Comments on: Rusty James Reviews Moon

By: Jack

Jack — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 11:56:59 +0000

Ah Kermode is anything but one liners, apart from when he goes throughthe top 10 of course, but those are just summaries of past reviews, to hear a true Kermodian rant is to hear the voice of a pissed off god.

By: Polygon_Wizard

Polygon_Wizard — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 03:55:39 +0000

Oh man, I just discovered his My Year of Flops series, and it is absolutely golden. The “secret success” reviews in there have caused me to reevaluate a film or two.

By: TotallyNotNick

TotallyNotNick — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 00:01:57 +0000

My favorite film critic at the moment is Nathan Rabin with the AV Club

By: Rusty James

Rusty James — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 23:42:07 +0000

google him. I recommend highly.

Kermode seems to me like he’s all one liners. I subscribe to his podcast but haven’t listened that often.

By: Jack

Jack — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 23:34:02 +0000

I love Kermode because he is incredibly passionate about film and has a good knowledge of it (something I feel is missing from a lot of critics) even though I disagree with Kermode a lot, I still have a great deal ofrespect for him… I’m not sure who outlaw vern is.

By: Rusty James

Rusty James — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 22:27:33 +0000

i’ve never been a big fan of kermode. I prefer outlaw vern.

By: Jack

Jack — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 22:15:19 +0000

My favourite critic (Mark Kermode) just said of Moon “It’s a film about ideas, not about robosts hitting each other”. Perfect.

By: Jack

Jack — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:04:52 +0000

oddly enough yes, yes it was.

By: Rusty James

Rusty James — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 02:34:36 +0000

well, I said it was in the same vein as Sunshine except that it didn’t derail in the final third.

Glad to hear you liked it.

I bet I can guess which part you cried at. Was it a certain long distance phone call?

By: Jack

Jack — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:59:28 +0000

I loved it as I thought I would, it has squeezed its way into my number 3 spot on my top 10 of the year so far. I loved how it harked back to classicslike Silent Running and 2001, it was truly fantastic. I see you compare it to Sunshine, which I think is unfair as Sunshine was a dire little movie (well only because it decided to turn into Nightmare on Elm Street in the last 20 mins), I feel this movie is much more special. The practical effects were lovely and it’s nice to see them making a come back as I am sick to death of CGI, it’s so detatched. The movie kept me interested from the get go and you know what, I cried at one point (3rd movie I’ve cried in this year), I honestly thought it was brilliant. I was also happy that my screening was sold out, it’s nice to see so many people turn up to an indie flick, especially when one of Englands biggest film series has its new movie out (though after seeing that I can clearly see why people would rather watch Moon). Nice little cameos from some quite well known Brit actors as well. 10/10, really lovely movie.

By: Rusty James

Rusty James — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 02:44:20 +0000

well… “sci-fi” I guess is the unifying theme there. It is pretty funny though.

Come back and tell us what you thought.

By the way, it’s the 40th anniversary of the the Moon landing this week.

By: Jack

Jack — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:19:53 +0000

off to see this tomorrow but I found this to be quite funny, my local cinema recomends Moon if you liked films like Transformers or Star Trek… pretty odd movies to pile in with this one.

By: Keoki

Keoki — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 06:28:21 +0000

I live in Calgary, Alberta, and no actually to be honest i didn’t even know there was a book…I’ll definitely have to check that out

By: Rusty James

Rusty James — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 05:16:29 +0000

Thanks for your input Keoki. Im curious, which city in Canada do you live in?

Have you read the book A Scanner Darkly? I recommend it.

By: Keoki

Keoki — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:56:05 +0000

I see your point, and i suppose i did over simplify a bit when i said you hate those movies and the people who see them. And i must agree with you about A Scanner darkly, because i loved that movie. And I also agree that those of us who don’t see many movies seem to only see the giant blockbusters that have incredibly large advertising budgets when it might be more fulfilling to go see a smaller budget film that is of higher quality. (I cant even use the excuse of not having many movies come out as I live in the largest city in my province.) That is why I for one am trying to change, and I do hope smaller movies survive and prosper in the future because most of the ones i have seen are better then a lot of the bigger names that have come out.

By: Rusty James

Rusty James — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 03:18:19 +0000

I think the problem with Superman Returns go much deeper than that. The film doesn’t give us anything new, it doesn’t expand on any of the conventions or add anything to the character.
Don’t say the kid. The kid does not count. Not only was it painfully obvious to everyone but the characters in the movie. But it didn’t go anywhere.

You’ve got a character who’s all powerful and with 60 years of storylines. Anyone who has worked on superman knows that the most important thing is to find a new way to challenge the character. Singer didn’t even try.

They introduce the villain (the guy who is supposed to fight superman) gold digging some old woman’s fortune, like some ones pathetic sleeze bag uncle. He may as well have been plotting a master scheme to sell amway.

The superman is jesus angle just wasn’t very inspired:

Singer: so like, he’s from another world and he likes to save people. You know?

Hollywood Executive: This is the whole movie?

Singer: And then he’s standing there with his arms stretched out so its like a cross. He dies at the end but he gets better. It’s like jesus.

Hollywood Executive: Now is jesus actually a character in the movie?

That’s a little play I wrote about it.

People excuse the film because it’s “prestigous” and “classy” but it’s just a terrible film. It really does not deserve any good will? Why does Ang Lee’s movie with it’s beautiful interludes and awsome battles get shit all over while this one gets a pass?
I prefer the Richard Pryor one.
In fact, Richard Pryor is the best villain to ever appear in a Superman movie.

By: TotallyNotNick

TotallyNotNick — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 01:58:34 +0000

I wasn’t really expecting anything deep from Star Trek. I was looking for an awesome, witty, exciting blockbuster and thats what I got. To me, that’s the mistake Bryan Singer made with Superman Returns; he went too deep. That was the first time we had seen a Superman movie in 20 years and “Superman as Jesus” was an awkward reintroduction. Hopefully now that JJ Abrams has sucessfully gotten Star Trek back into the zeitgest, he can be a bit more explorative in part two. Like X: Men United was to X Men.

By: Rusty James

Rusty James — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 01:45:06 +0000

I guess I don’t really get the love for Star Trek. I mean, I iike it a lot. I’d give it 3 out of 4. But I hear people raving about, loving it, calling it one of the best films of the year… I don’t know…

It’s got the same later act problems that all these movies have. It’s not very imaginative, the plot is almost the same as nemesis. In some ways I prefer Star Trek V. I hope the sequel brings back some actual exploration.

A movie like Moon makes me think I should be less willing to accept Star Trek.

By: TotallyNotNick

TotallyNotNick — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:28:07 +0000

Alright, so I just got back from Moon, and it was amazing. I loved it. I’m so happy that in one year we get the very best of either end of the science fiction pool; with Star Trek we have the super fun, exciting space opera and now with Moon, we get this really brilliant, speculative, thoughtful film. Great, great film. If its playing anywhere near you, please do yourself a favour and check it out.

By: Jack

Jack — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:58:05 +0000

I think I should note that a big multi million dollar film doesn’t exactly have to be bad, both Transformers and GI Joe are bad movies, but the first two Spidey movies are great, Star Trek was great fun, as was Iron Man, if we have more movies like that in our future I’ll be very happy, hell look at The Dark Knight, a fantastic film and one of the highest grossing films of all time.

By: TotallyNotNick

TotallyNotNick — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 18:23:54 +0000

Going to see Moon today! Very excited!

By: Rusty James

Rusty James — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 17:53:02 +0000

Whoa whoa. I defintely have some strong opinions but “I hate people who see the wrong movies” is not the message I’m trying to get across.
I do understand that not everyone is as into movies as me and that some films don’t even open in huge parts of the country (er… continent). I don’t expect people who go out to the theater a few times a year to be ultra-discriminating. They want to see the movies that they’ve seen commercials for and heard their friends talking about and that’s fine.

This review was born out of that epic flame war between Randy and I, over in the Trans 2 thread. But I felt like I let myself get off message over there. It started out with me advocating some cool looking sci-fi movies I was looking forward too but ended up blowing up at Randy over his lowest common denominator film viewing.

I understand why people are more willing to go out to see something they grew up with like Smurf’s and He-Man. But I also think most of us would enjoy a film like Moon more in the long run. I think Moon is a better use of our time and money.
And I think most of us agree but unfortunately Moon doesn’t have a $100 million ad campaign to incestantly remind us all that it’s coming out and that it looks cool. It gets lost in the summer movie shuffle. You’ve got to do the marketers job for them and remind yourself that it looks good.

Where I really started to take issue with Randy was that he seems to think Trannies and GI Joe are just as legitimate as films like Moon or District 9. They’re not. Original stories have infinitely more potential than some thinly gussed up toy commercial premise.

Look at the trades, the future looks more like Asteroids, View Finder, and Short Circuit Remake and less like Do The Right Thing or Blue Velvet. And that’s the future you’re voting for when you go see Transformers 2.

Real films are going away. The films that make you love film are out of vogue and impractical to finance. I don’t think there’s much we can do to stop this trend, and I’m not too worried about it; solid film making will have a future in dtv and online streaming.
But it’s pathetic to support the trend. What’s the point in being a sci-fi / film buff if you’re just going to see the same crap as everyone else?
And besides it’s a waste of time. Films like Moon and A Scanner Darkly are better than Transformers and GI Joe.

So I guess I’m just trying to raise awareness among the fan community and promote concientous consumerism.

- The Kindler, Gentler Rusty James

By: Jack

Jack — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:43:03 +0000

I love The Young Ones, I feel it’s a bit dated now though…

By: Rusty James

Rusty James — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 20:27:56 +0000

have you seen “Young Ones”

By: Rusty James

Rusty James — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 20:26:54 +0000

I know I know I’m in the minority.

Ive barely seen an episode though. I’ll retract “lame” and say “it wasn’t my sort of thing”.

I like things that aren’t lame.

Wait that didn’t com

By: TotallyNotNick

TotallyNotNick — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 17:23:06 +0000

I’ve liked what I’ve seen of the Catherine Tate Show, but I haven’t seen a lot. What American shows are you a fan of?

By: Jack

Jack — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 16:16:00 +0000

I’m gonna start to sound like a broken record but check out The League of Gentlemen, I don’t think it ever made a big splash outside of the UK but it is one of the funniest… and at times scarriest things I’ve ever seen, really worth a look. Try and avoid things like Little Britain, The Catherine Tate Show, My Family, they are a bit poo. Another interesting one is Peep Show, it’s truly awkward and hysterical

By: TotallyNotNick

TotallyNotNick — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 15:31:58 +0000

I actually have an unatural LOVE of British humour. Spaced is right up there with my favorite sitcoms, and I think Ricky Gervais is a genius. Haven’t seen Alan Partridge yet, but I’m a big Steve Coogan fan and I’d love see the thing that put him on the map sometime

By: Jack

Jack — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 12:24:46 +0000

aw dude, I used to like you but god, how can you call Spaced lame, same with Alan Partridge, it’s fracking awesome.
Try out The League of Gentlemen, it’s a must for any fan of dark humour/obscure film.

By: Keoki

Keoki — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 01:04:34 +0000

Well i seem to be the kind of movie-goer you seem to hate…i dont see many movies and when i do they all seem to be the big blockbuster, popcorn movie… ie: Transformers and the like… im just starting to get into the smaller movies now that i have more time on my hands, which is why ive been following some of your suggestions this last week or so