Looks ok but I thought the first Thor trailer was meh & the movie ended up being serviceable. I'll proly wait to see it when it hit blu ray or maybe VOD
I always sort of when people see one trailer and decide right then and there they're not going to see it until it's available for purchase, probably almost 1 year and 8-9 months away . This movie is probably not coming out til next May and you've already decided? Not a slight towards you, I've seen many people in here do it I just think it's premature. Wait for some reviews to come in at least.
Thought that trailer looked good. Loki looks like he's in detox or some ****. I wish they would just get rid of Norah and her Infinite Playlist. She contributes nothing.
Thor comes out in November. I get what you're saying but understand that most people's thinking is a trailer is their selling point and if it doesnt peak your interest why waste your time looking forward to it or going to see it.
The average movie watcher only sees trailers at the movies or once in a while on tv.
Thats why i hate long trailers or half assed trailers. If you cant sell me your film in 90 seconds you have some issues with your product.
Gus Van Sant helping that movie would be interesting. There's always an intimate atmosphere that he creates in his movies that I appreciate even on his not so good movies.
Outside of being in the Avengers Thor really wasn't intended to be a simple superhero. He's more of a cosmic and fantasy character. Dude is over 10 thousand years old so a lot of the stories being told were him in the past still learning or travelling across dimensions fighting monsters and space aliens.
It was only when he was made human as Don Blake that things were superhero like.
I totally get not liking the character though since I don't really either.
So I watched The Place Beyond the Pines last night. What a film; possibly my favorite of the year thus far (granted I havent watched many films in theaters). Gosling was great, of course. Cooper wasn't bad, but I feel like there werent many moments where he was put in a position to do more than look concerned (his opening scene and the scene in the woods were the only ones I felt he did more). The big surprise was the story between the kids, for me. I was expecting it to be maybe 15-20 minutes of story, just to kind of show the vicious cycle, but it turned into the 2nd strongest part of the story for me. The kid from Chronicle did a real solid job imo.
Overall, I was very impressed and that was walking in with already high expectations. Cianfrance did a great job, he's turning into a director whose movies I'll support without question.
I enjoyed both a lot more when I watched them for the 2nd time.. Didn't think they were they greatest movies.. But I was at least entertained and didn't think they were horrible
As I mentioned earlier in the thread, rematched jaws the other day and was pleasantly surprised by how good it was..
I mean I remembered jaws being good but not THAT good.. Couldn't appreciate all the nuisances of the film.. Also rewatched the shining and had the same experience
I'm gonna watch the few eps so far of Defiance and Orphan Black tomorrow. somebody's opinion who I respect and who has made good suggestions in the past brought it up to me again so I'll give it a chance.
So I watched The Place Beyond the Pines last night. What a film; possibly my favorite of the year thus far (granted I havent watched many films in theaters). Gosling was great, of course. Cooper wasn't bad, but I feel like there werent many moments where he was put in a position to do more than look concerned (his opening scene and the scene in the woods were the only ones I felt he did more). The big surprise was the story between the kids, for me. I was expecting it to be maybe 15-20 minutes of story, just to kind of show the vicious cycle, but it turned into the 2nd strongest part of the story for me. The kid from Chronicle did a real solid job imo.
Overall, I was very impressed and that was walking in with already high expectations. Cianfrance did a great job, he's turning into a director whose movies I'll support without question.
Yeah...I think it's my fav of the year too...but it's complicated.
edit: Ryan Gosling is that ******g guy.
I mean, the opening scene...that awesome tracking shot that sets the tone...was awesome. And the cinematography of his bike riding was gorgeous. It's so immediate and real and it never blinks. Those scenes are right there with the plane flying in Flight to me. It was so much more than I ever expected, because the trailer kinda left something to be desired. But that aesthetic...and the score. You always notice when a composer hits on something special, and this did. And the tension of the crime scenes was amazing.
I mean...it is Drive mixed with The Town and a little bit of Heat, but it never really feels like leftovers. It's always it's own creature. Cracking voice and all.
And Eva Mendez did her thing. Greasy variant John Hawkes from Killing Them Softly was absolutely perfect. All of the choices they made were so damn good. And the vibe. This film is timeless...it's lost in Americana. God knows when it takes place, but it never draws attention to itself like that. And it's just really restrained filmmaking. Like quietly economical. Sometimes, you think the film is just aimless and wasting time, but then you'll feel the emotions they were building pay off.
For the story they were trying to tell, and the style you learn to appreciate, it doesn't really waste time. Even when things aren't happening, it's building the story up emotionally. And the style is never imposing. It's methodical and calm. It reminds me of A History of Violence. And it's never precious and stylized like Drive was. I mean, the scene cuts are all dissolves. It gives the film this iconic lure, but it never turns into a story about imaginary people.
I would give this film a 9/10.
I really would.
Except it's only 3/4 of a film. And it lasts maybe 45 minutes.
I really wish...so much, that they had made this 1 film. Or maybe cut the middle act down to about 10 minutes. Or they could've weaved each of the 3 acts into each other, and had them all end at about the same time. That could've been something as epic as this wanted to be, because this is a movie that doesn't get better by inviting Bradley Cooper to the party. He kinda reinforces my thinking that Silver Linings is the best he's ever gonna be, because he's just any Brad Cooper role. And the 2nd story is so generic Serpico, that it's just a straight to DVD cop movie sped up. You could find better on Southland any week. And the way this movie's structured...it's 3 loosely connected films.
With Pines...there are....4 surprises in this film. 4...interruptions of your regularly scheduled program. 1 is huge...like monumental. 1's kinda predictable and ssdd. 1 might make you roll your eyes, because of all the possibilities it cuts off from the earlier parts in the film. And the last act...once you realize the structure, it's kinda so obvious that it'll test how you feel about the film as a whole vision. Like, can you get over it and enjoy the symbolism? or will you let it snuff out the goodwill it built up in the beginning?
I mean, it's from the guy who gave us Blue Valentine. That, in itself, was an intense, little unromantic epic. The long strains and strands of issues between people in relationships that grow to turn love into hate over time. That was ambitious. Like the anti-When Harry Met Sally. Some people didn't appreciate the bitter reality or the time-jumping scope of it.
This is even more ambitious. He tried to make an indie, solitary anti-Heat mixed with anti-Godfather Part II.
It's a crime epic with that intense, (mumblecore-ish?) focus on the person and intimate conversations, that you can only find in these small indies. It's tough, cuz those are opposites. It'll have your mind racing, constantly thinking of the better film it could be, but at the same time seeing how their choices fit into the structure they chose. It'd be easy to feel some way, because the film isn't exactly the way you would've made it. And the parts of it that are epic and intense and awesome, maybe make you not appreciate its quiet indie sensibilities and especially that kinda ambient ending. But that's not really fair.
The worst thing you can do to this film is bring your own preconceptions of it. A lot of people probably expected Drive mixed with The Town, and this wants to be much more than that. I mean, the trailer (which you should NOT watch, because it is the entire movie) had me cautious, cuz it didn't connect right. Nothing really looked as butter as the cinematography in Drive...things were too drawn out...it felt like they were hiding characters...and it had me thinking, if this wasn't Gosling, would I even care?
And that'll probably decide how much you like this. I mean, the first act is only 3/4 of a film. The 2nd...more complete, but less satisfying and lacking that unique quality the first act had or a real acting center that makes it something more. I think there was some real emotional drive that this film was aiming at. Generational growth. Real legacy. Blood for blood. And it was Gosling's story through and through. It's just the worst thing that happened to this film was kinda Bradley Cooper. He's not on the same level as everything else. He's not who we wanted. Now, he has this quiet unease in him and he's good at that. That internal conflict. But the story around him is so ordinary and the shadow of Gosling is so wide that he never had a chance. It wanted to be Serpico mixed with The Departed, but it never clicked for me. Except Ray Liotta.
***Kinda spoilers*** Bradley Cooper is too old to play his role in Act 2...and then he's too young to play his role in Act 3. And he's not especially impactful in either one, on top of trying to follow Gosling. I think he manages the rare feat of being miscast twice in the same movie. Now he has a couple moments that are good, but nothing concrete enough to say you ever cared to watch his film. It's not fair that he had to act in the shadow of Gosling, but that's what it was...and they decided to give equal time to everyone, which kinda made it feel like his stuff lasted forever.***end spoilers**
And the last act, which had that acting power to connect with you, and which I liked more than the 2nd...is only half a movie. Compared to what came before, it doesn't have a sledgehammer scene or that crime and tension. And they don't do it any favors, because it has to fill in those missing parts of the first 2 acts AND be it's own complete story. And there's just this looming sense of inevitability, because you basically know where things are headed, and spend a good amount of time thinking how far away things have gotten from that first act. Or how this could've been changed to bring some of that back into this.
Ryan Gosling dies 45 minutes in, and the new Bradley Cooper film never recovers from his loss. About 45 minutes late, after we're forced to watch this new movie we didn't sign up for...it finally starts to reconcile the meaning in Handsome Luke's meaningless death. But by then, we just want an explanation for the new, crappier movie we had to watch for 45 minutes. Yes that film had it's moments, but with the 15 year jump from Act 2 to Act 3, that middle film effectively doesn't matter.
The whole middle means very little and we suddenly have brand new characters we have to ingratiate and build up to be on the level of the old ones, so that they can finish our story. And for another 40 minutes we sit there watching it slowly come full circle in the most basic, these aren't people they're pawns way. And the film really does try to be precious, as if it's laying some grand surprise on us...but 14 yr olds will love that. Dumb people will love that. Everyone else will wonder what the ****? Now I can compartmentalize. I can look at that 3rd act as it's own thing. A later little indie spinoff to parts 1 & 2. And Dane DeHaan does such a great job in such a short amount of time. There are some really nice moments, and I really did love the little touches and attitudes that later film had.
But the question is, would you be mad if you went to watch Heat and all of the sudden an indie, serious Project X/Superbad happened. And the ending is this thematic Magnolia-esque fade to black? Will that **** your experience up?
And as great as Dane DeHaan was...on no planet is the spawn of Eva Mendez and blonde Ryan Gosling going to be anything close to this kid. He's almost violently miscast, because there's no glimmer of whatever it is Gosling. But he does a great job in the role and owns it. There's so much that needs to be communicated so quickly...that it just became easier to view him as some kid who was almost following in Luke's footsteps. But it IS original. It's very original what they've done there, and I want to love the inspiration behind it.
And Cooper's kid... What the ****? How did that come out of you and Rose Byrne? Okay, w/e. He did a great job too, if you just ignore all of Act 2. This whole movie is sooooo much better, if you forget Act 2 even happened.
But I do respect the hell out of it. I loved the beginning and I liked the ending. It's just how the 3 parts are married together that's a problem. And **** the director for thinking it was alright to ONLY put aged makeup on Eva Mendez. The fact that 15 yrs older Bradley Cooper is standing next to his young picture that looks older than him, makes your ideas feel stupid. How do you jump 15 years ahead and literally not age anyone except Eva.
Still, I like it despite itself. It maybe thinks it's a lot more clever and profound than it really is, but that's okay with me. I don't mind a little pretension. It's just...difficult. It's like the director just didn't feel like doing the logical thing, and blending the 3 stories together, and revealing their connections later. Instead there's so much time and space between them, that the reveals land like duds after the first one. But Dane DeHaan went in. He owned the last past of the film. Even if he did look like a Ghostbuster.
The Place Beyond the Pines is like The Dark Knight Rises...where I really do respect it's ambition. And it feels almost flawless to start. But uh...once they "break Batman's back" and rush through and past important things and details and progressions....it just feels like they bit off more than they could chew. And there's no replacing...The Joker.
With Pines, you just have to compartmentalize, keep an open mind and when the film shifts. Just internalize the themes. It's a film about fate and power and responsibility and family. And the legacies we leave behind. Kinda forget what came before and don't expect more. It really is a movie, then it's sequel, then a spinoff/epilogue.
I liked it? I think I talked myself into and out of this movie 20 times since I saw it.
I went into Upstream Color practically blind; I only knew of a scant plot synopsis ("A man and woman are drawn together, entangled in the life cycle of an ageless organism. Identity becomes an illusion as they struggle to assemble the loose fragments of wrecked lives."), that there was something about Henry David Thoreau's Walden, and something about an "upstream DNA sequence," whatever that was.
It's not a plot puzzle that needs to be solved like in Primer, though you'll probably be disoriented for most of the movie, mainly because plot details reveal themselves visually and aurally through editing, really there's not much dialogue in this whole thing. This is a movie that asks for your patience because by the end, you should have an idea of the general narrative and what happened, though maybe not the how and the why. And that's just at the surface level; from there, you can unpack it's themes of human identity, past trauma, and so forth.
when people see one trailer and decide right then and there they're not going to see it until it's available for purchase, probably almost 1 year and 8-9 months away 
