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Post by Rey Kahuka on Aug 28, 2024 15:21:00 GMT
Forgot to mention, I saw this trailer the other night and I'm all in.
This looks like a throwback type of actioner, I wish Hollywood would make more actioners like this on a regular basis.
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Post by masterofallgoons on Aug 28, 2024 17:47:28 GMT
Forgot to mention, I saw this trailer the other night and I'm all in. This looks like a throwback type of actioner, I wish Hollywood would make more actioners like this on a regular basis. I think it lppks fun, but I feel like they make this type of action movie constantly these days.
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Post by Rey Kahuka on Aug 28, 2024 18:00:04 GMT
Forgot to mention, I saw this trailer the other night and I'm all in. This looks like a throwback type of actioner, I wish Hollywood would make more actioners like this on a regular basis. I think it lppks fun, but I feel like they make this type of action movie constantly these days. I feel like most action movies now are more comedy than action. This is obviously having fun with the concept, but the comedy comes from the action, not the other way around. Maybe it helps that it's a legit meathead action star as the protagonist, it really makes it feel like an Arnold movie. Either way, can we all agree that Bautista has the best IMDb of any retired wrestler?
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Post by masterofallgoons on Aug 30, 2024 11:58:14 GMT
I think it lppks fun, but I feel like they make this type of action movie constantly these days. I feel like most action movies now are more comedy than action. This is obviously having fun with the concept, but the comedy comes from the action, not the other way around. Maybe it helps that it's a legit meathead action star as the protagonist, it really makes it feel like an Arnold movie. Either way, can we all agree that Bautista has the best IMDb of any retired wrestler? I feel like since John Wick there have been a million of these fun but tonally semi serious action movies. Most recently there were the ones with Dev Patel, Jessica Alba, Jason Statham, Orlando Bloom, etc. that all seem to fit the bill... or at least were advertised that way. Bautista does have the old fashioned action movie look though (at least he did... he seems to be rapidly losing weight now). So it's interesting that, yes indeed he does have the best filmography of any wrestler. He seems to be genuinely interested in picking different kinds of films and working with interesting directors. He has kind of a weird look so he's settled into 'character actor' roles and he's gone out of his way to have a diverse list of projects. You don't see John Cena or Dwayne Johnson doing voices for US releases of studio Ghibli films or making small independent drama/thrillers between their big blockbusters.
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Post by Rey Kahuka on Aug 30, 2024 12:22:15 GMT
I feel like most action movies now are more comedy than action. This is obviously having fun with the concept, but the comedy comes from the action, not the other way around. Maybe it helps that it's a legit meathead action star as the protagonist, it really makes it feel like an Arnold movie. Either way, can we all agree that Bautista has the best IMDb of any retired wrestler? I feel like since John Wick there have been a million of these fun but tonally semi serious action movies. Most recently there were the ones with Dev Patel, Jessica Alba, Jason Statham, Orlando Bloom, etc. that all seem to fit the bill... or at least were advertised that way. Bautista does have the old fashioned action movie look though (at least he did... he seems to be rapidly losing weight now). So it's interesting that, yes indeed he does have the best filmography of any wrestler. He seems to be genuinely interested in picking different kinds of films and working with interesting directors. He has kind of a weird look so he's settled into 'character actor' roles and he's gone out of his way to have a diverse list of projects. You don't see John Cena or Dwayne Johnson doing voices for US releases of studio Ghibli films or making small independent drama/thrillers between their big blockbusters. Yeah Dave Bautista definitely seems to put effort into his choices. Cena and Johnson seem likeable as screen presences, but I've never liked a movie starring either of them. I haven't loved everything Bautista has ever done, but at least he's trying to mix things up and build an actual career-- and his action movies are still better than those other guys who can only do one kind of role. I'm not familiar with the Orlando Bloom or Jessica Alba action movies. I didn't even know Alba was still acting. If these are straight to VOD or a streaming service, that's kind of my point. They should open wide, they're exactly the kind of trash I would watch in the theater on a weekly basis. Give me nine Gerard Butler movies a year. Every time I see a movie, I see 17 identical horror trailers (and that's fine, the action trailers would be mostly identical, but action is my flavor of mindless fun), two trailers for blockbusters coming out in 9 months, and a couple of random trailers for movies that could be titled, "A Quiet Film About Nothing." Give me some action flicks in the theater, baby!
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Post by sdm3 on Aug 30, 2024 12:23:17 GMT
I’m on my way to see “AfrAId” with my wife.
Dreading it already.
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Post by Rey Kahuka on Aug 30, 2024 12:28:43 GMT
I’m on my way to see “AfrAId” with my wife. Dreading it already. It looks really bad. I think the entire movie was written on a napkin over lunch. Not the premise, the entire script. The trailer doesn't even have any satirical humor you would expect with that concept. The good news is the runtime is 1h 25m, the bad news is I bet it feels like 3.
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Post by sdm3 on Aug 30, 2024 12:31:05 GMT
I’m on my way to see “AfrAId” with my wife. Dreading it already. It looks really bad. I think the entire movie was written on a napkin over lunch. Not the premise, the entire script. The trailer doesn't even have any satirical humor you would expect with that concept. The good news is the runtime is 1h 25m, the bad news is I bet it feels like 3. To be honest I was halfway out as soon as I saw the title.
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Post by masterofallgoons on Aug 30, 2024 14:00:41 GMT
I’m on my way to see “AfrAId” with my wife. Dreading it already. Haha, yeah that looks terrible. Like another Blumhouse movie that everyone forgets exists a few weeks later. And it lazily rips a topic from the headlines without any understanding or perspective like a Law and Order episode.
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Post by masterofallgoons on Aug 30, 2024 14:16:04 GMT
I feel like since John Wick there have been a million of these fun but tonally semi serious action movies. Most recently there were the ones with Dev Patel, Jessica Alba, Jason Statham, Orlando Bloom, etc. that all seem to fit the bill... or at least were advertised that way. Bautista does have the old fashioned action movie look though (at least he did... he seems to be rapidly losing weight now). So it's interesting that, yes indeed he does have the best filmography of any wrestler. He seems to be genuinely interested in picking different kinds of films and working with interesting directors. He has kind of a weird look so he's settled into 'character actor' roles and he's gone out of his way to have a diverse list of projects. You don't see John Cena or Dwayne Johnson doing voices for US releases of studio Ghibli films or making small independent drama/thrillers between their big blockbusters. Yeah Dave Bautista definitely seems to put effort into his choices. Cena and Johnson seem likeable as screen presences, but I've never liked a movie starring either of them. I haven't loved everything Bautista has ever done, but at least he's trying to mix things up and build an actual career-- and his action movies are still better than those other guys who can only do one kind of role. I'm not familiar with the Orlando Bloom or Jessica Alba action movies. I didn't even know Alba was still acting. If these are straight to VOD or a streaming service, that's kind of my point. They should open wide, they're exactly the kind of trash I would watch in the theater on a weekly basis. Give me nine Gerard Butler movies a year. Every time I see a movie, I see 17 identical horror trailers (and that's fine, the action trailers would be mostly identical, but action is my flavor of mindless fun), two trailers for blockbusters coming out in 9 months, and a couple of random trailers for movies that could be titled, "A Quiet Film About Nothing." Give me some action flicks in the theater, baby! Well, John Cena took an interesting path in that after the action movies didn't really work he pivoted to taking on supporting comedy roles, which was a smart move that worked and lead to some decent movies. And the Rock sorta tried to do that with movies we all forgot about (remember that Get Shorty sequel? No?). But he also scored a mega success with Moana, which is legitimately great and a different showcase for his talent and personality... and has now lead to a sequel. But neither of those guys has made weird little indiepent dramas, and Bautitista really seems committed to being an actor and not just a movie star which is not true for any other former pro wrestler. As for those action movies, there's just not that same delineation between streaming and theatrical as there used to be. The Jessica Alba movie was her 'big' comeback, but it was a direct to Netflix movie. But is that any lower than the Dev Patel one? It made a few dollars at the box office, but was quickly shuffled off to Peacock where it got way more eyeballs on it. When Chris Hemsworth scores a big hit with his Extraction movies but his turn in Furiosa flounders, which is considered a bigger mainstream success? These kinds of mid budget genre movies live on both streaming and theatrical now, and one really isn't better than the other these days. ...and really just as a general point, those were just a few examples, but I kinda feel like we're inundated with action movies now. I think you could pull way more examples than that. This new Bautista thing looks fun enough, but it looks like every other trailer I've seen for the last 7 years or so.
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Post by klawrencio79 on Aug 30, 2024 14:17:37 GMT
I’m on my way to see “AfrAId” with my wife. Dreading it already. Haha, yeah that looks terrible. Like another Blumhouse movie that everyone forgets exists a few weeks later. And it lazily rips a topic from the headlines without any understanding or perspective like a Law and Order episode. Is this the horror movie about AI? Yeah, this looks really bad. But it's funny when these movies come out that try to play on our fears, but it does so too late. Like Feardotcom. Amusing little mistake that movie made is that the website in the movie was actually Feardotcom.com, rather than just Fear.com. That always made me chuckle. That movie also sucks, by the way.
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Post by masterofallgoons on Aug 30, 2024 14:27:45 GMT
Haha, yeah that looks terrible. Like another Blumhouse movie that everyone forgets exists a few weeks later. And it lazily rips a topic from the headlines without any understanding or perspective like a Law and Order episode. Is this the horror movie about AI? Yeah, this looks really bad. But it's funny when these movies come out that try to play on our fears, but it does so too late. Like Feardotcom. Amusing little mistake that movie made is that the website in the movie was actually Feardotcom.com, rather than just Fear.com. That always made me chuckle. That movie also sucks, by the way. Man, haven't seen that one in a while but that's the perfect comparison. It was laughably terrible and completely out of touch. Remember that movie The Net with Sandra Bullock? Or all those movies that thought computer screens projected text onto your face? Or how every movie seemed to think that you could 'zoom in and enhance' video footage? There's a really horrible movie with a script written by Dee Snider called Strangeland from the late 90s that was about an evil serial killer torturer type guy who preyed on girls on message boards. It's horrible for a lot of reasons but the understanding of the technology and the 'To Catch a Predator' kind of fears have aged as terribly as everything else about it.
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Post by klawrencio79 on Aug 30, 2024 14:38:36 GMT
Is this the horror movie about AI? Yeah, this looks really bad. But it's funny when these movies come out that try to play on our fears, but it does so too late. Like Feardotcom. Amusing little mistake that movie made is that the website in the movie was actually Feardotcom.com, rather than just Fear.com. That always made me chuckle. That movie also sucks, by the way. Man, haven't seen that one in a while but that's the perfect comparison. It was laughably terrible and completely out of touch. Remember that movie The Net with Sandra Bullock? Or all those movies that thought computer screens projected text onto your face? Or how every movie seemed to think that you could 'zoom in and enhance' video footage? There's a really horrible movie with a script written by Dee Snider called Strangeland from the late 90s that was about an evil serial killer torturer type guy who preyed on girls on message boards. It's horrible for a lot of reasons but the understanding of the technology and the 'To Catch a Predator' kind of fears have aged as terribly as everything else about it. The Net is hilariously dated, but it was even when it came out. The zoom-in-and-enhance cliche is one of my favorites. I don't remember Strangeland at all but when movies are that bad, I find them oddly intriguing. When Battlefield Earth came out I had no interest in it, but when it received nothing but scathing reviews, it was as if I had to see it. Similar to the urge we have to look at car crashes. Since seeing the post above, I started looking at the reviews for AfrAId and color me crazy, but terrible reviews for this movie have piqued my interest moreso than had it come out and received decent-to-good reviews.
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Post by masterofallgoons on Aug 30, 2024 15:04:34 GMT
Man, haven't seen that one in a while but that's the perfect comparison. It was laughably terrible and completely out of touch. Remember that movie The Net with Sandra Bullock? Or all those movies that thought computer screens projected text onto your face? Or how every movie seemed to think that you could 'zoom in and enhance' video footage? There's a really horrible movie with a script written by Dee Snider called Strangeland from the late 90s that was about an evil serial killer torturer type guy who preyed on girls on message boards. It's horrible for a lot of reasons but the understanding of the technology and the 'To Catch a Predator' kind of fears have aged as terribly as everything else about it. The Net is hilariously dated, but it was even when it came out. The zoom-in-and-enhance cliche is one of my favorites. I don't remember Strangeland at all but when movies are that bad, I find them oddly intriguing. When Battlefield Earth came out I had no interest in it, but when it received nothing but scathing reviews, it was as if I had to see it. Similar to the urge we have to look at car crashes. Since seeing the post above, I started looking at the reviews for AfrAId and color me crazy, but terrible reviews for this movie have piqued my interest moreso than had it come out and received decent-to-good reviews. Oh yeah, bad movies are often more entertaining. Strangeland is a really bad low budget horror movie with a cast of minimally famous people embarrassing themselves... none more than Dee Snider who plays the villain he wrote. The odd thing is that there are some horror fans that actual think this thing is good... it is not. But I love a big budget, high profile disaster too. Battlefield Earth, The Mummy with Tom Cruise, Ishtar... hell, I'm even intrigued by Zack Snyder's recent Netflix movies because everyone hates them so much and he's has so many high profile failures. And as previously stated I'm planning on seeing the new The Crow movie that everyone hates and made like 100 bucks at the box office. But that's more out of obligation.
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Post by Rey Kahuka on Aug 30, 2024 16:01:59 GMT
Yeah Dave Bautista definitely seems to put effort into his choices. Cena and Johnson seem likeable as screen presences, but I've never liked a movie starring either of them. I haven't loved everything Bautista has ever done, but at least he's trying to mix things up and build an actual career-- and his action movies are still better than those other guys who can only do one kind of role. I'm not familiar with the Orlando Bloom or Jessica Alba action movies. I didn't even know Alba was still acting. If these are straight to VOD or a streaming service, that's kind of my point. They should open wide, they're exactly the kind of trash I would watch in the theater on a weekly basis. Give me nine Gerard Butler movies a year. Every time I see a movie, I see 17 identical horror trailers (and that's fine, the action trailers would be mostly identical, but action is my flavor of mindless fun), two trailers for blockbusters coming out in 9 months, and a couple of random trailers for movies that could be titled, "A Quiet Film About Nothing." Give me some action flicks in the theater, baby! Well, John Cena took an interesting path in that after the action movies didn't really work he pivoted to taking on supporting comedy roles, which was a smart move that worked and lead to some decent movies. And the Rock sorta tried to do that with movies we all forgot about (remember that Get Shorty sequel? No?). But he also scored a mega success with Moana, which is legitimately great and a different showcase for his talent and personality... and has now lead to a sequel. But neither of those guys has made weird little indiepent dramas, and Bautitista really seems committed to being an actor and not just a movie star which is not true for any other former pro wrestler. As for those action movies, there's just not that same delineation between streaming and theatrical as there used to be. The Jessica Alba movie was her 'big' comeback, but it was a direct to Netflix movie. But is that any lower than the Dev Patel one? It made a few dollars at the box office, but was quickly shuffled off to Peacock where it got way more eyeballs on it. When Chris Hemsworth scores a big hit with his Extraction movies but his turn in Furiosa flounders, which is considered a bigger mainstream success? These kinds of mid budget genre movies live on both streaming and theatrical now, and one really isn't better than the other these days....and really just as a general point, those were just a few examples, but I kinda feel like we're inundated with action movies now. I think you could pull way more examples than that. This new Bautista thing looks fun enough, but it looks like every other trailer I've seen for the last 7 years or so. I prefer to see movies like this in theaters, and I think the very act of being in theaters makes a movie more memorable to audiences in general. I love the Extraction movies and think they should've been released in theaters. Would they have been hits, I don't know. But I do believe they would've been talked about more if they had hit the big screen. If you put the effort to go see a movie, it becomes an event (major or minor) by default. That's a lot different than scrolling through your queue to throw something on in the background as you multitask at home on a Tuesday afternoon. You're probably right about the million action trailers, I guess I just don't see those trailers if they're straight to VOD. Are you talking about Monkey Man with Dev Patel? I enjoyed that one as well, but that's a very different movie than what Killer's Game is going for. Whether he succeeded or not is up to the individual, but I do think there's a bit more soul to that story and he makes a genuine attempt at social commentary. Killer's Game is just a romp.
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Post by masterofallgoons on Aug 30, 2024 16:30:55 GMT
Well, John Cena took an interesting path in that after the action movies didn't really work he pivoted to taking on supporting comedy roles, which was a smart move that worked and lead to some decent movies. And the Rock sorta tried to do that with movies we all forgot about (remember that Get Shorty sequel? No?). But he also scored a mega success with Moana, which is legitimately great and a different showcase for his talent and personality... and has now lead to a sequel. But neither of those guys has made weird little indiepent dramas, and Bautitista really seems committed to being an actor and not just a movie star which is not true for any other former pro wrestler. As for those action movies, there's just not that same delineation between streaming and theatrical as there used to be. The Jessica Alba movie was her 'big' comeback, but it was a direct to Netflix movie. But is that any lower than the Dev Patel one? It made a few dollars at the box office, but was quickly shuffled off to Peacock where it got way more eyeballs on it. When Chris Hemsworth scores a big hit with his Extraction movies but his turn in Furiosa flounders, which is considered a bigger mainstream success? These kinds of mid budget genre movies live on both streaming and theatrical now, and one really isn't better than the other these days....and really just as a general point, those were just a few examples, but I kinda feel like we're inundated with action movies now. I think you could pull way more examples than that. This new Bautista thing looks fun enough, but it looks like every other trailer I've seen for the last 7 years or so. I prefer to see movies like this in theaters, and I think the very act of being in theaters makes a movie more memorable to audiences in general. I love the Extraction movies and think they should've been released in theaters. Would they have been hits, I don't know. But I do believe they would've been talked about more if they had hit the big screen. If you put the effort to go see a movie, it becomes an event (major or minor) by default. That's a lot different than scrolling through your queue to throw something on in the background as you multitask at home on a Tuesday afternoon. You're probably right about the million action trailers, I guess I just don't see those trailers if they're straight to VOD. Are you talking about Monkey Man with Dev Patel? I enjoyed that one as well, but that's a very different movie than what Killer's Game is going for. Whether he succeeded or not is up to the individual, but I do think there's a bit more soul to that story and he makes a genuine attempt at social commentary. Killer's Game is just a romp. Oh yeah, I prefer the theater too, but I'm talking about the relevance and business consensus. These days the industry doesn't value a modest budget genre movie in theaters more than it does on streaming... and presumably that's because general audiences don't either. You and I do, but that doesn't equate to the broader culture of it. I guess we're out of touch. Haven't seen Monkey Man, maybe I will this weekend (on streaming), but it looked a lot like another one of the many intricately choreographed, 'fun' action movie trailers I've seen in the last decade.
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Post by nutsberryfarm 🏜 on Aug 30, 2024 23:14:11 GMT
Jacques Pepin.
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Post by klawrencio79 on Sept 2, 2024 15:42:14 GMT
Frogs would've been all over this one. I'm guessing the classic M. Night Shymy twist is that the killer is the daughter and the dad is a schizophrenic ghost from the future. Saw it and enjoyed it, for what it was. There isn't really a twist, he's just a serial killer trying to escape. I guess the twist is that it's clearly a dark comedy disguised as a psychological thriller. A lot of Shyamalan movies are viewed better as comedies, even though they clearly weren't intended as such, but Trap is deliberately so. In better hands, it would've made a great thriller, but I think Shams wanted to make a demo tape for his daughter (who is very talented, for what it's worth) and kind of spoof himself at the same time. Nobody in the film acts like a human being, all of the dialog feels AI generated, and the actions taken by pretty much everyone in the movie defy all logic. There are a few details that are genuinely nifty, and the movie does occasionally take itself seriously (I think). But a lot of it is dark comedy, and the mid-credits scene makes it clear Shams was just having fun with the idea. He wants you to leave the theater laughing. Anyway, I thought it was a hoot. A buddy of mine also saw it and said it was in the top three worst Shyamalan movies. I disagree. Of course I had low expectations anyway, but I felt like for once the movie knew that it was a farce, which really made all the difference. I largely agree with this, having just watched it Saturday night. The first half is kind of terrific. While you're spot on about the dialogue feeling AI generated (a critique I've seen a few times), the characters that Cooper interacts with almost seem like NPCs in a video game, just waiting for him to arrive so they can dispense valuable information for him. The clearest example of this is merch guy, Jamie I believe. He literally just gives Cooper all of the information that he needs with barely any prompting. And while I'm not a big Shyamalan fan at all, I'll give him credit for largely financing his own projects and sticking with (mostly) original work, which makes him a bit of a dying breed. Hollywood needs more guys like him in this regard. What the first half of Trap does well is create a fairly suspenseful little, contained story and one that interestingly shows the concert only from our protagonist's point of view. We only see the stage and the concert from his vantage point, never getting any closer until he gets closer as the story progresses. And man, Hartnett is killing it here. He's legitimately great at portraying a crazy person wearing a mask of civility and honestly, it makes the entire first hour work.
However, the movie goes completely off the rails for me pretty much right about when M. Night himself shows up. See, the movie spends considerable time setting up a conflict with the daughter's friend, even having two different scenes with the friend's mom (a subplot that is completely abandoned), and the idea of this relentless profiler, played by Haley Mills of all people, which also serves no purpose other than to clumsily set up a scene in the car where Raven tries to bully Cooper into letting her go (which works!). But after that setup, once Cooper phenagles his way backstage, that's where my suspension of disbelief really started to wane. All you hear throughout is how every man is a suspect, don't let anyone through, he's trying to get backstage, NOBODY GETS OUT, and he legit just kind of stands there for 20 minutes without a single person questioning him. Yeah, it's clearly goofy but it crosses the line into absurdity, a line that the movie never really emerges from.
His ability to escape his house through the tunnel, to grab Raven again, to escape the limo, to having all of the cops just let him handle the bicycle for no reason, to Raven herself saving Spencer through fucking instagram! It just gets way too silly and by the end I was more laughing at it then with it. The real kicker though is the ultimate reveal that Cooper's wife is the one who set him up. So her grand plan is to set a trap for her husband, suspected to be a gruesome murderer, backing him into a corner with 20,000 innocent people.....with her daughter in tow. That's her plan. She could have just called the police, just like Raven could have just called the police, and all problems are solved. Yeah, I know, the movie needs to happen, but movies are more than just intriguing premises. M. Night is great at premises, but his follow through isn't always great and this movie really highlights his strengths and weaknesses as a filmmaker.
I think if you cut 20 minutes off, and don't let M. Night's daughter act (you're right, the concert stuff is great and she really sells that part....but she can't deliver actual lines) and maybe take the movie just a hair more seriously, and you might have an honest-to-goodness great movie. Instead you have something of a bad movie that nosedives in the second half.....but I still really liked it because of Hartnett. I'm glad to see him back in action after retiring.
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Post by Rey Kahuka on Sept 3, 2024 12:13:11 GMT
Saw it and enjoyed it, for what it was. There isn't really a twist, he's just a serial killer trying to escape. I guess the twist is that it's clearly a dark comedy disguised as a psychological thriller. A lot of Shyamalan movies are viewed better as comedies, even though they clearly weren't intended as such, but Trap is deliberately so. In better hands, it would've made a great thriller, but I think Shams wanted to make a demo tape for his daughter (who is very talented, for what it's worth) and kind of spoof himself at the same time. Nobody in the film acts like a human being, all of the dialog feels AI generated, and the actions taken by pretty much everyone in the movie defy all logic. There are a few details that are genuinely nifty, and the movie does occasionally take itself seriously (I think). But a lot of it is dark comedy, and the mid-credits scene makes it clear Shams was just having fun with the idea. He wants you to leave the theater laughing. Anyway, I thought it was a hoot. A buddy of mine also saw it and said it was in the top three worst Shyamalan movies. I disagree. Of course I had low expectations anyway, but I felt like for once the movie knew that it was a farce, which really made all the difference. I largely agree with this, having just watched it Saturday night. The first half is kind of terrific. While you're spot on about the dialogue feeling AI generated (a critique I've seen a few times), the characters that Cooper interacts with almost seem like NPCs in a video game, just waiting for him to arrive so they can dispense valuable information for him. The clearest example of this is merch guy, Jamie I believe. He literally just gives Cooper all of the information that he needs with barely any prompting. And while I'm not a big Shyamalan fan at all, I'll give him credit for largely financing his own projects and sticking with (mostly) original work, which makes him a bit of a dying breed. Hollywood needs more guys like him in this regard. What the first half of Trap does well is create a fairly suspenseful little, contained story and one that interestingly shows the concert only from our protagonist's point of view. We only see the stage and the concert from his vantage point, never getting any closer until he gets closer as the story progresses. And man, Hartnett is killing it here. He's legitimately great at portraying a crazy person wearing a mask of civility and honestly, it makes the entire first hour work.
However, the movie goes completely off the rails for me pretty much right about when M. Night himself shows up. See, the movie spends considerable time setting up a conflict with the daughter's friend, even having two different scenes with the friend's mom (a subplot that is completely abandoned), and the idea of this relentless profiler, played by Haley Mills of all people, which also serves no purpose other than to clumsily set up a scene in the car where Raven tries to bully Cooper into letting her go (which works!). But after that setup, once Cooper phenagles his way backstage, that's where my suspension of disbelief really started to wane. All you hear throughout is how every man is a suspect, don't let anyone through, he's trying to get backstage, NOBODY GETS OUT, and he legit just kind of stands there for 20 minutes without a single person questioning him. Yeah, it's clearly goofy but it crosses the line into absurdity, a line that the movie never really emerges from.
His ability to escape his house through the tunnel, to grab Raven again, to escape the limo, to having all of the cops just let him handle the bicycle for no reason, to Raven herself saving Spencer through fucking instagram! It just gets way too silly and by the end I was more laughing at it then with it. The real kicker though is the ultimate reveal that Cooper's wife is the one who set him up. So her grand plan is to set a trap for her husband, suspected to be a gruesome murderer, backing him into a corner with 20,000 innocent people.....with her daughter in tow. That's her plan. She could have just called the police, just like Raven could have just called the police, and all problems are solved. Yeah, I know, the movie needs to happen, but movies are more than just intriguing premises. M. Night is great at premises, but his follow through isn't always great and this movie really highlights his strengths and weaknesses as a filmmaker.
I think if you cut 20 minutes off, and don't let M. Night's daughter act (you're right, the concert stuff is great and she really sells that part....but she can't deliver actual lines) and maybe take the movie just a hair more seriously, and you might have an honest-to-goodness great movie. Instead you have something of a bad movie that nosedives in the second half.....but I still really liked it because of Hartnett. I'm glad to see him back in action after retiring.
There's just so much nonsense that I have to believe it was intentionally done. He can't just walk out the front door because they're checking ID (because apparently your license lists your occupation as 'serial killer' and you'll be instantly caught, but that's a separate issue), so he walks out onto the roof (after the profiler tells everyone over the radio that the guy will do anything to escape, so be ready) and the roughly 30 police that are stationed on the roof don't ask him for ID. And yeah the wife doesn't just call the police on the guy straight up. Also, the police find an empty flop house with a ticket stub to a concert and somehow intuit it must have something to do with that serial killer, and the ticket definitely belongs to him, not an unknown victim. I could go on and on about the stupidity of it all. I don't disagree with any specific criticism of this movie, I think the difference is I enjoyed it because I thought it was going for ridiculousness. It's a fun idea and it could've been great if taken seriously, but 'twisted, goofy fun' is the best Shyamalan could do with it.
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Post by klawrencio79 on Sept 3, 2024 14:14:03 GMT
I largely agree with this, having just watched it Saturday night. The first half is kind of terrific. While you're spot on about the dialogue feeling AI generated (a critique I've seen a few times), the characters that Cooper interacts with almost seem like NPCs in a video game, just waiting for him to arrive so they can dispense valuable information for him. The clearest example of this is merch guy, Jamie I believe. He literally just gives Cooper all of the information that he needs with barely any prompting. And while I'm not a big Shyamalan fan at all, I'll give him credit for largely financing his own projects and sticking with (mostly) original work, which makes him a bit of a dying breed. Hollywood needs more guys like him in this regard. What the first half of Trap does well is create a fairly suspenseful little, contained story and one that interestingly shows the concert only from our protagonist's point of view. We only see the stage and the concert from his vantage point, never getting any closer until he gets closer as the story progresses. And man, Hartnett is killing it here. He's legitimately great at portraying a crazy person wearing a mask of civility and honestly, it makes the entire first hour work.
However, the movie goes completely off the rails for me pretty much right about when M. Night himself shows up. See, the movie spends considerable time setting up a conflict with the daughter's friend, even having two different scenes with the friend's mom (a subplot that is completely abandoned), and the idea of this relentless profiler, played by Haley Mills of all people, which also serves no purpose other than to clumsily set up a scene in the car where Raven tries to bully Cooper into letting her go (which works!). But after that setup, once Cooper phenagles his way backstage, that's where my suspension of disbelief really started to wane. All you hear throughout is how every man is a suspect, don't let anyone through, he's trying to get backstage, NOBODY GETS OUT, and he legit just kind of stands there for 20 minutes without a single person questioning him. Yeah, it's clearly goofy but it crosses the line into absurdity, a line that the movie never really emerges from.
His ability to escape his house through the tunnel, to grab Raven again, to escape the limo, to having all of the cops just let him handle the bicycle for no reason, to Raven herself saving Spencer through fucking instagram! It just gets way too silly and by the end I was more laughing at it then with it. The real kicker though is the ultimate reveal that Cooper's wife is the one who set him up. So her grand plan is to set a trap for her husband, suspected to be a gruesome murderer, backing him into a corner with 20,000 innocent people.....with her daughter in tow. That's her plan. She could have just called the police, just like Raven could have just called the police, and all problems are solved. Yeah, I know, the movie needs to happen, but movies are more than just intriguing premises. M. Night is great at premises, but his follow through isn't always great and this movie really highlights his strengths and weaknesses as a filmmaker.
I think if you cut 20 minutes off, and don't let M. Night's daughter act (you're right, the concert stuff is great and she really sells that part....but she can't deliver actual lines) and maybe take the movie just a hair more seriously, and you might have an honest-to-goodness great movie. Instead you have something of a bad movie that nosedives in the second half.....but I still really liked it because of Hartnett. I'm glad to see him back in action after retiring.
There's just so much nonsense that I have to believe it was intentionally done. He can't just walk out the front door because they're checking ID (because apparently your license lists your occupation as 'serial killer' and you'll be instantly caught, but that's a separate issue), so he walks out onto the roof (after the profiler tells everyone over the radio that the guy will do anything to escape, so be ready) and the roughly 30 police that are stationed on the roof don't ask him for ID. And yeah the wife doesn't just call the police on the guy straight up. Also, the police find an empty flop house with a ticket stub to a concert and somehow intuit it must have something to do with that serial killer, and the ticket definitely belongs to him, not an unknown victim. I could go on and on about the stupidity of it all. I don't disagree with any specific criticism of this movie, I think the difference is I enjoyed it because I thought it was going for ridiculousness. It's a fun idea and it could've been great if taken seriously, but 'twisted, goofy fun' is the best Shyamalan could do with it. Totally, for me Hartnett made me enjoy the whole movie, silly as it may be. And in the end, isn't having fun what it's all about?!
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