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Is this movie worth my time?


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I didn't find a thread like this, so decided to create one, a kind of 'prequel' to the 'What Is the Last Film You Watched' threads in which we can ask whether we should (not) watch certain films.

 

The TV guide is offering a few interesting films this week, but I might not have time to watch them all, so... Are these titles worth my time?

 

- Wyatt Earp

- Paper Towns

- Carrie (2013)

- Mean Girls

 

Thoughts?

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25 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

- Wyatt Earp

 

Decent enough western, although a bit heavyhanded. The score is one of JNH's best.

 

25 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

- Paper Towns

 

Haven't seen it, but Ryan Lott's score is excellent!

 

25 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

- Carrie (2013)

 

Skip it, and watch the original classic instead, if you haven't already.

 

25 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

- Mean Girls

 

Not a fan of Tina Fey, but it's one of those pop cultural films giving nourishment to Lindsay Lohan's "persona". So better viewed for that than any particular filmatic quality. But I suggest you watch ELECTION, RUSHMORE or CLUELESS instead. Or any of the 80s high school classics (FAST TIMES, BREAKFAST CLUB, SIXTEEN CANDLES, PRETTY IN PINK etc.).

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31 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

Wyatt Earp

Long and dramatic and certainly not the greatest film ever made, but I like it well enough.

Music is pretty darn good and I like hearing that used in context.

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My thoughts. 

 

Wyatt Earp - It's fine. Great score and production design, plus a superb cast, but a little too long, and kinda aimless. 

 

I haven't seen Paper Towns, not really my kind of film honestly.

 

Carrie - Not a fan. Failed to capture what made the 1976 version work so well. Performances aren't bad, but as far as remakes / readaptations of old Stephen King novels, I didn't much care for it. 

 

Mean Girl - Classic. One of the movies that probably defined the mid 2000's for a lot of teens / young adults. Sharp script, and performances (Rachel McAdams being a particular standout), plus it features Lohan before she went crazy. I've seen it several times, and I still highly recommend it. It's endlessly quotable and hilarious. 

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Thank you for all your feedback! I just watched Carrie (2013), couldn't watch the Original one:

 

The first half was great. Well, of course it was: things don't get better when Julianne Moore is playing a religious fanatic. But then, like every single other horror movie I know, everything just fell apart, literally: nasty stuff for no reason whatsoever, everything breaks and everyone dies. Lame.

This was my second Marco Beltrami score and surprisingly, I enjoyed most of it, especially the medieval/magical effect he created by combining celeste with soft, electric guitars.

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1 hour ago, kaseykockroach said:

Images (1972) ?

 

Superb film, one of the best that Williams ever scored, and that Altman ever directed. Featuring gorgeous cinematography by Vilmos Zsigmond. It wears its REPULSION on its sleeve, true, but not in a bad way. I've held lectures on this film (and score) and have come to really appreciate it for the masterpiece that it is.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Okay, I'm back. Which movie should I choose next week? I Can only pick one.

- The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

- The Bodyguard

- The Good Dinosaur

- The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him

- The Lucky One

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1 hour ago, bollemanneke said:

- The Good Dinosaur

 

 

It looks like an unremarkable run of the mill Pixar entry, and for the first half or so it seems like that's all it is. But I thought it excels at portraying its characters (and with very little dialogue, too) and reaches an emotional climax worthy of the Pixar canon. Lovely score, too. And amazing photo-realistic scenery, which somewhat clashes with the simple character design.

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2 hours ago, bollemanneke said:

Ah, sorry, 2013.

 

Try both. A remarkable demonstration of the same premise done in completely different eras. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

It's Monday. The local listings show Incredibles 2 and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom are plentiful in showings. Should I bother with either of these? Incredibles 2 doesn't seem like my cup of tea, nor does JW FK, but of the two the latter seems more enticing. Heck, I may just see Solo again. Any thoughts?

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Both movies are underwhelming, and I really wanted to enjoy them as much as the reviewers tend to be enjoying them. I think my disappointment in Incredibles 2 is worse than for JW2 because the first one was so good.

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  • 1 month later...

I am in need of your good counsel once more. Rotten Tomatoes hates all of them, but I don't trust them anymore, so... Should I ever watch any of these?

- Unfinised Business (2015)

- Patch Adams

- Grace of Monaco

 

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45 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

 

Are you and RT growing apart? Even when it comes to old movies?

Yes, we fought at dinner yesterday. She said Moulin Rouge was a great movie again.

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40 minutes ago, Quintus said:

With RT and new films you want to aim in the 50 - 72 region, and write everything else off as probable hyperbole.

 

That kind of makes sense for Metacritic. Conceptually I mean.  But RT is binary, positive or negative, a critic’s level of enthusiasm has no influence on the tomato score, just if it was liked or not.  That’s how a movie like Ant-Man and the Wasp has 88%.  Very few critics would give it that score out of 100, it just means 88% of critics at least liked it.  Whereas its metascore is 70, much more accurate to critical enthusiasm and falls within your 50-72 rule. It’s a likeable, fine, unsurprising movie.

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I don't have a formula or an algorithm for this stuff, it's just anecdotally what has come to work for me whenever I've inevitably followed a link through to the RT site and looked at a movie there. All that stuff in the 80s and 90s "fresh" ballpark, I barely ever agree with any of it; those critical laudings or quasi-aggregates, if you like. I very rarely find any of it reliable, which is why I generally don't take any notice of RT.

 

For me, the modern movies which seem to divide critics somewhere down the middle tend to end up with review ratings I find the most reliable and worth a look.

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Why do people still only look at RT's binary ratings? The average critic rating on a 10-scale is right below that! Fury road has 8.6, Ant-Man and the Wasp has 6.9, both are probably reasonable.

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  • 1 month later...
10 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

Should I watch Chain Reaction, Ex Machina or both?

 

You can watch CHAIN REACTION for the sheer popcorn value; that's about it. Not even Goldsmith's score is very exciting.

 

EX MACHINA, however, is a masterpiece, and my favourite movie that year (and one of my favourite movies in the 2010s overall).

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