What Emmanuelle Movie Did You Just Watch?

[Anderson]

The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened? - A pretty solid documentary about the flick that never happened, with interviews featuring Tim Burton, Jon Peters, Kevin Smith and lots of BTS footage of Nic Cage rocking several prototype Superman suits.

This was going to be an interesting entry into the Superman franchise, but the general vibe I got, mostly from Peters, is that few ever really got what Superman was about. Peters emphasizing a street-level take to the character (Superman was gonna street-fight with some ninjas at one point. Ugh.), and his behavior to some folks during pre-production (putting headlocks on production artists?), really makes him look dickish and someone who's trying way too hard to be a tough guy.

Burton, to his credit, was trying to work outside of his comfort zone (Gothic, dark, dreary and moody vibes), and go for some brightness, but when you see where the final costumes were heading (hint: black), he was starting to retreat back to his shadows. I will say, though, his ideas for Brainiac were pretty slick, and would love to see that take in a future film. The final suit they would've used for the film was pretty true to the comics, yet hued close to Burton's first Batman outfit. They address the backlash with casting Cage, likening it to Keaton in Batman - maybe Cage could've pulled it off, but my gut tells me it was going to be an epic miscast. Cage is a great actor when he's on point, but this was always going to be "that's Nicholas Cage" as opposed to "that's Superman", y'know?.

Nic Cage does look ridiculous in the first attempts at Superman's costume (think Tommy Wiseau with a cape), and some of his ideas re: Superman/Clark Kent kind of had me scratching my head a bit. He, like most everyone involved, were thinking WAY too hard about a character who's actually pretty easy to get, even throwing in angst and emotional baggage that just doesn't exist or is necessary.

Really good doc here - worth a viewing or two for the design work alone and a great insight as to how folks deal with movie making for a big ass company.

That documentary is the perfect example of why creative talents hate working at WB on those projects.

Fucking cokehead Jon Peters in that documentary is enough to give you nightmares.

The Braniac stuff was amazing, but even that was Burton derivative. I did hate how he borrowed heavily from Ed Hannigan and other DC artists and then Burton tried to pass it off as HIS VISION.

[FilmNerdJamie]

That documentary is the perfect example of why creative talents hate working at WB on those projects.

Fucking cokehead Jon Peters in that documentary is enough to give you nightmares.

The Braniac stuff was amazing, but even that was Burton derivative. I did hate how he borrowed heavily from Ed Hannigan and other DC artists and then Burton tried to pass it off as HIS VISION.

To be fair, Peters absolutely destroyed Kevin Smith (who would not shut up) when he said matter of factly, "He talked a big game but didn't deliver. That's why we fired him."

[Timothy225]

That's it! That's the artist I was thinking of, Troy! I knew I saw some of the Brainiac designs before and couldn't place Hannigan's name!

Was thinking about this some more, and I'm convinced this was going to be a clusterfuck of a movie if the parties mentioned in the doc had their way. You had a bunch of eccentrics calling the shots and starring, never a good sign. There was no passion, no fans of the material (apart from Smith), no real drive - just a lot of ego on Peters part and resigned indifference from Burton.

It was a kick to see what elements from Superman Lives eventually made their way into both Superman Returns (Spacey as Luthor) and Man of Steel (organic suits, "K" and Jor-El, Krypton, etc.).

Also, Brainiac's Skull ship was pretty sweet, yo. The fact it wound up with Peters instead of Jackson (*koff, koff, STOLE, koff koff*) after production was cancelled is flat-out awful.

ETA: Jamie's right on the Peters score, especially since Smith got a fuckton of mileage at his live shows when he'd tell that story. Peters sounded like he was backpedaling a bit, though ("I never said 'Lose the suit' or 'He can't fly'...").

[Matt]

SPOTLIGHT

Pretty amazing film about the Boston Globe going after the Catholic Church regarding the pedo priests. It's hard subject matter to watch, but it's entertaining in much the same way that ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN is entertaining. Strong acting from everyone involved, but I kinda take issue with Mark Ruffalo in it...not sure if he's overacting or if I simply responded (negatively) to the mannerisms that he took on for the character.

Regardless, a very strong film. This'll be up for some awards (and will probably win a couple).

[Abraham Smashington]

The Wolfpack

Documentary on Netflix about a fucked up family who wasn't allowed to leave the house growing up so instead they just watched movies and then re-enacted them.

It was messed up but I'm not sure how much I believe what I saw.

[Anderson]

The Wolfpack

Documentary on Netflix about a fucked up family who wasn't allowed to leave the house growing up so instead they just watched movies and then re-enacted them.

It was messed up but I'm not sure how much I believe what I saw.

You'd be right to doubt it. The whole thing came together because of the film student and if you match the original short film to the documentary, things don't add up.

[Abraham Smashington]

Figured as much. I also remember this being pretty hyped up in regards to the re-creations but they are barely in the movie. I'd rather watch a movie about how fucked the mother was when she met the father and how that all came to be.

[Matt]

JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG (1961)

One that I've always wanted to see but never got around to actually seeing. Very good movie, and I appreciate that the actors rarely went into ACTING GENIUS mode but kept it pretty natural (for the most part).

[Abraham Smashington]

watching the SW movies in preparation for The Force Awakens. Started with Revenge of the Sith because I didn't feel like sitting through 4 hours of meh. Sith is still pretty great if still 20 mins too long.

Watched Regular Show: The Movie as well. Fucking hilarious. It's a kids version of Days of Future Past mixed with every single 80s movie known to man. Loved it.

[Matt]

EX MACHINA

Fantastic from beginning to end with flawless acting from everyone involved. I absolutely loved this movie.

[Abraham Smashington]

Still on my list of need to watch. Good to hear that it's not a waste of time.

[Matt]

Totally not a waste of time.

My wife even liked it, and she watched it grudgingly. She fully intended to just watch it for 10 minutes while we were eating dinner and then do something else, but she got into it in a big way.

Also, the effects are flawless. I was very impressed with what they were able to achieve with the robotics in this film

[BillyG]

Ex Machina was great. I need to watch it again.

[Matt]

I bought it on Black Friday for $4.99 at Best Buy. Definitely one of the better blu ray purchases that I've made i recent years.

[gravedigger]

I just saw Ex Machina is up on Amazon Prime. Guess I know what I'm watching in the next day or two.