What is the latest movie you watched and what did you think of it?

[Funkin']

Went to watch it with the Mrs. and I completely agree.

Were you two also the only older couple there without a child? Everytime me and my girl goes to see one of these movies(which is pretty much whenever one comes out) this is how it is for us.

Admit it. You downloaded it with expectations of porn.

Perv.

*shivers* Porn is so penis inverting for me. I have no idea how people get addicted to that stuff.

[mjmacky]

Were you two also the only older couple there without a child? Everytime me and my girl goes to see one of these movies(which is pretty much whenever one comes out) this is how it is for us.

Just because you don't go in there with a child, doesn't mean you have leave without one as well.

*shivers* Porn is so penis inverting for me. I have no idea how people get addicted to that stuff.

Have you tried amateur porn?

[megabyteme]

me thinks yous guys are just a bunch of racists ANI!

I tend to agree with this assessment on the wikipedia page:

Allegations of racial caricature

Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal described the character as a "Rastafarian Stepin Fetchit on platform hoofs, crossed annoyingly with Butterfly McQueen."^[11] Patricia J. Williams writes that many aspects of Jar Jar's character are highly reminiscent of the archetypes portrayed in blackface minstrelsy,^[12] while others have suggested that the character is a "laid-back clown character" representing a black Caribbean stereotype.^[13]

I'm certain there are more detailed discussions of the topic, but the links included in the quote are very interesting in terms of what used to be "acceptable" in past American cinema and television.

*Note the citations are currently numbered incorrectly. The bottom of the Jar Jar Binks page gives accurate links to material used.

[mjmacky]

I'm certain there are more detailed discussions of the topic, but the links included in the quote are very interesting in terms of what used to be "acceptable" in past American cinema and television.

Though annoyed by the stereotype elements that manifest in Jar Jar Binks, his species/community was not one that really mirrored the black community. I think it was just a poor assumption to think that including it would be met with any kind of appreciation. The example I found even more atrocious was the ghettospeak autobot they used in the second Transformers movie (or were there 2 of them?).

Now, Deadwood, which is at the top of my list of all time favorite shows, had a black woman (Lucretia Aunt Lou Marchbanks, based on actual person) that seemed to have had most of her lines written by Tyler Perry (single-handedly the worst thing about the show, but that falls on a very short list for me). I don't know if it's a valid approach to her character if you base it off the notion that most of our "uppity nigger" stereotypes were formed post Emancipation, but it simply doesn't resonate with the accounts of her history.

[clocker]

Killer Elite- The Statham, The Owen and The DeNiro.

Killer Elite makes the same mistake as The Expendibles...it assumes that simply putting all the testosterone ever in one film automatically makes for awesome.
It really doesn't.

Nobody plays The Statham like Jason does and he's perfectly serviceable here.
A very believable action hero guy, he is.
Also, he has the world's most consistently perfect beard stubble (in my experience, the first few days growing a beard are quite odd...itchy and noticeable...so I've been bemused by the trend in stubble as a "look"); the film spans several weeks but he's never clean shaven, yet never grows a beard...just a perfect few millimeters of stubble. His kissing scenes with the "girlfriend icon" must have played havoc with her skin (why do I think of these things?).

The Owen is saddled with two insurmountable disadvantages in Killer Elite.
His character is part of a shadowy group of ex-SAS agents called The Feathermen.
Ooohhh, scary.
Then he was apparently styled by the same person who did Tom Hanks in the daVinci movies...i.e., very oddly.
If they were shooting for John Cleese, they nailed it.

I think The DeNiro was cast





...actually, I have no idea why.

One thing I did appreciate was the cars.
Everyone drives really crappy cars and there are several chase scenes, I found them kind of amusing.

[mjmacky]

One thing I did appreciate was the cars.
Everyone drives really crappy cars and there are several chase scenes, I found them kind of amusing.

One of my favorite car sequences in the past decade was from Four Brothers.

[megabyteme]

Though annoyed by the stereotype elements that manifest in Jar Jar Binks, his species/community was not one that really mirrored the black community. I think it was just a poor assumption to think that including it would be met with any kind of appreciation. The example I found even more atrocious was the ghettospeak autobot they used in the second Transformers movie (or were there 2 of them?).

Now, Deadwood, which is at the top of my list of all time favorite shows, had a black woman (Lucretia Aunt Lou Marchbanks, based on actual person) that seemed to have had most of her lines written by Tyler Perry (single-handedly the worst thing about the show, but that falls on a very short list for me). I don't know if it's a valid approach to her character if you base it off the notion that most of our "uppity nigger" stereotypes were formed post Emancipation, but it simply doesn't resonate with the accounts of her history.

The community element is a great point. I had not looked past the character himself. According to Lucas, Jar Jar was put in "for the kids"- as was the entire series. Intentional, or not, it teeters so close to poor taste- especially since the actor who played the character was black, and so many blacks were made to play the buffoon for so long in blatantly racist shows.

I'm not one who seeks out such material to call it "racist", or not, but Jar Jar did strike a nerve in me. I don't remember the Transformers GhetoBot, but I may have just dismissed it as a lame character and moved on. There really wasn't much memorable about Transformers*- I seem to remember explosions, car advertisements, an irritating "star", robots, and an out-of-place piece of eye candy in the form of a female- dark haired in the first, blonde in the second. However, the "ghettospeaking" characters are becoming far too numerous, and may find themselves in their own shame lists for this time period. Modern cinema/television is still guilty of racial stereotyping characters- it's interesting what can be considered acceptable when using a CGI character and a black actor doing voices...

*Apologies for revealing the entire plot to those who may not have seen either film.

As for Deadwood, that is one show that has so far passed me by. The name has popped up occasionally, and I think I may have to add it to my list of series to watch based on your high recommendation.

[Quarterquack]

Were you two also the only older couple there without a child? Everytime me and my girl goes to see one of these movies(which is pretty much whenever one comes out) this is how it is for us.

Actually, there was something else that stuck out for me.

It was movie night, so naturally we ran into people we know. One specific acquaintance wanted to watch Harold and Kumar and insisted on us watching it with us, so we decided to watch both movies, with Puss in Boots as the follow-up. The H&K theater was packed. I literally had to scout the seats for a good 5 minutes before I found some place for us all to sit.

After it was done we went for PiB, and the theater was empty. It was just us, and another three people who looked like they were about to have a threesome after the show was done. Made me run a sanity check after myself once I was done. It was such a wry attendance that I literally had to bring up the fact that Eric Schmidt was listed as a producer to regain some semblance of sanity in conversation with the would-be-threesome. I've been to off-the-top of my head, Cloudy with a chance of meatballs, Monsters, The Princess and The Frog and that water animation movie last year, but none that had an attendance this low. That's what shocked me.

[mjmacky]

As for Deadwood, that is one show that has so far passed me by. The name has popped up occasionally, and I think I may have to add it to my list of series to watch based on your high recommendation.

Upgrade it to my highest recommendation. I'll even stop asking Idoleyes to watch Louie to use as credits towards recommending this show to you. There is one caveat, show kind of stop being produced at conclusion of third season, there were some issues with actor contracts and they were going to wrap it up with a movie once they realized they couldn't do season 4. It's mostly based on the history of the Black Hill territory (Dakota), and they tend to slightly fiddle with some details to make the story work. Includes some notable historical US figures, Wild Bill Hickock, Calamity Jane, Seth Bullock, George Hearst, the Pinkertons, even Wyatt Earp showed up in an episode.

That's not even the good part, the writing/dialogue for the show tends to be heavily Shakespearean, with a tendency to play with phrases, but includes within it copious amounts of "foul" language. You even see other elements of Shakespearean style including soliloquies, a slow dissent into madness, talking to a "skull". The show is just brilliant.

Cloudy with a chance of meatballs... The Princess and The Frog

Are these ones worth a watch? After watching How to Train Your Dragon, I was thinking alright these new animation movies aren't so bad. Then I watched Tangled and immediately regressed.

[megabyteme]

Upgrade it to my highest recommendation. I'll even stop asking Idoleyes to watch Louie to use as credits towards recommending this show to you. There is one caveat, show kind of stop being produced at conclusion of third season, there were some issues with actor contracts and they were going to wrap it up with a movie once they realized they couldn't do season 4. It's mostly based on the history of the Black Hill territory (Dakota), and they tend to slightly fiddle with some details to make the story work. Includes some notable historical US figures, Wild Bill Hickock, Calamity Jane, Seth Bullock, George Hearst, the Pinkertons, even Wyatt Earp showed up in an episode.

That's not even the good part, the writing/dialogue for the show tends to be heavily Shakespearean, with a tendency to play with phrases, but includes within it copious amounts of "foul" language. You even see other elements of Shakespearean style including soliloquies, a slow dissent into madness, talking to a "skull". The show is just brilliant.

I'll be up most of the night anyway. Why not?