What was the last movie you've seen?

[Mozgus]

You know, I really liked No Country For Old Men, but not because of the plot(though I do enjoy a good hitman film). I've noticed lately that I pay a lot of attention to cinematography-the chosen camera angles, the lighting, how different shots are composed, even ones that only last a few frames.

I feel like I pay attention to those things as well, but I just didn't see anything unique about the way NCFOM handled them. I don't know.

[dsheinem]

For example, me, my parents, my grandparents, my landlords, a couple friends, and a roommate have all seen No Country for Old Men. Every single one of us hated that piece of shit. We just found it to be dumb and dull. It didn't fly over our heads. It just didn't have a point. And wasn't lacking any suspense or drama. It was lacking the means to make us care about the suspense and drama. Movies like this just piss me off.

But something like Wolverine has great effects, score, acting, emotion, a few good laughs, and brutal action, and that's why I can leave at the end very pleased. Fuck the reviews.

Both film and game critics just aren't qualified to do what they do. Simple as that.

I couldn't disagree with this more. No Country For Old Men is arguably the best film by two of the best directors of our time, and anyone with an appreciation for film as an art medium (for doing more than just showcasing special effects) would have to see that. Just about everyone I know loved the film - and it's overall critical and commercial success means that the opinions you and your family, friends, etc. have developed are almost certainly in the minority of those who have seen the film.

I'm guessing you usually hate most of the Oscars choices as well.

Anyway, comparing No Country to any of the X-Men films is like comparing Opera to Pop Music or novels to comics. Even if they can be found in the same medium, it doesn't mean that they are really comparable texts. I've liked all the X-Men films as well - and thought that the new Wolverine was great, critics be damned. Like Ack said, they are great popcorn flicks.

But of course critics are qualified to offer their opinions on films or games. They are (usually) students of the histories, technical processes, genres, and so on for what they review, and (most) are paid for being able to consistently draw on that knowledge to write detailed, useful, and interesting reviews for audiences. But I certainly wouldn't rely on Metacritic to tell me if the newest Saw film is any good. The beauty of the web is that I can go to specialized websites (e.g. AICN) to get reviews tailored for specific kinds of films if I so wish.

[onemanfilmcrew]

Yeah, I saw Wolverine. That's two hours of my life that I'll never get back.

It always amazes me that a studio will pay millions of dollars to license a property that is has a well established mythology and a very loyal fan base then proceed to change the fundamental underpinnings of that mythology, thereby pissing off the legions of fans they just paid millions of dollars for the right to make a movie for.

Seriously, this is like buying the NBA then outlawing dunking, taking the three point shot away, and saying the only type of shot that is allowed is a set granny shot.

Sadly the producers of the Wolverine film will say "but yeah, we made $150 million on this film, so we must have done something right", yet miss the bigger picture. If they had made a quality film that catered to the rabidly loyal fan base that exists, they could have had a Batman type hit and made 2 or 3 times the amount they made.

[Pulsar_t]

The only Oscar awards I pay attention to are in the foreign film category, but I found No Country For Old Men to be simply brilliant.. unlike, say, Babel or many other Oscar committee choices.

[Ack]

I don't watch all the award winners every year, but I have seen a few. I just like watching movies, so of course I've seen some. I just don't pay attention to the actual award ceremony(haven't since Billy Crystal hosted back in the late 90s, when Titanic won a bunch of awards).

Don't watch them because they won an award, watch them because you're interested in seeing them. It's as easy as that.

[Mozgus]

Well it's fun to be told that me and everyone I know are just too inept to appreciate the "good" stuff.

Yeah, I saw Wolverine. That's two hours of my life that I'll never get back.

It always amazes me that a studio will pay millions of dollars to license a property that is has a well established mythology and a very loyal fan base then proceed to change the fundamental underpinnings of that mythology, thereby pissing off the legions of fans they just paid millions of dollars for the right to make a movie for.

Seriously, this is like buying the NBA then outlawing dunking, taking the three point shot away, and saying the only type of shot that is allowed is a set granny shot.

Sadly the producers of the Wolverine film will say "but yeah, we made $150 million on this film, so we must have done something right", yet miss the bigger picture. If they had made a quality film that catered to the rabidly loyal fan base that exists, they could have had a Batman type hit and made 2 or 3 times the amount they made.

The X-Men movies make no more changes to the comic stories than the Batman movies did. Your argument is invalid.

Dark Knight is a great example of how the death of an actor is all it takes to make these worthless critics realize a comic book movie is good. It's proof that the movies aren't the only things being judged, but also the names attached to them. And that's all it was; good. Dark Knight wasn't amazing. It was good, just like the X-Men, Spiderman, Batman Begins were just GOOD.

All I can do is recognize what I enjoy and what I don't. My only proven effective strategy in movie selection goes like this: Avoid the critically acclaimed movies, as they're almost always crap. Seek out the mediocre scored movies that my gut tells me I will like. About 90% of the time, my gut has been right.

[johnnydoyle123]

i just watched wolverine and yes the film is as bad as the game

and i re-watched the mist on blu-ray ( that film is stone cold mad )


john

[jfrost]

Just watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Really fun movie. I've been in the mood to watch comedies for a while.

It doesn't help that the last non-comedy movie I watched was Watchmen. The political crap annoyed me so much it I think it turned me off from watching any film that requires some thinking.

[vejita]

Watched Glen or Glenda by Ed Wood...

okay, so some say he's the worst Hollywood director ever but I've seen SciFi originals with worse script, plot, design, and acting. (I'm not ever going to spell SciFi the 'new' way, sry)

[Dakinggamer87]

X-Men Origins: Wolverine last week..