*** Official TROPIC THUNDER Discussion Thread

*** Official TROPIC THUNDER Discussion Thread

I wonder how many Fred Williamson movies Downey watched preparing for this role.
Looks like a fun movie.

*** Official TROPIC THUNDER Discussion Thread

Does look pretty good. The trailer was fantastic!

Re: *** Official TROPIC THUNDER Discussion Thread

Whoops. Should have been in here.

The movie itself is a feast for film fans, for some reasons I will explain in spoilery fashion. I urge you to see the film if you have any interest before continuing on into my travelogue of funny gems from this film.



SPOILERS

There are precious few cameos in the film. You may have heard about the famous one...but it's not a cameo. It's a real role. There is another major actor who has a role and hasn't been featured in ANY of the ads. Beyond that, there are some great cameos, especially Tobey Maguire. I'd love to see Marvel's reaction when they see their two biggest stars holding each other's rosaries lovingly.

The film opens brilliantly, showcasing each of the four stars in their realm, down to the pattern-perfect studio releasing each of the films, plus a commercial which made me do a double take based on the language in it

When then get right into the film, and it's a doozy. What I marvelled at was how each of the characters was funny in a different way, yet they all seemed to mesh into the same film. You had your nerdy humor (Jay Baruchel), your hubris humor (Ben Stiller), your gross-out/over-the-top humor (Jack Black), and your "PC and relations" humor (RDJ and Brandon Jackson). Make no mistake, the character of Alpa Chino exists for a joke or two of his own (and decent ones), but mostly to keep RDJ's character from becoming bigger than the humor. The interplay between Jackson and RDJ is very good though.

Beyond that is a solid cast of characters, and events each more nutty than the one before.

Tom Cruise does a meta-thing here which is half-baked and half-brilliant. When he's on, he is ON, and provided some of the biggest laughs of the film.

Danny McBride is having a hell of a summer. Few saw The Foot-Fist Way (I didn't, but I will), but he has a major turn in both Pineapple Express (Red) and this film. He's GREAT in this. What he is doing should be tired, but he brings a freshness and energy to it.

I mentioned this in the Review thread, but John Toll lit this thing. John Toll is a fricking god. His last war movie was The Thin Red Line, so you can gather his skill from that. Beyond that, Stiller has it structured very effectively. It never stops being funny.

One last little thing: when the helo is landing in the "new" jungle, they overlay the score with The Name of the Game (the "Calling All Freaks" song, also used in the Blade II trailer) in a very...well, awesome, way. The score is much softer at first, and then slowly becomes audible. Very effective.

And there is an AWESOME HD/Blu-Ray argument disucssing the importance of the PS3 that ends on a PERFECT note, if you love home theater.

Anyways, exceptional comedy for me.

Re: *** Official TROPIC THUNDER Discussion Thread

I hate to double post, but it is hours apart, so an edit wouldn't make sense

RDJ's work here is very interesting. It's amazing they found an actor who is a) so talented he can play every facet of the role (which includes having to ACTUALLY be a great method actor) and b) capable of taking the piss out of it (and himself). Frankly, it's an amazing feat that I don't think anyone else could do. I'm not kidding. The character actually educates on the art of acting, while teasing it and celebrating it at the same time...all while making the audience laugh.

I'll be interested to see what others think of both the film and his performance. Especially his performance.

Re: *** Official TROPIC THUNDER Discussion Thread

I thought it was good. Very funny stuff at times, but some of the humor failed.

Downey Jr. was awesome. He deserves an Oscar nomination for this role, or at the very least deserves to be given a stick man. He played the black character for the most part, but I wanted to see more of his Australian.

I thought Black's character's storyline was really weak. I think they could've come up with a better character for him, but he did have some funny stuff.

I didn't think Cruise was much different than in Magnolia.

I thought McBride had a throwaway character.

Toll's cinematography was gorgeous, but I don't think it fit the movie that well. It might have worked better with a lower-budget feel.

My favorite part was the Satan's Alley trailer.

~T

Re: *** Official TROPIC THUNDER Discussion Thread

I think I laughed most often at Jack Black, actually. He's hysterical in this flick. RDJ humor is more suttle. Tom Cruise is hilarious. Chuck nailed it, though -- each character gets to shine in his own way.

The trailers at the beginning of the film are pitch perfect. It all worked for me.

It's a real movie. It's well-structured and shot & edited beautifully. Fun soundtrack, too.

Stiller and Cruise as "The Hardy Men" -- count on it in a couple years at most, based on the strong work they both do here.

Re: *** Official TROPIC THUNDER Discussion Thread

One of the best ensemble comedies I've seen in a while. Only the second big comedy this year that really made me laugh.

RDJ is absolutely incredible in this. One of the best "is this really over the top" performances I've ever seen.

Re: *** Official TROPIC THUNDER Discussion Thread

I saw this earlier and liked it, but it never quite fired on all cylinders to me.

I like the fact that it was more of an ensemble than the trailers indicate. But as a result, no one really shines in my opinion. Jack Black runs around doing his thing. Robert Downey Jr. is good, but I feel most of his good stuff is in the trailer. Stiller is fine. He does his thing. Baruchel and Jackson are also good in their roles. McBride is okay, but I didn't feel he stood out all that well. Nolte plays crazy well. McConaughey did surprise me a bit with his character's dramatic turn. Tom Cruise is pretty funny.

So I'm not necessarily enthralled by the movie. But it is funny. My favorite part was probably Kirk Lazarus discussing acting. I'd actually love to see a Michael Caine's "Acting" type special with Lazarus. It'd be priceless.

My only real beef is that Stiller often comes up with funny material but he doesn't know when to stop - like with the Cruise character. It's funny, but he takes it to such a broad level that it just feels like they're trying too hard to score some laughs.

Re: *** Official TROPIC THUNDER Discussion Thread

I saw this yesterday on a lark - didn't know much about it other than the "R-word" controversy.

Overall I thought it was very well done and funny. Some very funny bits:

- The Blu-ray/HD DVD format war bit.
- Tivo saving the day
- McConaughey agonizing over the plane vs. saving his friend
- RDJ's character.
- Stiller's "kid" on his back stabbing him as he runs back to the chopper
- Jack Black's heroin withdrawls.

Oh, I didn't know Cruise was in this movie and I didn't recognize him until near the end. So that "surprise" worked on me.

Re: *** Official TROPIC THUNDER Discussion Thread

For me I thought that Downey was just okay. There were some funny parts but most of those are what I saw in the previews. Was actually a little disappointed in how his character was written. I thought he was going be be funnier.

It was a good comedy for an ensemble cast.

I really liked Steve Coogan for the short time he was in the film and how he exits was hilarious. The crowd I was with gave about a five second delay before they started laughing.

I think I laughed the most at Tom Cruise. I hate to say it but he was damn funny.

Re: *** Official TROPIC THUNDER Discussion Thread

I just came back from the theater and have to say I LOVED it... the most I've laughed in the theater in a long time.

Re: *** Official TROPIC THUNDER Discussion Thread

I finally got round to seeing this.

I am surprised and disappointed that it has got such a short thread on here.

I thought for the Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD monolgue alone it would have got more coverage here. I think I was the only person in the cinema to laugh at that bit.

This film was actually reviewed in the arts section of The Economist, which is a pretty rare event.

Anyway, I had great time and laughed out loud many times, especailly at Cruise. There were some great comedy moments. As a Brit, Coogan was the main weak link for me as I am too familiar with his stuff.

Also disappointed with Nolte. I have the feeling that there is 20 minutes of additional stuff that this film needs to truly work. I'm sure there is more Notle and Lazarus material, even the Panda joke probably has a better set-up that they cut. It will be interesting to see what the Blu-Ray release contains.

The film contained so many different target that I'm sure I missed a few of the jokes.

Re: *** Official TROPIC THUNDER Discussion Thread

I don't think he's playing!

Re: *** Official TROPIC THUNDER Discussion Thread

Just rented this last night and while it took me until today to finish watching it I thought it was pretty good. It didn't hold my interest enough last night cause I wanted to play cards more, but watching it today had me laughing out loud quite often.

I am shocked people thought RDJ's roll/character was just "OK", I thought it was completely awesome, and really couldn't get enough. All his looks and dialog was just fuking awesome. I even watched the DVD commentary with RDJ in character the whole fuking time, LMAO! I liked everyone in this movie but RDJ was too damn great.

Re: *** Official TROPIC THUNDER Discussion Thread

"You gotta' drop dees boys in da shit."

"I'm a lead farmer, motha fucka!!"

Downey went waaaaay beyond what he had to for a movie like this and I thank god he did, he was sheer briliance and on occasion I actually began to forget he was actually a white man.

Re: *** Official TROPIC THUNDER Discussion Thread

I finally watched it this weekend, and while there weren't many laugh out loud moments, I thought it was really good.

RDJ made the movie, although his funniest bits were in the trailers. And I did like Cruise's character.

Re: *** Official TROPIC THUNDER Discussion Thread

Finally saw this the other day. I thought that it started out just great. Lots of fun and surprises. About half way through, I thought it lost steam. I was just bored. The "Simple Jack" stuff was brutal...not funny at all just boring. This could have been 20 min shorter and been a much better film.

Obviously, some great stuff in there, just not a great (or overly funny) film in the end.

My 2 cents.

Re: *** Official TROPIC THUNDER Discussion Thread

Good thing you weren't watching the director's cut.

Re: *** Official TROPIC THUNDER Discussion Thread

Downey's seemingly random lines were gold.

I don't know where "dagummit blamtucky I ain't reprogrammin' a VCR!" came from, but damn I loved it.

I don't know what this says about my sense of humor, but my favorite random line from Downey was "I'm just like a little boy, playin' with his dick when he's nervous".

So unexpected in a quiet moment in the film.