I just saw this last night and boy, I have to say, Annalee, you were WAY too kind. This movie was terrible. Not a single original idea in the whole film, not a glimmer of self-awareness or self-effacement, and not a single genuine laugh. Even at 90 minutes, it seemed to go on forever.
Plus, I can see why they nearly removed the cancer subplot - it was offensively facile. So he's dying in 3 months but not on constant medication or in any pain or looking the least bit unwell, and hearty enough to climb walls with a grappling hook? Don't his parents worry about him disappearing for a few days? Add to this the fact that he can die happy after seeing THAT horrible film...it's just pathetic.
@ImeldaEbonifly: I can do one better. I grew up in a small town in TN that just happened to have an aerospace industry there that supported Arnold Engineering & Development Center (AEDC), an Air Force facility. One of the civilian businesses that was located in town, MicroCraft Inc., built wind-tunnel models and other test rigs. One year, the owner commissioned his crew to build his son an X-wing fighter in about 3/4 scale. It's big enough for an elementary-school kid to live out some major fantasies; had some working lights (laser cannon tips included) and was on a wheeled rig so they could pull it in the town parades. Many, many years later, the same company built the fastest air-breathing (Mach 9.8) aircraft ever flown, the X-43A.
What about the many, many instances of nerdware from The Big Bang Theory? Leonard Nimoy's napkin? The actual time machine from the movie The Time Machine? Leonard's original Battlestar Galactica flight suit?
I remember there was a kick-ass van in my neighborhood (a small commuinity) that had a van with an xwing flying around the death star painted on it. I eventually got to know the family that owned it, but after that sweet van disappeared. I wish I knew what it looked like on the inside. somehow, I doubt it met my fantasies.
Anyone who owns a DeLorean. If given the chance, we'd all buy one. I've dreamt of getting one and somehow converting it to a hybrid - it would be nerd on so many levels.
@Matthew Abel: Reading about DeLorean is very depressing. About what it's supposed to be, what a big failure it is, and what it did to John deLorean's life. He used to be a respected GM engineer. The DeLorean turned him into a failed drug trafficker.
@juustuunder: Me neither! I'm going to have to keep an eye out for those Sandman posters next time I watch the show. Better yet, where can I get some Sandman posters?
@GitEmSteveDave's$10SamsungTV: Kevin Smith himself would tell you, Mallrats is by no means a great movie, but a better bit of geekery in it is Silent Bob's Batman grappling hook and helmet.
Push was absolutely awful. The dialogue made me wince several times ("I know she prefers you over me, champ"), the exposition ham-fisted (We get it, Chris Evans. She's a fucking watcher. Watchers see the future. Put the 15th damn explanation of their abilities down and back away slooooowly) and I personally hold Charlie Jane Anders responsible. I should've trusted Rotten Tomatoes instead of his damn io9 review on Friday.
Matinee or rental. And barely that.
Coraline, on the other hand, was a marvel. Don't see it without 3-D.
@TheGreat&PowerfulTurtle: I don't know who this "he" you're speaking of is, but I'm sorry you didn't like the movie. I did actually say it was "cheerfully nonsensical" in my review, but I also found it fun and stylish.
Fanboys flopped? It got a higher per-screen average than Pink Panther 2, which spent more on TV ads than the entire budget of Fanboys. Do the math, Anders.
@Charlie Jane Anders: As well it should have. When the only funny part of the first movie was a guy mis-pronouncing the word "hamburger," you know it was destined to fail.
I want to know where I can get some o' them there big old candy hearts with printing on them. There's a boss I'd like to send some carefully worded hearts to... heh heh heh!
coraline was acceptable. i feel no compelling reason to see it again or own it, however, as it's certainly not a must see. i felt the plot disappeared towards the end, vanishing into a forgone conclusion bereft of all suspense as soon as coraline returned to the other mother's world for the last time. the ease of the collection tasks and with which the ruse was played on the other-mother really added to the sense that she was never really in any danger of failing.
by the time the hand made its presence known the sense of danger and suspense had already departed and the viewer was left wondering why coraline and wybie were so worried about a silly, disembodied needle-hand when the entirety of the other-mother was so easily bested and duped.
@tetracycloide: It has to do with a shift in perspective. Children lack experience and therefore have a distorted sense of perspective. Coraline develops emotional growth (really you could say the entire story is a metaphor about growing up--i.e. "She can't keep me in the dark forever.") and therefore realizes she can beat the Other Mother. Sometimes it isn't circumstances that change the outcome; it's changes in the characters themselves.
@Starwatcher-23: just because she comes to the realization that she has options other than running away scared doesn't mean those options should suddenly appear much easier than before. the emotional growth motif could easily have been maintained without sacrificing the suspense.
@Starwatcher-23: i should capitulate as your point has merits, it was certainly a good children's story for those reasons alone, i was just hoping coraline would transcend that genre a little more thoroughly a la wall-e.
@tetracycloide: Wow, you are being picky. The 3D alone was worth the price of admission. I hope all movies are 3D in the future. Then I want a 3D TV for home. 2D is too yesterday.
@tetracycloide: No. This was great. It was a normal theater with the projector handling the polarization. They give you new glasses in a sealed bag. Slap them on and watch the killer 3D. I see this going everywhere eventually.
@NotArthurPDragon: one could amend that statement to 'apparently chris evans simply can't be in a good movie' and not find one's self to far from the truth.
09/15/09
Plus, I can see why they nearly removed the cancer subplot - it was offensively facile. So he's dying in 3 months but not on constant medication or in any pain or looking the least bit unwell, and hearty enough to climb walls with a grappling hook? Don't his parents worry about him disappearing for a few days? Add to this the fact that he can die happy after seeing THAT horrible film...it's just pathetic.
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Tell Em SteveDave!
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Matinee or rental. And barely that.
Coraline, on the other hand, was a marvel. Don't see it without 3-D.
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by the time the hand made its presence known the sense of danger and suspense had already departed and the viewer was left wondering why coraline and wybie were so worried about a silly, disembodied needle-hand when the entirety of the other-mother was so easily bested and duped.
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