Best (and Worst) Movies of the Year

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AuthorTopic: Best (and Worst) Movies of the Year
Guardian
Member # 6670
Profile Homepage #25
If we're on the topic of derivative works, I'd like to nominate Pirates as a 'bad' movie. I won't say worst, but I must be the only person in North America who disliked the sequel. The first movie had a tolerable level of derivation: undead pirates, cursed treasure, etc. But the second movie? It just seemed that the writers got together and asked themselves, "Let's see how many old sailing legends we can cram into one movie!" Along with the "Let's see how many strange chase and fighting scenes we can cram into one movie!", the best part was the organ. Nothing horrendous, but we've seen it all before, just with a smaller budget.

By Canisters:
quote:
The Chronicles of Narnia, I swear I've seen it before. They just remastered it or something. Not worth seeing.
BBC did some movies on them. The only real difference is budget (and, as a corollory: acting, special effects, lighting...). Narnia isn't fantasy as far as I'm concerned, it's allegory. Epic warfare didn't fit my conception of the books.

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Posts: 1509 | Registered: Tuesday, January 10 2006 08:00
Shaper
Member # 7472
Profile Homepage #26
I just saw Little Miss Sunshine today. Not bad. I'll nominate it as a good movie.

As for best game, I think we ALL know which one will walk away with the prize... Geneforge 4: Rebellion.

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Posts: 2686 | Registered: Friday, September 8 2006 07:00
Warrior
Member # 7735
Profile #27
I want to play G4... So bad... The canisters will devour me if I can't get more!
Posts: 107 | Registered: Monday, December 4 2006 08:00
Warrior
Member # 7000
Profile Homepage #28
quote:
Originally written by Nioca:

As for best game, I think we ALL know which one will walk away with the prize... Geneforge 4: Rebellion.
Actually, I would have to go with Neverwinter Nights 2.

[ Wednesday, December 27, 2006 20:16: Message edited by: Tyran ]

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Posts: 178 | Registered: Thursday, April 6 2006 07:00
Shaper
Member # 7420
Profile Homepage #29
Grandma's Boy: That movie was awesome, I can't believe you guys didn't like it. And you call yourselves gamers... pfff.

Pirates: I like these movies for the humor and fight scenes. Jack Sparrow might be the greatest character of the decade. Any other nominees?

Neverwinter Nights 2: If it's anything like the first one, it's probably the worst game ever. I almost stopped playing the first one half way through because it got so boring, and the fights got so repetitive. I didn't even bother playing it through a second time as a 'good' guy like I usually do with those types of games. What a piece of crap.

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You lose.
Posts: 2156 | Registered: Thursday, August 24 2006 07:00
Agent
Member # 1934
Profile Homepage #30
quote:
Originally written by Tyran:

Actually, I would have to go with Neverwinter Nights 2.[/QB]
Agreed. Yay Neverwinter Nights! :D
I've been playing it for the past three hours. And that's what I have planned for the next three hours. Yay!

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Posts: 1169 | Registered: Monday, September 23 2002 07:00
Shaper
Member # 7420
Profile Homepage #31
You guys need to get yourselves some real games. Try Fallout, you'll never go back to the crap you're playing now. Even Knights of the Old Republic was better than Neverwinter Nights.

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You lose.
Posts: 2156 | Registered: Thursday, August 24 2006 07:00
Warrior
Member # 7000
Profile Homepage #32
quote:
Originally written by Emperor Tullegolar:

You guys need to get yourselves some real games. Try Fallout, you'll never go back to the crap you're playing now. Even Knights of the Old Republic was better than Neverwinter Nights.
On the contrary, my imperial friend, I love Fallout, but I think NwN was even better. As to KotOR, I thought it was alright, but there are plenty of better games out there.

[ Thursday, December 28, 2006 12:29: Message edited by: Tyran ]

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"It's sort of like Star Wars. Except Jeff didn't make Erika shoot first in Avernum 3, nor did he introduce annoying computer-animated aliens." —Arancaytar
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Posts: 178 | Registered: Thursday, April 6 2006 07:00
Lifecrafter
Member # 7538
Profile Homepage #33
Pirates was alright. I think they made it a little bit too lighthearted sometimes though. You really do get the impression that all the main characters are invincible. Plus the ending pissed me off.

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Posts: 743 | Registered: Friday, September 29 2006 07:00
Canned
Member # 7704
Profile #34
Lady in the water is a fairy tale it shouldn't have been on screen but personally i think that unbreakable, the village was profound as well as signs (that film freaked me out) they were eloquently made and it is irresponsible for shineman do make a film like this.

Books are for reality. Films for fantasy.

Once in Silent hill, you can't hear the birds. You can't hear yourself.

[ Friday, December 29, 2006 00:26: Message edited by: opon mars ]

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Posts: 312 | Registered: Sunday, November 26 2006 08:00
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Member # 67
Profile Homepage #35
I'm not going to try to separate out which were actually 2005, or whenever. Take it as it comes.

Good:
Thank You For Smoking
Casino Royale
Hoodwinked
Mirrormask
The Squid and the Whale
More things I can't remember

Decent:
The Prestige
The Last King of Scotland
Syriana
The Rocket Post
More things I can't remember

Bad:
Narnia
Pirates of the Carribean 2 (the pacing was all off)
The Da Vinci Code (stupid)
Mission: Impossible III
More things I can't allow myself to remember

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Posts: 1798 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
Agent
Member # 2820
Profile #36
I hope you are judging MI3 independently of your feelings toward Tom Cruise. I thought it was a good action movie with fascinating gadgets and a plot at least better than any in a Steven Seagal movie.

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Posts: 1415 | Registered: Thursday, March 27 2003 08:00
Councilor
Member # 6600
Profile Homepage #37
Originally by Khoth:

quote:
Pirates of the Carribean 2 (the pacing was all off)
It would have been a lot better without the cannibal island. It was stereotypical and irrelevant, and the movie was too long anyway.

Dikiyoba.
Posts: 4346 | Registered: Friday, December 23 2005 08:00
Infiltrator
Member # 5410
Profile #38
Just saw Pirates and thought it was neither terrible nor awe inspiring. Fairly well acted but plot was slow developing and jerky (lots of holes/things not explained or tied together) and focussed too much on what they could do with the special effects. Example(s) focussed a lot of screen shots on the sea pirates who really are incidental to the story but looked fanciful and were done in so many different ways, the ending with old characters showing up wasn't good. Went from murky/dark at the deginning to a lighthearted romp at the end. Was a bit on the long side for a movie with nothing important to tell.

Casino Royale - best Bond movie in a long time, maybe since that craggy Scot patrolled the scenes. Got back to the grit of the earliest interpretations but lost some of the glamour/sauveness.

Looking forward to seeing the two Eastwood movies, especially from the view of the Japanese.

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Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00
Triad Mage
Member # 7
Profile Homepage #39
Agreed on Casino Royale - Craig was much better than Brosnan and I even liked him better than Connery. Still up in the air with a comparison to Moore.

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Posts: 9436 | Registered: Wednesday, September 19 2001 07:00
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I'm not Tom Cruise hating, it's just that MI:III (although thankfully lacking the worst excesses of rubber-mask-wearing), doesn't really have anything positive or new going for it. I felt like I'd already seen it.

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Posts: 1798 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
Shaper
Member # 6292
Profile #41
Regarding Narnia:

As mentioned, it's religious allegory, and taking Christian doctrinal beliefs and trying to personify them into a fantasy story simply doesn't make a very coherent or compelling story. It's really rather ridiculous, a bafflingly self-resurrecting lion and little kids who are somehow great warriors desperately needed to save the land—also incomprehensibly and not explained. There was a reason C.S. Lewis and Tolkien loathed each other's books. And there is also, I think, a reason Christianity seems to most dearly love its savior as a tiny useless newborn baby and in the allegory of innocent children best. Perhaps it could be said that it's a very childlike religion in application.

Anyway, I'm with Tolkien. Narnia has forever been entirely overrated, and the big budget attempt to capitalize on its baffling popularity only demonstrated that all the more. I found it tedious, sophomoric, and insulting.

-S-

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Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00
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Profile Homepage #42
I agree with Synergy about Narnia. The story just doesn't work.

The forces of good got together an army, but for some reason needed a teenage boy to command it. Then, of course, they're all losing until Aslan comes back to life and deus ex machineguns them out of trouble. And the scene with Peter killing the wolf was painfully bad. Holding a sword (rather unsteadily) in roughly the right direction as the wolf runs into it would make a decent first kill scene, if the enemy was a minor minion rather than the chief of the secret police, and if it wasn't being watched by the entire army and a thinly-veiled allegory of a god, and if doing it didn't qualify him to lead said army.

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Posts: 1798 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
Apprentice
Member # 7630
Profile #43
Talidia night :the balled of rickbobby was awesome The best part was when chuck norris burst onto the screen at the end ^_^ oh yea

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Posts: 29 | Registered: Saturday, November 4 2006 08:00
Warrior
Member # 7735
Profile #44
quote:
Originally written by Khoth:

I agree with Synergy about Narnia. The story just doesn't work.

The forces of good got together an army, but for some reason needed a teenage boy to command it. Then, of course, they're all losing until Aslan comes back to life and deus ex machineguns them out of trouble. And the scene with Peter killing the wolf was painfully bad. Holding a sword (rather unsteadily) in roughly the right direction as the wolf runs into it would make a decent first kill scene, if the enemy was a minor minion rather than the chief of the secret police, and if it wasn't being watched by the entire army and a thinly-veiled allegory of a god, and if doing it didn't qualify him to lead said army.

Yea, its just unbelievable how a newbie can kill a leader without even "trying".
Posts: 107 | Registered: Monday, December 4 2006 08:00
Lifecrafter
Member # 34
Profile Homepage #45
But they're such a great read. I remember being captivated by the Chronicles as a kid, and this was growing up in a family that's not particularly religious at all. Maybe it was just being young and ignorant, but the religious imagery, as prevalent as it is, didn't overshadow the literary experience too much at all, hearing C.S.Lewis' work read through a young kid's ears. 'The Last Battle' was always so amazing because of it's action-packedness, and the ending with the donkey and the dwarfs and everything. (once everyone starts going to Heaven it starts feeling like the end of 'Huck Finn') I dunno. Speaking as someone who tends to get really ticked off by Christians in general every time I listen to the news or the media at all, I still love the books.

[ Friday, December 29, 2006 20:37: Message edited by: Robinator is a Beefcake ]

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Posts: 702 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Shaper
Member # 7472
Profile Homepage #46
quote:
Originally written by opon mars:

Lady in the water is a fairy tale it shouldn't have been on screen but personally i think that unbreakable, the village was profound as well as signs (that film freaked me out) they were eloquently made and it is irresponsible for shineman do make a film like this.
M. Night Shyamalan's films tend to not be as frightening as they're portrayed (In my opinion). I actually found Signs to be more humorous than frightening.

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Posts: 2686 | Registered: Friday, September 8 2006 07:00
Agent
Member # 3364
Profile Homepage #47
quote:
Originally written by Emperor Tullegolar:

Grandma's Boy: That movie was awesome, I can't believe you guys didn't like it. And you call yourselves gamers... pfff.
It probably wouldn't have been so embarassing if I hadn't noticed 'Pastor' Chris (whom we invited to the show) glancing over to check our reactions during the masturbation scene. I mean really, what do you do at a time like that? Cover your eyes? Stare back at him? Excommunicate yourself from the church? It's the kind of thing that makes a person just a tad self-conscious. Cut out the swear words and the sexual content and it was a bit funny. Gotta love a guy who wears makeup and thinks he half robot.

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Posts: 1001 | Registered: Tuesday, August 19 2003 07:00
Agent
Member # 27
Profile #48
I saw Rocky Balboa today, which, by the way, is an incredible film.

It's a heartwarming end to the Rocky series that is so touching it drove my father to tears (which never happens). Rocky Balboa is definitely one of the top three best movies this decade. I implore you all to see it.
Posts: 1233 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Triad Mage
Member # 7
Profile Homepage #49
Saw Dreamgirls today - what a great movie! Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson steal the stage and Jamie Foxx is good as always.

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