Snakes on a Plane has arrived- Page 2

[GoodbyeMyLover]

Posted: 8/18/06 at 4:15pm

It looks hilarious, I might actually see it now!

[TheQuibbler]

Posted: 8/18/06 at 10:38pm

Really had a great time at this movie.

[MatthewAddison]

Posted: 8/18/06 at 11:50pm

Can someone please explain the phenomenon to me.

And also, why are gay men so excited about this movie?

I saw Pulse last night...I left without one.

[harris007]

Posted: 8/19/06 at 12:00am

has anyone else gotten the phone automated message with sam jackson yet

[gavrochegirl]

Posted: 8/19/06 at 12:02am

I've sent it to a couple of people.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 8/19/06 at 1:47am

Lest anyone think that MargoChanning is just some out-of-touch theatre snob, I want everyone to know I saw this today and had the best time I've had in a movie theatre in ages. The movie cribs unapologetically from Airport, Airplane, Die Hard, The Poseidon Adventure, Anaconda and a half dozen other action films. It's campy, ridiculous, genuinely scary at times and over-the-top in a way that only the best popcorn action pictures can be. It isn't tortuously dark or serious or psychologically moody like so many summer movies (especially of the super hero genre) have become in the last several years. It's a well-executed, fun, dumb roller coaster ride that doesn't try to do anything more than keep the audience entertained non-stop. And special kudos to Sam Jackson for his scenery-chewing and being willing to send-up his typical baddass persona, delivering profane one-liners with such unabashed conviction that he had my audience cheering him throughout.

I think I want to see it again.

Updated On: 8/19/06 at 01:47 AM

[DAME]

Posted: 8/19/06 at 3:58am

[JustChillin8908]

Posted: 8/20/06 at 12:03am

I'm seeing this at 12:30 PM tomorrow, will it ruin the experience to have an almost empty theater?
Updated On: 8/20/06 at 12:03 AM

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 8/20/06 at 2:17am

Nope not at all.... there were probably about 20 people when I saw it, and people were still cheering, screaming, and clapping... not to mention howling with laughter.

This is honestly the most fun I've had at the movies in a while. Before the movie, I was saying, "I can't believe I'm spending eight dollars to see this!" Now, after seeing it, I think it was one of the best $8.00 that I have spent this summer.

"Enough is enough! I have had it with these mother****ing snakes on this mother****ing plane!"

.... it got cheers.

[DG]

Posted: 8/20/06 at 2:19am

Margo - that might be my favorite post in my 2+ years on this board!

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 8/20/06 at 2:38am

I think Margo's review was the last straw that sent me to the theater tonight to see it.

[Lavieboheme3090]

Posted: 8/20/06 at 3:01am

Snake on a Plane for best picture!

[jimnysf]

Posted: 8/20/06 at 3:33am

"I think it was one of the best $8.00.."

$8 for a movie on a weekend? That's pretty good. It's $10.50 and climbing where I am (San Francisco).

[jimnysf]

Posted: 8/20/06 at 3:37am

NY Daily News also 3 Stars

WARNING>>Reviews contains spoilers

New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com
Hiss-terical stuff!


'Snakes on a Plane' Horror-comedy whose title is its premise. With Samuel L. Jackson, Julianna Margulies. Director: David R. Ellis (1:45). R: Language, sexuality/nudity, drug use, violence. At area theaters.


David R. Ellis' horror-comedy "Snakes on a Plane" may be the most entertaining film ever released without the benefit of critic screenings.


This Internet-promoted lark about a Hawaii-to-L.A. flight besieged by a frenzied tangle of snakes is hilariously funny, full of fang-popping scares, and guaranteed to increase travel by train.


Cobras, corals, rattlers - "S.O.A.P." (as it's known in cyberspace) has the mother lode of venomous killers, plus an anaconda that puts the big squeeze on the plane's most obnoxious passenger.


And these reptiles have a mean sense of humor. The first victim is a woman who gets nipped on her bare breast while joining the Mile High Club with her boyfriend. In an adjacent bathroom, a man relieving himself suffers a fate worse than getting caught in his zipper.


The excuse for this highest of all high-concept disaster movies is a young surfer being transported to L.A. by FBI agent Flynn (Samuel L. Jackson) to testify against a crime lord he saw committing a murder. Unbeknown to them, the crew and the passengers, the mob has stocked the 747's cargo bay with snakes that are being driven mad by pheromones sprayed on a shipment of orchid leis.


When the snakes get loose halfway to L.A. and the pilots are killed, it is up to Flynn, the surfer (Nathan Phillips), a stewardess (Julianna Margulies), and a couple of courageous passengers to maintain order, fend off the beasts and land the plane.


Jackson is in his element here - tough, foulmouthed and authoritative - and the film's dialogue is funnier than a snake exploding in a microwave (yep, the pleasure awaits you).


Since many of the scores of snakes are jettisoned from the plane somewhere over the Pacific, the scene is set for a sequel: "Snakes on a Boat." I can't wait.

[jimnysf]

Posted: 8/20/06 at 3:45am

San Francisco Chronicle Review: "...if you can find a better time at the movies this year than this wild comic thriller, let me in on it. I'm there...Contrary to expectations, the picture did not turn out to be so bad it's good, but rather so extreme it's good, so shrewd it's good, so funny it's good, so good it's good."

Mick LaSalle


Great 'Snakes'!
Had it with this %$#!*@* hype? Well, the movie is finally here, and it lives up to its promise. Fasten your seat belts and enjoy the ride.

Snakes on a Plane: Comic thriller. Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Julianna Margulies and Nathan Phillips. Directed by David R. Ellis. (R. 105 minutes. At Bay Area theaters.)



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Snakes on a Plane" will never land on "Sight & Sound's" Best Films of All Time list, and, though it's unfair, the American Film Institute will probably never include "I've had it with these mother -- snakes on this mother -- plane" among its roster of great movie quotations. But if you can find a better time at the movies this year than this wild comic thriller, let me in on it. I'm there.

A distinction must be made: There can be no doubt that people were going to enjoy this movie no matter what. After months of hype on the Internet, people were going to like this movie even if they had to force themselves. Nobody sleeps outside a theater to have a bad time. But take all that off the table -- forget the promotion, forget the phenomenon -- and just sit there and watch it. This is a perfectly respectable picture that, despite its modest aspirations, accomplishes something elusive: It finds and maintains that delicate balance between the genuinely thrilling and the flat-out ridiculous.

The picture opened Friday (actually at 10 p.m. Thursday) without screening for critics, usually a fatal sign, but in this case there was no reason to hide it. Perhaps the reasoning went that, for "Snakes on a Plane," reviews wouldn't matter. That's probably true. Or perhaps someone thought the movie would be best served if it were seen the way it's going to be seen by most people, late at night with a raucous crowd.

That's certainly how I saw it. At San Francisco's Metreon on Thursday night, there was a packed house, and yet two prime seats on the aisle were unoccupied. Closer inspection revealed that someone had thrown up on those seats, which should give you an idea of the condition of some people entering the theater. The mostly young audience came determined to root, shout and heckle "Snakes on a Plane" into a fun experience, and yet within 20 minutes it became clear that that would take no strenuous effort. Contrary to expectations, the picture did not turn out to be so bad it's good, but rather so extreme it's good, so shrewd it's good, so funny it's good, so good it's good.

If "Snakes on a Plane" is ultimately remembered for anything, it may be as the apotheosis of Samuel L. Jackson, as the movie that most tested Jackson's ability to maintain his cool under circumstances of extreme exasperation. He plays an FBI agent transporting a witness from Honolulu to Los Angeles. If the significance of that plane route isn't immediately clear, take a look at the map: Between those two points, there's nowhere to land a plane.

The witness (Nathan Phillips) saw an evil crime boss (Bryon Lawson) commit murder, and the boss does not want him to reach the mainland. So with lightning speed he improvises a way to bring down the plane. He arranges to have hundreds of poisonous snakes put in boxes for transport and to have the snakes aroused into a frenzy by the spraying of pheromones throughout the plane. That's all he needs for a crisis -- and all the screenwriters need for a premise.

It's no surprise that "Snakes on a Plane" should be a blast at the beginning. When two randy young lovers go into a cramped airplane bathroom together and start taking off their clothes, the only question is where the snake will bite them -- but that's a question of intense interest. In another bathroom interlude, a man absentmindedly urinates, not noticing that he is directing the flow onto the head of a disgruntled snake that has crawled up through the plumbing. When the snake latches on to him ... no, this is just too ghastly to talk about.

That's all very funny, screamingly funny, hysterically funny, but that all comes in the first half hour. The wonder is that screenwriters John Heffernan and Sebastian Gutierrez and director David R. Ellis are able to stretch this into a satisfying feature-length movie. They succeed by avoiding a couple of easy outs and by doing a lot of things right. The main shortcut avoided is to get cute and try to make a bad movie, as though that would be fun. Yet another avoided is the temptation to dive headfirst into the ridiculous.

Though "Snakes on a Plane" is to a faint degree a satire of action movies, and though it's made with a sophisticated awareness of the conventions of those films, it nonetheless actually works as a straight-up action movie. It consistently offers up interesting and perilous situations, and it places characters that we come to care about in those situations. This is not "Airplane." There's no winking at the audience. The director's wisest move is that, though some of the passenger characters are intended to be funny, he has the principals -- Jackson and Julianna Margulies, as a flight attendant -- play it straight. In fact, Margulies' performance could be transposed into a dramatic film with no adjustment. This is a good thing that keeps "Snakes" working as a thriller.

Is there something more here? Is there anything more to be said? Is this a metaphor for terrorism? The movie began life as a screenplay a decade ago, but it took until now for the true marketability of snakes on a plane to be realized. There's probably something going on here, but it might spoil the fun to figure it out.

-- Advisory: Violence, blood, death, harsh language and snakes attaching themselves to sensitive parts of the body.

[GuyfromGermany]

Posted: 8/20/06 at 7:13am

"The milk is gone!!!"

http://www.catsonaplane.com/

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 8/20/06 at 7:51am

Meffie has already seen it three times and is going again tomorrow.

[JustChillin8908]

Posted: 8/20/06 at 10:37am

"Nope not at all.... there were probably about 20 people when I saw it"

Well I'll be lucky if there's about 4 people... but who knows maybe more people go to the theater in the afternoon than I think.

I hope my cousin changes her opinion about the movie when she sees it (although I think she's going to say it was stupid no matter what, but as long as she has fun...).

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 8/20/06 at 1:54pm

It WAS stupid, but if she doesn't have fun, then I don't think she has a pulse.

[pab]

Posted: 8/20/06 at 3:02pm

"LOS ANGELES - The Internet buzz over "Snakes on a Plane" turned out to be nothing to hiss about. The high-flying thriller preceded by months of unprecedented Web buildup technically debuted as the No. 1 movie, but with a modest $15.25 million opening weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday."
'Snakes' slithers to top of box office

[jimnysf]

Posted: 8/20/06 at 3:21pm

Maybe they should have screened it for critics and the positive reviews might have helped the box office. I want to see it but I was waiting for after the weekend because I expected big crowds. A friend went to see it in San Francisco last night and said that there was a good sized crowd but that the theatre was not full. He added that all the evening shows for "Little Miss Sunshine" were sold out in advance.

[MissElphie]

Posted: 8/20/06 at 3:50pm

I saw it yesterday. I was worried cause I generally don't like horror movies and I don't like gore, but I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. I laughed through most of it. And cheered for the already famous line. I have to say, though, that is the first Saturday matinee I've ever been to where the audience cheered when the movie was over.

Updated On: 8/20/06 at 03:50 PM

[JustChillin8908]

Posted: 8/20/06 at 4:31pm

I just saw it a few hours ago and I really enjoyed it.

Although I think I need to see again on a Friday or Saturday night, because although there were a few people at my Sunday matinee I always felt wierd laughing at some of the scenes. There was some laughing, but mostly at the parts that were meant to be funny ::SPOILER:: Example: When Kenan says he learned how to fly from a video game.::END SPOILER::

I kept feeling wierd laughing at some of the scenes because no one else seemed to be laughing (I kept looking over at my cousin and she seemed to be laughing but no one else). There was also no applause or anything which was kinda dissapointing.

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 8/20/06 at 4:40pm

I enjoyed it... no audience participation, though

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 8/20/06 at 6:49pm

I attended the Vancouver cast and crew screening yesterday and had a blast. It was like Rocky Horror without flashlights or rice. We all screamed and applauded at The Line and roared with laughter throughout (which kind of makes me wonder if the crew KNEW they were doing a campy over-the-top Bad Movie all along).

Good times. And just to dispell the rumors, Bruce James was NOT offered the Silver Surfer role in "Fantastic Four 2" based on his performances in "S.O.A.P."