Summer Movie Open Thread

[Lumenskir]

Let's face it, with Avengers over there are only three movies this summer that really deserve their own threads: Prometheus, Brave, and Dark Knight Rises...and ok, probably the new Spider-Man even though it's effectively getting grandfathered in under "Let's fill up a thread arguing about why they rebooted/changed/whatever to the franchise."

BUT, there are many movies coming out this summer, both big mindless blockbusters and wee little indies hoping for some of that sweet counter-programming coin. And on top of that, there's all the news attendant to those movies that don't really deserve there own threads, but collected and condensed could be the basis for a discussion. Like, say, this thread!

I've already given my thoughts on Battleship (not essential after matinee prices end) and The Dictator (not essential). I'm assuming you guys have seen at least some movies, although that assumption is admittedly based on thinking you haven't just been going back to the theater over and over.

Also, we've had our first real abomination of the summer movie season: G.I. Joe: Retaliation is getting pushed back. Nine. Fucking. Months. Unless they need nine months to negotiate a "Will show nudity" clause for Adrianne Palicki AND The Rock this is literally the shittiest reason to ever push back a movie.

[Nique]

I saw an interview with Sacha Baron Cohen and he seemed pretty funny/intelligent or at least thoughtful in what he was trying to accomplish with his characters. However, I never saw any of his actual material like Borat etc. aside from commercials and got the impression that he was essentially billing crass-to-the-point-of-being-unfunny humor & racism as something more than the cheap laugh it was.

Does The Dictator or any of his other work actually provide any sort of meaningful commentary or humor that I'm just not understanding or is it just dick jokes?

[Lumenskir]

Does The Dictator or any of his other work actually provide any sort of meaningful commentary or humor that I'm just not understanding or is it just dick jokes?

Oh man, Borat (and to about, 75%, Bruno) are completely hilarious, and have pretty much nothing to do with bad dick jokes. The humor initially comes from Cohen creating this completely batshit personality, but the real gold comes from how nominally normal people react to him.

Like, take Borat (which, again, everyone should see). As a character you have the weird accent and ridiculously racist views ("Although Kazakhstan a glorious country, it have a problem, too: economic, social, and Jew," etc.) which are fine on their own, but then you can put that character in front of normal people and either force them to react to his innocently outlandish views (like the guy who has to explain that sex in America HAS to be consensual, or the cop who says that the man who wanted to put a rubber fist in Borat's anus was probably a homosexual) to the people who agree to the outrageous things he says (like the crowd who cheers along to his congratulating their 'war of terror', or the car dealer who says that while there aren't literal pussy magnets all girls like Hummers).

While there is racism/sexism/crass humor it's all extremely funny in how far he pushes things or conjures up images, and the joke is always on how ridiculous he is in saying them as opposed to getting you to agree that retards should be locked in a cage and mocked.

However, The Dictator is one of his scripted films, and it just tries way too hard and has a pretty bad hit/miss ratio. There are some good jokes/setpieces, but it is way too stagey and posed for what they're trying to go for, and then gets weirdly preachy when they reach the end, whereas the 'messages' in Borat and Bruno were always evident in the "Don't be like these people" show don't tell formula.

TL;DR - Skip the Dictator, watch Borat (again).

[EVILNess]

Non-superhero movies I kinda want to see in June:

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - The absurdity of this movie's premise boggles my mind. I must go see it.

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World - I love Steve Carell. That is all.

Ted - I want to see how the creator of Family Guy does a full feature length movie. He has basically spent the last decade doing micro-humor, with his 10 second Family Guy segways. Can he carry a hour and twenty minutes?

There is literally nothing coming out in July I want to see, other than the obvious Super hero fare.

[RickZarber]

I'll second Abraham Lincoln: VH, but only because Timur Bekmambatov is directing and I love his visual flair. And God help me, but I kind of want to see Snow White and the Huntsman, again because of the visuals--the more trailers I see the cooler it looks, but I notice they are drastically playing down Kristen Stewart, who I feel might kinda have a bigger role in this than they'd like you to think. :P On the other hand, look at that cast for the dwarfs! I'll probably wait on some reviews before I decide to go to the theaters or just watch them when they're out on video.

This very Friday sees the release of Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson's next movie, so that's a definite for me; I love his whole OCD mise-en-scene style, and haven't disliked one of his films yet.

I'm with Ness, the only movies in July I want to see are Spider-Man and Batman.

August brings us a few more that I'm on the fence about: The Bourne Legacy and the Total Recall remake/reimagining. I like a lot of the actors involved in both, and I'm sure the latter will have amazing FX, but I'm not confident in the teams behind the cameras.

But then on the 17th, we get ParaNorman, the next film from animation team that made Coraline. I mean, seriously, how could you not want to watch this?



That's about it for me for the summer, though the fall seems to be shaping up nicely as well!

[Lumenskir]

Ted - I want to see how the creator of Family Guy does a full feature length movie. He has basically spent the last decade doing micro-humor, with his 10 second Family Guy segways. Can he carry a hour and twenty minutes?

There is literally nothing coming out in July I want to see, other than the obvious Super hero fare.

Psst, Ted comes out July 13...

But yeah, since I don't want to see either Ted or Spider-Man the only things interesting look to be DKR and Beasts of the Southern Wild...which, now that I've double checked, is out in June. Good job sucking, July. #Pastburn

This very Friday sees the release of Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson's next movie, so that's a definite for me; I love his whole OCD mise-en-scene style, and haven't disliked one of his films yet.

I dunno, I feel like he was escalating from Bottle Rocket to the high point of Royal Tennenbaums (which has a spot in my top 8 films), but everything after that just feels a little off for me. Like, I can look back fondly on Life Aquatic and Darjeeling Limited, but beyond a vague sense of "There was certainly a lot of Wes Anderson" I can't really muster any enthusiasm for them. For me, Moonrise Kingdom looks like he has completely shed any bonds holding him back from his unadulterated vision, I guess I'm just not sure if that's the greatest thing anymore.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Wes Anderson is is not my favourite director but his films while never amazing are generally good and thus Moonrise kingdom is a go.
PT Anderson has a film coming out in September called the Master about some religious cult post world war 2 and he is always a good bet.#

There is a movie version of Les Mis coming out soonish starring Jackman, Crowe, Hathaway and Seyfried. I'm defineatly going to see that cause it sounds like a trainwreck.

Also Breaking Dawn part 2 and Total Recall remake. Ace.

[RickZarber]

Originally Posted by Lumenskir

Psst, Ted comes out July 13...

Actually, because GI JOE is gone, Ted is being moved up to June 29th.

[Magus]

Is it just me or does G.I. Joe: Retaliation look like a reboot/actually good? Like I want to actually see it for some reason when I never even rented the first one on video?

EDIT: Abe Lincoln Vamp Hunter doesn't seem to be self-aware, which makes me think it might fall into the hole of self-seriousness that seemingly caused Cowboys and Aliens failure.

ANOTHER EDIT: I'll tell you what really struck me about the GI Joe trailer: Cobra Commander actually looks like Cobra Commander.

[Lumenskir]

Opening Today!

Men in Black 3 - Consensus seems to be something along the lines of "Better than it has any right to be," which...yay? I'll probably end up seeing this anyways, the joys of being near family.

Chernobyl Diaries - That one shot in the trailer where the characters are sneaking up on the creepy little girl who starts to radioactively smoke looks pretty cool, but I'm pretty sure I could storyboard the entire rest of the movie based just on the premise. If this makes more than Cabin in the Woods I'm gonna be pissed with America.

Moonrise Kingdom - Good thing that everyone is saying this is the best Wes Anderson movie since Royal Tennenbaums, and combines the best of Tennebaums and Rushmore...right when I moved out of a major market.

Actually, because GI JOE is gone, Ted is being moved up to June 29th.

Fucking darkest timeline.

Is it just me or does G.I. Joe: Retaliation look like a reboot/actually good? Like I want to actually see it for some reason when I never even rented the first one on video?

I honestly really like the first G.I. Joe movie. It has no pretensions at being anything other than a mindless 'splosion fest and it succeeds with flying colors. All of the good guys treat everything with deadly seriousness even though they're talking about sub-light speed jets and mecha-suits, and all of the Cobras chew scenery and luxuriate in the ridiculousness. It's pretty much the perfect way to treat inconsequential source material. The sequel looks like it cut away all of the deadweight good guys and made the bad guys even more ridiculous, and got rewarded by being put off till next year.

Abe Lincoln Vamp Hunter doesn't seem to be self-aware, which makes me think it might fall into the hole of self-seriousness that seemingly caused Cowboys and Aliens failure.

Well, it's written by the guy who did all of those "Humorous updates of classic literature" books, and the red band trailer features him using a billows to flame off a vampire's head (in addition to the shotgun-in-the-axe seen previously) so I'm guessing the problem won't come from it being too self-serious, but more from trying too hard/over-earnest "Dude, this is so awesome, right, aren't we totally blowing your mind?"