Weekend Thread: Estimates - Mal2 36, Jokah 29.2, Zombi2 26.7, Addams 16, Gemini 8.5 | Parasite 1.2 (37.6K), Lighthouse 420K (52K), Jojo 350K (70K avg)

[Porthos]

2 minutes ago, TalismanRing said:

Brody is the POV character in Jaws just as Alan Grant is in JP. 

 

The characterization, writing and dialogue is far better in Jaws as is the acting and storytelling across the board.  But if the human element doesn't work for you the film won't work.

 

FYI, the prop shark never looked real and that never mattered b/c everything else works like gangbusters.

The shark was, do I want to say 'mocked'... No that's probably too strong. Let's go with.. "not seen as cutting edge s/fx" even in its own day.

 

There's a reason why it wasn't actually on screen all that much (around eight minutes according to Google).  The cast and crew wasn't satisfied with it, either but made do with the limitations they had.

[La Binoche]

42 minutes ago, That One Guy said:

Have to echo everyone's sentiments about Parasite, it's phenomenal.  That and Ad Astra are practically tied as my favorites of the year.

Parasite's plot twists in the third act are ridiculous, though. If it were a Hollywood movie it would get called out. But foreign films get away with it. 

Edited October 19, 2019 by La Binoche

[Jake Gittes]

The mechanical shark still 1) has real, unfakeable weight 2) is well-served as an unfeeling machine by the "dead eyes" monologue, particularly when the monologue deliverer is getting chomped 3) is cleverly mixed in with real shark footage 4) got to be in a photo with Ingmar Bergman. All wins in my book. 

[Ryan Reynolds]

MALEFICENT: MISTRESS OF EVIL (2019)

ZOMBIELAND: DOUBLE TAP (2019)

[Maxmoser3]

50 minutes ago, DAJK said:

I'm not trying to spread anything about how 'bad' this place is nowadays (if I really didn't like it, I wouldn't be sticking around). But DAMN this site was soooo much fun in 2014/15. 

I’ve been here since 2013. I first was introduced to site with fun box office clubs and the now defunct Hot Women NSFW page(which was a lot of fun  being on). No one was a pain in the ass on that thread, and same with the box office threads as well.

 

I could be on here for hours talking about people being shocked The Purge did $16 million OD or how bad Godzilla ‘14 dropped and them making fun of how slow it took it to make $200 million, or seeing how Grown Ups 2 knocked out Pacific Rim etc etc. 

[TalismanRing]

2 minutes ago, Jake Gittes said:

The mechanical shark still 1) has real, unfakeable weight 2) is well-served as an unfeeling machine by the "dead eyes" monologue, particularly when the monologue deliverer is getting chomped 3) is cleverly mixed in with real shark footage 4) got to be in a photo with Ingmar Bergman. All wins in my book. 

The Indianapolis speech delivered by Robert Shaw is one of the greatest monologues in film.  I get chills every time.

 

Quote

Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into our side, chief. It was comin' back, from the island of Tinian to Laytee, just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb. Eleven hundred men went into the water. Vessel went down in twelve minutes. Didn't see the first shark for about a half an hour. Tiger. Thirteen footer. You know how you know that when you're in the water, chief? You tell by lookin' from the dorsal to the tail. What we didn't know... was our bomb mission had been so secret, no distress signal had been sent. Huh huh. They didn't even list us overdue for a week.

 

Very first light, chief. The sharks come cruisin'. So we formed ourselves into tight groups. You know it's... kinda like ol' squares in battle like a, you see on a calendar, like the battle of Waterloo. And the idea was, the shark comes to the nearest man and that man, he'd start poundin' and hollerin' and screamin' and sometimes the shark would go away. Sometimes he wouldn't go away. Sometimes that shark, he looks right into you. Right into your eyes. You know the thing about a shark, he's got...lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eye. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be livin'. Until he bites ya and those black eyes roll over white. And then, ah then you hear that terrible high pitch screamin' and the ocean turns red and spite of all the poundin' and the hollerin' they all come in and rip you to pieces.

Y'know by the end of that first dawn, lost a hundred men! I don't know how many sharks, maybe a thousand! I don't know how many men, they averaged six an hour. On Thursday mornin' chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Herbie Robinson from Cleveland. Baseball player, boson's mate. I thought he was asleep, reached over to wake him up. Bobbed up and down in the water, just like a kinda top. Up ended. He'd been bitten in half below the waist. Noon the fifth day, Mr. Hooper, a Lockheed Ventura saw us. He's a young pilot, a lot younger than Mr. Hooper, anyway he saw us and come in low. And three hours later a big fat PBY comes down and start to pick us up. You know that was the time I was most frightened? Waitin' for my turn. I'll never put on a lifejacket again. So, eleven hundred men went in the water, three hundred and sixteen men come out, the sharks took the rest, June the 29, 1945. Anyway, we delivered the bomb.

 

 

[narniadis]

I find the adult R rated drama behavior of Joker so "perfect." Since we are not used to R rated comic movies, the roller coaster of emotions when it behaves out of norm on the weekdays compared with mostly PG13 fare is as matched by the grumbling that this thread will be hit with once the actual Friday and a not as high as optimistically hoped for Saturday also hit. 

Ignoring the type of film, its rating and the natural declining available audience that comes with being an R rated non comedy/ action is the prime reason. Solid grosses for sure, buoyed by the strong weekdays. 

[aabattery]

51 minutes ago, Thanos Legion said:

Show 20 normal people Jaws who haven't seen it before, ask their opinion without trying to influence it, and you'll get at least a dozen reactions ranging from "fine I guess" to "eh" to "that was bad."    

 

I understand that it was revolutionary, contemporaneously. But evaluated in a vacuum, from a modern perspective (which is not, I should stress, what I endorse as the best way to evaluate movies)...   

 

Well, I was being diplomatic before. The shark is glaringly fake. As a result there's not a real sense of danger anywhere in the movie, and the emotional stakes just dont work. It's pretty tough to spend a movie sharing in the characters' fear of plastic pulled by wires. It's also riddled with cliches -- which, I'M AWARE, weren't cliches back then. This is *if* you, for some godforsaken reason, wanted to look at it only from the perspective of a normal modern first time viewer. But from such a perspective, the film basically just fails to work at all.  

 

In the context in which is was actually made, and released, and received, and broke boatloads of records, and had a huge cultural impact, sure, a masterpiece. 

 

[Legion Again]

25 minutes ago, TalismanRing said:

the prop shark never looked real

I know I said I was done with the Jaws stuff, but I think it was fine back then that it didn't look real because people weren't accustomed to 21st century visuals. '70s effects in the 70s won't take you out of a movie because it's what you're used to, so it's real enough that you're used to accepting and rolling with. 

To make another forward looking counterfactual, it's totally possible that I have a kid and they're running around in 2040 watching shit in immersive total VR, and they try to watch an unremastered version of Iron Man, and they just bust out laughing in the first dozen minutes all "Oh my god Dad, these effects are sooooooo goofy. I can't believe people were able to buy into this, this movie just doesn't work for me at all. Even if the characters are interesing these awful '00s era visuals just totally take me out of connecting with the movie." And I'll say "that's too bad, but I get it."  

 

Spoiler

Then I'll say "okay, I was just pranking you, now let's watch the remastered fully immersive VR Iron Man (2008)," and we will, and they'll love it, because that shit's dope 

 

Edited October 19, 2019 by Thanos Legion

[Porthos]

3 minutes ago, Thanos Legion said:

Then I'll say "okay, I was just pranking you, now let's watch the remastered fully immersive VR Iron Man (2008)," and we will, and they'll love it, because that shit's dope 

HEY EVERYONE, I FOUND GEORGE LUCAS' BURNER ACCOUNT!!! 

Edited October 19, 2019 by Porthos

[Ethan Hunt]

Just here to say Richard Dreyfuss is super sexy in Jaws

[DAJK]

54 minutes ago, Thanos Legion said:

Show 20 normal people Jaws who haven't seen it before, ask their opinion without trying to influence it, and you'll get at least a dozen reactions ranging from "fine I guess" to "eh" to "that was bad."    

 

I understand that it was revolutionary, contemporaneously. But evaluated in a vacuum, from a modern perspective (which is not, I should stress, what I endorse as the best way to evaluate movies)...   

 

Well, I was being diplomatic before. The shark is glaringly fake. As a result there's not a real sense of danger anywhere in the movie, and the emotional stakes just dont work. It's pretty tough to spend a movie sharing in the characters' fear of plastic pulled by wires. It's also riddled with cliches -- which, I'M AWARE, weren't cliches back then. This is *if* you, for some godforsaken reason, wanted to look at it only from the perspective of a normal modern first time viewer. But from such a perspective, the film basically just fails to work at all.  

 

In the context in which is was actually made, and released, and received, and broke boatloads of records, and had a huge cultural impact, sure, a masterpiece. 

I mean, OBVIOUSLY if it was made today people would complain about the effects, some of the production design etc. We're in 2019, of course we expect more than 1970s production and visual effects quality. That's the way technology goes. Yes, I agree that it looks cheesy by today's standards, but I think you're underestimating "normal people's" ability to suspend disbelief when they know they're watching a movie made nearly half a century ago. 

 

Evaluated in a vacuum, it creates and builds tension better than many films are able to today. Because it doesn't rely on visual effects, expensive production design, and technology we have at our disposal today. It has excellent writing and directing (how do you build tension? You slowly reduce the space the characters are confined to until they have nowhere left to run, and Jaws does this masterfully). 

 

Do I love Jaws? Nah, but I think it's good, and I appreciate the filmmaking. But it's not a movie I make sure I watch every year. It's great (subjectively and objectively). Innovation has to come from somewhere. 

[DAJK]

22 minutes ago, Xftg123 said:

Popular Opinion: Tim Burton lost his spark & became box office poison after Alice In Wonderland

Tim Burton needs to make another movie like Big Fish. A small, personal story that he can inject his flare into. It worked masterfully the last time. 

[cdsacken]

3 hours ago, cdsacken said:

Deadpool 1 was so much better. That stupid scene where everyone on the team died was a bit ridiculous

Goes to show people have different tastes. It just went soooooo over the top. Mind you I liked the film but it was a bit extra crazy town for me. The first one was plenty crazy enough. 

[Maxmoser3]

11 minutes ago, DAJK said:

Tim Burton needs to make another movie like Big Fish. A small, personal story that he can inject his flare into. It worked masterfully the last time. 

 he’s too busy casting the queen in a bunch of outlandish fantasy films anymore.

[Legion Again]

Fine, you people have convinced me to rewatch Jaws. Eventually. If it works more knowing from the beginning that you need to 100% ignore how goofy the shark is, I'll let you know, but I wouldn't hold your breath.

Edited October 19, 2019 by Thanos Legion

[charlie Jatinder]

Joker 8.75 rest yawn...

[charlie Jatinder]

I think people are missing point here. @Thanos Legion and I aren't pushing that Jaws was bad or somewhat, we are saying it isn't good enough for today.

[WeneedtotalkaboutKevin]

40 minutes ago, Maxmoser3 said:

 he’s too busy casting the queen in a bunch of outlandish fantasy films anymore.

Why you post this picture when I am to get myself into the no-fap monk mode? Dude...you ruined it...You can just mention the name instead of posting the pic.

Edited October 19, 2019 by WeneedtotalkaboutKevin

[Firepower]

13 minutes ago, Charlie Jatinder said:

Joker 8.75 rest yawn...

at least over 100% increase in the end, much better than the previous number.