Tower Heist, ... what the hell was that? Options

[tantryl]

I just got done watching this flick. It was... uh, well it wasn't bad, per se.

Here's the thing. It. Well. Right. Put it this way. Going in, these are the things you know about the film:

Tower Heist
Starring Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Alan Alda, Tia Leoni, Matthew Broderick and Casey Affleck
Directed by Brett Ratner
Plot: something about stealing something from a tower, to avenge the employees of said tower because a tenant stole their retirement monies.

What you need to do when you go to watch this film is forget you know about the starring part. It's some kind of red herring smokescreen mislead. It'll lead you to believe it's meant to be a comedy. It, apparently, is not. There's less comedy in it than even, say, an Ocean's movie. If you've seen the trailer you've seen the parts that are meant to be funny. It's a straight up directed by Brett Ratner heist movie. And by that I mean, not unlike his X3 effort, it's a heist movie that takes concepts from other heist movies and does them sort of sloppily.

A lot of it sort of doesn't make sense, the twists fall flat, the feel good ending is actually funny when it isn't supposed to be. But it trundled along OK and you didn't hate watching it. It was enough to keep me interested, albeit largely to see if it was going to have a comedic or dramatic turn at some point. It doesn't, the tone set in the first 10 minutes is carried throughout. But it was... fine.

The main question you ask yourself when it's over was... how the hell did that get made with that cast?

[gabber]

how the hell did that get made with that cast?

A nice paycheck with bonuses like awesome drugs and fantastic catering?

btw; thanks for making me curious about seeing a movie I had no intentions of wanting to see :p

This post has been edited by gabber: Jun 25 2012, 12:09 AM

[tantryl]

Oh, I don't question why the cast did the movie. They didn't write it, and only Eddie Murphy was a producer and I'm guessing that's pretty much in name/for money only.

I'm just wondering how the people who provided the money decided on putting a bunch of comedy actors into a sort of light heist movie.

[elvenwhore]

With some movies, you walk away knowing you've just watched something amazing, but you can't seem to just pinpoint why. The Station Agent is one such movie, for me. Beautiful, beautiful movie, but I can't exactly pinpoint why. I mean, I could sit here and say the acting was superb, the characters and development were realistic and well-handled, the plot was quite reflective, etc, but none of that explains why I walked away from that movie feeling like I'd just seen something that was just beautiful.

Well, Tower Heist was a bit like that, except for one obvious difference: I enjoyed the movie but I can't really pinpoint why. As you said, it's not really a comedy even though it's kinda trailer'ed as one. It's not a beautiful or fantastic movie but it's not like there's a great deal that's wrong with it, either. So I walked away from that movie knowing I had been entertained and that I enjoyed it for what it was, but I don't really know why :-) I have that same sense of, well, it was... fine, it trundled along ok. And then I found myself at the end and that was that, basically :-)

Good question, though. Now that you've pointed it out to me :-p

[hectorbustnuts]

Tantryl, you turned me away at "Brett Ratner".

Elven, "Station Agent" is sublime.

We watched Tarkovsky's "Stalker" on the weekend and at the conculsion, the missus looked at me a asked "What the fuck was that about?". I dunno...but I loved every damn second of it.

[Mac Dude]

What I like about tantryl's and EW's comments is that to me it takes a laid back approach to the moofies.

Despite the fact that a movie may have faults or the director has made some curious decisions, that doesn't impact on their ability to enjoy the movie. I think some people over analyse movies and actually end up spoiling it for themselves.

- sorry if I've misrepresented tantryl and EW, but it's part of what I read into your posts :)

[TheMojorising]

So don bother watching it?

Im about to watch Contraband

[disolusiond]

So don bother watching it?

Im about to watch Contraband

Apply your question to your statement and you win.

[Foods]

So don bother watching it?

Im about to watch Contraband

The only thing that makes Contraband slightly watchable is Kate Beckinsale.

Tower Heist was about 90 minutes of me finding other things to do while it played in the back ground. Make a drink. Check emails. Check Facebook. Make a phone call. Make a drink. It felt like 90 minutes of nothing.


'

[tantryl]

What I like about tantryl's and EW's comments is that to me it takes a laid back approach to the moofies.

Despite the fact that a movie may have faults or the director has made some curious decisions, that doesn't impact on their ability to enjoy the movie. I think some people over analyse movies and actually end up spoiling it for themselves.

- sorry if I've misrepresented tantryl and EW, but it's part of what I read into your posts :)

I do my level best to not analyse a flick while I'm watching it... but I love analysing it after I've finished watching it. Good, bad or mediocre, I really enjoy looking at what worked for me and what didn't in a film and pondering why.

Unfortunately some people don't like you doing that to a movie they like, especially if you didn't, and just decide you must have been picking it apart during the movie and it's got nothing to do with the movie itself.

Mojo - Uh. Maybe? Like I said, it isn't bad. But it isn't exactly engaging either. You'd probably end up doing what Foods did.

Theere's a scene that's a microcosm of the film. One of the characters is dangling from a high place. The set up, the character, the situation scream that it should be a comedic scene. But it's shot and scored like a suspenseful scene. Which turns it into this sort of light hearted whoopsie daisy moment - neither particularly funny nor particularly tense.

[NukeJockey]

Tantryl, you turned me away at "Brett Ratner".

Elven, "Station Agent" is sublime.

We watched Tarkovsky's "Stalker" on the weekend and at the conculsion, the missus looked at me a asked "What the fuck was that about?". I dunno...but I loved every damn second of it.

I've heard of that movie, The Stalker games are based off it from what I can tell (the wish maker, the zone etc.).

[hectorbustnuts]

Very loosely, yes...but I think the game probably draws more inspiration from "Roadside Picnic", the story the film's based on.

[@~thehung]

i agree with everything youve said, tantryl.

which makes it difficult to recommend.

the answer to "Was it any good?", is that sound which starts a lot like the "W" from a "Well..." but ends up more like an over-medicated mental patient doing an impression of an F1 car.

[TheMojorising]

I finally got around to watching the second half of Transformers 3 - Dark of the Moon.

It wasnt just the fact that it was a complete load of shit. But it was a long complete load of shit. How the fuck is this series popular

Reason I bring this up is, if I can finish watching that, then maybe I'll give Tower Heist a go.

This post has been edited by TheMojorising: Jun 29 2012, 03:59 PM