Escape to the Movies: Monsters

[Whytewulf]

You had me at Anne Hathaway and Cool-Whip....lets just leave it at that.

Caught my attention as well.. haha

I had never heard of the movie either.

But why can't people just make a sci-fi/monstor/fantasy movie, without a political agenda. No Avatar save the planet, no arpatide, no immigration. Just monsters attacking us, we fight back.. we hopefully win.. Independence II, Aleins come back, ground assault, no virus BS, we are better.. Jeff Goldblum dies.. (tear)

 

[AKmontalvo]

Go bob! tear it annew one

 

[WaderiAAA]

I kinda guessed this was a bad movie from the title. I mean, come on, just naming it monsters? It is like naming a fast and durious clone "driving". I mean, although one word titles often are cool, I don't think monsters sounds good enough, and when the director can't come up with anything better, there is little hope that he could come up with a great story for the movie.

 

[CommanderKirov]

You raised my hopes and dashed them quite expertly... Bravo sir.

Also... Glee...Lesbian Cheerleeders...
*runs off to find it*

 

[pepitko]

It felt actually kind of sad that MovieBob ended up hating the film. Actually, judging from the trailer, I highly doubt it could have been made for $15k only. That's really a low amount of money, that would be barely enough to pay the actors and their flight tickets to Mexico.

 

[MrLumber]

It's funny, 'cause that's where he lost me.
Good to know the Escapist is still employing a sexist teenager who posts pictures of women in lingerie whenever he gets the chance.

I don't think you know what sexist means... Moviebob finds women attractive and is zealously open about it, he doesn't beat them or think they shouldn't have voting rights (or anything along those lines).

Anyway, disappointed to see this is bad. Even if it would have been just a D9 ripoff, but good, it would be at least worth a look. Cuz I mean, D9 was good so anything copying it would at least it would be somewhat interesting. O well, guess I can strike this one off my list.

 

[Darks63]

Please dont watch glee bob that show looks like it kills brain cells faster than 200 proof liquor.

 

[mr_rubino]

If I mention The Expendables here, will that preempt a pack of frothing-at-the-mouth idiots from derailing this thread?

 

[KungFuCthulhu]

I love serious alien movies so I am very disappointed to hear this.

 

[SamElliot'sMustache]

This is probably the best Escape to the Movies I've listened to in a while. Especially liked how Bob set up his hopes about Monsters, only to get to how they were dashed by the actual product.

I had only heard of Monsters this week, and was intrigued by the premise for all of five minutes before I started checking the reviews, many of which pointed out some rather awful-sounding dialogue (even the positive ones).

Can't say I'm looking forward to the other alien invasion movie of the season, Skyline, either. Especially since it's directed by the Strauss Brothers (the second Alien vs. Predator...).

But why can't people just make a sci-fi/monstor/fantasy movie, without a political agenda. No Avatar save the planet, no arpatide, no immigration. Just monsters attacking us, we fight back.. we hopefully win.. Independence II, Aleins come back, ground assault, no virus BS, we are better.. Jeff Goldblum dies.. (tear)

Usually because the best ones *cough*the original Godzilla*cough*The Host*cough*The Thing*cough* have some sort of political message, or at least tap into whatever fears or mood society has at the time, just like any genre (hell, just like any art form). Of course, some directors go in trying to make "the next great sci-fi classic" and merely tack on a political statement, even if all they're doing is hitting people over the head with a mallet labelled "[insert point here]."

 

[Gunnyboy]

Monsters was a horrendous film. For once I fully agree with Bob.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Monsters

This week MovieBob take a look at Monsters.

For a horrifying moment, when I heard that music, I thought you'd be appearing in an Elvira costume.

Thank you for small mercies.

 

[Ashoten]

Thank you Bob. The hatefilled Kurmudgen in me usually assumes that all critics opinions on artsy films are unreliable because its an artsy film. So thank you for proving me wrong and restoring some of my faith in humanity.

Also I had to watch this video 5 times in a row just to hear the bit about the resses and pie. Damn that sounds good.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

But why can't people just make a sci-fi/monstor/fantasy movie, without a political agenda.

Because that's the only way anyone ever gets a "alternative" movie through these days. Or those days.
Attack of the 50ft Woman was a satire on the battle of the sexes, Romero's Dead series tackled alienation, racism and civilization, Labyrinth was about...

Well...Bowie's genetalia mostly, and Jennifer Connoly, but you can't make a good fantasy/sci-fi movie without some sort of trackback to the human situation.

What you can do, however, is to hide it under subtext. The "Prawns" from District 9 were given humanity in a way that the world didn't give the South Africans in District 6 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_Six,_Cape_Town].

If you create a fantasy movie without a human element...you tend to get something like the Star Wars Prequels.

Add in the idea of a group of rebels running from a huge regime of Stormtroopers; who want to throw them in the Trash compactor, and you may have a good allegory - don't you George Bomberger and Steven Spielberg?

 

[Devin Parker]

You should have been watching Glee anyway. ^_^

My hatred of Glee burns with the intensity of a thousand suns! I guess its just not for me. lol

Right there with you. My wife watches it weekly, and Lea Michele is seriously cute, but the steadily rising smugness of the show irritates the heck out of me.

Oh, "Monsters", right!

I hadn't heard of it until now. Like MovieBob, I'm really disappointed. I love lower-budget cinema verite genre stuff. It's sad when it falls flat.

I'm also really tired of political messages being hamfistedly shoehorned into movies. As a science fiction fan, I appreciate when genre is used to address real-world concerns. However, it's apparently quite difficult to do well, because instead of being presented with all sides of the chosen issue and being stimulated to actually THINK about the issue, it's usually a one-sided argument carried by cardboard-cutout characters acting as the writer/director's mouthpiece while caricatures and strawmen are trundled out to cackle gleefully and demonstrate their foolishness and evil.

 

[Eric the Orange]

Oh bob, has your love of lesbianism become so all consuming that you would watch something you otherwise wouldn't just because it's in there?

Seriously though your three major loves seem to be Nintendo, Movies and lesbians. So, from that I would gather that the best thing ever for you would be Mario movie in which Peach and Daisy have a sex scene.

 

[Turkey Braveheart]

Moviebob,

Glad to see you're not afraid to slam an indie movie. Most critics see this whole sector of the industry as something sacred and pure.

Hey critics, the most successful independent films of all time...ARE THE STAR WARS PREQUELS!

 

[(sic) humor]

I wouldn't go so far as to call Moviebob sexist, but some of those jokes seem to be catering to the lowest common denominator of Escapist posters. Same thing with the end tag. Liking Glee because it features hot ambisexual cheerleaders is as stupid as hating it for bearing a superficial resemblence to High School Musical.

Likewise, the self-deprecating humor is somewhat hit or miss (I'm thinking of the intro to his Social Network review).

 

[Towels]

I was thinking that Bob was being a bit harsh on an indy movie, but when he compared it to Shyamalan directing Cloverfield, that scared me off quite a bit.