man Three is totally awesome, and quite possibly the best of the MCU so far. (For what it's worth, I also think IM2 was slightly better than 1; though it had a few more rough edges, it tried to do more, and I think it did so beautifully. Now that we've seen Tony's arc through four movies, and how much he's matured and grown from being in the Avengers' company, can anyone really still claim the Nick Fury/Black Widow/SHIELD stuff in 2 was extraneous? C'mon, it never was.) And here's something to celebrate: in seven movies to date, the MCU hasn't produced a single bad or not-fun entry. How many other franchises can say that? MAYBE Trek, if you start with Khan and count both Final Frontier and Generations as successes, which I can actually totally get behind (I'm a sucker for goofiness), though I'm less and less warm on First Contact every year.

    Due largely due to Patrick's enthusiasm, I've also been catching up on the Fast saga. I first saw Five on dvd, then caught Six in theaters this summer, but was bored by most of its second half: London isn't a good match for the series' outlaw/heavily Latino flavor, The Rock is far too cool a quasi-adversary to play the Da Chief, and I know these movies aren't too bogged down by realism, but even by its own standards, how was he not jailed for what he did on that Spanish base?! Anyhow, as I was saying, Patrick inspired me to watch the rest of the series minnus Tokyo Drift in narrative order, and I really liked them all, though I gotta say I prefer F&F to 6 - no, it's not the best of the lot, but it gets better as it goes along, it's set in LA, and Braga is a much cooler villain than Owen Shaw.

    Gaith out!

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    1. I really liked Iron Man 3 too, but I'm waiting until it comes to video to try and rank it.

      The thing about the MCU, I can't think of another attempt to do something as big as their doing. With so many directors, writers, actors and so on working on the various projects. And then to have them all sort of interlocking, it's been kind of mind blowing that they pulled it off at all, never mind doing it so well. It's a massive undertaking and I can't think of a movie level precedent.

      There are so many places it could have gone hideously wrong, that it went right is kind of mind blowing.

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  3. love the Francis Ha mention.

    has no one seen Short Term 12? Or it is now considered a fall flick

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    1. I don't think it's opened in Chic-G yet. Really want to see it, though. Brie Larson.

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    2. that is forgivable. ps, wasn't THAT dark of an episode

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    3. Thanks. The last 10 min. or so bummed me out. Bleak prospects and all.

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  4. I'm never going to watch it again, but I still like LOST. I have no problems with the finale. It is one my many John Carters.

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  5. Sorry for cursing so much JB. I get a potty mouth when I'm....um, talking.

    I may have overreacted when I slammed Man of Steel (as representative of the summer blockbuster) last week. I'm never not going to see summer movies because it's too much work being the guy who goes out of his way to decide what he won't see. However, I think (a few exceptions aside) that summer blockbusters have forgotten that above all else, they need to be fun.

    They usually are what Patrick once said about Hook - the death of fun.

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    1. Boy, was that true this summer.

      I don't even know if summer movies NEED to be fun (though it's usually better for everyone [me] when they are), they just need to be good at being the thing they want to be. The problem with so many movies this summer is that they didn't know what they wanted to be. So few movies were able to commit to being anything. Fun is the best, but if you're not going to have fun, at least replace it with something worthwhile. RIGHT?

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    2. I'd take fun, I got into this whole movie thing to have some fun. I ended up getting edified, but that was totally a side-effect of looking for fun.

      But yeah, they need to decide to be SOMETHING. To have AN idea. I sort of liked World War Z, but at the end it basically said nothing. It was just "Stuff keeps going wrong for Brad Pitt (and the rest of the world) all day long" and in the end felt a little hollow.

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    3. Since Hollywood is reading this, here's where they can start...make movies where the characters are friends. I heard a theory once that Star Wars partially works as well as it does because the characters become friends along the way. I'm starting to think there's some validity to that.

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    4. ...Which speaks to one of my problems with The Lone Ranger. Not to start some shit with you or HHH.

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    5. Eh, I don't mind. Bring the noise. It's not sacred ground like Broken City.

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  6. Hey, you were honest.

    And as for the ad campaigns not being that indicative of awful movies...I stayed far away from Lone Ranger based on it's hideous, loud ad campaign and appear to be vindicated in that decision.

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  7. I'm glad to see so much love for Mud. As of right now, that's definitely in my top three movies of the year. It was just so unexpected, but it really left me with a lot to think about. I totally get JB's connection between it and To Kill A Mockingbird. On the surface they are nothing alike but then dig deeper and they're both about kids in the south learning hard lessons about society and realizing that life is definitely not fair. I don't think that's a spoiler, unless it's a "theme" spoiler.

    As for The Lone Ranger, that's also at the top of my list. I wanted to write about it but Adam did and I was on the road when it came out so I never really got to comment on it. I would need a LOT of space to convey why I think it succeeds and does something different, but maybe I'll save that for the end of the year. I get that it's kind of a slap in the face to the classic Lone Ranger television show, but I think that's one of the reasons I like it. Oddly, Gore Verbinski's film led me to the 50s show and I've been enjoying going through that series too. Because of that movie, I've got two completely different takes on the character, but I enjoy them both for totally different reasons.

    Finally, Zack Snyder's comments about Man of Steel are either 1) a retcon to try to avoid the heat he's come under due to the excessive violence and destruction in his movie, or 2) proof that he has no idea what makes Superman special and different. He equates Superman with Greek and Japanese myths and speaks of how the legends of those cultures are full of destruction and says that Superman is our American mythology. But that mythology has been a part of our culture for over 70 years and there's never been mass destruction in the comics and films and cartoons and radio serials that MADE Superman a legend. That means that he completely ignored the actual myth we have and created a brand new one to fit his image. Which is a pretty shitty thing to do.

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  8. This is embarrassing, hence the 'anonymous' but I'm 15 and was left home alone overnight for the first time ever and for four days/nights. And was terrified. Every creak and thump I've probably heard a million times was now obviously a monster or someone in a lamb mask breaking in to kill me. So to calm myself down, I had your podcast going for just about 24/7. It not only calmed me down, but it made me totally forget I was even scared in the first place, I actually was enjoying myself and feeling like I was hanging out with friends.
    So I'd like to thank all of you at Fthismovie for babysitting me for the past four days. (My mom said she will not pay you. Sorry.)

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    1. This is the weirdest/best comment ever. I love it. Thank you for sharing. And we're sorry for eating all your pizza. Tell your mom to buy more next time.

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    2. This might be the best comment I've ever read on this site.

      Don't feel bad, Anonymous, it's been awhile but I can totally see how that would work. I mean what are the chances you're going to get brutally murdered with F This Movie! playing in the background - it just doesn't seem like something that would happen. Or so my next victim will think.

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  9. A few weeks ago I did an unlikely double feature of Kick-Ass 2 and Fruitvale Station and I think that illustrates the way that the smaller films have proven much more effective than the blockbusters this summer.

    The first, my least favorite movie of the summer, bombarded us with people being mangled, mutilated or even threatened with rape, most of which is presented to be humorous.

    The second, my favorite movie of the year so far, is full of such humanity and compassion that a single gunshot becomes a more devastating and affecting moment of violence than anything else I've seen this year.

    On the subject of smaller summer movies, I'm curious if any of you guys caught The East or Europa Report?

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    1. Saw THE EAST during the summer. Liked it, although I kind of wished it finished off stronger, and it made me believe that maybe Brit Marling has some of that Jodie Foster kind of magic to her.

      Missed EUROPA REPORT, but really wanted to see it.

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    2. I really dug The East, I thought it was surprisingly effective until the end. Good call Mark.

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  10. Regarding classic films getting theatrical re-releases. I think it's a great idea, but it doesn't seem to have the same allure to the general public. I was fortunate enough to catch a screening of Alien a few months ago, but there were only about seven of us in the theater, and only myself and two friends appeared to be under the age of 50. If that's the best Alien could get on a one-night only show, who's going to go support Some Like It Hot next week? Maybe I'm too pessimistic about my generation, but they don't seem to realize that there were good movies before Star Wars. Remember, NOBODY said they enjoyed Grown Ups 2, yet it made more money on its opening weekend than Pacific Rim (it's like the Carpenters of the box office). I agree that movies seem to have gotten worst, but talking to a group of aggravating film students this week I've come to believe that moviegoers are also being programmed to just accept it like Doug said. Man, F this Summer!

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  11. Great podcast guys! I'm kinda like Doug in that I masturbate a lot and hadn't been out to the movies very much until this summer, so there was a fair amount of "I'm At The Movies Effect" influencing the fact that I at least kinda enjoyed pretty much everything I watched, but in hindsight I can certainly see how much of it wasn't very good. Going into the summer, I never would have expected that This is the End, You're Next and Furious 6 (I prefer the title card for that one) would be my Top 3 or that I'd enjoy The Wolverine more than Man of Steel. Oh well!

    Again, fun podcast - I don't hold the negativity against you guys because you're never negative just for the sake of being negative, you know? You're just commenting on the sad reality of the situation.

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  12. Really enjoyed the Summer Podcast, and I think there enough gems this summer to make movie trips worth it.

    Some of my favorites: "Before Midnight", "The Act of Killing", "Much Ado About Nothing" and "You're Next".

    You could really feel the pain when you guys were discussing "Kick-Ass 2" or "The Lone Ranger". But alas, Scary Movie month is just around the corner

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