SMBC Comics Forum

So I've been watching a lot of documentaries lately because for some reason they didn't put me to sleep like films/tv shows did.

Wordplay - A documentary about the New York Times crossword puzzle, the people who make them and the people who compete in New York every year to see who can do them the fastest. There was one guy who did the entire thing in 2:02 in front of the camera. Overall I'd say it was well done. Certainly it was an interesting look at a subculture I've never given much thought to.

This Film is not yet Rated - Basically everything that's wrong with the MPAA rating system. As a general rule I try to avoid documentaries that are meant to inform, especially political ones, but I'd heard good things about this, and besides, they interview John Waters. It didn't tell me anything I didn't already know about the MPAA (except maybe who the raters are) so mostly I just found it depressing. Especially when you consider how long ago it was made and how still nothing's changed.

I am Comic - A behind the scenes look at the world of stand up comics. I thought it was interesting and a few comics I really like were interviewed like Phyllis Diller and Janeane Garofalo.

Disney's The Sweatbox - When Disney started work on The Emperor's New Groove (then titled Kingdom of the Sun) Trudie Styler got the rights to do a documentary on the making of it. Production was a bit rocky however, and Disney decided not to give it a proper release. Someone leaked it and put it up on Youtube on Tuesday, however, so I got to finally see it that way. I'd recommend it for anyone who's interested in animation and/or Disney. It shows off a lot of the process and Andreas Deja is interviewed, which I got really excited about.

I would like to say though, a lot of people after watching this are horribly offended by how Disney treated their creative team, but there was nothing going on there that wasn't pretty typical of large animation studios. Things end up getting completely reworked all the time because higher ups had issues with it, or because of how things tested. Just because Disney chose not to release it doesn't mean there's all sorts of shocking secrets revealed here.

Anyways, the youtube video has since been taken down, but I've heard there's a torrent of it now that you can download if you're interested.

Act of God - A documentary about people who've been struck by lightning. An interesting premise but poorly executed. The interviews were mostly really vague and they had a segment that they kept returning to throughout the film with a guy getting a brain scan and playing a guitar that I couldn't even figure out what it was about. Let alone understand how it fit in with the rest of the doc.

Secrets of Mary Magdalene - I was a bit disappointed. I was hoping for one of those conspiracy religious documentaries that tried to convince you that Mary Magdalene was secretly Jesus' wife and that their descendants were living in France or something like that, but it turned out to be on how Mary Magdalene is viewed today, how she was treated by history, a look at the early documents about her and the early feuds between her cult and the apostle Peter's. It was still enjoyable though, and it's always fun looking at feminist interpretations of Christianity.

smiley_cow wrote: Act of God - A documentary about people who've been struck by lightning. An interesting premise but poorly executed. The interviews were mostly really vague and they had a segment that they kept returning to throughout the film with a guy getting a brain scan and playing a guitar that I couldn't even figure out what it was about. Let alone understand how it fit in with the rest of the doc.

I've seen that footage, or at least I've seen a guy getting brain surgery while playing guitar. It was to make sure they weren't making mistakes, they were keeping the brain active.

I think this was different because all they were doing here was scanning his brain and showing how it reacted to him playing the guitar. It was kind of interesting, but I wasn't really sure what it had to do with people being struck by lightning.

Had he been struck by lightning?

That, Detective, is the right question.

I don't think so. Unless they mentioned it later and I just missed it.

Dane Raider wrote:That, Detective, is the right question.

That's like something Ra's Al Ghul would say to Batman.

The Muppets (2011)
I pretty much had a dopey smiley on my face for the whole movie, the exception to the rule was that huge amount of time I was laughing my ass off. I would give this movie a 4.5, and the only reason it doesn't get 5? Because I'm a scrooge.

Sprinkles wrote:

Dane Raider wrote:That, Detective, is the right question.

That's like something Ra's Al Ghul would say to Batman.

As long as you're pronouncing that as Raysh we've got no beef.

Dane Raider wrote:That, Detective, is the right question.

I bloody love Babe: Pig in the City

The Hunger Games
This was a good movie. I expected this to be tripe crap, and it wasn't. There were some lovey-dovey bits in it that dragged, however they were plot pertinent. I recommend this movie to anyone who likes young adult stories; the running man; female heroins; archery; sci-fi/fantasy; and lots of other things.

Kimra wrote:The Hunger Games
This was a good movie. I expected this to be tripe crap, and it wasn't. There were some lovey-dovey bits in it that dragged, however they were plot pertinent. I recommend this movie to anyone who likes young adult stories; the running man; female heroins; archery; sci-fi/fantasy; and lots of other things.

There was a lot of it that dragged. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it. I did. But there were just quite a few times where the reaction/response was a half-note where it should've been a quarter-note.

I actually haven't read the books, either.

Today I watched The King of Comedy, a Martin Scorsese Picture. I enjoyed it and think it is probably his second-best after Taxi-Driver.

On, The Hunger Games, I have been thinking about going to see it, but I don't know if I care enough. I probably don't. I'll wait for The Dark Knight Rises to go see another film.

Kimra wrote:The Hunger Games
This was a good movie. I expected this to be tripe crap, and it wasn't. There were some lovey-dovey bits in it that dragged, however they were plot pertinent. I recommend this movie to anyone who likes young adult stories; the running man; female heroins; archery; sci-fi/fantasy; and lots of other things.

What makes this a young-adult book/movie, exactly?
Blood sports don't really seem like typical young adult fare.

Lethal Interjection wrote:There was a lot of it that dragged. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it. I did. But there were just quite a few times where the reaction/response was a half-note where it should've been a quarter-note.

I actually haven't read the books, either.

I haven't read the books either, that might have made me dislike it a bit, because I tend to love books a lot. I didn't notice the drag, except in the lovey dovey scenes. But that's just difference of opinion isn't it?

Strangely I look up the director and he's directed a grand total of three films; seabiscuit, pleasentville, and the hunger games. He is clearly a strange strange man. Also worth noting is he wrote the screenplay for all of them. He also wrote the screenplay for Big and Dave. I do not know what to make of him at all with that knowledge.

But yeah, I liked the movie, it is long. I can see why some people might find it dragged. I'm not one of those people, I wish it had been longer. Hint: don't watch Hugo that thing drags so much more.


Oldrac: I'm surprised that in America it has a PG rating. It's M here, which means mature. This, to me, shows that as long as you don't say 'fuck' in a movie America believes it's completely fine.
I don't think it is a kids movie. I think it's an adult (late teen) movie with young people as the focus. This is a thing I've been discussing a lot recently with some people. What is the difference between a kids book and a book for adults. It can not be based on who the main characters are, because you can have a child as the main character and horrible things happen, or just have it written for an older audience. I was going through the kids books at the book store the other day and a lot of the classics it has classified as kids books... well if nothing else most kids couldn't understand them now days. Plus, you know, horrible things happen in stark reality (why do you fail to give me an example brain? that is just... useless).