Official Movie Thread

[P-Siddy]

Shouldn't the Rock be in these by now?

[Scockery]

Those films are the Travelling Wilburys of action movies.

[efranks]

Did anyone see Elysium and have any comment on it?  Or Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters? 

I was going to skip both but I have a free ticket that expires the end of the month and nothing opening this week or next looks any more interesting to me so figured I'd catch one of these if they're any good.

   E...

[Greg]

Did anyone see Elysium and have any comment on it?  Or Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters? 

I was going to skip both but I have a free ticket that expires the end of the month and nothing opening this week or next looks any more interesting to me so figured I'd catch one of these if they're any good.

   E...

I caught Elysium several weeks back. It was like a dumbed-down District 9. The special effects and action sequences were great, but the plot and overall experience were not up to par. Provided you enjoyed District 9, I could recommend a free viewing of Elysium.

[BillCable]

I've heard real good things about "The World's End", if you haven't seen it.  There's also "We're the Millers" if you're a Jen Aniston fan.

[P-Siddy]

I'm going to see "Rush" which opens towards the end of the month.  Based on the 1976 Formula 1 championship rivals, it should be very interesting if it's done right.  Of course, being a F1 fan, I'll go see it.  Another bonus, Olivia Wilde.

[efranks]

I ended up seeing Elysium.  I was a little tired going in and actually zoned out a couple times during the movie so that's sort of an indication of how interesting it was at times.

It was okay, glad I didn't pay for it, though. 

   E...

[Diddly]

Thought I had responded to this but I saw Elysium a few weeks back. It wasn't bad, but it did feel rather cliche. Some cool action shots in the beginning though, and the CGI looked cool.

[Scott]

Being a child of the 80's I think I'm not alone in saying I wanted to be an astronaut when I was young.  Gravity brought all of that back and more...all of the reviews are spot on, it is absolutely fantastic.  The effects and scenes are breathtaking and also brought me back to watching NASA IMAX films of yore.  I'm giving it a solid 10 out of 10 (10 being the highest).

[Pete_Fett]

Being a child of the 80's I think I'm not alone in saying I wanted to be an astronaut when I was young.  Gravity brought all of that back and more...all of the reviews are spot on, it is absolutely fantastic.  The effects and scenes are breathtaking and also brought me back to watching NASA IMAX films of yore.  I'm giving it a solid 10 out of 10 (10 being the highest).

Hubble Space Telescope - near-circular Low Earth Orbit - 559 km, inclination 28.5, final servicing mission 2009, expected end of life 2014 (could go to 2020 though)
International Space Station - perigee 417km, apogee 420km, inclination 51.65
Chinese Space Station - does not exist - should be complete between 2015 and 2020
NASA Shuttle Program - final mission July 2011 - STS-135 - Space Shuttle Atlantis

I'm all for a movie that tries to convey realism of being in space, but as soon as they decided to have the Hubble (being serviced by a non-existent Space Shuttle), a short thruster-pack trip away from the ISS which it itself was a short jaunt away from a non-existent (only phase 1 has launched at this time) space station, it takes me out of the movie and makes it more like a science-fiction story.

For me it got my wife off my back cause she mainly wanted to see it for Bullock & Clooney.

Thank goodness it was only 90 minutes long...

[JediJman]

...it takes me out of the movie and makes it more like a science-fiction story.

Well, this is a fictional story that takes place in space.  Isn't that kind of the definition of a science-fiction story?  What were you expecting?  To be honest Pete, I don't think the actors were really even filming in outer space.   

[McMetal]

Saw Machete Kills on Friday night. For the first time I can ever remember, I was LITERALLY the only person in the entire theatre. What a joy!

BTW, lots of great SW shtick in that flick, including an awesome functioning landspeeder.

[Pete_Fett]

Well, this is a fictional story that takes place in space.  Isn't that kind of the definition of a science-fiction story?  What were you expecting?  To be honest Pete, I don't think the actors were really even filming in outer space.   

Yes, sorry, I should have "science-fantasy" I guess.

The reviews I had read were praising the move for a realistic portrayal of what it's like to be in space, which to some extent it did (no sound) but mostly did not (once their momentum stopped when they grabbed on to the ISS, there was nothing "pulling" on Clooney's character, Bullock would have merely needed to give the tether a tug and he would have come back to the station).

The fact that they chained together unrealistic sequences of events, took me as a viewer out of the experience and only made me want to spot MORE flaws.

That's all I meant.

[Diddly]

I know Gravity isn't accurate in a lot of ways but it was still a hell of a ride, and it probably took a few days off of my life. I loved it.

And apparently they made a short film from the perspective of that Inuit that Bullock speaks to over the radio. It'll be on the DVD.

[Chris M]

I try to suspend belief these days any time I go to the movies.  As a historian by trade and practice, I have a really hard time doing that with historical movies.  Obviously Gravity wasn't historical but simply Sci-fi.  I loved it and really enjoyed the story and the visuals.  I skip on most 3D movies because they usually look like crap, but my wife and I saw it i 3D simply because that's all that was available when we went.  I must say I'm glad we saw it in 3D. The movie was great from both a story and visual perspective.  Definitely money well spent in the day and age when most movies seem to suck ass.