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2017 Movies

The Disaster Artist: Overall a passable film with an incredible performance from James Franco.

If you've read the book, there's not much point in watching the film except for a steralised, streamlined version of it.

In order to fit a traditional movie plot, they had to change a lot from the book. As I first feared, they massively toned down the weirdness of the book. In order to make Tommy into a sympathetic character, one people won't mind seeing James Franco bring on Jimmy Kimmel.

Whilst book Tommy was sympathetic, there were scenes in it that REALLY challenged your perceptions on him as a person.

There are two scenes in particular, one was a payoff to the roof set, where Tommy reveals he owns a massive building with a huge roof. Another involves Tommy sincerely attempting to kill both Greg and himself.

They also removed a couple lines from the book that were utterly hysterical.

The intro and the ending were both utter trite, not something I expected from a major release.

There are clips of people laughing (either at Tommy or at The Room) which are just fake as all hell. Not only is it clearly directed, the magnitude of the laughter far surpasses what is being shown on screen.

If it weren't for James'' performance, I'm not sure I could call this film worth seeing. Go into it knowing you're seeing little more than a performance piece and you'll be fine. I was expecting This is the End mixed with Spring Breakers and I was very disappointed.
 
I'm only halfway through the book but I enjoyed every minute of The Disaster Artist.  Shrug.
 
I haven't read the book, but was disappointed that some of the more notorious anecdotes that I'm aware of (the doggie scene and so on) didn't make it into the film.  I hope there's a good selection of deleted scenes on the Blu-Ray.  Either way, as a movie that kinda-sorta tells a partially-true story about one of my favorite bad movies, it's a ton of fun.  I cracked up regularly.  Franco's acting is phenomenal.  He just became Wiseau.  The tics, the body language, the accent - it was eerie.  Jim Carrey as Andy Kaufman levels of accuracy, as far as I'm concerned.
 
matrixgrindhouse said:
I haven't read the book, but was disappointed that some of the more notorious anecdotes that I'm aware of (the doggie scene and so on) didn't make it into the film.
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The best part of the whole movie was after the end, when they showed the split screen of the real movie footage versus the remade versions of those scenes.  I would so love to watch the whole movie that way.  And the doggie scene was included!
 
TVs Frink said:
matrixgrindhouse said:
I haven't read the book, but was disappointed that some of the more notorious anecdotes that I'm aware of (the doggie scene and so on) didn't make it into the film.
Click to expand...

The best part of the whole movie was after the end, when they showed the split screen of the real movie footage versus the remade versions of those scenes.  I would so love to watch the whole movie that way.  And the doggie scene was included!
Click to expand...

I meant the story behind the doggie scene.

It's my understanding that Wiseau was on both Nyquil and Red Bull simultaneously, kept repeating "I think I'm losing my mind." between takes... and only noticed the dog after multiple takes, asking, "Is it real thing?".

That said, I heard Franco shot about half an hour of The Room footage.  A split-screen fan edit short is destined to occur.  Me, I'd do a full cut of The Room with the Franco recreations spliced in wherever possible.  But yeah, that stuff was fun.  Most of it was spot-on, or differed only in the timing of line delivery.
 
I feel like Zamros was expecting a documentary rather than a Hollywood movie for some reason.
 
TVs Frink said:
I feel like Zamros was expecting a documentary rather than a Hollywood movie for some reason.
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Naw, as I said, I was expecting This is the End mixed with Spring Breakers. A really dark, really weird comedy. I got a typical hollywood storyline that featured references I understood. It was funny, yeah. But I was expecting something special. This didn't feel unique. I feel like under a different director (RLM suggested David Fincher, I'd personally love to see Adam Mckay. They even had Judd Apatow in the movie, even he'd have been a better choice) this would have been great, instead of just pretty good.

Either I set my expectations too high, or my mood at the time coloured my opinion of it.

I agree, by the way, about the exclusion of the dog scene. That was one of the most hilarious parts in the book, and I'm not sure why they didn't include it.

There's another part where (I think) Lisa's actress admits to Greg, that she thought he was the director, not Tommy

There were loads of omissions, a lot of which were made for time or plot conveniences. But some completely change the audience's perception of not only a character, but a real person. Others completely change the motivations of not only characters, but real people.

I think it's important to treat those important omissions as what they are: historical whitewashing.
When you're adapting things that really happened, it's important to be as true to the events as possible.

You can't portray Tommy Wiseau as the monster he is (As sympathetic as he may be), and trot him out on chat chows as some goofy guy. So they had to give him a "reason" for his actions. Whereas his behaviour has always been gross and immoral, any "reason" just exacerbated those traits. Tommy Wiseau should not have been happy with Franco's portrayal of him, but

The film could have been great, if it really viewed Tommy through a critical lens. Sadly, Franco sees himself in Wiseau. So he cannot.

EDIT: I'll have to listen to that nerdist podcast at some point.
 
If Apatow directed this movie it would have been 4 hours long... I don't care to see another of his films again.
 
Zamros said:
I think it's important to treat those important omissions as what they are: historical whitewashing.
When you're adapting things that really happened, it's important to be as true to the events as possible.
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I think you're taking this movie waaaaaaaaaaaay too seriously.
 
TVs Frink said:
Zamros said:
I think it's important to treat those important omissions as what they are: historical whitewashing.
When you're adapting things that really happened, it's important to be as true to the events as possible.
Click to expand...

I think you're taking this movie waaaaaaaaaaaay too seriously.
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The movie tore me apaaaaaaaaart Frink.
 
I watched 'The Disaster Artist' last night.

It definitely suffers from the frequent biopic problem, where things feel overly streamlined, simplified and convenient. I don't know enough about the real people to say for sure but it just felt that way at points to me. I still really enjoyed it and laughed a lot. The way the movie preceding the on-set stuff constantly visually reflected The Room was clever and threw things into sharp relief.  So we could compare a well written, well acted scene on a rooftop with one that is a disaster. Or compare two scenes of guys awkwardly throwing a ball in a park, with similar scenes that are terrible
 
Maybe a little premature as I haven't seen The Last Jedi, Blade Runner and Disaster Artist yet but can't resist putting my top ten for the year together now being a habitual list maker.

10. Kong Skull Island
09. Colossal
08. Brawl In Cell Block 99
07. John Wick 2
06. Okja
05. Dunkirk
04. Baby Driver
03. Hacksaw Ridge (Jan release in UK)
02. Get Out
01. War for the Planet of Apes
 
My wife and I went to see The Shape of Water last night, and it was wonderful. Really great.


I saw hardly any new movies in 2017, so here is my pathetic list. (favorites; in descending order):

  1. The Shape of Water
  2. Logan
  3. Blade Runner
  4. The Last Jedi
  5. Get Out

I'm hoping to squeeze a couple more in over the holidays
 
Super Dark Times

Not a bad little pot boiler in the vein of Stand By Me, had a great mood to it and some pretty good performances. Credibility stretched a bit in the final act but well worth checking out. Kevin Phillips directorial debut I can certainly see this guy going places in the future.
 
I guess we'll be needing a 2018 Movies thread now, huh?
 
Mudbound

The struggles of two poor sharecropper families, one white, one black in 40s Mississippi. It would have been more interesting if the film had more nuance. The black family were all perfect, kind, considerate, wise, stoic and selfless people, while the white family were (almost all) deeply flawed, mean, selfish, incompetent, whiny and ungrateful people. If the useless white family were simply the antagonists, then fine but they are presented as 50/50 protagonists. So for 50% of the movie you care and for 50% you don't. If you don't like expository voice-overs then look away because this film had them to excess.

The first hour is a slog but the second hour when the two families "prodigal sons" return from war and bond over their experiences was fantastic. I'm sure there is a superior fanedit that centers on these two and eliminates everything else not required to tell their story.

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^ Jason Mitchell from the NWA movie is the standout (predictably). Mary J. Blige (didn't even know it was her) is also terrific.
 
The missus and I just signed up for MoviePass, so I'm hoping to squeeze a few more 2017 releases in before they run out. We just went to see Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle tonight and both thought it was great fun. I love the original, and this was a fun modern update on the story. All the leads were fantastic. I'll definitely grab the Blu-ray when it's out.
 
Colossal (2017) - currently on Hulu

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The San Francisco Chronicle's Mick Lasalle: "Colossal is a high-wire act, and throughout you may wonder how the movie will make it to the end without slipping and falling. Suffice it to say, it does. It doesn’t ascend to the sky. It’s not profound or great. But Vigalondo takes Colossal to all sorts of unexpected places and then brings it home, intact." Agreed. There's a plot swerve midway through that must have divided audiences, and had me wondering, but it sticks the landing, and now I'm wondering why I haven't been a bigger Anne Hathaway fan all this while. Have her movies been lame, or was this an oversight on my part? *wikisurfs* Hm, looks like mostly the former. Unfortunate.

B
 
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