Pain & Gain

[jenkins]

I'm going to use "an impression of an action movie" I like it, I think I like movies like that.

[MacGuffin]

Red Band Trailer

[RegularKarate]

And it's finally revealed what I suspected the whole time, this is going to be as funny as the "comic relief" in Transformers. You can't just put funny people into a movie and have them curse a lot and all of a sudden, it's funny.

This is the kind of movie that I would have liked to have seen played a little more straight. It would probably actually be funny then.

[©brad]

Has Michael Bay ever locked off a shot?

[samsong]

basically perfect.

[modage]

Has Michael Bay ever locked off a shot?

Has Terrence Malick?

[samsong]

... did no one else see this?!

[Kal]

... did no one else see this?!

I saw it and loved it. I wish every Michael Bay movie was like this one instead of the usual garbage.

[Ghostboy]

It was good. The articles it's based on are amazing and I couldn't believe they stuck so thoroughly to the facts while maintaining the tone of the trailer.

One thing that stuck out: given that this was a guaranteed R-rated movie, and that's main characters all date strippers (moreso in the original story), I'm surprised Bay don't go overboard with sex and nudity. Aside from a few brief shots, it's as tame as the strip club in Armageddon. In spite of his lascivious, misogynistic perspective, he also seems to be almost scared of REALLY seeing naked ladies.

[samsong]

teenage boys get cold feet when presented with the real thing.  probably too busy and nervous about hiding his boner.

but you're right, and i had the same issue with the man with the iron fists, but that seems to stem more from some misguided "respect" for women (pffffft) on rza's part.  i always say don't let your ideals get in the way of a good movie.  if there's a whorehouse in your movie there best be some titties flopping about.

but this was glorious, and basically exactly what i wanted it to be.  fucking tony shaloub swinging for the fences in what has got to be one of the most joyous performances i've seen in a long time.  michael bay's magnum opus, for sure. 

[diggler]

Simultaneously Bay's best movie, The Rock's best performance, Wahlberg's best performance (since Huckabees) and the worst movie I've seen this year. Props to Bay for trying something interesting for a change, though. On the plus side, Shalhoub handles the transition from unsympathetic ass hole to unsympathetic hero with fervor (he fits in Bay's wheelhouse far better than Turturro did), the "dumbbell" scene was something only Bay could conjure and I also enjoyed how uncomfortable my audience was with the wild changes in tone. As a whole, however, the film doesn't really work. The freeze frame gags aren't very consistent, some seem like point of view observations, others are fourth wall breaking winks at the audience, but none of them are very funny or inspired. The fat doctor girlfriend was a bizarre inclusion, how do you include a comic relief character in a story that doesn't require it? I've heard people praise Bay for featuring a non supermodel female character, which I would buy as noble if her fatness wasn't the entire punchline of every scene she's in.

I already feel like I've thought too much about this movie. It's a big, steamy pile of cinematic chaos. It's too dark to be brainless fun, but too funny to be effectively dark. Having said that, I hope Bay keeps doing this. I'm so confused.

[Neil]

I'm so confused.

me too.  what an odd film.

[jenkins]

last night at the academy two michael bay jokes were made. the first received a short-burst of laughter and mild confusion. it was about someone in a photo looking like michael bay. the second was about bay's editing speed, and most of the theater laughed. there wasn't a joke made about any other moviemaker. it was kinda wacky. old people, idk

[HeywoodRFloyd]

this film deserves more love, I saw it last night and it's the most entertaining thing I've seen all year.

[Pubrick]

this movie was shit.

it's getting overpraised (here at least) because it's the most coherent thing he's ever done. but that's not saying much, it starts strong and i appreciate the attempt at cleverness by having wahlberg be the bicep/arm of the Sun Gym logo, along with a few other visual flourishes, but it soon runs out of steam and by the hour mark i couldn't believe it was only halfway done.

look at the last line here (emphasis mine), this just about sums up how much thought went into this whole thing:



i think bay saw himself in these idiots. he's the thoughtlessly overworked bicep of movies.