Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: The Interview

This is topic The Interview in forum Film Handlers' Movie Reviews at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 12-25-2014, 11:46 PM:

Saw it on youtube. 480p as computer browser streaming didn't offer HD and my Panasonic 65VT50's youtube app (offers HD) gave me a "This video format is not supported" error when I clicked on the movie.

The movie itself was just OK at best. What they badly needed was their usual ensemble. Biggest mistake was not writing a part for Danny McBride as a grip or a production assistant to take along with them to N Korea. I just realized a lot of the humor comes from the ensemble and not just Seth and Dave. Also, Fat Kim wasn't shown to be as goofy as he is in real life. So Fat Kim should not be that disturbed by the movie.

THe movie was a wasted chance to be a funnier and edgier movie. Certainly a weaker effort than Pineapple Express and This is the End.

I am sure those of you who saw it at an indie theater near you will weigh in with their theatrical experience of this movie. Locally in Atlanta, this movie sold out all its shows for the first day.

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 12-26-2014, 07:07 PM:

A few theaters around here would've scheduled it, if it would actually have been available... Even without localized subtitles if necessary.

After finishing this year's Christmas rituals, me and a bunch of friends decided to fire up the good'ol home cinema and watch this already legendary movie last night.

We decided to do Sony a favor and go the semi-legal route. Yeah, we really wanted to pay for the privilege... Since the whole PlayStation thing wasn't an option, we finally managed to get the Google/Youtube thing going. But it wasn't an easy task.

First we needed to figure out how to get a proxy working. Then came the credit card thing... Three cards and a call from the credit card company later, we actually had a working stream. We felt both proud and stupid. Proud because we bunch of super-hackers actually managed to get it working. Stupid, because we could have achieved the same result by typing in some strings on Google and clicking two or three links... We would've even saved a few bucks and a blocked credit card in the process. And in the end, we could still be sued by the big evil overlords of SPE, because we bunch of uberhackers circumvented their magic geo-block thiny. But hey, we did it all in the name of misplaced patriotism! Because if you really want to do your part in saving the free world, you HAVE to watch this movie!

So, as for the movie itself... If this thing would ever trigger a war, it would go down in history as the Day the World stood Stupid...

You know, the whole concept actually sounds quite promising. Assassinating the freak show dictator of North Korea while being invited for an exclusive interview could be a great premise for a satirical comedy.

Unfortunately, this movie just turns out to be as stupid as the many actions that lead up to this "limited release" by Sony. Put quite blandly, this movie is just one unfunny, lame, formulaic piece of shit. Only the team effort we put into this (and our, euhm... patriotic duties off course) made us watch it till the end.

If you want to help Sony survive this winter, just write them a check already. Save those 112 minutes of your life for more entertaining acts of patriotism...

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 12-27-2014, 07:35 PM:

Here at the Egyptian we're showing two Sony offerings this evening. The Interview is playing as I write, to an audience of about 20. After about half an hour, it seems that there are one or two mildly amusing moments (e.g. a little girl singing a North Korean propaganda song which opens the movie, and Eminem having to explain to a bemused chat show host what being gay means), but the bottom line is that it could have been written by an intelligent 16-year old, with a typical 16-year old's sense of humor, in a couple of days.

Immediately afterwards we have Lawrence of Arabia in 70mm. Despite this being the second show this month, it's already sold 300 advances and we're expecting a full house.

If Sony had spent a tiny fraction of the negative cost of The Interview making a few more 70mm Larry prints, they'd probably have gotten a better return on their investment.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 12-27-2014, 09:10 PM:

Clearly the problem here is that you aren't presenting The Interview on 70mm. [Razz]

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 12-27-2014, 11:19 PM:

Or, given the subject matter, maybe 8.75mm?

Posted by Sean Weitzel (Member # 244) on 12-28-2014, 01:20 AM:

I don't think 70mm would have helped this excuse for a movie at all. This was one of the stupidest flicks I've seen in a long time. The whole fiasco stinks of PR stunt. Even without I don't think this movie can be saved (If that was ever the intention)

Short review:

stupid duo (Rogan/Franco) produce muckraking interview tabloid show and some how Kim Jong Un likes the show and wants to be interviewed. Wackiness ensues. Something dramatic happens to KJU near the end due to wacky duo Some NK woman wants to get it on with one of the stupid duo. Scorpions: Wind of Change song at the end.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 12-28-2014, 01:41 AM:

If the North Korean regime really was behind the Sony hack, then they deserve all the ridicule they get. If they'd done precisely nothing, the film would probably have lasted a week or two in the multiplexes, and then disappeared into the nether regions of Netflix and Amazon, never to be heard of again. Instead, they saw to it that millions of people who otherwise would probably not even have learned of the movie's existence went out of their way to watch it.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 12-28-2014, 01:57 AM:

What, 8mm wasn't good enough for China? They had to do 8.75mm??? [Razz]

quote: Sean Weitzel
I don't think 70mm would have helped this excuse for a movie at all.

Guess the sarcasm didn't make it through the text there. [Wink]