Giantrobo

Bite me

cungar

OTC is I believe Off the Charts. You'll have to ask a hipster for confirmation.

PenguinJoe

I actually saw this last night and a private screening, not bad one of those feel good enjoy our life time of films. Basic plot is Ben Stiller plays a guy who works in the photo archives department of Life Magazine he's in charge of all the photo negatives, he sits in a dark room and looks at all the cool pictures and wonders where his life went, he's worked there for sixteen years. He admires a photog played by Sean Penn who is very reclusive but from his photos he's had a more interesting life. They've never met. He has a crush on a girl who works in the accounts department played by Kristin Wiig although they never really talk and he signs up for a dating site to send her a "wink". One day it's told Life magazine will be dissolving and there will only be Life Online most of the staff will lose their jobs, he hopes he won't be one of them but he lost the final cover photo for Life magazine so it's possible he might, his boss played by Adam Scott is a dick and calls Walt out every time he begins to daydream. So he doesn't get known as the guy who lost the final cover photo of Life magazine he tracks down Sean Penn to try and recover an alternate print and the adventure begins...

I give it like three stars out of five.

bluetoast

Just got back from a screening with Patton Oswalt in attendance at the Alamo Drafthouse in Loudon. I liked it, and it was better than I thought it would be, since I thought the story would overly rely on him zoning out. Patton Oswalt answered some questions and was pretty funny.

GoldenJCJ

Judging only by the trailer I have to assume this movie is a dark and disturbing film about a man slowly descending into madness. I'm guessing the final scene is of Ben Stiller sitting in the corner of a cold, dank, cell rocking back and forth and giggling while wearing a straight jacket.

I predict a lot more suicides this holiday season thanks to this movie...

covenant

Just back from a screening as well. I'm convinced there is a great movie in there somewhere, but the pacing is so uneven and a shitload needs to be trimmed. Long moments of watching the screen waiting for something to happen, anything! It is a beautiful movie though, I'll give it that. And there's a part about Benjamin Button that was incredibly funny, wish it had more off-beat bits like that.

Why So Blu?

Just got back from a morning screening and it was damn good. It was a lot of fun, sentimental, had lots of adventure and soul searching, etc. I do like the fact that the more fantastical elements (the shit in the trailer) were only there as flourishes - they didn't dominate the film at all. My favorite scene of the film was:

This one will probably go on my top-10. We'll see.

Solid Snake

Interesting. RT doesn't favor it so well.

Raul3

Split reviews by critics.

I went to see this with the family: wife and daughters (7 and 14), and everyone loved the movie.

The thing I liked the most is the photography, of course. Really great shots there. Miller was great as Mitty, and I just found out that I love Penn.

Why So Blu?

Stiller

The Bus

Just got back from this. Much better than I expected, but I did go in with low expectations. As a fantasy for adults, it's pretty enjoyable.

The constant product shilling was absolutely terrible though.

Solid Snake

Product shillin?

inri222

The Falcon & the Snowman
Carlito's Way
Mystic River
21 Grams
Dead Man Walking
At Close Range
Sweet and Lowdown
Bad Boys
Colors
The Thin Red Line
Casualties of War
This Must Be the Place
U Turn
The Game
The Assassination of Richard Nixon
The Tree of Life

The guy is amazing.

RoyalTea

I didn't even know Stretch Armstrong had an advertising budget anymore.

The Bus

Off the top of my head, Cinnabon, Papa Johns, eHarmony, etc. He mentions how he really likes eHarmony's matching mechanism. And how great Cinnabon is. Neither of those were central to the story. (You could argue Papa's was, at least).

JumpCutz

I think DF's review nails it.

http://badassdigest.com/2013/12/23/s...ve-hated-this/

bluetoast

eHarmony (well, the matchmaking element not the product) was important when you consider Patton Oswalt's character bailing him out and reaffirming him and all that crap. I read that the script was already written and they asked eHarmony for permission to use the name. They replied "We don't have guys constantly calling you about your profile, but it's a positive portrayal, so we'll agree." Then in real life it inspired them to come up with a $5000 a year service doing something similar.

With that in mind, yeah eHarmony could have been a generic matchmaking service, considering they completely misrepresented the product.

As for Papa John's, as you said it was important to the story, and wouldn't work with a generic store. Patton Oswalt addressed this too in the Q&A.

Cinnabon, yeah that was useless.

Solid Snake

I didn't mind the real places they used. Made that world more real.

I really liked the film. It ALMOST falls in cliche standard but it reels back a bit before it does so for me. Really sweet and positive film. I like how Stiller directed it. Really pretty and natural imagery. The zoning out bits were really well controlled as well. I'll get the BD for sure. Not sure how this thing has low RT scoring.

Why So Blu?

Agreed. That was my biggest fear (it makes no mistake as to how on the nose it is) that they would use those fantasy elements as a crutch. I'll tell you this much the trailer and marketing materials made it seem that it would be Stiller zoning out for 90 minutes. I'm glad it wasn't the case. The Major Tom sequence is still my favorite - just lovely.

Solid Snake

Yeah. I think KW is cute already but her singing that song made her that much more attractive to me.

Why So Blu?

She, strangely enough, looks like Jennifer Anniston. Like her cute cousin or something. IDK.

I agree on your comment, though.

Solid Snake

I don't think i see it but maybe kind of sorta i can. She's a lot more talented than Aniston. So that's make her much more awesome.

bluetoast

To me, using Space Oddity felt like more of a crutch than any of the product placement. He didn't need a popular song to emphasize his plight or have his love interest blatantly sing it to him in order to get on a fucking helicopter. Felt a bit cheap to have it used in that respect.

Why So Blu?

He needed the kick in the ass. The movie and his journey would have been over right then and there. They also foreshadowed it before when they were talking in Central Park. Major Tom came into the topic of discussion and whatnot. I thought it was a perfect set-up.

bluetoast

I get the usage throughout the beginning and the motivation but I dunno it just seemed a bit off. Love the song.