So I finally got around to watching Munich, of which Seth Rogen says in Knocked Up, “the whole movie is Eric Bana kicking fucking ass.” But I’d have to disagree. I’d say it’s more like, “the whole movie is Eric Bana talking to people at outdoor cafes or in dingy hotel rooms, sparsely punctuated with a few action sequences.”
This movie drags on way too much. I think the pacing in it is very poorly done, and it in no way deserves all of the hype that it got when it came out.
Is anyone with me? Or did you all like this one?
The one thing I can say about it is that Daniel Craig looked way better here with longer hair than he does in Casino Royale. That is a good look for him.
I watched it. And yes, it dragged and it was boring. I don’t know how I managed to sustain enough interest to watch it all the way through, but I did. And I don’t regret watching it. But I remember thinking, “Damn! This movie could be faster-paced.”
I knew next to nothing about it before I saw it, and was pleasantly surprised. I had expected it to be more of a courtroom-type movie, and extremely pro-Israel, but it wasn’t really. It was longer than it needed to be, and had sparse action, but so is, say, Heat, which is quite enjoyable.
Quite liked it myself. It was a Spielburg film wasn’t it? There were a few of his signature cringe-worthy scenes, but overall I though it was pretty good. It did a great job at capturing the look and feel of the 70s - really outstanding from that point of view.
This doesn’t surprise me, as I recall you making an “emperor is naked” post about The Wire. I think media such as this isn’t your cup of tea. Not trying to insult you, just making an observation.
Question: did you like Syrianna, or L.A. Confidential, or Bullitt?
It’s true that I find the Wire to be boring. I prefer The Shield. Of course, The Wire is the golden god of TV right now, it seems, so my opinion is not a popular one and maybe it comes off as philistine. I don’t care. On the surface, it might seem like I’d just rather watch Vic Mackey kicking down doors and beating up perps non-stop than a complex show about the politics of Baltimore, but I think there is a lot of depth to The Shield as well - the internal politics of the police station on that show are just as important a plot element as the cops vs. criminals. I think it’s the perfect blend of action and intrigue. The Wire is just too heavy for me.
I haven’t seen Syriana, and I doubt I would like it. I did like L.A. Confidential a lot but there was more to like than just the plot - the cinematography, sets, costumes, acting, and overall stylistic elements of the film were just very entertaining. I remember Bullitt as being kind of boring (from a long time ago) but that’s because the pacing of 70s movies is radically different from that of modern movies.
I definitely have developed the ability to watch movies and shows from the 70s without being bored - such as Starsky and Hutch, for instance. Today this show would be considered, by modern TV viewers, to be insanely dull. For the time, though, it was as action-packed as a show could get. I’ve learned to appreciate the nuances of the acting and the quirky rapport between Starsky and Hutch that keeps me interested in between the action scenes.
But Munich, overall, was just very dry and dull to me.
Some of my favorite movies:
Mulholland Dr. and Lost Highway
The Wicker Man (the original.)
Crash (the original with James Spader)
Mad Max (but not any of the sequels)
The Postman
No Way Out (which would be considered very “dry” by most people but which I find to be delightfully tense and well-acted, two things that I could NOT say about Munich - where’s the tension there?)
Those are just a few examples. I like a wide variety of stuff. I just think Munich is vastly overrated and boring as hell.
I thought Munich was okay, not stellar. The acting was good but the following of events was a bit convoluted and I lost the thread a bit towards the end. An action-fest it definitely was not.
Count me in as also detecting a hint of a whoosh here. Apparently Vinyl Turnip is referencing this thread in which Jinx complains about an anti-Semitic Google ad.
Munich wasn’t intended to be an action film. The point of the movie is in scenes like where the two guys try to decide what radio channel to listen to. It was a discourse on race relations in the Middle East, and any action scenes there may or may not have been were secondary.
Personally, I think that Kingdom of Heaven did the same thing better, but I liked both films.
If you want to watch something eye-glazing, put in Away from Her.