Movies - What makes a good one?

[Melbosa]

"Visible Laserbeams" is especially interesting -- and SURPRISING! I never thought about the fact that a laser would not be visible from the "side"... even with "special glasses" +_+

But... but... what about the sharks?  Can you see them from the side? 


Sometimes taking the sci-fi to reality can ruin the whole premise.  I mean, anyone who has ever said to me, "How can you like transformers, it is so unrealistic", I reply, "Um yeah, duh!  You know Robot Races don't exist don't you?"

[Darren Dirt]

I also give that "intuitor" website one charred thumb way up for some of their movie reviews

[Darren Dirt]

I only ask these of a movie:

Entertain me and / or make me think

and / or present a character that I can "relate" to... even if he/she is uber-evil, at least let the humanity/motivation be clear enough that I'm "there" with them (or with the Good Guys) in some real way.

After all, that's why we pick up a book or install a video game, right?

Y'know there are plenty of great movies with characters that I did not relate to at all (Scarface, The Deer Hunter, etc).

I finally watched Scarface -- I found it good not great. Lotsa folks compare it favorably to either of the first 2 Godfather movies and I think that's ridic -- INEC. In Scarface it was either badly edited or badly written, either way it doesn't even touch TGF or TGFP2 in the way those films actually depicted the changing character during the rise of a powerful figure, event-by-event.


But on that subject of Scarface -- WOW, real life home of a Mexican drug lord >>> any fictional depiction you could imagine!
http://www.epicdash.com/mexican-drug-lords-home-raided-even-incredible-horrifying-ever-imagined/ (photos)

[Mr. Analog]

Comparing Scarface to The Godfather was probably the worst suggestion I've heard (no offense to whoever suggested it), to go into Scarface you need to be in the 80s zone first and be ready for an action movie (but be surprised with how sometimes you can actually SIDE with this obviously crazy person), The Godfather is like ... the exact opposite from that (if you ARE looking for a Godfather-like experience check out Once Upon A Time in America, slow, but worthy)

Either way you can't compare the two movies, IMO Scarface is all about watching somebody chase an impossible dream and burn up while doing it. Fascinating in its brutality and sad in its abrupt ending ("more" will never be enough, kinda like The Wolf of Wall Street)

[Darren Dirt]

Comparing Scarface to The Godfather was probably the worst suggestion I've heard (no offense to whoever suggested it), to go into Scarface you need to be in the 80s zone first and be ready for an action movie (but be surprised with how sometimes you can actually SIDE with this obviously crazy person), The Godfather is like ... the exact opposite from that (if you ARE looking for a Godfather-like experience check out Once Upon A Time in America, slow, but worthy)

Either way you can't compare the two movies, IMO Scarface is all about watching somebody chase an impossible dream and burn up while doing it. Fascinating in its brutality and sad in its abrupt ending ("more" will never be enough, kinda like The Wolf of Wall Street)

I despised Mr. Montana and Mr. Belfort, yet I really enjoyed the ride in Wolfie. And not just because it was more modern in its production value and pacing etc. but because it told a story in a way that was... idk... better. Scarface was like a handful of freeze-frame moments in some guy's rise to ultimate power then he does himself in just before being actually killed by the competition. Wolfie portrayed the development of a character from protege to mentor to full blown degenerate... actually in a way so did The Godfather I guess (although there I felt less disgust at the character until he really went to a cold (and paranoid) extreme and was barely recognizable vs his earlier self.)

idk in Scarface I was just hoping more of a character study with lots of bullets flying. Instead I kept getting introduced to characters like Michelle Pfeiffer or various drug-industry figures, who quickly revealed themselves to be flat and not that important to the overall story. Maybe their involvement was too subtle compared to other films, but so many of them seemed unnecessary, replaceable, not standing out in any real way. I mean, you can "care" about the experience and eventual fate of a character even if you HATE them as a human -- in Scarface I found that pretty much absent I guess.

[Mr. Analog]

Nostalgia is a big part of the film I guess

Like people who've never seen Star Wars it's kind of a let down I guess

[Thorin]

But on that subject of Scarface -- WOW, real life home of a Mexican drug lord >>> any fictional depiction you could imagine!
http://www.epicdash.com/mexican-drug-lords-home-raided-even-incredible-horrifying-ever-imagined/ (photos)

That stack of money...  Wow.  That's bigger than my king-size bed.  I'd need four to six pick-up trucks to haul that around.  $22bill - I hope the Mexican government keeps it and uses it to pay their anti-corruption squads.

[Mr. Analog]

But on that subject of Scarface -- WOW, real life home of a Mexican drug lord >>> any fictional depiction you could imagine!
http://www.epicdash.com/mexican-drug-lords-home-raided-even-incredible-horrifying-ever-imagined/ (photos)

That stack of money...  Wow.  That's bigger than my king-size bed.  I'd need four to six pick-up trucks to haul that around.  $22bill - I hope the Mexican government keeps it and uses it to pay their anti-corruption squads.

I gotta do it man!

https://youtu.be/u5BMl5lZeFg

[Darren Dirt]

But on that subject of Scarface -- WOW, real life home of a Mexican drug lord >>> any fictional depiction you could imagine!
http://www.epicdash.com/mexican-drug-lords-home-raided-even-incredible-horrifying-ever-imagined/ (photos)

That stack of money...  Wow.  That's bigger than my king-size bed.  I'd need four to six pick-up trucks to haul that around.  $22bill - I hope the Mexican government keeps it and uses it to pay their anti-corruption squads.

I gotta do it man!

https://youtu.be/u5BMl5lZeFg

My brain, your typing fingers! #SamePage *

Huell and Kuby, what a comedy duo  (all's I'm sayin')




* longer version (includes a bit more of a spoiler ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HrmD_vIMIk