So Last What Movie Watch You Did? Vol. XXI

Pathogen · Dec 15, 2010

Belgian guy said: ↑

The A-Team

Another action movie heavy on brawn and light on brains. For some reason the Holiday season always wets my appetite for this kind of cinema. This was a massive disapointment. It did not work as a homage to the original TV series. In fact, hardly anything that made us love the TV series is present here. And it doesn't really work as a run-of-the-mill action movie either.

The problems are numerous. For one thing I had hoped Neeson would do more with the Hannibal Smith role. But saying he mailed in his performance is an understatement. He left a scribbled note on the refrigerator, more like. I don't mind quality actors taking on stupid roles for the paycheck, but they have to try and have some fun with it at the very least.

Of the other three team members, only the guy who played Murdock (Sharlto Copley) was able to capture some of the spirit of the original TV character. Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson's B.A. is an insult to mr. T. And Bradley Cooper's take on Face is instantly forgettable. The way they tried to shoehorn in a love-interest with Jessica Biel's character also didn't help.

The plot itself was stupid and full of holes, but that was to be expected and might not have hurt the experience had the rest of the movie been better. But most of the action is poorly CGI'ed, the dialogs are ham-fisted and rarely truly funny (not once do B.A. and Murdock have an interaction anything close to the way the relationship was portrayed in the TV show).

The plan did most certainly not come together here...
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I guess it's all about expectations. I went in fully expecting it to be total shit. When it wasn't, I found myself having a good time watching it.

Belgian guy · Dec 15, 2010

Pathogen said: ↑

I guess it's all about expectations. I went in fully expecting it to be total shit. When it wasn't, I found myself having a good time watching it.
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I didn't go in thinking it would be fantastic, just that it would try to reference the series and the character's traits more. But apart from the names of the characters and some lines, they didn't really keep much intact.

Pathogen · Dec 15, 2010

Belgian guy said: ↑

I didn't go in thinking it would be fantastic, just that it would try to reference the series and the character's traits more. But apart from the names of the characters and some lines, they didn't really keep much intact.
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At this point, my childhood has been raped so thoroughly by Hollywood, I expect there to be no similarities from what I loved as a kid other than name only. See Transformers for reference.

PeanutFlush · Dec 15, 2010

fischerw said: ↑

It raised a few questions for me-- are cable channels not subject to the same FCC regulations? If not, why don't they just always leave in profanity? In a normal NatGeo show, things would have been bleeped. Or did they take a bleeping holiday because they were showing a serious and important movie?
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I don't think they are? Certainly not after 10 at night. Vince Gilligan talked about this in one of the Breaking Bad podcasts from last season. It's all about the sponsors. On Breaking Bad, they have a limit of curse words they can use for the season and they've been able to use 1 F word each season, and even then they lower the sound so you don't really hear the word.

If you've seen Breaking Bad, you would know worrying about language is just silly. There are lots of terrible and violent things that happen on that show, far worse than someone saying a bad word.

os_mutante · Dec 15, 2010

frasermc said: ↑

I Love You Phillip Morris

Well played Jim Carrey. A great performance in an excellent film. The movie almost felt like a Coen brothers effort to me.

Enjoyed it, a lot.
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Just saw this. Agreed, absolutely excellent performance from Carrey.

Nacional Tijuana · Dec 16, 2010

Morning Glory was my last one. Black Swan (?) might be next.

Crimen y Castigo · Dec 16, 2010

.....and scene!

Continued here.