i'm doing the 5:2 diet atm. two days of fasting, five days of feasting. Usually don't eat breakky, tomorrow I'll have beacon for breakky

yeah, I know I'm doing it wrong, but.. meh

@gorillaman @ChaosEngine

Fast & Furious (which is part 4) was the first step in the right direction as the first in the series to start a transition, although only marginally, out of a fun-but-really-stupid category of action flick. Tokyo Drift was definitely the worst of them. (I'm just hoping the tie-in with part 7 and the return of Lucas Black will somehow make up for its existence; introducing us to Han's back story in Fast Five helped.)

Fast Five was the first good flick on its upswing toward world domination because it was much less dumb, but had a much richer story, better characters, incredible practical effects, a huge, diverse cast, and awesome international settings. This was the first time it was much more kick-ass than pure roll-your-eyes-and-sigh maximum-dumb-shitatude accompanying the action.

Fast & Furious 6 continued to prove they were onto a winning formula and continued that trend. (However, there's a fucking-stupid ~9 minute fight on an airplane WHILE it is driving at near-takeoff speeds on a runway. I did some calculations the last time I watched it and remember thinking they had to be on like a 20-mile-long runway. Come on guys, it's called editing; or at least have some phony excuse for that bullshitestry. But I digress.)

One of the most compelling parts of both parts 5 and 6 were some kick-ass (though of course impossible) practical stunt sequences that may have been the first I've seen as a fully-grown man to earn me a visceral ear-to-ear grin and cause me to unintentionally, audibly say "Holy shit!" in the movie theater.

Can't wait for part 7 and I hope they are able to just keep churning them out, despite the unfortunate loss of Paul Walker because these are some seriously ass-kicking action flicks.

So when exactly did this franchise get great? I remember a time when credible people couldn't stop screaming about how awesome Fast Five, I think, was, and I resolved to eventually get on the furiouswagon. Tokyo Drift was garbage, I know that much.

Any movie can be intelligent or stupid, but some abstain, I guess like a state of amorality, asexuality (or indeed, atheism). It's without an intelligence quotient. I'm okay when my action movie is brainless- it's an action movie, I generally don't watch them to engage my brain on a deeper level, the same way I don't drink red wine for breakfast. It's when a movie actively insults your intelligence (a la Fast Five) I have a problem with it.

>> ^bareboards2:

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2011/06/24/wa
rning-you-about-the-tree-of-life


Yes! That was what I needed! About six weeks ago!

The funniest part is that little warning was obviously written for an "art house cinema", which is exactly where people would be prepared for non-Hollywood films. But I saw it a theater that was also showing Fast Five and Thor.

They chose the movie "Fast Five" because that's her nickname for him...and that's being generous.

Yeah, I don't think I could marry a girl that willingly went to see Fast Five.

Wow, I was disappointed with Fast Five and I didn't have that awesomeness beforehand. I feel for those 100 strangers...

>> ^rychan:

I generally dislike all of Freddie's movies, and this is no exception. There doesn't seem to be much more here than glorification of violence. Which I don't mind, it just doesn't do much for my by itself. Violence for a purpose would be nice, at least.
Also it just seems like the "protagonists" are just lucky, and the bad guys extremely deaf, have bad aim, and like to run out of cover.


All good points.


Then again, sometimes pure entertainment is just pure entertainment. Do you also over-analyze movies like Fast Five because driving a vault through the middle of downtown attached to a couple of cables is just OH SO REALISTIC and that hitting the nitrous ALWAYS equates to MORE traction from a standstill? Sometimes you just have to relax and have fun. Smile more. Life will be better. I promise.

As far as this F&F clip, yeah, sickeningly obvious puff piece. The number of screens did go up a bit in the second weekend, then fell off. It will hang around for a while only because of independent theaters who are run by conservative owners.

To compare the per screen numbers he said were "staggering":

Atlas Shrugged opening weekend: $5,640 per screen (299 screens)
Same weekend's number one movie, Rio: $10,252 per screen (3,826 screens)
Fast Five opening weekend: $23,655 per screen (3,644 theaters)

It's only staggering when you were expecting absolutely nobody to see the film.

Your video, The 5-Year-Old Screenwriter Of "Fast Five" Interviewed, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Thanks for the quality

In reply to this comment by JiggaJonson:
*quality