Antagony & Ecstasy

Mr. K- I've heard that, actually. No, I've...

2012-05-29T15:06:08.080-05:00

Mr. K- I've heard that, actually. No, I've never watched it - I'm not much of a TV guy these days - but they tell me it's pretty good.

Did you ever watch the Sarah Connor Chronicles, Ti...

2012-05-29T13:55:40.220-05:00

Did you ever watch the Sarah Connor Chronicles, Tim? I've only seen the first season, but I feel like it's more true to the first two movies than the last two movies.

I watched all the Bond films like four years back,...

2012-05-29T10:21:44.010-05:00

I watched all the Bond films like four years back, and while I would love watching them again, I'm kinda busy watching all the Godzilla movies. However, I can at least recall all the films pretty clearly and it makes me so excited to have you doing this.

Dr. No instills in me the same kinds of feelings you get from it. I think it's pretty slack when compared to From Russia With Love or Goldfinger or whatever other good Bond movie you want to namedrop (I probably 'like' more of them than you do), but there's still all the great elements it does have--Connery's first performance, the title sequence, etc. etc. It's not bad, just not jaw-dropping as some would be later on.

As for Ursula Andress, I've really never understood everyone's obsession with her. Sure, that moment is iconic, and I love it just as much as anyone else, but I can't say I've ever found her too attractive. Her body shape looks weird to me. I mean maybe this has something to do with how her bikini fits her, but I dunno. I don't think so.

After the forth film, I bet Smith takes on the K r...

2012-05-29T10:08:27.102-05:00

After the forth film, I bet Smith takes on the K role and Jaden becomes the new J character...with the exact same "Rule-breakin' rookie" persona.

Smith is perfectly fine here, but J continues to m...

2012-05-29T10:07:09.027-05:00

Smith is perfectly fine here, but J continues to make little sense as a character and his unchanging "I'm still a rule-breakin' rookie" act gets grating. 15 years or so in this organization and Smith still plays the guy like he just joined last week.

Hearing all the good-but-not-great reviews for thi...

2012-05-28T21:32:38.050-05:00

Hearing all the good-but-not-great reviews for this film is frankly incredibly surprising. I was sure that, given the long gestation, myriad of problems and re-shoots, and the fucking script not even being finished when shooting began, MIIIB (that's why they went Arabic) would end up sucking.

Too bad I made all those sure-bet, 5 * predictions to all my friends. Might be time to eat some crow.

M.C.- the worst thing is, it's not the only ti...

2012-05-28T16:36:44.497-05:00

M.C.- the worst thing is, it's not the only time I made that mistake in writing this one. Just the only time I missed correcting it, I hope.

@RickR - See, being as familiar with this site as ...

2012-05-28T16:02:46.248-05:00

@RickR - See, being as familiar with this site as I am, I was confident Tim never reviewed T4 and so didn't even check. Don't know how I missed it. Thanks for the link!

The.Watcher- http://antagonie.blogspot.com/2009/0...

2012-05-28T15:16:20.054-05:00

The.Watcher-

http://antagonie.blogspot.com/2009/05/daze-of-future-passed.html

This movie didn't actively piss me off, but I ...

2012-05-28T14:40:18.420-05:00

This movie didn't actively piss me off, but I didn't care for it. Dunno, looking at the people involved, I never allowed myself to expect anything decent, so I wasn't surprised when it confirmed my expectations.

Plus, for all of T2's wizz-bang, I never could get past Furlong. Every time he appears on screen I lapse into murder-fantasy.

I'm also curious to know what you thought of the 4th film. Interestingly, I feel absolutely nothing at all for it.

I never got how the T-X is supposed to be an impro...

2012-05-28T14:39:59.105-05:00

I never got how the T-X is supposed to be an improvement over the T-1000. If I recall, her weaponry malfunctions or jams or something, and she ends up pinned down, neither of which Robert Patrick would have had any trouble with.

Linda Hamilton's absence hurts the film pretty badly too. But she knew enough to stay the hell away from the movie and so was written out, right?

"and trying to smuggle a sequel in their...&q...

2012-05-28T12:41:02.149-05:00

"and trying to smuggle a sequel in their..."

Sorry, this bugged me. Going back to finish the review now.

I'd go so far as to say that part of what make...

2012-05-28T11:51:10.537-05:00

I'd go so far as to say that part of what makes the first two so damn good is that they move with such intensity that the plot holes are swept away before you even realise that they exist. T3 gives us plenty of chances to wallow in them.

I'd propose the Back to the Future trilogy as the most coherent and consistent time-travel narrative in the movies, though I have not seen them all.

@Unknown - Everything you say is true, but it'...

2012-05-28T11:34:48.289-05:00

@Unknown - Everything you say is true, but it's no more or less true of T3 than it is of te first two Terminator movies. Virtually no story involving time-travel (or at least not backwards time-travel - forwards, as with H.G. Wells' The Time Machine for example, isn't nearly as problematic) actually holds up under close scrutiny.

See, the thing that pisses me off about this movie...

2012-05-28T04:25:36.266-05:00

See, the thing that pisses me off about this movie almost as much as the "Everything in T2 Was Wrong" part was that it had possibly the most infuriating time-travel plot of all time. I'd say it is worse than the nonsensical ending to Tim Burton's "Planet of the Apes," but nothing's THAT bad.

When the T-X loses the heroes late in the first act, she starts going through a list of secondary targets that will become major players in the Resistance...and then she proceeds to kill them. But, if she killed them in 2003, then they never grew up to form the resistance. And if they were never key players in the resistance, how did they end up on Skynet's radar and the T-X's hit list? Wouldn't killing them have caused the T-X to cease to exist? Or if the movie is following the "Time Travel Creates Another Dimension" rule, then isn't what Skynet is doing pointless because it can't affect it's own--oh dear I've gone crosseyed.

Beg pardon. I mean that the aliens, in possession ...

2012-05-27T23:48:55.836-05:00

Beg pardon. I mean that the aliens, in possession of the ability to travel across the galaxy in a matter of hardly any time at all, have absolutely no means to detect objects without being able to see them directly in good lighting, and this is not just a plot point but how we end up beating them.

That is a fair point. I suppose I meant that he ne...

2012-05-27T23:46:07.186-05:00

That is a fair point. I suppose I meant that he never makes any fun of Ed at all, despite it seeming (to me, at least), the most approach to take to his life story.

"there's barely a moment in that film whe...

2012-05-27T23:19:50.636-05:00

"there's barely a moment in that film where he's mocking the characters."

Really? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2lf84TVyFQ

"this is the awesomely stupid part - they can...

2012-05-27T23:06:22.968-05:00

"this is the awesomely stupid part - they can't see anything at night."

What.

Awesome. I can get used to seeing this every Sunda...

2012-05-27T12:13:04.486-05:00

Awesome. I can get used to seeing this every Sunday morning! I've seen all the Bond films at some point in my life, though there are so many that they have all blended together into an unrecognizable mess. I was curious to start watching them all again, but maybe I'll just keep reading your retrospective and only watch the ones that score a B+ or higher.

Either way: awesome!

"Easily riled Welshmen" as a scoring mar...

2012-05-27T05:33:29.381-05:00

"Easily riled Welshmen" as a scoring marker - awesome!

I felt as though Baron Cohen was going for somethi...

2012-05-26T21:41:41.351-05:00

I felt as though Baron Cohen was going for something different, but he couldn't help but use the same antisemitic, racist, and homophobic jokes he used in Borat and Bruno. I just wish that he would leave those two characters alone and stop playing demeaning, moronic fools that he played in the past (I still haven't seen Ali G). It worked for a mockumentary, but not for this kind of film. He was great in Hugo, but that's a whole other story.

Eva Green 4 lyfe!!!!1 So excited for this.

2012-05-26T18:08:47.415-05:00

Eva Green 4 lyfe!!!!1

So excited for this.

Great, can't wait! PS - I really hope you incl...

2012-05-26T15:47:53.318-05:00

Great, can't wait!
PS - I really hope you include a small headline, such as Plot, or Henchman, before giving the picture rating, cos I don't really want to copy the legend. I know, I know, how can I still be demanding something after being offered such a treat! Oh, but I am delighted, Tim, I'm also just... lazy.

Oh my god, this is going to be so great.

2012-05-26T13:36:10.814-05:00

Oh my god, this is going to be so great.