Raoul's China Saloon (V5.0) Beta

The Bar Room => The Champagne Cabana => Topic started by: contemporarydog on May 03, 2007, 03:25:07 AM

Title: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on May 03, 2007, 03:25:07 AM
What have you just watched?

I just watched episode 20 of Heroes.  Great, great stuff as always.  Just three to go.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on May 03, 2007, 03:33:39 AM
I just finished #20 of Heroes not more than ten minutes ago...coincidink? I think not....I wasn't really into it at first, was kinda hokey but it grew on me.
Still hooked on the Shield, keeps getting better and better.
And I have a soft spot for House.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on May 03, 2007, 04:10:37 AM
I started watching a Korean film that my tutoring student lent me, called Save The Green Planet.  It looked a really cool and original idea for a film, about some people who suspect the C.E of a major corporation of being an alien, and kidnap him.  But the bloody disk started freezing up about 20 minutes in.  asasasasas I have one of the earth/fire/water indian trilogy to watch too, but it looks heavy.  Am waiting to be in the mood for it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Nolefan on May 03, 2007, 05:12:41 AM
Missus and I decided to splurge today and go watch a movie in the big screen... what better excuse that the opening day of Spiderman 3 to do that...
I really missed the experience... big screen, proper english, nice colors, no one walking in front of the screen....  bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: carryann on May 03, 2007, 05:32:52 AM
Had a bit of a DVD  fest of old Chinese bought DVDs here at home (not in China that is)  on the weekend and nearly craptmyself when smack bang in the middle there it was - a large silhoutte standing up and stretching in the middle of Act 2 Scene 3.  Still good value for $1.50 'tho.  Agree that nothing beats the big screen experience however
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: George on May 03, 2007, 11:15:27 AM
Quincadentally, Spiderman3 is showing in Theatres in Jinan. Big screen, English, Full-colour, Stereo surround-sound, etc.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on May 03, 2007, 02:19:09 PM
I only own one 'filmed in the cinema' film.  What am I doing wrong?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on May 03, 2007, 02:32:46 PM
Get them earlier.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on May 03, 2007, 06:14:11 PM
True - I tend to wait about a month or so. 

Actually these days I rarely buy them.  Having CD Jr, I simply don't have the time to spend hours shifting through piles of DVDs.  And between karagarga and demonoid I get a far better selection online anyway.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Motzie on May 04, 2007, 02:36:54 PM
I have just been introduced to the art of collecting movies off the net...man I HAVE been missing out big time, I got Wild Hogs yesterday..now there is a comedy if ever there was one,

I've given up on going to the movies, its too expensive, much easier to download em and watch em at myleisure... apparently it means I don't have to miss out on any o f my fav tv shows eith er, NCIS, Numbers etc ...THAT has made me a happy chappy :-)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on May 04, 2007, 05:23:45 PM
As I said on the other place, I urge everyone to check out This is England.  It's the best British film I've seen in years, by a country mile.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Clint Smoker on May 05, 2007, 05:58:19 AM
My 1st post (sort of) hits on film---only fitting since I am a movie nut....

Just seen Grindhouse. The first film is crap but I liked Deathproof the Tatantino half. Sassy dialogue he is good at.

Speaking of Korean film check out The Host -a cute littl "monster attacks Seoul" film---it's the biggest Asian film ever sop they say.

And finally (erp cough cough) I finally got around to seeing Brokeback Mountain on DVD.
I resisted it for the obvious reason----------------------that it womn the Oscar.

But I have to admit it's a damn good flick. Once you get past the "summer of love cowboy" scenes it becomes good stuff.







And it's no coincidence that there is heavy smoking in all 3 films.....


and THE GOOD GUYS SMOKE....
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on May 05, 2007, 06:59:39 AM
The Host was good. I like Korean films, many are deeply warped.

Btw, Who was the 'good' guy in Brokeback Mountain?  :o
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on May 05, 2007, 07:28:35 AM
Ang Lee won Best Director but Crash took Best Picture
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on May 06, 2007, 02:10:33 AM
I just had my first cinema experience in China. Yes, 5.5 years and I have never been to a movie theater!!! Though the movie I watched was atrocious - Spiderman 3. I was warned about its absolute uselessness and waste of one's time. But still went - I had fun laughing at the stupidity diplayed in the movie and the poor script. cheexyblonde
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on May 07, 2007, 06:09:59 PM
Nuts. I'm a huge Spidey fan.

Done 2 seasons of Lost. axaxaxaxax Ca't wait for more!

2nd season of Prison Break: DVDs are damaged!  llllllllll

Rewatching Rome, 1st season. 2nd season is also damaged.  I need to punch that shopkeeper in the nose.

Oh yeah, and Weeds is f ahahahahah cking hilarious.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on May 07, 2007, 07:40:54 PM
Series 3 of Lost starts out poorly, but then improves a lot with recent episodes...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: solongtinik on May 08, 2007, 03:32:45 PM
con, u have watched the second season of prison break? my place has just the 1st season and the last vcd with the lst episodes was damaged!

veronica donovan's role sucks!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on May 08, 2007, 05:34:53 PM
Prison Break is available for viewing on ouou.com, it's a Chinese web site and loads incredibly fast.  Unfortunately they don't have lots of American stuff but I did find Heroes there as well. 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: solongtinik on May 08, 2007, 09:36:58 PM
K, i tried browsing the site but i guess it will take me forever before i can find "prison break" since none of my chinese officemates can't understand what i mean...

im dying to see the 2nd season amamamamam...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Vegemite on May 08, 2007, 10:04:36 PM
Unfortunately they don't have lots of American stuff ... 

Isn't that fortunate?

Sorry, I couldn't resist dddddddddd


Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on May 09, 2007, 01:18:55 AM
Solong,

Prison Break is easily found, it's getting the episode thing figured out; for that you'll need a little guidance. I just searched and seems a lot of 'pages' are missing, hope you have better luck.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Vegemite on May 09, 2007, 03:48:31 AM
I'm looking forward to watching 'Prison Break', have finally talked daughter into giving it a go and just found episode one of the first series. In the meantime we've been enjoying 'Bad Girls' and 'Supernatural'.

Tonight we watched 'Princess Bride', I gave up on it and did some study instead...it was really boring.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Nolefan on May 09, 2007, 09:49:48 AM
I can't wait for season three of Prison Break.  Sorry to all you Lost fans out there, but Prison Break is just better. 

Prison Break is goooooood! All the episodes are readily available through bittorrent and there is no excuse no to watch them. One of the better new shows I've come across in a long time.
I don't know why but I just can't seem to get into "LOST"! they lost me after the first 3 episodes... just didn't tickle me the right way! I've tried time and again to get into it but alas... I gave up.

We just got "ugly Betty" in and it's looking promising and I still haven't gotten around to watching "Heroes"...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on May 09, 2007, 12:17:19 PM
Lost never did it for me either.  Ugly Betty is cute but I lost interest after awhile.  I'm still a fan of CSI Las Vegas and I've left 24 behind, too much of the same old stuff.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Vegemite on May 10, 2007, 03:34:25 AM
Just watched 'The Fountain' - it was great. Daughter was in tears by the end of it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on May 10, 2007, 03:39:42 AM
I just finished 'The Banquet' a 2006 Chinese release.  It was ok, one of those historical movies with the funky gung fu stuff but I didn't like it as much as the Curse of the Golden Flowers.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on May 10, 2007, 07:02:43 AM
bearshare, emule, limewire and all - there you can find your latest episodes for most favorite shows. I am watching Numbers - Juanbimba got me addicted!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on May 10, 2007, 09:14:55 AM
House, NCIS, Bones, Law & Order (esp. SVU/CI versions), Criminal Minds, Medium, Ghost Whisperer, Dog Whisperer, Nanny 911, Jericho, CSI (original version).




....Shrek 3 due out soon at the cinema, as is Pirates of the Caribbean 3.....
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Bugalugs on May 10, 2007, 06:53:11 PM
I watched the Cat Stevens Majikat concert on DVD last night. It was really cool and i loved the Interview, his transition from Cat Stevens to Yusef Islam. Very Cool.

My Men in Tights by Mel Brooks is corrupted :( so I'll take that back and hope that he can get another. 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on May 10, 2007, 08:28:50 PM
Watching season 2 of Rome this week.  Whatta story!  And now with two extra scoops of doity sex... afafafafaf afafafafaf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lone Traveller on May 12, 2007, 03:08:41 PM
The Curse of the Golden Flower = wasn't that impressed. Incredible sets and scenery, as we've come to expect, but a few plot holes left the story "wanting".
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lone Traveller on May 12, 2007, 03:11:17 PM
Oh and Spaceballs.... fall off your seat funny. If you can find it, definitely don't pass it up.

"Ah buckle this. Ludicrous speed. Go!"
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Mimi on May 12, 2007, 10:15:15 PM
I think I missed the Lost ship.  Didn't watch it at first, and I've now heard so many opinions about it and second-hand plot recaps, I don't think I would enjoy it.

I still love House and am hoping the current melodramatic plots are a phase.  Does anyone watch The Office?  It definitely fills the hole that Arrested Development left re: smart, funny shows that are nothing like the typical sitcom stink.

Also, anyone using bittorrents should try to get episodes of the live action Sailor Moon show, it is a scream.  Have a few beers, put it on, and you will definitely, definitely laugh.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: woza on May 13, 2007, 05:13:04 PM
Con I loved the Rome series.  It got bagged by the critics, hey but what would they know.
Yesterday I watched an amazing doco, Deliver us from Evil.  It deals with child abuse among the clergy.   The critics loved it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Vegemite on May 13, 2007, 05:19:30 PM
Finally got to see episode one of the first series of 'Prison Break'...mamahuhu. I'll watch a few more to see if I get into it but it certainly didn't grab me.

And like Mimi, I also missed the 'Lost' boat. And now I've heard too much about it to want to see it. Daughter enjoys it though.

What I feel like watching right now is a bit of gratuitous, gung-ho, aggro, pistol whipping, up-you, good guy-bad guy tv or even a movie. Something along the lines of 'Bourne Supremacy' or '24' would be good. Any recommendations?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on May 13, 2007, 05:44:01 PM

What I feel like watching right now is a bit of gratuitous, gung-ho, aggro, pistol whipping, up-you, good guy-bad guy tv or even a movie. Something along the lines of 'Bourne Supremacy' or '24' would be good. Any recommendations?

Try 'The Shield'
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on May 13, 2007, 06:41:44 PM
That's what I've been telling her but does she listen? bibibibibi
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on May 13, 2007, 07:30:40 PM
Woza, the critics are idiots.

Watched the Colours movie trilogy (blue, white and red) yesterday and absolutely loved them.  La Reigne Margot (still another half hour left) is well worth the 7 kwai.

Ghost Rider was a little disappointing, even with my expectations low.  Looks great, but it's kinda dumb.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on May 13, 2007, 09:30:47 PM
NUMBERS is GOOD! I am on the 2nd season.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on May 15, 2007, 09:35:07 PM
The British "Office" was really good.  Knock-offs don't seem to do it for me. I'm into Law and Order at the moment.  Will then (hopefully) get back to finishing X-Files.  But I ahve a few more series to catch up on, as well as 24 and Heroes on my computer.  And the latest bits of Desperate Housewives, Prison Break and Lost.

Where does my time go??
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Vegemite on June 01, 2007, 02:35:16 AM
Daughter and I watched '28 Weeks Later' and both of us thought it wasn't half as good as '28 Days Later' - 'twas a disappointment.

For the weekend we have Pirates 3.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on June 01, 2007, 04:59:09 AM
I've heard from some people that it was actually better than 28 Days later...

Hey I watched a v.good Kiwi film the other day, In My Father's Den.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lone Traveller on June 01, 2007, 05:02:47 PM
Daughter and I watched '28 Weeks Later' and both of us thought it wasn't half as good as '28 Days Later' - 'twas a disappointment.


I agree. I've just watched it myself and felt it was a bit .... slapped together. Not a fan.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lone Traveller on June 01, 2007, 06:08:19 PM
Shrek the Third.

I wasn't impressed. But continued to watch it out of curiosity I guess.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lone Traveller on June 03, 2007, 11:29:33 PM
I've just started to watch The X-Files again, from season 1.

I don't remember it ever being this ....... lame! I've forced myself to sit through the first 5 episodes of the season, and I'm finding it a bit of a chore to watch the rest.... Does it get better? I can't remember.  mmmmmmmmmm
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Vegemite on June 04, 2007, 03:56:14 AM
Hey I watched a v.good Kiwi film the other day, In My Father's Den.

I liked that one too, a good watch.

Yesterday daughter and I watched one episode of 'Two Pints and a Packet of Crisps' - it was a special musical episode and it was hilarious.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on June 04, 2007, 04:49:24 PM
I watched the first Rambo film on Saturday.  Had never seen it before.  Not at all what I was expecting, it was considerably less mindless than I had given it credit for.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Vegemite on June 04, 2007, 05:03:06 PM
I got daughter addicted to Rambo - when we first came here our computer was only a 386 so we couldn't do much on the net, plus we had no DVD player so all we could watch were VCDs. The local VCD shop had all the Rambos so we sat and watched them. Daughter has been in lust with Rambo ever since bibibibibi

But I'm a Rambo fan from way-back.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Nolefan on June 04, 2007, 07:06:33 PM
I've always been a fan of the RAmbo series... It always had the right mix of action and drama, especially the original one! That was so bloody good!

Seeing what Stalone has done with the new Rocky, I'm looking forward to his take on the new Rambo.. I think they're almost finished shooting the movie just about now.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lone Traveller on June 04, 2007, 08:13:35 PM
Yeah I heard there was another Rambo on the way. Curiosity is going to force me to watch it. :D
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 04, 2007, 08:48:16 PM
I watched LINDA LOVELACE FOR PRESIDENT yesterday. No, it's not one of her "X" rated romps, but her lone, R-rated, mainstream "comedy" (and I use that word loosely, but it's in no part the late Ms. Lovelace's fault). Monkee Mickey Dolenz definitely had bills to pay with his appearance in this one. It's bascially a failed, MAD magazine-like attempt at parodying what was happening in the United States in 1975, and a big, flaming iron poked into the face of American politics. Well, it's a bit like a flaming iron poked into the face of satire. It's funny for all of the wrong reasons, and despite the fact that half of the cast and all of the writing team went on to participate in some of the Sid & Marty Krofft kiddie concoctions of the seventies,  it lacks any charm, save Ms. Lovelace who honestly looks to be having fun with the whole thing. Nearly 100 mintues of cheese, but I didn't have any bread lying around to fully appreciate it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on June 04, 2007, 09:53:02 PM
I've just started to watch The X-Files again, from season 1.

I don't remember it ever being this ....... lame! I've forced myself to sit through the first 5 episodes of the season, and I'm finding it a bit of a chore to watch the rest.... Does it get better? I can't remember.  mmmmmmmmmm

Yeah it picks up half way or maybe towards the end of the first season. You can give the last couple seasons a miss. Herbal enhancement has always helped the x-files. (Most other shows too)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on June 04, 2007, 10:14:54 PM
Just finished watching "Wag the Dog" and "Operation Petticoat".  Smiled all through the first, but was laughing through the second.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on June 05, 2007, 05:24:49 AM
LT! You DO get hooked on x-files. Though it ends kinda weird.

WILL&GRACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on June 05, 2007, 05:52:41 PM

WILL&GRACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No, no, no ,no ,no.............NO
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lone Traveller on June 05, 2007, 06:10:23 PM
I loved Will & Grace. "Just Jack" was definitely my favorite character.  ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on June 05, 2007, 06:24:25 PM
Any other red dwarf fans on here?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 05, 2007, 08:03:00 PM
Any other red dwarf fans on here?

"We're all alone, more or less..." ababababab
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lone Traveller on June 06, 2007, 02:06:02 AM
There's another one I liked. Though didn't get to see enough episodes.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on June 06, 2007, 04:19:38 AM
They're all on Youtube :)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: non-dave on June 06, 2007, 05:39:35 AM
I'm downloading Red Dwarf as we type, but it's slow going! 0.2% of 9.65 Gb - eta 40days and 4 hours remaining, but worth the wait. (Just remembered to have a look for 'Allo 'Allo...)

I recently finished Rome (1 & 2) and am presently wading through Hornblower.

I've got Mutant X next to the telly and I'm saving my latest episodes of the Shield for a special occasion. Life's good.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on June 06, 2007, 02:47:10 PM
It's my longterm mission in life to convert some americans to red dwarf.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Vegemite on June 06, 2007, 03:37:06 PM
That'll be long-term - different sense of humour... ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: non-dave on June 06, 2007, 04:15:47 PM
It would make an interesting Reality TV show, though.

Good luck CD, keep us informed of your progress. ("when pigs fly" springs to mind concerning the time-frame for success.)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 07, 2007, 01:51:40 AM
It's my longterm mission in life to convert some americans to red dwarf.

It's readily available on DVD here and in the mid nineties received a very respectable run through many Public Television affiliates (though BBC America doesn't give it a shake - BBC America is an abomination that insutls the legacy of the BBC, imo: it's basically endless reruns of auction shows, teh craptacular FOOTBALLERS' WIVES, and the umpteenth rerun of WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? which Comedy Central used to air in the late eighties/early nineties). I discovered RED DWARF via the PBS in 1993. Incidentally, an atrocious American pilot for an NBC version of RED DWARF was made while the original was in the middle of its run, and it pretty much reduced it to mind-numbing MY TWO DADS style pablum.

What was the q & a science show that Craig Charles hosted? I caught a few episodes on TVB Pearl in Hong Kong, years back and really enjoyed it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lone Traveller on June 07, 2007, 02:45:49 AM
It's my longterm mission in life to convert some americans to red dwarf.



What was the q & a science show that Craig Charles hosted? I caught a few episodes on TVB Pearl in Hong Kong, years back and really enjoyed it.

You got me.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on June 07, 2007, 02:49:04 AM
Will&Grace is fun!

I also caught few episodes "How I met your mom" or something like that. It was funny  cheexyblonde
Some fluff shows are simply fun and vegetating. Some are annoying. In Will&Grace the stupidity gets to utmost levels but somehow it is not as noticeable.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on June 07, 2007, 03:37:20 AM
I just finished Black Snake Moan with Samuel Jackson and Christine Ricci.  Jackson is an old blues musician minding his own business when this beat up, terribly troubled white girl is dumped on the road near his house....
I'm still not sure what I thought of it but I'm glad I watched it, Ricci does dysfunctional very well.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on June 08, 2007, 02:06:12 AM
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, someone recommended it earlier and I just watched the pilot.
A lot of well know actors and the script was smart, a rarity these days.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on June 08, 2007, 02:10:23 AM
Yes, the awful pilot is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-a-hSA5T8w
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on June 08, 2007, 02:23:19 AM
I guess that means you didn't like it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on June 08, 2007, 02:35:46 AM
I guess that means you didn't like it.

:)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Bugalugs on June 08, 2007, 02:39:30 AM
just bought series 3 of Desperate Housewives, i cant help it i'm addicted i sat up till 3 last night watching it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on June 08, 2007, 04:05:29 AM
I've been doing the same with season 2.  I am so gay.  But damn, it's a good show.

I also watched Everybody Hates Chris.  It's alright; the dad is hilarious.

I bought a Japanese "Sci-Fi Porn" DVD someone had snuck into the new releases.  I mean, porn with CGI?  I just HAD to know.  So far, I'm disappointed, but then I've only watched about 15 minutes.

...or maybe that's a good review. afafafafaf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Vegemite on June 08, 2007, 04:29:50 AM
Daughter and I just watched 'Dog Soldiers' - a good movie that draws together were-wolf myths and the modern world. Done very well, daughter and I both thought it was made very realistically...no glamour, no over-dramatisation of the were-wolves...just a good simple yarn about a group of soldiers out on an army exercise who 'accidentally' bump into were-wolves.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on June 08, 2007, 05:35:38 AM
Yay!  I loved Dog Soldiers, although a lot of people keep telling me it was crap :(
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 08, 2007, 07:16:21 AM
Yay!  I loved Dog Soldiers, although a lot of people keep telling me it was crap :(

Neil Marshall, director of DOG SOLDIERS did a bang-up job on his second film, THE DESCENT. I look forward to his next excursion into the horror genre.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Bugalugs on June 08, 2007, 07:10:47 PM
Finished DH 3 this morning OMG... It was amazing, i didn't really like 2 that much but 3 has got me hooked again.

I'm looking forward to sinking my teeth into lost this weekend, but for now will settle on Bones or Heros.

:)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on June 08, 2007, 11:18:27 PM
Anyone followed my recommendation and checked out This Is England yet?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 09, 2007, 02:31:02 AM
I just watched the documentary THE DEVIL & DANIEL JOHNSTON: a wonderful little piece about a great, eccentric musician. Highly recommended.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Bugalugs on June 09, 2007, 08:32:16 PM
I love Bones, watched a bit in Aust, i like how cool calm and collected she is around the horrible decomposing bodies. The fact that it is based on a real anthropologist makes it even cooler. I haven started hero's yet, was planning to last night but some how my EARLY night out turned into me crawling into bed at 5 this morning. :) it was good watched a great footy game then played pool, weekends are fun. Pity i have to work, 4 classes today :(.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lone Traveller on June 09, 2007, 10:42:48 PM
Just finished watching Blades of Glory with Will Ferral.... a very funny (and at times somwhat painful) to watch.  ahahahahah ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lone Traveller on June 09, 2007, 10:43:37 PM
Just about to sink my teeth into 88 Minutes. Anyone seen it? Comments?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lone Traveller on June 11, 2007, 04:47:20 AM
88 Minutes... A bit predictable. But an ok watch.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Vegemite on June 11, 2007, 04:49:19 AM
Tonight daughter and I watched 'Descent' - we were both disappointed. For us 'Dog Soldiers' is a must see but this second one by Marshall we thought was a bit of a flop. Descent' seemed more like a 'Jason'- (slash 'em) type movie whereas 'Dog Soldiers' has more substance.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 11, 2007, 05:23:21 AM
Tonight daughter and I watched 'Descent' - we were both disappointed. For us 'Dog Soldiers' is a must see but this second one by Marshall we thought was a bit of a flop. Descent' seemed more like a 'Jason'- (slash 'em) type movie whereas 'Dog Soldiers' has more substance.

I'm sorry to hear that (since I recommended the film). :(

 I actually prefered THE DESCENT because it wasn't your typical monster movie. It is definitely not a slasher film, though, so I am having trouble seeing the Jason analogy. Still, if you want more DS there is a sequel that was annoucned long ago:

(http://creature-corner.com/nextraimages/dogsoldiersposter2.jpg)

However its has seemingly disappeared off the radar since being announced by Kismet Entertainment (who produced the first one).
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on June 11, 2007, 05:37:02 AM
For pure mindless retro escapism I'm mostly looking forward to :

(http://chrisallensite.com/wordpress/images/poster_transformers_new2.jpg)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: phets72 on June 11, 2007, 02:02:19 PM
I saw this movie in the 80's.  I though it was hilarious at the time.  Your the only person I know who obviously loved it as much as I did, I can still remember the lyrics to that particular scene your refering..

(something, something) You are our destiny and it feels so good to me, your gonna make it to the top...

(something, something) please daaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrlllllllllling ever stop!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on June 11, 2007, 10:25:49 PM
Starting on season 3 of Lost.  The rest of my life has now ground to a halt.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lone Traveller on June 12, 2007, 06:26:32 PM
I was fed up after season 2 and never bothered with season 3.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lone Traveller on June 13, 2007, 01:54:23 AM
I was really hooked on Prison Break. Of course it didnt' hurt that the characters were very nice to look at... ;D
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 13, 2007, 02:05:42 AM
I was fed up after season 2 and never bothered with season 3.

I felt that way into the first epsiode of the first season! GILLIGANS ISLAND amped, really.  bibibibibi
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on June 13, 2007, 03:53:22 AM
season 3 of lost started out very very poorly for the first 6 episodes or so, and then went really good for about the last 8 episodes.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on June 13, 2007, 05:27:42 AM
I'm watching a Russian show about a Nanny. The script for some reason was written by some English speaker. FUN!  ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on June 13, 2007, 05:44:02 AM
Cheeky, have you seen Lilja 4 Ever?  most depressing film EVER!!!!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on June 13, 2007, 05:56:13 AM
No. But now that you've mentioned - I wont!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: solongtinik on June 13, 2007, 09:41:46 PM
i was packing my things when i figured out that in just merely 3 months i've collected more than 80 dvds and watched all of 'em...and make that less than a hundred with all the dvds  borrowed from friends..

i'd miss dvd shopping since pirated dvds in my country are more expensive than here.  llllllllll
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on June 13, 2007, 10:15:00 PM
I preferred the books by the author of Bones to the series.  Her writing is far more lively than the series.

Currently watching CSI:Miami - but getting pretty tired of Horatio's dodgy 'deep and meaningful' one liners. A really bad writer there.

My ayi and I tidied up my DVD/CD collection yesterday - took us together over an hour!  She matched the Chinese titles with covers and I did the English ones.  I still have a cupboardful of DVDs I haven't seen and a LARGE plastic box on rollers of ones I have seen - and that's not counting the ones I took home a couple of years ago - at least another 100.  And I have 2 of those boxes of CDs!  It is addictive.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on June 13, 2007, 10:25:25 PM
I couldn't watch Bones on tv either, so much of a let down considering how excellent the books are.
I'm still watching Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and I'm still liking it, it's a notch above so much of the general tv blah stuff.
Favourite tv series this past year, House, CSI Las Vegas and The Shield.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on June 13, 2007, 10:41:58 PM

Currently watching CSI:Miami - but getting pretty tired of Horatio's dodgy 'deep and meaningful' one liners. A really bad writer there.


I really dislike this show. What writers? It seems that most of the show is musical interludes with some 'cool' slow-motion walking. Caruso is brutal. I thought he was good in NYPD Blues. Not now.

Check this out Lotus http://youtube.com/watch?v=HJSqkwyL1Zo (http://youtube.com/watch?v=HJSqkwyL1Zo)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on June 13, 2007, 11:21:55 PM
No. But now that you've mentioned - I wont!

Just mentioned it as its russian.  It's very good.  Just depressing!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on June 14, 2007, 12:11:17 AM
LOVED it!!!Had me laughing even before he started speaking.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 14, 2007, 05:09:48 AM
I watched the surreal Italian historical comedy THE FIVE DAYS, about the five day war in Milan that sent the Austrians packing and led to the eventual unification of what we call "Italy" today. It was kind of like A FISTFUL OF DYNAMITE if Roberto Begnini had set it in Italy and made it back in 1975 (he's not in it, by the way).

I also finally set aside time (after nearly a decade) to watch a film called FUNNY GAMES. It's a deceptively titled, nasty, excellent gut-churner without having particularly graphic violence (something I have no qualms about I can appreciate cheap shock and more subtle shocks as well). Average cinema goers will talk a talk about how films like SILENCE OF THE LAMBS disturbed them, but if that is true, then FUNNY GAMES will VIOLATE them - and without anything particularly graphic. Really. I can't emphasize that enough. It even goes so far as to indict the viewer as a participant in what transpires within the film - and yet it's actual on-screen mayhem is only barely an "R". PG Hollywood family fare like INDIANA JONES & THE TEMPLE OF DOOM was far more graphic, actually. However the film's tight script, excellent performances, and precise direction and delivery of subject matter that could have easily been another desensitizing, predictable, glamor-filled Hollywood "thriller" (which its inevitable Hollywood remake will be, no doubt) is perhaps one of the most chilling films to come out of the nineties.

If I go too much into the plot it would ruin the film. It's like the sixth sense and you have to watch it and see the little clues that lead you to realize just what was going on in the first reel. Once the unfortunate events unfold it's one of those rare films that have viewers realizing,  "oh shit, I should have known this was going to happen!"

If you can handle spoilers and really want to know more about it, PM me and I'll tell you what the full plot is, but the film was released in 1997 and directed by Austrian director Michael Haneke. It's not a pretentious, droll Euro "art" film. This baby is pure horror. No supernatural crap. No Hollywood happy Jason crap. No Hannibal Lecter crap. Brutal stuff and its violence is 95% psychological. I only regret letting the DVD get lost in the shuffle (I bought it in 1998 and kind of just forgot about it until I started to go through my belongings that I'm getting ready to sell off).

I guess an easy way to encapsulate the film without spoiling it is to say that this film is like a cousin to the Henry Rollins spoken word "Family Man." Obscure reference, I know, but if you get that reference you'll know what FUNNY GAMES has in store.


Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Mimi on June 14, 2007, 04:25:56 PM
I started watching CSI Miami while I was still attending the University of Miami, and found it to be pretty laughable.  My dormmate and I just kept saying "Where ARE they? The Beach? Because I was at the Beach this morning, and that isn't what it looks like." It was like a soundstage of a perfect Miami.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on June 14, 2007, 04:48:08 PM
CSI Las Vegas is pretty good, though.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on June 14, 2007, 04:53:07 PM
I agree, none of the CSI spin offs even comes close to the Vegas series.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lone Traveller on June 14, 2007, 06:46:12 PM
I agree too. The original was definitely the best.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: belrain on June 14, 2007, 07:08:57 PM
Hmmm, I really enjoy watching NCIS.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Newbs on June 15, 2007, 12:27:19 AM
Another vote for Vegas. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: non-dave on June 15, 2007, 03:31:24 AM
Naval Criminal Investigation Service (or something close). Not a bad show.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on June 15, 2007, 03:32:17 AM
Loops gave me Las Vegas- I can't get around to watching it.  Now I will.

The David Caruso drinking game: You HAVE... to stress the 2nd word of every sentence.  And THEN... pause after it before finishing the sentence.  One DAY... Horatio will be gunned down by a bad 'un who draws on him just as he resumes talking.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on June 15, 2007, 04:30:44 AM
After watching the Carrey clip, I now hang out for the Caruso one-liners and sunglasses thing.  But the other bits I really like are how he looks away from suspects when he is asking them questions.  And has deep and meaningful stares into the distance - almost always with his head tilted up, profile to us.  Stirring.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on June 15, 2007, 08:08:06 PM
But his HAIR... is red.

Ok, I'll stop now.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: George on June 18, 2007, 12:50:33 AM
WASABI! Anyone seen it? It's a Frog-Nippon production, and as funny as shit!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 18, 2007, 01:04:47 AM
WASABI! Anyone seen it? It's a Frog-Nippon production, and as funny as shit!

Luc Besson produced, Jean Reno and the delicious Ryoko Hirosue headline. Not bad. It proves that the French can patronize and trivialize and stereotype Japanese culture as much as Hollywood. I prefer the director's TAXI series of films (ignoring the craptacular American version).
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: George on June 18, 2007, 01:14:04 AM
I've got another Jean Reno movie..name escapes me..He's a bloke on the run, and befriends a tough little kid. It's a good'un too, or maybe I just like Jean Reno! I could go and look for it, but that requires effort!!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 18, 2007, 02:25:08 AM
I've got another Jean Reno movie..name escapes me..He's a bloke on the run, and befriends a tough little kid. It's a good'un too, or maybe I just like Jean Reno! I could go and look for it, but that requires effort!!

LEON. Released theatrically in the U. S. as THE PROFESSIONAL, but since re-released in a restored edition under its original name. directed by Luc Besson. Great film.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: George on June 18, 2007, 02:32:51 AM
That's the one. Good film!!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Nolefan on June 18, 2007, 02:53:03 AM
I've got another Jean Reno movie..name escapes me..He's a bloke on the run, and befriends a tough little kid. It's a good'un too, or maybe I just like Jean Reno! I could go and look for it, but that requires effort!!

name is : The Professional

If you like Jean Reno, you should try watching him in "WASABI" ...freaking hilarious
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 18, 2007, 02:54:56 AM
That's the one. Good film!!

Yeah, he's the anchor in that one. Carries the whole thing with subtle mastery. "Quiet in the storm."

That GODZILLA remake from 1998 was total shit, and a literal pain to sit through, but the only flickering ray of entertainment in that turd was the surreal moment where Reno does a dead-on Elvis impersonation. Surreal.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 18, 2007, 02:56:46 AM
I've got another Jean Reno movie..name escapes me..He's a bloke on the run, and befriends a tough little kid. It's a good'un too, or maybe I just like Jean Reno! I could go and look for it, but that requires effort!!

name is : The Professional

If you like Jean Reno, you should try watching him in "WASABI" ...freaking hilarious

http://raoulschinasaloon.com/index.php?topic=166.msg7167#msg7167

asleep at the wheel, NF?  afafafafaf

The "THE PROFESSIONAL" version pales in comparisson to the 2 hour-plus LEON "integral" version (so its labled). Some great character bits were trimmed, and despite the extra running time it still glides by as if it was 90 minutes (ala the American version known as THE PROFESSIONAL).
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Nolefan on June 18, 2007, 04:03:09 AM
 oooooooooo oooooooooo

indeed... That's the problem when i look at the "most recent posts" page ...

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on June 18, 2007, 04:07:45 AM
Yes, Leon was a great film :)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 19, 2007, 02:59:09 PM
I watched Antonio Margheriti's final film, 1989's ALIEN FROM THE DEEP on a (bizarre) double bill with SOUNDER.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on June 19, 2007, 04:07:06 PM
I'm still working my way through CSI:Miami - I am at the stage of watching merely to see HOW bad the writing can get!!

But I have noticed a couple of other things.  Miami must be an interesting place to live - there is not ONE overweight woman in the whole place.  Not walking down the street, not in shopping centres or restaurants - anywhere.  ALL the women are slim and relatively good looking.  There are a FEW overweight men - the occasional police officer, and more interestingly, bad guys or guys with mental disability.

Talk about stereotyping and image development.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 21, 2007, 10:18:47 PM
I've had to watch a dozen nucelar scare safety films from the fifties for the show I'm working on. "Duck and Cover!"
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on June 21, 2007, 10:23:51 PM
I watched 'The Shooter' last night. Mindless, implausible action movie about a lone gunman played by Marky Mark being set up. Really quite stupid. I enjoyed it a lot.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 21, 2007, 11:35:22 PM
I watched "Becoming Jane" yesterday. It was quite good. Took a few liberties with the life of Jane Austen but, if the viewer has not actually read any biographies of Austen, these would flutter by unnoticed. Have also been told I have to buy beer for my friends for the next month as it is against the unwritten rules of the Universe for men to go watch movies like that unless it is to impress members of the smarter sex and be all sensitive and such. Guess I have to buy you guys beer too.. bibibibibi
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on June 21, 2007, 11:52:32 PM
But....But.....I thought you were watching it for Scientific ....er I mean...Literary inquiry and curiosity.....not because you thought you would like it!!!









But I will take a Midori and Sprite, please.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 21, 2007, 11:57:44 PM
Who in their right mind would turn to Hollywood movies for literary enquiries? I don't think books or people who can read exist in Hollywood, they are mythical, like unicorns and Michael Jackson.

So I have to go to the forest, catch a sprite and drown it in alcohol and serve it to you? Ok then...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on June 22, 2007, 12:04:23 AM
"Sprite" is the USAnian version of the British lemonade...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 22, 2007, 12:06:09 AM
So this glass where a small and quite deceased Tinkerbell-like creature is slowly being pickled is of no use?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on June 22, 2007, 12:06:28 AM
Who in their right mind would turn to Hollywood movies for literary enquiries? I don't think books or people who can read exist in Hollywood, they are mythical, like unicorns and Michael Jackson.

Be fair - there are a couple of people who know how to find a book and then kill it by turning it into a movie.  Murderers!! Defilers!! Slugs!! Beasts!!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on June 22, 2007, 12:07:39 AM
So this glass where a small and quite deceased Tinkerbell-like creature is slowly being pickled is of no use?

Evil boy.   axaxaxaxax axaxaxaxax axaxaxaxax axaxaxaxax axaxaxaxax axaxaxaxax
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 22, 2007, 08:17:39 AM
"Sprite" is the USAnian version of the British lemonade...

Or is the Blighty "lemonade" a take on someone else's lemon and club soda with sugar?

Sprite (created by Coca-Cola in the sixties), is itself a knock off of the American 7-Up (invented in 1929). When were lemon-lime fizzy flavored drinks introduced to Blighty? The earliest stats I could dig up (in terms of manufacturing) would be the 1970s, which still places SPRITE  ahead of the pack.

I am actually itnerested in this kind of silly trivia.

Whatever the case, Blighty's "Lemonade" or Oz's LEED (which was produced by Coca-Cola in the 1960s), or America's oldest (7-Up) and its myriad of knock offs (including 70s era Coca-Cola concoction SPRITE) all owe their existance to the French. Lemon-lime soft drinks and fizzy drinks were being manufactured there in varying degrees since the 1700s!

Regardless of national identity - it's all good drinkin' to me!

jjjjjjjjjj
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 22, 2007, 10:00:41 AM
Actually, I know all this. Well, not all, but they sell sprite here. I just always thought there should be a dead sprite in the bottles, like the worm in tequila or the snake in shejiu. Guess there is a reason my friend won't let me make them Bloody Mary's.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 22, 2007, 10:40:35 AM
Guess there is a reason my friend won't let me make them Bloody Mary's.

I appreciate your humor, ETR. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on June 22, 2007, 03:50:49 PM
I think a much more pertinent, and undeniable, fact is that 'Bud' in the US is a ripoff of the infinitely superior Czech Budvar, which is one of the world's best lagers. 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 22, 2007, 07:11:50 PM
I think a much more pertinent, and undeniable, fact is that 'Bud' in the US is a ripoff of the infinitely superior Czech Budvar, which is one of the world's best lagers. 

I prefer whiskey, for what it's worth. If I want cheap piss I'll take a PBR. I come from the school of thought that says: if you're going to hell (i. e. bad brew) then do so with a can of gasoline (Pabst Blue Ribbon!)!  qqqqqqqqqq

However, we can all compromise and have boilermakers. agagagagag



Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: solongtinik on June 22, 2007, 09:02:26 PM
in my 3 months stay in china,i've already watched over a hundred movies.

the freedom writers is the best yet  bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 24, 2007, 12:18:37 AM
I recently watched the late Fernando Di Leo's DEATH COMMANDO starring the greatest f'n actor that ever blipped under film critics radar (but managed to capture the imaginations of folks like John Frankenheimer, Jim Jarmusch, Steven Soderberg, Rod Serling, Umberto Lenzi, Fernando Di Leo, etc.): American, Henry Silva.

Not a great film from Di Leo, who peaked in the sixties and seventies; it's a fun, utterly disposable bit of 80s Euro-action trash. It feels like it was meant to be a comedy but much of the comedy was cut out.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lone Traveller on June 24, 2007, 04:05:03 PM
I just watched a Korean movie called How To Keep My Love. It wasn't bad... a few giggle worthy parts.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 24, 2007, 10:07:53 PM
This evening I watched a National Geographic "Explorer" documentary on North Korea. They went in to document the efforts of a Tan eye doctor who went to treat a thousand patients in a short span of time (less than a couple of days, and he met his personal goal of treating a thousand patients). That doctor rules. North Korea though, does not rule.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on June 25, 2007, 02:26:36 PM
Watched a Russian movie about seismo-weapon. Was actually alright, I was surprised.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 25, 2007, 03:23:24 PM
Watched a Russian movie about seismo-weapon. Was actually alright, I was surprised.

What was its title?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on June 25, 2007, 06:32:33 PM
Ummmm Dislocation
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lone Traveller on June 25, 2007, 06:59:20 PM
Ummmm Dislocation

Sounds painful  aoaoaoaoao
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: phets72 on June 25, 2007, 07:35:39 PM
I've been watching alot of french stuff since I got back in January.  I saw 'My Best Friend' last week.  The director is famous for dealing with isolation in his narrative.  Alot of his movies are dark, this one is a breath of fresh air because it's light and funny. 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 26, 2007, 01:18:20 AM
I'm about to sit down to Lee Frost's POLICEWOMAN, staring Sondra Currie.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on June 26, 2007, 02:32:55 AM
Just finished watching an interesting Mongolian movie - produced by a Guangdong company.  But it was good - Tuya's Wedding.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 28, 2007, 03:15:39 AM
Ignored the torrential rain yesterday by watching the Firefly show. Why oh why was that ever cancelled?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on June 28, 2007, 03:20:10 AM
Ignored the torrential rain yesterday by watching the Firefly show. Why oh why was that ever cancelled?

Do you know what the American network did to it?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 28, 2007, 03:21:12 AM
They swatted it?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on June 28, 2007, 03:26:13 AM
They never aired the pilot. They started with ep. 3 then missed 7 and 8. The others were often out of order. They moved it around to different days and time-slots EVERY week. It never had a chance.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 28, 2007, 03:32:33 AM
 asasasasas asasasasas asasasasas that is just stupid!!!  llllllllll llllllllll of all the...Hollywood produces on pile of stinking  bqbqbqbqbq tv shows constantly and the few ones that are actually good gets the axe.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 28, 2007, 04:17:52 AM
I'm waiting for some video to finish encoding for work. After that,  I've got a DVD of the Sergio Martino police procedural SILENT ACTION waiting for me.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Vegemite on June 28, 2007, 04:45:38 AM
Daughter and I watched Fido last night - a real good laugh. Don't get put of by it being a 'zombie' movie...'tis very cute and a real parody.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on June 28, 2007, 05:04:32 AM
Ignored the torrential rain yesterday by watching the Firefly show. Why oh why was that ever cancelled?

Word.  Fantastic programme.  Good medecine for anyone fed up with how bad the star wars prequels were.  Close in spirit to the original star wars films.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lone Traveller on June 28, 2007, 06:00:48 AM
Ignored the torrential rain yesterday by watching the Firefly show. Why oh why was that ever cancelled?

I'm with you on this one. I thought it was a great show.... did you see the movie Serenity? I liked that as well.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 28, 2007, 06:23:25 AM
I did indeed. Several times. It was amazing. Now, riddle me this: how did they manage to cancel Firefly so quickly and let that godawful Hercules show starring Kevin Sorbo run on and on and on?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Vegemite on June 28, 2007, 06:30:01 AM
'Cos Hercules was filmed in NZ so they could do it cheaply.

Firefly sounds good...I'll try to watch a few episodes before I leave China.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 28, 2007, 06:33:28 AM
Very cheaply. The special effect were worse than the ones in the old Star Trek series.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 28, 2007, 03:45:40 PM
I did indeed. Several times. It was amazing. Now, riddle me this: how did they manage to cancel Firefly so quickly and let that godawful Hercules show starring Kevin Sorbo run on and on and on?

The big reasons:different times (as in eras), different companies, different producers and different network set ups.

HERC was syndicated. It was not part of one, lone network. It was cheaper to produce (as mentioned previously by Vegemite) and it wasn't up against prime time competition. It mostly aired on weekends and at times when it was the premium choice as oposed to infomercials, news shows and reruns. It also ran at times where kids (i. e. big advertising demographic) coudl watch it. Its ratings were not as important as much as its advertising power. If it could get top dollar for ads that reached a certain demographic it could go on forever (see: BAYWATCH). It also had more than a half-season to it. It started as a handful of telefilms, actually nad their popularit yprompted productio nof the series, fi I recall (I wasn't a fan and am going on memory form industry trades of the nineties).

Most TV shows in America require at lest 2 seasons before they can be sydnicated successfully (i. e. turn a profit) in the rerun market. HERC had that.

Most American shows with more than one season to them are also easily marketed to international broadcasters as part of a package deal.

HERCULES needed stations to carry it, and could easily air on any local station that ponied up for its rights. FIREFLY was doomed to FOX and its affiliates. So, if FOX hated it, it was gone. If a local station hated HERC, another one would option its rights and it coudl live on via another channel.

FIREFLY was atatched to one network (FOX, in America). It was an experiment and didn't have a full season commitment to begin with. Personally, I loathed the show, but I respect that people liked it (bad Chinese and all). Unfortunately for the show - FOX put it in a shitty timeslot and advertisers were not willing to pay top dollar for spots on an unproven product (had it made it to season 2 the dollars brought in from sponsors would have gone up in price and benefitted the show and the network). Then, FOX ran it out of order, didn't promote it well, and the reality was that most Americans who participate in the ratings records didn't care for it enough to watch it. It had a loyal, cult following, but the fans are a minority (especially when compared to HERCULES, which spawned XENA, its own short-lived animated series, and a YOUNG HERCULES spin off and another show - whose name escapes me, but it failed ).

Many of FIREFLY's biggest fans discovered via the itnernet and DVDs, after the fact it was cancelled.

FIREFLY had a big budget that also lent itself to cancellation. If you can't get top dollar for commercial spots and your show burns through money faster than Paris Hilton and a bottle of Tequila: extinction is certain.

Then its theatrical film, SERENITY bombed massively at the box office. The fans clearly didn't number large enough to keep it alive as a film franchise after its series cancellation.

HERCULES also predats the TIVo/DVR revolution. An increasing number of Americans are no longer following traditonal viewing habits and are recording their programs to watch at a later time, while enjoy another at the same time. Most DVRs can record two programs at a time, and if you watch one show, you can possibly record two otehrs at the same time. Television ratings didn't include DVR'd programs at the time of FIREFLY's existence, and I think a lot of FIREFLY FANS watched it via recording. VCRs wer enot exactly the same as DVR's since yo ucoudl only record one program at one time slot, and most people only used them to catch up with programs whiel away, as opposed to recording programs on other channels while they were watching another (some did, but I can't think of many people I know who would record one thing and watch another in the days of BETA and VHS).

HERCULES was also produced in an era when first-run, syndicated programs were raking in money (again, see BAYWATCH as an example). It lasted long enough to have an international following and several years of reruns. FIREFLY never made it long enough to have a second season, let alone enough epiosdes for a long syndicated life.

Had FIREFLY aired at a time when sci-fi happy preteens were able to watch it, and had good promotion and a solid time slot - it probably would have lasted a full season, if not longer.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 28, 2007, 09:15:19 PM
Well, MOP, that is all well and good, but I was more wondering how a crappy, stupid show like Hercules and Xena and Young Hercules could ever attract a fan base. In Hercules, all the other characters have their Greek names, Ares, Zeus etc, whereas Heracles has become the Roman Hercules. And suddenly Hercules uses martial arts!
Now, I know this was supposed to be silly entertainment pandering to the lowest common denominator which, I guess, would be people on crack.
Firefly had a good story, good acting, good writing and good special effects. Having watched enough tv shows to last a life time, I think it is fair to say that most of the shows aired are fairly predictable, same old story rehashed, crappy writing most of the times and wooden acting.
Question is: had the network aired the Firefly episodes in the right order, at the right time of day, would it still be running? or, as is my theory, are the majority of the television audience so used to not having to think about the shows they are watching that a sci-fi western with a somewhat convoluted storyline would simply be too much? Note that I am not being pompous nor belittling anyone who watches crappy show, since I am both a fan on MacGyver and the old Star Trek show, both of which could be argued to be a bit on the iffy side, but that it merely seems to me that the success of television shows seem to be increase as the quality decreases.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 28, 2007, 09:59:00 PM
Wasn't Firefly amazing! I thought it was brilliant!  I read that the people who organize the programs put it on at different times and in the wrong order.  Its just what I heard don't know if this is accurate. 

Apparently, that was exactly what they did. And yes Missi, it was, it really was.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 28, 2007, 10:19:28 PM
Well, MOP, that is all well and good, but I was more wondering how a crappy, stupid show like Hercules and Xena and Young Hercules could ever attract a fan base.

I wondered back in the day too, but you know what? if there are people who care about crap like BIG BOTHER and AMERICAN IDOL and cretins like Paris Hilton - there will be a market for for anything and everything under the sun.

Frankly, and I mean no offense with this, but I lump FIREFLY in the same heap as HERCULES. A lot of people I respect liked the show and I respect their right to love it for the things I clearly couldn't appreciate.

Of course, I know people who'd belittle my appreciaton of shows like OZ or DEADWOOD or DEXTER or THE SIMPSONS or THE GOODIES. To each their own. If people liked HERCULES - and clearly more people did in its peak (mid nineties) than FIREFLY (of a recent vintage). People aslo like Britney Spears and ridicule Etta James. To each their own.

Quote
Now, I know this was supposed to be silly entertainment pandering to the lowest common denominator which, I guess, would be people on crack.

Nah. Crackheads are too busy trying to score than to watch ole Jerkules! I think it was kid-driven. Kids and women into that long haired Kevin Sorbo thing. They buy lots of crap. Advertisers then pay for and time on the show and the show makes aprofit above syndication fees. The show lives on. It is the nature of the ugly beast known as the television business.


I think maybe part of the problem was that most of the people into FIREFLY might be part of a demographic into conserving things and keeping their consumption in check. They don't consume crap just to buy more, so maybe that worked against its advertisers being happy in sponsoring the show?

Had browncoats (which I understand is the nomenclature for FIREFLY fans, so I've been told) wrote to sponsors instead of the network, FIREFLY would have had more clout to try and stay alive. Buy crap and crap gets kept on television. Don't but the crap that sponsors the crap and it gets replaced by other crap. Maybe some of that crap might be good.

Quote
Firefly had a good story, good acting, good writing and good special effects.

I respect that opinion but I don't share it. I feel the opposite, as i'm sure you know. Still, as HERCULES' popularity illustrates - it's not about quality so much as sponsors getting dough from investing in adverts. had FIREFLY made FOX money (by advertisers making money to buy ads at top dollar) that it would have lived on. Its quality was secondary. It helps, it's valued, but as I'm sure you're well aware (again: see HERCULES) if it isn't brignign in money and it's burning through it then it's going to get the axe.

I think you could successfully argue that FOX didn't want it to scucceed. I'd agree with that.


Quote
Having watched enough tv shows to last a life time, I think it is fair to say that most of the shows aired are fairly predictable, same old story rehashed, crappy writing most of the times and wooden acting.

Indeed, And familiarity breeds contempt on people who like to think wit htheir entertainment, and when it's all the same old slop then it's hard to get the food for thought that comes with the glitz. You felt FIREFLY provided that. Many other people did too, but the numbers were too small to make a difference. They almost did. A movie was made out of it, but the box office losses were so high that it killed any chance of FIREFLY existing in another medium - one where it could be more mature and adventurous than the tight confines of conformity-laden over-the-air, North American, commercial broadcast televison.


Still, they didn't improve their chiense into realistic pidgeon-speak....
afafafafaf


Quote
Question is: had the network aired the Firefly episodes in the right order, at the right time of day, would it still be running?

I doubt it'd still be running. However, I think it would ahve lasted longer and given the fans more to enjoy. Maybe - just maybe - it could ahve then been handed over to something like the Sci-Fi Channel, who have saved a few dead shows and givne them a second life. I doubt it, though, given how expensive FIREFLY was to produce.

I also suspect its creator - that BUFFY guy - wasn't interested in keeping it alive. He wanted to move onto making movies again - and he did. I believe he was going to do the WONDER WOMAN movie, but that might be in turnaround now.


 
Quote
or, as is my theory, are the majority of the television audience so used to not having to think about the shows they are watching that a sci-fi western with a somewhat convoluted storyline would simply be too much?

STAR TREK was that way. There's the new BATTESTAR GALACTICA, too, so I think that's not the case.

It's fringe entertainment.

Bob factory worker with an 8th grade education can wrap up his disbelief for action and adventure and intrigue, but there's a point where he might not go. Science Fiction as a genre is not populist. Elements of it are (as STAR TREK and STAR WARS and E. T. and BUFFY and the X FILES can attest), but not all of it. Maybe FIREFLY was made for a niceh audience but they underestimated just how small the audience was in terms of keeping up its production values (see the domestic box office of SERENITY as an exampel to that point.


Quote
Note that I am not being pompous nor belittling anyone who watches crappy show, since I am both a fan on MacGyver and the old Star Trek show, both of which could be argued to be a bit on the iffy side, but that it merely seems to me that the success of television shows seem to be increase as the quality decreases.

I agree with all of your points. I think a big factor in this is the cable explosion. It's still growing. 100 channels for basic cable. 100 choices. LOTS of product is needed. Not all of it can or will be good. Some shows won't have the budget. Many won't have the talent. broadcast shows face serious issues of censorship. Pay CABLE offers the freedom, but fewer shows per season. More money is invested per-show on the production end (minus star's salaries, since Networks tend to go way overboard with them, though THE SOPRANOS definitely ahs bucked that trend - well it did. That show ended recently).

Anyway, more choices, more diversification, less volume for a core audience to be there to support a show, since it splinters loyalties.

This also explains why there's an over abundance of "reality" shows being produced. They're cheap, are Wal-mart like (no unions for the writers or participants on those shows, so an actor's or writer's strike won't hault production like a narrative show) and can be burned off quickly if they bomb.

Of course, repeats and syndication will be limited based on their shelf life. The film and television industries rarely think that far ahead anymore.

I thnk you might find that while there are fewer great shows being made, the ones that we find great (FIREFLY, being an example of one of yours) are that much more rewarding because of hte scarcity of shows of similar quality.

DVD is also changing the medium. Some shows, like FAMILY GUY and FUTURAMA were brought back from the dead based on DVD sales alone. The same coudl easily be true for live action shows one day.

What are other shows you hold in a high regard like FIREFLY?

I'm not big on sci-fi, but I've been impressed with the last three years of DR. WHO, myself.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 28, 2007, 10:51:07 PM
Well, Simpsons, Deadwood, Monk, House M.D. are some of the shows that I like. I never did like shows with a continuing story line. Black Books was a good one too.
I have never been much of a sci-fi man myself (I still get lambasted by my friends when I explain to them that I think Star Wars is monumentally overrated and, having seen all the movies once, have no need to see them again)
The recent show I have been captivated by is called How I met your mother. It's awesome.
I am not sure I wholly agree with lumping Firefly together with Hercules and Xena. I don't know, I just found Firefly to be a breath of fresh air.
Then again, Danish TV rarely buy the really good shows, due to financial reason. For instance, they have no started rerererererererere-running Full House, Step by Step and Growing Pains!
Let's just say that I am re-acquainting myself with the joy of reading agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 28, 2007, 11:07:41 PM
For instance, they have no started rerererererererere-running Full House, Step by Step and Growing Pains!

"Growing Pains." Such an appropriately named (ironic, really) show! Wow! That makes me wonder if the Danes have the honor of living in the nation where bad ABC family sitcoms from the eightis go to die!

 ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 28, 2007, 11:16:07 PM
We do. Especially now. One of the major networks just went way over budget building their new digs and now they have no money to produce TV or buy shows. They started rerunning Ironside, old Miss Marple shows and every night is theme night! They just dedicated a whole week to China and next week is old documentaries on the rise of communism in Russia.
Then there is the cable networks. They have pots of money but I find the constant interruption of commercials too annoying. This week I have watched the news and entertained myself with my "Teach yourself Turkish" course and the collected work of Jane Austen. Maybe really bad TV is a blessing?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 28, 2007, 11:22:21 PM
We do. Especially now. One of the major networks just went way over budget building their new digs and now they have no money to produce TV or buy shows.

Do you have any friends in the business? I own the rights to this show I've been working on and can take it with me once we run through the season in the fall. I'd let them run the season for free if they wanted to. New episodes would require some money, though.


 
Quote
They started rerunning Ironside,

Awesome.

Quote
Maybe really bad TV is a blessing?

If it's "So bad it's good," I would agree. If its "GROWING PAINS" bad - as in "so bad it's horrible," then I would disagree.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 28, 2007, 11:26:51 PM
Nonono, MOP, I should have been clearer.  agagagagag
I do agree with the "soo bad it's good" statement (ref. previous admission to being a MacGyver fan) but what I meant was that the TV is soooo bad that I have been reading instead of watching TV.
I refuse to watch anything where the TV laughs for me.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on June 28, 2007, 11:29:59 PM
I refuse to watch anything where the TV laughs for me.

You sure the television is not laughing AT you?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 28, 2007, 11:32:50 PM
Yes, Stil, those things only happen to you. Now, be a nice boy from Medicine Hat and go take your pills. And if the lamp insults you, just let it go.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 28, 2007, 11:35:56 PM

You sure the television is not laughing AT you?

Long live the new flesh!
(http://www.horrordvds.com/reviews/n-z/videodrome-se/videodrome-se_shot3l.jpg)

;)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 28, 2007, 11:38:23 PM
Hey! When did you take pictures of my livingroom?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on June 30, 2007, 01:27:28 AM
Slight change of emphasis.....Watched Phat Girlz last night and loved it!  Even Hubby was wiping his eyes at some of the antics/situations...definitely worth a LookSee.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on June 30, 2007, 01:35:02 AM
I've heard loads about Deadwood and how great it is.

I don't think Firefly is necessarily High Art.  What it does do it deliver a good dose of proper old star wars ness to those of us who were badly let down by the prequels.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 30, 2007, 01:44:21 AM
Deadwood is definitely worth a gander. Firefly was never High Art (please, no discussion on the true nature of Art, as such discussions always end with the admonition of the simple fact that art is an abstract term the definition of which is down to the individual and usually people get angry before this point is reached)
It was merely a kind of sci-fi Tombstone, one of the best westerns ever. And I watched it last night, again. It has what every western should have, good story, great acting, lots of shooting and a verbal duel in Latin. Watching that movie is pure bliss. Having read several works on the O.K.Corral fight and the people involved, I know it takes a lot of liberties and that Doc Holiday's reputation as a gun-fighter was monumentally exaggerated, but it's a fun movie.
And after work it's on to a Die Hard marathon. All 4 movies in one go.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on June 30, 2007, 01:48:12 AM
As a warning to some, Deadwood has a lot of bad language. It might put some of you off. I thought it was m'kaying good.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 30, 2007, 02:01:51 AM
Foul language?? In Deadwood?? Nononono, you must have watched the wrong show, Stil. They hardly ever swear..errr...and the men in the show are all real gentlemen and nice to women...err..maybe not. But I agree it is "expletive" good.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on June 30, 2007, 02:11:50 AM
I watched an interesting movie last night - "Rocket Post" - based on the true story of a German rocket scientist who having failed to gain from from the German gov't after WW1 to continue his researches ended up on the island of Scraf in Scotland.

Interesting side-light was the 1000 executed rocket scientists in Hitler's Germany.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 30, 2007, 02:46:22 AM
The first time I saw an episode of DEADWOOD I didn't really dig it. I thought it was trying to hard to reinvent the wheel. However, when HBO On-Demand offered up the entire first season before season 2 premiered, I gave it another go, starting with its first episode. It made more sense to me and I had another hour so I tried the second one. After that, I spent the next day watching the entire first season on one go.

I even blew off the second season until I was able to watch it all in one sittng and soak it all in.

Season three: same deal.

Ian McShane owned that series! Still stellar work form DEADWOOD's entire cast.


 HBO's OZ was like that as well. I saw one epsiode and was not particualrly impressed, but when I was able to watch a few epsiodes in a row I was hooked on that back in the day.

The series SLEEPER CELL and SLEEPER CELL: AMERICAN TERROR wre also really engaging and worth checking out.

American pay-cable has the best drama on American t. v.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 30, 2007, 02:50:17 AM
Foul language?? In Deadwood?? Nononono, you must have watched the wrong show, Stil. They hardly ever swear..errr...and the men in the show are all real gentlemen and nice to women...err..maybe not. But I agree it is "expletive" good.


It's too bad David Milch's latest, JOHN FROM CINCINNATI isn't clicking on all cylinders like DEADWOOD did. It has a great ensemble cast, some good dialog and some interesting ideas, but it's not drawing me in like DEADWOOD did.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 30, 2007, 03:12:52 AM
Bought "Twin Peaks" on DVD a few days ago. Just waiting for a weekend with no family obligations and lots of rain. Now, that was quality TV and no mistake.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 30, 2007, 03:42:46 AM
Bought "Twin Peaks" on DVD a few days ago. Just waiting for a weekend with no family obligations and lots of rain. Now, that was quality TV and no mistake.

My brother loved the hell out of that. I was a bigger fan of David Lynch's other show (at that time) - a quirky little comedy called ON THE AIR. It almost sounds too surreal to be real, but it was indeed a "David Lynch sitcom." Nearly all of the cast were TWIN PEAKS folks. It was about a fictional American broadcast network from the fifties.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 30, 2007, 04:05:27 AM
It is impossible not to be a fan of mr. Lynch. I recall having to walk the streets of Copenhagen thin after watching Mulholland Drive and "The Elephant Man" was just pure genius. I mean, you can read about Joseph Merrick all you want but I thought that movie really hit the right note.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on June 30, 2007, 04:45:12 AM

And after work it's on to a Die Hard marathon. All 4 movies in one go.

You have the fourth?

The first is one of the greatest action films ever made, no doubt about that.  My dad usually hates violent films, and even he liked the first on the basis that it was very clever in how it was all set in one building.  The third is also fantastic, the second less so but still decent.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on June 30, 2007, 04:47:25 AM
WHere do you all find these good serieses on DVD in China?  I have only been able to find obvious stuff like Friends, Lost, etc.  I download a lot but for these big serieses, I would much rather buy as it's much less computer-hogging.  I had to download the Wire (everyone back home keeps going on about it) and it's like 5 gigs or something just for series 1.  Would much rather be able to buy, but can never seem to find DVDs of stuff like Deadwood.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 30, 2007, 05:58:58 AM
WHere do you all find these good serieses on DVD in China?

I wasn't sure if you asked Eric this. If you were asking me - I am not in China yet. However, I did find some great series like SPACED (not on DVD in the U. S.) in Shanghai a couple of years back. I also noticed many BBC series (THE OFFICE, some dramas, BLAKC BOOKS. MI5, etc.), every season of THE SIMPSONS released legally elsewhere, and stuff like 24, etc. as well.


 
Quote
Would much rather be able to buy, but can never seem to find DVDs of stuff like Deadwood.

Even here, in the U .S. the DEADWOOD series DVD sets are criminally priced at 60-80 bucks a pop. I just recorded them off of the on-demand cable service HBO has and burned DVDs of them.

If you're still China-based when I arrive and are quality TV deprived I'll let you know what I bring with me. It'll be a while, and the files would all be xvids (either a Divx/Xvid friendly DVD player or your computer would have to be used to watch 'em).

Like folks with books on this forum - My thing is with movies and television, and I'll be bringing stuff I know I couldn't even find in China's bountiful blackmarket via some portable hard drives.

I've seen the abyss of what Enlgish language programming might be available in mainland China, looked into it and it looked back at me and laughed; so I know what I'm in for.

EDIT: You're in Guandong, right? I'm surprised there isn't some primo swag coming into the markets via Hong Kong. I remember seeing lots of legal DVD and VCD releases of American and British series that were not even out in the states at the times I've been there (like episodes of THE SIMPSONS before the DVD sets were pressed. I believe similar sets were released on VHS in the U. k., but outside of one video tape of the very first SIMPSONS episode, we didn't get them on video until the DVD sets started in 2003).
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: non-dave on June 30, 2007, 06:01:12 AM
I found Deadwood easily in the local DVD market. I think about 60-80RMB, from memory.
 I'm surprised you can't get it - but if you seriously can't, PM me and I'll go shopping for you. The selection here is pretty good.
Deadwood has one of my favourite TV lines of all time - I think it is Series 2 - where Calamity Jane has been asked to deliver a talk to the school kiddies about General George Armstrong Custer, with whom she served and knew well. Her reply is, well, you have to see it to appreciate it (or not - depending on your taste and sensibilities).
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Nolefan on June 30, 2007, 06:03:45 AM
WHere do you all find these good serieses on DVD in China?  I have only been able to find obvious stuff like Friends, Lost, etc.  I download a lot but for these big serieses, I would much rather buy as it's much less computer-hogging.  I had to download the Wire (everyone back home keeps going on about it) and it's like 5 gigs or something just for series 1.  Would much rather be able to buy, but can never seem to find DVDs of stuff like Deadwood.

I never have a problem finding them in here but then again, the DVD shops in Beijing are used to dealing with the laowais so we get a lot of bizarre series and movies. But I've actually stopped buying them as of late... I have a PC downloading 24/7 and by the time a get through a season, the next one is downloaded and ready.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: non-dave on June 30, 2007, 06:11:06 AM
Does anyone burn their downloaded stuff to DVD and if so, how do you go about it. What programs / process do you recommend?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on June 30, 2007, 06:18:57 AM
I'm in Dalian...

I'm sure most of it is available but it tends to take a serious amount of searching.  I have never found firefly, for instance (I downloaded it).  Don't worry re. getting me anything as I can download most stuff, just wondering where people get it.  As for series I would rather just buy it, but wouldn't want anyone to go round getting stuff for me, if you see what I mean

as to converting downloaded stuff to DVD, you have to convert the AVI files to DVD format using a convertor program.  It takes a while - could take a fair few hours to convert a whole series to DVD, and burn.  I hate sitting watching programmes on my computer, too...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on June 30, 2007, 06:20:17 AM
On a different note, and above someone mentioned Spaced, I would like to plug the grossly underrated 15 Storeys High from the UK.  Fantastic.  Like Spaced without the drugs and really really dry.  Also featuring a British Chinese guy.  Very very good.  If you can find it.  It's on torrents.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on June 30, 2007, 06:42:38 AM
The other option to converting is to buy a Dvd player that plays avi files. Most of the non-entry players do now. No need for high-end and they are quite common. I just burn them directly as avi files.

I find most any tv series i wuld want in Changsha except for The Wire. C-Dog i't well worth the 5 gigs space. My favourite show.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 30, 2007, 08:11:39 AM
The other option to converting is to buy a Dvd player that plays avi files. Most of the non-entry players do now. No need for high-end and they are quite common. I just burn them directly as avi files.

There are also removeable hard-drive enclosures that feature monitor output, SVHS output, and RCA output. You jack them into your computer, format the drive, put on the software and it's plug-and-play. When you jack it into your computer you drag and drop the files into the folders you make, and then unplug it from your comp and plus it into the AUX on your t. v. They have very small motherboards in them. I have two "Tvisto" models I bought while in Taiwan. Two 500 gig drives and that's a whole lotta watchin'. They can play Xvid, Divx, Avi of any compression, Mpeg 1 and 2, WMA, Mp3s, ISO files of DVDs as if the DVD was in a player, WAV, and slideshows with JPEG, GIF, TIF, BMP, PNG, etc.

There are other external cases like this (it's only slightly bigger than the hard-drive itself) that can handle the 2 inch and 3.5 inch hard drives. I wonder if they have them in China?


Alternately, you could build an HTPC - if you are savvy enough to build your own computer. If i am in China long enough, I'll probably just build an HTPC. It's basically a computer with P3-P4/AMD equivalents, a DVD drive, a solid video card of your choice for output into your TV/monitor, 512-1Gig of ram (or more, if you desire, but if the computer is only sued as a medaia center for playback, then 1ig is fine) and as much HD space as ou want to invest in. I built one for a friend with 1 terabyte of memory. 1000 gigs, baby! qqqqqqqqqq
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 30, 2007, 08:37:59 AM

And after work it's on to a Die Hard marathon. All 4 movies in one go.

You have the fourth?

The first is one of the greatest action films ever made, no doubt about that.  My dad usually hates violent films, and even he liked the first on the basis that it was very clever in how it was all set in one building.  The third is also fantastic, the second less so but still decent.

I agree. The first and third are very good, the second so-so. Well, I am not in China anymore so I find all these great shows on Amazon mostly (the local shops here are worthless).
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on June 30, 2007, 02:12:19 PM
I found the Office here - British version.  But would LOVE to find Black Books.  I think you basically just have to keep looking - odd things just turn up.

I have a favourite DVD/CD store in the markets (where they have even given me a discount card!!  A discount card for dodgy DVDs I find really funny!!) and they also now know a bit the sort of stuff I like and will bring them out for me.  But the other day I went to a different shop closer to home and dug around in their 3 for 10Y pile and found some good movies.  There were a lot of horror movies there, but in between them some good ones.

The chase is an exciting part of DVD hunting here.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: non-dave on June 30, 2007, 03:00:10 PM
There are also removeable hard-drive enclosures that feature monitor output, SVHS output, and RCA output. You jack them into your computer, format the drive, put on the software and it's plug-and-play. When you jack it into your computer you drag and drop the files into the folders you make, and then unplug it from your comp and plus it into the AUX on your t. v. They have very small motherboards in them. I have two "Tvisto" models I bought while in Taiwan. Two 500 gig drives and that's a whole lotta watchin'. They can play Xvid, Divx, Avi of any compression, Mpeg 1 and 2, WMA, Mp3s, ISO files of DVDs as if the DVD was in a player, WAV, and slideshows with JPEG, GIF, TIF, BMP, PNG, etc.

There are other external cases like this (it's only slightly bigger than the hard-drive itself) that can handle the 2 inch and 3.5 inch hard drives. I wonder if they have them in China?

I'll have a look for some of these and let you know. Sounds like a good option. I've thought about building a HTPC. It's on the list, but not yet close enough to the top!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 30, 2007, 03:13:33 PM

I agree. The first and third are very good, the second so-so.

I'm pretty much in agreement with you and C-Dog. The first film was top-notch for its time, and the third film got its groove back, but part 2 was just horrible. Bruce Willis and the great Franco Nero couldn't even save it. I was immensely satisfied that DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE completely ignored that the second film ever happened.

I'm leery of the DIE HARD 4.0/ LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD installment. A.) It's PG-13, which indicates the mayhem will be softer and the language restained - which pretty much takes away DIE HARD's balls. Add in the clear sign of when any t. v. show or movie series has run out of steam - teenaged sidekicks/kids to the mix and there's a recipe for a DIE HARDER redux (and they didn't even have kids in the mix). I was also turned off by the fact that Fox studios sent Bruce Willis out to do damage control months before the film was released becasue they wanted to con people into thinking a PG-13 DIE HARD would not be a stunted, limited DIE HARD. The box office will tell us if it worked, but I've been working in and out of entertainment long enough to know that studio's don't do damage control unless they have no confidence in the product.

The fact Kevin Smith appears in it, in a pivitol role also turns me off to no end.

I'll wait for home video.

However, DIE HARD's first installment is golden, and the third installment brought back its luster.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 30, 2007, 03:35:18 PM
I think you basically just have to keep looking - odd things just turn up.

I've said it before, but it's worth repeating: in Shanghai I was impressed with the diversity of what I was able to find in the shops.

Quote
I have a favourite DVD/CD store in the markets (where they have even given me a discount card!!  A discount card for dodgy DVDs I find really funny!!) and they also now know a bit the sort of stuff I like and will bring them out for me.

I found the service and return policy at the black market DVD shops' much better than the bookstores that offer the paltry, quasi-legitimate DVDs in China. A few I went to had a return policy for faulty discs, and all fothem were willing to substantially lower their prices  when they saw how many movies I was buying at time. The most surreal part of it all was going into these little sub-bodega sized shops that were basically the size of a bathroom or closet, and being able to find a selection and diversity that dwarfs the floors of many CD and electronics shops where I live.




I'll have a look for some of these and let you know. Sounds like a good option. I've thought about building a HTPC. It's on the list, but not yet close enough to the top!

Here are some links to let you know some of the diferent models I've seen or used:

http://www.atruereview.com/tvisto_mediacenter/index.php
The Tvisto

Media Gate's enclosure:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BPHWF0/ref=pd_cp_e_1/102-0912157-2965745?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-41&pf_rd_r=0TE78MW2V9NNZP99BN52&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=250314601&pf_rd_i=B000BX7KLI

The MVIX wireless enclosure
http://www.amazon.com/Mvix-MX-760HD-Wireless-Media-Center/dp/B000R4WCU0/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/102-0912157-2965745?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1183166639&sr=1-2


and the NuSlim model

http://www.dv.com.tw/en/products/pro.asp?id=65

There are others but I have forgotten some of their names.

Some of them require very specific Xvid/Divx conversion. For example, if you have a widescreen movie taken from an anamorphic transfer - some of the players act like DVD players and will natrually take the squashed image and present it at its accurate, widescreen, letterboxed aspect ratio. Some will only directly spit out the anamorphic image without any adjustment for typical 4:3 televisions (but a widescreen t. v. would automatically compensate and present the squashed image in its widescren glory).

A home theater PC and be customeized to use software that handles anything (or nearly every format - like the VLC player, or Media Player Classic).

A lot of the plasma and LCD tvs (standard and HDTV) have the same monitor connections a computer woudl use and an HTPC jacked into one of those babies would be an option.

For about $300 U. S. a quite decent HTPC can be built. Sometimes for far less. It simply depends on the demands of the cinema afficianado (my current HTPC was $400, but the one I built for my friend was $900. The lucky cat had money to throw around and serious demands on functionality).
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Vegemite on June 30, 2007, 04:04:46 PM
Up here we've got the same problem as you ConDog, it's a rare event to find English-language DVDs, so we use the internet a lot. Demonoid was a godsend...we've watched so much stuff on it. Thank you for sending us an invite. agagagagag

And now I have to wait for DieHard 4 to appear - I love the DieHard series, numbers one and three in particular.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on June 30, 2007, 04:13:29 PM
Of course the quality is not the same but for 300 RMB you can purchase a DVD player that plays AVI files and many movies are available in the 700MB range. this means you can burn them as data to a CD rather than even needing a DVD burner.

I'd like to go Moonies route but alas my salary does not agree. Although I'm expecting Dongguan Kingpin Non-Dave to provide all his summer camp teachers with a Tvisto as a bonus.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 30, 2007, 04:43:28 PM
Of course the quality is not the same but for 300 RMB you can purchase a DVD player that plays AVI files and many movies are available in the 700MB range.


Stil, which local brands/models can you confirm that handle Avi playback? (I'll be taking notes. Just call me geek).


 
Quote
this means you can burn them as data to a CD rather than even needing a DVD burner.

If you have files under 700mb or so, of course. A 2 hour movie encoded at 700+ resolution avi (i. e. literally DVD-standard quality) can be between 1.2-2.2 gb, complete with stand-alone subtitles, or hard coded (i. e. you can't remove them from the picture) subtitles - and in AC3 audio. 

Quote
Kingpin Non-Dave to provide all his summer camp teachers with a Tvisto as a bonus.
ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on June 30, 2007, 05:07:11 PM
Stil, which local brands/models can you confirm that handle Avi playback? (I'll be taking notes. Just call me geek).

It's common in most brands now. I like 'bu bu gao'. I've never had any problems with their machines and they seem to play damaged or poor quality discs that many others won't.


GEEK!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on June 30, 2007, 06:14:20 PM

It's common in most brands now. I like 'bu bu gao'.

I'll keep that in mind, thanks.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: limubai2000 on July 01, 2007, 01:57:17 PM
Live Free or Die Hard - not as good as part 1 (none of the sequels are) and going with a PG-13 rating really hurt the film, I enjoyed it but it was not memorable.  At least Justin Long was not annoying as the sidekick.  Willis was on the internet (aint-it-cool.com) posting in the talkbacks as WalterB saying it was as good as the first, sorry but it wasn't.

Evan Almighty - was ok, some "cute" stuff in there, Oedekerk destroyed the script and they should have tried harder to make it more funny, this probably is going to hurt Carell's career but I hope it doesn't.  Not nearly as good as Knocked Up but I doubt anything will be until SuperBad comes out in August. 

Ratatouille - Will post back in about 8 hours, seeing a early showing while everyone is in church (re - no talking kids!).

On DVD I did watch Painted Veil with Ed Norton and Naomi Watts, I thought it was great. It felt a little rushed.  It could have been longer with some more scenes of the countryside (ok I biased... sue me!).


Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on July 01, 2007, 03:50:51 PM
At least Justin Long was not annoying as the sidekick.

He's a pretty solid supporting actor. His bit in GALAXY QUEST as the nerdy fan who helps the actors/aliens was handled well. He also put on a good show in the original JEEPERS CREEPERS, as well, so I'm not surprised that he doesn't tank the film, though I wondered.


Quote
Willis was on the internet (aint-it-cool.com) posting in the talkbacks as WalterB saying it was as good as the first, sorry but it wasn't.

That's one of the many bits of damage control the studio demanded since it knew that:

A.) it had a weak film on its hands becasue of:

B.) The studio suits ignored the fact R-rated action films rake in big money, and put a very marginal profit line by trying to appeal to what they thought was a "broader market" by making it teen-firendly PG-13. of course, the PG-13 takes all of DIE HARD's balls away, and when fans of the series - the "built-in-audience" were up in arms, Bruce was sent in to do contractually obligated promotion of the film and that's one way the studio tried to save face.

The box office will reveal if FOX killed the DIE HARD franchise.

Quote
this probably is going to hurt Carell's career but I hope it doesn't.

I won't even bother to see it. Carell participating in an overtlly religious-themed film that desperately tried to play the family amarket in a patronizing way the film's predecessor didn't - coupled with the fact word-of-mouth has killed the film in many circles,  and how the studio realized it's got a pdud on its hands and has since marketed the film heavily to churches - that is not a good sign, especially for a guy who is so close to being a mainstay in comedy.

Carell's come a long way from THE DAILY SHOW, and his work in ANCHORMAN and the U. S. versio nof THE OFFICE brought him up a notch. THE 40 YEAR-OLD VIRGIN proved his worth in carrying a film, and his supporting work in LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE certainly added cache to what he had built up. His agent clearly was doing a really good job for him and he was living up to his hype.

EVAN ALMIGHTY either indicates his agent's winning streak has collapsed, or he changed agents and is paying the price with their selection of dubious material; or he simply settled for a fat paycheck over something that would bring him to the Tom Hanks level of bankability that he certainly ahs the skills to achieve.

I see a lot of Tom Hanks in Carell. He can handle drama and comedy and is genuinely likeable onscreen adn when he's promoting his work. He's got that everyman thing going on that made Hanks a superstar.

Maybe EVAN ALMIGHTY is to Carell what VOLUNTEERS was to Hanks? it will be itneresting to see where his career goes with his psot EVAN ALMIGHTY decisions (well, his agent's decisions).


Quote
Ratatouille - Will post back in about 8 hours, seeing a early showing while everyone is in church (re - no talking kids!).

Outside of A BUG'S LIFE I haven't been disappointed with a PIXAR film. Even CARS (which felt like a lesser work to me, but by no means a bad work). Because of the kid factor, I'll respect the kids' rights to enjoy the film with enthusiasm in the theater, and respect my sanity to enjoy it in a quiet settting and will wait for DVD.

Just my ops.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on July 01, 2007, 05:22:08 PM
One of my students downloaded a really fast program for me today that does movie and music in next to no time - sorry, I don't know the name - but ask YOUR students - they will know the best one!!  It's in Chinese, but once he showed me what buttons to press and made me do it a couple of times - it works!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on July 01, 2007, 05:27:39 PM
Up here we've got the same problem as you ConDog, it's a rare event to find English-language DVDs,

Heaps of English language DVDs of films up here.  It's just the lesser-known TV serieses, like the Wire or Deadwood, that are haRd to find.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: limubai2000 on July 01, 2007, 07:59:42 PM
Ratatouille - it was good but not great, I was smiling throughout the film but it didn't have the great laughs that some of the previous films did. 

I'm with you on Cars Moon, it felt like a slight mis-step and judging from Ratatouille I think Pixar clearly understands that.  I felt Cars was simply too long and it should have been trimmed and/or added some more "action" scenes.  Nemo is still my favorite Pixar film .

I hope Carell gets back on track also. 


Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on July 01, 2007, 10:42:02 PM
But would LOVE to find Black Books.


Just found (and ordered) Black Books (TV series) from Amazon.com.  There is also a 1949 film of the same name available....a "film-noir" [sic] which got mixed reviews from Amazon posters.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on July 01, 2007, 10:57:10 PM
Quote
Just found (and ordered) Black Books (TV series) from Amazon.com.

Can I pirate your copy? 

(OH, you paid REAL  aoaoaoaoao money for it ... no - don't worry about it!)  ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on July 01, 2007, 11:08:28 PM
Quote
Just found (and ordered) Black Books (TV series) from Amazon.com.

Can I pirate your copy? 

OH, you paid REAL  aoaoaoaoao money for it ...


1.  You can pirate if you can reach this far.... qqqqqqqqqq

2.  No. Not REAL $$$$$....I used the plastic kind   afafafafaf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on July 02, 2007, 01:38:48 AM
Starting to watch The Apprentice.  not what I expected- addicted.

 oooooooooo Jonesing now in fact.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: limubai2000 on July 03, 2007, 11:01:49 PM
Transformers - more than meets the eye!  Great film, the best thing I've seen this summer.  I noticed the crowd in the theater was really into it, moms were even cheering and clapping a few times.  Everyone applauded when it was over.  This one kicks Die Hard in the nads.  I was expecting a empty cgi-fest but Michael Bay proved he can make a good film.  I think he learned from his mistakes and misfires.  The comedy was not corny, in fact the visual comedy played really well.  He built a good story into the film without overdoing the drama aspect of it.  I'm going to see it again to see if it holds up to repeat viewings. 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on July 03, 2007, 11:34:10 PM
Transformers - more than meets the eye!  Great film, the best thing I've seen this summer. 

How would you comapre it to ARMAGEDDON, quality-wise? I enjoyed ARMAGEDDON (it's the only Bay film I can say positive things about) and if TRANSFORMERS holds up to it I might invest a couple of hours in a matinee.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on July 04, 2007, 07:48:23 PM
I've discovered a lot of good movies through this thread and I've seen many non-Hollywood  films based on the comments of our members. Contemporary Dog, in particular, has supplied lots of useful comments and Lotus Eater has offered many selections that I didn't even know existed. 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: limubai2000 on July 04, 2007, 08:50:01 PM
I'd say Transformers tops Armageddon because Bay does not go for the heartstrings like he did in Armageddon.  The story is better but he still tends to barely flesh out supporting characters which is fine since this an action picture.  If you liked Bay's previous films you should enjoy this one.  I like Armageddon but felt The Rock was superior but maybe coz I love Connery on the screen. Hope this helps.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on July 04, 2007, 09:57:37 PM
If you liked Bay's previous films you should enjoy this one.  I like Armageddon but felt The Rock was superior but maybe coz I love Connery on the screen. Hope this helps.

As long as I'm not getting BAD BOYS 1 or 2, THE ISLAND and PEARL HARBOR then I might check out TRANSFORMERS. I wasn't a fan of the cartoon, so I'm going on the Bay thing (and THE ROCK and ARMAGEDDON were fun, disposable action epics). Thanks for the specs.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lone Traveller on July 04, 2007, 10:42:47 PM
Seraphim Falls - Liam Neeson and Pierce Brosnan

Post Civil War drama. Not earth shateringly great but a decent film.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 04, 2007, 10:48:25 PM
Seraphim Falls looks good, just waiting for it to come out here. No nice pirates here llllllllll llllllllll
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lone Traveller on July 04, 2007, 10:56:13 PM
Seraphim Falls looks good, just waiting for it to come out here. No nice pirates here llllllllll llllllllll

Having "nice pirates" is just one of the perks of living in China. ;D
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on July 05, 2007, 06:08:04 AM
I just finished viewing the Spanish film MURDER IN A BLUE WORLD, AKA CLOCKWORK TERROR. A very strange failure of a film, starring Chris Mitchum, Jean Sorel, and Sue Lyon (who starred in Kubrick's adaptation of LOLITA). It desperately wants to be A CLOCKWORK ORANGE and wears its adoration of Stanley Kubrick on its sleeve (casting Lyon, referencing A CLOCKWORK ORANGE - the movie - directly in the film, and having Lyon reading Vladimir Nabokov's LOLITA in another scene) and while there's a heady message going on in the background, it never fully connects. It has pre ROBOCOP-like faux television commercials (circa 1975) taking the piss out of consumerism of the time, a sadistic gang of young thugs who beat and rape and invade homes (featuring Chris Mitchum), and does focus on the same message of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE with a bizarre, role playing, Angel of Death Nurse (Lyon) who snuffs out young men thrown into the mix.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: limubai2000 on July 05, 2007, 06:24:27 AM
I liked the first 2 thirds of Seraphim Falls after that is just went off the deep end for me.  It needed a much better third act.



Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: solongtinik on July 05, 2007, 05:40:10 PM
when i got home i was worried that pirated dvds would be much expensive here but i was wrong..it's just that cthe copies in china are much better than what we have here.

im waiting for the season 3 of PRISON BREAK!

im watching HEROES now
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on July 05, 2007, 06:55:42 PM
This morning I watched a quirky drama from 1980 called CARNY with Jodie Foster, Robbie Robertson (from The Band) and Gary Busey. Foster's a small town chick tired of its trappings so she shooks up with two barkers (Busey and Robertson) and joins the dying fraternity of a traveling carnival. It would make a great double-bill with Clint Eastwood's charming BRONCO BILLY (also from 1980).
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on July 05, 2007, 08:15:00 PM
when i got home i was worried that pirated dvds would be much expensive here but i was wrong..it's just that cthe copies in china are much better than what we have here.

im waiting for the season 3 of PRISON BREAK!

im watching HEROES now

Really?  In the UK the pirates cost about 3 quid (45 RMB or so) which is a lot more than the 6-12 RMB we pay in China...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on July 06, 2007, 08:44:34 AM
Just finished NEXT and GHOST RIDER. Both with Nicolas Cage. Both are not bad on my opinion. Especially NEXT. Haven't read the book but I liked the movie.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: limubai2000 on July 06, 2007, 09:33:28 PM
NEXT had a good spin on seeing into the future, I liked it.

I just finished -

Until Death - Van Damne, it was ok if you're a fan of him, Wake of Death was much better.

Grandma's Boy - about a 35 year old video game tester, it had a few laughs and some decent gags, nothing special.

Now I'm working my way through Digging For The Truth season 1 from the History Channel... so far the Mayans were not nice people...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 06, 2007, 09:51:32 PM
It's raining as usual and I have to dog-sit in a remote cottage up north. Time to watch that Clint Eastwood Iwo Jima double feature thing.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 07, 2007, 05:49:01 AM
I would but it seems that walking up to ladies and asking them to come to a remote cottage is creepy. Who knew? Besides, ladies tend not to appreciate the unwritten law that, when watching war movies or anything action-packed involving mr. Eastwood, silence is not only golden, it is mandatory. And there is also a dog in the cottage and I can really only deal with incessant, random, flighty demands from one side, so it's just going to be the usual Friday night, packed with gory violence and trying to convince myself that having a social life is a nasty illness that strikes other, less perfect people agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 07, 2007, 10:03:36 PM
Hmm...so Canada not only has a beautiful natural wilderness, incredibly big bookstores filled with English books but also ladies who appreciate the genius that is Eastwood westerns/Dirty Harry/Kelly's Heroes? That thing about bridges in some county is not to spoken of...I'm going to Canada in two months and, from what you tell me, I may be hard pressed to find an excuse to go home.
The Iwo Jima movies were brilliant by the way.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on July 07, 2007, 11:40:55 PM
The Iwo Jima movies were brilliant by the way.

I loved Kelly's Heroes, and Heartbreak Ridge.  The Every Which Way duos were good, too.......Just that Sondra Locke girl was drippy.

Glad to know the Iwo Jima films are worth the $$$.  I'll get them for the Summer with a clear conscience, now that I know they're worth a LookSee.  Thanks for the recommendation, Eric.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on July 07, 2007, 11:47:42 PM
I loved Kelly's Heroes, and Heartbreak Ridge


No WHERE EAGLES DARE?  apapapapap
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on July 08, 2007, 01:00:16 AM
Had to go and check what "Eagles" was about.....haven't watched that one in A-g-e-s!  It came out about the same time as Dirty Dozen, didn't it?  I seem to remember preferring Great Escape and Dirty Dozen to the Eagles.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on July 08, 2007, 02:22:46 AM
The Last of Mimzy was cute. Watched just now Pirates of Carribean 3. It was much better than 2, indeed. And Jonny is such a hottie!  cbcbcbcbcb
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on July 08, 2007, 02:56:51 AM
It's a double-bill of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST and the chick gang flick SWITCHBLADE SISTERS for MOP. No Disney or kiddie flicks in these here parts. qqqqqqqqqq
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 08, 2007, 06:48:46 AM
Where Eagles Dare is one of my favourite movies too. Though the best ones are the Man With No Name trilogy...
Tonight is all about Gettysburg and, if time permits, Waterloo. Christopher Plummer as Wellington, the charge of the Scots Greys, the last charge of the Old Guard...gotta love it!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on July 08, 2007, 07:12:55 AM
Where Eagles Dare is one of my favourite movies too. Though the best ones are the Man With No Name trilogy...Scots Greys, the last charge of the Old Guard...gotta love it!

Actually, he has a name in the films. His name is Joe Manco. Alternately, he's refered to as "Blondie." The "Man With No Name" misnomer comes from the American promotion of the Leone/Eastwood films back in the sixties. "The Man with no name and the short cigar is Clint Eastwood.," etc. Ironic, since he had a name! ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on July 10, 2007, 02:52:33 AM
Today it's BAD LIEUTENANT with its original, SCHOOLY-D  music score (pre Led Zeppelin lawsuit) and the most recent episode of JOHN FROM CINCINNATI (more DEADWOOD folk are turning up on the show, which is a good thing, but David Milch can't capture that lightning in a bottle a second time; on a relevatory note, Ed O'Neill gives the best performance of his career in each and every episode).

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 10, 2007, 02:56:31 AM
Transformers today. Not a big fan of the story but what else is there to do on a Monday evening?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on July 10, 2007, 07:30:56 AM
Transformers today. Not a big fan of the story but what else is there to do on a Monday evening?

It does look quite stonking as far as this sort of thing goes.  Good quality copy?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 10, 2007, 08:31:42 AM
CD, I'm in Denmark, so the copy is the one shown in the cinema. Hopefully it'll be a good copy, with the absurd prices they demand for movie tickets these days..gosh...I just morphed into my Dad... agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 10, 2007, 09:33:28 PM
Transformers is officially one of the best movies I have seen all year. Gigantic robots, everything that can be blown up is blown up and it's hilarious. I mean, it's really funny in the good way. When you come across a good copy of this, buy it! now I can only wait for Harry Potter (movie), Harry Potter (book) and Simpsons...the future holds good things...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on July 11, 2007, 12:34:25 AM
For some reason it won't come out in the UK til 27th July (for some reason us limeys always get shafted in this regard).  So I can't see it in London when I'm in London for the first time in 4 years from 17th to 25th July.  asasasasas asasasasas asasasasas
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 11, 2007, 12:52:36 AM
Not to worry, the sweet pirates will furnish you with a copy before long.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on July 11, 2007, 03:37:07 AM
I reckon it has to be one for the big screen, though.  It has arrived at the cinemas here in Dlaian.  Probably the sort of film that can be watched in a dubbed version with no probs!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 11, 2007, 04:07:05 AM
I don't know. There are quite few funny lines in this movie.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on July 11, 2007, 05:38:01 AM
For some reason it won't come out in the UK til 27th July (for some reason us limeys always get shafted in this regard).

It cuts both ways. Off the top of my head I can think of a few American films the "Limeys" got before the Americans:

LAND OF THE DEAD
GHOST DOG: WAY OF THE SAMURAI
and some that haven't been released in the U. S. some 8 years after the studios financed them, like Johnny Depp's THE BRAVE (f'n brilliant movie)
and some U. K. audiences were given a test screening of THE SIMPSONS MOVIE but none have surfaced in America.

We have yet to see Guy Ritchie's REVOLVER (2005) produced by Luc Besson, as well; but it's had a fair shake in the U. K

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Mimi on July 11, 2007, 06:58:35 PM
I'm soooooooo excited for The Simpsons Movie.  And I have to say that, even though I was upset when some plans in China fell through, I was relieved to find out I would still be in the US when the next Harry Potter movie (and book) was released.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on July 11, 2007, 11:54:01 PM
My dying, rustbelt corner of the world will get the movie, but not the KWIK-E MART mock-ups done to a handful of 7-11s around the country :(

"Who needs the Kwik-E Mart?"
(http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/HPM/SM984~Kwik-E-Mart-Posters.jpg)
"We doooooooooooooooooooooooooooo."
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on July 13, 2007, 06:05:01 AM
Borat - tonight I watched this.  American friend told me that the DVD version I have has a lot more in it than the cinema version. But I was totally opened mouthed all the way through - from disbelief and hysteria.

Followed it up with some of the "Safanic Verses " - Safron vs God - which is also hysterical, and then "Kath and Kim" - again an absolute classic!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on July 13, 2007, 07:00:28 AM
Borat - tonight I watched this.  American friend told me that the DVD version I have has a lot more in it than the cinema version. But I was totally opened mouthed all the way through - from disbelief and hysteria.

It's equal parts Norman Gunston and the late Andy Kaufman's "Foreign man," cranked up to 11.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on July 13, 2007, 02:02:42 PM
I did feel the Norman Gunston effect.  He was brilliant. And doing this stuff many, many years ago.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Mimi on July 13, 2007, 08:36:20 PM
My dying, rustbelt corner of the world will get the movie, but not the KWIK-E MART mock-ups done to a handful of 7-11s around the country :(


There is one about 45 minutes from me.  I am going to go this weekend.  And there will be gloating.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 13, 2007, 10:27:28 PM
I'm not jealous...nope, not at all...Just going to sit still and wait for August 3, when it premiers here.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on July 13, 2007, 10:52:33 PM
Watching Pirates of the Caribbean 3 and eating parmesan flavoured popcorn.  Good music, some good lines, cinematography interesting.  Story .....
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 13, 2007, 11:07:51 PM
Story smory. It's fun. Like Transformers, not a movie to watch for the story but for the lines, the effects.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on July 14, 2007, 12:54:21 AM

There is one about 45 minutes from me.  I am going to go this weekend.  And there will be gloating.

Lucky you! Duff - maybe FUDD, a Chutney squishy, some Krusty-O's... uuuuuuuuuu

There is one KWIK-E Mart about 3 hours away. I love THE SIMPSONS, but not even that phenomenon can get me to drive to that location (ga$$$$ prices being the big spoiler). :(
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Vegemite on July 14, 2007, 03:26:30 PM
Daughter and I tried to watch The Transformers last night, we ended up turning the computer off...it just went on and on...and with lots of so unsubtle one-liners. So, give me the last Pirates movie anyday.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: limubai2000 on July 14, 2007, 03:45:22 PM
Wow, I thought Transformers had a far better storyline than the last Pirates film.  I loved the first Pirates film but the others I did not like at all. To each their own, maybe 'Formers just appeals to us males?!?!

Harry Potter V - I liked it a lot, much darker than the last ones.  Can't wait for book 7!

Days of Glory - Algerian Muslims fighting for France in WW2, it was interesting in the beginning but lost momentum and I didn't like it after the 2nd act.

Big Nothing - (David Schwimmer/Simon Pegg) dark comedy from 06, pretty good if you like DCs, interesting story with some good twists and turns. 

Hot Fuzz - Awesome! Buddy cop parody/homage comedy action film! If you like buddy cop films you need to see this!

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on July 14, 2007, 04:28:54 PM

Hot Fuzz - Awesome! Buddy cop parody/homage comedy action film! If you like buddy cop films you need to see this!

Very good until the false ending in the cop shop. That totally killed it for me. 3 minutes killed the entire film. It came off as a quick, cheap, overindulgent, clichéd bait-and-switch that was neither successful nor productive.  Maybe I place a higher standard of expectations on Edgard Wright and Simon Pegg based on SPACED, SHAUN OF THE DEAD and LOOK AROUND YOU, and when they do something that felt like it came out of a LARRY THE CABLE GUY movie I felt betrayed as a viewer. They set the bar for themselves; came close to raising it and then ran it into the ground.  bibibibibi
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Vegemite on July 14, 2007, 05:20:15 PM
To each their own, maybe 'Formers just appeals to us males?!?!

I don't know, it'll be interesting to see. I was actually really looking forward to Transformers 'cos I normally like that sort of gungho all American-type movie...but nope, not this one.

Hot Fuzz - Awesome! Buddy cop parody/homage comedy action film! If you like buddy cop films you need to see this!

I didn't enjoy this one much either, it was watchable but not memorable, not like Shuan of the Dead - now Shuan of the Dead was hilarious.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on July 16, 2007, 04:10:06 AM
Had a double bill of TENEBRE and THE SWINGING CHEERLEADERS last night.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on July 16, 2007, 08:46:38 PM
It's time to hanker down with Lucio Fulci's DRACULA IN THE PROVINCES.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 16, 2007, 08:53:00 PM
After tonights run, it's "The Big Sleep" with Bogart. Tomorrow, Casablanca.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Mimi on July 17, 2007, 07:46:13 PM
The Dark Crystal.

Edited because the rest of my original post didn't come through.  I mentioned something about the documentary on the DVD extra of Labyrinth.  Kind of boring, but detailed the intricacies of puppet design, and a (now) false hope the puppets would be the next wave of special effects advancement in movies. 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: limubai2000 on July 17, 2007, 07:51:04 PM
4 Musketeers - French film, looks to be edited down from a TV mini-series, it was ok, but the dubbing was awful. Not in the kung fu movie awful but cool way, in an awful awful echoey crap way.

I'm working on the BBC Special In Search Of The Trojan War, 6 hours of BBC goodness!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on July 18, 2007, 07:46:50 PM
Today: ALMOST HUMAN. Thomas Milian + Henry Silva + Umberto Lenzi directing + Milan crime flick = maximum mayhem.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Mimi on July 18, 2007, 07:55:50 PM
I'm watching District B13.  One of the finest displays of athleticism I have EVER seen.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: limubai2000 on July 19, 2007, 12:12:17 AM
1 of the guys in B13 played the first bad guy in Casino Royale and he was amazing, the other guy just recently showed up in Live Free or Die Hard, and again was amazing. 

Broken Trail - Robert Duvall, Thomas Hayden Church, good pot boiler western about a uncle and nephew on a horse drive who unwittingly rescue 5 Chinese women sold into prostitution.  AMC cable TV produced the film.  Thumb up.

Last Run - Fred Savage in a rather surprising role of a heartbroken accountant who turns into a sex maniac.  Sold as a romantic comedy but it plays heavy handed in some scenes, more like a dark comedy with some romance. Thumb up.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on July 19, 2007, 07:20:01 PM
Tonight's feature:
LADIES & GENTLEMEN, THE FABULOUS STAINS. Iron town teens form a punk band and inadvertently start a movement. Diane Lane, Laura Dern, The Clash's Paul Simonon, The Tubes' Fee Waybil, the Sex Pistol's Steve Jones and Paul Cook, and the late, great Black Randy & The Metro Squad. Written by Jonathan Demme. I don't think it had much of a theatrical release back in '81, even though a major Hollywood studio (Paramount Pictures) produced it.

 I remember first seeing it on Night Flight in 1985 (night Flight was the best damn music show on American television. It predated MTV by half a year and was vastly hipper. For example, you could see 3 Stooges shorts, cult movies, concerts from Frank Zappa, Neil Young and The Residents, Nam Jun Paik video art, stand-up comedy, and music videos from obscure bands of the era like Nitzer Ebb and Uta Hagen alongside mainstream stuff like Lionel Ritchie and Michael Jackson, with some Laurie Anderson and Kiss thrown in the middle, and it featured the wonderful New Wave Theater which showcased all manner of west coast punk: every Friday and Saturday night from 11pm until 6am and ran until 1988).



Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on July 21, 2007, 10:24:40 AM
I have two flicks to watch for the show: BLOOD FREAK - a southern Florida cheapie from the seventies whose monster is a blood-drinking Turkey-man who came into being because the host organism (some biker) smoked tainted dope! zzzzzzzzzz

No joke!

Good or bad, that one's definitely making the cut.

The other is a film by the late Larry Buchanan called DOWN ON US, which claims to tell the "true story" of how the C. I. A. were behind the deaths of Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin! ahahahahah

If it's as funny as its plot then it may very well be the final movie for the show.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on July 21, 2007, 08:18:17 PM
Meet the Robinsons is the best kids' movie I've seen in a long time.  Laughed out loud on the plane several times

Air Canada has a tiny flatscreen TV in every seat! bhbhbhbhbh And their touch screens, and you can choose from a pretty big menu just what you want to watch!  axaxaxaxax

I take back every hateful thing i've ever seen about the airline.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on July 21, 2007, 09:05:24 PM

Air Canada has a tiny flatscreen TV in every seat! bhbhbhbhbh And their touch screens, and you can choose from a pretty big menu just what you want to watch!  axaxaxaxax


It sounds like they took notes from Cathay Pacific.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on July 22, 2007, 09:48:16 PM
Tonight's feature: I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE. Seventies-era revenge film.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on July 25, 2007, 10:46:06 PM
Tonight it's a double-feature of the late Richard Franklin's PATRICK and its unofficial Italian sequel, PATRICK STILL LIVES.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: moon over parma on July 27, 2007, 10:36:42 AM
Tonight it's Kinji Fukasaku's boryokudan epics  BATTLES WITHOUT HONOR & HUMANITY 1 & 2.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: limubai2000 on August 02, 2007, 04:00:33 AM
300 Collector's Edition DVD, wonderful extras on this one including additional scenes and documentaries.

Mulan, possibly my favorite Disney film not counting Pixar's output of course.  I like Eddie Murphy as the Mushu the dragon a lot better than Eddie as the donkey in Shrek.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on August 02, 2007, 04:04:09 AM
Grumblegrumble asasasasas asasasasas asasasasas 300 won't be out on DVD here till the 21st August!! I'll just have to sit tight and look forward to Simpsons on Friday. First Czech food and beer, followed by Simpsons, followed by more good beer. Or, in my case, various kinds of non-alcoholic fizzy drinks agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on August 02, 2007, 06:52:33 PM
Wasnt Either of them another actor? Forgot his name - he was also in that movie with Beyonce where he went back to his town to sing in a church choir?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on August 28, 2007, 12:32:12 AM
Tom Selleck in the "Stone Cold" (Jesse Stone) trilogy, based on Robert Parker's books.  Not earth-shattering, but an amusing watch, anyway.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on August 28, 2007, 02:48:32 PM
Studio Ghibli's "Tales from Earthsea".  I love their animations.

Started watching NCIS - same format as CSI but in the US navy. Jethro replaces Horatio - better acting.  But I miss Horatio's 'devastating' one-liners!!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: solongtinik on August 28, 2007, 03:49:41 PM
"reign over me" a different adam sandler...

whew! the dvd copies here arent really as good as china's! mostly from indo and malaysia! really s****! and 50% more expensive!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on August 30, 2007, 11:20:35 PM
Has anyone seen "The Forbidden City- Curse of the Golden Flower"? It's apparently the most expensive movie ever to be produced in China. It premiers tomorrow and I'm going. First Beijing Cao Ya, then movie. Yippee agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on August 30, 2007, 11:43:21 PM
Of course - it's been out on dodgy DVD for ages!!  OK, not brilliant. But fun if you like the genre.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on August 30, 2007, 11:52:16 PM
I liked Hero, haven't seen the house of dagggers thing yet. Should be fun. I primarily go for the cinematography and hearing the language.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on August 31, 2007, 03:57:03 AM
I'm not a big Adam Sandler fan but I just watched Reign Over Me and was impressed.  Also watched Moonlight Mile with Susan Sarandon (whom I love) and Dustin Hoffman.  Both of these films deal with the death of loved ones.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on September 07, 2007, 05:42:12 AM
I just watched 1408, superb horror/ghost film with John Cusack as a guy trapped in a freaky hotel room.  Blinding stuff.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 07, 2007, 06:45:21 AM
I liked Hero, haven't seen the house of dagggers thing yet. Should be fun. I primarily go for the cinematography and hearing the language.
You liked Hero?  I felt cheated and threatened by it.  Aside from using the spectacle of colour... blandly, how much payoff was there really after discovering--twice!--that the story being told on screen wasn't real?  And the pointlessly balletic martial arts.  And the emperor killed everyone!  I know there was a deep Confucian message being demonstrated, or trying to be demonstrated, but the film emptied it of content.  Unless i misunderstood--since I was watching it inside China I couldn't work out if it was caustic criticism or overlord propaganda.

It'd be totally weird to put House of Fly Daggers, Shi Mian Mai Fu, in any category along with Hero.  House of Flying Daggers is beautiful, the story replete with bizarre Chinese values that nonetheless make sense, and--first time I've ever seen this--the Mandarin spoken by the actors is beautiful.  It's lovely to listen to.  Never thought I'd find that in a Chinese film.  Every halfwit student I know dismisses the film.  "Oh, that's just made for foreigners," they say.

Elsewhere, I've been watching some flawed but fabulous films. 

Mister Brooks with Kevin Costner.  Serial killers are fun.
Stranger Than Fiction with Will Ferrel.  Ferrel doesn't quite hit the black pathos note needed, more like puppy dog pathos, but black humour story moves along nicely, and sometimes laugh out loud funnily, around him.

and, best for last,

28 Weeks Later.

The first film, 28 Days Later, is super cool in concept and ends in a disappointingly bizarre At The Manor panto, whereas the sequel, 28 Weeks Later, is just super cool.  Spanish director, angry zombies, and an astonishingly moving, embracing, compelling soundtrack.  Horror films have finally stopped being camp.

Forgive me too, but I think the latest Harry Potter film is pretty good.

uTorrent is my friend.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on September 07, 2007, 10:31:40 AM
I mean, I liked Hero as entertainment. It's in my hangover section of movies. These odd hopping-fighting-kicking movies are not really me favourites. Or, in other words, I watched Hero once and I can watch Once Upon a Time in the West over and over and over....

Mr. Brooks was dead cool. One of the best movies I have seen all year.

Hopefully, when I go to the Toronto Film Festival next week, I will get to see The Golden Age and/or that new Jesse James movie with Brad Pitt. I know, I know, but I actually think that mr. Pitt is a very good actor.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: belrain on September 07, 2007, 07:21:40 PM
Great movies also are "Fight Club", "Pulp Fiction" and "From dusk till dawn". bfbfbfbfbf

Crazy story, great actors and lots of fun  agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: birddog on September 07, 2007, 07:27:55 PM
Speaking of "Pulp Fiction"... My favorite Tarantino film is "Jackie Brown." Wonderful performances all 'round, especially from Robert Forster and Samuel Jackson.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on September 07, 2007, 09:23:29 PM
 Recently saw "Behind the Mask"... a really funny and clever spoof of the slasher genre. It's about film crew who is making a movie about a smart, charming young man who aspires to be a slasher like those depicted in movies like "Friday the 13th", "Halloween" ect. It follows him as he goes into training ,works on his "gimic" ect. It reminded me of a very obscure B movie I saw years ago called Unmasked Part 25 which detailed the every day life of a killer based on the "Jason" character from Friday the 13th as he fell in love with a blind girl and worked on anger management. Funny stuff.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on September 07, 2007, 09:27:45 PM
Love and Other Disasters, it's a British chick-flick but refreshingly quirky.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: old34 on September 08, 2007, 12:14:08 AM
Love and Other Disasters, it's a British chick-flick butrefreshingly quirky.

Shouldn't that "but" be a "so" or a "thus" or even a "therefore"?

I dunno, I find British chicks women refreshingly quirky. (Emphasis on the refreshingly).
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on September 26, 2007, 10:38:37 PM
You Kill Me, with Ben Kingsley.  A hit man with an alcohol problem is sent to clean up by joining AA.  There's a hilarious scene where he's listing the people he's harmed and lists those he knocked off while drunk which resulted in sloppy work...'there's the woman who's throat I was supposed to slit but I got her in the eye instead.' 

New TV season is also starting bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on September 28, 2007, 12:05:53 AM
Im watching yet another Bollywood trick. I should send this one to Raoul. It's a remake of the Snatch. Picture Brad Pitt singing and dancing... a bit tanned... with darker skin... and shorter. There you go!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on September 28, 2007, 02:28:02 AM
TV show, actually: Num3ers.  It's doing for Math what macGiver did for engineering: making it sexy.  I'm really enjoying it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: dragonsaver on September 28, 2007, 02:38:17 AM
Numbers is my favourite show.  agagagagag agagagagag  I also like house and CSI.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on September 28, 2007, 09:01:03 AM
Criminal Minds.....the FBI has a Behavioural Analysis Unit....profiling and catching the worst cases...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on September 28, 2007, 11:37:07 AM
House is still my favourite.  There's also a new one called Saving Grace with Holly Hunter.  This is a whole different take on celestial beings, including a woman who is fighting
'saving' every step.  Cops, an inmate on death row, sex and an angel...go figure.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: dragonsaver on September 28, 2007, 03:12:34 PM
Criminal minds and Saving Grace aren't available in China. At least not on AXN which is the only cable channel with TV programs.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: juggler1000 on September 28, 2007, 03:50:46 PM
fav movies:

the good, the bad and the ugly.
scarface
schindler's list
gladiator
braveheart

and a few others but these make the top ten
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Bugalugs on September 28, 2007, 05:15:21 PM
Just finished watching the 3rd series of Dr Who, I'm now on the look out for Torchwood. Bought MacGyver for my little brother so am checking that out and also looking at Men In Trees. Was gonna buy Criminal Minds but it will have to wait till my next dvd shopping trip, probably tomorrow or Sunday. Also has anyone seen the new BBC series of Robin Hood available here, my mum recommended it but i have yet to find it.

Am no hanging out for Lost 4, PrisonBreak 3, Weeds 3 and Desperate Housewives. Also have been watching Bones series 1 and 2, it's good but not as good as the books.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on September 29, 2007, 12:01:37 PM
DS, I download Saving Grace and all my other series, like House and Grey's Anatomy...the new season premiere of CSI is downloading as I type.  Check out thepiratebay.org, go to tv shows and voila, a veritable couch potato smorgasborg.It takes awhile to get stuff downloaded though.

By the way, has anyone been successful at connecting to Demonoid lately?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Mr Nobody on September 29, 2007, 01:47:21 PM
I asked the same question on another thread. Noodles said that rumour has it that it's been shut down by court order or some such.

Hopefully, they will go elsewhere.

Demonoid is dead, long live Demonoid.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on October 05, 2007, 01:27:39 AM
Just finished all of Six Feet Under.  I enjoyed the 1st season - interesting in approach, and enough humour to leaven the process.  But the last 3 seasons became less and less interesting - tried way too hard to be profound, deep - took itself way too seriously, the humour was lost and some of the plot lines made no sense and the behaviours became too convoluted to be believable.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: woza on October 06, 2007, 01:12:15 AM
We have started using, bit torrent to download movies and TV shows, at the moment we are downloanding Larry Sanders and I Claudius.
I watched I kill you, what a load of rubbish. I have written a stern letter to the Ben Kingsly fan club, something along the lines, that a man who plays the part of Mr Ghandi should even have entertained the thought of playing such a part.  I excused him for Sexy Beast cause he was great in that and died in the end   America is coming up with a lot movies, TV shows that are sending out the message that it is OK to kill people.
What kind of messages are we sending out to the younger generation or for that matter to the older generation, they are impressionable too.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on October 06, 2007, 04:59:29 AM
House of Sand and Fog is another blinding film with Kingsley in.  He has to be one of the most versatile actors ever.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on October 06, 2007, 07:57:47 PM
Last night I watched Babel.  Pretty good.

The other day Watched Panic Room, which was definitely the worst film Fincher has done.  Not actually bad, just not up to the very high standards of Fight Club, Seven, Alien 3, Zodiac, etc...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on October 06, 2007, 11:25:58 PM
I liked the last Harry Potter movie.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Acjade on October 06, 2007, 11:29:21 PM
The Order of the Phoenix?

I would have loved it but I couldn't see anything. The whole film was so dark that the first pirated copies were a waste of yen. Will look out a legit. copy.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: woza on October 06, 2007, 11:46:33 PM
I was listening to Radio National this morning, Australian radio.  The movie reviews come on and one host and presenter that I really like said, she liked The Devil in Prada, now all the respect I had for her, not the movie reviewer, went right out the window.  I do tend to judge intelligence on what movies people like.  Missi you are up there darling.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on October 07, 2007, 12:26:09 AM
The book was way better than the movie.  I was really disappointed with Meryl Streep in it as well.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on October 07, 2007, 12:50:58 AM
I watched on the plane. Of course books are way better but compare to other Harry Potter movies I liked this one the best.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on October 07, 2007, 09:06:22 AM
 Watched Rob Zombie's re-make of Halloween tonight. Started as everything a re-make should be...a completely different take on the same story. However at the halfway point it really went downhill. The main characters of the original film were treated as an afterthought here and the character played by Jamie Lee Curtis in the original was so unsymapthetic that you pretty much want to root for her to get offed.

 The original Halloween contained minimal violence and relied on atmosphere for it's chills. Rob Zombie's version was interseting to a point but not scary in the least.

 Having heard his latest CD and seen his latest movie I'm glad Rob Zombie has gone back to making music. As a director he simply doesn't seem to know how to create horror without unrelenting ugliness and nihillism.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: woza on October 07, 2007, 01:48:37 PM
Talking about zombie movies hve you watched Fido?  Twenty Eight Days After, is brilliant, the prequel to Twenty Eight Days later, takes Zombie movies to the next level.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: limubai2000 on October 07, 2007, 02:19:20 PM
300 Collector's Edition on DVD was great, it has some awesome extras, maybe you guys can grab a pirated copy of the 2nd disk.

Troy Director's Cut lifted the movie to a whole new level, Odysseus has a lot more scenes, Ajax shows up and gets some screen time, the battle scenes are longer, more brutal and more bloody.  All around better than the original.

The Kingdom was good, not great however. Peter Berg did a great job directing it by keeping the pacing tight, the humor subtle and some intensity in every scene.  The last 30 minutes are pulse pounding. 

Heartbreak Kid was good but not near the normal funny output of Ben Stiller.  I can't put my finger on quite what was wrong but it wasn't nearly as good as his last 4 or 5 films.   Worth seeing but Knocked Up and Superbad are still the funniest films this year IMHO.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: George on October 07, 2007, 02:21:29 PM
There is no next level for Zombie movies! Zombie movies are fodder for the brain-dead! Most horror films are, actually. A REAL horror film would be one in which the beautiful heroine gets killed/raped/ripped-to-pieces/spiflicated/whatever, and the tough hero likewise, and the evil triumphs! The monster actually wins!!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Confuciusly Confused on October 08, 2007, 02:11:35 AM
George... that would be good.  Kinda like seeing the Coyote actually catch the Road Runner.  Always wanted to see that.

Watched Silent Hill the other night, and it was terrible!

My fave "horror" movies are still the Evil Dead series with Bruce Campbell.  They are hilarious!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on October 08, 2007, 02:38:27 AM
I'm not a zombie movie buff but I was bored the other night and watched the new Robert Rodriguez flick, Planet Terror.  It was hillarious.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on October 09, 2007, 02:51:18 AM
Missi, if you dig I, Claudius, go buy Rome.  Hurry!

Troy has a director's cut!?
 oooooooooo
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on October 09, 2007, 04:57:22 PM
Just saw AWAY FROM HER,based on the Alice Munro short story THE BEAR CAME OVER THE MOUNTAIN. This film deals intelligently with the heartbreaking Alzheimer's disease. Julie Christie plays the role of Fiona with great composure and dignity. I will not be surprised if she is nominated for an Oscar. Since I have misspent my youth and the doctor says that I can't drink or smoke and the list goes on etc,I go to the movies about three times a week. I thoroughly recommend this film, and Granny Mae doesn't say that about too many of them.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on October 09, 2007, 05:47:01 PM
Just watched a great Kiwi horror flick called Black Sheep. Far and away the best movie about killer, flesh eating sheep I've ever seen.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Mr Nobody on October 09, 2007, 06:23:47 PM
Er, how many, exactly, is that?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on October 09, 2007, 08:55:28 PM
That one, and Terms of Endearment. 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: woza on October 09, 2007, 11:08:20 PM
Grannie Mai
I have heard some good things about this movie and the very young director.  I read her interview on the internet, talking about her time working with Terry Gillian when she was 8 years old.  Check it out.
Missi just finished watching I Claudius, I did not remember Patrick Stewart then, from the first time I watched the series.  He was made famous by Star Trek.
Maybe you should say to Con, "why don't you watch I Claudius."  I enjoyed Rome as well.
Zombies do walk amongst us.  They can even post on the internet.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on October 10, 2007, 03:09:47 AM
I now pronounce you Chuck and Larry. It's soooo funny! I haven't laughed like that in a while.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: solongtinik on October 10, 2007, 11:22:26 PM
I now pronounce you Chuck and Larry. It's soooo funny! I haven't laughed like that in a while.
I now pronounce you Chuck and Larry. It's soooo funny! I haven't laughed like that in a while.

ditto cheeks!!!!!!!!!!!!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on October 11, 2007, 01:00:03 AM
Woza, I watched all of I, Claudius.  Patrick Stewart played Sijanus, who helped some skank poison her husband Castor.  But I hate to give away plot...

Derrick Jacobi is astounding as the title character; John Hurt manages to be splendidly creepy as Caligula.  Looks like George, frankly.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on October 11, 2007, 03:09:48 AM
Just watched a great Kiwi horror flick called Black Sheep. Far and away the best movie about killer, flesh eating sheep I've ever seen.

Snap!  I watched the exact same film last night and was just about to post it.

Genius, eh?  Glad to see someone in NZ has continued making Jacksonian ludicrous horror films now that the man himself has moved on to the Hollywood grand canvas...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: woza on October 11, 2007, 05:24:27 AM
Missi I remember watching Ben Hur when I was a kid, when it was first released.  The thing that stuck in my mind then, was the leper colony.  I took myself off to the library to know more about the disease.  Years later I was riding my motorbike around Darwin and going off road and I came across a leper colony.  A gate across the road, no access.  I met my first lepers in India.   My point being. It is interesting when you watch a movie as a child and what you focus on and how you see it as an adult
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on October 11, 2007, 01:08:57 PM
That one, and Terms of Endearment. 

You made me spit up my coffee. You owe me a new keyboard.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on October 12, 2007, 07:49:02 PM
Death at a Funeral!!! I nearly died laughing myself.As a matter of fact, I wasn't the only one. I thought we're all here today, or the movie is really funny. Alan Tudyk was the stand out actor.If you are put off by the "f" word,don't watch it; the movie wouldn't work without it though.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: solongtinik on October 13, 2007, 08:22:10 PM
no prison break 3 here yet!

criminal minds and heroes both 2nd season.............NONE yet! WTF!

im watching "the practice"
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: dragonsaver on October 13, 2007, 11:11:19 PM
Went shopping and bought a bunch more DVD's.

Just watched Fantasia 2000. Definitely not as good as the original but still good.

Watched eragon - the write-up on the back said it was terrible.  I actually enjoyed it.  Mind you I do love dragons and I do save dragons and this is about saving a dragon - what more can I say.  bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: woza on October 13, 2007, 11:20:36 PM
I watched ME on TV last night.  We used the digital camera to record the class and hooked it up to the big telly the clarity and sound was amazing.  Why? We are entering a big English teaching competion.  We have to submit a DVD, around 40 minutes and we win. something.  I like the process
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on October 13, 2007, 11:52:19 PM
I'm watching Mongolian Pingpong at the moment.  A lovely movie - similar in style to Weeping Camel, Cave of the Yellow Dog and Tulya's Wedding.  If you haven't seen these they  are worth watching.

Mongolian Pingpong has some great throat singing in it as well. 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on October 14, 2007, 12:53:01 AM
Watched eragon - the write-up on the back said it was terrible.  I actually enjoyed it.  Mind you I do love dragons and I do save dragons and this is about saving a dragon - what more can I say.  bfbfbfbfbf

The author was only 15 when he wrote the first book.  bgbgbgbgbg
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Mr Nobody on October 14, 2007, 09:09:45 PM
Yep, ya can tell.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: anya on October 15, 2007, 08:21:33 PM
I think that the last one was The Lake House with Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves. it was very bad.
I also watched Kidulthood, which was much more interesting, although not great.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on October 16, 2007, 01:34:51 AM
Any Weeds Season 3 sightings?  I'm jonesing something awful.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on October 16, 2007, 02:59:16 AM
Season three is up to episode 9, I've been downloading them via torrent.  Still funny, though the mom kinda ticks me off at times, I just wanna grab her by the collar and tell her to get her shit together.  And I hate it when she slurps her iced coffees which happens in just about every episode.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on October 16, 2007, 05:07:12 AM
I think that the last one was The Lake House with Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves.

That was a remake of a Korean movie called Il Mare or something like that. The Korean one wasn't bad.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: woza on October 16, 2007, 05:47:08 AM
Con if history teaches you anything it teaches you to study it.
I am watching Damage at the moment.  Entertaining  not great.  It is interesting that a lot of famous movies stars are now going into TV
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on October 17, 2007, 07:17:33 PM
Damage with Jereny Irons and Natasia whosit?  I thought that was brilliant!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on October 17, 2007, 11:11:46 PM
Hubby had on The Magnificent Seven and Junior Bonner, yesterday.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on October 18, 2007, 12:47:27 AM
I watched episode 4 of series 2 of Heroes.  It continues being good.  agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on October 18, 2007, 04:23:18 AM
I loved the Lake House!!!

Finished Desperate Housewives 3 and Ugly Betty. Next -  The Starterwife!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: woza on October 18, 2007, 04:39:43 AM
Con no not that one, Damage a TV series starring Glen Close and the guy from Cheers, Ted Hanson
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on October 18, 2007, 06:14:10 PM
Check out Life, new series this year, cop wrongly imprisoned for murder, back on the job and has a whole different way of approaching criminals.

Saving Grace, with Holly Hunter, tough chick playing with her life in so many ways...season 1 just finished, I'm hoping I don't have to wait another year for 2.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on October 20, 2007, 06:54:32 PM
Started watching Deadwood.  Very impressed.  agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on November 22, 2007, 01:42:12 AM
Tidied up my DVDs and CDs yesterday - and found an unopened set of Black Adder!!!!!!!!  Having a wonderful time.

Also in the process of downloading Fawlty Towers. ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on November 22, 2007, 02:02:10 AM
Blackadder was always one highly rated series from our sceptered isles that I never really got into...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on November 22, 2007, 02:23:40 AM
Anyone have a copy of Monty Python's Search for the Holy grail that you could email me?? It's taking WAY too long to download.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on November 22, 2007, 02:37:39 AM
This one's got 186 seeds should do the trick

http://zerotracker.com/download/29983/Monty%20Python%20and%20the%20Holy%20Grail%20%28Darkside_RG%29.torrent
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on November 22, 2007, 02:46:13 AM
Coming through now!!  Thank you.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on November 22, 2007, 06:22:37 AM
Blackadder was always one highly rated series from our sceptered isles that I never really got into...

Start with season 2, the best one.  "Baldrick, for you the Renaissance was just something that happened to other people, wasn't it?"

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on November 22, 2007, 10:57:53 AM
Oh, how about Wellington's maxim for how to lead an army, "Shout, shout and shout some more!". I think it's in season three that the viewer is introduced to the novel concept of dolphin on toast.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on November 23, 2007, 02:31:44 AM
Fawlty Towers is slowly downloading.  ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on November 25, 2007, 06:13:33 AM
Last night watched a fantastic Korean war film called Taegukgi, better than Saving Private Ryan, highly recommended.

Also watched Rescue Dawn,which was decent, Bale good as ever :)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Bugalugs on November 25, 2007, 09:43:14 AM
One of my favourite tv shows Carnivale :)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Bugalugs on November 27, 2007, 07:29:59 AM
Hate it when they do that.

Weeds season 3 done and dusted, hope it's not the last...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Bugalugs on November 28, 2007, 04:54:14 AM
If you liked Dr. Who don't go past Torchwood, a spin off. Captain Jack is hilarious. Totally brilliant.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on December 06, 2007, 04:27:27 AM
Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Good fun.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on December 06, 2007, 04:46:56 AM
Tonight, "Dead Man". It's delightfully weird.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: dragonsaver on December 11, 2007, 03:05:44 AM
Read the books years ago.  Should be a good movie if they don't stray too far from the book.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on December 11, 2007, 03:24:10 AM
Saw "The Golden Compass" yesterday. It was the only time I have ever watched a book adapted to the silver screen and decided that the movie was better than the book. It is tremendously well made, great actors, I thought it kicked Harry Potter's ass.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on December 11, 2007, 06:47:19 AM
Primal Fear.  All the actors look so much younger, so it's an old movie, but I couldn't find the exact date.  Richard Gere is terrific, but Edward Norton is Oscar-good. 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on December 11, 2007, 05:55:31 PM
I'm still reading Northern Lights.  asasasasas actually it's getting going now.  I'll watch TGC when I've finished.

Watched "K-Pax" the other day, which I thought was much better than most people said.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: woza on December 11, 2007, 09:07:57 PM
Started watching the Chinese movie on the rape of Nanking, had to turn it off I have read many accounts of this time and it was just too upsetting especially the interviesw with the people who had managed to live through it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on December 11, 2007, 09:15:10 PM
 Do you mean Nanking? I didn't know that was a Chinese movie. Good movie but if you've already read the book it doesn't add much except for the emotional interviews with the survivors.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on December 12, 2007, 09:36:50 PM
I watched Zathura, a sort of sequel to Jumanji, but much better, it's very sci-fi style and reminiscent of all the great 80s kids films like Flight of the Navigator etc. :)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on December 12, 2007, 11:20:33 PM
Watched Jodie Foster's newest, The Brave One.
Female turns vigilante, not bad.  I'm a fan of hers but she's been in better.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: dragonsaver on December 13, 2007, 12:08:58 AM
I like Zathura much better than Jumanji.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on December 13, 2007, 12:13:27 AM
Rewatched Office Space last night, and howled.  Again.  God, I love that flick.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on December 15, 2007, 03:16:40 AM
I just finished Stardust, a fantasy movie a la Princess Bride plus more.  It was over two hours long and quite entertaining if you're into something light.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lady Kate on December 16, 2007, 06:48:39 AM
Last movie I watched? I don't count the music video today... So, I will have to say with chagrin, Black Sheep. It was really a corny movie... Ha! I could have spent my time in a much more productive way...  ssssssssss
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on December 16, 2007, 07:31:42 AM
I just finished Stardust, a fantasy movie a la Princess Bride plus more.  It was over two hours long and quite entertaining if you're into something light.

Am watching this right now. :)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Mr Nobody on December 16, 2007, 05:20:02 PM
Just finished watching a bunch of live concerts or music videos by various bands I liked way back.

Tull, Floyd, Alice Cooper, a few others.

Man, Live at Pompeii still kicks ass. Cooper is disappointing. I don't remember his shows being so ... lame. Tull, of course, is Tull. But they did get pretty lame for a while there, too.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on December 19, 2007, 07:20:14 PM
Watched UNderworld with Kate Beckinsale.  That black rubber suit!  afafafafaf  The action was okay, the acting disappointing.  I got the sequel as a package deal, so I'll see more vampires vs. werewolves tonight.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on December 19, 2007, 09:36:16 PM
Watched a film called The Man From Earth.  Very low budget philosophical film about a bloke who is 10,000 years old.  Pretty interesting.  It's available on torrents.  The director is actually pleased if people download it because it means it will get viewed more and hence more attention on DVD in the long run.  Recommended if you like things that will piss off the Christian fundy right :-D
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Nolefan on December 19, 2007, 09:51:02 PM
Watched UNderworld with Kate Beckinsale.  That black rubber suit!  afafafafaf  The action was okay, the acting disappointing.  I got the sequel as a package deal, so I'll see more vampires vs. werewolves tonight.

The first underworld was one of the nicest vampire movies I had seen in a long long long time. I throughly enjoyed it!
The second one left a bit to be desired in comparison but was nevertheless ok... There is talk of the 3rd installment of the series being out soon and I'm looking forward to that one as well... good stuff!

there is another one out there that came out about 2 months ago, "30 days night" that I have not seen yet but will definitely look for when I get the chance
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on December 22, 2007, 01:37:09 AM
Finished the Summer Heights High DVDs - gob smacked occasionally about the program but can see why it took over Oz.

Now watching Firefly - LOVE it.  Where can I get the music - anyone have it?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Mr Nobody on December 22, 2007, 02:13:35 AM
Joss Whedon's firefly? the tv series that they didn't finish ? Or did he get to do a new one after the movie? In the original series, think he wrote and played the music himself.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on December 22, 2007, 02:49:44 AM
Criminally, he never got to do another one.

Why is it that in the US, a lot of really shit serieses go on and on and on and on (Friends, anyone) while good stuff gets cancelled?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on December 22, 2007, 03:22:17 AM
Yep that one.  It's good.  But I want to download the music.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on December 22, 2007, 03:39:02 AM
Criminally, he never got to do another one.

Why is it that in the US, a lot of really shit serieses go on and on and on and on (Friends, anyone) while good stuff gets cancelled?


For the same reason that Montell, dr.Phil, and Ellen Degeneres has viewers. Most, not all, but most of the shows that continue season after season are based on a simple formula, riddled with stock characters, easily lampooned stereotypes and it all has to be kept at a really neutral level so as not to offend a very sensitive audience. Stock phrases, an audience who is told to laugh at the right places, basically mindnumbing entertainment that requires little or no thought to follow.

Whedon tried to be new, innovative, original and creative. Not that I am an Ameriphobe but I would argue that if Firefly had been produced in Europe and had had a mainly European audince base, it would still be on the air. It is a bit of a weird show and, though I fully agree that there are lots of Americans who like the odd and weird, for a show to survive in America it has to beat a lot of competition and people, more often than not, prefer what is familiar and recognizable.

Just aquired "Twin Peaks" the whole show. This weekend is definitely going to be good!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Mr Nobody on December 22, 2007, 04:56:14 AM
As someone who at the moment has drunk more than he should, I should basically shut up and let it go.

But what's the point of being drunk if you can't be an idiot?

Fukm. Joss was trying to do something new. He was trying with Buffy, but yeah, buffy. What can you say. The movie says it more than the series, and we all have to eat. But firefly et al was his um latin word, thingy,  have forgotten. Opus Magnus? something.

I haven't watched twin peaks so I have no idea. thought it was crap.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on December 22, 2007, 05:01:35 AM
I don't buy that about Firefly being weird or euro in style.  For me, it recaptures a lot of what made the original Star Wars films so good.  The grungy sense of 'seedy underbelly of space'.  It's essentially what George Lucas's old trilogy would have been like if they'd ditched the aliens and the force and focussed it on Han Solo instead of Luke.  I don't see what's at all un-American about it, and that's why I find it so baffling that it never carried on.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Clint Smoker on December 22, 2007, 05:09:11 AM
I went to see Blade Runner yeasterday. Subtitled THIS IS THE FINAL UNSEEN DIRECTOR'S MILK THIS FOR CASH WE PROMISE CUT. Except for the 5 DVD set which has YET another version. Joking a bit BR is a classic---I forgot how Asian it all looked---most of the signs are Chinese. And of couse it vaguely looks like Shanghai. It was also cool to tell people I went to a movie and they say "what did you go to?"  Err...Blade Runner.


The best new film I have seen lately is No Country....  If the Oscars have any taste (which they dont) this will sweep all.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on December 22, 2007, 05:16:58 AM
Oh yeah, I've heard very good things about No Country... but I can't find a proper torrent of it.  llllllllll llllllllll llllllllll llllllllll llllllllll asasasasas asasasasas asasasasas
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on December 22, 2007, 05:19:46 AM
I don't buy that about Firefly being weird or euro in style.  For me, it recaptures a lot of what made the original Star Wars films so good.  The grungy sense of 'seedy underbelly of space'.  It's essentially what George Lucas's old trilogy would have been like if they'd ditched the aliens and the force and focussed it on Han Solo instead of Luke.  I don't see what's at all un-American about it, and that's why I find it so baffling that it never carried on.
I did not mean to say that it was particularly European in style, but it was hugely popular here and in a lot of other European countries. I think the style confused a lot of viewers. The SW analogy is on the money, but SW has the advantage that it takes place "in a galaxy far, far away". Firefly starts in media res, there are loads of sub-plots, mysterious characters, Shepherd Book for instance, and I do think that Whedon might have benefitted from a bit more structure. SW starts in media res too, I know. I am baffled too. It was perfect blend of western, drama, humor, with a touch of noir. This gets cancelled and "The Bold and the Beautiful" is well into the 1 millionth episode...go figure llllllllll
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on December 22, 2007, 05:36:28 AM
It works for me because the humour is relatively subtle, it has good roles for women, Mal is not one dimensional. Plus I like the music.  Plots are OK, but definitely carried by the acting.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on December 22, 2007, 06:08:01 AM
Presently have "Santa Claus:3" on the DVD/TV.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on December 22, 2007, 06:13:45 AM
I don't buy that about Firefly being weird or euro in style.  For me, it recaptures a lot of what made the original Star Wars films so good.  The grungy sense of 'seedy underbelly of space'.  It's essentially what George Lucas's old trilogy would have been like if they'd ditched the aliens and the force and focussed it on Han Solo instead of Luke.  I don't see what's at all un-American about it, and that's why I find it so baffling that it never carried on.
I did not mean to say that it was particularly European in style, but it was hugely popular here and in a lot of other European countries. I think the style confused a lot of viewers. The SW analogy is on the money, but SW has the advantage that it takes place "in a galaxy far, far away". Firefly starts in media res, there are loads of sub-plots, mysterious characters, Shepherd Book for instance, and I do think that Whedon might have benefitted from a bit more structure. SW starts in media res too, I know. I am baffled too. It was perfect blend of western, drama, humor, with a touch of noir. This gets cancelled and "The Bold and the Beautiful" is well into the 1 millionth episode...go figure llllllllll

Perhaps.

I showed the first (pilot ) episode to one friend who I thought would like it and he made me switch it off after 20 minutes cos he thought it was crap.  asasasasas some people just have no taste.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on December 22, 2007, 06:14:38 AM
It works for me because the humour is relatively subtle, it has good roles for women, Mal is not one dimensional. Plus I like the music.  Plots are OK, but definitely carried by the acting.


Agreed, and Ilana is top thinking man's totty.  agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Fire_Dragon on December 22, 2007, 08:39:43 AM
Gotta chime in on Firefly. That show was AWESOME, and I am furious that it's off the air. I don't watch much American television because it does tend toward stock characters and the same old drama week after week. Give me a good ole Britcom, drama or sci-fi any day.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on December 22, 2007, 09:42:34 AM
FD, I second that. Ever seen Black Books? Probably one of the funniest shows I have ever seen.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on December 22, 2007, 03:13:13 PM
Black Books is really good. That one I'd love to get a copy of as well.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on December 22, 2007, 03:57:42 PM
Gotta chime in on Firefly. That show was AWESOME, and I am furious that it's off the air. I don't watch much American television because it does tend toward stock characters and the same old drama week after week. Give me a good ole Britcom, drama or sci-fi any day.

I dunno though. I think US TV is in a bit of a golden age, or has been for the past ooh five years.  CSI, Lost, Heroes, Deadwood, Firefly, Sopranos, 24 (mind you I'm not keen on Sopranos personally, and haven't got round to watching 24, but everyone goes on about them).  Meanwhile the UK hasn't produced much of note in recent years.  Spooks is about the best drama I can think of and even that wasn't as good as say Heroes.  And what's happened to the good old tradition of good UK comedy?  The only thing of note since 'Spaced' was 15 Storeys High, and hardly anyone's heard of that.  Little Britain was awful...

I think the main problem with the US telly though is that as I said before, the good stuff gets cancelled (deadwood also)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on December 22, 2007, 05:25:32 PM
 I haven't seen Firefly but I thought the movie really sucked. Could be because I'm not familiar with the series, but nothing about the movie made me want to get familiar with it.

 Half way through Six Feet Under right now. I have to slow down because I I want to savor every episode.

 Movie I most want to see right now..."Cannibal-the Musical". It's a great B movie from the creators of South Park. A musical comedy about the Donner Party. Songs include "Schpadoinkle", "We Can Build a Snowman" and "When I'm on Top of You". The latter is a love song to a horse.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Fire_Dragon on December 22, 2007, 05:36:44 PM
FD, I second that. Ever seen Black Books? Probably one of the funniest shows I have ever seen.

I LOVE Black Books! They aren't showing it on the Beeb right now, though, which is a little disappointing.

Gotta chime in on Firefly. That show was AWESOME, and I am furious that it's off the air. I don't watch much American television because it does tend toward stock characters and the same old drama week after week. Give me a good ole Britcom, drama or sci-fi any day.

I dunno though. I think US TV is in a bit of a golden age, or has been for the past ooh five years.  CSI, Lost, Heroes, Deadwood, Firefly, Sopranos, 24 (mind you I'm not keen on Sopranos personally, and haven't got round to watching 24, but everyone goes on about them).  Meanwhile the UK hasn't produced much of note in recent years.  Spooks is about the best drama I can think of and even that wasn't as good as say Heroes.  And what's happened to the good old tradition of good UK comedy?  The only thing of note since 'Spaced' was 15 Storeys High, and hardly anyone's heard of that.  Little Britain was awful...

I think the main problem with the US telly though is that as I said before, the good stuff gets cancelled (deadwood also)

Did you get a chance to see a show called Afterlife? That was a good one for folks who enjoy paranormal. It's more recent. Half the shows you mentioned I haven't seen. I don't watch much telly. When I do, it's good old Britcoms -- Fawlty Towers, KUA, Are You Being Served, and such. I would never win a pop culture game show. My friends tease me mercifully about my disconnect from the current world. ahahahahah You're right, the good stuff does get cancelled. Very frustrating!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on December 22, 2007, 06:11:39 PM
I haven't seen Firefly but I thought the movie really sucked. Could be because I'm not familiar with the series, but nothing about the movie made me want to get familiar with it.

Nah, you have to watch the program first.  It's much better than the film and the film would make no sense by itself.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on December 23, 2007, 04:55:31 AM
Firefly was really hurt by the network that showed it in the States (Fox i think) It was shown out of order starting with the third episode and also moved nights and time slots as well as not being on every week. It never had a chance.

30 days of Night is... well... ok i guess. Strange movie. Decent enough first act, third act ok but basically no second act. Good vampires.

I've been watching a show called Brotherhood from Showcase about polititians and gangsters in Providence, Rhode Island. Pretty good.

Check out Dexter if you can. The serial killer who targets only other serial killers.

has anybody seen Eureka?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on December 23, 2007, 03:00:07 PM
Last night I watched Eastern Promises, which was reasonable.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Fire_Dragon on December 23, 2007, 07:17:34 PM
I haven't seen Firefly but I thought the movie really sucked. Could be because I'm not familiar with the series, but nothing about the movie made me want to get familiar with it.

Nah, you have to watch the program first.  It's much better than the film and the film would make no sense by itself.

What Contemporarydog said! There's no way I would have enjoyed the movie if I hadn't seen the show. Honestly, I watch so little American television, I wouldn't have watched the show if my neighbor hadn't forced me. I am so glad she did.

I heartily agree with Stil on Dexter, too. AMAZING show, well written, brilliant acting.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on December 23, 2007, 10:55:48 PM
.....has anybody seen Eureka?


Yes.  The premise is interesting, and the opening shows are quite good.  However, the later ones do get a bit more predictable and humdrum.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on December 24, 2007, 08:11:53 AM
Watched Nanking tonight.  That is the most upset I've been from watching a show in years- I'd actually not recommend it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on December 24, 2007, 01:35:25 PM
I'm about halfway through Heroes and am finding it OK - but not yet brilliant.  Wondering if it will get there. But right now I have loaned it to students, so will revert to finishing X-files, now that I have finished Firefly. And I'm half-way through Buffy, so that is on my list to finish as well.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Acjade on December 24, 2007, 01:44:23 PM
Nope. Heroes was a big disappointment. asasasasas
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on December 24, 2007, 08:01:34 PM
If you all get a chance, I don't know what you've heard about The 4400, but I thought the first season was amazing, second sortof usual (I find most second seasons aren't that good) but gets better in the third and fourth season. 

Invasion is also quite remarkable. 

Am I the only person in the world who found Hero's ok but was let down due to all the hype?

Ah, see, I thought Heroes was vastly superior to 4400.  Also, while the first two series of 4400 were reasonable, to my mind it turned into a bit of a joke for series 3.  Haven't seen 4 yet.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on December 27, 2007, 12:14:14 AM
I liked 'I Am Legend' quite a bit. I've not read the book so can't compare them but it's a hell of a lot better than 'The Omega Man'. Big Willy is very good in this and Sam is fantastic.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on December 27, 2007, 12:18:41 AM
Hubby and I are in the middle of a Police Academy revival, thanks to his Christmas presents.  I'd forgotten how silly-funny they can be.  Just the thing when you're in the mood for some light entertainment  agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on December 27, 2007, 12:49:34 AM
I liked 'I Am Legend' quite a bit. I've not read the book so can't compare them but it's a hell of a lot better than 'The Omega Man'. Big Willy is very good in this and Sam is fantastic.

Have not seen it yet but have read the book. I am not sure why they had to change the stoy so much. The book is quite gripping and well-written and devoid of large explosions. Plus, the part about the dog in the book is much more intense and powerful than the dogs part in the movie, from what I can tell having watched the trailers. I'll go watch it tonight.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on December 30, 2007, 08:26:24 AM
I watched I Am Legend.  Good, but not a patch on 28 Days Later.

Will Smith was excellent though.

Also watched Bridge to Terabithia which was rather different to what I expected,almost an emerican school version of Pan's Labyrinth
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on December 30, 2007, 01:49:45 PM
3:10 to Yuma with Russell Crowe, if you're into dusters, this one is worth watching.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on December 31, 2007, 03:59:19 AM
"Duster"?  mmmmmmmmmm
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on December 31, 2007, 04:17:47 AM
"Duster"?  mmmmmmmmmm

I assume you have seen westerns. Ever seen "Pale Rider"? A duster is a long, usually khaki or white coloured coat worn by cowboys. In "Pale Rider" the evil people who all get shot by Preacher wear dusters.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on December 31, 2007, 07:06:00 AM
Watching "House'.  Interesting.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on December 31, 2007, 02:47:33 PM
duster=western

House is one of my favourite series'...now if they would hurry open and give us another season of The Shield, I would be even happier
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 01, 2008, 11:39:23 AM
I love "House". I wish doctors were actually like him. It's the only doctort show Dr.Dad likes too. Probably because he is about as big a curmodgeon as House, though not quite as deligtfully sarcastic and mean.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on January 01, 2008, 11:56:07 PM
yesterday i watched no country for old men agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 02, 2008, 12:18:06 AM
I can't wait for that one to come here. Read the book and it was so darn good.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on January 02, 2008, 12:33:56 AM
I love "House". I wish doctors were actually like him. It's the only doctort show Dr.Dad likes too. Probably because he is about as big a curmodgeon as House, though not quite as deligtfully sarcastic and mean.

You're a doctor brat, too?  I wonder what my old man thinks of the show- probably loves it.  Anyone as nice as him always secretly yearns to tell the whole world off.

Watched Hoodwinked, a retelling of LIttle Red Riding Hood as a crime thriller.  It was fairly funny.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on January 02, 2008, 01:44:09 AM
Started to watch "Fractured Flickers" collection.  They're still funny, but my tolerance level isn't what it used to be  bibibibibi  Had to stop after the first 4.

Also enjoyed Stardust.  Not what I had expected, based on the promos, but a pretty good Fairy Tale, even so.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on January 02, 2008, 07:53:21 AM
I'm enjoying House, but it's a bit disconcerting to see how often someone rushes in when the team is about to do a major intervention to yell 'no, wrong idea, you'll kill him/her".  particularly after they've found the information out by breaking into the persons house or office.

And almost every program has someone having a seizure which tells them that diagnosis "L" was wrong and it could be "M", "N", "O", or "P" instead.

But in another episode or two I will start to watch for it, like watching for the FBI torches in X-files or the deep and meaningful one-liners in CSI.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Shroomy on January 02, 2008, 05:27:05 PM
I find I have to totally turn off my medical truth detector to watch any of those shows, except ER, but especially House, and concentrate on how much I would have liked to rant at patients and inept staff like he can.  I enjoy Hugh Laurie, but don't really watch it for the story line, which is disconcerting in the way you noticed LE.  I still watch it though, good sarcasm is hard to find.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: belrain on January 03, 2008, 01:57:07 AM
Did anyone see Terry Pratchetts "Hogfather"?
Great movie, but the book, of course, is much better  bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on January 03, 2008, 02:12:31 AM
Hogfather's on film??  Since when??  I need to know, Please.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 03, 2008, 02:23:00 AM
I did!!! It was quite good. Imagine a Discworld movie made with a Hollywood budget...

Just read and watched "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" again. So good...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: belrain on January 03, 2008, 03:11:11 AM
Hogfather's on film??  Since when??  I need to know, Please.

Here in Germany I found it a few days before Christmas. It was also shown on TV.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 03, 2008, 03:34:17 AM
Hogfather's on film??  Since when??  I need to know, Please.

Amazon.co.uk can provide you with all the necessary information.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on January 03, 2008, 06:16:24 AM
Thanks Belrain, Eric.  agagagagag I now have it on pre-order from Amazon (US).  My DVD player and I will both be happy campers!! ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 03, 2008, 09:53:34 AM
I have just been naughty and ordered the "Gormenghast" series and "Spaced". Gormenghast is sooo good...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Acjade on January 03, 2008, 04:14:16 PM
I'm watching 4400 and loving it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on January 03, 2008, 04:32:51 PM
The Hitchhikers Guide film was alright, but check out the books and radio shows if you want the real deal.

The film was badly casted, in my opinion.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: belrain on January 03, 2008, 08:59:43 PM
I think, the Hitchhikers Guide film was ok, but the serial was much better  bfbfbfbfbf

At present, I enjoy looking "Little Britain". Nice, deep dark humour afafafafaf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on January 03, 2008, 09:31:39 PM
If anyone's on the lookout for a good, offbeat UK series, I recommend 15 Storeys High.

Extremely underrated agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 03, 2008, 10:38:10 PM
The Hitchhikers Guide film was alright, but check out the books and radio shows if you want the real deal.

The film was badly casted, in my opinion.

I wholeheartedly agree. Started watching "Californication" last night, stumbled upon it by accident. It was quite good. David Duchovny is not a bad actor at all.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on January 04, 2008, 12:03:44 AM
Duchovny's great, but has the poison touch when it comes to picking scripts.

The recent Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is SHIT.


SHIT.  The worst movie release since Howard the Duck.  I'm sorry people, but open your eyes.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: belrain on January 04, 2008, 01:23:45 AM
What do you think about Clerks and Clerks II?
Great stuff, in my opinion  bfbfbfbfbf agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Nolefan on January 04, 2008, 01:34:53 AM
What do you think about Clerks and Clerks II?
Great stuff, in my opinion  bfbfbfbfbf agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag

I haven't seen II but the first one was and still is a work of genius! So is "Chasing Amy"

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: belrain on January 04, 2008, 01:53:26 AM
And, absolutely great, "Dogma"  bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on January 04, 2008, 02:42:09 AM
I will admit to finding Dogma entertaining...unfortunately, the rest of the Kevin Smith movies aren't my thing but my 15 year old son thinks he's a genius.

Just finished watching Gone Baby Gone, directed by Ben Afleck.  The story line was original and the film was worth my time.  By the way, Afleck is not in the film, maybe that's why it was so good.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on January 04, 2008, 06:52:12 AM
Duchovny's great, but has the poison touch when it comes to picking scripts.

The recent Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is SHIT.


SHIT.  The worst movie release since Howard the Duck.  I'm sorry people, but open your eyes.

Nah, it's a poor version of the story, but no way can you say it was in 'worst film ever' territory.  Um... Spawn? Lost in Space? (just to name two out and out clunkers off the top of my head)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on January 04, 2008, 06:54:14 AM
Worst movies - Nicole Kidman in "Bewitched".
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: non-dave on January 04, 2008, 07:28:27 AM
John Travolta's epic bellyflop "Battlefield Earth". Fantastic book  - contender for worst movie ever made, ever.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 04, 2008, 10:29:45 PM
How about "Glitter", "Crossroads", "Gigli", any movie with Jennifer Lopez, that horrible disaster entitled "Blueberry"?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on January 04, 2008, 11:10:36 PM
John Travolta's epic bellyflop "Battlefield Earth". Fantastic book  - contender for worst movie ever made, ever.

This is one that has been on my list for a while as possible 'so bad its good' type watching...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on January 04, 2008, 11:13:16 PM

This is one that has been on my list for a while as possible 'so bad its good' type watching...

The original Batman I adore for that factor.  The B & W version!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on January 04, 2008, 11:19:12 PM

This is one that has been on my list for a while as possible 'so bad its good' type watching...

The original Batman I adore for that factor.  The B & W version!

Is that the one from before even Adam West?  From like the 40s? I'd love to get hold of that one...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on January 05, 2008, 03:52:29 AM
I am legend was done very well.  A lot of people have slated it, and while I think it's not fit to polish 28 Days Later's boots, it's nowhere near a worst film ever candidate.

Will Smith is excellent in it, for one thing, that and "Pursuit of Happyness" have convinced me that he ain't a half bad actor after all.

My main complaint is that the zombies/mutants just weren't that scary.  They looked like a bunch of crackheads.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Bugalugs on January 05, 2008, 07:33:37 AM
I really enjoyed I am Legend, Will Smith is a great actor and the movie was better than i was expecting. I was a little creeped out by the night seeker dogs i must admit.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on January 05, 2008, 02:56:08 PM
I really enjoyed West Wing. It was well done. Good characterisation, reasonable story line etc.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on January 09, 2008, 07:26:42 PM
I bought a Chinese flick called Lost in Beijing.  I confess I chose it sheerly on the sexy poster: chick in flower dress with tousled hair. 

It was really good.  They clustered most of the sex in near the beginning, after which the plot caught fire.  Worth the ten kwai.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on January 09, 2008, 07:31:51 PM
I have Bumming in Beijing.  Plus Beijing Bicycle (no sex though!). Haven't seen Lost in Beijing yet.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on January 09, 2008, 08:41:31 PM
I have Bumming in Beijing. 

Is this a gay porn or about 'bumming around' in the sense of just hanging out drinking beer and stuff?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on January 09, 2008, 08:58:06 PM
Can you see me into gay movies?   aoaoaoaoao

Bumming around - also with a bit of homelessness thrown in.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on January 09, 2008, 10:01:48 PM
Went to the theatre to see Warlords with Jet Li, Andy Lau and Takeshi Kanishiro (er they were in the movie, not watching it with me)

A big sweeping action-drama. It was so-so as they like to say here and that was on a big screen. Although my rating might change watching it with English. I'm not sure how much I missed.

Jet Li looked his age and was pudgy but you really didn't want to get in his way. He's not only kicks ass in this movie but he's the tough guy.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: belrain on January 09, 2008, 10:11:42 PM
A realgood one is "Crank".
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on January 09, 2008, 10:39:24 PM
 The makers of Lost in Beijing have been banned from making films for two years because they submitted an unauthorized version of the movie to the Berlin Film Festival.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 09, 2008, 10:42:50 PM
I read about that. The movie showed trash, brothels and such, apparently this gives a wrong impression of China...yep, totally agree....no brothels or trash or public laundry hanging about or filthy restaurants to be found in China...nope, none...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on January 09, 2008, 11:34:37 PM
Can you see me into gay movies?   aoaoaoaoao

Bumming around - also with a bit of homelessness thrown in.

Hahahaha - just checking ;) Could have been a documentary about elicit homosexuality in China or something :D
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on January 09, 2008, 11:35:24 PM
I read about that. The movie showed trash, brothels and such, apparently this gives a wrong impression of China...yep, totally agree....no brothels or trash or public laundry hanging about or filthy restaurants to be found in China...nope, none...
ahahahahah ahahahahah ahahahahah ahahahahah ahahahahah ahahahahah ahahahahah ahahahahah bkbkbkbkbk
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on January 10, 2008, 12:29:31 AM
Can you see me into gay movies?   

Nope.  Me neither......however I do have one "gay" film, Bent, on my shelves, amongst my War selections.  Excellent movie, IMHO.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on January 10, 2008, 11:39:20 PM
Watched the Futurama movie last night.  A riot- I'm glad they're back.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on January 11, 2008, 01:02:19 AM
The makers of Lost in Beijing have been banned from making films for two years...

If only we could take that kind of action with Adam Sandler.

With the exception of The Wedding Singer and Punch-Drunk Love.

And from a British point of view, Hugh bloody Grant.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 11, 2008, 01:10:25 AM
Now, now, be nice. Hugh Grant is funny. After having been down to my local Blockbuster recently, I am now convinced that 97% of the people making movies in Hollywood should not only be barred from ever doing so again but that a special space colony on the dark side of the moon should be constructed to house these individuals.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Acjade on January 11, 2008, 01:11:41 AM
Hugh Grant can put his slippers under my bed any night. As long as he leaves in the morning.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Shroomy on January 11, 2008, 03:35:39 AM
Sad, but true.  As many disgusting things as he's done, I could look at him all day.  You want to attract a certain age of woman, you just put on the Hugh Grant DVD.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on January 11, 2008, 03:49:57 AM
Hugh Grant is funny. 

Funny peculiar.  Hugh Grant is NOT my type.  For me he comes across as too effete.

Now Pierce Brosnan ....
 Yummy!


And Johnny Depp ....

MMmm...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on January 11, 2008, 04:09:16 AM
Sean Connery does it for me.

I just watched a quirky and entertaining film with Micheal Douglas called King of California.  It's a father-daughter relationship thing but the parental role is reversed.     
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Shroomy on January 11, 2008, 04:11:06 AM
Sounds interesting.  I don't mind Michael Douglas, either.  Where did you get it?  Can I borrow it in Feb?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on January 11, 2008, 04:27:38 AM
I dislike Hugh Grant and most of his output because it all plays into the convenient stereotypes that people from certain other countries have about Britons: that we're all either one extreme (posho like him) or the other (really bad cockney accents).
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 11, 2008, 04:47:35 AM
I don't think he is British at all. I have never seen a movie with him in which he sits in a pub, drinking lager, eating crisps and shouts obscenities at some televised football game. That's what I learned to do during my one year at Manchester Metropolitan.

I still think he is funny. Especially in movies where he is so delightfully shallow. "About a boy" is one of my all time favourites. I know, it's about as manly to admit to that as it is to admit attending jazzercize classes or really digging knitting...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: woza on January 11, 2008, 04:59:50 AM
Since I have discovered bit torrent i don't buy DVDs anymore and satellite TV is so lame.  How will people make money from entertainment if I can get it for free.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on January 11, 2008, 02:41:03 PM
Shroomy, I downloaded it as I do all my movies.
Find the old thread called 'torrent download sites' and you'll discover a world of movies and tv series at your fingertips. agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on January 11, 2008, 03:08:25 PM
Most Hugh Grant movies are all the same but I'm with Eric on this one  apapapapap. About a Boy was pretty good.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on January 11, 2008, 07:31:54 PM
Stupid romance portions aside, Notting Hill was a scream, the British cast anyway- Julia roberts kind of sucked.  Four Weddings and a Funeral was genuinely funny, too.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Shroomy on January 11, 2008, 07:48:05 PM
Yeah, I've probably seen Four Weddings and a Funeral at least a dozen times.  It never gets old.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on January 12, 2008, 03:48:40 AM
I recently watched another British funeral-related comedy, Death at a Funeral, which was quite funny, with the guy who plays Wash in Firefly doing a commendably good British accent.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 12, 2008, 03:49:51 AM
Hot Fuzz is another British movie I can recommend. It was no Shaun of the Dead, but Simon Pegg is funny and it was really well made.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Shroomy on January 12, 2008, 03:50:51 AM
I wanted to see Death at a Funeral before I left the States, but it hadn't come to my dark little corner yet.  How did you get it?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on January 12, 2008, 04:01:05 AM
Has anyone followed my advice and checked out "Dead Man's Shoes" or "This is England" yet?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 12, 2008, 05:45:32 AM
I watched "Dead Man's shoes"...it was rather brutal...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on January 12, 2008, 05:46:08 AM
Didn't see either in the DVD market today.

But I enjoyed watching Serenity.  And bonus - the DVD was a good enough copy that it included the extras - including the original soundtrack!!!!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on January 12, 2008, 05:50:24 AM
I wanted to see Death at a Funeral before I left the States, but it hadn't come to my dark little corner yet.  How did you get it?

A friend lent me the DVD which he bought somewhere in Dalian...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Shroomy on January 12, 2008, 12:32:44 PM
I've got to find a decent DVD place here.  My primary translator/guide/friend is too young to understand the needs of adults.  Well, most needs anyway. Our taste in films is very different.  Can you explain the torrent thing as easily as you did the avatars?  Most appreciated.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 12, 2008, 01:44:59 PM
Torrents.

Get and install utorrent (http://www.utorrent.com/).

Browse torrent websites--torrentspy.com, mininova.org for starters--and click on a download link you like.  A very short time later the "torrent" will have downloaded and utorrent will start up to ask if you want to download the "torrent" (the actual content of the torrent, not the whatchacallit, the first thing you downloaded), so tell it yay or nay, and that's when you find out if your internet service provider is or is not set up for that kind of downloading.  (Some of them aren't because webmasters have to have opened a port, or some such thing--utorrent has indicators down on the status bar that'll tell you what's going or not going on.)

Get used to leaving your computer on 24/7.


Strange British Movies

Dead Man's Shoes.  Strange movie.  Watched it a year or so ago.  I recall it felt strange, a little affected, but was compelling.  They didn't quite pull off the conceit, as I recall, but made a pretty good fist of trying.  I recall there was a commentary track or a Making Of doco on the copy I had, and that was interesting.

This is England.  A much better movie.  Real characters.  Genuine menace together with insight and an accomplished story.  Comparable to Romper Stomper, but with more accessible characters.


Ugly men movies?  Try an Oz film called The Boys.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on January 12, 2008, 03:29:13 PM
I'm glad you mentioned the characters in This is England.  For my money, that film was amongst the best I've ever seen for depicting *real* characters and friendships.

The bit at the beginning where Shaun first meets the gang hanging out under the bridge, is just spot on, and it makes it seem like they are friends in real life too.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on January 15, 2008, 07:06:48 AM
Tyler Perry's "Madea: Family Re-Union".  Very popular here.  Makes some good points, without preaching at you.  Madea, herself, is a HOOT! 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: solongtinik on January 15, 2008, 03:15:45 PM
since i got back to PI and got busy with my new job i havent watched good films yet...sad..im not even in the know of what's new..
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 16, 2008, 12:00:31 AM
Does anyone remember that old "Dick Turpin" series starring Richard O'Sullivan? I fondly remember it from my childhood and found it on DVD the other day. Not as good as the obiously tainted childhood memories made it out to be but still amazingly funny. Especially after I have read so many books on highwaymen and now get all the historical references and why this Turpin character in the series so far removed from the real Turpin as he could possibly be.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on January 19, 2008, 11:41:04 PM
Sat and watched a film with two students, yesterday.  Tim Allen's "Zoom Academy".  Nice, light amusement.  Perfect for a Friday afternoon.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on January 19, 2008, 11:46:39 PM
Watching the series of "Profiler" in between marking post-grad papers. Interesting, but not  brilliant.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Bugalugs on January 20, 2008, 12:14:48 AM
Watched the new Dylan film last night, very well done but a little confusing, wil watch it again when not doped up on cold meds. Also watched Snatch, MMMMMMM MMMMMM Brad Pitt is hot as a Pikey in that film, loads of eye candy :).
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Mimi on January 20, 2008, 12:33:43 AM
I just watched I'm Not There as well.  I really liked it!  I love that actress from The Science of Sleep, Charlotte Gainsbourg.

I also bought Elizabeth: The Golden Age, but the subtitles were screwy and the audio was Russian!  I need to change DVD shops.  Anyway, has anyone seen it?  I'm not sure if I should exchange it and take a chance that the new one is just as bad, or just trade it for a different movie altogether.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on January 20, 2008, 12:39:14 AM
I have it - but not yet watched - must go check it!!  Most DVD shops will let you check them before you buy.  And mine will also let me bring them back if they are not good.

How's the ankle??
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Bugalugs on January 20, 2008, 01:34:41 AM
Johnny Depp does it for me but Brad Pitt is certainly up there, definitely good enough for my when i'm wrapped up in bed lol.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Bugalugs on January 20, 2008, 01:39:07 AM
Yummy yummy, also Orlando Bloom and Heath Ledger, and i LOVE Sean Connery's voice, it gives me goose bumps :).

Also watched Ratatoullie (sp) last night a good fun kids flick.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on January 20, 2008, 01:45:42 AM
Brad Pitt doesn't do it for me - but Johnny Depp is certainly in there - especially when he has his hair long.(http://i.imdb.com/Photos/Ss/0449088/th-11Sparrow_JPG.jpg)

And you can't forget Peirce Brosnan or Naveen Andrews who played Sayyid in Lost. Yummy!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on January 21, 2008, 05:55:10 PM
Orlando Bloom is a pansy. 

 ahahahahah  It's time for me to stop laughing at this remark, which really isn't that funny.

Okay, NOW I'll stop.

... I wasn't ready.  Now.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on January 23, 2008, 12:48:20 PM
I can't believe Heath ledger is fucking dead.

he looked to have nailed the Joker too.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 23, 2008, 09:47:11 PM
Yeaj, I watched CNN last night. Just flicking through the channels, and suddenly the telly told me Heath Ledger was dead. Quite a shamne, thought he was a good actor.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on January 24, 2008, 12:01:35 AM
Just saw "Lust Caution" directed by Ang Lee who also directed "Brokeback Mountain" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". It's being called a "Chinese porno flick" which would explain why the usually near empty theatre was looking like a room at the Treasury Casino in Brisbane.(full of Asian people)It also appears that this movie is really frowned on by the Chinese Government, perhaps because it has become infamous for featuring the two main actors in explicit sex scenes. Aparently Mr Lee is proud to admit that he choreographed these scenes. I took my 70 yrs old female neighbour to the show and I can tell you, it had her on the edge of the seat with eyes as wide as a child's. aoaoaoaoao
I thought the actors were in training for gymnastics at the olympics  bfbfbfbfbf
When I came out of the movie, I commented that I thought that this was more a "chick" flick. Some guy waiting to go in to the next show overheard my comment and asked,in effect, if he should tear up his ticket. I assured him he'd love the sex scenes (as my neighbour tried to vanish into thin air) After all of that, I really wanted to ask a question. Has anyone (particularly male) seen this show, and what did you think of it?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on January 24, 2008, 02:17:59 AM
Not seen it yet.  Looking forward to it though  agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: latefordinner on January 24, 2008, 04:21:09 AM
Saw it, pretty much liked it, but the version I saw was the heavily edited (IMHO) locally approved version. Training for gymnastics at the olympics? Or trying out for the local volley-ball team? You must have seen a more complete version of the film than I saw. Decent film, nothing to get excited about, but nothing to complain about either. I'd second your opinion, Granny Mae. A decent chick flick with <edited> sex scenes. Guys, don't tear up your tickets, but you may not have to buy that extra package of tissue paper either.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on January 24, 2008, 11:41:24 AM
I'll wait for a decent download...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Clint Smoker on January 24, 2008, 01:49:06 PM
I saw Lust Caution and was disappointed. Somehow it just didn't work--very forgettable.

Dark Knight trailer looked very intersting-saw it before (I think) Charlie Wilsons War (which is worth a look btw) hadn't realized Heath Ledger is the Joker until reports of his death yeasterday---for that matter didn't know he was in Im Not There...I waiting for this film and it pisses me off you guys are seeing it in China before any of these art houses in Edmonton get it..Think it was due here but was bumped by There Will Be Blood.(Anyone seen that one yet?...rave reviews but I'm not a big fan of Boogie Nights or God help us all Magnolia.)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on February 01, 2008, 08:59:43 AM
Got introduced to Curb Your Enthusiasm when in the UK last week and now I'm hooked.  agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on February 01, 2008, 03:55:38 PM
 Larry David is brilliant. The similarities between him and his Seinfeld alter-ego George Costanza are are disturbing.

 I FINALLY found the third season of Weeds and am downloading the last Sopranos episodes. So far, knowing what happens hasn't ruined the Sopranos experience for me. Best TV show ever.Period.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 01, 2008, 08:02:34 PM
Just saw "Walk Hard",the Dewey Cox Story. Nearly died laughing and so did a lot of the blokes in the theatre.(so knew it was more than my weird sense of humour at work)
Can anyone tell me if there was such a person as Dewey Cox? (a name ripe for bad puns!)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Acjade on February 01, 2008, 08:45:27 PM
Just saw "Walk Hard",the Dewey Cox Story. Nearly died laughing and so did a lot of the blokes in the theatre.(so knew it was more than my weird sense of humour at work)
Can anyone tell me if there was such a person as Dewey Cox? (a name ripe for bad puns!)

You're asking tongue in cheek, right? Otherwise I'm really tired.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on February 03, 2008, 05:02:22 PM
 I met a girl named Shiny Wang last week. Someone has to tell these people to take more care when picking English names. At it wasn't "Throbbing".

 Ahem. FINALLY saw the Trailer Park Boys movie yesterday. In all honesty it didn't play as well as feature film. Too often it seemed as though they were trying to stretch a 30 minute premise into 90 minutes. Did have some great moments though.

 Also saw For Your Consideration. Not as good as Christopher Guest's other movies but well worth a look. Catherine O'Hara is great.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on February 06, 2008, 04:33:21 AM
Tim Burton's new movie is worth a look:

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

I was surprised by the amount of blood, but it's a good story and very well told.

I'm usually interested in pretty much anything Burton does.  But I'm put off this by the fact that it's a musical.  asasasasas
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on February 06, 2008, 08:37:55 AM
Tim Burton's new movie is worth a look:

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

I was surprised by the amount of blood, but it's a good story and very well told.

I'm usually interested in pretty much anything Burton does.  But I'm put off this by the fact that it's a musical.  asasasasas

I understand and, normally, I would agree. I usually hate musicals because they're so hapyy and romantic and lovey-dovey. This, however, is a musical about a man who gets screwed royally by someone. goes Hamlet-like bonkers and then starts to kill people, chopping them up and selling them as meat pies to law students and professors from the Old Bailey. That is my kind of musical.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on February 06, 2008, 04:03:03 PM
Speaking of musicals...and I ain't a fan either...my son told me about 'Across the Universe' set to Beattles music.  My son is way out in the alternative scene and other weird stuff but said this was a good flick.  I bought dvd but haven't watched it yet.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on February 07, 2008, 12:54:58 AM
I haven't seen "Across the Universe" yet and probably won't. I hate the Beatles. Their songs are stickier than cotton candy dipped in sirup and then fried in honey and rolled up in fudge.

Just read that many people are angry that Sweeney Todd is a musical. They have been misled by the trailer. Sure....And I was misled by Armageddon. Mmmhm...totally. Thought I was going to see an epic battle between the Armies of Hell and the Anagelic Host. Instead I was subjected to watching Ben Affleck being a moron. If they had called it "Really, really stupid movie with Ben Affleck in it" I wouldn't have been misled.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 07, 2008, 02:01:29 AM
Just saw 3:10 To Yuma, a remake of the 1957 classic which starred Glen Ford and Van Heflin. Russel Crowe plays the outlaw Ben Wade. There was some very good acting; the audience seemed to like the movie and it rates four stars from a reputable movie critic. What was Granny's response?? I laughed my head off while the rest of the audience was quiet! I could not believe that they were such rotten shots.Couldn't hit the side of a barn at three paces with a shotgun. Apart from the main characters, who would sleep around a huge fire in hostile Indian territory? Need I tell you what happened? Who would surrender to a bunch of murderers? Can you guess what happened? Who would wait for seven men to ride in to town to rescue an outlaw? I could go on and on. In a nutshell, I couldn't believe that people could be so stupid.Without giving too much of the story away,Granny would have done a better job! bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on February 07, 2008, 02:34:57 AM
3:10 was a duster in the true sense of the word, incredible odds and good vs. evil thing, don't forget this was a remake of a 1957 film and in those days the audience didn't critique too much.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on February 07, 2008, 03:00:36 AM
And, to rain a bit on Westerns, the lack of accuracy with guns in this movie was more realistic than most Westerns. Guns back then were not the most accurate, people did not practise strenously for months to be good with them. Most famous gunslingers were not notorious for their accuracy but for their indifference to the law. Lots of people carried guns, very few ever drew them on other people. Doc Holliday, a name synonomous with gunplay, was, according to most sources, a pretty good shot, the few minutes of the month where he was sober. He also had no qualms about staggering into a saloon and wildly shooting up the place, not really hitting anyone, but whoever he was mad at got the message.
As for who waits for seven men to ride in and rescue an outlaw? Well, it's not exactly Washington it takes place in. The loose law enforcement structure of the wild west was incredibly lacklustre. A sheriff had to rely on the possee commitatus rule brought over from Europe and most people did not like to follow it. He could swear in deputies, but he could not force them to do anything. The Pinkerton detectives could not do much. There was a reason why all those famous outlaws primarily operated in dusty cowtowns and feldgeling cities, preferably close to the Mexican border.
Having read more than I care to divulge on the outlaws of the Old West, contemporary law enforcement and such, I found this movie to be, unlike most Westerns, in possession of a refreshing realistic element.
I agree with the bonfire thing though.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on February 07, 2008, 04:03:42 AM
There's a new duster out, the Assassination of Jesse James with Brad Pitt, I've downloaded it but not viewed it yet.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on February 07, 2008, 05:12:18 AM
I found it greatly disappointing. Lots of scenic panorama, Brad Pitt lumbering around looking constipated, it's the only western I have ever dozed off to.  Quite, horribly boring. Never did care much for that trumped-up , pseudo-Robin Hood either.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Acjade on February 07, 2008, 10:59:57 PM
Not a Brad fan usually but I adored him in ... and the title now escapes me. bibibibibi His Irish accent was atrocious but his sentics were superb. Anyway tonight I going to re-watch Alexander the Great which co-stars Brad's side kick as Alexander's mother. But Oh Zeus didn't they explain to the woman we all associate Cleopatra with snakes and her with well....Brad Pit.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on February 07, 2008, 11:58:14 PM
Legends of the Fall remains one of my fave movies, so many handsome men!  Not a Pitt fan either and was very disappointed in Alexander the Great.

Just watched The Golden Compass, a perfect way to spend a lazy afternoon.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Acjade on February 08, 2008, 12:14:59 AM
Oh, The Golden Compass. So want to see that.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lostralian on February 08, 2008, 01:46:48 AM
In defence of Mr. Pitt...he is brilliant when acting a nutter...12 Monkeys and Snatch are two of my favourite movies, both thanks to Brad's performances.

I just finished watching 'Cloverfield'...it was ok, not nearly as good as the advertising campaign back home at Christmas time promised, but entertaining all the same.

There is a site called www.watchtvsitcoms.com where you can stream most movies that are out and about...I usually watch a part of a movie/tv show there and then buy or d/l it if I liked it. However, the guy who manages the site has just changed the movie hosting to Google, which we can't get here in China...very disappointing as this guy would make the keenest Chinese pirate blush with the amount of new movies he has online. Still good for tv shows.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on February 08, 2008, 01:46:55 AM
It's good, but only if you have read the books.
It's been said before, by me, and I will say it again. Watch Sweeney Todd. No one hates musicals more than me and I loved this. It was unlike so many musicals, I would say 95 % of it was song. The thing I always hated about musicals is that I always find the song sequences annoying, like they might as well have added some more dialogue. In this case it worked.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on February 08, 2008, 09:19:02 AM
How? Gene Kelly prancing about like he just took an overdose of happy pills, singing about singing in the rain? In the rain!!!!! Why would anyone sing in the rain. It's got something to do with love, doesn't it? Now, if he was shuffling around in muddy puddles, humming somtehing like "I'm bleeding in the rain, because Cupid kicked me in my teeth and I gave my heart to the pawnshop guy because I needed beer and I didn't think I'd need the thing anymore"...then I might give it a go.
Don't even get me started on Cats or Starlight Express or West Side Story...or Grease...not Grease...If I hear the soundtrack to that movie ever again, I'll stab myself in the face with a sword made out of sauerkraut.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on February 08, 2008, 02:29:46 PM
Oh, be nice, eric!!! Those are masterpieces of earlier ages!!! Naive and silly but so nice.

Anyway, I want to see THE JUMPER. I am serious, folks, looks like Sci Fi and scary movies are the only decent ones recently. Well, that and I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK AND LARRY.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on February 08, 2008, 02:59:58 PM
Elizabeth, the Golden Age was interesting but that's likely due to the fact that it's the only Elizabeth movie I've seen. 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on February 08, 2008, 09:49:02 PM
Elizabeth, the Golden Age was interesting but that's likely due to the fact that it's the only Elizabeth movie I've seen. 

I strongly recommend you track down the other Elizabeth movie. It was made some years ago and was quite good. If you come across the series Elizabeth with Jeremy Irons in it, watch that. It'll remind you, as it did me, that Jeremy Irons can be a fantastic actor.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 08, 2008, 09:55:29 PM
Just back from seeing "Fools Gold" Stars Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey.It took six months to shoot and was filmed on location in Northern Queensland,so some pretty scenery. The Film didn't do much for me, but as usual I found things to laugh at. Speaking of which, Eric,you do realise that I will now have to change the things I laugh at when I'm watching a Western?? If they actually hit anyone they shoot at now, I'll have to laugh!! But I digress. Saw a lot of Mr McConaughay's chest(for any of the ladies interested in that) There was also a young woman who managed to distract (with her body) some guys on a boat. I was disappointed, given that Donald Southerland was also playing a role in it. Only my opinion though;my female neighbour liked it, but I reckon she would watch two flies crawling up a wall and enjoy that!!!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Acjade on February 08, 2008, 10:31:24 PM
Matthew McConaughey is good to look at but I find his Southern drawl a little difficult to understand.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on February 08, 2008, 11:20:01 PM
So does anyone know a way to beat google video's 'not available in China' feature?

And why has google collaborated with china in making the feature unavailable?  It's most unedifying.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lostralian on February 09, 2008, 04:13:14 AM

I found this in response to being able to watch Google video in China...

http://www.isaacmao.com/meta/2006/07/how-to-view-google-video-locally-in.html

Not sure if it is at all helpful, I am yet to give it a go.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on February 09, 2008, 01:31:50 PM
Watched "National Treasure: Book of Secrets"...what a stinking pile of  bqbqbqbqbq It was so bad I think Nicholas Cage should step forward and give the world a sincere apology. First he made "Ghost Rider" and now this!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on February 09, 2008, 07:20:45 PM
My son is in the middle of the Dexter (TV series) films and loving them!!  I have just finished and passed along the 3 books that started this.  Second season is advertised as ready to begin this month, so there should be more films in the pipeline by next year.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on February 09, 2008, 07:38:17 PM
My son mentioned Dexter too, guess I will check it out.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on February 09, 2008, 07:43:15 PM
I have to borrow the films...but I really did enjoy the books!  Just warped enough to suit my taste, and skillfully done, IMHO
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lostralian on February 09, 2008, 08:42:14 PM
I just watched the first series of Dexter after a recommendation by someone here in this forum. Very good indeed. The site I mentioned a few posts previously has series two, but I am going to wait for the dvd shops to have it as I like to watch them continuously. Another series I enjoyed was Californication, starring David Duchovny , well worth a look.

Also, for those of you who aren't sick of cop shows, there's one called 'The Wire' which is kind of good. I haven't seen it on dvd, only as a torrent. Worth a gander. 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: limubai2000 on February 09, 2008, 09:10:12 PM
There Will Be Blood - great film, little slow and not so much dialogue but great none-the-less.

The Rookie - Clint Eastwood and Charlie Sheen blast from the past, great cop buddy flick, 80s cheese all the way!

Sunshine - great hard sci-fi flick with Michelle Yeoh and Hiroyuki Sanada in the cast, it goes a little metaphysical and "Buddhisty" at the end but the first 3/4 is great.

And I've still got this big stack of DVDs to catch up on! 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on February 11, 2008, 08:02:12 AM
Elizabeth, the Golden Age was interesting but that's likely due to the fact that it's the only Elizabeth movie I've seen. 

Watched it yesterday.  Quite enjoyed it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on February 11, 2008, 05:03:50 PM
Watched Bucket List, which wasn't bad.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on February 11, 2008, 05:09:00 PM
Bucket List was ok but they probably could have done so much more considering the caliber of both actors, ole Jack is showing his age.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on February 11, 2008, 09:14:59 PM
I agree, it felt like they were both coasting a bit...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Noodles on February 11, 2008, 10:42:47 PM
Just watched This is England, after somebody here recommended it. ( possibly CD ) A good movie, i enjoyed it, it never really went where i thought it was going to. Not sure it would be everyones cup a tea but worth a look.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on February 12, 2008, 04:20:45 PM
Just watched This is England, after somebody here recommended it. ( possibly CD ) A good movie, i enjoyed it, it never really went where i thought it was going to. Not sure it would be everyones cup a tea but worth a look.

Yeah that was me.  You're British aren't you?  I'd like some more colonials' opinions on this one...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on February 12, 2008, 05:31:19 PM
Elizabeth, the Golden Age was interesting but that's likely due to the fact that it's the only Elizabeth movie I've seen. 

Watched it yesterday.  Quite enjoyed it.

The definitive "Elizabeth" work is Black Adder II. Working my way through it now.  bfbfbfbfbf Black Adder is easily the best of Rowan Atkinson's series.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Noodles on February 14, 2008, 02:57:22 AM
Quote
You're British aren't you?

Yeah, i'm English. I enjoyed 'this is england' and found it a really gripping movie, i was a teenager in the 80's so could relate to it a lot. I've recommended it to other brits, but i don't think non-brits would really enjoy it, except for maybe Australians.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on February 14, 2008, 06:21:14 AM
The definitive "Elizabeth" work is Black Adder II. Working my way through it now.  bfbfbfbfbf Black Adder is easily the best of Rowan Atkinson's series.

And the most quotable.

You're in love with Jane Hathaway?
Yes, that's the girl.
Jane "Bury Me in a Y-Shaped Coffin" Hathaway?

To you, Baldric, the Renaissance was simply something that happened to other people, wasn't it?

God, I love nurses!  They're so disgustingly clinical.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on February 14, 2008, 03:41:53 PM
Watched a mediocre thriller called Fracture which someone had recommended.

Now have downloaded a film called Gone Baby Gone which is Ben Affleck's directorial debut - but apparently we aren't to let that put us off, as allegedly his directing is considerably better than his acting! It's got rave reviews.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on February 14, 2008, 06:05:37 PM
Saw Gone Baby Gone, interesting story line.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on February 14, 2008, 11:18:24 PM
Saw Gone Baby Gone, interesting story line.

That only sounds like a mild thumbs up...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on February 15, 2008, 04:33:39 PM
The plot twist was unexpected and it was more than watchable, maybe it was just the subject matter that disturbed me a little. 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on February 15, 2008, 05:53:45 PM
Ah, see I like stuff which is a bit close to the bone.

I watched it last night, thought it was excellent.

It has been delayed release in the UK because of the similarities with Madeleine McCann.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 17, 2008, 04:43:50 PM
Saw "Rendition" (2Hrs 20Mins) Synopsis was Strong torture themes and violence. I must admit to being hesitant about seeing this. It starred Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal. It was about unorthodox interrogation at a secret detention facility outside the U.S. I found the movie very interesting to the point that I didn't even notice that it was longer than usual movies.I thought it was a movie a guy would enjoy. Any guys seen it?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on February 17, 2008, 05:55:09 PM
Re:Rendition

There was an actual event in Canada a few years back and it continues to make news since the man who was tortured is suing the Canadian govt.  He was an engineer (landed Canadian citizen)  on his way back from a conference when he was picked up in the States.  They sent him to Syria where he was held and tortured for several months.  After much pressure from Canadians, our govt. got him back but it took a couple of years.  At first our govt. denied any knowledge but it turns out they 'suspected' him of something and knew the States were going to detain him.  He's been cleared of all charges.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on February 17, 2008, 06:00:31 PM
The definitive "Elizabeth" work is Black Adder II. Working my way through it now.  bfbfbfbfbf Black Adder is easily the best of Rowan Atkinson's series.

And the most quotable.

You're in love with Jane Hathaway?
Yes, that's the girl.
Jane "Bury Me in a Y-Shaped Coffin" Hathaway?

To you, Baldric, the Renaissance was simply something that happened to other people, wasn't it?

God, I love nurses!  They're so disgustingly clinical.


Black Adder on Anglo-French relations...

"I thought the French were supposed to be our enemies. I mean, when we burned Joan of Arc were we just wasting our matches?"
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on February 18, 2008, 06:16:47 PM
Black Adder is great.  I have the full set here. 

"Not that left Baldric, your other left".
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on February 18, 2008, 06:20:42 PM
The Darjeeling Limited, a quirky little comedy about three brothers on a spiritual quest in India.  The American brothers are carrying a lot of extra baggage, loved it. 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on February 19, 2008, 11:26:27 PM
I loved "Darjeeling Limited". Thought it was absolutely amazing.
Just purchased a new BBC series called "City of Vice" which revolves around Henry and Joseph Fielding, the chaps who organized the Bow Street Runners and tried to bring some law to 18th Cent England. Ian Macdiarmid plays Henry Fielding...there is something tremendously right about Emperor Palpatine giving a lengthy and persuasive argument for the need for public executions.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on February 21, 2008, 09:50:52 PM
Sweeney Todd was terrific!  Depp and Carter were fabulous.  I bellowed with laughter at the "Have a Priest" number.

Also watched Charlie Wilson's War: great storytelling.  I always enjoy Tom Hanks and love Philip Hoffman.  Julia Roberts ACTING, not just being a Charismatic Movie Star, is a novelty; she's great in this, made herself less attractive. 

The best of the three was The Assassination of Jesse James By etc.  Every scene was so real!  You're weren't watching, you were THERE.  Then, 3/4 of the way through, it froze.  aoaoaoaoao llllllllll asasasasas bcbcbcbcbc
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Noodles on February 22, 2008, 03:55:57 AM
Quote
Also watched Charlie Wilson's War: great storytelling.

I'm half way through the book now. Really good. bfbfbfbfbf

Wrong thread i know,  but seemed relevant
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 22, 2008, 08:31:21 PM
Saw "Dan In Real Life"starring Steve Carrell, Juliette Binoche and Dane Cook. Briefly,a widower finds out that he fell in love with his brother's girlfriend.(chance meeting in a bookshop?)I got a few laughs anyway and the acting was good.Probably more for the ladies.
"Definitely Maybe" starring Ryan Reynalds, Rachel Weisz,Kevin Klein and Abigail Breslin. I enjoyed this because it wasn't too much of a "chick movie". The acting was good. The guy behind me laughed his head off and the couple a few seats up,had a passho (is that correct spelling?)session. aoaoaoaoao My 71 year old lady neighbour couldn't decide which show to watch. The story is about a guy explaining his past relationships to his 11yr old daughter. Again, any guys seen this one?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on February 23, 2008, 12:11:09 AM
This past week, Hubby and I watched all 3 of the Bourne films.  Not too bad IMHO.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on February 23, 2008, 03:09:51 AM
Going to watch "There will be blood" later today. According to the reviews, it should be really good.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on February 24, 2008, 07:30:43 PM
Quote
DAVID Wenham will play Johnny Depp's mean sidekick in Michael Mann's take on America's most notorious gangster - John Dillinger.
They start shooting Public Enemies next month

Two really yummy fellas together.  David Wenham was gorgeous as Diver Dan in Seachange.  Depp is gorgeous any time.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Bugalugs on February 24, 2008, 08:45:28 PM
Awesome i can't wait to see those guys in action. YUM YUM
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on February 25, 2008, 05:24:39 AM
Wasn't David Wenham the guy who played Faramir in LOTR?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Bugalugs on February 25, 2008, 05:38:47 AM
Pretty sure yeah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on February 25, 2008, 09:29:47 PM
Was watching a really good Bollywood....... but the damn DVD stopped on chapter 21 and still had over an hour left!  Crap!

I watched the Golden Compass ........But that darn DVD stopped 10 minutes to the end! what am I watching? DVD's or VCD's?

No, Just cheap copies.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on February 25, 2008, 11:32:16 PM
I just watched Lions for Lambs, the latest Robert Redford flick.  Considering the caliber of actors involved, I was left thinking they could have done more.  But maybe that was the point of the flick, it's not up to 'them' it's up to us.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: latefordinner on February 26, 2008, 02:10:07 AM
Got a cheap (= bad copy) DVD of Sweeny Todd the other day. Rather a good film, but why did the goof making the copies have his sound turned down so low? Didn't he know it was a musical? Oh, and the English subtitles were written by someone who failed Oral English in Uni, but if the sound were there that wouldn't be worth mentioning.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on February 26, 2008, 08:59:56 AM
I'm with you, KCanuck.  I like Redford and love Streep, and Cruise was pretty good; and the movie pried underneath the easy answers to aim at some true insight; but for all that I left the Lions For Lambs table still hungry.

Death at a Funeral is funny, but not very funny.

Margot at the Wedding was promising: Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh  akakakakak and Jack Black  ababababab .  Someone's gonna hate this movie, but not me- I was spellbound. This is the second movie this week, and the second in a year, that made me feel like I was sitting with these people in the room.  God, I wanted to punch Kidman!  And for different reason than I wanted to during Moulin Rouge.

Hot Fuzz was plain old fun.  Aimed low, but nailed it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on February 27, 2008, 05:31:35 AM
Watched the last of 'Curb your Enthusiasm' last night.

I've watched all six serieses over this holiday.  Quality stuff from beginning to end.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 27, 2008, 11:17:26 PM

Quote
Death at a Funeral is funny, but not very funny.
Just shows how different people see things differently. This show really appealed to my sense of humour.
Quote
Margot at the Wedding was promising: Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh  akakakakak and Jack Black  ababababab .  Someone's gonna hate this movie, but not me- I was spellbound.

Saw this show today and I couldn't believe that Nicole Kidman would want to be associated with such a hit and miss movie. In this instance,I agreed with one reviewer who said: "It's impossible to like anybody in this film. Self absorbed, petty, pretentious, pathetic pretenders with few saving graces." Just another example of how we each see some things differently in movies.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on February 27, 2008, 11:39:41 PM
Watching Ashes to AShes, the followup series to Life on Mars.  Quite good.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on February 28, 2008, 10:45:00 PM
Last night I watched "Rise of the Footsoldier" an extremely violent British film about a football hooligan who turns into a gangster.  A sort of UK version of Casino.

Right now watching a UK series called Peep Show which everyone has been raving about.  Pretty good so far.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on February 29, 2008, 08:43:57 AM
Today I watched Jumper, which is utter utter crap.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on February 29, 2008, 11:40:00 PM
Knocked Up, by the makers of Office Space and The 40 Year Old Virgin: These movies always look like one of those dreary Porky's movies, so I've tended to put off seeing them.  But, like the other two, this is in fact a smart, insightful comedy with deep characters:

Women in comedies, especially the romantic interest, are always woman-as-object cardboard cutouts: nice but not too bright, and astoundingly unaware of what is going on around them.  Ditto male love interest in romances: tall, muscular Jon Bon Jovi types who have a law degree yet inexplicably removate houses for a living.

This flick ain't that.  Everybody in the movie makes you laugh.  Or me, anyway. 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on March 01, 2008, 12:45:43 AM
Just now I watched series 4 episode 5 of lost.

Fucking amazing.

This is the best series yet by a mile.

Truly great television.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on March 01, 2008, 01:40:34 AM
Knocked Up was ok but I preferred Juno, although this one deals with an unexpected teen pregnancy.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Mimi on March 01, 2008, 02:34:51 AM
Knocked-Up was good, but I liked 40yo Virgin better.  LOVED Superbad.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Bugalugs on March 01, 2008, 04:13:01 AM
Can't wait to see Lost. Did you buy it or are you downloading it?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on March 01, 2008, 05:29:58 AM
Watched 'Once'. Lovely little film out of Ireland set in Dublin. The song 'Falling Slowly' won the Oscar for best song.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on March 01, 2008, 06:04:16 AM
Can't wait to see Lost. Did you buy it or are you downloading it?

I download each episode a few seconds after someone uploads it each week...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on March 01, 2008, 06:29:35 PM
I could never get into Lost back home...maybe it's time to give it another chance.

I watched There Will be Blood, movie was good but D.D. Lewis was exceptional, he deserves that oscar.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on March 02, 2008, 01:22:05 AM
Just bought a very good quality copy of TWBB, so will watch that tonight, sitting on the sofa in comfort rather than hunched up on my computer chair like I usually watch things.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on March 02, 2008, 04:26:36 AM
I hate watching on the computer so I burn them to discs. I use a couple of Dvd -RW's and just re-use them.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on March 02, 2008, 02:02:49 PM
I tried to download current TV shows, but it got boring fast.  Having to wait a whole week for a new show? I'd rather just wait a year for the whole set to come out. 

And then have a marathon sitting of watching the whole show in less than a week.  I do this and can now tell you exactly which tests the ER docs are going to order every time "Chem-7, seds, c-spine".
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on March 02, 2008, 05:13:50 PM
I tried to download current TV shows, but it got boring fast.  Having to wait a whole week for a new show? I'd rather just wait a year for the whole set to come out. 

It takes me about 5 hours to download a series. Week?!@%!?@%
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on March 02, 2008, 05:26:51 PM
takes me a bit longer depending on how many seeds there are (and my slow connection) but if you get a couple of things going, you always have something to watch...have 4 movies downloading now and am looking forward to the start of the regular tv series to be back up and running.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on March 02, 2008, 05:30:20 PM
A movie usually takes about 1 hr 30 for me.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on March 02, 2008, 05:39:15 PM
A movie usually takes about 1 hr 30 for me.

 What client do you use? I  be able to download a movie or a TV series season in a couple days using U Torrent, but the program developed a glitch that caused my computer to crash all the time. I'm using Bit Torrent's default program right now and it's slower than Hades...been downloading the same stuff for nearly a month with no progress.  llllllllll
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Bugalugs on March 03, 2008, 05:44:56 PM
Just finished "The Bucket List" with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. I really enjoyed it. A positive way at looking at death.

agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on March 03, 2008, 06:39:39 PM
A movie usually takes about 1 hr 30 for me.

 What client do you use? I  be able to download a movie or a TV series season in a couple days using U Torrent, but the program developed a glitch that caused my computer to crash all the time. I'm using Bit Torrent's default program right now and it's slower than Hades...been downloading the same stuff for nearly a month with no progress.  llllllllll

Utorrent.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on March 03, 2008, 09:57:59 PM
I got DS to load U torrent in Dec. and she ended up with the same problem and had to have her hard drive wiped.

I've been downloading off u torrent since I came to China with no problems...except I don't get the speed CD does.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Bugalugs on March 03, 2008, 10:36:21 PM
Watching Hairspray, John Travolta as a woman is FUNNY!! Could barely tear myself away to go to work :D
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on March 03, 2008, 11:39:28 PM
The Disney flick "Game Plan".....predictable.  But still kinda cute and funny.  Definitely suitable for my 9-year old nephew to watch.   bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf

"Girls don't speak football!" ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on March 04, 2008, 12:34:05 AM
I got DS to load U torrent in Dec. and she ended up with the same problem and had to have her hard drive wiped.

I've been downloading off u torrent since I came to China with no problems...except I don't get the speed CD does.

are you on campus?

When I was on campus in Wuhan, except for sites like uknova which have 8 million seeders and 2 leechers, I got some frustratingly slow speeds due to the router.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on March 04, 2008, 12:47:53 PM
Not on campus...just slow, right now 06:45 I have a total download speed of 12.1kB/s...but usually it's between 70 - 100...internet has been extra slow/sporadic these past few days.   I'm just downloaded one thing, so my 100 is spread out between 5-6 torrents.   
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on March 04, 2008, 01:06:42 PM
Ah well I only DL one thing at a time, so I get 100 for that alone, which might be why I get things so quickly.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: mrberti on March 04, 2008, 08:57:39 PM
Watching Hairspray, John Travolta as a woman is FUNNY!! Could barely tear myself away to go to work :D

Oh yeah! I got a surprise copy of Hairsray in my Knocked Up box the other day. It's really good after the fourth or fifth Qingdao!!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Bugalugs on March 05, 2008, 03:12:33 AM
The guy from Hook?? I have to get a copy :D
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on March 05, 2008, 05:19:43 AM
Took The Simpsons movie over and watched it with Babala.  I slept through most of it, but then I've seen it before.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on March 06, 2008, 09:00:41 PM
I watched the latest Rambo installment yesterday. It was so much fun. So much carnage, so much blood, it was tremendous. That were several things I found slightly unrealistic but it was Rambo!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on March 06, 2008, 09:03:39 PM
The original rambo film is actually a deceptively intelligent piece of psychological thriller
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on March 06, 2008, 10:07:44 PM
First Blood was a genuinely good movie.

Rambo 3 wqas a riot.  Do you remember when he cauterized the woulnd through his side by breaking open bullets, pouring the gunpowder into his wound then setting it ablaze?  I started SCREAMING with laughter in the theatre.  A helicopter rammed a tank head on.  There was a great groan of laughter at the end, when they had the nerve to dedicate the "film" to the people of Afghanistan.

Fun time.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on March 06, 2008, 10:17:03 PM
First Blood was a genuinely good movie.


Agreed, I watched it recently and was surprised by how good it was.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: George on March 06, 2008, 10:22:23 PM
I watched Hairspray last night. It was so crappy, it was almost funny in spots. Having John   Travolta playing the mother was incomprehensible! There was nothing in the story about the mother being a man, so why??
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on March 07, 2008, 09:01:37 PM
Saw a low budget Aussie feature "The Black Balloon". The film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival,where it won the Crystal Bear for Best Feature Film. Aussie supermodel Gemma Ward played a good role. As a matter of interest, she is the world's 10th highest earning model and was dating Heath Ledger when he died a month ago.
I think we are going to hear a lot more about 19yrs old Rhys Wakefield.(from "Home and Away" for the Aussies reading this) Toni Collette and Erik Thomson ("All Saints")also starred.
This movie was a semi-autobiographical account of Australian writer/director Elissa Down's own childhood experiences with her heavily autistic brother,who also has Attention  Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Luke Ford played the part of the brother in a very convincing manner.
This is a film about fitting in,discovering love and accepting your family. As I was watching this, I thought that LotusEater would appreciate this as probably would Con Ate Dog. For my part, I really enjoyed it; it made me think about the difficulties of living with a boy/man with this condition.Try to see it if you get the opportunity.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Noodles on March 08, 2008, 03:04:47 AM
Run Fat Boy Run

definitely worth a watch. Starring Simon Pegg from shawn of the dead.

A pretty funny movie, without having to think too much.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on March 08, 2008, 03:14:57 AM
I'm so looking forward to it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on March 08, 2008, 03:24:02 AM
Hero Wanted with Cuba Gooding Jr. and Ray Liotta...could have been a good tale but the acting  aaaaaaaaaa
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: lolochan on March 09, 2008, 03:56:09 AM
I watched Hairspray last night. It was so crappy, it was almost funny in spots. Having John   Travolta playing the mother was incomprehensible! There was nothing in the story about the mother being a man, so why??

They are spoofing the original 1988 John Waters movie where Divine (who is a man dressed as a women) played the mother. The John Waters version is much much better. It's more well rounded and touches on the politics of the era. John waters plays a cameo in the new version as the flasher right at the beginning of the movie. John Waters is the "Sultan of Sleaze" , 'The purveyor of Filth", absolutely hilarious. You can watch parts of his live show from "This Filthy World" or watch "A Date with John Waters" (which is so effin hilarious I almost peed my pants.).

So I am a bit of a fan....

"To me, bad taste is what entertainment is all about. If someone vomits watching one of my films, it's like getting a standing ovation."
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on March 10, 2008, 06:41:19 PM
 Over the last few days I've seen "No Country For Old Men" and "I'm Not There".

  IMO, No Country was very good, but far from the Coen Brother's best. It struck me that just like last year with The Departed, the Academy was giving a kind of lifetime acheivement award to the film makers rather than the movie itself.

 I liked I'm Not There better. While the movie may have limited appeal to those unfamiliar with Bob Dylan, I think the theme of a prerson who has lived so many different lives they have become an enigma is pretty universal and could be applied to a lot of people.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: lolochan on March 10, 2008, 06:56:26 PM
I really want to see Old Country as I love Javiar Bardem. It's great to see a latin star do so well. I watched a lot of his Spanish films. My favorite Coen Brothers is O Brother.

I just saw Lars and the Real Girl. Very sweet movie. I think Ryan Gosling is going to be my new movie star boyfriend  bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on March 10, 2008, 09:01:32 PM
My favorite Coen Brothers is O Brother.


With George Clooney and that awesome soundtrack?  I loved that movie!  I didn't know the Cohen brothers made it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on March 10, 2008, 09:43:36 PM
I haven't seen O Brother

Their real stinker is Intolerable Cruelty.  Utter crud.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on March 11, 2008, 02:49:30 AM
O Brother, Where Art Thou is brilliant - especially if you remember your Odyssey. I laughed most of the way through it. But there was too much explaining to do for me to show it to my Chinese mates.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: chrisS on March 11, 2008, 03:35:25 AM
Most recently I watched the entire Sharpe's collection.  It was loaned to me by a British friend and it is awesome!  The episodes originally aired on the BBC in the '90's, starring Sean Bean.  The main character Sharpe rises from the ranks to become a major during the Napoleonic Wars.  I forget who wrote the original novels, but all of the episodes are based upon actual historical events.

And for a history buff like me, the collection quickly became addictive.  I have a running joke with some of the teachers at my school.  We call ourselves the "Forlorn Hope Brigade."  See the episodes and you'll get the joke.

The movie I would recommend is Casino Royale.  I must admit to becoming disgusted with the Bond franchise over 10 years ago.  However, after being forced to watch the movie by a friend, all I can say is "get it."  They haven't released a Bond flick this good since Sean Connery was making them.

As my students say, "that's all."
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on March 11, 2008, 04:43:15 AM
The movie I would recommend is Casino Royale.  I must admit to becoming disgusted with the Bond franchise over 10 years ago.  However, after being forced to watch the movie by a friend, all I can say is "get it."  They haven't released a Bond flick this good since Sean Connery was making them.

Is that the original "Casino Royale" with David Niven?  ahahahahah bfbfbfbfbf ......  or the newer ReMake??  uuuuuuuuuu
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on March 11, 2008, 05:45:17 AM
Agreed, Craig is excellent.

My ultimate dream for a Bond film now is for Christopher Nolan to make one, with Bale as the main baddie.

Imagine a Bale-Craig face off.  Would be absolutely top drawer.  agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: non-dave on March 11, 2008, 01:31:56 PM
Most recently I watched the entire Sharpe's collection.  It was loaned to me by a British friend and it is awesome!  The episodes originally aired on the BBC in the '90's, starring Sean Bean.  The main character Sharpe rises from the ranks to become a major during the Napoleonic Wars.  I forget who wrote the original novels, but all of the episodes are based upon actual historical events.

The author is Bernard Cornwell. Great series. The TV series is a pretty good adaptation from the books.

If you liked that one try the Hornblower series - some interesting naval stories from a similar period.

I've just finished watching 3 season's worth of "The Unit" - a better than expected US Special Forces series. Entertaining.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on March 11, 2008, 03:03:57 PM
Pierce Brosnan was great as Bond.  Brought a sense of humour to the role.  And Judi Dench as 'M' - way to go!  I thought the Craig wasn't as smooth as Bond is supposed to be.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on March 11, 2008, 09:11:19 PM
Pierce Brosnan was great as Bond.  Brought a sense of humour to the role.  And Judi Dench as 'M' - way to go!  I thought the Craig wasn't as smooth as Bond is supposed to be.

Yeah but it's cyclical isn't it. 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on March 12, 2008, 04:10:52 AM
Seething with rage.  Found out that what looked like a fantastically amazing film project (Where the Wild Things Are) is being scuppered by Executive tossers.  Directed by Spike Jonze and written by Dave Eggers, and based on one of the most wickedly dark children's books ever, it had major 'quality film' potential.

But no the Execs have said it is too dark, too weird, and the whole thing has got to be redone.  asasasasas asasasasas asasasasas asasasasas asasasasas asasasasas asasasasas asasasasas asasasasas asasasasas asasasasas asasasasas asasasasas
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on March 12, 2008, 04:31:39 AM
They scrapped it??? But it looked so good...too dark and weird???? Who does not like dark and weird??

Just bought "Life on Mars". Don't really know what it is about but the description of it sounded interesting.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: latefordinner on March 12, 2008, 05:29:14 PM
Cornwell's Sharpe series: I loved the books, but the TV series left a lot to be desired. Always the way of it, no? Try reading his other historical fiction. I liked the Warlord trilogy, about Arthurian Britain, but each series has something to offer.
There's no Bond like Sean Connery, but Pierce Brosnan comes close.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on March 12, 2008, 05:41:11 PM
They scrapped it??? But it looked so good...too dark and weird???? Who does not like dark and weird??

Just bought "Life on Mars". Don't really know what it is about but the description of it sounded interesting.

Sounds like it.  I really hope not though.  As you say there are legions and legions of us who loved the film as a kid who would have been queuing up to watch it.  A 'family friendly' version might also be a bit quaint for today's nintendo-generation kids anyway! I hope it flops (if it's remade, that is)

LIfe on Mars is good.  I'm currently watching the followup, Ashes to Ashes, which features the delectable Keeley Hawes, a sort of sexier keira knightley
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on March 12, 2008, 06:50:52 PM
Is that the bird from MI5 or Spooks?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Clint Smoker on March 12, 2008, 07:49:12 PM
Dave Eggers?

I got his book from the library and din't finish the TITLE let alone the book.




drum roll







Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on March 12, 2008, 08:50:25 PM
Is that the bird from MI5 or Spooks?

Yes.

She's sexier in this than in that, though
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on March 12, 2008, 08:50:54 PM
Dave Eggers?

I got his book from the library and din't finish the TITLE let alone the book.


Great book.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on March 12, 2008, 11:07:52 PM
If anyone wants to watch something a bit different, may I recommend 15 storeys high a very underrated British programme

http://www.youtube.com/user/revengeofthedog

All the episodes are on my profile
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: chrisS on March 13, 2008, 09:42:40 AM
I have to disagree with latefordinner.  I think (besides Sean Connery) that Daniel Craig makes the best Bond.  Let's face it, the Bond series has sucked since the '80s.  Anybody with a Y chromosome (myself included) have given the movie series a pass because it is James Bond.  However, the latest one "Casino Royale" is better than any Bond flick made in the past 25 years.

If anyone disagrees, please name the Bond flick that does stack up.  Add to it the fact that Craig plays Bond as a real hard-nosed MF true to the spirit of the original Ian Fleming novels (and I've read them all).

I have my opinion, feel free to disagree.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on March 13, 2008, 01:05:13 PM
Sean Connery was good (obviously because he was an Aussie! ahahahahah), but the Bond flicks with Pierce Brosnan were great BECAUSE they were over the top, close enough to 'real' Bond to be good, but equally close to 'spoof' to be a load of fun, they had a subtle sense of humour and Brosnan was dead sexy in them. I saw them as an evolution away from the cold war hero scene, which the last one seemed to take us back to.

But we all see things differently.

I read all the books one holidays, when I was about 15-16, staying with my brother.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: George on March 13, 2008, 01:39:56 PM
Quote
Sean Connery was good (obviously because he was an Aussie!
Shen ma???? aoaoaoaoao
The closest he became to being Australian was marrying one! Diane Cilento.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on March 13, 2008, 01:51:09 PM
You're right - I was thinking of George Lazenby who also played Bond.  Connery spent a lot of time on Oz - liked Airlie Beach.  And I met Dian Cilento a couple of times.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on March 13, 2008, 02:32:20 PM
The first few of Brosnan ones were really good, but Die Another Day was one of the worst bond films ever...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Fire_Dragon on March 17, 2008, 12:13:09 AM
They scrapped it??? But it looked so good...too dark and weird???? Who does not like dark and weird??

Just bought "Life on Mars". Don't really know what it is about but the description of it sounded interesting.
If you're referring to the BBC program, I think you're in for a treat. The concept is different from anything I've seen on television. Good acting, and it is clear a lot of research went into the project. It is one of those shows that's best to watch in order. The finale of season two had me on pins and needles. Now that I've raved, I hope you like it and will return to share your opinion. Even if you tell me I've got the worst taste in TV ever :)

Oh, if you haven't yet seen Jekyll, that's a must-see! It's dark, so if that's not to your taste, avoid at all costs. The acting was stellar. It's only about 6 episodes but worth watching. James Nesbitt stars as Dr. Jackman/Hyde and is brilliant! These shows are part of the reason I can't watch American television. Nothing compares!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on March 20, 2008, 02:10:23 AM
I've just been turned on to my first British drama, brand new, called The Fixer.  Good guys doing bad things in the name of good.  Just watched episode 2, still missing a few of the words due to the accents but it's 'quite brilliant'
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on March 20, 2008, 06:44:12 AM
Never heard of the Fixer.

Watched episodes 5/6 of Ashes to Ashes tonight/last night.

I'm actually enjoying it more than Life on Mars, maybe because of the London setting.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on March 20, 2008, 12:17:24 PM
The Fixer just showed up two weeks ago.  It's on Pirate Bay and worth a look.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on March 22, 2008, 06:58:21 PM
I watched The Kite Runner and was very impressed. It didn't stray from the book and the childhood relationship (first half or so) between the two boys was extremely well presented 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on March 23, 2008, 12:02:31 AM
Watched lost 4.08.  A good episode to break the season on.

Why do they have these stupid mid season breaks in the US?

I want more damn it, this is the best Lost season yet!

Also watched the rest of There Will be Blood.  Good, but my version is dodgy.  Starts jumping around towards the end and bits are cut out.  asasasasas

Tonight I feel like pure mindlessness, so I'm going to watch "Shoot em up"
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on March 24, 2008, 07:48:55 PM
Saw "BRICK LANE" based on the best selling novel by Monica Ali. It is a touching and well acted story about a 17 year old Bangladeshi village girl, Nazneen (Tannishishtha Chatterjee) who is married off to a man in London's East End. She bears him two daughters  and finds herself, in her mid 30s, a prisoner of circumstance. Her husband is played by Indian comedian Satish Kaushik. Constrained by her role as a Muslim wife,she is trapped in what seems like a loveless marriage to an older man,in a city in which she is mostly invisible and whose inhabitants are as alien to her as she is to them. She eventually meets up with and embarks on an illicit affair with a younger man.
It was the events of September 11, 2001 which brought the biggest changes to her closeted world.
The advertising blurb says "A film that reminds you why you love movies". It was a pleasant movie, but for me, there was something missing and I can't explain what it was.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on March 24, 2008, 09:39:17 PM
I watched the first two episodes of Dead Like Me, an HBO series that was cut after two seasons.  I am now downloading another 4 episodes cause I liked the first two so much.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on March 26, 2008, 09:40:27 AM
Finally got round to embarking on the huge mission that is watching the entirety of "24".  Watched episodes 1-8 of the first series on hukou or whatever its called before getting sick of the buffering and shit quality.  Downloaded 9-11 last night.  Watched them tonight.  Am totally hooked.  Got til tomorrow night til the rest of series 1 downloads.

Now I know why I've put it off so long.

This is the kind of television you can lose days and days in.  asasasasas agagagagag jjjjjjjjjj bibibibibi bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on March 26, 2008, 12:06:53 PM
I too was hooked on 24 when I was first introduced to it for Season 3.  I stayed with it till the end of 5 but got bored in 6, it just seemed to be the same old plot line.  Jack has only minutes to find some nuclear weapon that is going to blow up and obliterate chunks of the US and start a world war cause the nuclear device was planted by rogue terrorists ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on March 26, 2008, 01:25:51 PM
Shame on you kcunuck. Now CD knows Jack is alive through season 6
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on March 26, 2008, 05:50:17 PM
 bibibibibi oops, never even thought about that...Jack is alive, but others aren't...is that enough suspense to keep him hanging on?  I did enjoy Jack but he just got old.  Now, if they would hurry up and continue The Shield I would be a happy camper indeed.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on March 26, 2008, 06:19:26 PM
It's an american series.  I think it's pretty self evident that the key hero will survive all the way through.  Killing him off in, say series 4 would be very British.  It's rare for US shows to take that kind of gamble.  Exception of CSI which introduced who seemed like a key character in the first episode and then she died straight away!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on March 26, 2008, 08:28:43 PM
Star Trek: Enterprise. I love the website I found for all these shows latest and not very new.  afafafafaf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on April 04, 2008, 04:39:18 AM
"Fearless" with Jeff Bridges and Isabella Rossellini.  Starts off slowly but gradually pulls you in.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: becster79 on April 05, 2008, 03:17:16 PM
Just finished watching all the Owen Wilson movies (online) that I could get my paws on. Man, he's so damned funny without even trying. A genius!

Caught up with what's available online with 'Lipstick Jungle' (I love Kim Raver), and have just come across a new show that looks pretty good so far- 'Brothers and Sisters'.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on April 05, 2008, 09:26:34 PM
Lolochan and I are slogging through Heroes and digging it.  Hiro is a scream; I also dig the cop.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: lolochan on April 05, 2008, 10:05:04 PM
I love Heros and I had to promise that I wouldn't watch ahead in the series (even though I sure am tempted to). Hiro is the best and I am always drooling over Nikki/Jessica
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on April 05, 2008, 10:42:29 PM
almost finished Dead Like Me, it's a shame there were only 2 seasons.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on April 05, 2008, 11:34:24 PM
I love Heros and I had to promise that I wouldn't watch ahead in the series (even though I sure am tempted to). Hiro is the best and I am always drooling over Nikki/Jessica

Huh? Has the new series started?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on April 05, 2008, 11:35:54 PM
Meanwhile, here are some rather juicy new pics from the New Batman film.

(http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/595/batman1se7.jpg)
(http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/2995/batman2fd0.jpg)
(http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/1596/batman3dd9.jpg)
(http://img358.imageshack.us/img358/3623/batman4vf8.jpg)

 agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Bugalugs on April 05, 2008, 11:45:41 PM
Heath Ledger :(
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on April 06, 2008, 12:03:01 AM
Indeed :( but it does look as if he will be remembered for a truly great Batman film.  I can't wait to see it!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on April 06, 2008, 01:29:35 AM
That just looks awesome. Why did Ledger have to die? If they make more Batman movies, they're going to have some trouble finding someone to fill those Joker shoes. From what I have heard, his performance is positively spectacular.

I just bought the entire Star Trek movvie box. Yes, I like Star Trek, even own the complete original series. Nothing beats the good, old Star Trek team.
Going to nurse my hangover with coffee and "The Revenge of Khan"....joyful Saturday.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on April 06, 2008, 02:05:58 AM
Agreed.  Have you heard about this new Gilliam film which Ledger was halfway through making when he died?  He will morph into Depp, apparently!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on April 06, 2008, 02:44:09 AM
Yeah, he'll morph into Jude Law, Johnny Depp and some third chap. Apparently it has something to do with his character stumbling through mirrors or something. It sounds good. I just hope mr. Gilliam stays on the ball with this one.

I think Leonard Nimoy should get The Coolest Man in the Universe oscar.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: becster79 on April 06, 2008, 03:04:37 AM
Poor Heath....looks like a good movie, but rememeber, this is the movie that killed him (it  was the insomnia that kept him up all night trying to 'get' into character, and after he finished he went on all the sleeping pills). Wayyyyy too young- and my great grandmother died the very next day him too :(.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on April 06, 2008, 11:49:44 AM
Yeah, he'll morph into Jude Law, Johnny Depp and some third chap. Apparently it has something to do with his character stumbling through mirrors or something. It sounds good. I just hope mr. Gilliam stays on the ball with this one.

I think Leonard Nimoy should get The Coolest Man in the Universe oscar.

Gilliam must be the unluckiest director ever.  First he made what was considered one of the biggest turkeys ever with Munchausen (although it's actually a great film), then he did that thing about Don Quixote which was doomed, and now one of his actors died halfway through... Someone up there was very offended by Life of Brian, methinks!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on April 18, 2008, 03:46:56 AM
Just finished 'The Mighty heart" with Angelina Jolie.  first movie I've seen her in that I really thought she did a good job.  Based on Mariane Pearl's experiences when her journalist husband, Danny Pearl was kidnapped and executed in Pakistan.

Well done movie.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on April 18, 2008, 03:55:51 AM
Last night I watched "Cloverfield", which was absolutely first-rate, and "Black Book", a Paul Verhoeven effort made back in his native Netherlands.  It wasn't bad.  Today I'm going to watch "The Mist".
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Jack Fancy on April 18, 2008, 02:51:01 PM
Has anyone here been buying the HBO DVD-19's yet..?
I've been hooked on them recently... eight movies on one disc, great quality...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on April 19, 2008, 03:46:32 AM
I watched "Charlie Wilson's War".  Why wasn't it called Joanne Herring's War?  She was the prime mover and shaker in this effort.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on April 19, 2008, 04:52:58 AM
The Mist was a respectable B-movie, but with an ending that made me want to beat the director up.

Shame as I loved his other two King adaptations (Shawshank/Green Mile)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Fugu on April 19, 2008, 08:59:13 AM
Ooh, I got one. Not sure if it’s been mentioned yet, but Running Scared impressed me. If you’re into the Rise of the Footsoldier/Pulp Fiction kind of thing, I highly recommend it.

I streamed it, not sure if it’s on DVD in China.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on April 19, 2008, 05:34:24 PM
I'll check it out.

Rise of the Footsoldier was utter crap.  And I say that as a stout supporter of UK films.  It was like a british version of Casino or Goodfellas, only without any charisma.

The E scene was good, though.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on April 20, 2008, 08:16:42 PM
Saw "Gone Baby Gone" yesterday starring Casey Affleck and directed by his brother Ben.The sinuously provocative,edge of your seat thriller was adapted from Dennis Lehane's ("Mystic River") best-selling novel. I couldn't decide if Casey was the most suitable actor for the role. The movie certainly left one with something to think about.

"Lars and the Real Girl" starred Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer and Patricia Clarkson.What a strange movie! My 71 yrs old neighbour took the opportunity to make up for lost sleep. ahahahahah I on the other hand saw a different perspective.I was asked by the Security Guards at the Casino, if I would recommend it. All I could say was that it would depend on the type of person who asked me.If any of you folk have seen it, I would like to know your opinion. My neighbour and I have agreed to disagree. bfbfbfbfbf There is a life size anatomically correct doll involved after all. aoaoaoaoao

Saw "Paranoid Park" directed by GUS VAN SANT. He directed "Elephant","Gerry", "My Own Private Idaho","TO DIE FOR", and "Good Will Hunting". Whilst I can appreciate the filming involved,I wanted to keep hitting a "fast forward" button. I could have told that story in about 15 minutes. There were only four of us at the movies,so I asked for opinions. There was a Gus Van Sant fan there who thought the movie was too short. bibibibibi (each to his own said the old girl as she kissed the cow) Anyone else got an opinion??

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: lolochan on April 20, 2008, 10:17:53 PM
"Lars and the Real Girl" starred Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer and Patricia Clarkson.What a strange movie! My 71 yrs old neighbour took the opportunity to make up for lost sleep. ahahahahah I on the other hand saw a different perspective.I was asked by the Security Guards at the Casino, if I would recommend it. All I could say was that it would depend on the type of person who asked me.If any of you folk have seen it, I would like to know your opinion. My neighbour and I have agreed to disagree. bfbfbfbfbf There is a life size anatomically correct doll involved after all. aoaoaoaoao


I saw "Lars" afew weeks ago and loved it. I found it very touching, sweet and humerous. Ryan Gosling was great, as per usual. Would I recommend it to everyone, probably not. If you like humour with a touch of sadness, then by all means try it out.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on April 20, 2008, 10:41:13 PM
I wouldn't call Gone Baby Gone an 'edge of your seat thriller' but I did think it an original twist.  I was disappointed with Morgan Freeman's performance, and I love MF, I just don't think the role suited him.

I've been catching up on Six Feet Under, never saw it back home.  Loving it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Jack Fancy on April 21, 2008, 12:20:58 AM
I'll take that as a no... bought the 'Masters Of Horror' first year...
Takeshi Miiko is one twisted man with his episode 'Imprint'...
Anyone here watched any of his movies...?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on April 21, 2008, 03:14:55 PM
I wouldn't call Gone Baby Gone an 'edge of your seat thriller' but I did think it an original twist.  I was disappointed with Morgan Freeman's performance, and I love MF, I just don't think the role suited him.

I disagree.  I thought it was actually quite nice to see him turn in something a little difference from his usual 'wise old guy' routine...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kcanuck on April 22, 2008, 12:23:43 AM
I just watched 'The Children of Huang Shi," a joint Australian/Chinese production based on the true story of a British man who rescues many Chinese orphans during the Japanese invasion. Very interesting story.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on April 23, 2008, 07:41:27 PM
Thanks Kcanuck, I'll try to get a copy.

Last night, I saw "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" This is a comedy produced by Judd Apatow. (Knocked Up,The 40 year Old Virgin, and Superbad.) The theatre was full, because it was a special showing. Judging by the audience reaction,I wasn't the only one to find it extremely funny; that is if we exclude the Chinese lady sitting next to us. She went to sleep. ahahahahah I concluded that perhaps it went over her head when,five minutes into the film, we were confronted with a full frontal shot of a "large"naked man aoaoaoaoao aoaoaoaoao. I figured she may not have recognised what "it" was bibibibibi ahahahahah
I noticed that her husband stayed pretty quiet too.(possibly wondering what he should tell the wife alalalalal ahahahahah)
Anyway, there were some interesting sex scenes also, which kept my 71yr old neighbour sitting on the edge of her seat with eyes glued to the screen uuuuuuuuuu I might add that she wasn't alone on that score as the theatre was full of "little old ladies" and you know what they say about old fiddles. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on April 27, 2008, 06:32:05 PM
(http://photos-d.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v233/116/67/565133527/n565133527_552379_3782.jpg)

Quality poster. agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on April 27, 2008, 06:53:50 PM
It's an absolute first-rate cast all round, although I don't know much about Aaron Eckhart.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Bugalugs on April 27, 2008, 06:58:01 PM
MMMM Heathe Ledger in his last completed film :D :(
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: lolochan on April 27, 2008, 07:11:52 PM
It's an absolute first-rate cast all round, although I don't know much about Aaron Eckhart.

Aaron Eckhart was in "Thanking you for Smoking" which is hilarious if you haven't seen it. He was very witty in it. But don't show it to Con right now as he is on the wagon.

Jeff Megall: Sony has a futuristic sci-fi movie they're looking to make.
Nick Naylor: Cigarettes in space?
Jeff Megall: It's the final frontier, Nick.
Nick Naylor: But wouldn't they blow up in an all oxygen environment?
Jeff Megall: Probably. But it's an easy fix. One line of dialogue. 'Thank God we invented the... you know, whatever device.'
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on May 10, 2008, 04:54:18 AM
New DK trailer

http://www.whysoserious.com/happytrails/trailer.htm

 agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Foscolo on May 10, 2008, 07:40:48 AM
Dark Knight: If you ever get the chance, check out the original 1980's graphic novel (written by Frank Miller, later responsible for the - in my view - rather less pleasing Sin City). Along with Alan Moore's Watchmen (another top comic book, and crying out for a movie adaptation) it was a sudden raising of the game in comics - cheesy crap about flying superheros was out. Darker, grittier, much more grown-up tales were in.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on May 10, 2008, 07:21:15 PM
What Foscolo said.  And where the hell is a Sandman TV series? That comic title changed everything.  bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on May 10, 2008, 07:26:25 PM
Dark Knight: If you ever get the chance, check out the original 1980's graphic novel (written by Frank Miller, later responsible for the - in my view - rather less pleasing Sin City). Along with Alan Moore's Watchmen (another top comic book, and crying out for a movie adaptation) it was a sudden raising of the game in comics - cheesy crap about flying superheros was out. Darker, grittier, much more grown-up tales were in.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409459/
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: latefordinner on May 13, 2008, 01:21:03 AM
If you like these cartoons that have either been animated or dramatized for TV or movies, check out Spawn. It was on HBO about 10, maybe 12 years ago. I have a youtube link to the first episode, there are others.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xyp4SdVUjuI&feature=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xyp4SdVUjuI&feature=related) The clown gets the really juicy lines, I bet whoever got to do the voiceover enjoyed the part.
"I so enjoy the shameful details"
"Now this is very tasty. I mean, you look at him, you look at you, you're a matched set"
"It's what you are baby, so get used to it"
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Jack Fancy on May 14, 2008, 12:28:32 AM
Do I sound like a spammer?  Will this question get answered...?
DVD-19's... They've hit the market here about three months ago...
Anyone else here seeing them/buying them?
I'm amazed at the quality...

Not that my DVD collection was sparse to begin with but I've recently bought about thirty of them with eight movies a pop...

Now I have every Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Stephen Chow and Donnie Yen movie...

Speaking of Donnie Yen... Has anyone seen 'Flashpoint'..?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on May 14, 2008, 01:20:39 AM
If you like these cartoons that have either been animated or dramatized for TV or movies, check out Spawn. It was on HBO about 10, maybe 12 years ago. I have a youtube link to the first episode, there are others.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xyp4SdVUjuI&feature=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xyp4SdVUjuI&feature=related) The clown gets the really juicy lines, I bet whoever got to do the voiceover enjoyed the part.
"I so enjoy the shameful details"
"Now this is very tasty. I mean, you look at him, you look at you, you're a matched set"
"It's what you are baby, so get used to it"

I haven't seen the programme, but the film was absolutely awful.

Seriously, it was one of the worst films I have ever sen.  It's definitely in my top 5 worst, along with Shakespeare in Love and Lost in Space, View to a Kill and Explorers (superlative first half leads to absolutely awful second half that could (and probably was) have been written by an infant school kid)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Clint Smoker on May 14, 2008, 04:56:01 PM
Nice to see good old Gary Oldman in DK.  One of my favorite actors (going back a bit...)Have hopes for DK but Batman Begins was sort of forgettable (but slick.)

Was just working 6 weeks in Canuckland and couldn't get to films. Now I'm off but boy is it slim pickings. Aside from arthouse (Counterfeiters, Band Played On and some others.) its all crappy comedy...

Went to Sarah Marshall---had it's funny moments but otherwise I wouldn't knock the Chinese lady for going to sleep...Almost walked out during the puppet show which we were supposed to think was so cute. Those Superbad/Knocked Up guys will be doing a movie  a month now I guesss...drive us all nuts.


Tomorrow I'll go see (wouldn't admit this to anyone in person--haha,only online) What Happens In Vegas. I'm a sucker for anything set in Vegas---or with Cameron Diaz. I'll even see if 21 is still here.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on May 14, 2008, 05:06:01 PM
Have hopes for DK but Batman Begins was sort of forgettable (but slick.)


I disagree almost entirely.  It was a first-rate film, an excellent reboot of the Batman series, and near totally washed away the foul taste of the dreadful Schumacher films.  The other thing I like about it is that in approach it's more like a 'film' than a 'movie' if you get my drift.

Nolan is one of the best mainstream directors working today IMVHO.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on June 19, 2008, 09:49:37 PM
I watched the Madonna version of Evita last night and was really disappointed.  I had expected a much better film/movie that was presented.  I felt that the characterisation was shallow, the history not well done and the music not all that wonderful  (Although the tune keeps fitting in and out of my head all day!)

Yet another lesson in NOT listening to the 'blockbuster' hype of publicity machines.

The same happens with books as well.  Making to the best seller list is almost a guarantee for me that the book isn't all that good.  ananananan
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on June 19, 2008, 10:03:38 PM
Evita was OK. I must admit I nearly fell asleep couple of times and Banderos is the only reason I kept watching. afafafafaf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 19, 2008, 11:35:45 PM
You can't go by the word bestseller. Just look at the tripe written by Dan Brown. I think Stephen Fry said it best when he described "The Da Vinci Code" as 'absolute arse gravy of the worst kind'.


Just watched the first season of "A Bit of Fry and Laurie". Those guys are hilarious. Two of their sketches makes me laugh louder than any hack, mediocre American sit-com or comedy, and I use the word in its loosest form possible here, ever did. Not that all American comedies are bad, there are gems, far and few between though.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: George on June 19, 2008, 11:43:32 PM
Quote
Just look at the tripe written by Dan Brown.
Who is laughing....all the way to the bank!! lotta money in garbage!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 20, 2008, 12:08:38 AM
George, I did not say he did not make money. Barbara Cartland was rolling in the stuff and she wrote worse tripe than Brown. Yes, he certainly cleaned up, his coffers are full to the brim. But just because a lot of people buy a book, thus it becomes a bestseller, does not mean the book is good. It just means that lots of people like crap. Which also explains the popularity of day-time soaps, most pop musicians and 99% of the trash produced in Hollywood. Dan Brown wrote a horrible book, which sold extremely well and got two movie deals, good for him. I bear him no ill will, nor am I jealous. Life is too short envy others. But no matter how much money he makes, you'll never convince me that his fiction is not pulp of the very lowest level.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: George on June 20, 2008, 12:34:23 AM
Quote
lotta money in garbage!
Notice that I agreed with you, Squirrel!! bibibibibi
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 20, 2008, 01:28:13 AM
Hmmm....ouch...damn..bugger...*Hops around trying to extricate foot from mouth, mumbled swearing as other foot steps in It and the It smells bad, trips over chair and lands in pathetic heap, groaning miserably, whilst an errant parrot proceeds to jump up and down on head screaming *stupid!Rawrk! Can't read for toffee!Rawrk!Stupid! Rawrk!'and then passes out, right foot still partly wedged in oral orifice*.....
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on June 20, 2008, 01:32:59 AM
I couldn't be bothered to watch "The DaVinci Code"...and I like Tom Hanks!  I had bought the book, hoping to see what all the fuss was about, and ended up bored almost to tears.  Nothing new - a rehash of Sacred Blood, Holy Grail - and no real heart-pumping drama, suspense or excitement.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 20, 2008, 01:40:34 AM
Or long words, intricate plot, surprises or anything that denotes quality. It's just very sad that I'm not wholly surprised at the popularity in attained. I had the same bored feeling when I watched "National Treasure" 1 and 2. Apart from the fact that I find it completely unbelieveable that a professional treasure hunter and historian, whose main field on interest is the period 1700-1900 has not bothered to learn French, a rather important language for that particular period, the movies were just dumb. Plain old dumb. I'm sorry, but when it comes to interesting historical skulduggery, secret societies and hidden pathways, America is the last country I turn to. And I despise that Cage twit, who is blessed with the acting talent of a thick oak plank.

Literature, in its bastard mongrel form, lives on. Belle Lettres, that concept is, if not dead, on severe life support.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on June 22, 2008, 11:26:46 PM
 Just watched Zombie Strippers. Never thought I'd see the day Jenna Jameson and Robert Englund would be co-stars. Frankly, this is a movie that anyone who would take the time to watch can not complain about. It promises to deliver two things-zombies and strippers. So lets see...undead zombies devouring the flesh of the living in exceedingly gory fashion? Check. Hot, large breasted women taking off their clothes on a regular basis? Check. If movies can be judged based on whether they deliver what they promise, then this would be up for some oscars.  bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on June 23, 2008, 12:01:14 AM
Watched The Jumper and 10000B.C. I liked them.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Jack Fancy on June 23, 2008, 04:38:29 AM
Any 80's film buffs here?
Just bought 'Dragonslayer', 'Clash OF The Titans' and the Mad Max trilogies...
On DVD-19,  bibibibibi
which either no one knows about or are not very f*cking interested in...  bbbbbbbbbb
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on June 23, 2008, 07:05:25 PM
Watched The Jumper and 10000B.C. I liked them.

 aoaoaoaoao
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on June 23, 2008, 07:05:54 PM
Hey Eric - have you seen Lord of War, Adaptation or Leaving Las Vegas?  All quality films with Cage in.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 23, 2008, 09:03:12 PM
It's not the quality of the film I despair of, it's the quality of the acting. I honestly think Cage is an overrated hack. Personally, I think he's a worse actor than Cruise and Angelina Jolie and Ben Afleck combined and since those three couldn't act their way out of a speeding ticket, that says something.
Lord of War was preachy, Adaptation is one of the few movies I have walked out on and Leaving Las Vegas did nothing for me. If I want to see miserable drunks throw their life away for no reason, I can go to a square downtown and watch the wretches who are always to be found there, semi-lucid and pie-eyed before noon.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on June 23, 2008, 09:09:00 PM
It's not the quality of the film I despair of, it's the quality of the acting. I honestly think Cage is an overrated hack. Personally, I think he's a worse actor than Cruise and Angelina Jolie and Ben Afleck combined and since those three couldn't act their way out of a speeding ticket, that says something.
Lord of War was preachy, Adaptation is one of the few movies I have walked out on and Leaving Las Vegas did nothing for me. If I want to see miserable drunks throw their life away for no reason, I can go to a square downtown and watch the wretches who are always to be found there, semi-lucid and pie-eyed before noon.

Do I understand you didn't like those movies??  ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 23, 2008, 09:13:24 PM
Yep, that is correct. I did not.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on June 24, 2008, 04:13:29 AM
Watched PS I love you this afternoon.  Nice chick flick.

Then tonight watched Jack Nicholson and Mrogan Freeman in "The Bucket List".  Nice gentle movie as well.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: chrisS on June 24, 2008, 09:30:10 AM
Since the thread seems to be about bad movies, please allow me to mention one underrated actress and her extensive body (emphasis on body) of work:  Sybil Danning!

I think most guys around my age (i.e. 39) remember her from the 80's.  And we would all agree it is a true travesty of justice that the Academy willfully ignored her year after year. 

After all, they have awards for Best Foreign Film, Cinematographer, Director, etc.  But no award for BEST WOMEN'S PRISON FILM! 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on June 28, 2008, 06:22:36 AM
Brad Pitt version of 7 years in T't.

Interesting even if not faithful to the book.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Fire_Dragon on July 02, 2008, 08:59:39 PM
Over the weekend I saw Wanted at the theater -- Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman, etc. I enjoyed it, but my sensibilities are a tad warped. Not a film for the faint of heart. Presently, I'm watching The Illusionist -- Edward Norton (whom I LOVE) and Paul Giamatti. I've seen this one 3 times now. Good stuff.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 02, 2008, 10:57:59 PM
Be Kind, Rewind -- whatever.  Jack Black not being Jack Black.
Night of The Living Dead (remake) -- excellent, as always.
Cannibal Holocaust -- by turns tedious and disgusting -- great fun.
Ghosts of The Civil Dead -- compelling, vibrant, awful.
The Bank Job -- watchable, fun.
Jumper -- cool, and almost a story!  Look for the TV series.

Michael Clayton -- angry George! 

It's surprising how readable is his face in this.  Like all the reviews say, a mature thriller.  A little difficult to follow, but substantial--it can be watched more than once.  Definitely a character movie--every character is right there as soon as you see them.  (Except maybe for George himself--he's there doing things and showing things, but the character remains a little elusive...)  Good stuff.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Fire_Dragon on July 02, 2008, 11:58:05 PM
Was it me, or did Be Kind, Rewind seem too long? Since it wasn't the worst movie I've seen this past week, I guess I shouldn't complain ... Glad I didn't waste money seeing it at the theater.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Mister Barfly on July 06, 2008, 06:14:29 PM
I watched a good British film, In Bruges, mostly British actors and a very good, funny story line.  Worth a look.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 08, 2008, 04:31:13 AM
Watched "Prince Caspian"....not the best flick ever. One also got the notion that the director had seen LOTR a wee bit too many times. They also changed the story. Why do they have to do that?? Hollywood should not be allowed anywhere near books anymore!! Ever!! Books are meant to be read, not watched.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on July 08, 2008, 04:35:56 AM
Hancock was GOOD! Definitely worth watching if you like superhero movies: I kept laughing the whole time. Will Smith's done a good job on the character and the story line is a bit different from the usual sloppy superhero movies.  agagagagag Waiting to watch Wall-E.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 08, 2008, 07:24:17 AM
In Bruges -- see it!  It's a cracker.

"They're filmin' summat... they're filmin' midgets!"
"Ray, come on--let's go."
"My arse `let's go', they're filmin' midgets."

Mr Bean's Holiday -- a lovely film, beautiful to look at and pleasant to watch.

Southland Tales -- now there's a film that could be fixed by something as simple as JUST, REALY, NOT SETTING UP THE WHOLE THING WITH THIRTY MINUTES OF VOICEOVER!  That, and reaching a little deeper for the metaphysical, but then the subject is modern America so maybe there isn't deeper...  A lot of it's supposed to be funny too.  When I reminded myself of that it actually was funny.

Bee Movie -- there's something, and I don't know what it is, but there's something in that film, some, just, can't fix on it, just one notch off-kilter ideological programming.  Think about it--bright colours, lovely imagery, all distracting from the, the, the... central... the... can't put my finger on it.  It has to be an experiment in hypnosis of some kind.  Has to be.


(Again, In Bruges -- see it! -- because they're not fokin British, are they.  They're fokin Paddies from Doblin!)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on July 08, 2008, 05:31:10 PM
Man, I loved Clash of the Titans: wonderful interpretation of Greek Mythology, great cast, and delightfully awful special effects.  The decapitation scene was great: it looks like they put a costume on a ketchup bottle then tipped it over.

The cult classics I'm hunting for are Flash Gordon and Big Trouble in Little China.  No dice thus far... ananananan
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on July 08, 2008, 10:41:34 PM
Amazon.com (USA) and/or moviesunlimited.com both show these films as being available, albeit on Region 1 discs.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on July 09, 2008, 08:00:38 PM
Children of the silk road. The story of George Hogg, a young Englishman,who led a bunch of orphaned Chinese boys on a perilous journey through the mountains,to safety during W.W.11. Hogg became a news reporter and witnessed the Japanese brutality first hand in 1938. He went on to become headmaster,in 1943,of a boys' school in Huang Shi.With the japanese steadily advancing he led his orphan students on a 1200km march across mountains to Shandan. A statue was erected there in his honour by the Communists. The film is based on a true story and stars Jonathan Rhys Myers as Hogg. Radha Mitchell,Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh also have key roles. The scenery was beautiful and I really enjoyed the movie.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on July 10, 2008, 01:09:50 AM
I'll be able to go and see The Dark Knight at a proper cinema in a couple of weeks.  agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 10, 2008, 01:44:36 AM
Just reserved my ticket. Wednesday the 23rd, Batman and the Joker, in a huge cinema with a kick-ass sound system. It's going to be sooooooo good.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on July 10, 2008, 11:23:45 PM
How come you danes get it two days before us?  asasasasas
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 11, 2008, 12:08:29 AM
Because we are the happiest people on the planet.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on July 13, 2008, 05:31:28 AM
 Just watched the end of two of the greatest TV shows I have ever seen... Six Feet Under and The Sopranos. So nice to see TV shows that don't wear out their welcome and actually end at their peak.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Fire_Dragon on July 14, 2008, 07:10:25 AM
I was supposed to be doing homework, but I got captivated by movies! Akeelah and the Bee and Freedom Writers are great films, and I am so glad I watched them.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Clint Smoker on July 14, 2008, 07:44:54 AM
If you like HBO check out The Wire  (don't start watching if you have to work the next day)

Better IMHO than Sopranos..

Dark Knight starts here (Canada) midnite Thursday. Will also be available IMAX. Looking forward to it Jesus there has been rubbish out lately.

Anyone seen Mongol? 1st of a trilogy on Genghis Khan...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on July 14, 2008, 03:10:40 PM
Watched Sex and the City movie. Loved it.  agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on July 14, 2008, 07:57:06 PM
Clint Smoker, I saw Mongol last month and really enjoyed it. It paints a multidimensional portrait of the future conqueror,revealing him not as the evil brute of sterotype,but as an inspiring,fearless and visionary leader. It shows us the making of an extraordinary man - both loyal and deeply spiritual - and the foundation on which so much of his greatness rested:his relationship with his wife,Borte,his lifelong love and most trusted advisor and his adored mother. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 15, 2008, 11:49:51 PM
Bought a copy of "Run, Fatboy, Run"...Simon Pegg and Dylan Moran. Tonight is definitely a night of laughter.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on July 16, 2008, 02:23:47 AM
Going to watch Airplane tonight. Supposed to be a funny comedy.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: solongtinik on July 16, 2008, 07:07:21 PM
wanted is a great movie! the twist is really unpredicatble! and of course, morgan freeman always gives "quotes" that are really worth remembering..
 bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on July 16, 2008, 11:10:45 PM
Watched Darjeeling Limited.  Really enjoyed it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Schnerby on July 16, 2008, 11:13:02 PM
Bought a copy of "Run, Fatboy, Run"...Simon Pegg and Dylan Moran. Tonight is definitely a night of laughter.

Please review!
I laughed myself stupid watching Shaun of the Dead and I was thinking of getting this one out from the shop soon.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 16, 2008, 11:16:11 PM
It was funny. Not as funny as "Shaun of the Dead" or "Hot Fuzz". It did become almost maudlin at times but I recommend it anyway.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on July 17, 2008, 10:51:47 AM
Took my mate DVD shopping today and ended up buying a pile myself (having a discount card for the dodgy DVD shops still makes me laugh!). Bought Speed Racer because a mate was in it, Sex and the city movie, Juno, Wild China and Planet Earth (I like docos), Cina Chung Kuo (the doco Jiang Qing - Madame Mao commissioned), Corpse Bride, 2 Studio Ghibli animations, season 5 of Nip/Tuck, Children of the HuangShi, Step up 2, Ratatouille and Belly Dance Underworld (tribal-fusion, Experimental and Gothic bellydancing!).

But, I haven't watched any of them because I started my mate on the Firefly series and we need to finish it before he heads back to Germany.  This is the 2nd time within 3 weeks i will have watched this series because I did the same thing with my mate from Shanghai when he came over.  Firefly is GOOD!!  It's really sad that there was only one season, plus the movie.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: dasein on July 17, 2008, 11:23:42 AM
Just watched The Love Guru. Ugh. You know what's funnier than this piece of garbage? EVERYTHING. (At least I only downloaded it and didn't pay to see it. Though I feel like I did pay with those ninety minutes which I'll never get back.)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on July 18, 2008, 12:45:02 AM
It was funny. Not as funny as "Shaun of the Dead" or "Hot Fuzz". It did become almost maudlin at times but I recommend it anyway.

It wasn't actually a Pegg project though, was it...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 18, 2008, 12:54:18 AM
No, it wasn't. It was a David Schwimmer project. I think it could have been a great movie if it had been left in the hands of people who get British comedy.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on July 21, 2008, 08:35:24 PM
Juno - well done and interesting.  I'd like to show it to one of my classes next semester to see how they like it.

War photographer.  A doco about Jim Nachtwey, the award winning war/poverty/pollution photographer.  It was inspiring.

Also watched the last 4 Harry Potters - nice light watching before I have to start really solid Chinese study, class preparation.  ahahahahah

About to start season 4 of House.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on July 22, 2008, 05:09:37 PM
Loved Juno.  And Nip/Tuck is a brilliant, over-the-top portrayal of Florida's over-the-top society.

Watched Darjeeling Limited: I enjoyed it immensely, even though it wasn't fast-paced, had little action and no nudity.  Curious to know what other people think.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 22, 2008, 09:12:50 PM
I loved the Darjeeling Limited. A deep, well-made, interesting and quite funny movie. Thoroughly enjoyable.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Schnerby on July 22, 2008, 10:22:33 PM
I just polished off a review of the new Colin Farrell film 'In Bruges'. It's not out in Oz 'til August but not sure about the rest of the planet.  It's a dark, violent film but it really is well worth a watch.

Some of the jokes made (aimed at fat Americans, midgets, black people...) are super offensive and immature (but wickedly, guiltly funny) but when taken in context really just show us that one of the characters is very insecure. I'm absolutley not for racism, but this time it does fit in the context.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on July 22, 2008, 10:51:08 PM
I liked Juno too.

Should be receiving my PC in a matter of days.  agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on July 23, 2008, 04:17:29 PM
Saw Up The Yangtze, a documentary. More info on www.uptheyangtze.com. I found it interesting to view this story,on some aspects of the Three Gorges Dam,from the perspective of a people whom most westerners never meet. We saw the old farmers evicted from their land and young folk in servitude to Western tourists. As most of you can imagine, the scenery was magnicifent.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on July 23, 2008, 07:35:33 PM
I've got a new passion for a subset of reality TV: professional competition shows.  I guess it started with Engineer Wars, wherein 2 teams of 'geers would build rival gizmos (e.g. vehicles to knock down walls) and compete head to head.  Next was America's Top Model, for which I have Babala to blame; these young girls compete for a modelling prize.  The latter is a car wreck you can't stop watching- everybody involved in this show is surely going to Hell.

Now Lolochan has got me into America's Runway... forgot the exact name.  Fashion designers get handed strange challenges, and spend a feverish day trying to draw up and finish a set of clothing under vicious circumstances.  I don't give 2 wanks about fashion, but this show takes you right there, and shows you the difference between great, merely good, mediocre and downright  bqbqbqbqbq .

To live other careers vicariously: I'm a fan.  Next I think I'll start watching Iron Chef.  I may learn something.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 23, 2008, 07:59:07 PM
Going to watch "The Dark Knight" tonight. How did that old show go??....nanananananana Batman!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: James the Brit on July 24, 2008, 12:20:06 AM
Saw the "Dark Knight" last weekend with my folks. We thought it was a good film, with interesting action movie bits, but it dragged on for too long. The film is about 3 hours long.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 25, 2008, 12:57:11 AM
I thought Batman rocked. Heath Ledger is just amazing as the Joker. He steals the movie completely. Batman is also way cool this time around. Not all this Batrang throwing gadget crap, just a lot of mean vigilante punching and doling out much needed pain to criminals. And the make-up for Two-Face...absolutely brilliant.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on July 25, 2008, 04:12:53 AM
I can't wait to see it.  Am hoping to get to the cinema some time this weekend.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on July 25, 2008, 05:25:58 AM
I LOVED the Iron Chef.  Where are you downloading it from??
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on July 26, 2008, 08:56:32 AM
I LOVED the Iron Chef.

Is that the original (Japanese) version?  Or the newer (USA) version?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on July 26, 2008, 07:35:36 PM
 Watched The Incredible Hulk last night. I'm confused. Wasn't there A hulk movie directed by Ang Lee a few years ago? Not often you see a remake 5 years after the original. I thought the original was actually pretty decent, but he new one was definitely better. The big CGI duke out at the end was pure gold.

  What is it with William Hurt turning up in comic book movies completely unrecognizeable? Saw Iron Man  bqbqbqbqbq a few nights ago and it took me half an hour to place him.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on July 28, 2008, 04:31:14 PM
Original Japanese version. They have a US version??

Watched Dark Matter with Meryl Streep while I was away. Liu Ye did a good job, and Streep was good, although I felt the part could have been stronger.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on July 28, 2008, 05:48:53 PM
Original Japanese version. They have a US version??

Yep.  Morimoto moved over to the US after Iron Chef (Japan) ended its run, and is now one of the mainstays of the US version.  Bobby Flay, Cat Cora, Mario Batali are the others who "battle it out" under the watchful eye of The Chairman's Nephew.  With commentary by Alton Brown.

IMHO not quite up to the original standards, but still well worth watching.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on August 05, 2008, 03:09:39 AM
Just to prepare for the upcoming sojourn to China, Friday is all about Beijing Cao Ya and then "The Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" in the cinema.

Oh, guess who just got the entire "I, Claudius" on DVD? Murderous, duplicitous Romans...fun, fun, fun agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on August 05, 2008, 04:31:36 AM
Friday is all about Beijing Cao Ya.

Cao ya - grassland duck?  Or kao ya - Beijing Duck?

Watched I, Claudius the 1st time round on TV.  Was away from home for the episode that he killed his sister.  Decided we couldn't miss an episode so we went to an elderly aunt's place, talked up how great the program was, convinced her to watch it - and...... llllllllll
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on August 05, 2008, 04:42:16 AM
I can think of another definition for cao  uuuuuuuuuu

And another meaning for duck.


You are looking to have a VERY good time aren't you Eric.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on August 05, 2008, 04:44:03 AM
Grumblemumble...Kao Ya...Grassland duck??? What? Why even ask?
I'm saving "I, Claudius" for China. I'm also saving the Dr. Who DVD's I bought yesterday. Doctor Who is just amazing.

Yes, Stil, I am. I am indeed.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on August 05, 2008, 04:49:45 AM
Going through a medical phase.  House Season 4, Grey's Anatomy season whatever, Bones season whatever, Nip/Yuck season 5.

Not sure that there is too much medicine in Nip/Tuck.  More sex than Sex in the City though.

EDIT: Nip/Yuck was a typo - but I decided it fits, so have left it!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on August 05, 2008, 03:49:19 PM
OK - I am now truly scared for the future of humankind. 

I watched Nip/Tuck all the way through.  Season 1 was mildly amusing and some of the procedures were interesting.  Each succeeding season managed to destroy any amusement until it finally degenerated into 'how weird can we make the sex?' and became totally puerile and pathetic.

That this lasted 5 seasons (please don't tell me there is more!!) and Firefly lasted only 1 is truly frightening.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Mr Nobody on August 05, 2008, 04:07:13 PM
Howdy.

Been away a long time, tell people about it later, but some movies I didn't see mentioned.

Shoot 'em up. a great shoot em up, nothing else, sort of in the vein of boondock saints and such. But one of the first movies for a long time I immediately watched again.



Two movies, great classics from the past that I have been trying to get for a while, still waiting for downloads to finish (for the last few weeks, dammit), are:

Seven Faces of Dr Lao
Gumshoe

A couple of others for those liking the weird classics:

Buckaroo Banzai
Ruling Class
American Way

and of course not to mention

Dr Strangelove
 and
Young Frankenstein.

Firefly did have part of series two if I recall, too, not just one series. The DVD I saw had a doco with it and other stuff. Excellent, IM not-so-humble O.

"AKA Tommy Chong" doco of his bust for being a stoner comedian is good too and an indictment of a lot of stuff going on in the war against weapons of mass destruction.

All thanks to utorrent for their kind contributions to my library.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on August 05, 2008, 04:12:28 PM
Now started a 'cleansing' after Nip/Tuck and have gone onto "Yes Minister".  Also asked a student to download Fawlty Towers for me.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on August 05, 2008, 04:40:40 PM
 I agree. My ex was big into Nip and Tuck, and while I "got" it, I still found it unwatchable trash. This is coming for a closet fan of Dallas and Beverly Hills 90210 aoaoaoaoao
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on August 07, 2008, 03:28:22 AM
The only medical show I have ever been able to stomach is "House". Mostly because I grew up with a Dad who, whenever I watched a doctor show, would scoff derisively and shout things like "You would get so sued if you did that!", "Yeah, lots of loose flowing hair during open heart surgery! Is the woman stupid?" and such like comments.

Speaking of doctors. Has anyone in China come across Dr. Who DVD's? Not just the recent revitalized series with Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant (which rules BTW! David Tennant kicks Eccleston's ass as The Doctor!) but the old one too. If you come across them, would you please tell me. I fear I may have become a Dr. Who addict.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: James the Brit on August 07, 2008, 03:32:25 AM
In Singapore, a documentary called "Mad about English" has just come out in the cinemas/movie theatres. It's about how Chinese people want to learn English. Could be of interest to us.

I'm going to see it on Friday. Will report back.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on August 07, 2008, 03:42:24 AM
Eric, all the Dr. Who versions are easy to download. The Dr. Who nuts everywhere keep torrents going and going.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on August 07, 2008, 03:49:49 AM
Now started a 'cleansing' after Nip/Tuck and have gone onto "Yes Minister".  Also asked a student to download Fawlty Towers for me.


Don't forget to look for "Yes, Prime Minister" as well.....and then there's "'Allo, 'Allo" and "Are You Being Served?"
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on August 07, 2008, 04:46:56 AM
Eric, all the Dr. Who versions are easy to download. The Dr. Who nuts everywhere keep torrents going and going.

Wonderful. But what's a torrent, how do I get it and where?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on August 10, 2008, 10:21:06 PM
Nip/Tuck is my favourite show on TV.  No, not the best, but enormous, yucky fun.  And they manage to say some ugly, accurate things about human nature.

Over the top?  Definitely, but that itself is a comment on the hyped culture of Florida's/L.A.'s scene.I just finished season 5, and I'm jonesing already.


Watched Frida last night.  Definitely worth the effort.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on August 11, 2008, 10:14:07 AM
Ericthered, I haven't noticed any pre-Eccelston Doctor Who on DVD here.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Bugalugs on August 12, 2008, 09:17:59 PM
Sadly i haven't seen any of the older Dr. Who in China but if any one does can they please let me know. I am such a Dr. Who addict and i cant wait to buy the newest season when i get back in a few weeks. :D
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on August 12, 2008, 09:23:43 PM
I once bought seasons 1-4 of Dr Who on those DVD 9s (like 4 DVDs). But quality wasn't that's good on some episodes so I gave it back. Seen them in Zhuhai as well on regular DVD 5s. In fact in Zhuhai it is easy to order DVDs you want  agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on August 12, 2008, 10:51:47 PM
I once bought seasons 1-4 of Dr Who on those DVD 9s (like 4 DVDs). But quality wasn't that's good on some episodes so I gave it back. Seen them in Zhuhai as well on regular DVD 5s. In fact in Zhuhai it is easy to order DVDs you want  agagagagag

Help out Eric and order the original Doctor Who series with William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, John Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy. Peter Cushing and Paul McGann fit in there with the 1966 and 1996 film versions.  ahahahahah

You are aware that the seasons 1-4 you refer to are the revived Doctor Who from 2005? yyyyyyyyyy
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on August 12, 2008, 11:26:00 PM
I already looked at the Doctor Who original series. Definitely going to order it. Just need to do some more research on the show, so I can get them in chronological order.

Yes, fully aware of the revived doctor thingy.  agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on August 12, 2008, 11:44:48 PM
Go back to the old reliables:- Amazon.com (US/Canada/UK) OR moviesunlimited.com (but only Zone 1)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on August 12, 2008, 11:59:27 PM
I found the old series on Amazon.co.uk, but not in a box set. I bought a Guide to Doctor Who a few days ago, so I am busy trying to figure out which episodes came first and such.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on August 13, 2008, 12:25:05 PM


Yes, fully aware of the revived doctor thingy.  agagagagag

Hi Eric. I didn't mean to imply you were unaware of the long Doctor Who history. It was a response to Cheeky Girl's post.

To address another post you made after the one I have quoted: tracking down the earliest Doctor Who is tricky. Many of its earliest episodes are lost to the ages because the BBC, like many international networks of the time, recycled their video tapes, which at that time were on huge 2 inch reel-to-reel platters and were pretty expensive. Some episodes only survive on Kinnescopes, with some done rather crudely by fans. Then there are a bunch of stories that have survived intact and in mint condition, like, "The Daleks." I forget the whole story, but one storyline only survives thanks to an Australian fan who used their 16mm camera and did an improvised kinnescope of a show when it was broadcast there.

I think the "beeb" realized the errors of their ways by the time the Tom Baker era was underway. One of his adventures, "Shada," was never completed. It was scripted by Douglas Adams and was shut down during some kind of strike. About three quarters of it was completed. By the time the show resumed production they moved onto another story. Pieces of that aborted shoot ended up in the Peter Davison "The Five Doctors" story. Sometime in the late eighties or early nineties the BBC brought Tom Baker back to host wrap around segments that connected the surviving "Shada" footage and they released it on home video.

Things will also get complicated if you decide to watch its spinoffs. K-9 & COmpany was a one-off that took the Pertwee/Baker companion Sarah Jane SMith and paired her with the Baker era robotic dog, somewhere in the British countryside. TOrchwood is an incredibly lame spinoff that feels like the revival producer's attempt and mingling his Queer As Folk fan following with his Doctor Who following and comes up with a science fiction Beverley Hills 90210 that is an utter waste of time. Davies did this at the expense of a few episodes of the Doctor during seasons 2, 3 and 4 of the revival It also cost the revived Doctor Who it's best companion in Martha Jones.

 The animated Doctor Who Adventures was actually decent even though it was aimed at kids, and what I've seen of The Sarah Jane Adventures has been charming, but that too is aimed at kids. The BBC avoided the mistakes of K-9 & Company when they gave Elizabeth Sladen her second spinoff.

So, run with the Doctor, don't bother with Torchwood, and follow the SaraH Jane Adventures at your own discretion.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on August 13, 2008, 07:02:23 PM
I read about the episodes being lost and the spin-offs, which just got me even more confused. Oh well, I guess I'll have to make do with the revived doctor series for the time being. There are four season and they are in the process of making a 5th. Yay agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on August 13, 2008, 07:12:38 PM
Working my way through "Dark Angel" with Jessica Alba.  OK for holiday slacking around - like the beach blockbusters.  ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on August 16, 2008, 05:54:04 AM
Can I just mention that the excellent UK torrent site UkNOva frequently have older Doctor Who episodes which are otherwise impossible to obtain.  They're often copied from home videos and not very good quality, but they're there and free.

(They have a policy of not allowing material which is obtainable on legal DVD)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Clint Smoker on August 17, 2008, 04:40:09 PM
Saw the new Woody Allen today which I think  was released in China BEFORE IT WAS MADE. bpbpbpbpbp   The white chick says "I studied Chinese,,,I like the sound of it." Spanish chick says in Spanish "Estan loco? Chinese is like a power drill to the head. Has she seen those Chinese kitchens. ? "   I thought it was gfunny anyway.

Errr, the footie is back so I can gamble again . Anyone advice (aside from stop gambling)   
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on August 18, 2008, 06:56:27 PM
I picked up a boxed set of movies by Tinto Brass. It's glorious. bdbdbdbdbd
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on August 19, 2008, 12:32:53 AM
Watched Frida.  Recommend it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on August 22, 2008, 08:03:36 PM
Currently watching the BBC doco "Wild China". It's really lovely.  Fascinating to see places you been to and GREAT for places to plan on visiting.

Anyone seen (or taught in!) the Zhongdong Cave School, Ziyun county, Guizhou?  Looks amazing. There are 6 classes there, with close to 200 students. plus the cave is big enough for 18 families and their livestock. Other students can walk up to 3 hours each way to get to school there.

EDIT:
The more I watch this series the more I really like it.  Really good to use with students - the English is clear and easy to listen to.  Chinese mate watching one episode with me was happy that it gave Chinese people the chance to learn more about China and to also learn the words westerners use for Chinese animals, places etc.

The photography is stunning, the places they go, sheer magic.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on August 24, 2008, 05:54:13 AM
Watched the latest Star Wars movie. Bloody awful. Like watching a computer game, horrible dialogue, plot so weak you would think they had raised Thomas Preckett Priest from his paupers grave so he could write the manuscript, it was just bad, bad, bad!!!!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on August 24, 2008, 10:34:14 AM
If by the latest you mean Revenge of the Sith I have to seriously disagree. It delivered what it promised. Lots of action, kick ass special effects...and as an added bonus we got a really nasty villain in Palpatine. I love that movie. Still have fond memories of seeing it in Hong Kong with popcorn AND beer. But...to each their own.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on August 24, 2008, 10:52:37 AM
Nononono...not the latest real movie. The latest movie is the animated piece of crap, Clone Wars. I loved ROTS, except for the wooden love scenes between Anakin and Amidala, probably the least convincing romantic scenes I have ever had to endure. The ending of ROTS bothered me a bit too, Anakin falls a bit too easily IMO, but I liked the movie. Clone Wars was bad. I don't mean the really good short cartoons they aired on Cartoon Network, those were brilliant, but the one currently running in theaters. Dash it all to heck, it stinks worse than a public Chinese toilet in Nanchang during the warmest day of summer.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on August 24, 2008, 11:08:53 AM
The ending of ROTS bothered me a bit too, Anakin falls a bit too easily IMO, but I liked the movie.

Thanks for ruining the ending for me Eric the blabbermouth!  asasasasas
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on August 24, 2008, 11:20:47 AM
I'll ruin it some more for you...Darth Vader is actually Anakin Skywalker, father of Luke and Leia!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on August 24, 2008, 11:50:04 AM
Anakin falls too easy? That was the greatest light sabre fight of all time...that didn't involve Yoda. Yoda kicks ass.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Mr Nobody on August 24, 2008, 06:33:49 PM
Yoda hurts harmless beasts of burden?

So much for enlightenment, then.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on August 24, 2008, 08:10:08 PM
Anakin falls too easy? That was the greatest light sabre fight of all time...that didn't involve Yoda. Yoda kicks ass.

Not the saber fight. One minute he sees Palpy turn Windu into flying kebab and then he's killing children. I meant that he turns really evil way too fast. Yoda never fights Anakin. Yoda fights Palpy.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on August 24, 2008, 09:25:16 PM
 If I may continue to be a complete geek, my favourite duel was Yoda vs. Dooku in Clone Wars. Saved the movie. But yeah, I see your point. Anakin went from being the chosen one to mass butcher pretty quick. Still, I actually liked ROS better than anything in the original trilogy.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on August 24, 2008, 09:49:55 PM
I'm nearly done with Star Trek DS-9. I am on Next Generation and Voyager now  afafafafaf

I can't watch any drama movies these days cause I end up in tears, e.g. The Constant Gardener. Good movie. But so sad!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on August 25, 2008, 07:15:34 AM
Anybody seen this documentary?

The Linguists

Scientists estimate that of 7,000 languages in the world, half will be gone by the end of this century. On average, one language disappears every two weeks. THE LINGUISTS follows David Harrison and Gregory Anderson, scientists racing to document languages on the verge of extinction. David and Greg’s ‘round-the-world journey takes them deep into the heart of the cultures, knowledge, and communities at stake. In Siberia, David and Greg seek to record the Chulym language, which hasn’t been heard by outsiders for more than thirty years. The linguists encounter remnants of the racist Soviet regime that may have silenced Chulym for good. In India, tribal children attend boarding schools, where they learn Hindi and English, a trade, and the pointlessness of their native tongues. Similar boarding schools for tribal children existed in the US through most of the twentieth century. David and Greg travel to the children’s villages, where economic unrest has stirred a violent Maoist insurgency. The linguists witness the fear and poverty that have driven youth from their native communities. In Bolivia, the Kallawaya language has survived for centuries with fewer than one hundred speakers. David and Greg trek high into the Andes to unlock its secret.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on August 25, 2008, 11:49:23 PM
Finally watched The Royal Tannenbaums start to finish.  Laughed quietly from start to finish.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on August 26, 2008, 12:03:20 AM
Stil, did you find that one in the DVD markets, or download??  It sounds interesting.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on August 28, 2008, 03:25:02 AM
Stickmen and Scarfies - both NZ movies.  Both good in different ways.  Stickmen is about guys playing in a pool competition.  Scarfies about 5 uni students sharing a flat in Dunedin  and when they move in they discover a great marijuana plantation in the basement.

Then the 'owner' of the plants comes back...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on September 19, 2008, 06:32:47 AM
 Just finished watching Stoned...a very interesting film about the life and death of Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones. While I suspect there is a lot of fiction in there, it is nevetheless a very insightful look at one one of the 60's most enigmatic musical figures.

 And I just started Oz. Brilliant stuff. Brutal.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on September 19, 2008, 08:07:00 AM
Stickmen and Scarfies - both NZ movies.  Both good in different ways.  Stickmen is about guys playing in a pool competition.  Scarfies about 5 uni students sharing a flat in Dunedin  and when they move in they discover a great marijuana plantation in the basement.

Then the 'owner' of the plants comes back...

I'll check these out.  Down under has come up with some crackers over the past few years (Lantana, In My Father's Den, Rabbit Proof Fence, and we mustn't forget Black Sheep ;))
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 20, 2008, 01:55:25 AM
The Fall

Escher meets Koyaanisquati meets cowlick bangs.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on September 20, 2008, 04:11:21 AM
Black Sheep's from New Zealand, not Australia. Is New Zealand "down under?" I thought it applied exclusively to Australia.

OZ is a brilliant series.  It has some episodes that fall short of greatness, but the sum is greater than its parts.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on September 20, 2008, 04:48:13 AM
I would love to find Rabbit Proof Fence here.  And you forgot Priscilla Queen of the Desert!

I did find 10 Canoes here, which I figured was pretty amazing - and it was enjoyable (once I worked out that there was an English version as well at the Yolngu language!)  ahahahahah

I'd also like to get One Night The Moon - Paul Kelly and Ruby Hunter with music played by Uncle Kev Carmody - a FANTASTIC Murri guitar player.

Whale Rider is good to show students - lots of really good issues to discuss.  I think Once Were Warriors is too much for them - but a very powerful movie as well.

Lots of good stuff from Oz and NZ.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on September 20, 2008, 06:45:55 PM
I went on the monthly DVD spree. I picked up:
Brothers From The Walled City/ Men From The Gutter (Shaw Bros. productions)
Superbad
Salo, The 120 Days of Sodom
The Office complete run (U. K. version.)
Keep Cool (Zhang Yimou)
Hellboy II
Son of Rambow (SIC)
Red Cliff
Golden Balls
Mon Amour
Crooklyn

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on September 20, 2008, 07:50:59 PM
Black Sheep's from New Zealand, not Australia. Is New Zealand "down under?" I thought it applied exclusively to Australia.

OZ is a brilliant series.  It has some episodes that fall short of greatness, but the sum is greater than its parts.

I meant it to apply to both countries.  In My Father's Den is also from NZ.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on September 21, 2008, 01:27:17 PM
Watched the final episode of Dr.Who Season 4. Best episode ever. Must trek to Hangzhou to buy more DVD's. Lin'an is not exactly a haven for movie enthusiasts.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on September 21, 2008, 07:27:32 PM
Watched the final episode of Dr.Who Season 4. Best episode ever. Must trek to Hangzhou to buy more DVD's. Lin'an is not exactly a haven for movie enthusiasts.

So, Eric, did you start with the 2005 relaunch and work your way to season 4?  I was impressed with what Russell T. Davies did for the franchise. He brought back a maturity and credibility that had been whittled away, ever so slowly, starting with the middle of Colin Baker's turn, then went full on during Sylvester McCoy's run as the Doctor, and only multiplied when they attempted to bring the Doctor back with Rupert Murdoch's help, under the Paul McGann one-shot turn.

I'm looking forward to what Stephen Moffat will do with the show once he takes over. He's written the most consistently rich stories during the Doctor Who revival.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on September 21, 2008, 08:35:52 PM
Yep, I did. I am thoroughly impressed with the show. We never got Dr. Who in Denmark, so I have never seen the original series, which is sort of irritating as some characters and events from appear/are referred to in the new series.
I'm just curious as to who will take over from David Tennant. He is, IMHO, brilliant as the Doctor.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on September 21, 2008, 09:36:37 PM
I think Tennant is sticking around. He, along with Davies, are producing a quartet of feature-length Doctor Who specials to air over the British bank holidays in 2009. While Davies is officially leaving, there hasn't been word on Tennant leaving. There are rumors, and while it's possible the Doctor can regenerate during these specials, there hasn't been substantial evidence that Tennant won't stick around for the 2010 series, which will be a full 12 to 14 episode arc.

 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on September 21, 2008, 10:48:29 PM
I read a rumour that some chap from a movie called "History Boys" was scheduled to take over in 2009. Can't remember his name though.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on September 22, 2008, 01:43:08 AM
Filling in all the Buffy episodes I missed back in the day.  What a marvellous show.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on September 22, 2008, 02:06:42 AM
I read a rumour that some chap from a movie called "History Boys" was scheduled to take over in 2009. Can't remember his name though.


That would be a disaster. Skewering increasingly younger with the Doctor. It would go against what Moffat has planned for the series. I think the rumor about the History Boys star was most likely some tabloid using Russell Davies gushing about his latest crush as meaning "he's going to be the new doctor." Davies is leaving and the BBC have gone to great lengths to give Tennant time off to do theatrical work, so my money is on Tennant coming for MOffat.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on September 23, 2008, 07:23:29 AM
 Had a chance to take in a few summer blockbusters over the past week. The Dark Knight and the new X-Files movie. By and large reviews praised DK and slammed the X-Files. I actually found the opposite to be true.

 Dark Knight...eh. The acting was really good (not just Heath Ledger, although he was great...and no I don't want to compare him Nicholson...apples and oranges) but the story kind of sucked. Some good action sequences, but all very contrived. It was OK, but I wasn't overly impressed.

 The X-Files...I strongly suspect this movie was poorly recieved because it wasn't what fans of the TV show were expecting and it was pretty inacessable to non fans. I loved the TV show and had no expectations whatsoever, so I actually enjoyed it a great deal. Nice to see a happy ending for the main characters, something the series finale did not provide.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on September 23, 2008, 07:32:52 AM
I thought the Dark Knight was the action film of the decade.

Not only is it that, but it's also halfway to being intelligent, by the standards of Hollywood.

Truly unmissable.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on September 26, 2008, 06:35:08 AM
FINALLY saw the new Indiana Jones movie. I've seen it for it for sale at a a million plaes, but every time I try to buy it, the laoban kindly informs me it doesn't work. How Chinese. Display ten copies of something that you KNOW doesn't work and tell people that while it is on their shelves, you shouldn't buy it.

 Anyways, I finally decided to just download it and it was actually pretty good. The two Raiders of the Lost Ark sequels were not that great, and frankly, Temple of Doom outright sucked.

 I liked Harrison Ford's self depricating performance of Indiana Jones as an old man. I liked the reintroduction of Karen Allen. I liked seeing Indie as a parent. Kate Winslet was a great villain. Bottom line...it was a fun movie. Not great by any means, but I had a good time watching it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on September 26, 2008, 08:05:06 AM
I'm watching the 11 seasons of M*A*SH and the more I watch the more respect I have for it as a series.  It's actually GOOD!

And apart from all of the issues it introduces, the change in acceptable female shapes in that short time is incredible.  Hot Lips is so much bigger than the Callista Flockharts, Kate Moss' of today - but my god does she look REAL!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on September 26, 2008, 08:21:52 AM
And apart from all of the issues it introduces, the change in acceptable female shapes in that short time is incredible.  Hot Lips is so much bigger than the Callista Flockharts, Kate Moss' of today - but my god does she look REAL!

Sally Kellerman was the 'hotter' Hot Lips, in my opinion. Loretta Switt had the acting chops to fill the role, but Ms. Kellerman was nicer on the eyes. It is ironic that the series ran longer than the actual Korean war.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: George on September 26, 2008, 09:49:22 AM
Wasn't Sally Kellerman, "Hot Lips" only in the film, not the TV series? I think "Radar" was the only film cast member to translate over into the series.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on September 26, 2008, 12:30:05 PM


That's correct, George.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on September 30, 2008, 01:45:40 PM
No, Spaghetti, that is a righ reaction. Der Leben Des Anderen is a very sad movie. That scene in the lift where this non-descript looking chap talks with the child whose father has some controversial opinions and then asks the innocent question, "So, where does your father work?" sent chills down my spine. It is an amazing movie.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: lolochan on September 30, 2008, 08:19:21 PM
That is a great movie!!!  bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on October 01, 2008, 08:16:56 AM
I just treated myself to a DVD boxed set of 23 Werner Herzog films. It was supposed to be 24, but somehow the pirates included a film by Patrice Lacomte in the mix.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on October 01, 2008, 11:47:19 AM
I really need to see more of his stuff.  Did you find that in China?  Why did I never find that kind of treat in China...

I've only seen Rescue Dawn and Aguirre, but they are both top notch.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on October 01, 2008, 10:27:50 PM
Yeah, I found the set in China. Definitely a China-only thing, mixing in rips of UK, Dutch, German and American DVDs of Herzog's work. Not a complete overview, but most of his significant feature work is featured within it. It joins my Tinto Brass "collection"* boxed set, and soon enough I'll grab the Ingmar Bergman, Luc Besson and Takeshi Kitano boxed sets that are ubiquitous around these parts (midwest China). I also have my eyes on the 29 disc Benny Hill set I glanced at, in my favorite shop.

Many of these sets come in two versions: the high quality single disc-single film versions, which run about 100RMB for sets with 20 discs, and 70RMB for sets with a dozen discs, and the poor quality, "load up six films on two DVDs" sets, which are only really 1/2-1/3 of the price**, but 1/8th of the quality.

*The Tinto Brass set features all of his feature films except Mon Amour, which I had to purchase separately for 6rmb.

**30-40RMB, but just about the worst looking DVDs on the planet.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on October 01, 2008, 11:39:40 PM
Haven't bought anything new these day but thats cause I have ST-New Generation and youku at my disposal. Catching up with Eureka, Gossip girl, SG: Atlantis and Heroes  agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on October 02, 2008, 02:31:24 AM
Haven't bought anything new these day but thats cause I have ST-New Generation and youku at my disposal. Catching up with Eureka, Gossip girl, SG: Atlantis and Heroes  agagagagag


Cheeky,

If you download TVU you can watch the sci-Fi Channel from America. It's really up your alley. TVU is free and isn't full of viruses. Sometimes the Sci fi stream is better than youku streams. You appear to have the time, so you might find yourself spending days watching the Sci-Fi channel. afafafafaf

I'm not big on science fiction, but the Star Gate and Eureka programs are sci-fi "original" productions, and first run.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on October 02, 2008, 05:21:16 AM
Well, I did. And the only Sci-Fi they had available was some old stuff with really weird movies :) Anyway, I like youku. It gives me enough to waste time when I have it  afafafafaf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on October 02, 2008, 06:37:36 AM
Cheeky, that's not true. Maybe you missed it, but the Sci-Fi Channel is streamed there. Look for, "sci fi" and it's the Sci-Fi Channel. It's the Sci-Fi Channel America and it is the producer of the Stargate & Eureka series. If I can get it on shitty China Netcom, then you should be able to get it on TVU down in Zuhai.

I think you either missed it, or ignored it, but it's there. For sure. Channel 10135 on TVU, and it's streaming  24-7, even through infomercials.
I am double checking and the stream looks very good on my 24 inch, widescreen monitor. It is showing a program from 2007. Not very old. Check the Sci-Fi Channel (US) web page for listings. Remember that the U. S. is 12 - 13 hours behind China*.


* U. S., Eastern Standard time.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on October 09, 2008, 05:55:38 AM
My Neighbour Totoro - one of the Studio Ghibli animations.  Just introduced it to my CCTV student (she is staying overnight and we can't practice all night!!).  Studio Ghibli do some of the best Japanese animations around.  When I was in Tokyo I went to the Studio Ghibli museum - have to book ahead it is so popular.  Lovely place!!  fascinating to see how they make the animations.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on October 11, 2008, 08:18:30 PM
Benny Hill set was sold before I could grab it. alalalalal

To compensate, I grabbed:

A Fistful of Dynamite
Otis
Hell Ride
The Wire complete series boxed set
Burst City
The Changeling
Doraemon The Movie 2006 
Scarecrow (the Gene Hackman film, not the horror movie of the same name)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on October 11, 2008, 09:56:52 PM
I watched "Hell Ride" the other day. It was, to me, one of the lousiest movies I have ever watched. The acting was bad, the story dumb, the dialogue so gruesome that even Dan Brown would be hard pressed to write something that bad.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on October 11, 2008, 10:02:16 PM
It sounds like I might enjoy it, then! I grew up watching A. I. P. biker flicks featuring Don Stroud, Adam Rourke, and Larry Bishop. Biker flicks are the most pretension free cinema there is, next to hardcore porn. I'm not sure what you were expecting Eric, but you definitely convinced me to move it up in my priority viewing pile! bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on October 11, 2008, 10:09:45 PM
Well, I don't know, when I see Michael Madsen and Dennis Hopper is in a movie, I expect some kind of quality. Which I found that the movie was severely lacking.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on October 12, 2008, 08:19:14 PM
Finished the whole 11 seasons of M*A*S*H and thought it was way better than expected.

Watched a totally forgettable Will Smith movie "I am legend'.  So many holes in the plot and it is WEAK!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on October 12, 2008, 09:09:05 PM
I'm onto Heroes 3, Ugly Betty 3 and Gossip Girl 3. Also, I'm glad Supernatural is back with season 4!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: belrain on October 13, 2008, 09:01:13 PM
I have now seen "The color of magic" based on Pratchett's Disc World - real fun  bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on October 14, 2008, 01:14:42 AM
Belrain..where, where, where did you find it?? Sweet, sweet German oracle, tell me.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Nolefan on October 14, 2008, 01:39:53 AM

geez i'm so far behind on all of these shows.. where do y'all find the time to watch all this???
last time i watched anything was the dark night about 3 or 4 weeks ago!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: belrain on October 14, 2008, 10:16:22 PM
Belrain..where, where, where did you find it?? Sweet, sweet German oracle, tell me.

Very easy 
http://www.amazon.de/Terry-Pratchett-Color-David-Jason/dp/B001DX9FOK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1223972133&sr=1-1

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on October 14, 2008, 11:04:19 PM
Noles, you are forgetting I am a home-stay mom-to-be  ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on October 15, 2008, 01:40:55 AM
Pre-ordered "The Colour of Magic". Did not even know it existed. Belrain should be canonized. I'm writing Il Papa right now.

For want of newer entertainment (DVD stores in Linan are very bad) I have started to re-watch "Rome". Bloody great show.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: belrain on October 15, 2008, 02:25:28 AM
..... Belrain should be canonized. .....

If you like, no problem. But I would prefer to get drink a beer agagagagag

I hope, they will do all his novels as films. Pratchett's Discworld is just  bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: VoiceWithin on October 15, 2008, 03:47:46 AM
Oh wow - I did not know about 'The colour of Magic'

Last year the ex brought home The Hogfather - a 2 part mini series. He's never read a Discworld novel but really enjoyed the screen adaptation. I loved it !
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on October 15, 2008, 05:08:43 AM
Cool! Can I shoot belrain out of a canon too?




Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on October 21, 2008, 03:51:26 PM
Yes, and then we'll have a little ceremony after which you get to enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime experience of pretending to be a sepoy in Cawnpore after the '57 mutiny. Sounds like fun, eh?

Ok, I need some movie assistance. I am hoping to find the following movies: Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride and the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the latter being the one starring Johnny Depp and not the animated crappy version. I can't get them on time from Amazon overseas, the amazon.cn does not stock them and the DVD stores in Linan are, to put it mildly,  bqbqbqbqbq. I have been trying to find any online shops in either Shanghai, Hangzhou or Beijing for which I might be able to order them, but with no luck. I know there are some good DVD stores in Suzhou and I am terribly tempted to go there this Friday and browse through their stock. My alternative plan is to find box sets of the Simpsons and show some Halloween specials but really, it would be better to show the movies mentioned above. I am giving the students a copy of Washington Irving's stories (spent three days reading them over and over again and preparing a great big glossary and list of questions for the pupils. Fortunately, Mr.Irving was a genius, so his works are an absolute plesure to read). They watch the movie, read the story and then compare them. So, if anyone know of any good online shops, please PM me the details.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: belrain on October 21, 2008, 07:16:22 PM
Hmmm, I guess you need them in english, right?
Well, if you have a chinese friend who can translate your movie wishes into chinese, the dvd dealer can organize it, I am sure. Sometimes they have a movie, but they do not know the english name. So, you have to ask them in chinese.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Papillon on October 21, 2008, 08:06:13 PM
My missus just told me the new James Bond movie,Quantum of Solace, is due to be released next month in China. bfbfbfbfbf
It was only just released back home so I thought we wouldn't get it until next year some time...I really hope she's not winding me up!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on October 21, 2008, 08:27:22 PM
My missus just told me the new James Bond movie,Quantum of Solace, is due to be released next month in China. bfbfbfbfbf
It was only just released back home so I thought we wouldn't get it until next year some time...I really hope she's not winding me up!

Movies are quite often found in the DVD stores here before they are released back home!! ahahahahah ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on October 21, 2008, 09:07:10 PM
I just picked up the following:

Little Britain series 1
Dead Kids
Faster, Pussycat! Kill Kill!
Sweetie
Iron Man
The Condemned
Ponyo At The Cliff By The Sea
Beijing Bubbles
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on October 21, 2008, 11:06:01 PM
Not too sure how it will work out for PRC, but I often use www.moviesunlimited.com as an alternative source from Amazon.com.  Admittedly, their films are packaged for the US market (tapes on VHS, NTSC only) and may be slightly higher ($1 or $2) than Amazon, but I do find them pretty decent about delivery.....usually a week to 10 days to get to BDA.

They do accept c/cards.  Charges for "International" are $6.50 (base for the order) + $6.00 for each item ordered. 

And especially for Eric......"Doctor Who: Mega Set, Vol.1" is available on DVD from them at a price of US$599.99 (+ $6.50 + $6.00, as mentioned above)....40 discs with 33 shows from the original series (1963-1989).
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on October 22, 2008, 12:04:24 AM
I'd like to suggest, should Eric be up for a weekend trip, that he head down to Hong Kong. He can both hunt for books and movies and Hong Kong has a ton of import DVDs in some of the bigger DVD and CD shops located in malls, like Hong Kong Records in the Festival Walk shopping mall on the Kowloon side. I picked up a few BBC R2 imports there. They were more expensive than if I had purchased them in the U. K., but they were cheaper than if I ordered them from the U. K. and had them shipped to China.

He could also have the adventure of getting there, etc. Maybe even look up members in Guangdong.

If your DVD player isn't region free, then I'm sure you can hack it using the remote control. Most Chinese players are one or the other.

He could also start a thread upstairs for saloon members located in superior locations - who could pick up a few discs for him.  yyyyyyyyyy

The Corpse Bride is ubiquitous in city shops. I think you'll find it in Hangzhou, Eric.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on October 22, 2008, 12:55:10 AM
Uhhh...Dr.Who mega set....eeeep...must use willpower...must not drain bank account in Denmark...cold shower, calm blue ocean....

Well, I am now going DVD hunting in Suzhou on Friday. Bringing my colleague with me, not the one with the puppy!

Most def going to Hong Kong sometime this year.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on October 22, 2008, 01:01:53 AM
Eric, here are the mainland titles for the films you're looking for:

Sleepy Hollow
断头谷

The Nightmare Before Christmas
圣诞夜惊魂

The Corpse Bride
僵尸新娘


and while I'm at it, Doctor Who is: 神秘博士

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on October 22, 2008, 01:02:49 AM
Spaghetti, you are a marvel.  agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on October 22, 2008, 01:06:25 AM
'Tis nothing. Two minutes and Baidu! I doubt you will ever find the Doctor Who shows pre 2005 here, but you will find Sleepy, Nightmare, and Corpse if you scour all of the shops in cities. If that fails, take it upstairs and I think you might find some members who can pick up the discs for you.

Also, if you teach in a room with an a/v set up and the internet, there's even Youku and Tudou. Most students won't mind the drop in quality.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on October 22, 2008, 03:56:32 AM
If you want cheap DVDs Xi'an is pretty good for that - and I have a dodgy DVD discount card!  ahahahahah ahahahahah

Chengdu also has a great DVD market near the park commemorating the 3 Kingdoms period - can't remember it's name - LSS may.  Lots of classics rather than modern stuff.

So, if you are bored with Hangzhou and Suzhou - head for other places on DVD and toaster hunts. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on October 22, 2008, 07:56:20 AM
You could also look for "Freaks" - b&w film (1932 origin), but excellent for Hallowe'en viewing apapapapap qqqqqqqqqq
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on October 22, 2008, 02:06:49 PM
Uhhh...Dr.Who mega set....eeeep...must use willpower...must not drain bank account in Denmark...cold shower, calm blue ocean....

There's nothing you can do to avoid it.  Just give in now and Davros will approve.
 ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on October 24, 2008, 01:05:13 AM
Just watched a totally forgettable Adam Sandler (You don't mess with Zohan) - boy when he is off the mark - he is really off!!

Followed by the absolutely excellent "Kite Runner".  The scenes shot in Kashgar were interesting as well.  This one I would recommend and if you have movie classes, probably a good one for older students.
 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on October 24, 2008, 11:26:13 AM
Since tomorrow is Training Day at my PLacement School, and then I'm starting the Reading Week, I've taken this evening 'off' and watched Network, an amazing film from 1976
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on October 26, 2008, 04:59:14 AM
I don't think western studios do really good anime consistently, but Ratatouille was good.

And I watched 'Catch me if you can' with DiCaprio and Hanks in it - not bad as well, even though I am not a fan of DiCaprio.  Good development of the relationship between them.  Is there a term similar to Stockholm Syndrome for the relationship between crim and catcher??
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on October 26, 2008, 01:14:21 PM
I don't think western studios do really good anime consistently, but Ratatouille was good.

On the contrary, stuff like The Incredibles, Antz, Toy Story, Monsters Inc are amongst the most inventive and clever mainstream films of recent years IMO.

Quote
And I watched 'Catch me if you can' with DiCaprio and Hanks in it - not bad as well, even though I am not a fan of DiCaprio.  Good development of the relationship between them.  Is there a term similar to Stockholm Syndrome for the relationship between crim and catcher??

I liked this too.  Well, to be honest, I think DiCaprio is ace.  Sure, he was gash in Titanic, but he's been excellent in most other things.  It's Hanks I can't stand generally, but this was good fun.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on October 26, 2008, 02:32:51 PM

On the contrary, stuff like The Incredibles, Antz, Toy Story, Monsters Inc are amongst the most inventive and clever mainstream films of recent years IMO.


That's a worry!!   ahahahahah ahahahahah

In general I like Japanese anime better - especially the Studio Ghibli stuff. I think maybe because they are not as mass market oriented. For me their plot/book choices are more sophisticated and the presentation is more subtle, and the animations are superb.  Very easy to stop the DVD and just enjoy the art work as well.

I showed my students The Incredibles and Antz and they enjoyed them, but I didn't have the same feeling of relationship development, complexity or subtlety in them.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on October 26, 2008, 03:01:29 PM
I meant as far as mainstream family-entertainment Hollywood-type stuff goes.  Sure rather watch the Incredibles than generic action thriller part 35115
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on October 26, 2008, 03:34:47 PM
Very true - or yet another boy meets girl, boat sinks, boy dies 'tear jerker'.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on November 04, 2008, 05:04:13 PM

In general I like Japanese anime better - especially the Studio Ghibli stuff. I think maybe because they are not as mass market oriented. For me their plot/book choices are more sophisticated and the presentation is more subtle, and the animations are superb.  Very easy to stop the DVD and just enjoy the art work as well.

Lotus, I have to strongly disagree with you on this and suggest you get in touch with Japanese pop culture better. Your take on Miyazaki is wholly off base within the context of the audience he's making his films for. Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli is as sugar coated and superficial and mass market oriented within Japan as Pixar in America. His creations are merchandised and licensed and omnipresent in Japan. Every time a new Studio Ghibli film is released you receive an identicla media blitz to that of Disney and Pixar films, almost to a "T." His most recent piece of superficial fluff, Ponyo On the Cliff By the Sea had the same mass marketing overindulgence and omnipresence in mainstream Japanese media and fast food joints, etcetera as the stuff you're conveniently dismissing. You are placing a western prism of perception and exoticizing something that is neither exotic nor nearly as arty within Japan, as you are painting it out to be.

Studio Ghibli are mass marketed. Even in America, where Disney distributes their films exclusively. You can find nearly all of their films in Wal-Marts in America. The English dubbed versions of their films attract A-List stars. That's about as mass marketed as you can get. You don't have to take my word for it, though. The next time the studio cranks out another film, head on over to Japan and take a look for yourself. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on November 04, 2008, 11:42:56 PM
Just got to watch (almost) the entire first Season of "Raising the Bar"....the newest Steven Bochco series about the US justice system.  Not too shabby. 

Also am working my way through the entire set of "Rumpole of The Bailey" offerings.  Still as excellent as I had remembered.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: George on November 05, 2008, 12:14:55 AM
Quote
the entire set of "Rumpole of The Bailey" offerings.
Now, that's what I want! I wonder it it's available in China?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on November 05, 2008, 12:20:18 AM
Quote
the entire set of "Rumpole of The Bailey" offerings.
Now, that's what I want! I wonder it it's available in China?

Dunno.  Got mine from Amazon (USA).  I also purchased a single, "lost" episode DVD of the original/first show.  Good luck with your hunt, George agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on November 05, 2008, 12:55:43 AM
Finally watched Iron Man and Mama Mia.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cheekygal on November 05, 2008, 12:57:33 AM
http://so.youku.com/search_video/q_raising%20the%20bar
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on November 05, 2008, 02:29:51 AM
Dispelled my annoyance by watching "The Invisible Man" from 1933. One of the best movies ever made. Will be showing "Beetlejuice" to freshmen tomorrow as it is, IMHO, one of the funniest movies ever.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on November 05, 2008, 04:08:06 AM
 I LOVE the 1933 Invisible Man! "Even the moon is frightened of me...frightened to death!" Claude Rains was brilliant. Must have seen the movie at least thirty times.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on November 05, 2008, 07:21:55 AM
Spaghetti, I did pop over to Japan and visited the Studio Ghibli Museum.  I still believe that they are not AS mass market oriented, that their production is more sophisticated, that the art work is superb. I believe that the general excellence of them increased their markets.

The Disney animations are clearly PRIMARILY aimed at a world wide market, which means that in general they are 'friendly' and deal with issues at a lower level.  Ghibli's Grave of the Fireflys is one example of the differences I am talking about.  I haven't seen the latest one - but will be looking out for it.  If they have moved to a more 'Disneyesque' mode, I will very disappointed.

Rumpole of the Bailey would be brilliant to get!!  Started watching 'Scary Movie' tonight, but decided it should have been called "Totally stupid Movie" and it will head for the rubbish bin.  Watched 'Leatherheads' instead, which was much better.  Last night we watched "Kiss kiss bang bang', which had us crying with laughter a couple of times. 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on November 05, 2008, 06:26:14 PM
Was that the original KKBB or the remake? I liked both, but for different reasons. The original is good, original and tragic, whereas the remake is fun, has Downey Jr. in it and the plot is worthy of Raymond Chandler. It sort of reminded me of "The Big Sleep".

I've just put in an order for "Chaplin" with Downey Jr. Never seen it before but it is supposed to be really good.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on November 05, 2008, 07:43:16 PM
I've just put in an order for "Chaplin" with Downey Jr. Never seen it before but it is supposed to be really good.
He was pretty well dead on on his portrayal, IMHO. 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on November 05, 2008, 08:58:09 PM
Downey version of KKBB.  Sheer good fun. I didn't know this was a remake, will look for the original.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on November 06, 2008, 02:31:04 AM
Spaghetti, I did pop over to Japan and visited the Studio Ghibli Museum.  I still believe that they are not AS mass market oriented, that their production is more sophisticated, that the art work is superb. I believe that the general excellence of them increased their markets.

Visiting the museum is not what I refer to. Actually living in Japan when a new SG production is released is on par with the American promotional blitzkrieg similar to a new Pixar film. Again, don't take my word for it. You can wait a year or two and see it for yourself when another Ghibli production comes out.  bfbfbfbfbf

Quote
Ghibli's Grave of the Fireflys is one example of the differences I am talking about.  I haven't seen the latest one - but will be looking out for it.  If they have moved to a more 'Disneyesque' mode, I will very disappointed.

A quarter of Studio Ghibli's productions are not blatant, mass marketed, and kiddie pandering. Wit hthe exception of about five of them, they are not the work of Miyazaki. Tombstone of the Fireflies is one of them. Miyazaki's partners put that baby together. His company but his involvement with the film was purely as a producer.


I enjoyed exploring this matter. Thanks. bjbjbjbjbj
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Tern Unstoned on November 06, 2008, 10:55:53 AM
Fawlty Towers, the complete (and, unfortunately, ONLY) season (on DVD).  My umpteenth time of viewing the Inestimable John Cleese's monumental contribution to American film.  What's that?  It was TV?  Ah.  Just so.  Okay, I also just viewed Robert Altman's "Gosford Park," featuring the Inestimable Helen Mirren.  For the umpteenth time.  And, big treat, at IMDb Video, the original, 1966, Robert Wise film, "Sand Pebbles," a Steve McQueen classic.  This one can be punched up in streaming video with a few, very short commercial breaks that aren't all that intrusive.  For diehard McQueen fans --- if any exist at this site --- this was one of his best; maybe THE definitive role of the most authentic of Hollywood's "outsiders."
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on November 08, 2008, 03:30:24 AM
I've stocked the refrigerator, bolted the door and plan to dig into this month's rack raids:

Disciples of Shaolin
Young & Restless in China (documentary)
Unfair: The Movie
Ginger & Fred
Women of the World
and
Goodbye, Uncle Tom

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on November 16, 2008, 11:45:13 AM
 I spent the day watching Little Britain series two and an Australian film from the seventies called Backroads.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on November 16, 2008, 11:52:28 AM
My favourite (personally) post-Python Cleese moment has to be Mr Stimpson in Clockwise.

It also has one of my favourite lines of all time.

"It's not the despair.  I can handle the despair.  It's the hope."

Never has what it is to be English been encapsulated in a film better than that!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Foscolo on November 16, 2008, 12:49:05 PM
Downey version of KKBB.  Sheer good fun. I didn't know this was a remake, will look for the original.

There are actually two films called "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" predating the Downey version.

From 2000, there's a cracking oddball British crime thriller with a philosophical twist starring Stellan Skarsgard and Paul Bettany, which is one of my favorite films: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0228488/

Then also from 2000 there's a low-budget US thriller of the same title about the goings-on between a male science fiction writer and his female neighbour. I haven't seen it, but it doesn't look very tempting: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kiss-Bang-Michael-Chomiak/dp/B00006BT70/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1226788786&sr=1-5

The 2005 film (which I haven't seen either, sorry to be useless) doesn't appear from the plot description to have much to do with either. I'm wondering which of the two it's supposed to be a remake of, or maybe it's just a re-use of the title?

Anybody know?

Incidentally, as you may well know, "Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" was a name orginally given to James Bond for the Japanese market.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on November 17, 2008, 03:38:00 AM
The 2005 film (which I haven't seen either, sorry to be useless) doesn't appear from the plot description to have much to do with either. I'm wondering which of the two it's supposed to be a remake of, or maybe it's just a re-use of the title?

Anybody know?


It's not a remake. It's a one off, return to form for Shane Black. Black was the big 80s action screenwriter in Hollywood, with Lethal Weapon being one of his babies. For a visual, he's the skinny white guy with specs in Arny's troop in the film Predator. Through the mid-to-late nineties he cooled his jets and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was his much hyped but lesser seen comeback, and it plays with the tropes of Hollywood action films. It's like a swan song for Val Kilmer and a rebirth for Robert Downey Jr. not a bad film, and it takes the piss out of American buddy action flicks, but it wasn't as stellar as Black's earlier work.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is also the name of a nudie cutie from the sixties and a full fledged fuck film from the mid seventies. Both are western parodies.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on November 17, 2008, 01:36:09 PM

Quote
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is also the name of a nudie cutie from the sixties and a full fledged fuck film from the mid seventies. Both are western parodies.


Maybe I'll just stick with the one I have!!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on November 21, 2008, 05:36:12 PM
Can't wait to see "Australia". What a lot of hooplah is going on about it. The scenery should be magnificent. I see that "Opra" had the stars on her show as well and the audience appeared to have really enjoyed their film preview.I will be really interested in hearing your views on the film. Contrary to popular belief,many city folk in Oz have not experienced the outback or the lifestyle portrayed in the film. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on November 21, 2008, 10:59:02 PM
The thing that prevents me from seeing the film is: Baz Lurman. If it's done Moulin Rouge or Romeo & Juliet style then I won't bother. I've been on a roar with some older Australian films like Backroads, Chaos Channel, Last of the Knucklemen, Road Games, The Plumber and Galipoli, so If Australia - the movie - is done trademark Lurman style then I'll probably spend the time and energy watching older Australian films instead.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: George on November 22, 2008, 01:07:13 AM
You both forgot "Mad Max". According to one movie critic, "Australia" is a bit theatrical for the first 20 minutes or so, then it gets better. I never liked "A town called Alice" right from reading the book. It comes across like a saccharine love story. Nothing goes wrong, and it is always sweetness and light.
I hated the early Australian movies, that had a USAnian lead, just to give them a "name". Robert Mitchum in...ummm...aaaaah...The Sundowners, with Deborah Leigh, is an example. Then again, things work both ways.. Australian directors and cinematographers have improved many Studio movies in USAnia.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on November 22, 2008, 06:07:07 AM
Mad Max is a given, George. I'd add the following, though viewed years ago: The Road Warrior, Death Warmed Up, Romper Stomper, Metalskin, Puberty Blues, Thirst, Longest Weekend, Harlequin, Dead Kids*, Strange Invaders, Death Camp Thatcher, The Quest, The Last Wave, Where The Green Ants Dream**, Temptation of a Monk***, Starstruck, Sweetie, and Body Melt.




*Shot in New Zealand, but financed with Aussie cash, Aussie actors in the mix, Aussie director and writer, and producers too.

**German financed and directed

***Aussie financing and shot in Australia, though the entire film is in Mandarin and stars actors from China and Hong Kong and Taiwan
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on November 22, 2008, 02:00:53 PM
Spaghetti,you'll never ever know, if you never never go! uuuuuuuuuu. I must be honest and say that too much romance bores the  bqbqbqbqbq out of me. I hope the scenery and the interactions with the natives and the lifestyle portrayed, will bring back memories of my younger days. agagagagag Seriously though, I will value your opinion.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on November 23, 2008, 03:31:53 AM
Dirty Pretty Things.  Really good.  Well written, well acted, interesting plot and theme.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: belrain on November 24, 2008, 10:16:50 PM
Actually, it is a good time again for
Bad Santa with Billy Bob Thornton
 ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on November 24, 2008, 10:58:16 PM
Just got "The Colour of Magic" on DVD. So far, I am enthralled.

Bad Santa, possibly one of the best Christmas movies ever.

Downloading "Scrooged" with Bill Murray for my students as a Christmas surprise.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on November 24, 2008, 11:38:19 PM
Just got "The Colour of Magic" on DVD. 

I am so jealous!!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: belrain on November 24, 2008, 11:42:18 PM
I already ordered

Terry Pratchett - Discworld: Wyrd Systers
Terry Pratchett - Discworld: Soul Music

The german movies are released in January 2009. I hope I get them before I move to China.

But the english versions already exist. But, they are animated movies.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on November 25, 2008, 01:11:54 AM
I've seen both. They're awesome.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: belrain on November 25, 2008, 02:29:04 AM
Awesome good or awesome bad?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on November 25, 2008, 03:34:10 AM
Awesome good agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on November 25, 2008, 05:39:18 AM
I have the day off tomorrow, so I'm going to kick back and soak in:

Bugsy Malone

and

Let The Right One In.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on November 26, 2008, 04:34:29 AM
Dirty Pretty Things.  Really good.  Well written, well acted, interesting plot and theme.

A superb film.  agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on November 27, 2008, 04:38:09 PM
Bugsy Malone agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag I love that movie agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on November 28, 2008, 03:15:29 AM
It has been well over twenty years since I had seen it. It is as surreal today as it was then.

Tonight's double feature will be:

Lucky Luciano
and

The Killer Elite.

Rod Steiger and tommy guns, and a coke'd up James Caan and Robert Duvall fighting coke'd up and whiskey'd out Sam Peckinpah ninjas in San Francisco.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on November 28, 2008, 03:33:09 AM
"Woman thou art loosed'.  Well directed, dealing with issues of child abuse and revenge.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on November 28, 2008, 01:21:27 PM
Just donwloaded "The Blackadder Christmas Carol"....I almost hurt myself laughing. Found the Dickens story in Chinese and told my students to read it (hey, Oral English teacher, doesn't matter what language they read it in, as long as the discussion about it is in English) and then we're going to watch this hilarious show and discuss how it differs from the story.
I love Blackadder.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on November 29, 2008, 01:24:11 AM
I think I'm going to see how far I can do take the double feature thing. I'm really enjoying a couple of cups of hot cocoa and a pair of movies to cap off the evening.

Tonight's double feature:

White Dog

and The Gauntlet.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on December 01, 2008, 02:36:57 PM
 Is that based on the Stephen King story of the same name?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 01, 2008, 10:41:19 PM
Ken Park

And life now holds no more majesty.  Nor mystery.

Except perhaps for why any of the actors participated.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on December 02, 2008, 03:26:39 AM
The Mist is a King adaptation but the ending is very, very different. I think the film does a better job bringing out the dynamism of its protagonists and antagonists better than King is capable of doing in print form.

Tonight's a triple feature evening:

Tropic Thunder

Smokey & The Bandit

and

The Story of O
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on December 03, 2008, 08:22:58 PM
Just saw "Australia". I was disappointed. In my opinion, Nichole Kidman was the wrong actress for the part. My attention kept wandering; not really interested one minute and then the movie would pick up for a while. Scenery was magnificent. I understand cattle mustering and droving and I also understand about the country people and the aboriginal people. I won't go into it here, but I spent quite a bit of time saying Bullsh*t. Most city folk probably wouldn't pick up on the things many country folk know about.Some people actually clapped at the end of the movie. I think this could have been a very good movie however, ultimately, it just comes down to individual knowledge. The filming was very good as were many of the scenes.I hope we will hear from other saloonies when/if they see the film.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Schnerby on December 04, 2008, 01:32:07 AM
I'm avoiding it like the plague.

It surely falls into stereotypes and anything with Nicole Kidman just makes me  aaaaaaaaaa
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on December 04, 2008, 03:18:26 AM
Double feature tonight:

Japan Sinks

and

Everyone But Japan Sinks.




Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on December 04, 2008, 08:09:46 AM
 agagagagag Looks like you're practising for the 3-2-1-4 word Threads!! ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on December 04, 2008, 10:42:28 AM
Watched 'Million Dollar baby' again. It is still a brilliant movie.  So many more issues to discuss with students every time I watch it.

Followed it with "Best TV ads"  A history of ads  - absolutely fascinating!!



Went to the DVD shop today and spent nearly 200Y on movies and series. ananananan  ananananan

Should keep me occupied until I start travelling.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on December 04, 2008, 01:35:00 PM
Feeling under the weather, so I downloaded the complete extended version of the LOTR trilogy. Watched Fellowship with collegue yesterday...so good, so bloody good.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: belrain on December 04, 2008, 08:58:13 PM
Feeling under the weather, so I downloaded the complete extended version of the LOTR trilogy. Watched Fellowship with collegue yesterday...so good, so bloody good.
You should do a "LOTR" day. All extended versions in a row. That is ........ fantastic  agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Nolefan on December 04, 2008, 09:29:34 PM
You should do a "LOTR" day. All extended versions in a row. That is ........ fantastic  agagagagag agagagagag

planning one of those for end of December.... a little over 12 hours!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on December 05, 2008, 04:36:33 AM
Tonight's double feature*

Tiger on Beat

and

Tiger on Beat 2**

* - on a single disc! I only have to get out of bed for a fresh pint. No changing discs tonight.

**Yes, "Tiger on Beat." Chow Yun-fat using a shotgun like a yo-yo, a machete like a katana, and a kung-fu chainsaw duel with Gordon Lau makes up for the awkward English title.
 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on December 05, 2008, 05:33:29 AM
I only have to get out of bed for a fresh pint.

Get with the program Spags! Bar fridge on the bedside table. Chamber pot under the bed.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on December 06, 2008, 06:17:33 AM

Get with the program Spags! Bar fridge on the bedside table. Chamber pot under the bed.

Good idea on the first, will pass on the second!

Wanted to do a double feature tonight but I'm too beat from Christmas shopping. It's a single feature for me, this evening: Hot Fuzz.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on December 06, 2008, 02:14:39 PM
Feeling under the weather, so I downloaded the complete extended version of the LOTR trilogy. Watched Fellowship with collegue yesterday...so good, so bloody good.

Good man.  I always hate it when people are watching it and it turns out that they're watching the normal version and 'can't be bothered' with the extended ones.

The extended ones are the films.

Especially the Two Towers, which is probably the best of the three when seen in the extended version.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on December 06, 2008, 06:16:49 PM
Contemporary, I'd agree with you if:

It wasn't Peter Jackson, the man who is known for being a George Lucas type who likes to make people pay more for "Special editions" that are little more than pretentious twaddle. I reference the nearly 5 hour "making of" documentary he did for the barely over 2 hours The Frighteners, as a sign of indulgence. Given the immense box office take of the first entry in the Lord of The Rings trilogy, there was absolutely no commercial excuse for not theatrically release the "extended" versions of the two subsequent entries in the trilogy. It was simply a devious, spiteful con on his "fans" so they'd pay more for a double or triple dip of his films. Regardless of how great his films can be*, it's such a greedy, spiteful, shit thing to do that you can't justify the outright greed. Given Hollywood's joy of abusing "director's cut," and "extended version," and "unrated versions" of films that actually released the real director's cuts into theaters**, I'd be willing to debate the insidious nature of this con in front of a jury of legal professionals, should anyone doubt the validity of my claims!


Enjoy the extended versions, but don't be an enabler to a pretentious load of commercial horse shit by claiming they were the "versions you were supposed to see," because Jackson had the clout to put those versions in theaters if that was true. He truly did. He had final cut on every film in that series. So, if those were his director's cuts, then they would have been released in the theaters.

* ignoring the smug, self satisfied, pretentious piece of crap King Kong remake he did, Jackson's films generally exceed expectations for me.

** Virtually every film with Judd Apatow and Adam Mckay's name slapped on the credits have this. He's state numerous times that the "unrated" versions of their films were not the director's cut. This also applies to the American Pie films, Kevin Smith films, the horror film Land of the Dead, and about fifty other films of recent vintage I could bore you to death by listing them for you. The industry even has erminology for this, "double dipping."
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on December 06, 2008, 07:02:41 PM
Well, Spaghetti, that may be true, but Peter Jackson, just like anyone else, wants to make money. I mean, authors publish their books in hardback and then paperback and the HB is always more expensive. They just want to make money too. When all is said and done, the extended versions are just plain better. More cool scenes, especially the ones that got so rudely cut containing Christopher Lee, a cutting that I found to be an almost unforgiveable slight of a true Hollywood legend.

King Kong was not the best movie ever but I assume you still wathced it? One wonders why? I mean, you must have realized that it was going to be filled with all the Hollywood trappings, riddled by some mediocre perfomances as so many movies are today. Gone are the days of Olivier, where thespians perfected their crafts and then deigned to appear in movies. Today, if you look good naked and can stand in front of an explosion, you can win an Oscar. It was, IMO, an unnecessary remake but, again, I find the whole idea of remakes stupid. I mean, are they running out ideas? Does Hollywood not have a library? There are millions of good books that could be made into blockbusters.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on December 07, 2008, 06:00:19 PM
Well, Spaghetti, that may be true, but Peter Jackson, just like anyone else, wants to make money. I mean, authors publish their books in hardback and then paperback and the HB is always more expensive. They just want to make money too.

Here's where your kind heart gets the better of you, mi amigo. First, we know that the book industry makes its bread and butter from paperbacks. Additionally, the cost of paperbacks is far below the cost of legitimate DVDs in western countries. Then there's the fact Jackson's films already made money. Now, speaking of The Frighteners, the film was not considered successfully, but that didn't stop the pretentious-yet-talented turd from going balls out and producing a bloody six hour documentary so rife with flatulent self-importance that someone would have done well to slap Jackson upside the head and remind him of the virtues of humble pie. He didn't make Lawrence of Arabia. He made a Michael J. Fox ghost movie.

Then there's the fact that most authors don't pretend that "someone," some nameless, faceless entity, "made" them truncate their books and this year-later "double dip," was what, "you were supposed to see" even though the liar perpetuating such horseshit had final cut! What you saw on cinema screens was what Jackson wanted. What you got on the DVD was fine. Who doesn't love alternate versions of their favorite movies??? However, to lie about it and to have fans claiming that these were the versions you were (are) "supposed to see," is just silly. It's also enabling an ego that needs to get back to reality.

Speaking of Jackson, his remake of King Kong was so abysmally bad! It was built on a pretentious house of sand and boy did it crumble! Jackson's proposed World War II movie, his proposed pseudo follow-up to Heavenly Creatures*, another WWII movie that was supposed to have seen Jackson return to his horror roots, the film version of the Halo video game, and his Spielberg Tin-Tin adaptations have all disappeared. He has spent the last two years adapting the novel, "The Lovely Bones," which I think he wrapped shooting over a year ago. If that's true, it means it has been collecting dust on a studio's shelf: that's never a good sign. I'd also add that he nearly got cock-blocked out of The Hobbit films by his former LOTR producers, and as a concession, he will "produce" them and Guillermo Del Toro** will direct the pair of films*** based on the book.


Maybe he's finally getting some humble pie. I'd love to be able to see the Peter Jackson of old, who wasn't so bent on feeding bullshit to the public about his films and their supposed importance. His work spoke for itself, and he was humble and not out to milk his fans of their money for the sake of milking them of their money.



 
Quote
When all is said and done, the extended versions are just plain better. More cool scenes, especially the ones that got so rudely cut containing Christopher Lee, a cutting that I found to be an almost unforgiveable slight of a true Hollywood legend.

You forget that Jackson had FINAL CUT, meaning what made it to the theaters were HIS versions! The director's cuts. And here you illustrate what I mean by enabling a guy. You repeat what he wanted you to believe, that he wasn't at fault for trimming those scenes, but if you dig deep enough in print media, Jackson had final cut on the last two (if not all three) of the Lord of The Rings films. The studios didn't make him cut them, despite the cop out of claiming they did. When your films will sell based on name alone, and then hit the ball home based on the talent involved, and the first entry rakes in obscene amounts of cash, how was not cutting 10-30 minutes going to prevent a further take? No, Jackson decided to cut those scenes and after the first DVD, realized he could be greedy and get suckers to pay more for "more," rather than actually show some respect to his fans by just giving them the full flick right off the bat.

Jackson "slighted," Lee.


Quote
King Kong was not the best movie ever but I assume you still wathced it? One wonders why? I mean, you must have realized that it was going to be filled with all the Hollywood trappings, riddled by some mediocre perfomances as so many movies are today.


Huh? Let's see, pretentious Peter is still a filmmaker of talent. The LOTR films were good. I enjoyed all of his previous works. He earned my interest, so I check out King Kong based on the fact that I think he'd deliver a modicum of quality. He didn't. It was a monumental fuck up and audiences reacted accordingly. Have you noticed how long it's taken Jackson to follow up? It's no coincidence. I think the guy was at the height of his hubris and he got some humble pie. I'm hoping he returns to form even though he's a filthy, lucering goon who likes to rip off fans with double dipping. Ever since The Frighteners he's proved he can make Hollywood films that are not garbage. King Kong, however, is the exception. That was hot shit on a flaming stick.


Quote
Gone are the days of Olivier, where thespians perfected their crafts and then deigned to appear in movies.

I disagree. Those days aren't gone because they were never really, "there," back in the day. In fact, I think those days happened in the eighties and are a construct that emerged after the seventies!

Sure, throughout the first one hundred years of cinema there were men and women who stuck to their guns, just as there are today, but such widespread practice in the forties, fifties, and up into the seventies was a fabrication of publicists and do-gooder Hollywood kiss asses who wouldn't know a film if it didn't come off the Tinseltown assembly lines. It's the usual, soundbyte friendly, safe, glamorous myth making of old Hollywood that the studios themselves created, just like Rock Hudson being straight, and studio chiefs being benevolent!

Since we are on the topic of Lord of The Rings, Viggo Mortensen is one of those individuals who plays by his own rules, and he has a body of work where it shows. After the success of the LOTR films he turned down a lot of guaranteed blockbusters based on his distaste for towards the scripts. He broke through the mainstream with LOTR and yet he took his demand and focused in on projects he wanted to do. Javier Bardem has been doing the same, not just after the success of No Country For Old Men, but for his entire career previous. George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Brad Pitt, Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman*** and Mr. Scientology Tom Cruise and little Mr. Scientology Will Smith are yet more with that power. Some simply focus on their Hollywood blockbusters, but all call their own shots (for better and for worse).

Quote
Today, if you look good naked and can stand in front of an explosion, you can win an Oscar.

You forget who votes for the Oscars, Eric: Hollywood studios! People in the industry! Believing that an Oscar is actually some merit of artistic quality is no different than you or I setting up "Saloonie" awards and handing them out to ourselves so we can market ourselves off of - and brag about - being great! ababababab


Now, while I disagree with your opinion I do respect it and appreciate the opportunity to have some discourse. agagagagag



*The complete, uncut versions of Brain Dead (aka "Dead-Alive" in North America) and Heavenly Creatures. The 'uncut' version of Dead-Alive in North America only refers to the gore. There's six to ten minutes of character bits that are available on prints from every market except North America. As for Heavenly Creatures, the only complete version seems to exist on home video in Australia and New Zealand, and has yet to actually, legally, appear in North American and European markets. It's pretty ironic that the guy who claims his extended versions are, "the ones you are supposed to see," hasn't been so keen on seeing that his preferred versions of those films become available. He certainly did that for The Frighteners, King Bomb, and LOTR.

**Del Toro is everything Jackson claims himself as being, but Del Toro doesn't tell you this. He simply lets his films speak for themselves. He also doesn't play the, "I had final cut on the film but these here longer versions are really the ones you're supposed to see, not the final cut I submitted to theaters, but this one here that I want you to fork over a lot of money to buy for a second or third time," card. Only one of his films received an "extended" version and that was Hellboy, and that was because he didn't have final cut on the theatrical version. Jackson had final cut on at least two of the three LOTR films, and he still played the greed game.


***I worry about the corrupting, Jackson hubris. Rather than make a singular, solid live action version of The Hobbit, they announced a pair of films before a script was even commissioned. The wheels of double dipping begin before a single letter is typed!

****Morgan Freeman was long a respected actor of stage and television, but his sticktuitiveness worked against him until he finally broke the mainstream in the late eighties and early nineties. I recall an old interview with American talk show host Charlie Rose, where Freeman read off some of the very big films he turned down earlier in his career. Some of them went on to lead other actors to success, like Danny Glover. Freeman lucked out though, and in spite of the racial and ageist glass ceiling that still exists in Hollywood, he's able to do the films he wants to do, cherry picking parts he'd like, and demanding a salary he feels he's worth. He didn't change, but the eyes and ears of power brokers in Hollywood did. Now, to be honest: I think many of the films he appears in are shit, but it's rarely ever the result of his on screen performances.

 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on December 07, 2008, 10:00:35 PM
When all is said and done, the extended versions are just plain better. More cool scenes, especially the ones that got so rudely cut containing Christopher Lee, a cutting that I found to be an almost unforgiveable slight of a true Hollywood legend.

What he said.

Your rant may be true, Spaghetti, but the extended LOTRs are simply better, particularly the 2nd film, which I wasn't entirely sold on with the cinema cut but now would class as my favourite of the 3.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on December 07, 2008, 10:03:53 PM
I think many of the films he appears in are shit, but it's rarely ever the result of his on screen performances.
Definitely agree with this!  Freeman's one of those people who could read the phonebook or a washing machine manual and make it sound interesting...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on December 07, 2008, 10:16:48 PM

Your rant may be true, Spaghetti, but the extended LOTRs are simply better, particularly the 2nd film, which I wasn't entirely sold on with the cinema cut but now would class as my favourite of the 3.


That's fine. That's not the bone of contention. I simply refuse to give Peter Jackson any money at the box office. His bait-and-switch extended cut silliness has convinced me to simply wait until his work hits cable, or DVD. He has no respect towards his fans when he doesn't give them the full cut theatrically*, so I won't contribute to his wealth. If I pay my cash I want to know I'm getting the whole deal. This also explains why I don't bother to go to the cinemas in China. Nearly everything is sanitized, so why fork over the moolah for it when I can see the unexpurgated version elsewhere? If I buy or invest my cash in something I want the whole thing, not 1% or 10% or 90% of it.  Jackson's films join Judd Apatow and Adam McKay and Quentin Tarantino on the list of filmmakers whose films I will no longer bother to see in theaters because they will have another version of it come out down the line or released abroad.


*when he is one of the few filmmakers out there with "final cut" in his contracts
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on December 08, 2008, 05:53:50 AM
Do you really think that the majority of western cinemas would have given the "OK" to a 4 hr 10 minute (which was what the EE of ROTK was) release?

That is way above and beyond what any release tends to be in Britain at any rate.

Most people complained that the 2 hr 30 minutes of the first film's cinema release was too long.
I'm not convinced at all that this was Jackson's cjoice...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on December 08, 2008, 06:49:18 AM
Do you really think that the majority of western cinemas would have given the "OK" to a 4 hr 10 minute (which was what the EE of ROTK was) release?


Yes. $$$$$$. In America there were several marathon screenings of the first and second films on a double bill in many multiplexes throughout the country.


Quote
That is way above and beyond what any release tends to be in Britain at any rate.]That is way above and beyond what any release tends to be in Britain at any rate.

Most films fall under two hours, so that's a given.

Quote
Most people complained that the 2 hr 30 minutes of the first film's cinema release was too long.

Then they shouldn't have gone, eh? I don't go to a cricket match because I don't like the possibility of it lasting over two hours. Buyer be aware. People who complain about a film being "too long," when they can easily look into its run time prior to attending a screening, are retarded. bibibibibi

What it boils down to is the fact that Jackson had final cut on at least two of the three films. That means the studio was obligated to deliver his final version into theaters as per contractual agreement. If they voided such an agreement then legal and union litigation would have delayed the film(s) release. His choice. His preference. His hands were not tied.



Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on December 10, 2008, 03:52:34 PM
Currently watching "Medium" (the TV series).  Not too bad, but not brilliant.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on December 13, 2008, 08:18:28 AM
Double feature respite from a week of finals:

Dennis Hopper's The Last Movie

and

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: psd4fan on December 23, 2008, 03:10:07 AM
Watched From Dusk till Dawn the other day. "Attention pu$$y shoppers!"  ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on December 23, 2008, 09:48:36 PM
Golly, guys, I absolutely LOVED King Kong.  I thought it was a nearly perfect movie (for the genre), and I seem to remember the critics and box office agreeing.  What in y'all's opinions was wrong with it?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on December 23, 2008, 09:51:01 PM
Watched the Bond flick, Solace... crap, forget the name.  I love Daniel Craig as Bond, especially when he runs down a baddie.  The only problem with the movie is that the plot moves so fast, you can't glance away for a second to smile at your hosts' baby for fear of being in the dark as to what's going on.  Definitely one you have to see alone, without any chitchat.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: VoiceWithin on December 23, 2008, 10:00:35 PM
I didn't like Daniel Craig as an actor until he appeared as Bond. I LOVE seeing him in the role, but I did feel that Quantum of Solace lacked that typical Bond-flick feel.

Great action movie though ;)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on December 24, 2008, 01:16:48 AM
Almost finished watching "Shark' TV series.  Similar to a lawyer 'House MD'.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on December 24, 2008, 03:02:51 AM
I love Shark... whenever James Woods is on camera.  The second he isn't, it's about as interesting as CCTV9.  awawawawaw
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on December 24, 2008, 07:00:30 AM
I didn't like Daniel Craig as an actor until he appeared as Bond. I LOVE seeing him in the role, but I did feel that Quantum of Solace lacked that typical Bond-flick feel.

I think they've been trying to re-establish the Bond franchise with a new feel. Something stripped down and cold. The Craig films have to keep pace with the Bourne films. The old James Bond seems out of place in today's world, so the nostalgia factor is what works for the older films. I was never a fan of the Bond series, so I don't have the nostalgia factor working for me. I still have a hard time identifying with Bond. Then again, I'm the sort of nut who'd prefer a movie about Q making all of those gadgets.

Con: Jackson's King Kong was pointless. It retread the same ground as the original, offering up nothing new in regards to substance, and there was absolutely no emotional connection between Kong and the surrogate Faye Ray - Naomi Watts; in my opinion. Jack Black was horribly miscast, it moved at a snail's pace, and the whole thing felt like an airbrushed video game, more than a film. It really left me with the feeling of there being nothing there to justify its existence, and it ranks as the only Peter Jackson film where I couldn't find one sympathetic character. In King Kong, that's the ethical crux of the film! I'm supposed to care about this ape. I could not connect on any level, not even a nostalgic one, so it was a ponderous experience for me.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on December 24, 2008, 05:44:35 PM
I watched Wall-E with my students yesterday...that movie is so cute...and we even ended up having a rather interesting debate about robots falling in love...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on December 25, 2008, 10:37:06 PM
MI-5.  This KILLS CSI etc for a really, really, good TV series.  Definitely worth watching.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on December 26, 2008, 06:04:22 PM
MI-5.  This KILLS CSI etc for a really, really, good TV series.  Definitely worth watching.

The original name 'Spooks' might be a bit off-putting to some.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on December 27, 2008, 12:46:40 AM
The cover has both names on it.  And I found one version with just Spooks used.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on December 27, 2008, 07:53:52 AM
Yeah, season 1 it was just called Spooks. PC considerations forced the change. I enjoyed the first few seasons but not the last two. This season is garbage.

Then again, I generally find CSI to be rubbish too.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on December 27, 2008, 02:22:01 PM
I'm still on Season 1 - disappointed to hear it falls off the pace.  ananananan
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on December 28, 2008, 02:27:19 AM
I'm just beginning to watch Dirty Sexy Money, about this messed up rich family.  So far, a glorious train wreck.  I hate every one of them.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on December 28, 2008, 02:48:08 AM
I'm just beginning to watch Dirty Sexy Money, about this messed up rich family.  So far, a glorious train wreck.  I hate every one of them.

 I felt the same way about:

The Cosby Show


You know that Theo was the diabolical mastermind bent on destroying the Huxtable family over time. The sordid disappearance of Denise after they launched the spin-off, A DIFFERENT WORLD; there's dark secrets on that show. Far more compelling debauchery than stuff like DALLAS.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Bugalugs on December 29, 2008, 04:00:52 AM
I love DIRTY SEXY MONEY watched it in October, makes me kinda glad that i don't have money...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on December 29, 2008, 11:20:19 PM
Ditto.  Feel the same about Nip/Tuck.

Watched War, Inc. last night.  Not great, but good.  Helluva cast: John and Joan Cusack, Ben Kingsley, Dan Ackroyd...

Burn After Reading was terrific!  The Cohen brothers are definitely on with this one.  A must-see.


Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on December 30, 2008, 05:12:22 AM
I watched Nacho Libre and loved it. I also watched Little Britain U. S. A., series one, and also loved it*. I'm about to watch the Doctor Who 2008 holiday special from last week.

*I was skeptical that bringing in American elements would water down the Willaims/Williams and Lucas satire, but this HBO-BBC incarnation is as good as the three BBC series.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on December 30, 2008, 08:36:02 AM
Just watched The Deal, because William Macy's in it.  It's really funny, and never nauseating.  I didn't even feel like running over Meg Ryan with a stolen car like I usually do.  Macy plays the main role perfectly, an obnoxious dickhead who delievers cynical and mean lines with a velvety gentleness.  It was contagious, and I was insufferable for the rest of the day.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on December 30, 2008, 10:13:02 AM
Check him out in the movie Edmond. Amazing performance but very disturbing.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: fox on December 30, 2008, 04:18:08 PM
i thought i downloaded a cam of the latest Brad Pitt movie 'The curious case of Benjamin Button' I settled down to watch it last night only to see it was a bondage porno. took 3 days to arrive too.  llllllllll
Ive heard that some think Brad Pitt is a coal mine in yorkshire, scantily leather clad people whipping each other in a dungeon scene wasnt what i expected tho' afafafafaf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on December 30, 2008, 06:08:58 PM
I watched this "Burn After Reading". It was good, but not as funny I as expected it to be. Brad Pitt, however, just climbed way up the ladder of actors that I like. Not to mention George Clooney. That man is hilarious.

Ok, I have been out of the loop regarding movies lately. Can anyone recommend some good comedies to download and by good I mean comedies that are in the opposite spectrum of such brain-dead, vacuous village-idiot-productions as "American Pie" and such-like moronic stuff.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on December 30, 2008, 10:44:03 PM
I watched this "Burn After Reading". It was good, but not as funny I as expected it to be. Brad Pitt, however, just climbed way up the ladder of actors that I like. Not to mention George Clooney. That man is hilarious.


I guess you never saw Fight Club or Snatch? Those two turned my opinions around about the guy.

Quote
Ok, I have been out of the loop regarding movies lately. Can anyone recommend some good comedies to download and by good I mean comedies that are in the opposite spectrum of such brain-dead, vacuous village-idiot-productions as "American Pie" and such-like moronic stuff.


EX Drummer. An acerbic, nihilistic, grim, pitch-black. nasty little comedy:

http://www.exdrummer.com/

On the lighter side, why not try the Japanese comedy, Fantastipo, which is an over-the-top parody of the Japanese pop music industry. Incredibly exaggerated and silly. If it's English you prefer, look for the series Look Around You, or a new favorite of mine: Little Britain. Both are head and shoulders above many of the comedies being produced for cinemas in the English speaking world. Parodies. One takes the piss out of science shows for classrooms, and the other is an absurdist piss take on anthropological documentaries on Blimey.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on December 30, 2008, 11:49:15 PM
Ah, fellow fans of British comedy  agagagagag agagagagag
Spaced is absolutely great. So is Little Britain. If you have time, might I also recommend Black Books? The Jeeves and Wooster series with Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry is not too shabby either.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on December 31, 2008, 12:11:12 AM
Black Books is brilliant! 

Don't forget the British version (original) of 'The Office' if you haven't already seen it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on December 31, 2008, 01:42:34 AM
Spaghetti, if you like British TV comedy, check out The IT Crowd.  It recently finished its third series here in the UK and these days is easily my favourite show.


Thanks for the suggestions, Slim. When I return from holiday I'll hit the torrent sites and DVD shops and see what I turn up.
 

Spaced is a fun series, but it's become a bit overrated thanks to the hyperbole people like Quentin Tarantino have heaped on it. Great show, but not the best. Definitely worth checking out. I found DVDs of it in China.

I downloaded a series called Twisted Tales, which was a British piss take on horror anthology series, and I also enjoyed it.

Eric, look around for Little Britain U. S. A. on the internet. It would be the fourth series, but it goes beyond Blimey and Lucas and Williams/Willaims (he spells it one way but pronounces it the usual way) manage to keep the quality coming. I think it just finished airing on HBO in America.


Ricky Gervais' follow up to The Office, Extras is definitely worth checking out. It wrapped last year, but there were two good series and one holiday special that came from it and it's worth checking out.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on December 31, 2008, 02:43:20 AM
I must admit I am one of those sad people who failed to like "The Office". It just failed to make me laugh.

Coupling is another good show. The British version, the American one sucked.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on December 31, 2008, 05:18:35 AM
Eric, give Extras a shot. You might prefer it to The Office.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on December 31, 2008, 03:25:36 PM
Deadwood is a great show but those of you that are bothered by foul language should steer clear.

The Wire is another great show with a lot of swearing. Some people believe that using swear words is unnecessary but take a look at this scene and try it imagine it with word 'darn' or 'rats'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQbsnSVM1zM
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on December 31, 2008, 04:11:08 PM
Deadwood was pretty awesome. Brutal, too. If people are so small minded as to be turned off by the language then so be it. If being unable to see a forest for the trees is how they like their entertainment, then more power to them. The world is neither filled with rainbows or sanitized sunshine, and great art rarely plays it safe, polite and sanitary.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on December 31, 2008, 04:52:20 PM
Dude, you just called my mother small minded.

Go fuck yourself. Is that forest clear enough for you?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Nolefan on December 31, 2008, 06:28:05 PM
gotta give 2thumbs and 2 toes up to HBO,.. they put out really good stuff and don't bend over backwards for censors and what not. Rome is another one that blew my mind but can't be recommended to everyone because of the raw nature of some of the content.

HAven't had a chance to see Deadwood yet but I'm really looking forward to it.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Nolefan on December 31, 2008, 06:31:50 PM
I must admit I am one of those sad people who failed to like "The Office". It just failed to make me laugh.

Coupling is another good show. The British version, the American one sucked.

dare i say we actually have similar tastes in humor/series???  aoaoaoaoao aoaoaoaoao aoaoaoaoao
same thing here, both UK and US versions of the office didn't do it for me. Couplings was a blast.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on December 31, 2008, 07:11:56 PM
 HBO is awesome. Most of the best shows of the last decade (The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Oz, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Wire) are HBO shows.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: non-dave on January 01, 2009, 04:18:39 AM
For some well done gung-ho action check out "The Unit"

Echoing what has already been said re: The Wire, Rome, Deadwood, Blackadder. I also didn't get into the UK version of the Office - but, surprisingly, the US version really dragged me in.

Another good UK drama - Life On Mars - about a 90's cop who gets taken back to the 70's. http://www.bbc.co.uk/lifeonmars/

And, if you can find them, the Hornblower and the Sharpe's Rifles series' are great entertainment.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on January 01, 2009, 04:35:09 AM
Dude, you just called my mother small minded.

Go fuck yourself. Is that forest clear enough for you?

Dude, lighten up. Enough with the personal attack. IS that clear enough for you?

I make a statement and you personally attack me. By the way, your mother was never mentioned once in the thread. You're over the line, hoss.

HBO productions are known for being mature. That means nudity, cursing and all of that mature, adult stuff. The world's not always Sherry Lewis and Lamb Chop.

Stil, you're normally a prankster, but man alive, you definitely need to lighten up about this. As Al Swearengin of Deadwood would say, "Don't be a cocksucker." Don't make me ask Wu the Chinaman and his heng dai to stroll on over. uuuuuuuuuu
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 01, 2009, 05:12:59 AM
Now, now, gentlemen, be nice. If there is a problem, we solve it the traditional way: by getting drunk, wear a blindfold and throw darts at each other until Noles tells us to stop.

Deadwood is great. Rome is absolutely amazing. For those of you who liked that show, I might recommend looking for "I, Claudius". It's really good.

"Hot Fuzz" is a good movie too. I am still trying to find the latest Simon Pegg one "How to lose friends and alienate people".

As for British comedy, one never goes wrong with "Fawlty Towers".

I like "Hornblower" but I thought the Sharpe series suffered a lot from a low budget. Especially in the major battle scenes. "Sharpe's Waterloo" was not impressive at all. The battle of Waterloo derserved better than that, but that's just me being nerdy agagagagag

I think if people do not like to watch a show due to coarse language, it's their choice. There is nothing wrong with that. I don't listen to gangsta rap because, IMO, it's made by morons who should shut up, stop being silly and go back to school. Some might disagree but that's how I think of that particular genre. Same thing goes for teen comedies. Sexually frustrated teenagers and toilet humour is, to me, about as funny as being stabbed repeatedly in the face with an ice-pick.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on January 01, 2009, 08:28:35 AM
Dude, you just called my mother small minded.

Go fuck yourself. Is that forest clear enough for you?

Dude, lighten up. Enough with the personal attack. IS that clear enough for you?

I make a statement and you personally attack me. By the way, your mother was never mentioned once in the thread. You're over the line, hoss.

HBO productions are known for being mature. That means nudity, cursing and all of that mature, adult stuff. The world's not always Sherry Lewis and Lamb Chop.

Stil, you're normally a prankster, but man alive, you definitely need to lighten up about this. As Al Swearengin of Deadwood would say, "Don't be a cocksucker." Don't make me ask Wu the Chinaman and his heng dai to stroll on over. uuuuuuuuuu

Stil sounds as if he would then DEFINITELY support those on the forum who abhor any swearing/blasphemy/scatology.  I'm not so sure this is true.

If you don't like it you don't need to stay more than 5 minutes into it. (My Lit professor said give any  book 25 pages - if you hated it after that then, don't read any further.  I have applied this to my whole life (except for my marriage! bibibibibi llllllllll))

We can respect those with different viewpoints from ourselves - mothers or not.  One of the the good things about adulthood is that somehow or another we hope to outgrow our parents.  This does not mean we don't respect them - but we DO place their views within a context.  Needs to happen here.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on January 01, 2009, 03:23:56 PM
Stil sounds as if he would then DEFINITELY support those on the forum who abhor any swearing/blasphemy/scatology.  I'm not so sure this is true.

You obviously know nothing about me Lotus. What I like makes very little difference when it comes to supporting other peoples' choices.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on January 01, 2009, 07:23:20 PM
 Lighten up kids...drinks on me. Seems to be nothing more than a misunderstanding that is best forgotten.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Papillon on January 02, 2009, 12:13:35 AM
Totally agree Slim- the Top Gear episode was great.  The 3 hosts can be a bit irritating but they make me laugh and now I just want to jump on a motorcycle and hit the hills.  also Vietnam looks amazing.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: George on January 02, 2009, 02:18:55 AM
Just finished watching the first 60 minutes. Very good!!!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on January 02, 2009, 01:46:42 PM
Stil sounds as if he would then DEFINITELY support those on the forum who abhor any swearing/blasphemy/scatology.  I'm not so sure this is true.

You obviously know nothing about me Lotus. What I like makes very little difference when it comes to supporting other peoples' choices.

Quote
I'm not so sure this is true.
 

Reading the whole statement always makes sense.  agagagagag agagagagag

Although there are many things people do that I hate and therefore do not, will not, cannot support their choices, so I can't be as magnanimous as Stil.  I hate abuse of human beings, so I can't support the choice of those who abuse; I hate destruction and desecration of environment, valuable treasures etc, so I can't support the choices made by developers, industrial giants wanting to increase profits by not employing pollution controls etc.  Lots of choices I can't support - based on my own feelings. 

Quote
We can respect those with different viewpoints from ourselves.

And there are even exceptions to this statement of mine.

But for now - I'm still enjoying MI-5/Spooks, still and exceptionally good television series with good depth of character, interesting plots and not over acted (always a bonus!).

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ilunga on January 02, 2009, 02:42:57 PM
I also enjoyed Top Gear in Vietnam.  The preceeding one was good too, where they travelled from Miami to New Orleans.

Wish I'd known about the BBCi player when I was in China.  Or perhaps it's a relatively new thing?  ITV have one too, it's mostly rubbish but the real crime series is good, they covered the Canadian ESL Cafe paedophile a couple of months back.  It was the first I'd heard of it.  Also the Chinese cockle-pickers tragedy was on recently, that one should still be on the site.  I'll try and find a link.

Best film I've seen lately is Slumdog Millionaire.  Don't think it's out in the cinemas here yet but I'm sure there must be DVDs knocking about in China by now :)  It's already 5/4 favourite for Best Picture, and well-deserving imo.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Nolefan on January 02, 2009, 07:34:40 PM

Folks, this thread is for movies.... please play nice!  agagagagag

Arguing is better left for the pit where cursing/profanity has been discussed ad-nauseum. Let's not behave like 4 year olds!!!  kkkkkkkkkk kkkkkkkkkk kkkkkkkkkk

have a happy new year
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Raoul F. Duke on January 02, 2009, 10:34:48 PM
What he said. asasasasas

Might add that if you don't work here, please leave the unsolicited jumping-into-the-middle-of-things to those of us who do. We all already have Moms.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on January 04, 2009, 05:18:01 AM
Spaced was indeed ace.

I'd like to mention peep show here too, but also the very very underrated (i.e. 99% of british people haven't even heard of it) 15 Storeys high.

Conveniently, I uploaded the whole lot to youtube :-)

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=revengeofthedog&view=videos

It's a little dry and may seem a bit 'wtf?' to start with, but stick with it :)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: synthette on January 04, 2009, 05:05:18 PM
Hi All,

not sure if I'm allowed to post links, but these movie and TV series sites are well worth checking out (I'm a huge 'Greys Anatomy' and 'Bones' fan). Check out "Sweeney Todd", "Boy A", and "Taking Lives"......as well as both "Hostel" movies, if you're into the gory stuff!

www.youku.com
www.movie2k.com
www.ch131.com
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 04, 2009, 05:11:32 PM
Sweeney Todd agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag That movie is so damn good.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: synthette on January 04, 2009, 06:03:29 PM
Sweeney Todd agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag That movie is so damn good.

Isn't it just!!.......going to watch it again this week - total gorefest!  aoaoaoaoao
(and very graphic in the 'trapdoor' scenes too!) - love Johnny Depp......anyone seen him in "The 9th Gate" ??.....
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 04, 2009, 06:29:54 PM
I thought he did a good job in "The 9th Gate" but found the movie itself terribly disappointing, considering how great the book it was based on is. Have you seen Depp in "The Libertine"? Damn, he is good as John Wilmot. I think the only Depp movie I did not care much for was "Cry Baby". "Benny and June"...awsome. "Sleepy Hollow"...awesome again.
I actually brought with me a copy of "A String of Pearls", the original tale of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, if you would like to read it. For a Grub Street hack production, it's good.

I just downloaded "The Five Doctors"...a Dr Who extravaganza. Gallifrey, The Master, TARDIS...so good... agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Schnerby on January 04, 2009, 08:33:39 PM
Mmmmmm.... Sweeney Todd  agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on January 04, 2009, 08:42:55 PM
I lost season 4 of Weeds, so I finally bought it again and watched the whole shebang.  Along with Arrested Development and Simpsons, this show makes me laugh harder than the Joker at a funeral.

Will there be a season 5?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: latefordinner on January 05, 2009, 05:31:24 AM
Sweeney Todd, definitely a good film. Beautifully dark, well cast, nice music. I taught the basic story to an advanced class (grade 5 to junior 2, after school program) one year, had them make up their own versions. They would have loved this.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on January 05, 2009, 11:47:51 PM
Gangs of New York.  I see why it was nominated for Best Picture... and why it lost.  Worth the watch, though.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Nolefan on January 06, 2009, 12:18:49 AM

Finally got around to watching the latest James Bond... or at least that's what they called it  asasasasas asasasasas
great action flick but it was in no way a James Bond movie... not by a mile... hell no...
 asasasasas asasasasas asasasasas  kkkkkkkkkk kkkkkkkkkk
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Nolefan on January 06, 2009, 12:19:59 AM
Gangs of New York.  I see why it was nominated for Best Picture... and why it lost.  Worth the watch, though.

It's been years since i actually saw that but man... i can still visualize Daniel Day Lewis in his role... great great acting.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on January 06, 2009, 02:29:56 AM
Yeah, I never understood why GONY got so slated.  I thought it was good.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 06, 2009, 09:20:37 AM
Did anyone ever mention The Fountain when it came out (2006)?

I'll mention it now.

The Fountain.


Baraka meets 2001: A Space Odyssey meets a couple of other movies too.  It's beautiful in a way that lets you keep watching even when it gets weird.



Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on January 07, 2009, 05:05:58 AM
Just starting season 4 on MI-5/Spooks, and it still kills any other similar genre series.  Depth in acting, intelligent situations, questioning of current PC stances with intelligence and compassion for both sides, BLOODY good series.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on January 08, 2009, 01:38:05 AM
Lewis was amazing in that role.

Watched Get Smart, a remake of the TV show, starring that guy from The Office and The 40 Year-Old Virgin.  It didn't suck!  In fact it was rather clever, had a good story, great action, and made me laugh several times.

I repeat: Get Smart doesn't suck.  bibibibibi
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on January 08, 2009, 12:10:04 PM
Spooks is good, but I found it got a bit repetitive later on.  I like Series 1 and 2 where there is quite a wide varety of cases/villains/baddies...

Also, Matthew McFayden is in series 1/2 and he's quality.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 11, 2009, 04:38:41 AM
Bolt     bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf

"Because all over this planet there are animals who feel like they can't.  Like... the little hamster who once spent his days in an RV park dreaming of the day when he too would save a little girl from danger and be told, `You did it.  You did it, Rhino!  You saved the day!' 

"They need a hero, Bolt.  Someone who--no matter what the odds--will do what's right!  They need a hero to tell them that sometimes the impossible can become possible if... you're... AHSUM!"

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 19, 2009, 10:36:55 PM
Three very good films:

Slumdog Millionaire
Danny Boyle directs.  (He directed Trainspotting.)  But it's Indian.
Hilarious in parts.  Compelling.  (Though sacrifices grit for charm.)
 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf

Choke
The most recent Chuck Palahniuk adaption.  (Chuck wrote Fight Club.)
Great film.  Weird and funny.  Again with the charm factor.
 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf

RocknRolla
Guy Ritchie back to form.  No character can say anything but what is cool and smart.
The best intro and credit soundtracks eva.
 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on January 20, 2009, 10:14:17 PM
The Wrestler starring Mickey Rourke.  HE's all 'roided up for the part, and you won't even recognise him, but the acting is amazing, and the story is great.  He was nominated for a Golden Globe, and should be a serious contender for an Oscar.  This is worth seeing, folks.  bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 21, 2009, 07:45:30 PM
Oh, I agree, Guy Ritchie makes films about shallow coolth, but they're fun with the word play and the pretty clothes and a very British macho.  RocknRolla too is very nearly philosophical in its insistence that shallowness as depth is deep.  The Guyster is like an antidote to the very maudlin Britishness one can find in any period drama or The Bill

There's a bit of a tradition of grubby, flashy trash in British film and writing, isn't there?  James Bond is a character out of that tradition, innit?

With RocknRolla, Guy has polished the turd to a high and gleaming gloss and added tassels and guns and Russians.  John le Carre might bemoan the lack of a worldview, but might not turn up his nose at the grubby glitter.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on January 22, 2009, 01:52:48 PM
The Wrestler starring Mickey Rourke.  HE's all 'roided up for the part, and you won't even recognise him, but the acting is amazing, and the story is great.  He was nominated for a Golden Globe, and should be a serious contender for an Oscar.  This is worth seeing, folks.  bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
I agree.Saw this last week.I came away feeling very sad for this guy.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Raoul F. Duke on January 26, 2009, 06:49:31 PM
I did something tonight I haven't done in about 8 years: I went out and saw a movie in a movie theatre. Reminded me that there's just nothing like the big screen... bfbfbfbfbf

I saw Frost/Nixon and strongly recommend it. Frank Langella's Nixon is absolutely spellbinding...one of the greatest performances I've ever seen on film.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: joe on January 27, 2009, 11:11:10 AM
Does TV fit into this thread? If so, has anyone seen the BBC series 'Wild China'?
Amazing footage...not sure if you can access this from outside of UK (some youtube channels are country specific) but here's a playlist of clips from it:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0_sZivnINM&feature=PlayList&p=3E84C315F0719C46&index=0&playnext=1 (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0_sZivnINM&feature=PlayList&p=3E84C315F0719C46&index=0&playnext=1)

If you can't quite place the narrators voice, it's King Theoden from Lord of the Rings (Bernard Hill)!

Definately worth getting hold of this DVD if you haven't seen the series!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on January 27, 2009, 06:09:11 PM
Saw Clint Eastwood star in "Gran Torino".He stars as "an iron willed and inflexible Korean War veteran,living in a changing world,who is forced by his immigrant neighbours to confront his own long held prejudices" As an older person who grew up in a small country town, I could relate to his feelings;it may be harder for younger folk to do that.
I'd be interested to hear what others thought of it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on January 30, 2009, 12:44:41 AM
Does TV fit into this thread? If so, has anyone seen the BBC series 'Wild China'?
Amazing footage...not sure if you can access this from outside of UK (some youtube channels are country specific) but here's a playlist of clips from it:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0_sZivnINM&feature=PlayList&p=3E84C315F0719C46&index=0&playnext=1 (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0_sZivnINM&feature=PlayList&p=3E84C315F0719C46&index=0&playnext=1)

If you can't quite place the narrators voice, it's King Theoden from Lord of the Rings (Bernard Hill)!

Definately worth getting hold of this DVD if you haven't seen the series!

For some reason, I found that uk youtube links didn't work in China.

However, you can find them in China just by googling for the reference number from the youtube link.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on January 30, 2009, 09:39:41 AM
Anything that may remotely reflect on the Chinese gov't doesn't load in youtube. One of my best mates is a T'tan film maker and I can't look at anything of his on youtube - or for my favourite T'tan orphanage.

 llllllllll llllllllll llllllllll llllllllll llllllllll llllllllll
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on January 31, 2009, 03:37:43 AM
Just finished watching "The No 1 ladies' Detective Agency', a BBC production based on the books.  It was lovely!!  Interesting Botswanan scenery, African music and well acted.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 02, 2009, 07:54:19 AM
The Man From Earth

Very, very talky--one group of people in one room with big ideas--great stuff!
And because of Tony Todd, just a tiny, tiny, tiny bit reminiscent of Night of The Living Dead

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 02, 2009, 10:20:41 AM
Gran Torino

I can't tell.  It's either charming or it's corrosively ugly.  It's both?
The language is hilarious.

What did you all think?

 bfbfbfbfbf ananananan kkkkkkkkkk
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on February 02, 2009, 01:11:30 PM
The Man From Earth was a surprise. I'd never heard of it and watched it a few months ago and thought it was great. I think the ending could have been different, leaving the viewer to decide.

I loved Gran Torino I'm a Clint fan though.

Quote
I can't tell.  It's either charming or it's corrosively ugly.  It's both?

Both I think and it's what made it great.

The best movies I've seen recently are

Slumdog Millionaire
Milk
Frost/Nixon

Especially Frost/Nixon.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: joe on February 02, 2009, 01:31:52 PM
Just watched Gran Torino. It was awful, almost unwatchable. This was mainly due to the acting. Clint was better when he didn't speak, and the kids they've got in it are worse.

Anyone seen Seven Pounds? Or The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas? Great films, definitely worth checking out!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 03, 2009, 12:00:49 AM
Well, see, I recongise the kids.  They both played characters that I've come across in real life, particularly the girl.  What looked like shit acting was what a friend of mine actually does in real life.

Clint was a puzzle.  His character was either inconsistent or someone I've never met before.  Sometimes he was past-oriented and made of clay, and other times he was future-oriented and thoughtful.

The real question for me is: all that stilted acting, was it true to a particular kind of life, or was it stilted acting?

Because if it was stilted acting, then the storyline is unreal too--made of reality and writer's bandaids.

Closure, closure, closure--weird feeling of no closure--in which case, maybe the uncomfortably unclosed loose end sense of it all really is teh realz.  That's why I called it maybe ugly.  Base.  Coarse.  Too real.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on February 03, 2009, 02:34:43 AM
3 episodes into Madmen, and falling in love.  akakakakak
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on February 04, 2009, 05:10:20 AM
It's taken me a while, but I watched the first 5 episodes of Sopranos tonight.

So far, interesting.  Not too bad.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 05, 2009, 03:04:29 PM
Just like the kids seemed like real kids, I think Walt seemed like a very real person. We aren't really used to heroes in movies being like this.
Abso-freakin-lutely.  And it's because they really don't fit "hero" mold.  The two sides of the character muddy and spoil each other, taking the strength out of either sides heroic action.  Seems to me.  So it's a tough storyline to sell.

Quote
For me, these contrasts made his character all the more real. When he talked to the girl in the basement that Toad likes I started cringing in advance because it felt like you just couldn't know "which" Walt was going to come out. We've probably all got relatives like this–you don't know what the hell they're going to say in social situations.
Yeah, that was an interesting sequence.  When it started, with Walt agreeing to go visit the zipperhead household, I was like "Whut?!", and all the way through it I was looking for signs of what the hell was going on in Walt's psyche... that actually was fascinating at least in part because it took a little while to get my head around the fact that actually Walt was pretty damn drunk!

Quote
(This is why we see him lying on his back, arms out and blood on his hands like stigmata; he's Christ dying for the sins of everyone else...this symbolism was a little over the top.)

Does his dying solve all of the problems in the world? No. Nothing can undo or make better Sue being raped.

That was really very hard to take, you know?  Thematically, and as a story that people watch and sort of might learn lessons from, there was next to nothing in anyone's responses in that movie that paid real, true, suitable attention to Sue.

That's kind of it, really.  Walt being as he was represented pretty much undermined everything good in his own action (and thus in the story's sorta-heroic theme) not so much by being a crappy man, but by being inadequate to the stuff that went on around him.

And that wasn't what the movie told us.  I didn't tell us Walt was inadequate as a heroic themed man.  I guess it told us he was a man (with one or two big ideas) and that's it.

Which is freaky in a film because we want to pin something bigger to the hero, I think.

So I can't work out if Gran Torino was High Plains Drifter in the suburbs or just the suburbs.

See, where in the hell did Walt get the idea to finish out that way?  How did he figure it out?  Why?  Where did it come from?  Maybe I just haven't met people like that so I don't know, or maybe the movie didn't present it right.  Dunno.  Maybe I'll have to try watching it again.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 06, 2009, 10:53:31 PM
Quote
So I can't work out if Gran Torino was High Plains Drifter in the suburbs or just the suburbs.
Sounds like I need to rustle up a copy of High Plains Drifter.

High Plains Drifter and/or Pale Rider.  Clint Classics.

I've got the uTorrent working on 2046 right now. 

I remember once I was sitting on a sofa with a wonderful girl and a very startling film was on the tube--no English.  I saw enough of it to know I had to look away--because I could see it was that good and I was missing huge chunks of it by not being able to follow the language.  It might have been 2046.  Story about a guy, something about unexpectedly being in the future, something about a big gap of time being crossed somehow... 2 policemen, one was Japanese, or maybe Korean, something about fate and future action and past consequence or... something...  Somehow just a little tiny bit like PK Dick grew up in the wrong country  :)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: joe on February 07, 2009, 02:15:00 AM
Picked up a transnational chinese cinema's unit at university today, fascinating stuff.

Watching 'Not One Less' (Zhang Yimou - director of Raise the Red Lantern)

It's great...it's the story of a young female teacher who acts as a substitute in a small village. She will only be paid on the condition that when the teacher returns, all the students must still be there, hence the title. Basically one kid legs it off to the city, and she goes after him to bring him back. I'd be interested to get your views on it as teachers in china...would be great to talk about in my next class. I could upload it if its not readily available?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on February 07, 2009, 02:21:34 AM
It's readily available.  The countryside schooling was pretty much like that until recently. 

My beef with this movie was that she left the rest of the class untaught while she 'rescued' the child who went off to earn money.    I can understand her wanting her money, but ... she didn't earn it!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on February 15, 2009, 09:57:18 AM
Saw The Wrestler while back home. I actually cried during two moments of the film.  bibibibibi I also enjoyed seeing a small time guy like Necro Butcher get a really big, arty spotlight shined upon him. In a perfect world, his work in The Wrestler would be similar to what "Thunderlips" did for Hulk Hogan's career after Rocky III. Mickey Rourke is great in this, but the press are acting like he just came out of exile for this film. People forget eh was one of the few good things about Sin City three years ago. The guy never once lost his talent. He simply lost his mind. Still, that's a gripe about the pr machine. Great film. I look forward to what Aranofsky will do with Robocop.  ababababab

I also caught The Wackness, which is a great, character driven dramadey that reminded me of classic 70s era American cinema like Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Smile, etc. It's st during the summer of 1994 and follows a pot dealer who befriends a stoner shrink in a pot-for-therapy exchange, falls for his daughter, and the nutty people he does business with over the season.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on February 15, 2009, 10:57:07 AM
WARNING !!


The following shows are finishing up this year.....Prison Break, Housewives, Lost.







Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on February 15, 2009, 08:13:42 PM
WARNING !!


The following shows are finishing up this year.....Prison Break, Housewives, Lost.

 This is very good news.

 Mickey Rourke has always been brilliant, he just hasn't appeared in anything decent for 20 years or so because he's a complete nut job. Check out his performances in The Pope of Greenwhich Village, Angel Heart and Barfly.








Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Fire_Dragon on February 15, 2009, 08:48:06 PM
Just finished the second season of The Tudors. 'Twas fun, and now I'm stuck in a new program called Leverage. As to movies, I recently watched Yes Man and Ghost Town. I preferred Yes Man to Ghost Town because it was funnier. Both stories were good, though, and I love both Jim Carrey and Ricky Gervais. Worth renting or streaming. I was told that Milk was phenomenal, so that's on the to-be-watched list.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on February 15, 2009, 08:55:20 PM
I am still hunting down the second season of the Tudors. "Yes Man" looks hilarious.
I just watched "Music and Lyrics by" with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. I thought it was rather funny. Tried watching the re-make of "The Omen" but couldn't. It was so bad. Crappy remakes of great movies should be banned.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Fire_Dragon on February 15, 2009, 09:02:13 PM
Nearly all of the second season of The Tudors is online at watchtvsitcoms.com. Yes Man was quite good, and I appreciated the philosophy presented. Forgot to mention I also saw Bedtime Stories. Adam Sandler is one of my favorites.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on February 15, 2009, 09:08:39 PM
will check out that site. Fire_Dragon, where have you been? Your posting has been sorely missed.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Fire_Dragon on February 15, 2009, 09:14:38 PM
I've been swamped with work :) As is, I got home from work this evening a little after 9pm (MST). My school duties are mountainous! The only reason I've watched so many movies and TV shows is due to Netflix.

ETR, the website is good -- hope you can access it from China. There are lots of options, including cartoons if you enjoy those. Let me know how it works out for you. And thanks so much for asking about me :)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on February 15, 2009, 09:35:36 PM
quote author=AMonk link=topic=166.msg63974#msg63974 date=1234645027]
WARNING !!


The following shows are finishing up this year.....Prison Break, Housewives, Lost.

 This is very good news.


I agree. The end of those shows means I won't have to explain to a thousand-plus students why I don't watch them and why we won't be discussing them in class. Probably the worst of American television, ranking below anything claiming to be "reality" television.

In deeply sad, American television news: Moral Orel wrapped up its final season.

I did see an utterly fantastic documentary series on PBS back home, called Make 'Em Laugh, which was a six part chronicle of American television comedy. Not only did it make me laugh at nearly 60 years of television, but it was great documentary filmmaking.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on February 16, 2009, 04:40:02 PM
Ooh, I'm not having that about Lost!

While it's true that series 2 and 3 were a bit of a dip, 4 and 5 have been superb so far. 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: MissMotz on February 16, 2009, 06:13:26 PM
Saw Bride Wars last night , with Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway...Hudson sooooo sounds and looks like her Mum in this film.

Was a good chick flick, with lots of 'unknown' Hollywood hunks......I was in heaven  bhbhbhbhbh akakakakak akakakakak
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on February 16, 2009, 08:27:04 PM
Enjoyed a couple of series shows ("Rosemary and Thyme") from the UK.  Lady sleuths, "of a certain age", whose main business is horticulture.  Good for an afternoon's light viewing.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on February 20, 2009, 07:29:31 AM
Started watching Mad Men, set in the early '60s, from the same people who did Sopranos.

It feels a bit 'flat' to me, the characters don't seem to have additional dimensions and the treatment of women is too stereotyped.  But it has a level of interest that makes it passing OK.

BUT ... 30 more minutes and I will have finished downloading 'The Hollowmen' from OZ TV, and a day more and "Black Books" should be finished!!   agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on February 20, 2009, 08:31:45 AM
"The only reason I've watched so many movies and TV shows is due to Netflix."

They have Netflix in China?  How reliable is it and do you have the same selection as in the US? 

Has anyone watched the HBO series "The Wire".  It's superb.  Not quite up to "Deadwood" standards but excellant none the less.  I wonder what Chinese students would think if they saw the season that was devoted to the inner-city, Baltimore, middle schools.  They'd probably give us up for lost and switch out of English classes altogether.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on February 20, 2009, 09:41:37 AM
IME Chinese people hate watching anything western which is at all 'realistic'.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on February 20, 2009, 03:34:52 PM
Absolutely. When I show my students stuff of this nature, I usually get the response "We Chinese don't like to talk about the dark things in life."

 BTW I started watching The Wire on recomendation of someone on this forum(Spahgetti I believe). It's pretty damn good. The screen writer is coming to Beijing next month to give a speech at The Bookworm.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Fire_Dragon on February 20, 2009, 07:06:20 PM
"The only reason I've watched so many movies and TV shows is due to Netflix."

They have Netflix in China?  How reliable is it and do you have the same selection as in the US?

I'm not sure that Netflix is in China. I'm still in the States, and for awhile, I didn't have cable. Netflix was my option. If I were in China, I would rely heavily on streaming. Sorry for the confusion, A-Train :)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on February 20, 2009, 11:29:33 PM
Absolutely. When I show my students stuff of this nature, I usually get the response "We Chinese don't like to talk about the dark things in life."

 BTW I started watching The Wire on recomendation of someone on this forum(Spahgetti I believe). It's pretty damn good. The screen writer is coming to Beijing next month to give a speech at The Bookworm.

Thing is, they like 'dark' when it's Chines.e  I watched Blind Shaft with my wife which is REALLY bleak, and she loved it.

I think they want films about the west to all be sugar candy.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on February 21, 2009, 07:40:55 AM
I have a graduate student who asked me if I had seen, Cannibal Holocaust. Films rarely get bleaker than that.

I just saw Rambo this evening, while getting a new tattoo. Holy shit, it's the Rambo film. Hundreds die, bodies fly and body parts are everywhere. I've seen far harder stuff, but for a mainstream, "R" rated film, it definitely lives up to the kill-crazy Rambo mythos far greater than all previous entries, and it was actually pretty damn good. Far more grindhouse than that Tarantino film of the same name.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on February 22, 2009, 06:13:21 AM
Finished Mad Men - if they make another season I certainly won't bother watching it.

Just finished watching Lurhmann's 'Australia'.  Not as bad as I'd read about, not as good as it could have been. Brandon Walters was really good as Nullah.  But worth watching.

In the middle of watching Teng Ge'er's "The Black Steed'.  Also good in its own way.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on February 22, 2009, 06:42:50 AM
Finished Mad Men - if they make another season I certainly won't bother watching it.

There is more than one season of the show in production.

I've got 2 terrabytes of movies I brought over with me.

Tonight's hard drive feature:

the original, unaired BBC version of Alan Clarke's Scum. It's a grim look at seventies era British borstal life, staring a young Ray Winstone. I have seen the second version, which Clarke produced once the Beeb put the hammer down on the version they commissioned. Some of the suits got antsy about the content.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on February 22, 2009, 07:25:21 PM
I watched Seasons 1 and 2 of mad men.  Enough.


Just started The Hollowmen.  really good Aussie wind-up thingy.  20 mins in and I am rolling on the floor.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on February 22, 2009, 08:39:07 PM
....the original, unaired BBC version of Alan Clarke's Scum.

Available from Amazon.com, on same disc as re-shot, "even more shocking" [sic] second version. R rating.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on February 22, 2009, 09:14:43 PM
....the original, unaired BBC version of Alan Clarke's Scum.

Available from Amazon.com, on same disc as re-shot, "even more shocking" [sic] second version. R rating.

Yup. The Blue Underground discs. That's where I ripped my copies from.

Alan Clarke was a great dramatist and his name is often ignored or forgotten in many film circles because his stylistic choices were restrained, but his subject matter was always compelling, though distinctively British. A lot of his theatrical releases internationally were actually films for British television, so perhaps that's why his work is rarely brought up in film journals. His rather obscure status is certainly not because of a lack of talent, that's for sure.

If you want well produced, well written, well acted drama, the name "Alan Clarke" as director is a guarantee of good stuff. He's dead, though, so his body of work is rather small, when compared to contemporaries like Mike Leigh and Ken Loach.


Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on February 26, 2009, 08:37:04 PM
 I'm really, really, really, really trying to cut back on buying DVDs, and have been doing a good job of it, but my fall off the wagon yielded six movies:

The Whackness (a gift for a friend)
Where Eagles Dare
S. S. Camp Women's Hell
a subtitled copy of CJ7
The Filth & The Fury: A Sex Pistols Film
and Uwe Boll's Vietnam war flick, Tunnel Rats, which I expect to be something like Ed wood directing Apocalypse Now.

I will fall back off the wagon for good quality discs of Step Brothers and Pinapple Express, but hope to stay on the wagon outside of those future indulgences.


Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on February 26, 2009, 09:42:03 PM
Finished downloading 'The Hollowmen" and spent most of last night watching it. 

I love Aussie windup thingys!

So much fun, but well done and intelligent.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 26, 2009, 10:07:07 PM
Red vs Blue

If you're at all familiar with Halo and Capture the Flag version of first-person shooter video games, it's a hoot.  They call it mechanimation, using the Halo game engine to animate stories.  Cheky Tout on Youtube.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on February 28, 2009, 07:53:21 AM
"I'm really, really, really, really trying to cut back on buying DVDs..."

Why would you even want to attempt this?  It's masochistic.  You might leave a perfectly good movie unwatched with that kind of attitude.  I'll have to try a couple of your suggestions.  If I could recommend one to you, it would be "Let The Right One In".  Unless you're sqeamish that is.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on February 28, 2009, 03:09:28 PM
"I'm really, really, really, really trying to cut back on buying DVDs..."

Why would you even want to attempt this?  It's masochistic.

You are not here yet are you A-Train? The problem is that a DVD costs about $1.00. You end up buying more than you can watch. I have a lot more DVDs than the DVD shops.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on February 28, 2009, 05:18:13 PM
"I'm really, really, really, really trying to cut back on buying DVDs..."

Why would you even want to attempt this?  It's masochistic.  You might leave a perfectly good movie unwatched with that kind of attitude.  I'll have to try a couple of your suggestions.  If I could recommend one to you, it would be "Let The Right One In".  Unless you're sqeamish that is.

Welcome, A-Train.

I saw Let The right One In and found it alright. It's obscenely overrated by the internet film community, namely one Devin Faraci, but I've had my fill of vampire films. Not trash. I've just seen so many films that treaded into similar territory that I was not impressed by it. The hyperbole from critics only puts it up on a pedestal that inevitably works against it, I believe.

I think of it as Lasse Hallstrom's Martin. Take some basic concepts George Romero did with Martin, and a tiny piece of the Near Dark concept, splice in the artistic competence and the aesthetic characterizations from My Life As A Dog, and throw in a pinch of difference, turn on the mixer and pour it out. Not the worst thing a person could come up with, thankfully.

I'm jaded. It's good to know that you enjoyed it.

Stil makes a good point, in that it's easy to end up with an insanely large collection over an incredibly short time. It's not unheard of, for some expat to walk into a market with a dozen shops and leave an hour later with 100 DVDs. It's also easy for a film fan to burn through money stocking up on quality, pirated versions of really cool imports from England, America, Australia, Japan and Hong Kong at a single shop.

A small part of my decision to cut back is space. I'm very likely in the position where I will move again. It's a pain to haul everything. I want to liberate myself from the burden. DVDs are a start. When I went home for the holiday I brought back several terrabytes of movies and television programs from back home, to watch. While I love my current city's variety of DVDs on offer, I stockpiled a lot of entertainment back home. Finally, with all of the fen I pinch in limiting my DVD purchases I can put that money to other things I enjoy, such as getting several tattoos inked that I've waited a few years to get. A few 100 here and a few 100 yuan notes there and it adds up. some movies are easy to track down online, and I'm pretty sure the tongs, Beijing party boys, or Hollywood oligarchy aren't getting a red fen from it  ahahahahah

Speaking for myself: welcome to China and bring on all the film talk you've got, A-Train! We don't get a lot of it, but it's a welcomed addition.

The irony of this post is that a student wants me to join them on a DVD shopping trip this afternoon. They want me to recommend some films to them. I knew I'd fall off the wagaon again, but this is too soon. ananananan
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on February 28, 2009, 05:30:38 PM
My 'Hollowmen' DVD walked out of the door as soon as I finished it - into a Chinese DVD player.  Wonder what they will think of the totally irreverent way the PM is treated?

Finished Season 5 of 'House'.  Moving onto Slumdogs and other Oscar nominees before classes start on Tuesday.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on February 28, 2009, 07:04:54 PM
" think of it as Lasse Hallstrom's Martin. Take some basic concepts George Romero did with Martin, and a tiny piece of the Near Dark concept, splice in the artistic competence and the aesthetic characterizations from My Life As A Dog, and throw in a pinch of difference, turn on the mixer and pour it out."

If this is a criticism then what do you have left for genuine praise?  95% of the celluloid being peddaled out there doesn't put in the level of effort you describe above.  I thought the idea of a "vampire" requiring a caretaker was an interesting and thoughtful slant on an old genre.  That combined with the young boy's outpouring of affection for the young, female "vampire" as fellow victim was downright heartbreaking.  It pushed the whole vampire pretext into background...no mean feat.

Hallstrom is near genious.  Never took the time yet to see "Martin" but I just love his "slice of life" movies: "Shipping News", "Once Around".  Real people, (including the exceptional ones), dimensioned by honest and intelligent dialogue.  Makes the plot so secondary as to force me to wonder why I even consider it important in the first place.  If I could be compared, however unfavorably, to his works I would know I'd achieved success.

Where did you pick up your film addiction?  Or was it a-la-carte?

PS
Just saw "Man On Wire".  Good stuff.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on March 01, 2009, 02:03:01 AM
  Never took the time yet to see "Martin" but I just love his "slice of life" movies

Martin is a film by George Romero. Worth seeing. Dated. Still, it's worth seeing. If lasse Hallstrom made Martin it'd be more like Let The Right One In.

Quote
Where did you pick up your film addiction? 

It's in the blood.

I took a student DVD shopping and fell off the wagon with:

Achilles and the Tortoise
Rock'n'Rolla
Gomorrah
Feast III: The Happy Finish
Max Mon Amour
Hit Team/Task Force
Fantastic Planet
Platform
Runaway Blues/Back Alley Princess
High Plains Drifter
Two Mules For Sister Sarah
Joe Kidd
A Fistful of Dynamite
Elvis: That's The Way It Is


Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Schnerby on March 01, 2009, 02:32:28 AM
My 'Hollowmen' DVD walked out of the door as soon as I finished it - into a Chinese DVD player.  Wonder what they will think of the totally irreverent way the PM is treated?


Will be interesting. Hollowmen was a really good watch. Surprisingly so. But the faceless PM and the jibes about him... it might be a bit difficult to comprehend.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on March 03, 2009, 12:17:49 AM
Watched Slumdog Millionaire last night.

axaxaxaxax axaxaxaxax axaxaxaxax axaxaxaxax

WATCH THIS MOVIE.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: George on March 03, 2009, 02:34:48 AM
Watched Slumdog tonight. Tough Movie!! The Babe's sister brought home a DVD with 15 movies on it! The Wrestler , Slumdog, a few others I don't know. Demmed cunning, these Orientals!!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on March 03, 2009, 09:42:05 PM
Somebody stop me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm off the wagon. Hopefully, the sheer multitude will keep me from falling off the wagon again until I find HQ discs of Pinapple Express and Step Brothers.

The Comet Strikes/Shanghai Affairs. Shanghai Affairs sucks, but I bought the disc for The Comet Strikes
The Invincible Sword/ Beach of The War Gods
A Russian DVD that kind of looks like it says "TELEPAH-43," but it's Cyrillic, so the L has to be upside-down. It looks like a period gangster film.

Opium and the Kung Fu Master
Story of Liubao
10 Fingers of Shaolin
The Kid From Kwantung/another Shaw Bros. film that I will have to watch to find the title
Heads For Sale/another Shaw Bros. film that I will have to watch to find the title for

Mao Une Histoire Chinoise
Lee Rock
Lee Rock II
The Foot Fist Way
Saw V
High Anxiety
Futurama: Bender's Game
The Tin Drum
The Indian Runner
Encarnacao do Demonio
Fool N Final: Bollywood comedy with master thespian Mike Tyson
Assault on Precinct 13 - the original
Role Models
The Incredible Hulk
The Dirty Dozen
Cross of Iron
The World Without U. S.
Standard Operating Procedure
Rest Stop

It's not particularly highbrow, and pretty self-consciously avoiding the Oscar pets, though any Hindi musical with Mike Tyson pretty much has to be film of the year, right?

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on March 04, 2009, 08:33:28 AM
"Watched Slumdog tonight. Tough Movie!!"

And at the same time it's a "feel-good" movie.  How did you enjoy the credits?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: George on March 04, 2009, 10:12:28 AM
Umm.......mmm........er....didn't watch the credits.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on March 04, 2009, 12:16:17 PM
"Umm.......mmm........er....didn't watch the credits."

The dance scene during the credits was one of the best parts of the movie.  And I liked the movie.  Bali-wood regalia.  I read somewhere that Indian movies are filled with so much colorful song and dance because they don't allow any sex to be shown.  I think there was a lot of repression relieved during this choreography.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on March 04, 2009, 12:34:09 PM
Great movie, but I thought it would've been better if Jamal had lost the game show.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: George on March 04, 2009, 12:47:33 PM
When the credits started rolling and the dance scene started, was when I realised that there was no dance scene during the movie.
Kinda like..."Cut! That's a wrap!"......."But wait! We have no bloody dance scene!"
"Oh shit! I forgot. Well, we'll shoot one at the wrap party"

Decurso, In India, the Indians always win!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on March 04, 2009, 01:30:33 PM
Great movie, but I thought it would've been better if Jamal had lost the game show.

It wouldn't have won the Oscar then. The fanny patters at the academy don't like downer endings or virtually every Martin Scorsese film that was nominated and better than every film they contended with in their respective years would have won. That's also why The Wrestler was shafted. kkkkkkkkkk


Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on March 04, 2009, 03:23:45 PM
"When the credits started rolling and the dance scene started, was when I realised that there was no dance scene during the movie."

Yeah, it was more like a music video than a film scene.  But it would have been hard to work a dance scene into that movie so I give the director credit for the way he did it.  I understand he forgot to give credit to the choreographer of that scene in the credits themselves.  Is that "irony" or just "paradox"?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Schnerby on March 04, 2009, 06:42:48 PM
So now I realise the shop I am yet to locate... DVDs

Must do that this weekend.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on March 04, 2009, 08:22:24 PM
My Chinese colleague showed "The Hollowmen' episode with T't in it to his class.  He said they didn't pick up on it!!  He's braver than I am.  I only show  some bits to friends. kkkkkkkkkk kkkkkkkkkk

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on March 05, 2009, 12:44:05 PM
Lagaan.  An Indian movie with good issues for students to discuss:



All wrapped up in a feel good ending with plenty of music and dancing.

Only downside is that it is 80% of the time, in Hindi, 20% in English.  But the English sub-titles are good.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on March 05, 2009, 07:48:42 PM
Cricket: such an explosive sport.

I enjoyed Lagaan too, when I saw a longer cut of it at the Hong Kong International Film Festival years ago.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on March 05, 2009, 07:49:36 PM
Cricket: such an explosive sport.

I enjoyed Lagaan too, when I saw a longer cut of it at the Hong Kong International Film Festival years ago.

This was on 2 discs - well over 200 minutes.  How much longer?????  aoaoaoaoao
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Spaghetti on March 05, 2009, 09:24:59 PM
This was on 2 discs - well over 200 minutes.  How much longer?????  aoaoaoaoao


That's pretty much the version I saw. When I noticed it running on American cable a few years ago, it ran under 160 minutes.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: George on March 05, 2009, 09:48:40 PM
Is this the film about the village playing the local British outpost at cricket?
If it is, I wrote a review of it, waaaaaaaay back on Saloon MK 1.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on March 05, 2009, 09:56:35 PM
Yes.  Did you give it to students to watch?  If so, how did they deal with the issues??  (If you remember - lot of baijiu under the bridge since then!)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: George on March 05, 2009, 10:15:51 PM
I watched it on TV, I think, so no, students didn't get to see it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on March 08, 2009, 12:46:23 AM
Finally finished Slumdog Millionaire.  Took me three attempts, I kept getting interrupted Not a bad movie, can't see why Salman Rushdie panned it so much.   Maybe he is jealous?  The dance scene at the end was followed by a good piece of music as well.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on March 13, 2009, 12:24:26 AM
*Special for Eric* 

Amazon.com now have available the complete BBC series of Dorothy Sayers' "Campion" films. bfbfbfbfbf 

I've just ordered them for myself. ababababab  Loved her books.  Can hardly wai for the films.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on March 13, 2009, 12:47:35 AM
Sounds good.  agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on March 23, 2009, 04:51:04 AM
Anyone seen "Mr Horrible;s Singalong Blog"?  I am downloading it (yes I realise that negates the whole point of it!!  But.. it won't stream into China.) and according to my torrent it will take another week!

By Joss Wheedon, of Firefly/Buffy fame.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Schnerby on March 24, 2009, 02:38:32 PM
Isn't it Dr Horrible?

Either way it's a good watch.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on March 25, 2009, 12:30:37 AM
I went a little berserk in the DVD market today and ended up with:

Series:

La Femme Nikita
Criminal Minds
Womens Murder Club
Canterbury's Law and Miss Guided
How I met your mother (an order from my daughter)
Ghost Whisperer
Doogie Howser M.D.

Movies:

My Neighbours the Yamadas (from Studio Ghibli, by Isao Takahata)
Autumn in New York
The Secret Life of Bees
Elizabethtown
The Castle of Cagliostro (1st feature film by Hayao Miyazaki)
The American President
Doubt

Music DVDs
Shaman - RitualLive
Apocalyptica Live

Music CDs

Enya - And Winter came
Enigma - Seven Lives Many Faces
Sens - Kaishin, The Silk Road of the Sea.


Should keep me settled until I get back from Oz.   ahahahahah ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on April 20, 2009, 03:41:43 AM
Just finished "A very good year".  Good story - and possibly useful to use with students.

Also watched the film version of Amy Tan's 'Joy Luck Club".  It was good and I think I will buy it to show the students.

I hit the ABC shop and bought the TV series on the history of the English language, another one on the history of the Oz accent and one about a year in the T country.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on April 21, 2009, 05:48:06 AM
How did you like "Doubt"?  I happened to see it recently along with "The Reader" and thought they were both better than "Slumdog Millionaire".
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on April 22, 2009, 10:45:12 PM
Saw In The Loop at the cinema the other day.  It was v.good.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on May 01, 2009, 01:48:37 PM
The Gruen Transfer.  An ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission) production looking at advertising.  Hilarious and would be good to use with students.

Also watched "Sounds of Aus" - a John Clarke doco (which by mere name means it will be funny) on the Australian accent.  Another good one.  bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf

Still have 'One Year in T't', 'History of the English Language' (TV series) and a doco on Xi'an to go from the DVDs I brought back with me.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on May 02, 2009, 01:31:44 AM
State of Play is good.  A mainstream US film with pretty famous actors, done almost like a budget film.  Good story, although Affleck is as plastic as always.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Mr Nobody on May 02, 2009, 04:09:40 AM
I just saw revolver.

great.

really nice shallow and meaningless violent stuff pretending to be art. Sort of like Tarantino, but more dyslexic, perhaps.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: paddyfields on May 22, 2009, 02:10:36 PM
Angelina Jolie is to play the role of Patricia Cornwell's "Kay Scarpetta" in an upcoming movie. I read most of the novels and so I am looking forward to seeing the movie.  bfbfbfbfbf
The screenplay will be based on Cornwell's bestselling Scarpetta series of books, about the beautiful, hard-charging medical examiner who solves crimes, but it will not be focused on any one specific novel.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Worldtour on May 22, 2009, 03:13:31 PM

What I feel like watching right now is a bit of gratuitous, gung-ho, aggro, pistol whipping, up-you, good guy-bad guy tv or even a movie. Something along the lines of 'Bourne Supremacy' or '24' would be good. Any recommendations?

Try 'The Shield'

I have been watching some old classics with Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman.


Unforgiven, French ConnectionHttp://www.youku.com/playlist_show/id_1016729_ascending_1_page2.html (http://Http://www.youku.com/playlist_show/id_1016729_ascending_1_page2.html)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on May 22, 2009, 03:46:19 PM
Star Trek is a masterpiece.  Don't make yourselves watch it on a crap cam release though, wait for a good quality one.

If this year back in Britain has been worth it, it's for the fact that I've got to see the dark Knight and Star trek on the big screen, which I wouldn't have done in China.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on May 23, 2009, 08:22:11 AM
Suggestions?  Well, if you want to go over the top.  Try "Shoot "Em Up" or "Sweeney Todd" or maybe "Appaloosa".  Not great movies but will satisfy your blood-lust.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on June 16, 2009, 10:07:20 AM
Just ordered the "Jeeves & Wooster: The Complete Series" from Amazon.com.  They should be here in another week or so ahahahahah









And Eric....they also have the Laurie & Fry (complete) set. agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Mr Nobody on June 17, 2009, 04:12:42 PM
I bought my copy of J&W here in China. Well, series one and two. 3 and 4 I downloaded from demonoid.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 17, 2009, 06:22:21 PM
Spiffy agagagagag agagagagag Ah, AMonk, I have already, in my apartment here in China, the complete J&W and the "Fry&Laurie" series....I showed one episode of J%W to students and they said it was boring...pish, piffle, one is even tempted to employ the word flapdoodle.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on June 17, 2009, 08:46:41 PM
 bhbhbhbhbh  Civilisation is SAFE agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on July 27, 2009, 02:18:26 PM
I've started watching Seinfeld and am into Season 3.  When does it start to get good, or should I give up now??
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: mlaeux on July 27, 2009, 03:18:49 PM
Give up now. If you don't get by now try agin later. My BFF & sister absolutely love that show. I, on the other hand, can take it or leave it.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on July 29, 2009, 04:34:09 AM
CONTROL

This Biopic about Ian Curtis, the singer for Joy Division, is AMAZING.

One caveat: we took 2 smoke-and-pee breaks, and were better off- it's gripping, but not exactly action packed.

Download it at youku.com  bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Japanda on July 29, 2009, 05:34:05 AM
The Hurt Locker

Don't judge the movie by it's awful title. It's set during the war in Iraq right and follows a group of US soldiers whose main task is to disarm IEDs (improvised explosive devices). The movie is very gripping and does an excellent job portraying how war tears a person up inside.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: thedogateit on July 29, 2009, 09:10:12 AM
Brüno

Sacha Baron Cohen strikes again. Not for the faint of heart or small children.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Mister Barfly on July 30, 2009, 09:46:09 PM
I have been watching a new TV series called Kings which I think is quite good.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on July 30, 2009, 10:02:39 PM
Brüno

Sacha Baron Cohen strikes again. Not for the faint of heart or small children.

Took my 72yr old female neighbour to see it. aoaoaoaoao Let's just say that she won't need her hair permed (curled) for quite a while. I was telling the Security guards at the Casino about the movie and one asked if it was really Sacha Baron Cohen's private part that we saw. I laughed and said it probably belonged to John Holmes. My neighbour said John who? ahahahahah I'll have to see about finding a video that will really curl her hair ahahahahah ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Mister Barfly on July 30, 2009, 10:23:40 PM
I watched a copy of Bruno, I dont think they will be showing it in the Cinemas here. I thought it was well funny.  It's like Borat though, once you have watched it once and seen all the jokes, there is no point watching it again.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 30, 2009, 11:52:12 PM
TAR TRE

Well, Star Trek, 2009, a high quality cam copy thereof, the only thing wrong being the missing left side, right side, and the top of everyone's head when they stood up.  It's an excellent film.  A definite revitalisation of the franchise. 
bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf


David Tennant's Doctor Who.  Also revitalising the franchise.  He's a fun guy!
bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 15, 2009, 09:06:35 AM
I tried to watch Borat

I agree, it's hilarious, haven't laughed so much at a movie in a long time, but I couldn't take sitting there laughing my ass off and waiting to see what absolute train wreck of a personal interaction would come next.  I only made it as far as the night stay at the Jews' house.

I get the savage educational value of it, but there's something inhumanly awful to it too.


/pansy.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on August 17, 2009, 11:28:55 AM
Sacha Baron Cohen is IMO one of the greatest satirists of all time.  Total genius...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 17, 2009, 07:49:23 PM
I'm still plugging away at it.  It remains hilarious.  What bugs me, I think, is knowing it's an act: the actor can maintain the character in the face of attempts to reach an understanding.  So, ironically, he uses deception to demonstrate the value of not being ignorant and not being close-minded.

In any case, speaking of the human condition, as we weren't:

"Ladies and Gentlemen in Ladies Attire, allow me to present my favourite nephew, newly relieved of Her Majesty's pleasure, Mickey Peterson."

Aka Charlie Bronson.  In:

[size=8]BRONSON[/size]

Probably best not thought of as a documentary.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Mister Barfly on August 19, 2009, 04:13:52 AM
I just watched a wicked movie called The Boat That Rocked. 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on August 21, 2009, 12:00:30 AM
Ooh yeah I want to see that.

The New Star Trek was amazing.  I have to say I was bloody glad I was in Britain and could see it at a proper cinema in English and stuff.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on August 21, 2009, 12:27:58 AM
I just watched "Battle of Red Cliff". I thought it was amazing.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on August 21, 2009, 02:18:21 AM
Another source for downloads

BTARENA.net - A full copy of The Pirate Bay  http://bit.ly/BJVjP
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on August 22, 2009, 07:55:17 PM
Hustle - a VERY cool BBC series.

I love the BBC.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: DJWolff on August 23, 2009, 04:39:31 AM
The last film I watched was "James Bond: Quantum of Solace". Enjoyed it a lot.

Before that:

Harry Potter (the latest one)
Bruno ( aaaaaaaaaa)
Up! ( bfbfbfbfbf)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on August 23, 2009, 07:00:16 PM
Wolff, you and I seem the be the only folks on the planet who enjoyed Quantum of Solace.

Watched the Star Trek movie last night: it was every bit as good as people promised.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: DJWolff on August 24, 2009, 03:32:45 AM
Wolff, you and I seem the be the only folks on the planet who enjoyed Quantum of Solace.

Watched the Star Trek movie last night: it was every bit as good as people promised.

Hehehe, really? I am way late on James Bond. Actually, this movie got me interested in the whole saga.  aoaoaoaoao :wtf:

Mmmmm, Star Trek.....I'll check it out.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: fox on August 24, 2009, 03:41:42 AM
Another source for downloads

BTARENA.net - A full copy of The Pirate Bay  http://bit.ly/BJVjP

nice one Stihl. ive dearly missed my beloved pb these last couple of years since entering middle kingdom.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on August 29, 2009, 06:57:41 AM
Just use isohunt instead
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on August 29, 2009, 10:30:02 PM
Atonement was terrific, in a slow starting kind of way.

Coco Chanel was good; Shirley McLaine was amazing.

The Soloist was the gem of the bunch.  Grab it by all means.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on September 05, 2009, 05:47:33 PM
 I saw The Onion movie the other night. Hilarious. My favourite was a bit on a pop singer based on Brittany Spears named Melissa Cherry whose songs included "Take Me From Behind", "Down on my Knees", "Lollipop Love" and "Spray Your Love Over Me."  ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on September 06, 2009, 10:38:15 AM
The Soloist was the gem of the bunch.  Grab it by all means.

I'll have to put that back on my list.  The critics almost universally panned it.  Why do you suppose?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on September 06, 2009, 12:11:12 PM
Atonement was terrific, in a slow starting kind of way.

Atonement was a strange one for me.  I love the book, and the film was a near-perfect adaptation.  Yet somehow it left me cold.  I couldn't work that one out as I couldn't really find fault with it.  It just didn't move me.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on September 06, 2009, 12:11:55 PM
I saw The Onion movie the other night. Hilarious. My favourite was a bit on a pop singer based on Brittany Spears named Melissa Cherry whose songs included "Take Me From Behind", "Down on my Knees", "Lollipop Love" and "Spray Your Love Over Me."  ahahahahah

:D Must check that out. The Onion are the single biggest rebuttal to the common British misconception that the Americans can't do irony.  They do, it's just a bit different from our irony...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on September 07, 2009, 08:26:34 PM
Just saw the Aussie movie "Charlie and Boots" starring Paul Hogan and Shane Jacobson(Kenny) Boots decides to take his Dad Charlie on a road trip(in the Kingswood) from Victoria to go fishing at Cape York.Virtually from one end of Australia to the other on the East coast. This should appeal to Aussies from the bush,who will understand what is going on and what is being said.I really loved the great scenery. I got a nice surprise, when they drove past the home I grew up in. They even stopped in the main street to have a bite to eat and I saw the shop my Dad worked in and many other familiar sites. This would be a good movie to show students about country folk and their humour.  bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on September 11, 2009, 10:52:06 PM
Been downloading movies for my Drama class. Just watched Laurence Olivier in "Richard III"...that man was a genius.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: old34 on September 12, 2009, 02:41:39 AM
Been downloading movies for my Drama class. Just watched Laurence Olivier in "Richard III"...that man was a genius.

Which man? Olivier, Richard III, or Shakespeare?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on September 12, 2009, 03:35:19 AM
Olivier - and pretty yummy with it - although Richard Burton..... akakakakak
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on September 12, 2009, 05:30:53 AM
All three were brilliant! Ahhh...I now have "The Merchant of Venice", "Much Ado About Nothing", "Henry V" (both the Branagh and Olivier version), "Taming of the shrew" and " A Midsommer Nights Dream".... agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on September 12, 2009, 11:39:02 PM
Just watched District Nine (there's a high quality torrent and, probably, a DVD in China too)..

Absolutely brilliant.  See it now, especially if you're a Verhoeven fan.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on September 23, 2009, 05:49:48 PM
Big Bang Theory.  Silly as but with one good line per episode.  Also vaguely reminiscent of people I know!!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: latefordinner on September 23, 2009, 07:30:07 PM
ETR: Branagh's version (H5) is brilliant, imho. Even people who don't like Shakespeare can get into it. Do you have the TS with John Cleese? I think he was in that about 8 or 10 years after Monty Python broke up. I never expected him to do Shakespeare, but then no one expects... the Shakespearean Post-Python Mission.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Schnerby on September 23, 2009, 11:08:33 PM
but then no one expects... the Shakespearean Post-Python Mission.

 ahahahahah ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: old34 on September 24, 2009, 12:12:26 AM
but then no one expects... the Shakespearean Post-Python Mission.

 ahahahahah ahahahahah

Their three weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency (I wonder where Ruth is)...and an almost fanatical devotion to the Bard.

(Oops, mixed my comedy troupe metaphors.)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on September 24, 2009, 03:34:23 AM
Pretty good French movie I just saw called "The Class".  Thought it might be appealling to teachers since it's set in a classroom.  It's in Paris' inner city with a very multi-cultural class.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on September 26, 2009, 04:38:56 AM
A really good BBC doco "The genius of Photography'.  We done, well narrated - excellent all round.  With some of the all time most famous photos and their stories.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 01, 2009, 10:56:25 PM
Observe and Report

I haven't seen an actually blackly comical black comedy in a while.  Observe and Report rides a thin line between "there's a joke, you may laugh now" and homespun scary.  It doesn't go into the safely bizarre like Fight Club, and it doesn't settle into Clerks style mockery.  Instead it seems to be freakishly real.  Taxi Driver meets Mall Rats.


Transformers - Revenge of The Fallen

My first BluRay experience.  Otherwise mostly forgettable.

Oh, and..


District 9

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf

Check it out.  Just as much CGI jiggery pokery as Transformers but with a whole other "alien" experience.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: fox on October 02, 2009, 12:30:24 AM
the terminal.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0362227/

Tom Hanks doing his stuff.

a great movie. i dont know how it escaped me its now 5 years old.
family and student appropriate.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on October 07, 2009, 08:06:52 AM
the first three episodes of series 7 of Curb Your Enthusiasm.  Larry up to his usual impressive standards.

Funniest American of all time, in my view.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on October 07, 2009, 03:47:59 PM
watched the new trailer park boys movie yesterday, i was a bit disappointed. it was like the end of the series, some good jokes, but the characters were just playing up to themselves, it wasn't free enough like the series
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on October 07, 2009, 03:48:55 PM
Pretty good French movie I just saw called "The Class".  Thought it might be appealling to teachers since it's set in a classroom.  It's in Paris' inner city with a very multi-cultural class.

another really good french movie about teachers is 'Avoir and Etre'. A true story about a rural school where these teachers completely invented this curriculum
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on October 08, 2009, 02:18:29 AM
I made it through 1/2 of Season 4 of "Charmed' and finally in self-defence had to run for my life.  The 1st couple of seasons were interesting in considering dealing with new skills and powers, and for the 'female' gaining and using power process.  Still needed men to guide the use of female power though.  aaaaaaaaaa  The 3rd season got to be too 'screechy' - no conversation was possible without the now 'powerful' women being hard and tough.  Season 4 got to be just too silly.

So back to Boston Legal for season 5, hoping it is better than season 4, as my mates tell me it does.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on October 10, 2009, 03:29:57 AM
Finished Season 5 of Boston Legal.  I would love to have my students watch the whole series - they bring up great issues and in general give good closing arguments for both sides of an issue.  They tackle all sorts of topics, political, social etc.

Biggest problem would be having to explain the chauvinist attitudes of Denny and Alan in EVERY episode.  That really got to be annoying.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on October 10, 2009, 06:31:19 AM
Pretty good French movie I just saw called "The Class".  Thought it might be appealling to teachers since it's set in a classroom.  It's in Paris' inner city with a very multi-cultural class.

another really good french movie about teachers is 'Avoir and Etre'. A true story about a rural school where these teachers completely invented this curriculum

Watched that on my PGCE.  Very good :)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on October 11, 2009, 11:44:14 PM
Watched 'Anger Management' and 'The Boat that Rocked' last night.  I thought 'Anger Management' was NOT one of Nicholson's best, and was pretty silly.  But 'The Boat That Rocked' was good.  Plus it had fun music! 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on October 15, 2009, 01:37:38 AM
Walk the Line.  Two thumbs up! bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on October 15, 2009, 07:08:16 AM
Walk the Line.  Two thumbs up!

How 'bout that concert scene at Folsom Prison?  Decadent, raw, drug and murder ladened songs, yet off-the-chart inspiring.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: mlaeux on October 15, 2009, 10:10:22 AM
Walk the Line was good.  akakakakak

My favorite part was when the drug dealer came to the house and the female lead character (June Carter) shoved a shotgun in his face and then he took off outta there in that 1950"s convertible.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 16, 2009, 02:15:26 AM
Assassination of a High School President

Derivative of so many film genres--noir thrillers, teen high school comedy, journalist crap, etc--but in a very excellent, well-put together homage kind of way.  The whole package is very pleasing as an entertainment experience.

And a totally Limewire-worthy soundtrack.


Surrogates

No soundtrack of any note, but as a sci-fi flick with a modest amount of substance, I enjoyed it.


Also discovered The Office

Watched the first season and started on the second.  Last night I saw the office Olympics episode and laughed so much I snorted.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: mlaeux on October 16, 2009, 05:04:17 AM
The American version of The Office is a pale copy of the original.  nnnnnnnnnn
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on October 16, 2009, 07:50:01 AM
I love the original (Ricky Gervais is the British Larry David in a way, would love to see them do soething together) but I've heard that the yank version is actually pretty good.

Unlike their version of life On Mars, which had the worst ending ever
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: mlaeux on October 16, 2009, 10:37:05 AM
I'm not too impressed with the American version of The Office.

I never saw the American version of Life on Mars. I saw a couple of the British episodes and they were really good. I never did see the ending. Did he ever come out of the coma?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on October 16, 2009, 11:30:19 AM
The British version finished with him coming out of the coma, and finding himself in the sterile modern environs of the UK today, and deciding it was all too depressing and going and jumping off a building, finding himself back in the 70s again.  It was well done and ambiguous.

The American version...

Well...

Let me just say

 aoaoaoaoao

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxI_UwYThgU&feature=related

 bibibibibi bibibibibi bibibibibi bibibibibi ahahahahah ahahahahah ahahahahah ahahahahah ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on October 16, 2009, 04:11:56 PM
i like the american office, but it isn't as good as the english one for me just because i've worked with all the people in the english one....
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on October 16, 2009, 04:54:57 PM
Yep, me too, usually in some shitty suburban area of Essex like Brentwood...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 16, 2009, 05:13:45 PM
I started with the US version for other reasons, but decided last night to try the UK version.  I shall endeavor to like it.  I can see immediately that the UK version is sharper.  Also, just like the US version, the first ep is more irritating than enjoyable.

And then I discovered I can't watch them simultaneously!  Just can't.  Michael Scott is irritating again once I've seen the UK version.  So I'll stick with David Brent for a few more episodes and see what happens.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on October 17, 2009, 03:18:17 AM
The UK one is a very subtle observational kind of humour, it's very 'real'... some people hate it
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on October 20, 2009, 09:44:57 AM
I really Liked Reign On Me with Don Cheadle and Adam Sandler... until the DVD buggered up 2/3rds of the way through.

I was undecided about Shanghai Baby... until it buggered up 2/3rds of the way through.

Starship Troopers 3 was awful.  It, of course, played the whole way through.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Mister Barfly on October 22, 2009, 02:53:34 PM
Lately I have watched

Surrogates - Quite good
I love you Beth Cooper - Some parts funny
The Thaw - Just another crappy Val Kilmer Movie
The Orphan - So Scary I will never adopt a child
The taking of Pelham 123 - Very good movie

I have started watching a series called Flashforward.  The new series of heroes and Dexter are good as always.  I have also started watching Californication again.

I dont work much
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on October 26, 2009, 04:13:27 AM
Venus.  Billed as perhaps Peter O'Toole's last movie.

SEE THIS!  An utterly lovely little film.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on October 27, 2009, 12:50:47 PM
Wallace and Gromit.  Lovely animations, good visual and verbal humour, lots of allusions, lots of cultural stuff.

I have a student staying with me for the moment and have introduced him to this classic British comedy.  He LOVES it.  It's fun having others enjoy the things you enjoy.

In this way I've introduced (and enjoyed re-visiting) The Gruen Transfer, (great for analysis), Monty Python (which led to a total John Cleese fan developing! bfbfbfbfbf), Hustle, Spooks, John Safran Vs God and all of the Studio Ghibli animations.  The students who come here have really liked these shows.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on October 29, 2009, 11:03:21 AM
Just finished season one of The Wire, courtesy youku.com  akakakakak  This show is ruining my life: it's 5 in the morning!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: mlaeux on October 29, 2009, 12:58:35 PM
The Wire looked very suspenseful, but the commercials made it look too bloody. Was it pretty violent?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on October 31, 2009, 12:47:43 AM
Nah, it's more dickensian/shakespearian for the most part, like a play played out on telly
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on October 31, 2009, 05:02:46 AM
everyone should watch the new south park. or at least the first 5 minutes or so

i nearly fell off my chair ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on October 31, 2009, 07:57:56 AM
The Wire, season 2, is even better.  On to season 3- and it's 2 in the morning!  bibibibibi
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on October 31, 2009, 01:19:44 PM
Just saw "This is it" Michael Jackson's last movie. I really enjoyed it. The dancing was great as was the singing. I must admit to wanting to get up and dance in the aisle, but no one else was making a sound, so thought I'd get thrown out. (can you see the headlines? "old Granny thrown out of theatre for unruly behaviour" ahahahahah ahahahahah I did a fair bit of dancing in my seat though. Going to see Heath Ledger's last film today, "Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus"
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: contemporarydog on October 31, 2009, 09:07:06 PM
If you want to watch the most ridiculous film ever, watch Mega Shark Vs Giant Octopus.  I suspect it will become quintessential 'so bad it's good' student fare in the coming years.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on November 02, 2009, 04:31:00 PM
Aussie mate brought me a DVD with 2 Barry Humphries movies "The Great McCarthy' and 'Barry McKenzie Holds His Own'.  How do you think the students will cope with Dame Edna??

Also brought me "Real Aussies' - a 2 CD of Oz music - Men at Work, Died Pretty, Skunkhour, Mi-sex, Margaret Urlich etc.  Cool!!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on November 05, 2009, 05:43:30 AM
The Wire, season 2, is even better.  On to season 3- and it's 2 in the morning!  bibibibibi

Had the same experience.  Couldn't turn it off and was so disappointed when it was over.  What a great and unique commentary on urban decay.  Even hints at some possible solutions.
Favorite character?  Bunk?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: mlaeux on November 05, 2009, 07:03:59 AM
I don't get dame Edna. What am I missing?  mmmmmmmmmm
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on November 05, 2009, 07:52:53 AM

Favorite character?  Bunk?


I'm fond of Lester.

Late in season 4 now.  Rarely bathing, lest it interfere with my viewing.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on November 05, 2009, 09:36:09 AM

Favorite character?  Bunk?


I'm fond of Lester.

Late in season 4 now.  Rarely bathing, lest it interfere with my viewing.

Slacker!  A real fan would bring the laptop to the tub with him.
BTW: I'll never look at abandoned buildings the same again.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: George on November 05, 2009, 10:31:49 AM
Dame Edna Everage...Her website.
http://www.dame-edna.com/index2.htm (http://www.dame-edna.com/index2.htm)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on November 06, 2009, 08:56:01 AM
Finished the entire series.  What do I do now?  amamamamam
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on November 06, 2009, 09:00:37 AM
Finished the entire series.  What do I do now?  amamamamam

Cry.  And bore others with tales of how good it was.  Then fruitlessly try to find an adequate substitute.  If you haven't seen "Deadwood", it will certainly provide your fix.  I thought "The Tudors" was pretty good also.  Historically accurate as far as I could find out.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ArialFont on November 07, 2009, 02:40:20 AM
Anyone seen "The boy who cried bitch"? I've heard good things about it but no one seems to have it...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on November 07, 2009, 03:29:18 AM
Anyone seen "The boy who cried bitch"? I've heard good things about it but no one seems to have it...

Is that new? I seem to remember an old small film from about 20 years ago. Doubtful to find it here. Would have to download.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on November 07, 2009, 02:24:03 PM
Watching Season 2 of Battlestar Galactica - not too bad, although some of the computer animation is dodgy.  Watched the latest StarTrek - also not too bad.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: George on November 07, 2009, 02:37:10 PM
Free movies online...
http://www.exchange4green.com/gt_view.php?id=221 (http://www.exchange4green.com/gt_view.php?id=221)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on November 07, 2009, 09:40:46 PM
Moon

Fabulous movie.  A touch of the 2001, a little like Solaris and Sunshine, but, in my humble opinion, better. 


"Hey, you wanna play some ping pong?"
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on November 08, 2009, 05:17:43 AM
Fianlly watched Milk.  It lives up to its billing.  And Sean Penn does a completely new role- he always rocks.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: George on November 10, 2009, 03:54:52 PM
I lashed out 6 kuai and bought "Australia". What a collection of cinematic cliches!! bibibibibi
It's so bad, it could almost be a comedy. The photography is ordinary, the lighting is very amateurish...if I noticed it, that's amateurish.....the matte paintings were noticeable as matte paintings.....Darwin Harbour, the smoke from the ships never moved...the ripples (moving) were waaay out of proportion to the ships, which also didn't move. The obligatory stampede, (a must for every movie about droving) starts in the pitch black of night, then bursts out into the midday sun!
The introduction of the heroine to Australia...a bar-room brawl, featuring the hero. "Crocodile Dundee, anyone?
The same hackneyed use of "long-ago-shoulda-retired"  B-grade australian actors in the supporting cast.....Bruce Spence?  kkkkkkkkkk
The usual stereotypes...The English "Lady-with-a-broom-up-her-arse", the tut-tutting local matrons, the tough "drover-who-can't-ride-a-horse-properly", the suitably evil bad guys, the "aborigine-who-always-stands-on-one-leg", the "absolute-wreck-of-a-homestead-which-miraculously-transforms-after-a-shower-of-rain", etc.  Oh, yes. The dancing-in-the-street-scene, when the "Big Wet arrives.
Mucking about with history. Never let the facts get in the way of a mediocre story. Japanese soldiers invading a mission island the day after the bombing of Darwin? Never happened, but it was an opportunity to get rid of the "drovers-best-aboriginal-mate".
The Number Two bad guy saying..." Yeah, no, blah, blah,blah!
Waste of a good 6 kuai!


Apart from all that, the little Aborigine kid "kicked arse". Big time!!!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on November 10, 2009, 04:26:59 PM
He was good, but the whole thing was incredibly predictable from go-to-whoa. 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on November 11, 2009, 02:02:03 AM
The usual stereotypes...

Waste of a good 6 kuai!

Not to mention about three hours of your life that you'll never get back.  What the hell were they trying to do?  Roll every cliche scene from every movie that Howard Hawkes and Raoul Walsh ever made and assume a classic would emerge?  And why would Nicole Kidmann subject herself so such tripe?  She's a great actor who assumes many unusual roles.  Would her patriotism have come into question if she had turned down her role in this train wreck?  I kept getting the idea that the producers were bound and determined to one-up the classic American Western genre.  They should have looked to "Man From Snowy River" for guidance.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on December 22, 2009, 02:43:29 AM
The Tudors.  Excellent series, complex and well developed.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: becster79 on December 22, 2009, 04:05:07 AM
To understand 'Australia' you must understand the director behind  it, Baz Lurhmann. All that stuff about bad cinematography etc- that is ALL his style. Watch Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Julie and Moulin Rouge. However, I think this was his 'wackiest' to date. But yeah, the script was baaaad, even I (an Aussie) never finished it.

LE- The Tudors- yeah, love it! Natalie Dorman (Anne) is STUNNING!

Me, I'm loving 30 Rock, totally digging this show! I also recently bought the entire 'Seinfeld' collection, so am getting into that while organising exam papers etc. Last night I also watched 'Julie and Julia' very nice, light film about a blogger who attempts to make all of Julia Childs 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking' recipes in 1 year!

Saw 2012 the other day. Dreadful. That's 2 hours of my life I will never get back!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on December 22, 2009, 04:12:41 AM
Just saw Avatar in 3D yesterday.

James Cameron doesn't let a pathetically predictable and cliched plot stand in the way of making a film that's well worth spending 2 hours and 40 minutes watching.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on December 22, 2009, 04:26:32 AM
The more I watch The Tudors the more I enjoy it.  Intrigues; church vs state; the role of women (Mary being betrothed at 12!, Margaret and the the King of Portugal); politics; machinations; and music.  Seeing Henry as young rather than old, syphilitic and gross is interesting as well.

The British (OK - Irish!) are SOOOOO good at this!


I've already gone through one bottle of good red watching this, and am trying to make up my mind if I should open another.   Although maybe that belongs in the "I'm drunk" thread!  ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: harry_aus on December 22, 2009, 05:01:09 AM
Well I'm glad that I'm not the only Australian who
was disappointed with that weird creation that 'Baz' put together!
I bought the DVd when I was up in Wuxi. Wish I hadn't.
Baz seemed to get so confused - he starts off with a sort of
slapstick movie - then goes to a scenic, Lean-esque epic - to
a romance - and on to a war movie........bewildering!("Crikey"!)

Probably my biggest gripe was him bestowing the title "Australia" on it,
a pretentious attempt at implying that it was the definitive history of the nation or something.
And as for the indigenous people "singing" magic spells, well,  mmmmmmmmmm
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: mlaeux on December 22, 2009, 05:09:41 AM
LE - I love  akakakakak historical films. It doesn't mater to me if its fiction or non-fiction. I just love the costumes, setting and vernacular.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on December 22, 2009, 06:24:04 AM
Although I get a bit miffed when they take liberties with time lines - eg Henry Fitzroy and Thomas Tallis.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on December 22, 2009, 09:10:12 AM
rip brittany murphy

she was probably the best actress from america who was around my age, i proper liked her and she had serious talent

don't normally care about american actresses but she was a great actress who managed to express her sense of humour through her acting and managed to come across as a human in hollywood films

i am really gutted to be honest. 32 is way too young to die
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on December 30, 2009, 06:12:48 AM
Just finished watching Anthony Hopkins in "Nixon".  Very interesting movie.  It would be really interesting to see what the students think of it.  Particularly the Mao meeting, nd all of the machinations of government and power.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on December 30, 2009, 04:46:35 PM
I love "The Tudors" too....I even got some students who professed an interest in British history to watch it...later this week we're having a talk over some tea to discuss the historical inaccuracies...for example the death of Wolsey.

I want to watch the new Sherlock Holmes movie ananananan ananananan ananananan ananananan

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on December 30, 2009, 04:51:24 PM
Wolsey's suicide was dodgy - I've tried to find references even to rumours of it, but so far, nada.  Smeaton did have rumours about his torture.  The death of Henry Fitzroy was way too early as well - he was married before he died (Although that was pretty easy to do at a very young age!). 

They did ahve a bit of fun with time lines and drama.

After I finished the Tudors I had a look at the Cate Blanchette's 2 Elizabeths.  That was a good follow up.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Mister Barfly on December 31, 2009, 05:02:16 PM
I just watched a very good film called Adam, its a film about Adam, a lonely man with Asperger's Syndrome. 

Also started to watch a new series called Men of a certain age.  Its quite funny and worth a look
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on January 06, 2010, 03:43:04 AM
Finally watched 'Frida'.  Very well done.  Salma Hayek did a good job.  Geoffrey Rush as Trotsky was an interesting choice as well.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 06, 2010, 07:23:38 PM
Just watched the season finale of "Dr.Who"..."The End of Time"...That new chap has some pretty big sneakers to fill, because David Tennant was absolutely brilliant agagagagag agagagagag

Just so there is no confusion...I want to watch the Sherlock Holmes movie!!!!!! ananananan ananananan ananananan ananananan
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on January 07, 2010, 06:25:51 AM
World Without Thieves"  - produced by Feng Xiaogang - one of my favourite Chinese producers, a gorgeous movie, plus Andy Lau ... OMG!!   afafafafaf afafafafaf cheexyblonde :snoopytrage:

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: mlaeux on January 07, 2010, 12:48:09 PM
Quote
Just watched the season finale of "Dr.Who"..."The End of Time"...That new chap has some pretty big sneakers to fill, because David Tennant was absolutely brilliant
What!? No David Tennant?  aoaoaoaoao I'm sick about this one.  aaaaaaaaaa I absolutely love, love, love David Tennant!  akakakakak
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on January 10, 2010, 06:21:51 AM
Johnny Depp   akakakakak akakakakak afafafafaf afafafafaf bhbhbhbhbh in Sweeney Todd.  It was a fun movie, and Johnny Depp is gorgeous ANYTIME (but not as drop dead sexy here as in Pirates! bhbhbhbhbh bhbhbhbhbh bhbhbhbhbh).



BUT... the real enjoyment was the subtitles!!  OMG - I had a version of the movie pirated from the one they sent for Oscar nominations, and the subtitles were beyond hysterical.  Worth watching JUST for the glorious interpretations!!!!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Schnerby on January 10, 2010, 02:34:19 PM
Sometimes subtitles bear no resemblance to the actual lines in the movies. I like to think of it as a commentary, or perhaps even poetic performance art to accompany the movie.   ahahahahah mmmmmmmmmm

Dodgy subtitles rule.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: thedogateit on January 11, 2010, 07:31:58 PM
Is the world ready for a Mannequin remake? Hollywood thinks it is. http://www.dlisted.com/node/35552
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: mlaeux on January 12, 2010, 03:47:54 AM
Hmmm...I don't recall Mannequin being very popular at the time. Has it turned into some sort of cult classic or something?  mmmmmmmmmm
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 18, 2010, 04:22:32 PM
I just found a flawless version of the new Sherlock Holmes.... akakakakak akakakakak
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: latefordinner on January 18, 2010, 05:20:14 PM
ETR, is the new SH as good as the 1980's production that Jeremy Brett was in? I'm not a big Conan Doyle fan, but I loved watching those.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 18, 2010, 06:35:22 PM
I loved Jeremy Brett's portrayal of Holmes. The new one is heavy on action, but really good. I also rather like that, in this movie, Watson is not portrayed as some chubby, clueless side-kick. I do recommend this movie.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: becster79 on January 18, 2010, 07:23:24 PM
Anybody seen Avatar yet? Any good? I'm thinking of leaving early Wednesday just so I can catch the 3D version of it at HK airport before my flight.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 18, 2010, 10:31:25 PM
Avatar: the plot is pedestrian, but pleasing--there are exactly only two instance where wrong notes are hit, and that was the fault of the score rather than the storytelling per se--but given the CGI and and the overall monumental effect the cinematography was looking for, it's a movie totally worth seeing in 3D if you can.  Totally.  There'll be a whole lot of oooh and ahh moments in 3D from beginning right through to the end.   Probably very entertaining that way.  (I saw it 2D on my 19 inch monitor and even so I could see how it would be very cool in 3D.)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on January 19, 2010, 01:13:36 AM
Saw it in 3D at the IMAX in Changsha with a little chronic.

Awsome!

The Last of the Mohicans with very tall smurfs.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: latefordinner on January 20, 2010, 04:39:26 PM
I haven't seen it yet, but a lot of my acquaintances/former students have and they love it. <Caution: these are all young uni students and recent graduates> Hope to see it myself when I have time
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on January 21, 2010, 11:19:47 AM
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8469672.stm

China has pulled the 2D version of Avatar from cinemas amid claims the plot mirrors forced land evictions in the country.

Authorities insist the decision was a commercial one, saying the 3D version made up two-thirds of ticket revenues.

Critics claim the film's plot parallels the removal of millions of residents to make way for property developers.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on January 23, 2010, 01:44:51 AM
Finally caught up with District 9.  Fanbloodytastic!  Especially given its background, level of irony, and black humour.

I would love to show this to a class - the discussion would be great!!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on January 23, 2010, 06:58:40 PM
Just been to the dodgy DVD market and picked up 160Y worth of DVDs.  It would have been more, but the laoban took 'Sherlock Holmes' out of my pile and told me it wasn't a good copy!! 

I ended up with:
Battlestar Galactica 3 + 4.
Beyond Reasonable Doubt
Taking Woodstock (based on true story)
Up in the Air - George Clooney
The Lovely Bones (good book - hope they don't stuff up the movie)
The Time Traveller's Wife (good book - hope they don't stuff up the movie!)
Creation - the Charles Darwin one
9 - a Tim Burton, what else can I say?
The Men Who Stare at Goats (psychic US military unit during Iraqi war)
Fame - a classic and the students will love it.
Bright Star - Keats' muse - Fanny Brawne
Amelia (Earhart)
Avatar - lets check the 3D setting on my video/Tv player!! ahahahahah)
A serious man - the Coen Brothers -
Adam
Invictus - about Nelson Mandela
If you are the one - by one of my favourite Chinese producers Feng Xiaogang.



A nice couple of weeks coming up.   bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on January 24, 2010, 01:27:30 AM
Avatar is fun - predictable, but fun.  Lots of interesting influences - The Magic Faraway Tree, Anne McCaffrey's Dragons, Gaia theory etc - I think naming the influences could become a good party game!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: El Macho on January 24, 2010, 10:17:01 PM
I saw Avatar in 3d on an IMAX screen here in the States and honestly didn't notice much in terms of it being 3d. My mother claims that she was impressed by the 3d-ness of the film, but I just couldn't see it. Weird.

Anyway, I did quite like Avatar. After seeing it, I'm not sympathetic to those in the US press who branded it "lefty". It's not.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on January 24, 2010, 10:53:55 PM
Just finished watching 'The Men who Stare at Goats' - cool in an odd sort of way.

Plus "Amelia" - be a very good one to use with students.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 26, 2010, 04:08:14 PM
I watched Avatar last night. Yeah, due to an old cornea transplant I am physically incapable of watching the 3D version, so had to watch the normal one instead. I know lots of people are going ga-ga over this flick, but I found it less than impressive. Yes, the whole Avatar concept was good, but that was also the only nugget of originality in the movie, the rest was just saccharine, predictable and downright dumb. I am sure the 3D version is very impressive, but when you ignore all the bells and whistles of that, this is not a tremendously awe-inspiring movie, the story, in one shape or another, has been seen before a million times, it's riddled with cliches and long-winded speeches of the "加油!加油!" variety. Honestly, there was nothing in this movie I found surprising or interesting. My DVD copy cost 8 Kuai, a ticket to the cinema would have cost me 100 Kuai, the latter would have been a waste and the former could have been spent on something better.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on January 26, 2010, 05:04:07 PM
Everything you say about Avatar is fair except you didn't see it in 3D. The movie is made for this. Cameron invented new cameras for this very purpose. The quality of the 3D changes the feeling you have while watching.

If you a take a story and film it in black and white, you will probably make different choices than if you were to use colour. This 3D is a big jump. It's definitely not as good in 2D. At the IMAX in 3D it was spectacular. On my TV it was just long.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 26, 2010, 05:28:22 PM
Yes, but I couldn't care less if Cameron invented new cameras or if everyone in the universe suddenly has a hard-on for 3D, I'm physically incapable of watching a 3D movie, and as for the effects...3D may be ever so impressive but CGI is blah...who's impressed by that? SO whether it was meant to be watched in 3D or not, does not in any way annul the fact that this is not a good movie. Sure, special effects, 3D, interactive experience with the movie...just because you sprinkle diamonds on a turd doesn't make it any less of a turd.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on January 26, 2010, 05:48:25 PM
If you can't experience something the way it is intended it may seem like a turd. Like poor translation of book in a language you can't read.

I like good CGI. What wrong with that? Can you not appreciate things for the different qualities they might have?

In a theatre in 3D it is a different experience than watching on your dvd player.

Is Avatar the best movie ever? Of course not, but a turd?

You'd have to be blind to think that .... oh wait, nevermind.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on January 26, 2010, 05:58:09 PM
I saw Burn After Reading last night. Classic Coen brothers...the best thing they've done since The Man Who Wasn't There.

 Going to see Avatar today.  bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: fox on January 26, 2010, 07:44:46 PM
just watched 'precious' some powerful moments. sensitively done in parts, challenging but a positive outcome. also watched 'lovely bones' a dip into the afterlife and an effort to show the connections.  Both good movies in their own right i thought.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on January 26, 2010, 07:45:55 PM
I have "The Lovely Bones" - enjoyed the book.  Did you think they messed the book up?? If they did I won't watch it!!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 26, 2010, 08:09:26 PM
I have no problem with good CGI, Stil, but when that is all there is to a movie, I don't see the point of it. CGI is just make-up, no depth, nothing.
I have watched "The Invisible Man" with Claude Rains a million times, the story is good and the effects are amazing, and that is an old movie. Give me a movie that emphasizes acting and plot over any of these computer movies any day.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on January 27, 2010, 09:24:41 AM
 Eric!!!! You love The original Invisible Man too?! I think we must get married. akakakakak

 As for Avatar, it turns out IMAX tickets are sold out for two weeks, and being that I live 2 subway stops from one of only 3 IMAX theaters in Beijing, I will reserve my judgement until Feb 11. This also gives me me time to buy some drugs...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on January 27, 2010, 03:07:26 PM
Feng Xiaogang's "If you are the one'.  An interesting, slightly satirical look at trying to find 'the one'.  Plenty of good lines and Shu Qi looks really good in this movie. 

My English subtitles are good, and at times, it was even possible to follow the Chinese!

I was told his next one will be set in 1976, so may not be so reflective of China today.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: old34 on January 27, 2010, 03:34:03 PM
Feng Xiaogang's "If you are the one'.  An interesting, slightly satirical look at trying to find 'the one'.  Plenty of good lines and Shu Qi looks really good in this movie. 

When doesn't Shu Qi look good? mmmmmmmmmm

Shu Qi = Most Beautiful Woman in the World, Ever.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on February 03, 2010, 04:42:23 AM
Bright Star - the Jane Campion movie about Fanny Brawne, John Keats' inspiration.  Very well done.

A .O. Scott's review calls it "... perfectly chaste and insanely sexy."


"Taking Woodstock" by Ang Lee.  Another favourite director, cool inside story.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Crippler on February 03, 2010, 05:31:00 PM
Tomorrow night Avatar at the Imax. We will see.....
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on February 04, 2010, 12:34:02 AM
i really wanted avatar to suck since it's such a shit hollwood film but it is awesome

i am tempted to go watch it in 3D
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on February 04, 2010, 05:22:03 AM
Invictus - Clint Eastwood Production with Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon, story of Nelson Mandela and the Sth African football (Rugby) team. 

Loads of good themes to use with students - with the benefit of showing them some real football!!   ahahahahah ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on February 04, 2010, 04:59:42 PM
9...a post-apocalyptic story...Tim Burton co-produced it...It's amazing agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on February 04, 2010, 07:52:53 PM
Oh goody! I'm probably going to watch that tonight. I saw Sascha Baron Cohen's "Bruno" the other night... ahahahahah ahahahahah ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on February 05, 2010, 03:12:44 AM
Saw "Moon" with Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey's (HAL 9000) voice.  Interesting sci-fi and worth the 90 minutes.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lotus Eater on February 05, 2010, 05:36:59 AM
I thought Bruno wasn't as good as Borat.  Watched '9' - enjoyable but reminded me of a cross between "The Borrowers" and "Battlestar Galactica" with bits of Tomb Raider thrown in.  Fun, and the animation was cool.

"Creation" is good.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on February 05, 2010, 06:12:56 AM
Grumblemumble...all this 3D nonsense...I just watched Die Hard 1 and 4...See, those are good movies. Cool bad guys, corny lines, Bruce Willis blowing things up...what else do you need?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Crippler on February 06, 2010, 01:51:53 AM
Avatar, good movie in 3D. Next time I want the back rows. It was a little mind numbing from the 2nd. row.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on February 06, 2010, 01:54:15 AM
I have the 2 new Che Guevara movies to watch tonight ababababab
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on February 07, 2010, 05:39:04 PM
Finally got around to season 3 of Mad Men.  God, I love that show!  ababababab 2 episodes in...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ArialFont on February 07, 2010, 05:45:47 PM
Finally saw Battlestar Galactica all the way to the end. bfbfbfbfbf If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. Except for season 3 which is completely crap.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on February 07, 2010, 06:11:31 PM
I watched that too, LE. I haven't read the book but the  movies was not that good. I thought it was rather slow and boring.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on February 08, 2010, 09:05:26 PM
i watched all 3 back to the future movies yesterday

:(:(
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: DJWolff on February 10, 2010, 01:42:38 AM
I have watched most of this year's Oscar contenders (Thanks, Youku).

The Hurt Locker, whose first ten minutes I just couldn't stand at my first attempt, but I decided to check it one more time with an open mind and WOW! It was amazing. Now I get all the hype.

District 9 (Where was this gem hidden?)

Inglourious Basterds (My favorite)

Up (My second favorite)

Up In The Air (with spoiled ending  asasasasas)

Precious,
The Blind Side,
An Education,

I had already watched Avatar. First in 2D and then for the second time in 3D. I wanted to compare experiences, but I guess my weak eyes are mose used to the 2D experience. I had a terrible headache and I fell asleep for some minutes bibibibibi.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Day Dreamer on February 14, 2010, 07:33:17 PM
We saw Avatar weeks ago and surprisingly it was easy to get tickets for the IMAX. Not great seats, but not bad for 2 hours before show time.

Technically, the movie was great. But story line, I liked the Walt Disney version better, though they called it Pocahontas
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on February 23, 2010, 04:13:11 AM
Mel Gibson thriller "Edge of Darkness"

I didn't really like the name. Made me think of a horror movie.

A better name for this movie would have been "Piece of Crap" then I would have had a better idea what kind of movie this was.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on February 23, 2010, 05:04:24 AM
Mel Gibson thriller "Edge of Darkness"

I didn't really like the name. Made me think of a horror movie.

A better name for this movie would have been "Piece of Crap" then I would have had a better idea what kind of movie this was.

the bbc tv show is excellent

i'm assuming the film will be crap since it is by mel gibson
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on February 23, 2010, 05:09:32 AM
Finally saw the end of Reign On Me.  I really enjoyed it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on February 23, 2010, 05:48:19 AM

i'm assuming the film will be crap since it is by mel gibson


He was just acting in this one - Boston Irish cop   kkkkkkkkkk
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on February 23, 2010, 07:12:01 AM
Oh, I'm on a roll tonight. Piece of Crap 2, otherwise known as.....

Legion

"Why is God angry mommy?"

"I don't know. I guess he got tired of all the bullshit."

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on March 07, 2010, 10:56:51 PM
Prognostications, anyone?

Best Pic: Hurt Locker
Best Dir: Kathryn Bigelow
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges
Best Actress: Sandra Bullock
Best Sup Actor: Cristoph Waltz
Best Sup Actress: Mo'Nique
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on April 14, 2010, 02:18:47 AM
Watched a few films recently.  Mostly crap.

Alice in Wonderland: crap.
Ninja assassin: crap.
The Wolfman: uber crap.
Cop Out: crap.
The Green Zone: better than crap, a decent tough guy movie with an ordinary ending.
The Hurt Locker: better than the Green Zone.
New Moon: sue me, I liked it.
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus: I would have preferred it not to be, but it was crap too.
The Invention of Lying: not too bad, actually, except for being a little too obvious and by and large woefully not being the opportunity for some splendid satire it should have been.

But head and shoulders above all of these, we have

How To Train Your Dragon.  

A very nice animated movie.  I couldn't fully appreciate the animation because it was a cam copy, but the story is enjoyable.

A special mention here goes to From Paris With Love.  I didn't think it was actually possible to make a movie this shallow.  It has the depth of a slice of cardboard.


Also last night I watched Ponyo.  It's a beaut too.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on April 14, 2010, 02:36:25 AM
Hmmm...I kind of liked Alice in Wonderland...especially the March Hare...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Slim Pickens on April 16, 2010, 03:22:42 PM
Recently had another look at Sexy Beast (2000).  Great little movie.

Ray Winstone plays fear extremely well.  Ben Kingsley is hilarious.  But the scene stealer is Ian McShane.  His use of silence is terrifying.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: George on April 16, 2010, 08:51:36 PM
Ian McShane is apparently set to play Blackbeard in the next P.o.t.C. movie.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 02, 2010, 10:26:01 PM
Repo Men

(To distinguish this from 1984's Repo Man, lets claim this 2010 movie can be subtitled Repossession Mambo.)

Awesome movie!  Not for small kids, nor the physically squeamish, nor anyone who has recently had surgery: the main characters repossess artificial body parts sold by a large company when recipients default on the loans that paid for the original surgery.  And I do wish I'd not watched the cam version, for this movie is at least in part about dark style and flash and it'll work so much better if you can see what's happening.  And the style and flash is all the more awesome for the intellectual substance this movie very nearly has.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf


Thai surgeons FTW!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on May 05, 2010, 05:26:14 PM
I want to sue Hollywood...I estimate that being the wonderful person I am, my time is valuable and therefore Hollywood, as I see it, owes me a truck-load of dosh. Why is that, you might rightfully ask? Well, the answer is really simple. Last night I, having just returned from a delightful trip to Suzhou, decided to make a cup of ginger tea and watch my recently purchased copy of "Where The Wild Things Live"...after watching 45 minutes of it, I decided that I should watch something else as the only emotion the movie stirred in me was a desire for the monsters to devour the extremely annoying, pasry milksop child that they, for reasons I am at a loss to fathom, had befriended. Then, I tried to watch the re-make of "Clash of the Titans"...By the venerable beard of Zeus, that was an even greater mistake. The acting was stilted and unconvincing, the story was amazingly stupi and, if anything, this movie should have been entitled "How To Spend A Quadrillion Dollars In the Effort To Completely Mangle Greek Mythology"...The Kraken is the minion of Hades and it defeated the Titans in the Valley of Stygian??  Zeus asks Perseus to become an Olympian just because he is his son, as if there is a shortage of children being the result of lusty liasons between gods and mortals in Ancient Greece?? Even my dog would be able to explain that, should one read the legends of Ancient Greece, one would rapidly reach the rational conclusion that you couldn't throw a stone in Greece at that time without hitting a son or daughter of a God. Why are the Olympian Gods dressed in Medieval plate-mail armour?? The legend of Perseus is not good enough, so we have to introduce a roving band of Djinn??? How the hell did a Djinn make it into a movie set in Ancient Greece?? Obviously, Greek mythology does not have enough of its own supernatural entities, so it is necessary to import some.
To anyone who watched this movie and enjoyed it, I recommend reading the works of Bulfinch and that of Graves and then watch it again. Or just watch the original instead. Still a silly story but Harry Harryhausen's effects make up for that.
"Clash of the Titans" was an unmitigated, unpardonable piece of amateurish crap. If one day you should have an couple of spare hours and do not know what to do and you find yourself torn between watching this movie or deliberately placing yourself between a mommy grizzly bear and her cub whilst waving a stick menacingly around the vicinity of said cubs head, I recommend the latter choice. It will actually be less painful than the former choice.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lone Traveller on May 05, 2010, 08:35:51 PM
Ok so I'm probably the last person in the world to have seen Avatar, but I quite liked it.

Sometimes I just like to get "lost" in movies... i dont care about disecting them.

I also saw Mao's Last Dancer. Good. But the book was a thousand times better. If anyone ever asks, I'd direct them straight to the book. bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Dex on May 09, 2010, 09:03:24 PM
Sexy Beast is probably my fave flick of all time! Ben Kingsley is beyond talent!!!

Chinese-wise, just watched 'jia fang yi fang' - oldish comedy about a company that makes dreams come true... by acting out the customer's wish for the day. Good.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: fox on May 11, 2010, 08:10:33 PM
watched Ironman2 the other day. quite liked it, but i will wait for a good copy so reserve judgment until then, i had a cam copy which wasn't so good.
Extraordinary measures i thought was a great movie. Ford did a great display of an eccentric scientist and i thought the storyline although predictable was worthy of my time and enjoyable.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on May 11, 2010, 10:24:32 PM
totally agree with ericthered about titans. i'm a bit of a fan of the greek myths and i'm not a purist by any means but that story just didn't make sense...well there wasn't really a story they just introduced each CGI monster then moved on to the next one...

i don't understand how they sink hundreds of millions into a movie and don't write a script....
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on May 12, 2010, 11:12:29 PM
i don't understand how they sink hundreds of millions into a movie and don't write a script....

Because it makes money.  The bigger the budget, the bigger the required audience.  Therefore they have to dig deeper into the IQ bell curve.  Quality and budget size are in direct opposition...most of the time.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on May 13, 2010, 04:53:27 AM
Just finished season three of the Tudors.  More shows of this caliber and history classes will be replaced.  History, with sex and violence.

Chuck is a lot of fun.

Extras is really funny, particularly the celebrity cameos. 

Father Ted is occasionally funny.  The IT crowd, by thye same makers, is funnier.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on May 13, 2010, 05:18:56 AM
i don't understand how they sink hundreds of millions into a movie and don't write a script....

Because it makes money.  The bigger the budget, the bigger the required audience.  Therefore they have to dig deeper into the IQ bell curve.  Quality and budget size are in direct opposition...most of the time.

i disagree

if you look at james cameron's movies, ok they are dumb, but they always have a plot and so on. of course they are not deep, but they always have a narrative and characters and some sort of message etc and this means they make more money than things like clash of the titans where they just throw loads of effects at you

spielberg is an even better example, his films actually became more popular when he focused on the plot and characters and used special effects to the benefit of the characters

these movies do make money of course, but the real blockbusters always have some sort of story and message etc.  it is usually pretty shallow, but never obscenely so...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 13, 2010, 10:49:11 PM
Some recently watched product:

Shutter Island
Very well executed psychological thriller.  In style, a throwback to Hitchcock kinda stuff, and very good for it.

The Men Who Stare at Goats
Meh.  Clooney is almost always good to watch, but this movie doesn't hit the right note.

Up In The Air
Much better Clooney vehicle.  An enjoyable comedy drama.

True Legend
A very familiar kind of Chinese action hero story, but with some really odd propaganda notions... there's some kind of "sick man of Asia but still kicking ass" foundation.

Pandorum
Dumb title, but very decent action/psycho-thriller sci-fi.

Mao's Last Dancer
Such an accurate throwback to 70's midday movies it's almost uncomfortable to watch.  Depends how you felt about the 70's I guess.

Elmer Gantry
Always good.

JCVD
This is a very cool movie.  The JCVD of the title is Jean Claude Van Damme and in this movie he plays "himself".  It's not a documentary at all, though.  The "himself" role is a heightened artistic conceit.  However, the monologue to camera about 3/4 of the way through is exceptional viewing, not just because it's unusual but because it's himself.  I suppose one could call this movie Portrait of JCVD as the Artist.

Kick-Ass
Now this movie is something new too.  It combines several Hollywood movements--the gross out nerd comedy, the superhero story, and something not quite seen exactly before which I think I'll claim is an emerging anime influence.  That third factor is actually more like a Kill Bill influence, but it's transgressive because it consciously aims at a lower age group.  Mainstream murder porn for 12-year-olds!  I didn't know this when I started watching.  I thought I was in for a fairly standard teen drama acceptable to boomers.  And so it is for the first fifteen minutes or so until Nick Cage shows up.



Too much free time.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lone Traveller on May 14, 2010, 11:24:40 PM
Have to disagree with the JCVD. I found it, kind of ridiculous. Different strokes for different folk I guess.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 15, 2010, 12:22:30 AM
Re JCVD... yep, different strokes.  I found it compelling for a few reasons.  I like meaningful surreality, and Jean Claude Van Damme acting as "Jean Claude Van Damme" is... cool.  It's got layers.  And the themes and characters in the movie actually fit really well with the kind of movie Jean Claude has made in the past--there's a continuity of art there, like taking it to the next level.  Plus, Jean Claude Van Damme actually is a bit of a nut.  All that "Aware" stuff and the out of context interview snippets scattered throughout the movie were actual real-life JCVD interviews, and that bit where he "ascends"... that's all him.  He's a nut, but all that stuff is connected.  I'm finding it a bit hard to express, but it's the whole concept, man, the concept!  I'm a fan of seeing the conceptual be realised and in that movie the concept actively reached out from the screen.  The man is bigger for having been fictionalised into reality.

 eeeeeeeeee
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Lone Traveller on May 15, 2010, 12:08:13 PM
Ok you win  ahahahahah  You used way more words than I did, plus your head exploded at the end.... i dont want to be responsible for that.  ahahahahah

and... back on topic.


 bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on May 17, 2010, 08:55:52 PM
Finished three seasons of The Tudors.  At this rate, history won't be taught in classes much longer, not if Showcase and HBO can just dramatize key periods in our history, replete with steamy sex scenes.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on May 18, 2010, 01:13:09 PM
That is a very bad  scenario indeed. The Tudors is a smashing show but it is still a show...it is riddled with historical inaccuracies...Wolsey´s death for instance and others.

I just watched Solomon Kane...what a momentous work of  bqbqbqbqbq that was. James Purefoy must have been seriously strapped for cash to make that.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on May 18, 2010, 05:32:12 PM
I disagree, Eric.  All that's needed is a companion article outlining the inaccuracies, and Bob's your uncle.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on May 18, 2010, 07:20:40 PM
Yeeesss...that might work...unfortunately, people don´t watch TV to read, they do so to avoid doing so. I am not saying one cannot learn something from historical shows, but I have always been puzzled as to why they have to change history, invent characters, change events and such.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on May 18, 2010, 07:24:24 PM
...That is a very bad  scenario indeed. The Tudors is a smashing show but it is still a show...it is riddled with historical inaccuracies...


Riddled?  Really?  The Wolsey part for sure, but hasn't it been surprisingly and in the great majority, accurate?  My history on this era isn't great but I was far more impressed with its accuracy than its falsehoods.  I would say the same thing about "Deadwood".  And, in its own way, "The Wire".
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on May 18, 2010, 07:35:00 PM
All historical shows have inaccurasies. The Tudors is a good one, as they are few but noticeable.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on May 18, 2010, 08:16:23 PM
Somehow I missed out an an alternate cut of Alien3 until my last visit to the video pirates.  The dog got replaced in the version I just saw.

And, it looks like I left the theater a little too quickly when I was the second Harold and Kumar flick (yes, I did go see that one on the big screen - I never said I had good taste).  There's a 3 second long item tacked on to the very end of the closing credits that I caught while using these films to give an American Culture lesson to a Chinese friend.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on May 18, 2010, 08:19:46 PM
All historical shows have inaccurasies. The Tudors is a good one, as they are few but noticeable.

As do all history courses.  How many "facts" did we learn in school that we later found out were way off the mark.  This could be a thread all by itself.  Start with the legend that The Great Wall of China can be seen from outer space.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Invictus on May 20, 2010, 01:26:29 PM
Last couple of movies I watched were Kick-Ass (which kicked ass), I Sell the Dead (horror comedy with the dude who played Charlie in Lost; enjoyable), Martin (George Romero's '77 flick about a teenage vampire—or is he?), and I revisited two old favorites: the cerebral, low-budget debut Pi by Darren Aronofsky (probably better known for Requiem for a Dream and, more recently,The Wrestler), and Steven Seagal's excellent Marked for Death. That and Out for Justice were the high point of Seagal's career. He'd never surpass either.

I'm actually going through Seagal's entire 38-movie filmography 'cause if I don't, Seagal might find me and twist my wrist. So far, I'm still in the late '80s—the ol' glory days. But the craptacular straight-to-video schlock of his post-mid-'90s films is rearing its ugly head in the horizon... Why, Steven, why.

I'm also slowly but steadily going through a few TV series. At the moment I'm nearing the end of the first season of "Leave It to Beaver" (thirty-nine episodes, geez) and I just started the third season of "The Office" (U.S. version).
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 20, 2010, 04:00:32 PM
*sigh*

I finished Weeds last night.  Seasons 1 through 5 over the course of two weeks.  I don't use the word "awesome" much, but it was an awesome show.  Well, seasons 1-3 were awesome--laugh out loud moments, great characters, great stories, great super ironic weirdness.  But in Season 4 Nancy starts being unlikeable.  It starts being clear how much crap she is creating, not just responding to.  By Season 5 the whole show has an alarming Days of Our Lives feel.  Still, it was cool.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Tai_Li on May 27, 2010, 04:36:25 PM
Just watched Children of Men again, with Clive Owen and Julianne Moore. Fantastic movie, IMHO. And the script was so good, and the cinematography was just amazing. The whole movie is great, but last maybe fifteen minutes just take my breath away. I highly recommend.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on May 27, 2010, 04:42:54 PM
Yeah, that battle scene is more realistic and terrifying even than Saving Private Ryan.

And Julianne Moore.  afafafafaf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Invictus on May 28, 2010, 05:21:22 AM
Latest movie...a 2005 Canadian production called Pontypool (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1226681/). This is a zombie film with a concept so original (and weird) it even threw me off: the entire film takes place inside the radio station of a small Ontario town which has experienced an inexplicable (aren't they always?) zombie outbreak. We experience all the external action via the internal action of the character's emotions inside the radio station. But that's not the half of it!

Without meaning to give any spoilers away, the way the infection spreads in this film is not through biting but through...language.

I won't say more. Not a particularly gory horror film--more of a suspense flick with horror elements, actually--but I sure ain't never done seen nothin' like it before. Recommended for anyone into an unusual twist on the ever-popular zombie/mass infection genre.

Oh, and speaking of zombie films, I just saw the mainstream Hollywood offering on the tale, Zombieland. Good beginning until it bogged down in the middle and never moved again. Could've been so much better.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Tai_Li on May 28, 2010, 06:11:59 PM
I loved Zombieland! I thought it was fantastic. The ending was a little irksome, but it made the point. Reminded me of Shaun of the Dead. And that's a compliment.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Invictus on May 28, 2010, 08:27:50 PM
Hehe. I didn't make it through Shaun of the Dead. Did you catch [REC] (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1038988/)?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on May 28, 2010, 11:22:02 PM
Zombieland was fun, but Shaun is an awesome work of genius.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on May 29, 2010, 08:42:50 PM
Watched the first season of "Breaking Bad".  Thought it would just be way off the charts for the sake of being edgy, but found a lot more to it than that.  The bath tub scene was classic.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Rainbow Emily on May 30, 2010, 02:13:48 AM
I'm a film geek. My favourite genre of film IS zombie films, and I was rather looking forward to Zombieland. However, I was sincerely disappointed. Firstly it wasn't a 'zombie' film, in the sense of meeting the typical 'zombie film' conventions. Secondly, the sub-plot 'love' theme was majorly a wipe out and I was incredibly bored at the point where the film went from starting off as a potentially great film to a lame-ass rom-com. Some great moments though.

Oh and Sean of the Dead rocks. I love Simon Pegg..
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Damballah on May 31, 2010, 01:11:49 PM
"Dollhouse' - Joss Whedon.

Broad generalisation coming up here - warning!!  WHY do Americans kill brilliant shows (Firefly, Dollhouse) and let rubbish run for a gazillion seasons?  LCD denominator factor I guess.   ananananan ananananan ananananan
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Invictus on May 31, 2010, 01:23:13 PM
I'm a film geek. My favourite genre of film IS zombie films, and I was rather looking forward to Zombieland. However, I was sincerely disappointed. Firstly it wasn't a 'zombie' film, in the sense of meeting the typical 'zombie film' conventions.

How so?

It's always interesting to see how the zombies are presented. I've noticed that lately, zombies have gotten quite limber. I think this is a good thing. Seeing them all stumble along Romero-style has run its course. It's much more terrifying to see one running at you full speed with a crazy look on its face. The most menacing zombies I've seen so far were in [REC].

Quote
Secondly, the sub-plot 'love' theme was majorly a wipe out and I was incredibly bored at the point where the film went from starting off as a potentially great film to a lame-ass rom-com.

From the moment they met Murray, it all fell apart.

Quote
Some great moments though.

Especially in the first ten minutes. What a promising start it had.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on May 31, 2010, 05:34:41 PM
"Dollhouse' - Joss Whedon.

Broad generalisation coming up here - warning!!  WHY do Americans kill brilliant shows (Firefly, Dollhouse) and let rubbish run for a gazillion seasons?  LCD denominator factor I guess.   ananananan ananananan ananananan

Intelligent shows take time to sink in.  I hope Whedon learns his lesson and gets someone to finance him for a minimum 3 seasons.  Remember, Buffy got crap ratings at first, too.

I've never seen Firefly, but Dollhouse was amazing.  ananananan
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on June 01, 2010, 03:58:26 AM
i like stumbling zombies better than running zombies, the 00s zombies kind of weren't zombies for me. i still hold the original dawn of the dead as the best zombie movie ever, the zombies were scary on a totally different level as empty shells walking about looking for food than they are if they can run after you....
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on June 01, 2010, 04:58:54 PM
Bought all 5 seasons of How I Met Your Mother to use in English corners.  But they don't have subtitles, and the English is a little too fast and slang-y for the workers at my place.  llllllllll
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Damballah on June 03, 2010, 02:13:20 PM
Sherlock Holmes.   A very different take on him.  Good fun.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Mister Barfly on June 11, 2010, 04:30:42 PM
A movie called Exam.  It is about a group of people that have applied for a high profile job and are all called into a room for the final selection process.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Mister Barfly on June 11, 2010, 04:34:14 PM
An Irish movie called Holy Water.  Its a fun film to watch, also one of the stars is Linda Hamilton from Terminator (looking old).  About 4 Irish guys that live in a little village in Ireland and decide to steal a truck load of Viagra to sell in Amsterdam.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on June 11, 2010, 04:38:47 PM

I've never seen Firefly, but Dollhouse was amazing.  ananananan


   aaaaaaaaaa Con, if you think Dollhouse was amazing, you will not believe Firefly. Why haven't you seen it? What the he'll is wrong with you?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Damballah on June 11, 2010, 10:36:34 PM
I'll add my vote for Firefly and the follow-up 'Serenity'.  Made me a Joss Whedon convert.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on June 13, 2010, 11:29:59 PM
Can't find Firefly online or in stores.  I've seen Serenity, and it was good, but without the context of the show, I didn't get as much out of it as I might have.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: thedogateit on June 13, 2010, 11:51:11 PM
Con, if you aren't opposed to using torrents, you can find Firefly on kickasstorrents.com.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Mister Barfly on June 14, 2010, 04:35:16 AM
I have just watched quite a weird film called Mr Nobody.  I recommend it
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on June 14, 2010, 07:07:49 PM
I just finished watching all of Firefly last night (showing a friend some of the better things produced by American culture).  Can't wait to see her reaction to Serenity.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Invictus on June 15, 2010, 04:11:56 PM
I have just watched quite a weird film called Mr Nobody.  I recommend it

But why, oh tell us why? I see Jared Leto is still doing the occasional movie.

The synopsis sounds interesting but is this some manipulative tearjerker for chicks with handkerchiefs or an actual movie?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on June 15, 2010, 11:05:06 PM
 mmmmmmmmmm Amazon lists a fitness aoaoaoaoao dvd wth that title bibibibibi
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on June 19, 2010, 12:31:47 AM
Just finishing up season 2 of Chuck.  Great fun, though it's starting to slip.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on June 20, 2010, 12:40:06 AM
On Tuesday, I finally got around to watching "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas".  

Excellent film. bfbfbfbfbf  About an 8-year old and his family. He meets and becomes friends with another 8-year old, who "works on a farm" and wears pajamas.





Creeped me out. aoaoaoaoao  I highly recommend it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Tai_Li on June 20, 2010, 04:22:31 PM
I just finished watching all of Firefly last night (showing a friend some of the better things produced by American culture).  Can't wait to see her reaction to Serenity.


Such good stuff, it's absolutely fantastic. I was so tickled having studied Chinese for about a year when I started watching it, by the Chinese curses they sprinkled through the show. It was hilarious to try them out in various situations. I watched the movie before the series, but when (insert spoiler that people who have seen the movie knows what I'm talking about) I literally was depressed for like three days, and didn't know why.

Anyway, shiny. Nice to see we have another Browncoat on board.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on June 20, 2010, 11:21:13 PM
This past week, Hubby has been watching "Legends of Kung Fu" - 10 movies about....Kung Fu ahahahahah

Now he has started on the MacGyver series.  All 189 shows.  Can anyone say "marathon"? :wtf:
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on June 21, 2010, 08:38:43 PM

Anyway, shiny. Nice to see we have another Browncoat on board.


 mmmmmmmmmm  Browncoat?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: latefordinner on June 21, 2010, 09:26:47 PM
Amonk, I saw Boy in the Striped Pyjamas on the airplane flying back from Canada.  Not the best place to see that film, but certainly a good film.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 21, 2010, 10:13:50 PM

Anyway, shiny. Nice to see we have another Browncoat on board.


 mmmmmmmmmm  Browncoat?

Browncoat, dear Devourer of Canines, is the name given to fans of Firefly, which I personally rank as one of the best shows ever, and also to characters in the show who fought on the losing side of the war. For instance, Captain Reynolds sports a knee-length brown coat.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on June 21, 2010, 10:19:07 PM
Not to be confused with 'Brownpants' which are much more common and can often be found in places that serve beer and street food.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: George on June 21, 2010, 11:45:06 PM
Nor to be confused with "Brown noses", who are very common and are usually found between the Boss' buttocks.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Fozzwaldus on June 22, 2010, 03:40:07 AM
Just watched Inglorious Basterds and loved it.

Ridiculous, bizarre and brilliant. Pure Jewish revenge fantasy.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Damballah on June 22, 2010, 04:16:55 AM
Just finished watching "The Hurt Locker' - with some DoD and rescue people - who picked up every single error in it.  Verdict - "unrealistic + war propaganda:  Avatar should have been given the awards."
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 23, 2010, 04:39:57 PM
Watched Firefly and Serenity last week.  It is a pity Firefly only lasted a year.

But currently being mesmerized by Breaking Bad.  Finished Season 2 last night in a ten hour marathon.  Starting Season three today.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on June 23, 2010, 08:31:29 PM
where is a good place to stream chinese movies with english subs?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: xwarrior on June 26, 2010, 09:07:37 PM
Quote
I kind of liked Alice in Wonderland...especially the March Hare...

I also 'kind of liked' this movie. I always wondered why I never remembered is as a story I liked and this film gives the answer - to a kid it would be disturbing with quite a few weird and  mean people doing bad things.

I liked Alice!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on June 26, 2010, 11:53:04 PM
I finally got round to seeing The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.  I love Terry Gilliam's work and really wanted to like this film. It's good (I thought Andrew Garfield and Verne Troyer were great), but it's missing something, for me it really does need Heath Ledger on the other side of the mirror.

It felt a bit dated for me. It definetely had some good bits, Tom Waits was awesome (but i'm a fan of everything he does....) but it was too much Terry Gilliam, there wasn't much of a story so the flights of fantasy just seemed a bit pointless
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on June 29, 2010, 06:53:39 PM
Yeah, fidelity to a cohesive plot has never been Gilliam's strength.  Nonetheless, I consider anyting he even breathes on a must-see product.

Finally got my hands on Breaking Bad, and it's everything everyone said it is, except that I'd emphasize how ORIGINAL it is.  It doesn't remind me of anything in particular.

Tonight: Season 1 Disc 2- wait, Spain vs. Portugal!  bibibibibi
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on July 07, 2010, 07:35:08 PM
Bought a Gen Y oriented show called The Loop. 

 oooooooooo bqbqbqbqbq bqbqbqbqbq bqbqbqbqbq

'Nuff said?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Damballah on July 09, 2010, 04:07:32 AM
Farewell (L'affaire Farewell) - based on the true story of a KGB operative who changed sides in the 80s. 

One of the parts I found interesting was Ronald Reagan telling his advisors and Mitterand that he would not permit the French Government to give ministerial posts to elected communist representatives. :)

Well acted, good cinematography.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 09, 2010, 04:36:28 AM
How to train your dragon:  Excellent movie. Vikings with weird accents,dragons, unlikely romance, top spiffy flick.

The A-Team: Stupid is a kind way of describing this movie.

The Wolfman: I liked the original..this remake...well, there are now three movies on my lists of flicks that really must have been made because all the people involved were on some very, very special drugs...The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Van Helsing and The Wolfman...

The Amazing Buck Howard: Interesting flick, worth watching, mostly for the superb performance by John Malkovich.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Invictus on July 09, 2010, 03:53:17 PM
I enjoyed The Hurt Locker - the sniper sequence has to be one of the most thrilling scenes I've seen in a long time.

I liked it but it would've been better were it shot as a real movie. This whole spilling over of the reality show fad to films (i.e. District 9) is irksome. I'll be glad when it's run its course.

Unfortunately, The Hurt Locker comes nowhere near Bigelow's previous stellar efforts such as Strange Days and Point Break.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Slim Pickens on July 09, 2010, 05:00:35 PM
Unfortunately, The Hurt Locker comes nowhere near Bigelow's previous stellar efforts such as Strange Days and Point Break.

For me it is Near Dark (1987) that stands out as her greatest achievement, since then every other vampire film has paled in comparison.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on July 09, 2010, 06:20:23 PM
I'm plotting to tie up 4 or 5 Chinese friends so they can't run away screaming and show them Event Horizon.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Damballah on July 16, 2010, 02:02:27 AM
Saw "The Hedgehog' today.  Lovely movie, well acted, from a fabulous book.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 21, 2010, 01:52:04 AM
Have been rewatching Breaking Bad.  I rushed through it the first time and felt an interest in looking over it a second time, so downloaded some hi def copies.  It's a very cool show.

Anyway, I don't know what started it but a few weeks back I decided to rewatch some classics.  I started with Phantasm, aka Never Dead, from 1979.  There were three sequels.  I watched them too.  I became compelled.  I was attempting to find out what was the message, what was the rationale?  A mythology develops when movies move into sequel land.

I moved on to Hellraiser.  This is even more piquant since Pinhead is such a chatty character, always explaining stuff, the mythology should be easy to follow.  There are eight Hellraiser movies.  The first two are very good for the genre.  The rest, not so much.

Next, some old favs, Satisfaction from 1988 and featuring a hot, young Justine Bateman, and then Shopping, a tad more contemporary, squeaking into the world in 1994 and featuring Jude Law and Sadie Frost and a very dated soundtrack.  That's what's good about Satisfaction, the soundtrack survives the years.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on August 13, 2010, 08:58:15 PM
Just watched "The Expendables" and I recommend it. Just don't bring a date...a guy in the cinema did and the girl was to my left...she kept making silly comments like "who is he?" (apparently the young lady did not recognize Stallone) and "Oh my, that must really hurt"....yes, when Dolph Lundgren kicks you in the head it probably hurts...but watch the movie... agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on August 13, 2010, 11:02:37 PM
Inception has been chosen as one of the foreign films to play in cinemas in China.

Leo is quite popular here. I guess it's from playing Jack in Titanic.

Perhaps there's another reason.



(http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a197/Bissessar/Miscellaneous/LeoDiCapriodreamsofAsianguys.jpg)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Day Dreamer on August 14, 2010, 08:39:36 AM
 bkbkbkbkbk axaxaxaxax bkbkbkbkbk
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Fozzwaldus on August 21, 2010, 12:16:12 AM
 ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on August 21, 2010, 03:53:37 PM
Did anyone catch Aftershock?  They were kind enough to include dual subtitles at the theatre I saw it at.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on August 21, 2010, 06:01:04 PM
Yeah I saw it. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

More predictable than a Hollywood blockbuster. My date was actually angry about wasting the price of the tickets on it.

I saw Salt last night. Same sort of huge plot-holed mindless action flick you would expect in a summer film except much, much better. It was a fun movie. Keeps you guessing a little and some serious action sequences that are not CGI dominated. Jolie is total bad-ass. She does some ridiculous super-hero type things without seeming to be invincible. Kind of like Bruce Willis in Die Hard. It doesn't drag, only about 90 minutes long.

Apparently the role was written for a guy. Tom Cruise turned it down because he felt the  Salt character was too much like Ethan Hunt from Mission Impossible. So they changed the name to Evelyn Salt and not much else.

There's a good copy floating around on kickasstorrents.com
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: fox on August 22, 2010, 12:21:33 AM
saw the hedgehog on learning of it here.  loved that movie. quite liked 'Salt'  always nice to see Angelina Jolie
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on August 22, 2010, 04:40:31 PM
Just saw The Expendables last night.  No need to waste time or money on plot and dialogue.  Just enjoy the massive violence.  Just seeing Schwarzenegger and Stallone sharing a scene (sadly, non-violent) was a bit of a treat.  Also, nice to see that Arnold is thinking about getting back into showbiz once he's done playing with California.


As for Aftershock, yeah it was cheesy and predictable, but it did look like they put some real effort into it.  Sort of a Chinese attempt at a James Cameron style film.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: The Hiphoppopotomous on August 22, 2010, 06:41:37 PM
I just sat through Leap Year followed by P.S I love You. Two romantic comedy/dramas set to the stunning backdrop of Ireland. It is probably the number one country that I want to visit, and I find it astounding that I have yet to do so given its proximity to me compared to say China.

Anyhow, both beautiful films in their own ways, and it is a shame that directors/writers feel the need to make their American characters act so ignorant to other culture. Besides that, if you're not looking for anything with depth, but would like to enjoy some seriously stunning scenery, both films get the James Winterton seal of recommendation.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on August 23, 2010, 04:00:53 AM

Anyhow, both beautiful films in their own ways, and it is a shame that directors/writers feel the need to make their American characters act so ignorant to other culture.


If they didn't do that then the characters wouldn't be realistic.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on August 25, 2010, 06:24:07 AM
"Girl With The Dragon Tatoo" anyone?  Thought it was definately worth it.  She's a great character and I always like dark films that are smartly made.  It probably tries to cover too much territory so as not to dissapoint the readers of the book, but no complaints here.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: The Hiphoppopotomous on August 26, 2010, 03:40:39 PM
Went to see the Expendables today. I was astounded that such bad scripting could be allowed in a blockbuster film, but the experience was enjoyable enough even though Mickey Rourke was almost criminally underused. It was pretty funny that he was still wearing his Iron Man 2 attire too :D
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on August 27, 2010, 05:10:50 AM
I was astounded that such bad scripting could be allowed in a blockbuster film,

I'd be astounded if it were any other way.  These movies are best watched with the sound off. 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on August 27, 2010, 04:46:02 PM
I was astounded that such bad scripting could be allowed in a blockbuster film,

I'd be astounded if it were any other way.  These movies are best watched with the sound off. 

Co-written by Stallone.  Why would anyone expect good dialog.  mmmmmmmmmm
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Slim Pickens on September 16, 2010, 01:05:56 AM
The kind of film that I wish I had made about China.

http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/lasttrainhome/

(http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/lasttrainhome/LastTrainHome_poster_hires.jpg)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Borkya on September 16, 2010, 04:05:50 AM
Sounds good slims. Found a good download if it yet?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Slim Pickens on September 16, 2010, 04:26:19 AM
Sounds good slims. Found a good download if it yet?

Unfortunately, no.  It was screened here in the UK last night on More 4.  The DVD is being released soon - so one or two very dedicated followers of China on film may upload it - and it will also be available to watch online...

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/last-train-home

...but I have no idea how one can circumnavigate the territory control that websites like these put in place.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: becster79 on September 18, 2010, 06:20:44 PM
Right now, I thank the gods for the (Chinese?) person who so kindly put 'Juniour Masterchef Australia' on Tudou. Started a couple of weeks ago in Oz. For those not in the know, it's another reality program about ordinary people competing to cook amazing food and be judged by Michelin star chefs- so now these are 10-11 year old kids  aoaoaoaoao! It's taken Australia by storm- when I was home at summer I constantly heard arguments along the line of the differences between a dressing and an aioli  mmmmmmmmmm.

OMG they're incredible! Also turns out that one of the top 20 finalists is actually my stepsister's cousin, who's 12. Go Ainsleigh!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on October 07, 2010, 03:34:18 AM
The new HBO series Boardwalk Empire

Atlantic City during prohibition staring Steve Buscemi as a crooked politician that controls the city along with his brother the Chief of Police. He has to deal with the Feds and other mobsters like Lucky Luciano and Al Capone.

Really good stuff. It has more a movie look and fell than a tv series.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: fox on October 08, 2010, 03:18:09 PM


nice recommend slim. watched it last night with some friends, a window into the struggles of so many here.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Slim Pickens on October 31, 2010, 07:38:43 PM
I'd like to invite you to spend an evening with Stephen Fry...

http://play.sydneyoperahouse.com/index.php/Talks/stephen-fry-sydney-opera-house.html

If you're stuck in the middle of nowhere - not having had a decent conversation in English for more than a month - then this is for you.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on November 20, 2010, 11:05:25 PM
Thanks for the tip on Boardwalk, Slim. HBO never disapoints.

 I just started watching The Walking Dead, a brand new series on Fox of all places. It's about the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse, which begs the question "Where has this show been all my life?"

 Seriously, if the first episode is any indication, it's quite good. It was created by Frank Darabont of Shawshank Redemption fame, so there is a stamp of quality on it. They have currently aired three episodes.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on November 29, 2010, 01:13:46 AM
Gotta give big props to The Social Network, a movie about the creation of Facebook. Really well done-directed by David Fincher I believe.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Raoul F. Duke on November 29, 2010, 02:18:29 AM
I just for the first time watched The Madness of King George. What an unexpected masterpiece! If you haven't seen this little jewel yet, by all means give it a look. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on December 02, 2010, 06:53:17 PM
I got lucky enough to catch "The Madness of King George" when it first came out on video.  I agree, it's as well done as it is interesting.  I'm told it's very accurate as well.  I hope they do a sequel..."The Madness of George W.".

"The Social Network"...best movie of the year so far IMHO.  I wouldn't have guessed that this subject could have produced such a winner of a movie.  Smart, fast dialogue but with a heart as well.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on December 02, 2010, 11:48:52 PM
"The Madness of King George" is one of my favourites...desperately wanted to show it in history class but can't find it on youku, 56.com or tudou... llllllllll llllllllll llllllllll

Just watched "Despicable Me"....watch it, it is soooo funny... ahahahahah ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: jpd01 on December 14, 2010, 04:49:44 PM
I just watched a movie last night in Starbucks called Scott Pilgrim vs the world.
I wasn't expecting too much from it as it's probably aimed at more the comic book lover. But I have to say I really enjoyed it, it never takes itself seriously (which I love) At first I thought it was just an awkward guy/girl story but then all the comic super fight shit happens and it's all really well done. I liked the dialog and the cut aways in the movie as well. Check it out if you want something light and amusing.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Fugu on December 15, 2010, 05:57:00 AM
Just torrented Animal Kingdom. Pretty dark, and a little disturbing. But it's the best movie I've seen for a while.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on December 23, 2010, 05:35:55 AM
I watched Easy A tonight. For the first 30 minutes I thought to myself, "God, this is a horrible, Lindsey Lohan-esque girl movie".

 Actually, as someone who spent a year teaching a film appreciation course to Chinese students, I would totally use this. It is one of the safer movies you can show Chinese students about life in Western high schools, it's pretty funny at times, easy to understand (for non native speakers I mean) and it does make a good statement about the double standard that applies to boys and girls when it comes to sexual behaviour.

 It also pays a kind of nostalgiac homage to those John Hughes 80's movies. Give it a chance. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on December 23, 2010, 02:55:24 PM
Had the guilty pleasure of watching KickAss.

Although it was a fairly straightforward plot and the screenwriters won't be getting any Oscars, it was still amazingly funny and disturbingly sick.  The massacre to the Banana Splits theme song was priceless. ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: memnoch87 on December 23, 2010, 08:52:00 PM
Currently going through my back catalogue of downloaded British TV, Blackadder and Alan Partridge being the best I think!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on December 24, 2010, 06:36:45 AM
Being currently in a High Laurie phase I just discovered a load of Bit of Fry and Laurie and they are just deliciously funny  ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on December 24, 2010, 06:18:32 PM
Put off watching "Shutter Island" because the reviews had been so bad.  Don't know why cuz I thought it was interesting, surprising and beautiful to look at.  Give it a shot.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: memnoch87 on December 24, 2010, 08:12:52 PM
I agree the reviews for Shutter Island were awful but were great for Inception. I thought of the two Shutter Island was the better film.  asasasasas
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on December 24, 2010, 09:04:26 PM
Toddled off to the movies to see "CHLOE". I became suspicious when I observed that I was the only female in the audience of about 16 people. I soon found out why! uuuuuuuuuu This lady hired a prostitute to seduce her husband (Liam Neeson?) She went beyond the call of duty and seduced the hirer and the son. aoaoaoaoao I noticed that a couple of the blokes in the audience sneaked off before the lights came on at the end. ahahahahah

Today I saw Sarah's Key based upon the acclaimed French novel. A sad story about a dark period of French history involving life for Jews under Occupation. I think we need to see things like this so that we don't forget about man's inhumanity to man. My grandson, who is 12 yrs old, is being taught at school to forgive and forget. kkkkkkkkkk I tell him it is easy to do that when you don't know the stories and it does not personally impact on you.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on December 24, 2010, 09:40:08 PM
The Social Network was fabulous.  Felt like I knew those guys personally.

Watched Inception and it was well worth it.  Ellen Paige was amazing; Lucas Haas, too.  The flick deserves a few nominations.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on December 24, 2010, 11:56:51 PM
Today I saw Sarah's Key based upon the acclaimed French novel. A sad story about a dark period of French history involving life for Jews under Occupation. I think we need to see things like this so that we don't forget about man's inhumanity to man. My grandson, who is 12 yrs old, is being taught at school to forgive and forget. kkkkkkkkkk I tell him it is easy to do that when you don't know the stories and it does not personally impact on you.


Forgiveness is healthy...it's the forgetting that's bad.  I was teaching WWII and we'd just seen a film on the Nuremburg trials when the US had its scandal about Abu Ghreib Prison.  The excuses were identical - "I was only following orders".

Those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on December 25, 2010, 02:02:48 AM
I liked both Inception and Shutter Island but I think SI was a bit better plotwise, although the visuals in Inception were amazing.
Also enjoyed the Social Network- the acting was very good, even Justin Timberlake!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on January 13, 2011, 02:11:42 PM
Watched 127 Hours last night. Not only a brilliant performance by James Franco, but a great job by Danny Boyle. Not many people could make a great movie about a guy stuck under a rock for 5 days.

 The finale is grusome and disturbing, though. Up there with the "hobbling" scene in Misery and the curb stomping scene in American History X. aaaaaaaaaa
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on January 13, 2011, 05:42:55 PM
"Boardwalk Empire" hit the streets here in Dalian recently.  It's not quite "Deadwood" or "The WIre", but very good.  I could do without the Special Agent Auden character, but the Buscemi is great, as always, and the visuals are great.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 13, 2011, 06:56:42 PM
I downloaded the entire season 1 of "Boardwalk Empire"...I couldn't turn it off, just sat there and had an all-night "Boardwalk Empire" party...I like watching shows where it comes in handy having read a history book...like the old lady, Mrs. Sanger who gives Steve Buscemi's future mistress a pamphlet, it says on the cover of the pamphlet "By Margaret Sanger"...she was a real person who had to flee the US and live in exile for 7 years for writing that pamphlet informing immigrant women of how not to get pregnant...I think it is a dashed good show agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on January 13, 2011, 08:10:33 PM
ETR~I agree.  They may be heavy-handed name dropping, but it adds to the episodes greatly.  Rothstein and the "Black Sox" World Series scandal was real.  Spoiler alert: when Chalky had the three guys on their knees and guns to their heads, I knew the Maier Lansky(sp) character could not be killed because he became a very infamous, household name in U.S. history.  I'm still wondering who Jimmy will turn out to be?  Diamond Jim Brady?  And, of course, Lucky Luciano didn't die until he was an old man.

Is a name like "Al Capone" well known in your country?  If so, why?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 13, 2011, 10:08:34 PM
Al Capone?? Are you kidding? The Crime-Lord Extraordinaire of Chicago? I think everyone knows Al Capone. I know because of an...hmm...unhealthy obsession with the history of organized crime, but most people know him as played by Robert De Niro in "The Untouchables", I think.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on January 13, 2011, 10:18:35 PM
Watched Men who Stare at Goats a few nights ago.  I thought it was a great commentary on American culture across several decades and found it to be pretty funny.  My fiancee sat there wondering why I was enjoying it at all.

Just started watching Fringe.  So far, it looks like someone needs to tell Mulder and Scully that they've been copied again.  So, anyone know if this remain a moderately watchable X Files ripoff, gets better, or just ends up jumping the shark before episode 6?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Just Like Mr Benn on January 13, 2011, 10:32:29 PM

Just started watching Fringe.  So far, it looks like someone needs to tell Mulder and Scully that they've been copied again.  So, anyone know if this remain a moderately watchable X Files ripoff, gets better, or just ends up jumping the shark before episode 6?


I gave up on Fringe pretty early on, but I know there is a larger story which comes more to the fore by the end of the first season. If you are enjoying the freak of the week plotlines, it may be worth sticking with, as most people seem to think it gets better.

Just watched the first episode of The Cape, which is silly, but in a fun and fast manner.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on January 14, 2011, 12:31:15 AM
Al Capone?? Are you kidding? The Crime-Lord Extraordinaire of Chicago? I think everyone knows Al Capone. I know because of an...hmm...unhealthy obsession with the history of organized crime, but most people know him as played by Robert De Niro in "The Untouchables", I think.

Well, I wouldn't have presumed.  It's not like he was a President; far more effective.  Your "unhealthy" obsession with the history of organized crime must have led you to watch "Public Enemies".  Much of it occured and was filmed in my home state; although with some glaring inaccuracies. 

I recently visited the theatre where John Dillinger was gunned down by the FBI.  It's restored to what it used to look like.  However, I talked to the owner and he said the city would not allow him to advertise the history of the theatre because they were trying to extinguish the association of gangsters with the city of Chicago.  Crazy that, even today, that era hangs on to that extent.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 14, 2011, 03:25:21 AM
Watched "Public Enemies"?? Yep, read the book it is based on way before it was considered silver screen material...I think my obsession stems from watching "Bugsy Malone" way too often as a child...small children dressing up as gangsters, singing and killing each other with cream pies and Tommy Guns that fire crem pies, now that is a good flick too agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on January 14, 2011, 04:12:35 AM
I have a recent snapshot of Bugsy Siegel's tomb.  Took it when visiting my son in L.A.  Apparently too big, (at 1MG) to post here.
I know it's the wrong Bugsy, but, what the f@ck!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on January 18, 2011, 06:57:28 PM
"Winter's Bone".  One of the best movies of the year.  If you want to give your class a taste of "hillbilly" country in the U.S., this could be the one.  I'm always surprised at how many people all over the world that are shocked to find out about this little, uneducated, dirt-poor subculture.  If they think America has its streets "paved with gold", this movie will disabuse them of that idea.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on January 18, 2011, 07:10:07 PM
"Winter's Bone".  One of the best movies of the year.  If you want to give your class a taste of "hillbilly" country in the U.S., this could be the one.  I'm always surprised at how many people all over the world that are shocked to find out about this little, uneducated, dirt-poor subculture.  If they think America has its streets "paved with gold", this movie will disabuse them of that idea.

I really liked this one.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on January 19, 2011, 06:48:33 AM
Had the guilty pleasure of watching KickAss.

Although it was a fairly straightforward plot and the screenwriters won't be getting any Oscars, it was still amazingly funny and disturbingly sick.  The massacre to the Banana Splits theme song was priceless. ahahahahah


 Thanks for the tip! Ac amp classic!  ahahahahah

 On that note, I'd also recomend Eric Pilgrim vs. The World. It starts as a fairly quirky, but not too too terribly abnormal movie about a 22 year old unemployed musician  in Toronto who is dating a 17 year year old Chinese girl named "Knives Lau". Halfway through it takes this bizarre twist where he falls for a cool goth chick from New York, but has to duel her "7 Deadly exes" in a series of outrageous video game style fight scenes.


 Too weird for most people I imagine, but I liked it.  bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 19, 2011, 03:53:00 PM
It is actually "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" and it is a dashed good flick agagagagag agagagagag

Grumblegrumble...I wish I could find a good version of "Due Date" to download as it is, I have heard, rather funny...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on January 19, 2011, 07:01:36 PM
Bought a copy of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, both to show my fiance and to reassure myself that wedding plans could always be more challenging than the ones we're making.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on January 20, 2011, 12:18:46 AM
"Winter's Bone".  One of the best movies of the year.  If you want to give your class a taste of "hillbilly" country in the U.S., this could be the one. 

I really liked this one.

Surprising, no?  I've never seen the lead actress before but she carried the movie.  The uncle "Tear Drop" actor is getting talk for a nomination as well.  I thought the old lady was great too.  You think all she wants is to hurt the young girl, but then helps her, (in her own unique way).  Even "Thump" who had about three lines in the whole movie said so much more in the way he carried himself.

"True Grit" is pretty damn good too.  The cowboy tale that's been told a million times before, but in the hands of the Coen Brothers it's a one-of-a-kind.  What a cast but the lead is an unknown 13 year-old who holds her own against Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Josh Brolin.

A couple other surprise for me:  "Rabbit Hole" about a family that loses a young child and "The Kids Are All Right" about...well...a bizarre L.A. family.

Too damn many movies...gotta get back to work.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on January 20, 2011, 07:32:38 AM
Don't bother with the Woody Allen "Tall Dark Stranger" it's just a piece of fluff, rather akin to eating a sweet marshmallow when you are starving hungry.
I did try to watch Winter's Bone but my DVD seems to have just died, and I have a backlog of seasons of House MD to get through  ananananan
It's off to buy a new machine tomorrow....
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: fox on January 20, 2011, 04:57:53 PM
'Game of Death' 2010 action movie with wesley snipes last night was a good movie. Some movies seem to be more suited to a group of friends watching rather than just alone, not quite sure how that works.. anyway nice to see snipes wielding his weapon (gun)  afafafafaf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 21, 2011, 03:00:11 AM
I just watched "Flushed Away"...I found it hilarious agagagagag agagagagag
I am going to be needing some good, funny movies for my hermit spring festival existence...any suggestions...and movies like "Dude, where is my car" and those of its ilk are not funny... agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on January 21, 2011, 06:28:49 AM
Oh Flushed away is divine,showed it in class a few times it is so cute.My kids liked Truman Show immensely
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Con ate dog on January 21, 2011, 07:18:23 AM
Don't go see TRON unless it's in 3D.

axaxaxaxax  Cost a fortune, but worth it.  bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on January 21, 2011, 02:24:30 PM
I watched "Let Me In" last night. It's a complete slap in the face to those gay, tenny bopper "Twilight" movies. A very original vampire film with great wiring, awesome atmosphere and good acting by a mostly unknown cast.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on January 21, 2011, 02:30:47 PM
I heard a great comment on those Twilight-type films.

"If you are in any of the new teen vampire movies, get bitten by something, and are not gay - you become a werewolf."
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on January 21, 2011, 11:22:23 PM
I loved Let Me In, decurso. It was coool and I hate vampire movies. But it was kinda subtle and unusual. Don't know, not really when I was watching it so much but afterwards the "feel" of it kept coming back to me.Intriguing and atmospheric indeed.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on January 21, 2011, 11:43:43 PM
I watched Twilight last night. Seemed pretty typical for the intended audience not the worst of the genre I think. I don't know the books but aren't they young adult girl books? If so, I'd say the movie is pretty good for staying true to the source material. I did get elbowed pretty hard a couple of times for laughing at the sparkly vampire and comparing a tree scene to one in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Fortunately my friend says the other ones are not good so I won't have to watch those. It wasn't overly long and the time investment paid off later in the evening.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: fox on January 22, 2011, 02:17:23 AM
'The company Men'  is a great movie, released at a good time given the state of the world economy. not the first movie to have been made regarding job loss and redundancies but particularly well sensitively acted with Ben Affleck, tommy lee jones and Kevin costner - i havent seen him in anything for a while.

Im intrigued piglet, i have tried flushed away, the wild, and similar cartoons with my more capable students only to find them getting lost in the innuendos and jokes in those movies. From an entertaining perspective for sure there was mileage in them, but as to language retention or even understanding i thought it was wanting. Obviously it depends on the english level. How old are your lot?
 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on February 07, 2011, 06:38:51 AM
Last year high school (17 ish) but I really gave it to them as an end of term treat when my chances of getting much done learning wise was minimal so not much to lose,Fox.
BTW just did Truman Show with my 11th graders and they thought it was sooo cool as Big Brother is uber-popular over here right now.Gave them a Worksheet I found online (I think it was by a Chinese teacher,judging by the name on it) and it was really excellent.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on February 07, 2011, 07:27:37 AM
"Rabbit Hole" gets a big thumbs up.  Not your Saturday night "popcorn movie", but extremely well written, acted and explores new territory. 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cobra on March 03, 2011, 07:02:17 PM
I just watched Guzaarish movie with Hrithik Roshan. It's awesome!!!!!!.
recommend bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Mac Attack on April 12, 2011, 07:16:06 PM
I just saw Hachiko: A Dogs Tale. This is from 2009 but I never saw it. It has Richard Gere in it and has a Japanese influence.  bjbjbjbjbj At least, this is where the dog comes from. I think this is an independent film but is really well done. Some of these studios turn out better pictures than the bigger ones do.  akakakakak

Here is the link from Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachi:_A_Dog%27s_Tale (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachi:_A_Dog%27s_Tale).
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on April 13, 2011, 05:54:45 PM
Watched the first half of Full Metal Jacket with my darling wife last night.  If we have time tonight, she finally gets to find out where "Me love you long time" comes from. ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on April 14, 2011, 12:52:43 AM
I just watched Rango...am going to make gf watch several westerns, especially the ones with mr. Eastwood and then that movie...it was fun, despite the luke-warm reception it got from critics.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: old34 on April 14, 2011, 02:35:11 AM
They just posted the first three seasons of Big Bang Theory on the school's intranet. Have to download it per episode. Speed per episode is.....wait, let me check...

20 seconds for Season 1 Episode 1.

Last week, walking walking by one of the Chinese teacher's classrooms, I saw she was showing this. On my QQ, I've seen a couple of students mention in their status message that they are TBBT fans.

I guess it's the new Friends.

Off to watch S1E1.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: fox on April 21, 2011, 10:07:39 PM
Four lions.  hilarious especially if you can appreciate british humour.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on April 22, 2011, 09:30:00 AM
Oh yeah four lions was a riot.I also enjoyed all those Pakistani in the UK ones,but I've forgotten what they were called. There was one called "My Son the Fanatic" or something.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on April 22, 2011, 01:34:00 PM
I just watched "Four Lions"...it was hilarious...especially when Omar curses in Urdu or whatever language it is... agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: The Hiphoppopotomous on May 06, 2011, 06:23:33 PM
four lions was kinda funny. Apparently there's a sequel to East is East coming out too, if you're into the post colonial kinda comedies.


Anyway, the reason I decided to take time out of my busy lunch hour, is to say just how bloody awesome Master Chef is. I love it, and it's really nice to see such awesome looking food after eating rice constantly for months. I wish they'd do a Master Chef China
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Mac Attack on May 06, 2011, 09:35:00 PM
Hey James, would scorpions be on the menu?  ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: The Hiphoppopotomous on May 11, 2011, 06:25:41 AM
nonononono
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on May 11, 2011, 07:47:27 PM
Ah East is East I love that! How about "Goodness Gracious Me" James ?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: WastedYouth on May 11, 2011, 11:42:47 PM
I believe it is actually pronounced "Jam-es" as in "Hey Jam-es, bring me the blandest thing on the menu!!"

For all you VPN ppl...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpStoROu0XE
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on May 12, 2011, 12:43:36 AM
What's the Blandest thing you've got on the menu,Ja-mes?"
 akakakakak akakakakak
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on May 19, 2011, 11:34:48 AM
Just finished "Treme".  Set in New Orleans, LA right after Katrina.  Takes awhile to warm up, but the last two episodes were great.  The depiction of the "Indian" culture during Mardi Gras and St. Joseph's Day was truly enlighening and inspired.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on June 17, 2011, 10:52:38 AM
Have recently seen two movies which I really recommend. "Snowtown" is an Australian movie about John Bunting, Australia's most notorious serial killer. As described by one of the movie critics, it is "an absolutely mesmerising, uncompromising crime movie masterpiece"

The other movie was "Oranges and Sunshine" by the producer of "The king's Speech" was also a powerful real life story. It is an extraordinary TRUE story of the child migrants, one of the most significant social scandals of our time. Children were taken from England and sent to Australia. Some of you may have read the book "Empty Cradles" by Margaret Humphrey.

I see about three new movies a week, but I am rarely touched by any of them. These two are really worth seeing, particularly by the Aussies and Brits out there. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on June 17, 2011, 09:17:47 PM
written it down,Granny. There was a similar weird true incident here in Israel in the 1950's where Yemenite children were purportedly stolen away from their parents and given to white Ashkenazi couples who were childless. There have been countless attempts to find out if this really happened or not, but nobody seems to know.Reminds me a bit of Rabbit-Proof Fence.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: fox on June 18, 2011, 06:13:45 PM
I discovered 'shameless' the uk version.  I cant believe that escaped my radar. loving it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 14, 2011, 05:28:57 PM
I recently had the unpleasant experience of watching "Thor"...what a gigantic piece of  bqbqbqbqbq with added lukewarm  bbbbbbbbbb...I have always found the concept of Thor being a superhero quite absurd. He is a thunder god! But in the movie, the gods are not gods, Bifrost is a giantic energy wave that can destroy Jotunheim, Loki is a pathetic creep who is desperate for his Odin's attention, Sif is some sort of shield-Maiden, a brunette BTW though anyone slightly familiar with the Icelandic Eddas would know about the hair spun by the dwarves out of magic and sunlight....Mjolnirs handles is about five times to large, Thor is some big, blond pretty boy who, even though he has never been to Earth and is not a god, is for some reason fluent in English. Valhalla consists of tall, shiny, majestic buildings where people prance about in metal helmets adorned with ever-so-pretty ornamental wings and flowing red capes...
The acting was wooden, at times overtly melodrmatic and the plot was downright stupid. To me, this movie was a complete and utter failure, both with regards to its approach to Norse Mythology and entertainment value...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: latefordinner on July 14, 2011, 05:44:00 PM
Unfortunately, ETR, they're making movies out of comics today because all the good books are too difficult for the average Holywood producer have been taken.
Some escapist fantasy works well enough, some doesn't. Thanks for the heads-up on one that doesn't.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on July 15, 2011, 10:01:16 AM
Have recently been having a British Binge  bnbnbnbnbn .... Doc Martin (#1-4), Pie In the Sky (#1, with #2-5 on order), George Gently (#1, and set to order #2-4) and New Tricks (#1 but #2-4 are coming soon).  Boy, am I ever happy that Amazon akakakakak finally has the US Region 1 version of these.



Doc Martin -- irascible surgeon with haemophobia becomes GP in Cornish fishing village. ahahahahah ahahahahah

Pie In The Sky -- Metro detective wants to retire to run his own restaurant.  His boss won't sign off on the paperwork.  Cooking + detecting bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf

George Gently -- Scotland Yard Detective - with a conscience, morals and high standards - moves into Yorkshire after his wife is run down and killed. agagagagag bfbfbfbfbf

New Tricks -- after shooting a dog, lady Detective is put in charge of squad of misfits/has-beens to crack "cold" cases. ahahahahah agagagagag bfbfbfbfbf

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on July 15, 2011, 09:05:01 PM
Just saw "Chico and Rita" at the Jerusalem Film Festival.Animated Cuban Jazz romance-quite magical  akakakakak
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: WastedYouth on July 23, 2011, 11:16:57 PM
I stumbled across this film review.....Some genius English!

http://mankabros.com/blogs/btp/2011/07/22/captain-america-the-first-avenger-review/

Looks like there could be some good EFL opportunities in Finland  bibibibibi
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: NATO on July 25, 2011, 04:15:16 AM
Just finished watching Transformers 3. It was exactly as I expected. My phone's snake and sudoku got a work out and I also went for a short walk around the cinema during. The girlfriend seemed amused though.

It annoys me that I can't enjoy this type of film very much, I just can't see past all the sub-par acting, dialogue and gratuitous product placement.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 25, 2011, 04:50:11 AM
I watched that too...well, watched and watched...I kept wondering why old robots, like the thingy Prime voiced by Leonard Nimoy, have weird metal beards? It was a silly, silly movir...Also watched Ironclad...it was even dumber....then watched "Jumping over the broom" which was about as interesting and original as stale oatmeal...
Managed to download and watch episode 1-7 of "The Borgias", excellent stuff and, for once, Jeremy Irons does not ham it up, almost makes one forget his role as Profion in "Dungeons and Dragons"...trying hard to find a good, downloadable copy of the last three episodes.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on July 25, 2011, 05:35:56 AM
was going to do the Borgias,but have not finished the Tudors yet  ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on August 05, 2011, 11:39:01 AM
Saw "Red Dog" yesterday at the movies. All the Aussies should see this Australian movie which is set in the 1970s. I quote Rachel Taylor the Aussie actress."It's about how these people move to the Pilbara to work in the mining industry, make money and leave. But that doesn't always work out; they fall in love with the place and with each other. And the emblem of that is this dog,who is this dirty buggar who wanders around and eats things he shouldn't and farts on the bus. He's a little mongrel, but everyone falls in love with him."
To really appreciate this, it helps to understand what it is like for these rough Aussie blokes in isolated mining camps; they do unusual things and will gamble on two flies crawling up a wall. The red dog "koko" plays his part very well. Based on a TRUE story, this dog wandered all over Western Australia, hitching rides on all sorts of vehicles and seemingly knowing where he was going. A bronze statue of him was erected on the outskirts of Dampier (Western Australia) with a plaque which reads "Red Dog: the Pilbara wanderer. Erected by the many friends made during his travels." The film reviews can be Googled and will perhaps give a better overview of the movie. George will understand about that part of the Country and its red dust. I think ETR and other folk who care about animals, will really like this movie even if we Aussies appear a bit strange, particularly back in the 1970's. Please make the effort, it is worth it! bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on August 05, 2011, 06:28:28 PM
I just watched "Cowboys and Aliens"...it could have been a good and funny movie, instead it was trite, even boring in places, acting was wooden and the plot was idiotic.
Now downloading 'The Smurfs"...I like smurfs...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on August 05, 2011, 08:11:58 PM
I like them better in French "Schtroumpfs"  ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on August 05, 2011, 08:33:09 PM
Now downloading 'The Smurfs"...I like smurfs...

They're ok, if you grill them right and use enough Tabasco sauce on them. uuuuuuuuuu
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: thedogateit on August 10, 2011, 07:56:42 PM
Things I learned this summer. Shia LeBeouf is a much better actor when dubbed in Mandarin and I'll watch just about anything that J.J. Abrams puts out.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 18, 2011, 02:15:32 AM
Warrior

A moving story of men punching men.  bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf


A Dangerous Method

Freud, Jung, and who? A pleasing dramatisation.  bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf


Twilight - Breaking Dawn, Part I

Excellent, excellent movie--unlike the other Twilight films in that this one "goes there".
Obviously wasn't meant to be funny, but it is.   bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Just Like Mr Benn on December 18, 2011, 03:31:34 AM
I'm not susually into films, but last night i stayed up well past my customary time (9pm on a Friday night. I'm not a party animal) watching 'Rock and Roll Nerd: The Tim Minchin story'.

It's hard for me to judge these things from China, but my perception is that Minchin is now one of the biggest names in comedy in the world. Maybe none of you have even heard of him. Maybe his fame, whatever level it is, is confined to the UK, but the documentary covers his life from being a complete unknown in Australia to a medium level celeb. Really it seemed to be the story of his marriage as much as his 'rise to fame', and his wife, Sarah, is essentially the co-star of the piece.

I knew that Minchin met his wife at Uni, and that they've always been together, but I figured it's probably easy to be married when you're talented, rich and successful, and everything falls into your lap. It was fascinating to have the insight into what they went through.

Michin has a song, ostensibly about his wife that has the lyrics

If I didn't have you, someone else would do
Your love is one in a million
You couldnt buy it at any price
But of the 9 point 9 hundred thousand other loves,
Statistically some of them would be equally nice.

I agree with virtually everything that Minchin sings, but I think that he may be mistaken about this. The documentary is a raw and, forgive me for being corny, inspirational look at their relationship, along with fame and the difficult choices that people have to make make in pursuit of their dreams.

Even if you're not into comedy, or documentaries, or you have the same 44 Tv minutes attention span as me, I highly reccommend.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on December 18, 2011, 11:06:04 AM
The First Grader; the uplifting true story of the world's oldest primary school student. Set in Kenya, an old Mau Mau in his eighties is desperate to learn to read. Hundreds of children are jostling for a chance for the free education newly promised by the Kenyan Government. www.thefirstgrader-themovie.com might be a link. What an interesting true story. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 10, 2012, 02:02:45 AM
War Horse -- d'awww!  bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy -- very like the book, only shorter, same oppressive, tense atmosphere.  bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf

Hangover 2 -- utter crap  bqbqbqbqbq

Tucker and Dale Versus Evil -- laugh out loud moments (plus a few proper teeth-gritting horror lols).  bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf


But what I'm pining over is Dollhouse. I finally got around to watching it (it lasted two seasons and aired first in 2009). It was great and I can't think of what else to watch now. Homeland looks like it'd be involving but I just don't care. Dollhouse had sci-fi tech, chicks doing stuff, and a Thoughtpocalypse. Can anything else really compare? Not even Walking Dead is that good.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 10, 2012, 11:00:39 AM
War Horse was a really great story with director Steven Spielberg. The film follows the journey of the horse named Joey and is set against a sweeping canvas of rural England and Europe during the First World War. What an adventure that horse had, and what great cinematography. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: rattie on February 11, 2012, 11:39:18 PM
Well Granny Mae, there's two things I will harbour against you for a while....two movies you recommended last year.
Snowtown, which I bought on disk and gave to an American friend as a payback for her giving me Winter's Bone. I honestly wish I had a flip top head so I could remove my brain and give it a good rinse !
And, Sunshine and Oranges, crikey, I just spent a couple of hours of the only sunny afternoon we've had for a wee while, indoors sobbing my heart out with my pomeranian licking tears off my chin.
Thanks for those ?? Any more suggestions?
Cheers, Rx
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 12, 2012, 10:53:36 AM
rattie, I can't even remember what those movies were about; I see so many. If you can see "Red Dog" and "War Horse" you will need your little pomeranian with you. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: rattie on February 12, 2012, 01:32:43 PM
Haa, Red Dog, we watched that for class and the students wrote their end of term assignments about it. We live in a mining and foundry town so they found it relevant as well as cute because of Koko's fabulous acting.
Rx
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 13, 2012, 11:05:10 AM
I think the students would also really like "The first Grader". Perhaps you should see it first and explain the situation about the Mau Mau before they see the movie.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Jedi Smurf on February 13, 2012, 05:30:37 PM
Saw "Red Dog" yesterday at the movies. All the Aussies should see this Australian movie which is set in the 1970s. I quote Rachel Taylor the Aussie actress."It's about how these people move to the Pilbara to work in the mining industry, make money and leave. But that doesn't always work out; they fall in love with the place and with each other. And the emblem of that is this dog,who is this dirty buggar who wanders around and eats things he shouldn't and farts on the bus. He's a little mongrel, but everyone falls in love with him."
To really appreciate this, it helps to understand what it is like for these rough Aussie blokes in isolated mining camps; they do unusual things and will gamble on two flies crawling up a wall. The red dog "koko" plays his part very well. Based on a TRUE story, this dog wandered all over Western Australia, hitching rides on all sorts of vehicles and seemingly knowing where he was going. A bronze statue of him was erected on the outskirts of Dampier (Western Australia) with a plaque which reads "Red Dog: the Pilbara wanderer. Erected by the many friends made during his travels." The film reviews can be Googled and will perhaps give a better overview of the movie. George will understand about that part of the Country and its red dust. I think ETR and other folk who care about animals, will really like this movie even if we Aussies appear a bit strange, particularly back in the 1970's. Please make the effort, it is worth it! bfbfbfbfbf

Granny Mae, thank you so much for recommending this movie. I don't know if I have ever smiled as much during the viewing of a film. Great soundtrack, best dog performance I've ever seen, and instantly leapt to the top of my list for best movies of 2011. I had never heard about it from any other source, so thank you again for the recommendation.  agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 15, 2012, 11:20:58 AM
Glad you liked it Jedi Smurf! The horse in "War Horse" is also a very well trained animal which was trained by an Australian lady. My Grandfather fought in some of the places depicted on the Western Front in WW1. I have a copy of an uncensored letter he wrote while recovering in England from a battle wound before going back to the front. The original is in the Australian War Museum. I really liked this movie because it gives a really good idea about how things were for those soldiers and their horses. When my Grandfather mentions one battle at Bullecourt where the Australians had 26 thousand casualties and he mentions several other battles such as Ypres where 8 thousand Aussies were killed or wounded, one can better imagine these conditions after seeing that movie. Hope you get a chance to see it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on February 16, 2012, 07:42:48 AM
A Couple surpisingly good movies I saw recently:

"Take Shelter" and "Sarah's Key"
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on February 23, 2012, 08:16:30 PM
Just watched Anonymous and thoroughly loathed it. No historical accuracy whatsoever (except for the visuals of the Globe Theatre) and it portrays the Bard as an illiterate moron. aoaoaoaoao
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on February 24, 2012, 03:03:17 PM
I agree agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag I thought "Shakespeare in Love" was the worst...but "Anonymous" took the biscuit... aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaa
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on February 27, 2012, 05:13:15 PM
Holy Crap!  Hugo is cleaning up.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on February 27, 2012, 05:50:02 PM
Anyone catch the new Conan movie yet?  Is it any good?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on February 27, 2012, 05:55:28 PM
A propos A-Train's remark does anyone here really care about the Oscars? Are they any indication of "good films" or is it just a lot of Hollywood hype? And what happened with Sasha Baron Cohen in the end? Did anyone see it?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on February 27, 2012, 08:59:51 PM

Anyone catch the new Conan movie yet?  Is it any good?


That's a trick question right. Of course it was awesome!

It was violent, had a big guy swinging a big sword and priestesses in skimpy outfits. Blood everywhere. It had a really evil bad guy and a pretty love interest. It's wasn't too long. It may have even had a plot, but I'm not absolutely sure. No wait, something about a shard of a relic thingy of super power and ummm, well the plot didn't get in the way of any sword swing and skimpy outfits.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on February 28, 2012, 01:01:38 AM
Excellent.  Time to go back and visit my lovely video pirates. akakakakak

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on February 29, 2012, 12:10:58 AM
A propos A-Train's remark does anyone here really care about the Oscars? Are they any indication of "good films" or is it just a lot of Hollywood hype? And what happened with Sasha Baron Cohen in the end? Did anyone see it?

Cohen was escorted out when he tried to spread "cremation ashes" on the red carpet. Thought his move was too high profile. He's better at guerrilla stunts. As for who cares about the Oscars... I do, but it's just a spectator sport.  You could ask the same question about football. Have to say though, that this year's ceremony was the most entertaining yet. And who can even say what performance is best anyway?  It's just fun.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on March 06, 2012, 10:49:54 AM
Saw "Extremely Loud and Incredibly close". This drama tells the story of a young boy's journey after his father's death in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. There's a lot of publicity given to "stars" Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, but the real "star" is the boy Thomas Horn. I think we will hear a lot more about him in the future if he is given the opportunity. It requires a child, who has no real "life experience", to display many emotions. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 06, 2012, 06:39:20 PM
Every Academy Award Winning Movie Ever -- Trailer (http://www.cracked.com/video_18156_a-trailer-every-academy-award-winning-movie-ever.html).
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on March 24, 2012, 05:55:53 PM
Great translations of movie titles:

http://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/films/50-funniest-movie-title-translations
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on April 30, 2012, 10:58:37 AM
Saw "The Lady" the true story of Burma's national heroine Aung San Suu Kyi and her husband, Michael Aris. She was held under house arrest by Burma's military junta for more than two decades until her release last year. Michelle Yeoh gave a very impressive performance as did David Thewlis.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 01, 2012, 01:49:36 PM
The Divide - an unpleasant movie, disaster porn of the "in the end we are all animals" variety.

Thumbs down.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on May 02, 2012, 11:04:55 AM
Saw American Pie Reunion yesterday. A bit crude in places, but I laughed a lot. Actually I was the only one in the theatre who laughed a lot. mmmmmmmmmm A bloke in my elevator asked if I'd just seen the movie.(I think he recognized this old fart as the one who laughed) He then commented that he too thought it was funny, but that he found it strange that the audience didn't laugh. I don't think he was having a go at me. ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on May 06, 2012, 11:00:12 AM
Went to a movie yesterday and was advised, when I got my ticket, that a 16 minute, short movie would be shown after the main film. Was advised that it may be upsetting. It was titled "The Palace" and was based on a true story in a war zone. It apparently won film awards for best short film in Australia. There were sixteen people in the movie theatre. As the short movie progressed, people started walking out. At the end of the movie, only myself and two other people were left in the theatre. mmmmmmmmmm I'm still trying to work out if I have become harder as I get older, or if humans are getting weaker. I really did not find the story unusual for a war zone and it certainly did not upset me. I am still trying to think up reasons that all these people left. It was filmed very well and the acting was good. mmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmm
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Chief on May 06, 2012, 06:42:07 PM
The Avengers is out at the moment, will go and see it tomorrow.
Reviews have been excellent so hopefully it lives up to the hype.
Recently watch a film called 'drive' which I can highly reccomend, one of the best films I have seen in recent times.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on August 09, 2012, 10:59:57 AM
Saw Robert Pattinson's movie "COSMOPOLIS". Most of the story is set in the back of a white stretch limousine; even sex scenes and a Doctor giving Pattinson a prostate examination. aoaoaoaoao I found it quite heavy going in that I had to really concentrate on what was being said. One couple walked out and most of the people I spoke to, did not really understand what the movie was about.

Saw "Ted" and can agree it was certainly "boundary" pushing humour. I laughed my head off, which says something about me. :wtf:
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on August 10, 2012, 11:32:11 PM
I just watched "The Dictator". As a comedy, it pretty much targeted the lowest common demnominator and even went so low as to resort to toilet-humour. which is just plain never funny. The best part of the movie was the ending and General-Admiral Aladeen's speech about how wonderful America would be if it was a dictatorship. As such, I would give it a B-.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on August 14, 2012, 03:57:48 PM
Anybody see "Prometheus"? Curious if you were disappointed or taken in by the new turn it's taken.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 15, 2012, 02:14:35 PM
Seen it, but it was a crappy cam version and I'm holding out for a dvd quality viewing before I make a final judgment because my impression is what Prometheus adds most to the Alien franchise is visuals. Even in a crappy cam version it's obviously all about the physical images. That said, the story form of Prometheus relies heavily on references to the earlier movies. It is in fact overburdened with references of all sorts: visual, thematic, character types, even actual pieces of dialogue and action sequences. The ending also pretty much guarantees a sequel too. But if it turns out to be pretty when I find the dvd version, as it seems like it will, I think all that will be okay.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on August 16, 2012, 11:32:13 AM
"The Sapphires" is the movie to see, particularly for the Aussies. It received a ten minute standing ovation at the Cannes film festival. Set in the late '60s, this is based on a true story  about four young  girl singers, from a remote Aboriginal mission, who went to Vietnam to entertain the American troops.  This will be a very popular movie. I grew up with Aboriginal friends and I nursed aboriginal people in the Northern Territory in the mid '60s. This is only my opinion based on my experiences, but I was disappointed in the frequent references to racial discrimination; a lot of this went over the heads of many of my fellow viewers, as most of them would never have interacted with an aboriginal person. As a matter of interest only, these ladies were part Aboriginal as can be seen at the end in the original photos of the group. I enjoyed the movie even though I could see where certain aspects were being (in my opinion) manipulated.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on August 16, 2012, 05:39:31 PM
Watched Season 1 of The Walking Dead.  Time to visit the video pirates and get Season 2. agagagagag

Real Steel - Rock'm Sock'm Robots meets BattleBots.  Mostly unrealistic (Unrealistic - bot arenas with no lexan walls to protect the audience from flying debris kkkkkkkkkk  Realistic - a superior bot WILL get slaughtered if the driver only spends 2 minutes testing out how to operate it) and very predictable, but fun to watch.

The Thing, 2011.  Excellent prequel!  They went to a lot of effort to make this one work well.  Now I need to find a copy of the 1982 film.  The last time I checked the video pirates didn't have it.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on November 04, 2012, 09:18:22 PM
Dragon Baby (http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNDcwODIwOTA4.html)

Also, three tv shows that got better recently: Walking Dead, Dexter, and Revolution.


ETA: People Being Awesome (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA2P_aVzZf0&feature=plcp)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on November 05, 2012, 11:33:19 AM
Every Monday I go to see a Classic Movie. Today it is "High Society" from 1956. There are about 60 of we "old farts" who go to see these movies. Last week We saw "Dracula" from 1931, starring Bela Lugosi. The week before, it was "The Maltese Falcon" from 1941. It's really nice to watch these on a big screen with your own generation. "All Quiet On The Western Front" from 1930 will be the earliest one, which will be shown next month.
On a different note, I saw "The Intouchables". This was based on a true story of the friendship between a handicapped millionaire and his street smart, ex-con caretaker. I really enjoyed this, but a friend did not like that it was in French with English Sub- titles. 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on November 05, 2012, 03:47:25 PM
One of the things that has annoyed me this year is that there have been a lot of 'cinema' films that I've wanted to see this year but because everything comes out in China months later I've lost the enthusiasm I get from the internet and forget about it when it's out so I end up watching it at home :(
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 07, 2013, 10:58:28 PM
Recently...

Cloud Atlas - very like the book, except it seems to me they changed a lot of dialogue. The dialogue that's in the movie serves almost exactly the same function as the words in the book but I kept thinking they were using different words. Also, in the book the stories are chapters unto themselves (and aren't overshadowed by too recognisable, too much aged actors). Thumbs up for Doona Bae

Killing Them Softly - apparently it's not like the book, exactly, but I haven't read it so I don't know. The movie though is as modern noir as they come. It's either a coal black satire or an urban cowboys (and no injuns) story. Thumbs up.

The Hobbit - it reminded me intensely of the book - although the story details are changed somewhat, they captured exactly the sense of the minute interminability that story's journey had in the reading. Also, accustomed as I am to episodic tv, the fact that the movie ends quite obviously one third of the way through the adventure is okay. Thumbs up for epic scenery. (And for The Riddles in The Dark sequence between Bilbo and Gollum.)


And, bonus - Zero Dark Thirty - rather like a lot of recent cia-in-arabland detective semi-thrillers until they find the compound whereupon it gets kinda chilling. Thumbs up for historical relevance.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on January 08, 2013, 03:35:08 PM
Wow thanks for the brilliant rundowns CP that is most helpful
Enjoyed Cloud Atlas now wish to read the book.
The others are intriguing. Was about to see Life of Pi although not keen on the 3D thing but it's already gone off here in Xiamen. Will catch it on our visit home,hopefully.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 08, 2013, 05:57:32 PM
Although the list of movies that tell their stories better than the books is probably pretty short, it is worth reading Cloud Atlas. The Adam Ewing chapters are perhaps even more annoying than they are in the movie, but the movie glosses over much of the beauty in Robert Frobisher's letters (and Frobisher is an excellently realised character in the book, he has a vivid and astounding liveliness). Timothy Cavendish's antics are more detailed in the book too. Sonmi is about right (thanks to Doona Bae). And the message of the book....

Well, I'll leave something to the actual reading.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on January 09, 2013, 07:09:36 AM
"Argo" was pretty good. About the six Americans who hid out in the Canadian Ambassador's residence during the Iranian hostage crisis and how the fake film crew tried to get them out.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on January 09, 2013, 10:24:00 AM
I enjoyed "Argo" as well. bfbfbfbfbf  I keep a diary of the movies I see at the theatre and in 2012, I saw 161 movies. I keep the tickets and make brief comments about each movie. When I fall off the perch and my son finds all of this, he is going to wonder what he could have done to relieve his mother's boredom. ahahahahah  The heatwave which has hit Australia is about to move to Brisbane today, so I reckon this would be a good day to spend 3hrs in the movie theatre watching "The Hobbit".
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 09, 2013, 03:39:30 PM
Just saw Life of Pi.

Definitely must watch in a cinema or at minimum in dvd quality. A huge part of the story is visual and you lose a lot if you can't see it hi def (which I didn't-- ananananan)

Also saw Django Unchained.

Unsure what to make of this. Spaghetti Western, Blaxploitation, hyperreal history--or something altogether more meta? The film has three distinct acts so perhaps it's all three four.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on January 09, 2013, 08:46:36 PM
Argo was very good indeed.

Quite liked The Hobbit. It was much better than Fellowship of the Ring. Which I thought was poorly paced and had some really bad acting.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on January 09, 2013, 10:59:54 PM
Yes Argo was very well done.Will catch Life of Pi when I get home but I am scared I won't like it as much as the book.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: fox on January 11, 2013, 09:39:35 PM
Pi > hobbit.

I liked both, but the pi was far more meaningful and thought provoking.  both good tho.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on January 12, 2013, 09:17:36 AM
Saw "Jack Reacher" for free and still wanted my money back.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on January 12, 2013, 11:23:17 AM
I must be honest and say that I was disappointed in "The Life of Pi". The cinematography was really good, but to me, the story was too far out there. Every time I saw the Bengal Tiger, I thought no way will it behave like that. When I observed Pi's lack of life skills, I again felt that he wouldn't last very long in that situation. Given that I am from the country and have experienced things that city folk would not understand, I can see why I think as I do. If we go in to the second story that Pi told the Japanese investigators, we can draw all sorts of conclusions. There were about 80 people at the movie and they ranged from young children to old folk. I'd love to have heard their impressions of what they think they saw. I only have to listen to my elderly neighbour to know that in most cases, we could have been at different movies. ahahahahah

As for "Jack Reacher", I find it VERY hard to be objective given the leading man. bqbqbqbqbq
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: becster79 on January 12, 2013, 06:09:34 PM
I'm DYING to see Les Mis and The Hobbit....I'm praying like mad they will still be on in about 3 weeks time when I get holidays and head to Hong Kong! Looking forward to seeing how they translate a big musical like this to cinema. One of my favourite stories, got to see it at West End too  bfbfbfbfbf.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on January 13, 2013, 06:50:54 AM
Two-for-one last night:  "Zero Dark Thirty" and "The Impossible".  The latter is a true story of an English family vacationing in Thailand when the tsunami hit. Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor. Enjoyed both very much but made for about four straight hours of tension.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on January 13, 2013, 11:14:40 AM
I'm DYING to see Les Mis .... Looking forward to seeing how they translate a big musical like this to cinema. One of my favourite stories, got to see it at West End too  bfbfbfbfbf.

I think that you will enjoy the way this is done, given the task at hand. Hugh Jackman put so much in to it and I was really surprised by his singing voice. On the other hand, I didn't think much of Russell's singing. Anne Hathaway also performed well, particularly in one song. I'll be interested to hear your views.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Just Like Mr Benn on January 13, 2013, 05:16:39 PM
Two-for-one last night:  "Zero Dark Thirty" and "The Impossible".  The latter is a true story of an English family vacationing in Thailand when the tsunami hit. Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor. Enjoyed both very much but made for about four straight hours of tension.

I didn't think very much of 'The Impossible', but I really enjoyed 'Zero dark Thirty'. It seems to have got some lukewarm reviews, but i thought it was great. Easily my favourite of the Oscar nominated films so far.

Everybody keeps talking about whether the film justifies torure, but i think this is ridiculous. It's a story. I don't believe that countries should torture people, and I don't think generally that torture works as an interrogation methos. But obviously sometimes it works. The fact that something is sometimes true, doesn't make it true all the time.

In any case, its not as though the film makes the case uncategorically that it was all justified. (Spoiler alert, Bin Laden dies)

The main character believes that capturing (or killing) Bin Laden was a worthwhile priority, and worth the risk, and she persuades many of her superiors. That deosn't make her right. The film revelas just how much time, money, pain and death went into killing one man. I think at the end we're left to make our own judgement.

I suppose that it does make the case that UBL was using his house as a AQ base of oeprstions, and I'm not sure how true that was. That's fine. We don't know exactly what useful info was on all those hard drives in his house.

A lot of people have complained about the movie, but not actually seen it. It's worth watching. It's a well structured story and well-acted.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on January 24, 2013, 11:49:10 AM
My Grandson was down from Bundaberg staying with a mate during the school holidays. I met up with them in the city and took them to a restuarant and then down to the movies. The boys wanted to see Django Unchained or Gangster Squad. No go guys, because my Grandson was not yet 15 yrs old and these are rated MA15+. I had seen and enjoyed "Gangster Squad" and I really got to wonder about our society. I guess it will be ok. for the guys to get a copy on DVD or some other way, just as long as they don't do it/ view it, in public. bibibibibi The boys then went and saw "Jack Reacher" again. bibibibibi
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 24, 2013, 03:27:55 PM
Gf and I watched "Life of Pi" yesterday and it was smashing. One of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen and, even better, one of the only movies based on a book I like that did not savage the book. agagagagag agagagagag

After handing in all exam scores today, it is time to watch Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on January 26, 2013, 04:34:44 AM
Oh goodie ETR we are going tomorrow and was hoping it would not annoy me as movies of books I like usually do.
 agagagagag agagagagag
Also want to see Lincoln and Django although the latter is being over-hyped here so I am not sure I won't find it a let down.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on January 26, 2013, 10:56:40 AM
I saw Django unchained (165mins) yesterday. I didn't get bored and all the blood flying around does not bother me, however my neighbour kept saying eeeeeeewwwwwwww! Perhaps because I see too many movies, certain aspects jump out at me. In this film, it was that a "slave" of that era would not have been able to ride a horse so well (if at all) and the other thing, he would not have handled weapons (if at all) to the extent required to be able to shoot with a rifle for long range, or with pistols. Django certainly did not have the bearing of a slave of that era and he could also read. If you forget about those things, you can enjoy this action movie. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: caley1313 on January 26, 2013, 11:15:37 AM
Saw "Jack Reacher" for free and still wanted my money back.

Couldn't agree more. I was wondering how tiny tot Tom Cruise would play Lee Child's 6'4", 240 lb. Jack Reacher. I wasn't surprised. He didn't.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: caley1313 on January 26, 2013, 11:18:29 AM
Oh goodie ETR we are going tomorrow and was hoping it would not annoy me as movies of books I like usually do.
 agagagagag agagagagag
Also want to see Lincoln and Django although the latter is being over-hyped here so I am not sure I won't find it a let down.

You gotta see Lincoln. One of the best movies that I've seen in a long, long time. The dialogue, drama and accurate portrayal of the time period are spot on.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on January 26, 2013, 11:49:50 AM
]

 The dialogue, drama and accurate portrayal of the time period are spot on.


Brings you back to your childhood eh Casey? uuuuuuuuuu
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on January 26, 2013, 02:03:36 PM
If you forget about those things, you can enjoy (Django). bfbfbfbfbf

That caveat belongs with every Tarantino movie, yet almost every one is great. Few have combined the level of action you mention with such a high level of dialogue. I think you could listen-only to his movies and still enjoy them.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: caley1313 on January 26, 2013, 02:41:23 PM
]

 The dialogue, drama and accurate portrayal of the time period are spot on.


Brings you back to your childhood eh Casey? uuuuuuuuuu


ooooooh, nasty little dig there. LOL
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on January 26, 2013, 03:36:40 PM
]

 The dialogue, drama and accurate portrayal of the time period are spot on.


Brings you back to your childhood eh Casey? uuuuuuuuuu


ooooooh, nasty little dig there. LOL

Too bad George didn't comment on watching 10,000 BC.  We could have asked if it reminded him of being middle aged. ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Fozzwaldus on January 26, 2013, 04:22:49 PM
I've got Argo, Lincoln, Django Unchained and season 2 of Boardwalk Empire downloaded, for the long lonely Spring Festival nights.

I occurs to me that I go a little loopy around this time of year every year.

I think I will start a thread
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: eggcluck on January 27, 2013, 07:30:41 PM
Saw Argo and Lincoln, Lincoln was entertaining enough. Though I found Argo to be quite boring.

But maybe thats due to the lack of blinky lights and things going boom. I am not exactly a refined movie goer..
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 27, 2013, 10:10:32 PM
Silver Linings Playbook - once you realise it's a romantic comedy, you can relax a little, because it does start out pretty damn tense, but I liked this film because there's some laugh out loud moments of genuine, human comedy. It doesn't hit all of its notes right, but it's a pretty good movie anyway.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Monkey King on January 28, 2013, 01:21:12 AM
Searching for Sugarman  - a quirky music documentary
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on January 28, 2013, 04:58:31 AM
Silver Linings Playbook - ...there's some laugh out loud moments of genuine, human comedy. It doesn't hit all of its notes right, but it's a pretty good movie anyway.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf

That was about my take on it too. Alternately too quirky and brutally realistic. But a waste of De Niro and Jackie Weaver. Do you think this movie really deserves Best Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress nominations?  The last two did not seem nearly weighty enough for the honors. But I have to say, NOT being a Bradley Cooper fan, that he was perfect in this one. No sunshine-eyes or gleaming teeth, just the right amount of craziness, sadness and optimism.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: old34 on January 28, 2013, 07:52:57 AM
Ok, it's not a movie or film, but this is the closest category that fits:

If you are in China with a VPN that runs through the U.S., or outside China and can stomach US TV for 45 minutes, , check out the link below on Hulu.

The Jimmy Kimmel Show was after my time in the U.S. but his show a couple of nights ago (full episode at the link) might go down in late night television history. Great concept, even eater execution. And enough bits and pieces to interest most of the native English diaspora that populates this board. Watch:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/449446?playlist_id=1031&asset_scope=all (http://www.hulu.com/watch/449446?playlist_id=1031&asset_scope=all)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on January 28, 2013, 07:47:01 PM
That (Matt Damon) bit is awesome. They've been doing this gag for a long time. Kimmel's wife, Sarah Silverman, even released this video. Should be an accompaniment to your link.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSfoF6MhgLA
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 28, 2013, 08:41:55 PM
But I have to say, NOT being a Bradley Cooper fan, that he was perfect in this one. No sunshine-eyes or gleaming teeth, just the right amount of craziness, sadness and optimism.

Yep, him and the Hunger Games chick worked really well together. Were the story a shade darker, perhaps Bobbie and Jackie could've had more substance too. The elements were there though, so....
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 31, 2013, 12:03:54 AM
Generation Kill

7 episode HBO miniseries written by the guys from The Wire and based on a book written by a Rolling Stone reporter describing his time riding along with 1st Recon at the beginning of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The aim apparently was to be true to what actually happened, so if the people who actually experienced it looked it over, they would say it was real. This means the series as a whole has no particular resolution, since there wasn't one in the real story, and this kind of detracts from the viewing experience. But if you can forgive that, then each episode stands out as some kind of horrible gem of storytelling. Very taut episodes, very marine's eye view.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Fozzwaldus on January 31, 2013, 12:12:40 AM
Generation Kill

Yeah good series. 'Taut' is a good word to describe it.

It's directed/written by David Simon, right? The guy who wrote The Wire?

Have you also watched Treme? His series about New Orleans after Katrina? I started but didn't finish, might try again.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on January 31, 2013, 03:05:08 AM
Generation Kill

Have you also watched Treme? His series about New Orleans after Katrina? I started but didn't finish, might try again.

It's worth a watch. Great actors and good dialogue but it didn't really quite gel like "The Wire". If you haven't been exposed to the New Orleans' Mardi Gras and St. Joseph's Day Parade culture though, it's an eye-opener.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: rattie on January 31, 2013, 03:20:40 AM
There are some movies you shouldn't watch alone after a few beers....I always take the recommendations of the forum on board and try to see them, usually entertained and amused..but this evening I watched The Killing Fields, first time ever.
When it was released I was a member of what remained of the Australian Communist Party and obviously any film that won awards in America had to be crap  bbbbbbbbbb so I never saw it before.
It's a while ago now, many things have changed, hopefully me too  ababababab
I cried for almost 2 bloody hours.
I'm not even sure this post belongs in the movie thread, this was a really harrowing experience and not holiday viewing at all.
I think I had better take the dog out to have a play outside now. Bloody hell  bibibibibi
Rx
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 01, 2013, 12:00:18 AM
Haven't seen Treme. Or maybe I have. Somewhere on some TV I saw a "real life" show set in New orleans that appeared to be some version of Big Brother. A bunch of beautiful people plus some recogniseable actor faces where holed up in a factory or something trying to build a boat and there were marauding Others doing something around them.... I have assumed for some time that this was Treme, but presumably it isn't.

In any case, one can't watch too many Simon and Burns shows all at once. Imma rewatch Generation Kill first.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on February 01, 2013, 06:32:15 AM
A bunch of beautiful people plus some recogniseable actor faces where holed up in a factory or something trying to build a boat and there were marauding Others doing something around them.... I have assumed for some time that this was Treme, but presumably it isn't.


No, but that does sound like my teachers' lounge; minus the beautiful people part. Tremme is set quite some time in the aftermath of Katrina; after the the floods have receded and people are dealing with the aftermath. The apocalyptic, zombie thing is more like pre-Katrina. Steve Zahn, Melissa Leo and John Goodman are in it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 01, 2013, 11:33:47 AM
Saw "Guilt Trip" starring Seth Rogan, Barbra Streisand and Adam Scott.  There were about 15 women in the theatre and one bloke. He lasted about 15mins into the movie before he got up and left. To be honest, If it hadn't been so hot outside, I'd have probably beaten him out the door. The voice of the mother yapping to the son was pretty irritating and the story wasn't much to write home to mother about either. Mum wasn't anything to look at for the bloke who left, and the son wasn't anything to look at for we ladies who were left to watch the movie. Didn't get to hear what the other ladies thought of the movie as they rushed out of the theatre at the end.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on February 01, 2013, 11:52:35 AM
Saw "Guilt Trip" starring Seth Rogan, Barbra Streisand and Adam Scott.  There were about 15 women in the theatre and one bloke. He lasted about 15mins into the movie before he got up and left. To be honest, If it hadn't been so hot outside, I'd have probably beaten him out the door. The voice of the mother yapping to the son was pretty irritating and the story wasn't much to write home to mother about either. Mum wasn't anything to look at for the bloke who left, and the son wasn't anything to look at for we ladies who were left to watch the movie. Didn't get to hear what the other ladies thought of the movie as they rushed out of the theatre at the end.

Well, let me suggest another movie in the same genre but very well done and not whiny.  "Mother" by Albert Brooks.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 02, 2013, 11:01:40 AM
Thanks A-Train, I'll make a note of it! bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on February 06, 2013, 09:36:41 AM
Wow just came back from British Film Festival in Jerusalem where we saw the Autobiography of a Liar -based on the fictional
biography of Monty Python's Graham Chapman,followed by a discussion with the directors,including Q and A.
Excellent evening and very very funny. He will be missed.
 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on February 06, 2013, 01:01:06 PM
I will add that to my "to see" list.  agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 07, 2013, 12:07:03 PM
Saw "The impossible" yesterday. To be quite honest, whilst I know it was based on a true story, I was getting tired of the constant tension and kept saying "hurry up" under my breath. Naomie Watts and the eldest boy played their parts very well indeed and the filming was really good. My neighbour kept gasping and crying through the whole movie. Have any of you ladies seen it?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 08, 2013, 04:47:52 PM
Lost In Thailand

It's busting blocks, apparently (http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNGli_WrUHQWE8zniFwwLRz-ZdIPOw&url=http://www.npr.org/2013/02/07/171399652/move-over-james-bond-china-has-an-unlikely-box-office-champ).

TO me it seemed like a throwback. "Competitive urbanite meets yokel doofus and learns a lesson" can be cool, but I found this one fairly dull. Possibly the only interesting feature was setting it in Thailand, meaning they could show glistening countryside which looks like China but isn't China, but also meaning sometimes English was the only common language. Perhaps a sly use of other countries to try coming at China's internal communication problems. Or not.

Low energy, kinda shallow, don't know what all these Chinese are seeing in it. It was okay, I guess.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Just Like Mr Benn on February 08, 2013, 05:54:05 PM
Lost In Thailand

It's busting blocks, apparently (http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNGli_WrUHQWE8zniFwwLRz-ZdIPOw&url=http://www.npr.org/2013/02/07/171399652/move-over-james-bond-china-has-an-unlikely-box-office-champ).

TO me it seemed like a throwback. "Competitive urbanite meets yokel doofus and learns a lesson" can be cool, but I found this one fairly dull. Possibly the only interesting feature was setting it in Thailand, meaning they could show glistening countryside which looks like China but isn't China, but also meaning sometimes English was the only common language. Perhaps a sly use of other countries to try coming at China's internal communication problems. Or not.

Low energy, kinda shallow, don't know what all these Chinese are seeing in it. It was okay, I guess.

I thought it was ok. I haven't watched many Chinese movies. I didn't like the famous go to Chinese films such as 'Red Lantern' or 'Farewell My Concubine' either. A few of my students made a fuss a year or two ago about 'The Flowers of War', but I thought that was pretty mediocre, as well as unappetisingly racist against the Japanese.

Do you all think that maybe Chinese films just aren't that great? It's ironic to me that my favourite director, Ang lee,  is (in the Chinese worldview) Chinese, but my Chinese friends don't seem to appreciate his movies. For the most part of course, they are English language, and the last Chinese language one, Lust caution, was no doubt banned in China for its very explicit sex scenes.

The alternative is that different cultures just have different tastes in films. I recognise this cutural relativism argument, but on the whole I'm sticking to my opinion that Chinese Art; films, TV, music, literature, is all sub-par, and 'Lost in Thailand' has made its way to the top of the pile by virtue of its medicrity.

Like I say though, I haven't watched a lot of mainland films. Also, if Chinese people were to judge Western movies etc, by what is most popular, we probably wouldn't think that they were basing it on the best we have to offer.

'Lost in Thailand' has big stars, plus the main actor and his screen wife are a real life couple. get Tom Cruise and his next wife playing a married couple in a Hoolywood remake, and it would be the most watched fiilm in the US.  It may not be great, but I thought it was watchable.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on February 08, 2013, 06:22:34 PM
I recently wathced "Painted Skin 1&2" and those ancient-China-meets-steampunk movies Taichi and Taichi Hero. I thought they were all rather good.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 08, 2013, 07:16:24 PM
I like a fair bit of Chinese cinema. Jia Zhangke's films are, in my opinion, great. Other "sixth generation" films like Suzhou River, Blind Shaft, and Beijing Bicycle are, in their various ways, great too. They're all "art house" fare, though, I guess. But, for example, House of Flying Daggers tickles my fancy as well. And Zhang Yimou isn't to be sneezed at either. Lost in Thailand is billed as addressing modern Chinese middle class concerns and stresses. I guess it does. And, truthfully, it's not a bad film. I guess one could call it gentle slapstick. Meh, I don't know, I may have to watch it again.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on February 09, 2013, 02:13:53 AM
Saw "The impossible" yesterday. To be quite honest, whilst I know it was based on a true story, I was getting tired of the constant tension and kept saying "hurry up" under my breath. Naomie Watts and the eldest boy played their parts very well indeed and the filming was really good. My neighbour kept gasping and crying through the whole movie. Have any of you ladies seen it?

I agree that it is very one-dimensional. Won't be remembered for very long, but still enjoyed the hyper-realism of it. I think if I hadn't known it was based on a true story I would have probably hated it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on February 09, 2013, 02:18:35 AM
Lost In Thailand

It's busting blocks, apparently (http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNGli_WrUHQWE8zniFwwLRz-ZdIPOw&url=http://www.npr.org/2013/02/07/171399652/move-over-james-bond-china-has-an-unlikely-box-office-champ).

TO me it seemed like a throwback. "Competitive urbanite meets yokel doofus and learns a lesson" can be cool, but I found this one fairly dull. Possibly the only interesting feature was setting it in Thailand, meaning they could show glistening countryside which looks like China but isn't China, but also meaning sometimes English was the only common language. Perhaps a sly use of other countries to try coming at China's internal communication problems. Or not.

Low energy, kinda shallow, don't know what all these Chinese are seeing in it. It was okay, I guess.

Speaking of "Lost" movies, I thought "Lost In Beijing" was well worth the two-hour investment.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 09, 2013, 11:17:44 AM
I think if I hadn't known it was based on a true story I would have probably hated it.

My take on it too A-Train.

Saw "Zero Dark Thirty" yesterday. It was a bit much for my 76yrs old female neighbour who squirmed and gasped for most of it. For my part, I believe in torture if that is what it takes to stop mass killing of innocent people. My observations are that we are FAR too lenient on most people who commit serious crimes.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: becster79 on February 09, 2013, 05:58:00 PM
Okay, so I'm not big on the lesser-known films, but films I've seen over the holidays were Life of Pi, The Hobbit and Les Miserables.

Life of Pi- very beautiful, actually saw it out of boredom while in Taiwan. Didn't know what was playing but this was on the list. Very pleasantly surprised, even cried at the end!

The Hobbit- as expected, will be an epic trilogy. Liked seeing more of Gollum! Martin Freeman is adorable :).

Les Miserables- Well knock me down with a Mac truck. By far and away, THE. BEST. MOVIE. EVER. MADE. Exceeded my expectations- actually, I even saw it twice and cried several times both times seeing it. It will be the shortest Oscars in living memory because this movie will clearly scoop the lot. I could go on and on and on....though I do have small gripes! a. Hated that they added a new song and cut 'Little People' and 'A Little Fall of Rain'...and too much volume, not enough emotion in 'Bring Him Home' (sorry Hugh, you were still brilliant though!). Loved this musical for a long time and seen it onstage several times (in fact, in junior high school, just missed out on playing Cosette in a local theatre company production)...but yes, playing Fantine or Eponine in a production is on my bucket list!

Will shut up now  adadadadad !
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on February 09, 2013, 06:53:00 PM
I watched "Les Mis" too and found it palatable, albeit may not to the extent of hailing it as "best movies ever made".

Watched "Killing Them Softly" recently. Poorly acted, slow-moving plot, no real climax, a movie that had about as much appeal as Pitt's rather annoying perfume  commercials. If you come across this movie and you have no wet paint to watch dry, it will be provide you with the same amount of entertainment. So I recommend staying well clear of this flick. One can only come to the conclusion that Pitt did this movie to win a bet with his wife as to whether or not he could provide a level of acting lower than that of Angelina Jolie in "Tomb Raider". Simply put, if you have the choice between organizing and folding your socks or watching this movie, fold your socks. It will be a better use of your time.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on February 09, 2013, 09:18:46 PM
Saw "Skyfall" yesterday. Not a big Bond fan and went to this one, basically, because it was the only English language movie around and was half-price. Maybe it benefited from low expectations, but I thought it was great. The Bond series is becoming more like the Bourne series, but this one had a sense of humor that was wicked and paid homage to the '60's Bond movies without dwelling on it. Judi Dench is still in it, but they've added Raph Fiennes, Javier Bardem and Albert Finney.  And the "Bond Girl" is updated, yet still sexy.

On a minor note, the opening credits were the best I've ever seen.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on February 11, 2013, 06:15:41 AM
Saw a weird Indy sort of movie last night called Chinese Takeout or alternate title "A Chinese Tale" in Spanish with English and Hebrew subs. Set in Buenos Aires. Some Mandarin dialogue and I actually caught a few words in it.
Sad and funny quite a treat.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1705786/][url]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1705786/ (http://[url)[/url]
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: fox on February 12, 2013, 04:57:12 PM
The Master  2012 movie. watched it in two sittings due to its almost two and a half hour duration. 

Need to be in the mood to appreciate this one, i thought. And it suited my chinese new year melancholy.

imdb is the place to read about it.   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1560747/
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: fox on February 12, 2013, 05:04:28 PM
I like Eddie Murphy, his recent movie 'a thousand words' was good and thought provoking.

i dont understand why it is only rated less than 6 on imdb as i thought it was worth a lot higher.  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0763831/?ref_=sr_1

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 14, 2013, 01:24:34 AM
Searching for Sugarman  - a quirky music documentary

+1

but unsure if happy or sad.

Great music. Outrageous story.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 15, 2013, 02:09:27 AM
Lez Miz'rablz (sic)

A finely animated cd of rousing songs.

Some have suggested that so many close-ups is so much poor cinematography, but I'll disagree. The close up sung songs were riveting. Even Russ's.


(aka "Les Misérables")
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 18, 2013, 01:44:43 AM
Speaking of "Lost" movies, I thought "Lost In Beijing" was well worth the two-hour investment.

Finally finished it, and agree. It should come with various psychic warning labels though. I found it almost too accurate. Thus, thumbs up, I guess.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: randyjac on February 18, 2013, 03:38:07 AM
Saw "Jack Reacher" for free and still wanted my money back.

Couldn't agree more. I was wondering how tiny tot Tom Cruise would play Lee Child's 6'4", 240 lb. Jack Reacher. I wasn't surprised. He didn't.
In addition, the car chase scene. The "real" Jack Reacher is not a good driver.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on March 16, 2013, 12:01:55 PM
Saw "Side Effects" yesterday starring Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Jude Law. I thought it was a good movie for males and females to see together. I also saw "Great Expectations" and to be honest, I found the bleakness of the scenery, very depressing. Has anyone else seen either or both of these?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Day Dreamer on March 16, 2013, 10:11:53 PM
The g/f has been trying to get me to see "Upsidedown" for a few days. I ran out of excuses so we went to see it last night. Except for a few instances, she had no trouble understanding the plot and dialogue. That's how lame the movie was.

I'm a hardcore sci-fi buff, but even I couldn't agree with much of the premise. And the story itself was such a vieled "Romeo and Juliette" it made me cringe.

To add insult to injury, how's this for imaginative names;
Hero- Adam
Love Interest- Eden
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on April 27, 2013, 12:44:33 PM
Saw "Song for Marion" yesterday starring Vanessa Redgrave and Terrence Stamp. The acting was good and the story was sad. There were about 80 old farts at the movie and I heard a lot of nose blowing and saw eyes being wiped. There was plenty of humour there too. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Day Dreamer on April 28, 2013, 05:26:52 AM
Man I hate going to a theatre in China. The exception is when you are in a VIP room. The next closest person to you is half a mile away. I'm tired of asking folks to turn off their phones, not the noise, the bright light.

We saw The Croods (aka The Flintstones on Planet Avatar) I don't know why the critcs panned it, it is what it is; a made for yung'ns cartoon. I read some of the reviews and couldn't believe they trashed the movie for plot, jokes and whatnot. Folks, don't you have kids? Like they care about that shit!

The movie was pretty funny, a little heavy on dialogue for a kids' movie but amusing. The baby is uber-cool and yes the plot is predictable. You want sophistication, go read aTom Clancy or a John le Carré book or something
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: eggcluck on April 28, 2013, 02:25:48 PM
Watched Odysseus Island of the mists.

Not anything to rave about, but much better than the usual crop of films produced by syfy. THey stay fairly accurate with the mythology but the scripting and production leaves much to be desired.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on April 28, 2013, 03:53:42 PM
Man I hate going to a theatre in China. The exception is when you are in a VIP room. The next closest person to you is half a mile away. I'm tired of asking folks to turn off their phones, not the noise, the bright light.


Yeah, it's even worse than in the States. But, the Chinese are surprisingly responsive to a stern request to turn it off. Just giving them dirty looks, of course, is of no value whatsoever.

I agree with you on the review thing. It would be like analyzing plot points and character developments of a Marx Brothers' movie.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on April 28, 2013, 11:14:23 PM
... It would be like analyzing plot points and character developments of a Marx Brothers' movie.

 bkbkbkbkbk
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on April 29, 2013, 12:08:40 PM
I'm tired of asking folks to turn off their phones, not the noise, the bright light.

At theatres in Brisbane, when the big screen notice comes comes up telling people to turn off their phones, they do it. bfbfbfbfbf Perhaps they have seen we old farts sitting there scowling at them BEFORE that instruction appears. ahahahahah I have seen a few people jump up and leave the theatre to answer what must be a vibrating phone. I notice that we are seeing more Asians coming to the theatre, but there are no problems. I promise you DD that I would get them thrown out if they turned on phones or talked too much. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Day Dreamer on April 29, 2013, 12:41:43 PM
What's strange is that they're not talking, they are either texting or playing games. Either way, it's the bright light that is annoying. They talk to each other constantly. The phones get shut down, but not their mouths. At that point the g/f and I just start screaming in English. They usually get the message.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on April 29, 2013, 12:52:52 PM
Day Dreamer, that is the reason why I do not go to the cinema at all. Not in China, not in Denmark. Phones and chatter.

I recently watched "Last Stand" with good ol' Arnold. It was actually good, if all you want is Die Hard-esque one-liners and lots of violence. This is not a movie I would recommend for intricacy of plot, depth of character or dialogue, but for a fun, relaxed evening, it will do the trick.  agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Guangzhou Writer on April 29, 2013, 02:51:43 PM
I don't go to the cinema very often here, maybe once or twice a year, but it seems to me that since the first time in 2005, people's behavior has actually become more considerate. Instead of talking at normal levels in the middle of the film, people who apparently just have to take that call (we're all of us so important these days, like doctors or movie stars), jump up and run out of the theater. Also, people who have their little smartphones/computers on for texting frequently make an effort to cover it or hold it at a downward angle. Of course, I am also going to the newer theaters in Guangzhou and Hong Kong and perhaps they attract a slightly different demographic.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on May 04, 2013, 03:33:30 AM
http://c15065204.r4.cf2.rackcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/f250bestmoviesmap_HQ.jpg?ba1df0

Interesting way to display someone's list of the 250 best movies.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Guangzhou Writer on May 04, 2013, 04:10:10 AM
That is totally awesome!! Kudos to whoever made that map, I love it. Lots of great films on that list. Wonder if the same person chose them all? I don't know many of those 50's films, but other than that I see a clear pattern in what's chosen: mainstream, high quality films. Not much anti-establishment I can see besides "Paths of Glory". Maybe others there I don't know about.

For an example of an anti-establishment film with a name, I would give "Burn!" (1969) with Marlon Brando. The director is not US/UK mainstream, but that was Brando in his absolute prime and the film's a total masterpiece with high production quality. That director's films are truly anti-establishment, not something like "Footloose" LOL, or some allegedly "anti-war" film, like some on the list of 250.

Can also see the typical acceptance of demoralizing and degrading films with choices like "Old Boy" and "American Beauty". This kind of mainstream taste usually appreciates production quality, but does not analyze the inclusion of both positive and negative messages in the film.

He's got the 70's Coppola masterpieces (except THX-1138) and an interesting choice about having Godfather 1 and 2 on separate lines. For mainstream, well known stuff, he is missing Hal Ashby films from the 70's, which were as good as Coppola 70's, but lower budget: "The Landlord", "Last Detail", "Bound for Glory", "Coming Home" and "Being There".

Pretty much every Kubrick film is on there and he's even got "The Killing" right next to that hack Turpentino's "Reservoir Dogs" that copied it. Should have sandwiched it in with one of the other films Turpentino copied to make Dogs, "Charley Varrick" (1973), which is also a vastly superior heist film by Don Siegel, starring Walter Matthau. Of course, the one he copied most was Hong Kong cinema film "City on Fire" (1987). Turpentino is such a hack.

Lots of Jimmy Stewart, which is cool, but doesn't have an "end of the world" genre where he could have put the original and fantastically good "Flight of the Phoenix" (1966). Probably the most satisfying of all survival genre films in terms of psychologically consistent characterization.

This is just so cool 'cause I love movies and I love maps. Fantastic combination!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Guangzhou Writer on May 04, 2013, 04:16:42 AM
Oh, I saw on the source web site that the 250 were those voted by IMDB in June 2009, and not an individual choice. So IMDB is not anti-establishment. No surprise there.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on May 04, 2013, 07:17:10 AM
No, not heavy on anti-establishment, but I would include:
William Wyler's "The Best Years of Our Lives"
"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"  (If marriage and sanity are "the establishment")
"Bonnie and Clyde"
"Cool Hand Luke"
"Butch Cassidy" (Yeah, I know it's not a heavy-weight)
"The Wild Bunch"
"The Graduate"
"Harold and Maude"
"The Apartment"  (Big Business and corporate captains)
"In The Heat of the Night" (Established, southern racism)
"Sweet Smell of Success"
"Dr. Strangelove" (Given that all humans die in the end)
"Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (maybe this is really a re-establishment movie)
"Apocalypse Now" (It at least exposes the phoniness of the establishment)
"Battle of Algiers"
"Braveheart"
"A Clockwork Orange" ???
"Fight Club"
"American Beauty"
"Glory"

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Guangzhou Writer on May 04, 2013, 04:08:35 PM
Oh yeah, Battle of Algiers is anti-establishment and by the same director who made Burn!, Gillo Pontecorvo. I think Apocalypse Now is an honest movie about war, which is extremely rare, although it fails to make the connection of how the establishment uses war in order to control society, whereas I think Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" did make the connection, at least by showing the profit motive of commerce being alongside the higher motive of racism/superiority.

Dr. Strangelove is a mixed bag for me. It's a great film, but it doesn't reveal much that an observant person would have been surprised to learn at the time, although I'm not old enough to appreciate how everyone reacted. However, the film's portrayal of the top of the US and Soviet command structure is definitely anti-establishment and I can't think of any other prominent film that showed US/USSR as equally insane and incompetent. Usually it would be something like "We're great and they're the bad guys." Finally, Strangelove delivered one other message at a particularly critical time in US history that is troubling to me, but that's an involved discussion that gets off on some controversial topics.

BTW, if you like Strangelove, you need to take a quick look at the wiki page for Operation Paperclip and for Werner Braun in order to appreciate who and what that Strangelove character represents, and why he was played so well by Sellers.

And one last thing, Strangelove is a black comedy about the insane policy of mutually assured destruction, for which the acronym M.A.D. is perfectly appropriate. In the same year another film on exactly the same topic was released, but it was done as a straight thriller/drama. It's called "Fail-Safe" (1964). My favorite part is that Walter Matthau has a serious role at the film's opening.

The Graduate, IMO, is not anti-establishment. It's simply a bit comical, with enjoyable music, but overall it's demoralizing, which is the most obvious purpose of Hollywood/mainstream films, TV, media, etc. The hypocrisy-of-the-older-generation theme is just whining meant to deliver the message that you "shouldn't trust anyone over 30", which emphasizes the generation gap, separates younger people from the actual wisdom and knowledge of their elders, and helps categorize old people as useless. The isolation metaphor when Hoffman's character is forced to demonstrate his new scuba suit for the benefit of his parents' showing off to their social circle is hilarious, but it is also a way to reinforce mistrust of the older generation.

It is incorrect to blame working parents for the evils of the system simply they de facto believe in, participate in, benefit from, etc. The older generation of the film are portrayed as fools, but just because they believe in the system doesn't mean they are actually responsible for it or have any power to change it, although we see them as benefiting directly from it in their

[condescending Soviet accent = ON]
decadent, Americanisch, opulent lifestyles.
[accent = OFF}

Realistically speaking, what alternatives do they have? Colonize the island of Catalina and build a utopia? LOL The film condemns the parents from an immature and singular point of view of their spoiled kids, which is inherently more hypocritical than the behavior of the parents. It's not really an interesting or developed social commentary, IMO, which is proven by the impotence of the actual youth of that era utterly failing to change the system in real life, and most of them eventually sold out by their own standards. Should the youth of the 60's be condemned the way the movie condemns the older generation of the film?

You mention Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?, which is also directed by Mike Nichols and one I've never seen. I'll take a look because I consider his other early films "Catch-22" and "Carnal Knowledge" to be very demoralizing. Would like to see about his first film as well. My favorite film of his is "Wolf" (1994). Hmmn, a repetition of a word in a title. I think in his director commentary on "Catch-22" he tells you exactly what he thinks of morality.

I don't get Harold and Maude the way I love all other Hal Ashby films of the 70's, "Shampoo" being least on the list of some great movies. Is H&M really anti-establishment or is it just whiny and naive? Or is Ashby making fun of naive and whiny people, especially with the over-the-top Cat Stevens soundtrack? No offense meant to Mister Islam :)

I would like to watch In The Heat of the Night again. Haven't seen it in such a long time.

Sweet Smell of Success is one that I don't know about. Will check some info. Hey, Burt Lancaster, I'm there. Will see if I can get it.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is one I've never seen. I get turned off by the cheesy tone of a lot of older films, but I'll give this one a try.

A Clockwork Orange is another Kubrick entry that is a great film and deserves close analysis in order to interpret the various messages. I don't consider it anti-establishment in any way, in fact I really think it's very much pro-establishment and shows what Kubrick probably thought about humanity in general. I think he comes off as an elitist.

Clockwork poses the question of how to control society: by allowing freedom of choice and individual morality as some kind of right, or by using science, such as the Ludeveko technique, to absolutely control people. It goes on to show the absurdity of the political system, but that's not exactly front page news, and it doesn't offer any solutions or important revelations, so I can't call it anti-establishment in that regard.

Considering how much screen time is devoted to demonstrating that the social problems of crime and sexual promiscuity are completely failed by the penal system, the politicians, the parents, the church, etc., I don't think the film's message is anti-establishment. On the contrary, I think it is suggesting that the establishment be given greater power to control people, but only to control certain people, in order to deal with the problem of individual choice and free will that the "wrong" people currently have.

American Beauty is probably the most demoralizing film to be praised and promoted so much. It is a perfect example of mainstream media combining a few conscious-level positive messages, especially the Happy Hollywood Ending, in this case done in a sort of necrophiliac manner, with a continuous barrage of negative and disgusting messages. It is basically a later version of The Graduate, told from the young people's point of view, its premise revealing the changes in what is socially acceptable from 1967 to 1999. Look at "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" from 1975 and something like "The Breakfast Club" from 1986 to see how the stepping stones of changing social mores seem to bridge from one decade to the next.

The gradual degradation of society is not anti-establishment. Degradation of the masses does not affect the power, influence, or prestige of those in power, those who control society, but is in fact a way for the establishment to exercise control through manipulation of society into a condition of moral ambiguity, which is done primarily via media, so that people will be more amenable to policies that take away civil rights in disregard of human dignity, allowing for greater freedom of establishment institutions, such as corporations, to maintain dominance without being inhibited by individuals asserting their rights and power to not do morally objectionable things or object to being treated as slaves and machines.

Some of the demoralizing themes of A.B. are: Sexual fantasy about young girls is the first step in changing from a loser to a winner. Drugs are the second step to becoming a winner and being happy, although in the film they're actually an example of irresponsible behavior when used as a constant escape from reality. Money you don’t earn, but steal or get through blackmail will bring the most happiness. Avoiding family responsibility and loyalty will bring happiness. Self-satisfaction is preferable to self-sacrifice (love) for family. Voyeurism is preferable to engaging in reality. Death is beautiful. Women are bad. Traditional role models are bad, from parental role models to sexual role models since the only apparently happy people are the homosexuals next door. The closet homosexual (Ricky's father) is the worst person in the film, implying that if he were honest and came out his life would be better.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on May 06, 2013, 12:37:35 PM
I watched the movie "Sin City" (2005) because it had such a good write up in the TV magazine. I must admit that I forced myself to sit through the 2hr movie just to see if there was something wrong with me. I looked it up on the Internet and I still can't understand how actors like Bruce Willis played in it. What am I missing Guys?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on May 06, 2013, 05:03:27 PM
I watched the movie "Sin City" (2005) because it had such a good write up in the TV magazine. I must admit that I forced myself to sit through the 2hr movie just to see if there was something wrong with me. I looked it up on the Internet and I still can't understand how actors like Bruce Willis played in it. What am I missing Guys?

Different strokes for different folks.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on May 06, 2013, 06:47:29 PM
Just watched "Jayne Mansfield's Car" last night,starring Billy Bob Thornton and a few other big names and thought it was pretty good. Great Southern accents, 1960s cars and the tensions of that era well portrayed.Throw in a few pompous Brits and there you have it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Guangzhou Writer on May 07, 2013, 02:38:31 AM
I watched the movie "Sin City" (2005) because it had such a good write up in the TV magazine. I must admit that I forced myself to sit through the 2hr movie just to see if there was something wrong with me. I looked it up on the Internet and I still can't understand how actors like Bruce Willis played in it. What am I missing Guys?
You ain't missing nothin', ma'am. This is kind of a tame example of what passes for "entertainment" in the 21st century of mainstream cinema. It's obviously created by people who are absolutely trying to create the most bizarre scenarios of extremely violent and psychopathic visual imagery and display them to the widest audience possible in order to make such fare more and more "normal". So the psychopaths won't feel so isolated, perhaps? The other director in that film, Robert Rodriguez, is even a bit more extreme than Turpentino.

Although I have nothing against Bruce Willis, and generally actors have the least control over what is written, filmed, edited and finally presented in a film, I learned long ago there are very few actors working today (can only think of 2 who've been in the news, neither are A list) who have any qualms about anything they're asked to do for the camera.

If you like Bruce Willis and sci-fi, I can suggest "Surrogates" (2009) as something that isn't too violent and has an interesting premise. Knowing who the star is then you know how the plot will be resolved, but it's fairly interesting along the way. If you're over 40 and didn't grow up with a cell phone attached surgically to your ear, the basic idea of the movie can provide a good chuckle within minutes of exiting the theater and dodge the gadget addicts.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on May 07, 2013, 03:11:23 AM
Again...different strokes.  It's certainly not hour grandfather's action movie. But then, its story and look are taken from a graphic novel and, even though I don't read comic books, I loved the look and feel of this one. The end of Roger Ebert's review tells us a lot:

Which brings us, finally, to the question of the movie's period. Skylines suggest the movie is set today. The cars range from the late 1930s through the 1950s to a recent Ferrari.The costumes are from the trench coat and G-string era. I don't think "Sin City" really has a period, because it doesn't really tell a story set in time and space. It's a visualization of the pulp noir imagination, uncompromising and extreme.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Guangzhou Writer on May 07, 2013, 03:36:20 AM
I think the look and feel of Sin City was very skillful and made the film visually distinctive and perhaps a bit more palatable and surreal.

The following year, Richard Linklater, who is based in the same city as Rodriguez (Austin, Texas) released "A Scanner Darkly", based closely on the Phillip K. Dick novel. This film is rotoscoped and has a very surreal, distinctive look and feel to go along with its excellent story. Did you catch that one, A-Train? Robert Downing, Jr. makes the movie very re-watchable.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on May 07, 2013, 11:35:05 AM
Thanks guys! bfbfbfbfbf Violence doesn't bother me and the film was certainly visually distinctive. Looks like it is just different strokes.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Guangzhou Writer on May 09, 2013, 04:36:43 AM
Yeah, different strokes.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on May 17, 2013, 02:40:38 AM
I confess to liking "Die Hard", all of them, albeit I found the third one a bit too much. However, I just watched the latest installment and it was, to put it mildly, horrible. Crap plot-line, no funny one-liners, a most flat performance by all the actors and, most unbelievable, it was boring. If you, like me, have fond teen memories of watching John McClane killing Hans Gruber, stay away from 'A Good Day to Die Hard". It is quite simply a complete waste of time, it is not even entertaining and, Odin knows, the Die Hard movies are not exactly meant to by Algonquin Round-Table material.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Monkey King on May 17, 2013, 04:32:29 AM
Have you seen Bruce Willis' recent interview on British TV?  Even he couldn't seem to muster any enthusiasm for it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on May 17, 2013, 12:31:59 PM
Nope, but I can understand why he wouldn't.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Monkey King on May 17, 2013, 04:32:06 PM
It was bizarre.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/4783642/bruce-willis-appears-on-the-one-show-in-awkward-interview.html
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Day Dreamer on May 17, 2013, 05:03:18 PM
Downloaded the new Star Trek movie (confession: I'm a major Trekkor) Unfortunately, it came from a non English speaking country. During the Klingon conversations, I couldn't read the sub-titles

A little forced and contrived. Not a disappointment, but not their best either
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on May 19, 2013, 12:57:20 PM
Saw "The Company you keep" starring Robert Redford and directed by him. The story wasn't too bad, but I thought that the Actors really looked too old. I know that these folk were supposed to have been young folk in the 70's but Robert with a 12 yrs old daughter looked a bit odd to me.

Saw "Snitch" yesterday starring Dwayne Johnson and Susan Sarandon. There was plenty of action and it was based on a true story. I enjoyed it and my old neighbour commented that the men would like this movie. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Fozzwaldus on May 20, 2013, 02:10:06 AM
It was bizarre.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/4783642/bruce-willis-appears-on-the-one-show-in-awkward-interview.html

bizarre indeed, but is it as bizarre as this?

http://vimeo.com/53749151

needs VeePeePee I think
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on May 20, 2013, 06:29:14 PM
Saw 'The Master' the other day. That Paul Thomas Anderson is an amazing director.

If you've seen 'There Will Be Blood' it's pretty much the same atmosphere and similar characters. This time it's about a religious cult at the end of WW2

I'm normally pretty ADD watching films but this had me riveted for 2 hours
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on May 21, 2013, 06:37:07 PM
"The Master" had great acting and, as you say, a distinct feel, but in the end, I can't say that I enjoyed it all that much.  Maybe I need a second look at it, but despite all its good qualities it seemed hollow.  I would definitely recommend it. 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: elzoog on May 22, 2013, 12:04:53 AM
As far as a movie to do in class, recently I did Cider House Rules (please note that I am teaching university students, this movie would definitely be inappropriate for middle school or maybe high school students).

I did it because although I generally like the movie, I also think there are a few weaknesses in it.  It seems to be a good movie to discuss "What did you like about it?" and "What didn't you like about it?"

For example, I found the character of Mr. Rose Rose to be inconsistent.  I don't want to post any spoilers though so I will leave it to you guys to figure out why I think so.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on May 22, 2013, 12:37:15 AM
For example, I found the character of Mr. Rose Rose to be inconsistent.

It's been a long time, but are you sure he wasn't just showing one side of himself to the white people and hiding the other?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: elzoog on May 22, 2013, 05:10:12 AM
For example, I found the character of Mr. Rose Rose to be inconsistent.

It's been a long time, but are you sure he wasn't just showing one side of himself to the white people and hiding the other?

Try watching the movie then asking me that again.   
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on May 23, 2013, 12:22:54 PM
"Broken" is a captivating and heartbreaking exploration of love in all its many forms. The cast was really good with Tim Roth, Cillian Murphy and a really great newcomer Eloise Laurence. I think this young lass will become a real star. She is about 11 or 12 yrs old.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on May 25, 2013, 12:33:10 PM
"The call" starring Halle Berry as a 911 operator, was a good movie if you like observing human behavior. My Neighbour likes to live in "Dreamland" and she found this film upsetting. I won't go into details since you folk will have access to this movie information. I liked the ending! uuuuuuuuuu
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on June 01, 2013, 12:55:37 PM
Saw the 1974 version of "The great Gatsby" last Monday and yesterday saw the newest version starring Leonardo DiCaprio. I preferred the original version, but to be honest, I really don't know why they bothered remaking it at some astronomical cost. Obviously a lot went into costumes and the settings, but I am not greatly impressed by such things.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 08, 2013, 11:49:52 AM
Right..."Bullet to the Head" starring Sly Stallone and Jason Momoa. Absolute crap. Poor acting, poor plot, no discernible chemistry between the two protagonists.
"Jack the Giant Slayer" starring...mmm...two people whom I have never heard of. In a movie involving giant beanstalks, giant monsters and fantasy in general I do, despite what the surprised critics of the movie said, a CGI extravaganza. It was fun, light-hearted and predictable. The kind of movie which you want to watch after teaching for 8 hours.
"John Dies at the End" low-budget hilarity. If you are unfamiliar with it, read the novel and then watch the movie.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on June 08, 2013, 12:25:37 PM
"The Hangover Part 111". This was what you would expect it to be. At the end, the credits came up and the cast names were shown and most of the old farts at the movie were headed out the door. Suddenly there is a quick scene with one of the guys in women's knickers and with a really great set of boobs. Next, in comes the Asian guy totally naked in a full frontal shot. My neighbour's jaw dropped open and she was in a state of shock. ahahahahah ahahahahah I could almost hear the rest of the old girls skidding on the carpet to get back for a better look. ahahahahah ahahahahah ahahahahah What a way to get their hearts started for the trip home? This of course prompted discussions about you know what in relation to Asian males. uuuuuuuuuu ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on June 08, 2013, 03:27:35 PM
Eric, I was VERY disappointed in "Bullet to the Head". It was apparently the swan song for Walter Hill, who has directed many fine action films, including "48 Hours" and "The Warriors". This had no drama OR action.

 Much better was The Rock's new film, "Snitch, which was more an action-oriented drama than an outright action film. It's about a guy who agrees to help the DEA and Federal prosecutors set up some big-time drug dealers to get his son off on a drug charge. It has some good supporting performances from Jon Berenthal (The Walking Dead) and Michael K. Williams (The Wire and Boardwalk Empire), although Susan Sarandon is kind of wasted on a role that could have been played by anybody. It has a lot more depth than one might expect, taking a strong stand against mandatory minimum drug sentences.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on June 08, 2013, 04:50:44 PM
Have been showing my students "Edward ScissorHands" as their "end of year treat" and frankly even after watching it 14 times I think it's awesome. Johnny Depp just has it all.. akakakakak Can't wait for him as THe Lone Ranger
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on June 08, 2013, 05:33:27 PM
Can't wait for him as THe Lone Ranger

Could be a long wait.

He's Tonto in the up coming movie.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on June 08, 2013, 06:46:48 PM
Oops so he is.Fine I will settle for Tonto.Still love him  akakakakak
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on June 22, 2013, 01:39:17 PM
Saw World War Z yesterday as was not really impressed. I laughed briefly and derisively at one point and the guy in front spun round and told me to "shush". It was truly only a VERY brief expression, but he and his young 6yrs? old son were glued to the screen. I chose to wait til the end of the movie and try to get this guy away from his son for long enough to tell him that he was not in fact in Church and that I am allowed to laugh briefly in the movies. I think he felt my vibes and he moved off quickly before I could get my sore foot into action. Has anyone else seen it?
     
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on June 22, 2013, 03:10:17 PM
I've not seen it yet Granny, but I was disappointed with how they decided to film it. This was an awesome audiobook. I usually prefer reading but this really worked as an audiobook.  It was like an old radio show. The story was told from the perspective of a reporter going around the world interviewing survivors after the end of the outbreak. There was no hero just devastated people telling their stories. They completely dropped that from the movie. It should not have been called World War Z.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: roadwalker on June 22, 2013, 07:53:33 PM
I recently heard of that audio book (World War Z) but haven't heard it or read the book.  I also just became aware that the book's author is Mel Brooks' son (Max?). From the previews, the way the movie is set up as opposed to the book, it appears it would be a good candidate for a Mel Brooks send up.  That would be interesting, although I doubt Mel would still be sharp or even interested in making a movie.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on July 16, 2013, 01:17:21 PM
Saw "The Lone Ranger" and to be honest, all I can say, is that it was ok. I was reading that it is turning out to be "one of the costliest bombs of all time". AUS.$150 million is the predicted financial loss of the film.

"The Heat" doesn't get much of a write up here; it was actually classed as average. There were mainly old farts at the session I attended. I heard several gasps from some of the ladies because Melissa McCarthy constantly used "bad" language. I laughed, as did most of the other folks. If you don't mind some bad language, you will probably get a laugh out of this movie.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on July 16, 2013, 03:32:43 PM
Now that my darling video pirates are back in business, I can once again peruse the bizarre things they stock for no apparent reason.  The latest one that really stood out was Iron Sky.  There's nothing quite like Nazis from the moon to ensure that a movie can reach new heights and depths of deranged silliness.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: English Gent on July 16, 2013, 06:27:29 PM
dont know if its been mentioned, but Looper, with bruce willis was geat imo. captured the feeling of 'twelve monkeys' and bruce acts really well in it. its a powerful film.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 16, 2013, 06:51:09 PM
I liked "Iron Sky", it was fun, original and completely silly.
I am still waiting for a good copy of "The Lone Ranger". Been reading a lot of bad reviews of it. Not sure why. It seems fun, but a lot of reviewers seem to compare it to the TV show which I have never watched.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on July 17, 2013, 01:28:00 AM
I'm am currently downloading what could be the greatest movie ever made Sharknado (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharknado).

A freak hurricane hits Los Angeles, causing man-eating sharks to be scooped up in tornadoes and flooding the city with shark-infested seawater.

Staring 90210's Ian Ziering and also Tara Reid.

Ziering's character is named ........ wait for it ........ Fin.

I'm very excited.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Maifeilan on July 17, 2013, 05:54:28 AM
Werner Herzog narrates Dinotasia = an hour and a bit of being emotionally manipulated to the point where  wwwwwwwwww the 'last chapter' involves you falling hopelessly in love with an under'dog' tyrannosaurus rex and his subsequent family only to watch them all DIE in the horrible end we all knew was coming when we sat down to watch this damn thing.

CURSE you, Werner Herzog.  CURSE YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU! 
asasasasas 
amamamamam
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on July 17, 2013, 01:11:19 PM
Sharknado was everything I expected it to be. Incredible.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Nolefan on July 17, 2013, 07:38:59 PM
Sharknado was everything I expected it to be. Incredible.

I saw the trailer and couldn't decide if it was gonna be one of the best things of the year or the worst way to spend 90mn ever....  still don't know..
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on July 17, 2013, 08:45:09 PM

I saw the trailer and couldn't decide if it was gonna be one of the best things of the year or the worst way to spend 90mn ever....  still don't know..


That was the beauty of Sharknado. You didn't have to decide. It was both!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 17, 2013, 11:56:22 PM
World War Z. (cam copy)

Epic. (Not counting the last 20 minutes.)

Shall watch again. (And boo the last twenty minutes)


Has nothing to do with the book.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on July 18, 2013, 12:31:52 AM
Man of Steel

Better than expected, no Sharknado but pretty good.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 19, 2013, 10:55:34 PM
White House Down
Olympus Has Fallen

Both more or less the same movie - terrorists take the White House, dude who was or wants to be Secret Service is trapped inside as well, plus something about his kid. Large body counts ensue, much gunplay and violent fisticuffs included. WHD is the more tolerable for being rambunctious. Suitable for 10-13-year-old boys. I did watch them both through to the ends though, so there's that as well.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: wakethenight on July 20, 2013, 04:05:51 AM
Saw Pacific Rim last week and it made the inner mecha fanboy in me squee in pure, unadulterated delight. The dialogue is cheesy but the action, ah, the action. I hope the movie makes loads of mmoney because I don't think Guillermo Del Toro gets the credit he deserves.

In any cause, Pacific Rim was certainly not another Transformers (eek).
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on July 20, 2013, 01:28:09 PM
"The Look Of Love" is based on the outrageously true story of Paul Raymond, who once held the title of the Richest Man in Britain. His journey to success began in 1958 when he opened a groundbreaking gentlemen's nightclub that was so hot that very few men could resist. His empire included a men's magazine, nude theatre production and millions in real estate. His personal life was as scandalous as his shows. I liked that it was based on a true story but I think it "curled" my neighbour's hair with the amount of "boobs,bums and pubic hair" on display.

"This Is The End" stars Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, James Franco and other celebrities who are faced with the apocalypse. There was a lot of truth underneath it all. What stood out to me, was how weak and stupid certain humans are. I am not a prude, but I didn't think it necessary to place so much emphasis on male genitalia. We even had to see the shadow of a monster with an erection. kkkkkkkkkk  Again, my neighbour doesn't have to go and get her hair permed. ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: decurso on July 20, 2013, 06:47:11 PM
The Lone Ranger was as good as it possibly could have been...which isn't saying a lot. The characterizations of the two main characters were refreshing and it was ultimately a diverting piece of flush. Be sure to check out the version Funshion...which has some HILARIOUS Chinglish subtitles.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 21, 2013, 02:30:36 AM
Not exactly movies, but I have been watching the British TV show "Horrible Histories"...it's hilarious.... agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on July 21, 2013, 09:59:37 AM
... but have your read the books?!?  I used some of them as the textbooks for my (middle school) students a couple of years ago. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 22, 2013, 11:44:16 PM
Watching a lot of Doctor Who, actually. I decided to revisit my huge crush on Rose Tyler (she's great) and was planning to watch only a few eps. But, ended up watching all the Ninth and Tenth Doctor seasons. Presently cherry picking Eleventh Doctor episodes. Not a fan of the new title sequence, looks like an angry colon from the inside.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on July 23, 2013, 12:25:50 AM
I just saw Watchmen. I'm not sure what it is about Zach Snyder, his films are all really beautiful and there isn't anything obvious wrong with his films, I can just never follow the plot or get involved in what is going on
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on July 23, 2013, 12:59:50 AM
I just saw Watchmen. I'm not sure what it is about Zach Snyder, his films are all really beautiful and there isn't anything obvious wrong with his films, I can just never follow the plot or get involved in what is going on


I agree with this completely.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Guangzhou Writer on July 23, 2013, 05:12:06 AM
Before Midnight (2013) is the third in director/writer/autobiographer Richard Linklater's romance trilogy and he is a master of this genre. It was released in the USA a month or so ago and there's a very high quality DL (2.3 GB) with hardcoded Korean subs available. They don't get in the way at all.

I love this trilogy and these are some of the most honest movies I've ever seen, especially as the characters reflect the continuing age and development of the principle actors, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, both of whom are fantastically good in this moving picture.

The title is a bit of foreshadowing of the focus of this stage in the romance, but I won't say any more except that, as Linklater promised, this film does answer all questions raised by the previous film.

It is really fun to see just how amazingly good Hawke and Delpy can act in this movie. BTW, Hawke resembles Linklater in such extensive detail (clothes, facial hair, posture, hair style, and more) that it's almost like a running in-joke that most of Linklater's "dialog" films are extremely autobiographical.

Loved it! Films like this sustain my enjoyment of cinema during months or even years of disappointment. Final scene of this film was even better than Linklater's Tape 2001.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Guangzhou Writer on July 23, 2013, 05:19:53 AM
I just saw Watchmen. I'm not sure what it is about Zach Snyder, his films are all really beautiful and there isn't anything obvious wrong with his films, I can just never follow the plot or get involved in what is going on

Watchmen is eye candy with a creamy nugat center of moral relativity scenarios where you are put in the position of cheering for the worst of the "good" people and accepting the evil of "bad" people.

For example:


SPOILER ALERT




SPOILER ALERT


In Watchmen, the only character who objects on moral principle to Ozymandius' final solution to mutual assured destruction is the obvious psychopath, Rorschak, so we have to take the side of a principled and overt psychopath against the slick an clever, covert psychopath, while the more moderate characters acquiesce to the evil because of the rationale that once the damage is done, revealing the true motives of the bad guys will cause more harm.

In other words, we better not tell the children how f**ed up things are or they'll get upset.

This is the common theme in the super hero and many other films. Once you recognize it, it's just a matter of figuring out how that hidden message is cleverly inserted into each plot point. It's like counting how many times a director uses the same gag over and over.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Monkey King on July 23, 2013, 05:30:35 AM
Who will watch the watchmen?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on July 23, 2013, 05:51:10 AM
I just saw Watchmen. I'm not sure what it is about Zach Snyder, his films are all really beautiful and there isn't anything obvious wrong with his films, I can just never follow the plot or get involved in what is going on

Watchmen is eye candy with a creamy nugat center of moral relativity scenarios where you are put in the position of cheering for the worst of the "good" people and accepting the evil of "bad" people.

For example:


SPOILER ALERT




SPOILER ALERT


In Watchmen, the only character who objects on moral principle to Ozymandius' final solution to mutual assured destruction is the obvious psychopath, Rorschak, so we have to take the side of a principled and overt psychopath against the slick an clever, covert psychopath, while the more moderate characters acquiesce to the evil because of the rationale that once the damage is done, revealing the true motives of the bad guys will cause more harm.

In other words, we better not tell the children how f**ed up things are or they'll get upset.

This is the common theme in the super hero and many other films. Once you recognize it, it's just a matter of figuring out how that hidden message is cleverly inserted into each plot point. It's like counting how many times a director uses the same gag over and over.

Yeah but that's a pretty deep plot, it's kind of amazing how the movie seemed to pedestrian when there was quite a lot going on
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 23, 2013, 02:23:26 PM
I really, really want to watch "R.I.P.D" despite amount of lukewarm faeces being pelted at from critics. The reason I want to watch it is that I want to know exactly how Hollywood could fudge up such a yummy concept. Dead police officers get a second chance at doing their job by patrolling the mortal realm and chasing down spirits of criminals and such...that is just a plain awesome idea. From the clips I have seen, it would appear that they take this concept, add village-idiot humour a la "American Pie" and use pretty much every special effect employed in making "Men In Black". If there ever was a movie concept which called for a more serious, gritty, slightly noir setting, it is this one. I keep sending letter upon letter to Hollywood but no replies. Why oh why is it so hard for movie studio moguls to realize, as they ride around in cars made of solid gold which runs on tears of unicorns and smoke huge cigars which they light with hundred Dollar bills, that an underpaid English teacher in China knows exactly what they should do to make better movies?? Oh well, must send another letter to Universal Studios...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 23, 2013, 11:01:28 PM
Only God Forgives

Right up until the last ten minutes I was thinking "wonderfully ponderous nonsense." The last ten minutes is a natural conclusion. Relatively speaking, anyway. And provoking of thought.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on July 24, 2013, 01:21:01 AM
Only God Forgives

Right up until the last ten minutes I was thinking "wonderfully ponderous nonsense." The last ten minutes is a natural conclusion. Relatively speaking, anyway. And provoking of thought.

Really liked this one but I can see how many would not. It you liked this directors last movie, 'Drive' also with Ryan Gosling, give it a shot.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 24, 2013, 02:10:35 PM
Really liked this one but I can see how many would not. It you liked this directors last movie, 'Drive' also with Ryan Gosling, give it a shot.

I found the ending disconcerting. By the familiar cinematic story-telling standards, the ending is wrong. But that can be okay if the story told is "true" in some sense--true to a given culture or a mindset that we don't usually see in English language films. I don't know if it is, though. It might be. I couldn't tell.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on July 25, 2013, 04:23:31 AM
Okay saw the Lone Ranger trailer and have crossed it off my list.Shall watch "Behind the Candelabra" instead and really enjoyed "Late Quartet" which was shown on the plane on the way home.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 25, 2013, 08:44:19 PM
Evil Dead, 2013.

Gore fest, particularly at the end. Some nods to the original, but almost no comedy to be found, nor much horror either. Starts well, though.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 27, 2013, 04:32:41 AM
"The Woman in Black", excellent ghost movie, no gore, just good old-fashioned bone-chilling creepiness. I wish they would make more movies like that.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on July 27, 2013, 12:58:17 PM
Before Midnight (2013) is the third in director/writer/autobiographer Richard Linklater's romance trilogy and he is a master of this genre. It was released in the USA a month or so ago and there's a very high quality DL (2.3 GB) with hardcoded Korean subs available. They don't get in the way at all.

I love this trilogy and these are some of the most honest movies I've ever seen, especially as the characters reflect the continuing age and development of the principle actors, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, both of whom are fantastically good in this moving picture.

The title is a bit of foreshadowing of the focus of this stage in the romance, but I won't say any more except that, as Linklater promised, this film does answer all questions raised by the previous film.

It is really fun to see just how amazingly good Hawke and Delpy can act in this movie. BTW, Hawke resembles Linklater in such extensive detail (clothes, facial hair, posture, hair style, and more) that it's almost like a running in-joke that most of Linklater's "dialog" films are extremely autobiographical.

Loved it! Films like this sustain my enjoyment of cinema during months or even years of disappointment. Final scene of this film was even better than Linklater's Tape 2001.

Saw "Before Midnight" yesterday. I have not seen any of the other movies and in fact, didn't know they even existed until Guangzhou Writer posted about this. I really enjoyed the way it reflected basic human behaviour. My neighbour didn't think she was going to like it when she realized that there was not a lot of action going on. I think there is something here that most folk can relate to. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on July 27, 2013, 01:32:06 PM
Prometheus
I've tried to watch it about 1000 times but it always sends me to sleep so today I watched it sober and awake. Really really enjoyed it, I remember a lot of people being disappointed when it came out but I loved it.
The aesthetic was amazing and I think I would have preferred it if it hadn't gone a bit 'horror' in the 2nd half of the movie but still thought it was great. I hope there are more of those 'engineers' in the sequel
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on July 27, 2013, 02:07:14 PM
I loved "Prometheus" too and that, despite seeing it in a Chinese theater.  Fassbender and Theron were spot on and who could ever forget Naomi Rapace's self-service surgery scene?  It caught a lot of flack for being overly mythological, but I respect it for reaching that far and asking big questions. 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Guangzhou Writer on July 27, 2013, 03:24:51 PM
I saw Prometheus last year in Hong Kong when it came out and it wasn't until I read this movie review of it that I could feel satisfied. I mean this in all serious, the following is the greatest movie review that I have ever read. It's not so much a review as a cliff's notes. Meant only for people who've already seen the film.

Prometheus in Fifteen Minutes
http://m15m.livejournal.com/23209.html?nojs=1 (http://m15m.livejournal.com/23209.html?nojs=1)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on July 27, 2013, 05:00:45 PM
I enjoyed Evil Dead 2013.  My wife didn't appreciate that I spent the rest of the evening occasionally getting possessed and threatening to eat her soul. ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on July 28, 2013, 06:09:52 AM
I enjoyed Evil Dead 2013.  My wife didn't appreciate that I spent the rest of the evening occasionally getting possessed and threatening to eat her soul. ahahahahah


And this was different ... how?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on July 29, 2013, 08:59:37 PM
I enjoyed Evil Dead 2013.  My wife didn't appreciate that I spent the rest of the evening occasionally getting possessed and threatening to eat her soul. ahahahahah


And this was different ... how?

Post-movie wife annoyance is usually particular to the movie or genre.  For Alien movies, I've usually got a problem with one trying to hatch out of my chest.  For zombie movies, I typically try to eat her brains.  If it's a Twilight flick, I either sit there like a gay, sparkly vampire aaaaaaaaaa, or, if Jake is in it, there's always the infinitely better werewolf option.

We really need one more Twilight movie - a crossover with Blade.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: wakethenight on July 30, 2013, 07:07:18 AM
I saw Prometheus last year in Hong Kong when it came out and it wasn't until I read this movie review of it that I could feel satisfied. I mean this in all serious, the following is the greatest movie review that I have ever read. It's not so much a review as a cliff's notes. Meant only for people who've already seen the film.

Prometheus in Fifteen Minutes
http://m15m.livejournal.com/23209.html?nojs=1 (http://m15m.livejournal.com/23209.html?nojs=1)

My husband and I agree: Prometheus was basically Lovecraft.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 31, 2013, 02:30:14 AM
Prometheus would have been so much better of Lovecraft had written it.  agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on July 31, 2013, 05:29:36 PM
Prometheus would have been so much better of Lovecraft had written it.  agagagagag

*gasp*  Holy Snot!  ETR and I agree on a point involving both a modern movie AND classic literature.

I can feel the fabric of the universe itself crying out in pain over the strain this is causing. aoaoaoaoao

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 31, 2013, 07:13:58 PM
The Colony

Great CGI. Otherwise, meh. More like a pilot for a fairly boring scifi serial than a movie with a story.

And actually, for a Canadian scifi serial that isn't boring: Continuum.

It's well into the second season now and is a cop drama verging on the dystopic. A revolutionary anarchist group from the future is marooned in the present and believes they can destroy the oppressive society they escaped by undermining the existence of corporations in the present. (Perhaps a tad over-acted sometimes, but still likable.)

bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: English Gent on July 31, 2013, 07:30:21 PM
continuum, the one with amanda tapping trying to be british? cant watch it due to that, but love sg1. how about evolution? sci fi where technology has gone, quite good in the absence of a good star trek dvd...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 31, 2013, 07:52:31 PM
Nope, not Stargate. This is the one with Rachel Nicols' frown:

(http://collider.com/wp-content/uploads/Continuum-rachel-nichols-slice.jpg)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Just Like Mr Benn on August 01, 2013, 02:12:13 AM
continuum, the one with amanda tapping trying to be british? cant watch it due to that, but love sg1. how about evolution? sci fi where technology has gone, quite good in the absence of a good star trek dvd...

I feel as though I should like 'Continuum' and 'Revolution'. I feel as though I'm a geek.

However, my actual favourite programmes of recent times.

'Orange is the New Black'. There's a thing called The Bechdel Test which asks whether a work of fiction features at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man. (Very few films or Tv programmes do, and those that do it's usually just in isolated scene or two. Even Continuum whose main character is female, almost never has a conversation with another woman.

But OitNB is all Bechdel. It's about inmates at a female prison. Written by the writer of 'Weeds', and just as you don't have to be a black drug dealer to appreciate 'The Wire', you don't have to be a woman to appreciate writing and characterisation this good.

'The Returned'. As long as you're prepared to be one of the roughly 50% (including me) who hated the final episode of season 1, this French drama is interesting.

'Under the dome' An adaptation of Stephen King's novel. The novel was an interesting concept with a crap ending, (for many people a common criticism of King) but the TV series has taken the good, ejected the bad, and is excellent. The characters are much more complex, and the story is significantly different, including apparently the reason for the dome.

'The Fall'. Maybe i'm not really a geek, because at heart I like a good police drama. Broadchurch was pretty good, but this drama set in northern Ireland is my pick, and Gillian Anderson is amazing. The actress always comes across as snooty, arrogant and rude with a British accent. Luckily, that's exactly the character she had to play here (most of the series was basically written for her) and she is correspondingly mesmerising.

After writing this, I've read a guardian article
http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/jul/28/returned-game-thrones-best-tv-2013
 which has all these programmes (except dome) and even mentions the Bechdel test. I'm clearly just an archetypal Guardian reader. A bit depressing frankly that I'm incapable of forming an opinion that hasn't already appeared in The Guardian.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on August 03, 2013, 01:13:09 AM
God bless the Grauniad  ababababab
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Guangzhou Writer on August 03, 2013, 04:37:52 AM
Saw "Only God Forgives". It's basically a remake of The Shining by people with a minimalism fetish and an abhorrence for originality. I don't think there was a single frame of this film that I haven't seen in other films in my lifetime.

On the plus side, not quite as stupid as "Drive" made by the same ripoff artist and starring the same Gosling.

My sincere apologies to Mr. Kubrick for mentioning you in the same post, but they tried to rip you off. As if.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on August 03, 2013, 06:04:35 AM
Saw "Only God Forgives". It's basically a remake of The Shining by people with a minimalism fetish and an abhorrence for originality. I don't think there was a single frame of this film that I haven't seen in other films in my lifetime.

On the plus side, not quite as stupid as "Drive" made by the same ripoff artist and starring the same Gosling.

My sincere apologies to Mr. Kubrick for mentioning you in the same post, but they tried to rip you off. As if.

I quite liked some of the bits in that 'Valhalla Rising' that he did. It wasn't really a film but it had some nice bits in it
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on August 03, 2013, 01:32:16 PM
"Much Ado About Nothing" Joss Whedon's  version of Shakespeare's breezy comedy, is getting good reviews here. I must confess to not having read Shakespeare's play, but I kept wondering why Don John wanted to stop a marriage and why Shakespeare bothered to write about it. Perhaps it is just me, but I really found it strange to hear men going on about romance in such detail. I'd really love to hear the views of anyone else who has seen it, particularly from a male point of view.

"Behind the Candelabra". As one review said, "If Liberace hadn't been a real person, no one would have had the nerve to invent him". I thought that Michael Douglas, as Liberace, played a really great part and I was surprised to see Matt Damon playing his young lover. Again, I don't know what the guys will think of this movie, but I heard my female neighbour gasp a few times at the kissing and the sex scenes. ahahahahah  To be honest, all I could really see was the  sadness behind all the glitter of a really great entertainer.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on August 03, 2013, 04:22:34 PM
To be honest, all I could really see was the  sadness behind all the glitter of a really great entertainer.

To quote the phrase Liberace himself coined, "(He) cried all the way to the bank.".
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on August 04, 2013, 01:05:30 PM
To be honest, all I could really see was the  sadness behind all the glitter of a really great entertainer.

To quote the phrase Liberace himself coined, "(He) cried all the way to the bank.".

He sure did A-Train. I'm very glad that glitz and glitter and material possessions mean very little to me.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 09, 2013, 01:23:10 AM
The Veteran

Excellent for what it is, a low budget thriller.

A tiny bit unconvincing in the paranoid conspiracy department, but better than good in other aspects.


 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Guangzhou Writer on August 10, 2013, 04:33:54 AM
.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 01, 2013, 08:47:18 PM
R.I.P.D.

Men In Black meets Ghostbusters and converts to pop Christianity (to make a modestly entertaining, not very endearing movie).

Kick Ass 2

More of the same, but much less subversive.

Pain & Gain

Dumb. Mark Wahlberg played his part with bite and skill, but Dwayne Johnson and Anthony Mackie were doing rubber-faced cardboard vaudeville.


Man of Steel

Not bad. Light on story, but lots of colour and movement.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 22, 2013, 02:42:29 AM
The Bling Ring

A character study with muggles.  bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on September 30, 2013, 01:26:20 PM
Saw "Grown ups 2" starring Adam Sandler, Kevin James and Chris Rock. This is during the School holidays and has a PG rating. Most of you know that I'm not a prude, but I was surprised to see children of all ages, particularly ones about 8 to 10 yrs old, at this movie. I had one child behind me asking his mum a lot of questions. There were naturally lots of laughs and heaps of innuendo which the children probably wouldn't understand. I'd be interested to know if anyone else has seen this and could comment on its suitability for young children, or is Granny being too protective? mmmmmmmmmm
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on October 01, 2013, 03:56:06 PM
Granny, at least the parents are watching the movie with them, so that they can explain the content. Children are today exposed to content that makes any naughty things in a comedy look like a pristine Puritanical sermon on proper quilting by comparison, on their smartphones and without any adults supervision. So you are not being overprotective, just kind of old school overprotective. The only way parents can be protective today is by accompanying the children...or send them to a remote boarding school in the Swiss Alps where they only have a telegraph service. agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on October 02, 2013, 12:57:38 PM
ETR, you are probably right. I saw an I-Pad for the first time when my brother showed it to me a couple of days ago. I am finding it hard to get my head around what is available to young children today. bibibibibi
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on October 02, 2013, 02:47:09 PM
Everything, Granny, everything. That's why parents these days cannot blame TV, video games and such for children doing bad things. They give them iPads and smartphones and the internet has no moral or ethical boundaries. Hence it is the good parents who come to the conclusion that if their child wants to watch something with adult themes, the least they can do is accompany them.

To return to topic: I recently watched "The World's End". Normally Simon Pegg and Nick Frost makes me laugh but this movie tanked. It was good, until the last 10 minutes.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on October 02, 2013, 05:09:40 PM
A parental perspective definitely changes things, especially if you have a daughter. aqaqaqaqaq

I had to explain the euphemism in the lyrics "I'm a mother freaking princess" to my daughter yesterday.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Day Dreamer on October 03, 2013, 03:50:23 AM
You won't believe this, the g/f wanted to see the Lion King (the first one) as she's never seen it before. She cried when Scar killed Muphasa and cheered when Simba beat Scar. Sadly she missed so many of the good inside jokes

PS: Scar is one of my favourite characters of all time cartoon or not
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on October 03, 2013, 05:00:52 AM
Saw "Prisoners", the first real entry into the Oscar-worthy season.  Jake Gyllenhaal, Hugh Jackman, Terrance Howard, Viola Davis, Melissa Leo and Paul Dano.  Pretty long on drama and rainstorm-induced mood,but more or less interesting and, definitely, dark.  Not sure I liked the twist, but it's always tough to end a drama, I think.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on October 05, 2013, 01:10:08 PM
I think you guys would like "Rush". It is a biography of champion driver Niki Lauda and the 1976 crash that nearly claimed his life. Chris Hemsworth played the part of his rival James Hunt. I thought that it was well acted and the story was interesting and sad. James Hunt only lived to be 46 yrs old, so I guess it was as well that he didn't waste any time;no wonder he had a heart attack. I'm not giving away anything about the movie, because none of that side of things was shown. The theatre was full of blokes, with my neighbour and I as the only females. We both enjoyed the movie even though we are totally different personalities. Ladies should also enjoy this show. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 05, 2013, 01:32:48 PM
Lone Ranger (2013)

Long. Not complicated.



As it happens I also watched Westworld the other night too. It holds up pretty well (although the last thirty minutes is tedious).
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on October 05, 2013, 05:10:05 PM
I found "Lone Ranger" entertaining.  agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on October 05, 2013, 06:26:45 PM
I think you guys would like "Rush". It is a biography of champion driver Niki Lauda and the 1976 crash that nearly claimed his life. Chris Hemsworth played the part of his rival James Hunt. I thought that it was well acted and the story was interesting and sad. James Hunt only lived to be 46 yrs old, so I guess it was as well that he didn't waste any time;no wonder he had a heart attack. I'm not giving away anything about the movie, because none of that side of things was shown. The theatre was full of blokes, with my neighbour and I as the only females. We both enjoyed the movie even though we are totally different personalities. Ladies should also enjoy this show. bfbfbfbfbf

I really want to see that, I love the old F1

There was a film about Ayrton Senna a few years ago as well which is worth watching if you haven't seen it. It's all made of old footage rather than being a 'film film' but it's still a great story
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 07, 2013, 03:32:22 AM
Du Zhan ("Drug War")

HK-style police "action" procedural set entirely on the mainland. It's particularly good with urban and nearly-urban landscapes. And has a shootout worthy of any spaghetti western HK action flick.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on October 07, 2013, 05:44:20 AM
Elite Squad

Brazilian crime/corruption drama. Really enjoyable, beautifully filmed and a really pacy story. I suppose the characters are a bit shallow but the story and execution are top class, highly recommend
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on October 09, 2013, 02:02:22 AM
Just tried watching "The Croods"...that was a bad idea.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Day Dreamer on October 09, 2013, 05:01:10 AM
Just tried watching "The Croods"...that was a bad idea.

You sir, are an elitist
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on October 09, 2013, 11:09:34 AM
Just tried watching "The Croods"...that was a bad idea.

You sir, are an elitist

Thank you  agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on October 10, 2013, 12:16:32 PM
"Gravity" starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. I just kept shaking my head and wondering how they persuaded these two "stars" to perform in this movie. I must say that they really did not have to do much else except float around in space. To be honest, I found it predictable and boring. bibibibibi
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cruisemonkey on October 10, 2013, 07:29:45 PM
"Gravity" starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. I just kept shaking my head and wondering how they persuaded these two "stars" to perform in this movie.

I saw a trailer for it and thought -
I'll bet there is no gravity... the movie just sucks.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 12, 2013, 08:09:27 PM
I'd like to see Gravity, and A Touch of Sin. Can't find copies yet.

Meanwhile, on a whim, watched the Infernal Affairs movies again. Not as colourful as I remembered, but movie Cantonese is always fun anyway. (Du Zhan is so very obviously mainland China settings, I kinda remembered the Infernal Affairs movies as being very HK and, meh, the landscape is hidden in the background in all three, which is okay, and if you don't watch the subtitles you get lost fast.)

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on October 12, 2013, 11:17:41 PM
I just watched On The Beach, a late 50s films where a nuclear war has wiped out the whole world except Australia and in Australia they are just sitting around drinking and smoking and waiting for the radiation to wipe them out
Bloody marvellous
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: becster79 on October 14, 2013, 03:49:54 AM
Kitano, then you MUST watch the tv movie remake of it- it's even better than the original and more updated/ hitech. Fantastic movie!

I believe it may be in full on You Tube.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on October 14, 2013, 01:30:56 PM
Kitano, then you MUST watch the tv movie remake of it- it's even better than the original and more updated/ hitech. Fantastic movie!

I believe it may be in full on You Tube.

Just found it on Youtube, I'll watch this after school today  ababababab
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on October 14, 2013, 07:56:14 PM
Finally saw the new Star Trek movie.  SOOO sad I missed it in the theaters (by 1 day llllllllll).

I managed to avoid getting any info, except who the main villain was.  Wish I'd managed to avoid even that.  I hate spoilers.

Now I just have to show my wife some of the better original episodes and movies before letting her see the new movies.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on October 15, 2013, 02:29:53 AM
@Kitano.. we had to read the book of that at school.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on October 15, 2013, 03:26:01 AM
I'm watching the new version. I think the most interesting thing for me is the difference between 50s Australia and 2000 Australia. I much prefer the old version, Armand Assante is no Gregory Peck and I love Barry Brown and Rachel Ward but they aren't as classy and washed up as Fred Astaire and Ava Gardner

@piglet: arggh there's a book as well?

The End of the World is my favourite subject. I hope to save up and write an academic book before the world ends
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on October 15, 2013, 03:08:21 PM
The End of the World is my favourite subject. I hope to save up and write an academic book before the world ends

I'm writing a movie script about a guy who's thinking about writing an academic book about the world ending.  The catch is that whatever he publishes is destined to come true, so various forces battle to either help him along, prevent him from writing, or change what he says. ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Reawake on October 15, 2013, 11:03:16 PM
Prisoners (2013)

I don't think I've ever seen Hugh Jackman in a better role. It's an absorbing thriller, full of dread and morality, pitch perfect pacing, the whole kaboodle. Maybe the best thriller since Se7en, I thought it that good.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on October 16, 2013, 12:35:08 PM
They have a classic movie once a Month at a Cinema here in Brisbane. I saw "Flashdance" from the early 80's I think. Starred Jennifer Beals and Michael Nouri. I didn't stop jiggling in my seat(minds out of the gutter boys) :candyraver: :dancemj: Next month it will be "The Godfather Part 2" and then "Grease" after that one. I love to watch all these old movies, especially at the Cinemas. "Prisoners" starts tomorrow, so I'll be interested in seeing that Reawake. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on October 16, 2013, 11:14:06 PM
Ah, Jennifer Beals. akakakakak akakakakak akakakakak
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Day Dreamer on October 18, 2013, 10:46:34 PM
New movie coming out, wonder if they'll play it in China

A Touch of Sin

write up in the Toronto Star  http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/2013/10/17/a_touch_of_sin_slams_modern_china_with_medieval_brutality_review.html
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Reawake on October 18, 2013, 11:04:19 PM
Pretty sure the agenda for US movies released in China are lent too heavily towards sequels prequels or woeful original imaginings of robot related features  awawawawaw

I hope China stops patronising the people and begins releasing films with greater intellectual worth. And stop the pointless cuts! Ie that bad guy shooting (heaven forbid) a Chinese security guard in Skyfall. Nanny state bullshit that....

I saw Bruno last night, I wasn't keen going into it, but I ended up laughing more than I have at a movie in ages. Sacha Baron Cohen is one tenacious mofo!
 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Guangzhou Writer on October 21, 2013, 04:42:05 AM
Kitano, then you MUST watch the tv movie remake of it- it's even better than the original and more updated/ hitech. Fantastic movie!

I believe it may be in full on You Tube.

Just found it on Youtube, I'll watch this after school today  ababababab
Thanks Kitano and Becster. I recently saw the original and loved it, very hard-boiled, and had no idea there was a remake, much less a remake that has such good reviews. Downloading now...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Guangzhou Writer on October 21, 2013, 04:47:01 AM
BTW, if you like end of the world scenarios, including ones set Down Under, have you seen "The Quiet Earth" from 1985? One of my favorite sci-fi's and it does not drag on, IMO, as many do.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089869/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on October 21, 2013, 10:05:24 PM
Can people please say where they are streaming from cos I was using Torrents and watching later but maybe watching streaming is better.. suggestions welcome  bjbjbjbjbj
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on October 23, 2013, 01:12:20 PM
"Thanks for sharing" starring Mark Ruffalo, Gweneth Paltrow and Tim Roberts. This is about three guys from different backgrounds who are undergoing treatment to recover from their sex addiction.  afafafafaf  I took my naive (76yrs old) neighbour but didn't tell her what the movie was about. She commented that it was strange that there were only women in the audience. uuuuuuuuuu  Maybe it was a bit too close to home? ahahahahah I enjoyed in anyway and my neighbour learned a bit more about the opposite sex. uuuuuuuuuu bfbfbfbfbf ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on October 26, 2013, 01:08:56 PM
"Captain Phillips" was really well acted by Tom Hanks. I kept shaking my head all through the movie, as I couldn't understand how a ship could be so unprotected in waters that I thought were known for Somali pirates. When I came home, I did some research and it appears that the US-flagged MV Maersk Alabama was the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in TWO HUNDRED years. Can't wait to hear what you folks think of this movie, based on fact, about this 2009 hijacking. I still can't believe that they carried no firearms. bibibibibi
The other thing that kept going through my mind was what the rescue mission must have cost. bibibibibi
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Day Dreamer on October 26, 2013, 02:08:11 PM
Just read some info on the movie. Like most Hollywood productions, many great movies are based on facts and the final product has little in common with actual events.

The critics and audience seem to like the flic, the real crew are not so endorsing
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on October 26, 2013, 02:40:15 PM
I didn't follow it that closely at the time, but was the really dumb thing about that hijacking not that although no Americans had been victims of piracy for centuries, pirates had been hijacking pretty much anything that they could catch in those waters for years (I think)

Whenever the US attacks people like that using special forces and helicopters and so on I always just think 'they could just give them the money they are going to spend on killing them and they would probably go around telling everyone how great America was
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Day Dreamer on October 26, 2013, 03:09:08 PM
I didn't follow it that closely at the time, but was the really dumb thing about that hijacking not that although no Americans had been victims of piracy for centuries, pirates had been hijacking pretty much anything that they could catch in those waters for years (I think)

Whenever the US attacks people like that using special forces and helicopters and so on I always just think 'they could just give them the money they are going to spend on killing them and they would probably go around telling everyone how great America was

 bibibibibi

What are you, French?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on October 28, 2013, 12:42:00 PM
"Diana" starring Naomie Watts was a movie that made me feel sad. I just wished that Dianna could have ended up with Dr Hasnat Kahn. The thing that really makes me sad in life, is to see folks wasting their life in an unhappy/unsuitable relationship. alalalalal I just wondered what her boys will think of seeing this aspect of their Mum's life, put out there for all to see.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on October 30, 2013, 08:11:49 PM

Whenever the US attacks people like that using special forces and helicopters and so on I always just think 'they could just give them the money they are going to spend on killing them ...

What fun would THAT be?  Having an army is like having a lawyer.  Sooner or later you're going to use it.  For the excitement, if nothing else.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on November 03, 2013, 01:13:28 PM
"The Butler" was a look at the life of Cecil Gaines, an American Negro, who served eight Presidents as the White House's head butler from 1952 to 1986. Oprah Winfrey also had a role as Cecil's wife. It was interesting to see the political and racial history being made.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: adamsmith on November 03, 2013, 09:46:25 PM
just went through a marathon of planet of the apes - the originals. Loved them as a kid but now watching them again it is amazing at the messages in them when looked at from a different perspective than just entertainment. bjbjbjbjbj
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Day Dreamer on November 04, 2013, 06:35:05 AM
just went through a marathon of planet of the apes - the originals. Loved them as a kid but now watching them again it is amazing at the messages in them when looked at from a different perspective than just entertainment. bjbjbjbjbj

I did that a few months ago. I couldn't believe how hokey the shows are now but at the time . . .

I finally realized the "slavery" theme. I wash't too bright back then
(Ain't too bright now either, but at least I know I'm not)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on November 09, 2013, 02:14:22 PM
Last Days on Mars

Excellent monster movie - in the vein of Sam Rockwell's Moon, but with Mars, an ensemble, and--wait for it--ZOMBIES! ZOMBIES ON MARS! And the movie was good even before that!


Ender's Game

Don't watch the cam currently making the rounds. I will watch this movie again when a better copy comes out, but what I'm thinking currently is the movie stays close to the book, which is good for the book but bad for the movie. Ender's skills are kind of invisible (and the creation of Dragon army doesn't happen the way it should), and the movie seems like it becomes a collection of incidents. Maybe it'll all seem better when the special effects and vistas aren't all auto-focusing out of focus all the time or the screen suddenly going black. Or the back of some dude's head isn't in the bottom right quarter of the frame for an hour.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Day Dreamer on November 09, 2013, 03:44:47 PM
Last Days on Mars

Excellent monster movie - in the vein of Sam Rockwell's Moon, but with Mars, an ensemble, and--wait for it--ZOMBIES! ZOMBIES ON MARS! And the movie was good even before that!


I just watched it the other day. I found it tedious. No story development (explanation) and the conclusion was "meh"  The characters were cardboard.

Really, this is Gilligan's Island gone bad
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on November 09, 2013, 04:18:10 PM
Isolated research mission + personalities wearing thin + alien bacteria = YOU CAN'T FAULT ZOMBIE MOVIES ON SCIENCE!!!

They even had the characters say the whole plot out loud!

Irwin: People don't really change. Put them under enough pressure, you find out who they really are.
Kim: God, that is deep. Are you gonna put that in a poem?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Day Dreamer on November 09, 2013, 05:04:19 PM
Kim = that was the Sigourney Weaver type lady? She was the only reason to watch this dreck

I don't remember names
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on November 09, 2013, 05:23:39 PM
It's pretty interesting in retrospect. That snippet of conversation occurs in the context of the mission crew talking about the first men on the moon, and how landing on the moon changed them. Kim, the Sigourney Weaver type lady, was complaining their own mission to Mars will be worthless. "So what do you reckon," she asks, mocking. "We all go back home, find god, write a poem about it like the moon walkers did."

Only, their own mission does change them... IT CHANGES THEM INTO ZOMBIES!!!!!!!


That the movie managed to get away with that kind of referencing without succumbing to hipster irony but instead actually telling some kind of people story--WITH ZOMBIES!!! IN SPACE!!!--it's on a higher level, man. A higher level.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on November 09, 2013, 05:34:18 PM
They even deployed that old chestnut, "are the zombies still human on the inside?", and made it look like a real question!

/tour de force
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on November 12, 2013, 01:19:15 PM
"Prisoners", starring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal is a descent into the darkness of the human soul. Jackman is a struggling Carpenter with a strong survival streak and an aggressively religious attitude towards right and wrong. His daughter and her friend go missing and he decides to take matters into his own hands. He is the desperate father who will do whatever it takes to find the girls and in doing so, the viewer is left wondering about when the line is crossed between seeking justice and becoming a vigilante. This is certainly a movie which is unafraid to ask uncomfortable questions. Some of the ladies in the audience (my neighbour included) were horrified, so you have been warned ladies. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on November 14, 2013, 03:38:15 AM
Now that this treasure trove of Nazi-stolen artwork has been found:

http://onpoint.wbur.org/2013/11/08/nazi-treasure-trove-discovered

I'm really looking forward to the movie, "The Monument Men".
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on November 14, 2013, 12:39:26 PM
"The Counselor" was certainly an interesting thriller. When it first started, I thought that I must have been in the wrong theatre. ahahahahah  The Texas lawyer known as Counselor (Michael Fassbender) was having an interesting slobbering time under the sheets with his girlfriend. My neighbour's hair started to "curl" slightly and all I could think was "get on with the story".  The stakes are three oil drums packed with cocaine and secreted inside a waste truck to be driven across the Mexican border, bound for Chicago. The importer is the Counselor. Cameron Diaz played the part of the slinky feline girlfriend of nightclub king Javier Bardem. I thought she played a really good part and showed just how manipulative and deadly some women can be. I think the guys would get a smile out of her making love to the car windscreen; you really have to see it to believe it. Don't ask me who thinks up these things, but Javier Bardem's jaw was open the whole time as he watched from the other side of the windscreen. I'd love to know if any of you folks have seen it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on November 14, 2013, 03:12:16 PM
It didn't sound that interesting . . . until you said "making love to the car windscreen"

This just moved into my "MUST SEE IT" list.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on November 16, 2013, 01:07:51 PM
"Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa". There was a woman sitting about four rows behind my Neighbour and I and I could only think how lucky I was that I didn't live near her. She SCREAMED laughing all through this movie. I again understood the MA15 rating because it was pretty crude and I wondered what the young Grandson actor thought about this movie. bibibibibi  Naturally I laughed my head off, but Grandpa had only one major thought in his mind and that was about his dick. I was wondering why the faces of some people were hazed out. At the conclusion of the movie, it became clear. It appears that Grandpa and Grandson played their parts and the rest of the people were just folk who happened to be there or who were set up. (I'll bet there was a lot of editing done. ahahahahah ) Can you imagine your own reaction if you saw an 86yrs old Grandpa calling for help when his penis got stuck in a vending machine. ahahahahah You should have seen the size of his penis as he was pulling back trying to extract it. The faces of the onlookers were a sight to behold. They  even made sure that the testicles popped out. All I can say is that Grandpa is lucky that it would have been a fake lot of nuts and bolts. uuuuuuuuuu  You guys would have felt nauseated in one sequence when Grandpa was running around in his undies and his scrotum was hanging down about a foot or more in length with his testicles at the bottom. Again, the looks on the unsuspecting bystanders was as funny as his fake scrotum. Had I known at the start that the whole thing was not your typical movie, I would have taken more time studying the human reaction to all the situations which were set ups, which is why I'm telling you folks. They even had the Grandson dressed up as a girl competing in one of these VERY young girl's beauty pageants. I won't tell you what Grandpa got the boy to do for his act. Suffice to say you just needed to see the mothers' reactions. The young child who is world famous as a child pageant Queen was also in this part of the show. I suspect that no one knew about this until later and then I'd say it was heavily edited so no one (noone?) looked bad. bfbfbfbfbf I don't know if any of you folks have seen it, or will see it, but I'd love to know your take on the way this film was made.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: English Gent on November 16, 2013, 06:28:53 PM
Gravity, the most realistic space themed movie since Apollo 13.
Completely lacking in atmosphere!
(partial credit to dennis pennis)

just watched the wolverine, its quite good but felt abit 'small' to me, like skyfall. more of a focus on the soul rather than outlandish action, tho they both had their moments.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on November 17, 2013, 03:20:31 AM
Gravity, the most realistic space themed movie since Apollo 13.
Completely lacking in atmosphere!
(partial credit to dennis pennis)

just watched the wolverine, its quite good but felt abit 'small' to me, like skyfall. more of a focus on the soul rather than outlandish action, tho they both had their moments.

Have you seen Moon? That's an amazing space film

Is Gravity in the cinema here yet? I want to see that on a big screen
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on November 17, 2013, 09:28:46 PM
Gravity, the most realistic space themed movie since Apollo 13.
Completely lacking in atmosphere!
(partial credit to dennis pennis)

Have you seen Moon? That's an amazing space film

Is Gravity in the cinema here yet? I want to see that on a big screen

Gravity is here in Dalian. I think 3D is the only way to see it.

I agree, "The Moon" was excellent.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Day Dreamer on November 17, 2013, 10:17:45 PM
Gravity doesn't attract me    bibibibibi
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on November 18, 2013, 09:01:52 PM
Jobs

The dramatisation of the early days was interesting. For the rest of it, not sure. Either it finished as a tarring and feathering of "board members" (because damn, if "business" isn't filled with backstabbing dicks) or as a feature length advertisement. Jobs The Icon was present throughout.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on November 19, 2013, 04:33:48 AM
Jobs

The dramatisation of the early days was interesting. For the rest of it, not sure. Either it finished as a tarring and feathering of "board members" (because damn, if "business" isn't filled with backstabbing dicks) or as a feature length advertisement. Jobs The Icon was present throughout.

Yeah, it seemed to makes its point early and then spent the rest of the time giving us different camera angles of Ashton Kutcher squinting menacingly into the lens.  Wish it had spent more time with Steve Wozniak.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on November 23, 2013, 03:45:38 PM
Went to see Gravity yesterday, it was good, but it was just that special effect really, the plot was stupid. Nothing wrong with that, I'm sure now that we know how to do it there will be some awesome killing and war in zero gravity movies next year.
One thing in the plot that bothered me was how they met each other outside in space. They went up into space and out on a spacewalk together without having even had a chat before that point?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on November 23, 2013, 09:25:13 PM
Gravity doesn't attract me    bibibibibi

It does attract me, but if I move twice as far away from it, for some reason I'm only 1/4 as attracted. mmmmmmmmmm
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Day Dreamer on November 23, 2013, 09:44:13 PM
Gravity doesn't attract me    bibibibibi

It does attract me, but if I move twice as far away from it, for some reason I'm only 1/4 as attracted. mmmmmmmmmm

How inversely proportional
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: becster79 on November 23, 2013, 11:12:17 PM
Just got back from seeing the latest Hunger Games film, "Catching Fire". Awesome!! As a fan of the books I loved it though can't help but wonder if some of the small details in the new film would be lost on those who haven't read them, and certainly didn't see the first one. A few things they left out that was annoying, the biggest being the Avoxes (which play an important part in the last chapter) but still fun (especially the new Arena!) to watch. Our "girl on fire" Jennifer Lawrence, is on fire!

Bring on next November for number 3!!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Day Dreamer on November 27, 2013, 10:05:52 PM
Sorry becster, I just finished watching it and thumbs down. To each their own I guess. I never read the books but did see the first movie. I may have been predisposed to not liking it as I ripped the first one.

The Arena thing was a stroke of brilliance
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on November 28, 2013, 12:40:29 PM
I saw the Hunger Games film yesterday. I didn't read the books and I can't recall seeing the first movie, though some things seemed familiar to me. To be honest, all I could think was why haven't you people used your numbers to take out these gun toting guards etc etc. I was just annoyed that the people allowed themselves to be treated in such a manner. I guess that I needed to have a bit more background info to help me to understand, what I considered, was their weakness and stupidity. I will have to see the next one to see if anyone can get organized enough to sort out the situation. bibibibibi I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by human behaviour given my observations. My Neighbour is also sick of hearing me say that I'd hate to see any of the young folk today in a war zone. kkkkkkkkkk
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on November 28, 2013, 05:00:01 PM
I can't get away with Hunger Games, it's like Twilight I just constantly have the feeling of 'Why should I care about these beautiful young people?'

I prefer Running Man or Rollerball where you have big men killing each other. Surely that's what people would want to see if they started making gladiator shows, big tough trained killers fighting each other, not hot 16 - 20 year olds
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: fullricebowl on November 28, 2013, 05:47:59 PM
I just saw the new Hunger Games movie too and I loved it. I liked it visually and the twist at the end. Never read the books, but I found the movie really enjoyable. Like the first one, I found my self feeling like the post-apoloypical world had a very 1984 kind of vibe. I wonder if the local audience feels like it's roughly modeled after one society in particular.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Day Dreamer on November 28, 2013, 05:52:35 PM
I can't get away with Hunger Games, it's like Twilight I just constantly have the feeling of 'Why should I care about these beautiful young people?'

I prefer Running Man or Rollerball where you have big men killing each other. Surely that's what people would want to see if they started making gladiator shows, big tough trained killers fighting each other, not hot 16 - 20 year olds

Not all of them were "hot 16 - 20 year olds" Many were much older and almost all were well trained to not only defend themselves, but kill with expertise. I found this one less cerebral than the first one
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 05, 2013, 05:14:21 PM
Hunger Games - Catching Fire

IT WAS LIKE WATCHING THE BOOK AND WATCHING THE FIRST MOVIE ALL OVER AGAIN!!!

But better.


I watched a fairly good cam version as filmed in China, complete with nonstop audience talking, telephone calls, and abrupt, possibly censorious edits. And some dude sitting next to the camera eating. There was a unpleasantly wonderful meta-moment during a night scene where Katniss is on watch inside the arena. She sits in the dark, alert, and some guy is talking on his phone, and she's looking around for the noise.

Actually, the first meta-moment occurred right at the start. Katniss is crouched by her home town lake, some dude walks into the cinema late and throws his silhouette up on screen and Katniss spins and draws an arrow on him.

Shall watch again when some good copy comes into existence. I thought this move better than the first - more dramatically compelling.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on December 06, 2013, 04:37:50 PM
My Neighbour is also sick of hearing me say that I'd hate to see any of the young folk today in a war zone. kkkkkkkkkk

Coming soon, just for Granny Mae - Senior Wars!  bababababa bgbgbgbgbg

Now we'll get final proof if old age and treachery truly are superior to youth and skill.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on December 07, 2013, 01:00:00 PM
Yeah, I know that I sound like an old bat EL, but if you were able to sit in the shopping centres here and watch many of the young folk, as a general rule, the words youth and skill would not be combined, particularly in a battle zone. kkkkkkkkkk I would however admit that they could use their thumbs far better than the majority of we old farts. ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on December 07, 2013, 01:48:31 PM
"One Chance" is the true story of Paul Potts, a shy, bullied shop assistant with a talent for singing Opera. He became an instant YouTube phenomenon after appearing on Britain's Got Talent. Even if you are not an Opera fan, you would appreciate this young man being able to achieve his wish to sing. bfbfbfbfbf

If you want a laugh, "The Delivery Man" starring Vince Vaughn is not too bad. He finds out that he has fathered 533 children through anonymous donations to a fertility clinic 20 yrs ago. There were some males in the theatre and they were having a laugh, so it is probably ok for the guys as well.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on December 07, 2013, 05:58:39 PM
"One Chance" is the true story of Paul Potts, a shy, bullied shop assistant with a talent for singing Opera. He became an instant YouTube phenomenon after appearing on Britain's Got Talent. Even if you are not an Opera fan, you would appreciate this young man being able to achieve his wish to sing. bfbfbfbfbf

I remember him, I've never seen him live but that clip where he's singing Nessun Dorma in a pub is amazing
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on December 08, 2013, 02:28:04 PM
Thor: The Dark World...it was interesting...can't wait what they will think of next. Jormungand will be a submarine? Maybe the Fenris Wolf can be a spaceship?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 15, 2013, 12:29:05 AM
Bicycle Parkour

Road Bike Party 1 (http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNjQ4MTE3ODcy.html)
Road Bike Party 2 (http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNjQ2NTA3MDMy.html)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on December 29, 2013, 10:58:41 PM
Just watched "The Desolation of Smaug" and it was good. Ok, yes, some liberties have been taken with the original material but so what? Legolas has a gf who fancies dwarves and there is a bad-ass Orc running around. All good. As for the dragon...many times Hollywood has attempted to make a dragon and failed but in Smaug they came through. Dyed-in-the-wool Tolkien fanatics will undoubtedly have a field-day pointing out in how many ways this movie is different from the novel. I have read the novel, many times, good fantasy albeit somewhat dated, but simply fantasy nonetheless. One thing I did realize whilst watching it...Tolkien's elves are thoroughly unlikeable.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on December 30, 2013, 02:05:50 AM
One thing I did realize whilst watching it...Tolkien's elves are thoroughly unlikeable.

I really liked the elves in the books when I was a kid, they were aloof from the rest of the world but that was because the world was such a mess. I don't really like them in the films either, they are sort of camp and snobby, more like aristocratic humans than ancient mystical beings...
I read the books when I was about 10 so it might be that...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on December 30, 2013, 02:33:23 AM
As far  the elves are concerned, everyone else is snot nosed little kid.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on December 30, 2013, 02:41:01 AM
Me too. I think most kids like the elves. I remember when I was a kid, during the roleplaying sessions (Yeah, that's right. D&D, AD&D, Warhammer, Forgotten Realms, Star Wars, I played them all and I liked it. I only stopped when I went to China and my friends didn't. Anyone want to make nerd-jokes, go ahead, roleplaying was the best tool for keeping the imagination alive) elves were always the favourite characters. They were agile, had better fighting skills, all that. Tolkien's elves are cool enough in battle, but they do spend a lot of time make overtly dramatic speeches and plainly being drama queens. The sun rises in the east and is a bit orange..."A red sun rises. Blood has been spilled this night", yep, you need a reddish sun to tell you that, not the war party of Uruk-Hai and the Ring-Wraiths milling about the place? In Hobbit 2, when the Elf King is prancing about his palace, you really want to slap him. "A century is but a drop in the ocean for an elf. I am patient". Good, excellent, one can only assume that the elves must have patience, it must take forever to shampoo, rinse, condition, rinse repeat ad infinitum that shiny long hair. The dwarves just want to go home and he throws them in jail. True, they all live forever, but that is no reason for them to be utterly douchy.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on December 30, 2013, 02:13:24 PM
"Anchor Man 2: The Legend Continues". I don't know if it is just me, but I really can't understand why anyone would waste their time seeing it, especially if they had seen any Will Ferrell movies before, which I haven't. I have a very good sense of humour, but he did little for me. They are even using film of him now, at one of our theatres, to ask people to switch off their phones. bibibibibi All I can think is "I wonder how much he is being paid?".
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on December 30, 2013, 02:20:05 PM
Uhmm...a lot, Granny, just figure that it is a lot... agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on December 30, 2013, 05:39:08 PM
Me too. I think most kids like the elves. I remember when I was a kid, during the roleplaying sessions (Yeah, that's right. D&D, AD&D, Warhammer, Forgotten Realms, Star Wars, I played them all and I liked it.

There's a complete set of AD&D 2nd Edition rule books in my personal library here (along with more than enough assorted dice).  Find a few more nerds and come visit DG sometime.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on January 02, 2014, 01:02:15 PM
Went to the movies yesterday (New Years Day) and it was virtually standing room only. bibibibibi I saw "Philomena" starring Judy Dench and Steve Coogan. This is the true story of one mother's search for her lost son. As a teenager in Ireland in 1952, Philomena Lee fell pregnant and was sent to a convent where she was forced to work and was only permitted to see her son for one hour a day until he was taken from her. There were several other young ladies there in the same boat. I wondered what the Catholics would think about this type of true story being made into a film. To digress a little, my best friend through high school, was found abandoned as a baby on a Catholic Church doorstep in Ireland in 1944. She was given to a Mrs Lee, who was told by the Priest, to raise this child. Many things happened which many people would prefer not to know about. My friend died a couple of years ago and I can tell you she had a miserable life. This story really brought my friend back to me. I really liked this movie and it appeared that most people, in the packed  theatre, agreed with me. Many people cried and I would have loved to have been able to ask some questions, but I didn't know any of these people. I would really love some feedback from any of you folk if you are able to see it. I would very much like to hear the male perspective, given that it was a boy who was taken.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 02, 2014, 03:02:44 PM
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Sherlock Smaug.

It seemed to me there were rather fewer quest elements than in the book, and rather more action elements. Mirkwood, for instance. I recall that being a much longer part of the story. And it seems I recall the book having rather more traipsing across open plains and rather less fighting Uruk-hai alongside rushing rivers in broad sunny daylight. And a lot more creeping about in scary caverns in mountains with "the courage of hobbits" not being mentioned because he keeps being scared.

It ends well, though. Balbo Bigguns finally says something were you give a damn that he said it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: NATO on January 02, 2014, 03:22:36 PM
I watched Enter the Void last night.

I have never seen a film anything like it. One of the most uncomfortable, challenging, disturbing 2 1/2 hours of my life.

Free bottle of Whisky  to the first person to D/L and show it to their students (without watching it first.)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Day Dreamer on January 02, 2014, 03:46:45 PM
I watched Enter the Void last night.

I have never seen a film anything like it. One of the most uncomfortable, challenging, disturbing 2 1/2 hours of my life.

Free bottle of Whisky  to the first person to D/L and show it to their students (without watching it first.)

I'm always up for a challenge but I had to Wiki the movie first. A bottle of whiskey was up for grabs   :alcoholic: 
Wish I could, after all, a bottle of whiskey was up for grabs   :alcoholic:  Sorry, I don't think my oldest class will get it even though their English is pretty good. They are 12-14. You'd be surprised what I'd do for when a bottle of whiskey was up for grabs   :alcoholic: 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 04, 2014, 02:33:52 PM
Gravity

I liked it. Obviously, special effects was one of the stars, but in this case, because they were accurate enough that even actual astronauts thought they were okay, I think it's warranted. With a very simple story the film showed us a real environment that may or may not be part of who we are but which most of us will likely never experience otherwise. That old Tom Hanks movie, Apollo 13, did similar, but different. In that movie, the astronauts and mission control were the stars.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Tree on January 06, 2014, 04:23:51 AM
Me too. I think most kids like the elves. I remember when I was a kid, during the roleplaying sessions (Yeah, that's right. D&D, AD&D, Warhammer, Forgotten Realms, Star Wars, I played them all and I liked it.

There's a complete set of AD&D 2nd Edition rule books in my personal library here (along with more than enough assorted dice).  Find a few more nerds and come visit DG sometime.


Nice! We are fans of 3.5. 4th Edition just aaaaaaaaaa.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on January 10, 2014, 01:25:47 PM
Saw "The Railway Man" based on Eric Lomax's best selling memoir. It starred Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman. Included in the movie, I would have liked to have seen actual footage of the horrors that were inflicted on the prisoners of war on the Thai Burma Railway because I believe that the young people need to know what really happened. My neighbour is a bit weak and she said that she felt sick by what she saw, without seeing things in any more detail. They showed a couple of thin men, but nothing like the real condition of the prisoners. All I can say is that Eric Lomax is a FAR more forgiving person than I could ever be.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: NATO on January 10, 2014, 06:59:08 PM
I watched Enter the Void last night.

I have never seen a film anything like it. One of the most uncomfortable, challenging, disturbing 2 1/2 hours of my life.

Free bottle of Whisky  to the first person to D/L and show it to their students (without watching it first.)

If that film disturbed me, I can't imagine what it would do to Chinese 12-14 yr olds. How's 2 botles of whisky sound?

I'm always up for a challenge but I had to Wiki the movie first. A bottle of whiskey was up for grabs   :alcoholic: 
Wish I could, after all, a bottle of whiskey was up for grabs   :alcoholic:  Sorry, I don't think my oldest class will get it even though their English is pretty good. They are 12-14. You'd be surprised what I'd do for when a bottle of whiskey was up for grabs   :alcoholic: 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on January 14, 2014, 03:59:26 PM
"The Wolf of Wall Street" is a blast. After you realize it's basically "Casino" meets "Good Fellas" set in comedy mode you can sit back and enjoy this (somewhat) true story of these crazed nut jobs even though there isn't a single character that's likable.

"American Hustle" is even better and slightly more believable. Great con movie and Amy Adams in a dress with a neck line that plunges down to her navel is worth the price of admission.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Patches O'Hoolihan on January 17, 2014, 05:36:38 AM
I just added a few asian movies to the collection not too long ago definitely enjoyed re-watching all of them. I feel like they're all well known. No surprises here.


Hero: Jet Li. ancient china. Swords. Armies. People flying aboot

Spirited Away/ Howl's Moving Castle: Legendary animated films, you've at least heard of these.

Kung Fu Hustle: Hilarious
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 18, 2014, 12:37:11 AM
Wolf of Wall Street

Was it funny? I couldn't tell. I didn't know why I was supposed to care. I have the vague idea this movie might be porn for power brokers. Young males had American Pie. Older males have the Wolfy. I guess. I dunno.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 18, 2014, 03:06:12 AM
Elysium. Probably the most uninspired, heavily didactic, waste-of-time sci-fi movie I have seen since that gigantic pile of cack known as "Avatar".
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Day Dreamer on January 18, 2014, 03:10:31 AM
Elysium. Probably the most uninspired, heavily didactic, waste-of-time sci-fi movie I have seen since that gigantic pile of cack known as "Avatar".

And what was wrong with Cowboys and Indians in Fern Gully Avatar?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on January 18, 2014, 04:08:47 AM
Captain Phillips.

Tom Hanks always seems to play the same guy. This time it is with a New England accent, but he was good and I enjoyed the movie.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on January 18, 2014, 12:58:53 PM
"The Book Thief" was based on the 2005 bestseller by Markus Zusak. I am told that it captures everything that was so widely admired about the original novel. Set in WW11 Germany, Liesel (Sophie Nelisse) is taken from her parents and sent to live with a kindly signwriter (Geoffrey Rush) and his stern wife (Emily Watson). As Hitler's Nazi regime intensifies, Liesel's new home becomes the shelter for a young Jewish fugitive (Ben Schnetzer). I think that Sophie played her part to perfection, though I am not hearing her name being put forward for any awards. I hope that many of you will choose to see this movie; it is one of the few that I really enjoyed. bfbfbfbfbf

"Saving Mr Banks" ended up pretty well after I was finding the character of Pamela Travers (played by Emma Thompson) very irritating. As a matter of interest, she was born in Allora, a small country town in Australia and not far from where I grew up. She was however based in Britain which probably accounted for her non Aussie accent. I think that Tom Hanks played the part of Walt Disney very well indeed. As you probably know, this is the story of how Mary Poppins was made into the movie and how the author Travers stands her ground whilst Disney and his team tiptoe gingerly around her. Bear (sp?) with her for a while and you will understand why she is like a lioness defending its cubs. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 19, 2014, 01:32:12 AM
The Book Thief

I watched it to avoid reading the book. Now I am not sure. The movie has a touch of the Disneys to it, but the characters and charaterisations (and the presences, particularly that of Liesel as acted by Sophie Nelisse) are sufficiently substantial that its probably worth watching. It's no Schindler's List, of course, but if every movie set in that time was austere and violent, then something something something maybe I should read the book.

The Apple mac product placement was truly gauche though. Someone should be fired.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on January 19, 2014, 12:47:49 PM
Thanks Calach, I was interested in the male perspective. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 19, 2014, 02:25:33 PM
There are one or two things to worry about in the film. Liesel and Rudi are children, of course, but they're like Aryan posterchildren. They are beautiful. And the fear they live under is present, of course, but shouldn't it have been more monstrous?

I don't know. There's a media studies wormhole one could disappear into over this movie.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on January 19, 2014, 09:41:51 PM
Captain Phillips.

Tom Hanks always seems to play the same guy. This time it is with a New England accent, but he was good and I enjoyed the movie.

I liked it well enough also. But, then I saw the Danish movie "A Hijacking" which covers similar ground, (water?), but with much more realism and detail. Not that "Captain Phillips" was off the wall, but the Danish movie gets to be excruciating in its detail at times. Not to mention the frustration, vanity and anxiety. Not a picker-upper.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 20, 2014, 01:56:45 AM
Her

Weird. Fun though. With a certain elegant beauty. And some of it was shot in Shanghai. Would watch again.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 20, 2014, 01:22:46 PM
Captain Phillips.

Tom Hanks always seems to play the same guy. This time it is with a New England accent, but he was good and I enjoyed the movie.

I liked it well enough also. But, then I saw the Danish movie "A Hijacking" which covers similar ground, (water?), but with much more realism and detail. Not that "Captain Phillips" was off the wall, but the Danish movie gets to be excruciating in its detail at times. Not to mention the frustration, vanity and anxiety. Not a picker-upper.

Yep,that is probably the best and most accurate description of Danish movies/TV shows I have read in a long time. I am not being sarcastic.  agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: fox on January 22, 2014, 02:50:30 AM
august osage county.... Wow what a performance. If you enjoy family drama - this wont let you down.

Incredible performances and from non other than Meryl streep, Julia Roberts, ewan mcgregor Sam Shepard and julianne nicholson.  if you appreciate acting excellence then i think you will like this.

imbdb link.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1322269/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Day Dreamer on January 29, 2014, 09:04:24 PM
The Lego Movie coming out next week.

I'm a Robot Chicken fan, so this is cool   :wtf:


/geekspeak
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on January 30, 2014, 08:33:32 AM
Don't want to watch "Book Thief" cos I loved the book and I was afraid they might Disneyfy it.I am however trying desperately to find "Inside Llewelyn Davis" which seems rather elusive in these parts.I did watch THREE movies on the plane over (madness I know) two of which I enjoyed: The Great Gatsby and Blue Jasmine.The third even though it starred the gorgeous Jeremy Irons and was set in Lisbon was slow and dragging and should have stayed a novel.It was called Night Train to Lisbon (wasn't that a song by Madness?).
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on January 30, 2014, 01:43:33 PM
Thought that I'd give you this older female's perspective of "The Wolf Of Wall Street". I thought that it was a bit long and caught myself yawning a couple of times.  Leonardo DiCaprio played his part very well. The folks in charge of the Theatre were interested in my view of the movie particularly since they had a few old farts walk out. My old lady Neighbour was with me and I was really interested in her reactions given the little bit I'd heard about the movie. It's taken me nearly 11yrs, but I think that she is starting to understand that there is a whole lot of life that she never knew existed. Some of you guys might appreciate the nudity as the ladies were in top condition. afafafafaf  Not much surprises me given my life experiences, but it saddens me to see humans messing up their lives with drugs, infidelity and other stupid behaviour. My swearing pales into insignificance when listening to these people speaking. I was waiting for my neighbour to ask me the meaning of some of the words. ahahahahah  Younger folk will definitely have a different view on this movie, from the majority of older folk, even though I noticed three young blokes in front of me were often laughing when I was laughing.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 02, 2014, 03:21:47 PM
Lone Survivor

Not sure about this movie, the true story of a failed kill/capture operation by US Navy SEALs in Afghanistan. On the one hand, there's what seems like a lot of realism. The trek in and particularly the fire fight seem real. On the other hand, there's elements of mawkish eulogy as well. The soundtrack and some of the cinematic language (and the way it takes over the fire fight) are really out of place unless this movie is meant to be shown at a funeral. The last third is a bit weird too. The character Mark Wahlberg plays, Marcus Luttrell, kind of disappears under the weight of "Mark Wahlberg".

However, bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Tree on February 02, 2014, 05:52:42 PM
Enter the Void

I saw it spoken of in some other thread, decided to poison me mind. I'm like a moth to the flames when I hear of somebody speak of a weird, borderline unwatchable movie.

Generally interesting, but suffered terribly from Peter Jackson syndrome. Damn near half of it could have been left on the cutting room floor with no real consequence.

I suspect this movie would have been interesting to my 16 year old mind. However if somebody is in the least bit introspective, or has the least bit knowledge of T*b*tian Buddhism, the big "reveals" and themes of this movie come off as blase.

The effects were cool, and some of the scenes were well shot. Can't totally pan it.

1/5 stars - don't bother, unless you need some background color for a trippy party
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on February 04, 2014, 03:17:05 PM
Ender's Game. I remember reading the book in school and I liked it. The movie was...meh..not terribly good acting, Harrison Ford proves that he should really just retire and sit somewhere on a patio and be a grumpy old man. Good book, ignorable movie. I find that if I decide to look up news on Danish news sites whilst watching a movie it has, in my case, failed to be entertaining. Like comedies, Seinfeld for instance. People loved that show. It made me want to turn off the TV because it did not make me laugh.
As for "Ender's Game" I suggest reading the book, forget the movie.  agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 04, 2014, 10:34:05 PM
I agree with most of that assessment. I don't know that Ender's Game, the movie, would send every viewer off to Danish news portals, but as a film, it was boring. They skimmed through the main points of a very dense book and came away with an absence of story. I however did enjoy Seinfeld back when it was on, in rerun after rerun after rerun.

Now, Speaker For The Dead, the second Ender book, which the otherwise kind of pointless last act of the movie gestures toward, that could be a movie. But only if they make it be a character study. If it's an action movie with the piggies eviscerating all their human friends... well, it could be some remarkable vegan propaganda, but it won't be Speaker For The Dead.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 05, 2014, 02:50:31 PM
American Hustle

Another comedy/drama I didn't see the laughs in (except maybe when Jennifer Lawrence was doing her turns.) It could have been titled American Anxiety without changing much.

Best moment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCgwFg6ti0c
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 06, 2014, 01:23:57 PM
"12 Years A Slave": I wonder if I am getting harder to please, ( no, not that way guys!  ahahahahah) but I found myself yawning quite a bit in this 133min movie. I understand that it is based on the 1853 autobiography of Solomon Northrup who was kidnapped in 1841 and forced into slavery. My elderly neighbour squirmed through most of the movie and we have all read about or heard about the cruelty to the slaves. I actually thought that many of the slaves in the movie were too clean and tidy and spoke too freely given my understanding of how things would have been in those times. My neighbour also tells me that the Steve McQueen,the Director, was not the one who is the well known actor. It is getting good reports here, so if any of you folks have seen it, will you let me know what you think?

I agree with you Calach about "American Hustle".
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Tree on February 09, 2014, 06:55:43 PM
Rashomon

I hadn't seen this one yet. I thought it was great, and the more I thought about it the more I liked it, which is rare for a movie. A good work on phenomenology and epistemology. I recommend it especially for those who have a) a bent for philosophy and b) haven't read about it [no wiki! don't do it!]. All this provided one hasn't seen it of course; the movie is closer in age to the atom bomb than to the iPhone.



Any other movies in this strain? All I can think of is: Memento, The Matrix, The Truman Show[awawawawaw], Waking Life[akakakakak], and Inception [aaaaaaaaaa].

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Tree on February 09, 2014, 07:00:09 PM
My elderly neighbour squirmed through most of the movie and we have all read about or heard about the cruelty to the slaves.


There's a similar movie called "Amistad" that gets me worked into a frustrated, outlet-less rage when I see it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 09, 2014, 10:19:45 PM
As it happens, I watched me some Kurosawa last night too. In my case, it was Ran. Those samurai had themselves some gigantic bald heads. No wonder they used elaborate headgear in battle. Also, the fool, Kyoami, was distracting. I kept wanting to know for sure whether he was male or female.

In summary, Akira Kurosawa's Ran, a story of hair and madness. Two thumbs up.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on February 10, 2014, 03:07:10 AM
Watched Wolf of Wall Street and actually didn't notice the 3 hours whizz by.THought soundtrack alone was awesome.And Leo did very well.But then I am a sucker for Scorsese.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 14, 2014, 01:20:50 AM
Nebraska

I watched the whole thing because June Squibb is fantastic as a straight talking old lady, but also because I wanted to see how Bruce Dern and Will Forte would pan out as father and son. The movie's a sentimental look at middle and old age and extended (American, mid-western) family, and it's actually very pretty with the black and white and the vistas. But I couldn't work out who Bruce Dern was, or what kind of father he was meant to be. His character's available in words (as a man he drank, was mean), but what was getting acted out wasn't too clear to me. Not a bad film, though.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 20, 2014, 01:11:32 PM
"Mandella: LONG WALK TO FREEDOM". As most of you probably know, this is the story of Mandela's extraordinary life journey from his childhood in a rural village through to his inauguration as the first democratically elected President of South Africa. I really enjoyed the movie, but it made me wonder about my Husband's ancestors from South Africa and the way they may have treated some of the folk who worked for them given that one old Granny was called "old mother lion" (translation) by these folk. So many things that we will never know. bibibibibi
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 27, 2014, 01:02:09 PM
"LONE SURVIVOR". This movie was based on the failed June 28th 2005 mission "Operation Red Wings". Four members of SEAL team 10 were tasked with the mission to capture or kill Taliban leader Ahmad Shahd. Marcus Luttrell was the only member of his team to survive. Stars Mark Wahberg, Ben Foster and Eric Bana. I like movies based on real events. I couldn't believe the decision that was made which ultimately lead to the deaths of the team members. My neighbour again squirmed through most of this movie as there was plenty of blood and guts. My neighbour says that I am too hard, but there would have been no question about the decision I would have made. The main drawback in this movie (in my opinion) was the amount of walking, through the mountains, that these guys did and which we had to watch.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: roadwalker on March 02, 2014, 11:59:54 PM
The Act of Killing (2012) (Documentary/Acid trip)

I just saw this film on Netflix and it blew my mind, even though I had heard of it via interviews and brief reviews.  It's about Indonesia (the only real China connection is that ethnic Chinese people were the victims of many of the murders discussed in the documentary) and the aftermath of the 1965 coup d'etat.  The filmmaker, Joshua Oppenheimer,speaks Indonesian and interviews "Movie House Gangsters" and others involved in paramilitary and gang killings of suspected communists following the coup.  Surprisingly, a lot of them want to talk about their war crimes/plain old murders, etc. and in fact brag about their actions.  Bizarrely the mainly old men who were the killers, want to reenact some of their favorite murders "for history".  It's hard to describe why any of this is really all that bizarre, but you just have to see it for yourself.  Of course it may reaffirm your lack of faith in your fellow man.  Subtitled.  Oh!  I guess it's up for an Oscar this year.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 23, 2014, 04:14:40 AM
Tian Zhu Ding (A Touch of Sin)

I don't know how to critique modern Chinese film, to be honest. Of this one, I wish to say it was uneven, but good. Possibly great. I don't know how real the specific vignettes were, but the world they're surrounded by is intimately modern Chinese. It seems real. Even down to the awkwardness of some of the acting.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on March 23, 2014, 01:41:26 PM
"Non-Stop" starring Liam Neeson was a very interesting movie, given what is going on at the moment with the missing plane. In the movie, he plays the part of U.S. Air Marshall Bill Marks. During a transatlantic flight from New York to London he receives a series of cryptic text messages. Someone on the plane, is threatening to kill a passenger every 20 minutes unless an amount of money is transferred into an off-shore account. Liam becomes a suspect himself as the plot unfolds.
As a matter of interest, I read, this week that about 18 or 19 yrs ago, Liam had turned down playing the part of James Bond  which Pierce Brosnan played. His wife-to-be, Natasha Richardson said,"If you play James Bond we're not getting married!" bibibibibi
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on March 26, 2014, 02:44:00 PM
"Quartet" starring Maggie Smith,Tom Courtenay and directed by Dustin Hoffman.Small British endearing movie about a home for retired musicians.I found it lovely.. but that's because I am a Sassenach..(Pom?)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on March 26, 2014, 03:44:50 PM
Snowpiercer

To combat global warming a chemical is released in the atmosphere to cool the earth but it works to well. A man who foresaw this  built a train called Snowpiercer running on a perpetual motor that circles the globe and now the last of humanity is aboard. For 17 years the train has been running but there is a class struggle aboard.

Really liked this movie, I have no idea why.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on March 26, 2014, 03:47:50 PM
The Cabin in the Woods

I'm not a horror movie aficionado. I think most of them are all the same and quite stupid but this one was a little different. Good actors and a different story than usual. Reminded me how Scream changed the genre a little.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on March 26, 2014, 11:14:44 PM
Stil, I checked Amazon; Snowpiercer isn't scheduled for release on this side of the Atlantic until mid-June.  kkkkkkkkkk However, they do have 2 graphic novels listed that have the same title. agagagagag

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on March 27, 2014, 04:13:14 AM
Yes, it's based on the graphic novels which I've never read.

I downloaded it from Kickass Torrents here. (http://kickass.to/snowpiercer-2013-1080p-bluray-x264-dts-rarbg-t8911723.html) A big file but very good quality.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 28, 2014, 07:02:25 PM
Ram Leela (or Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela)

An Indian Romeo and Juliet, very colourful with much singing and dancing, rendered slightly odd by how insincere the first third of the relationship appears. This is possibly an actor chemistry issue, but these supposed lovers just look like adventurous twits aggressively in search of a comeuppance. Which generates a peculiar subtext of danger to women, as if everyone in the movie, director included, hates them. Possibly this was intended. The story takes a belated turn for darker in the last third and possibly should have got that started a bit sooner because it almost addresses that aspect.

Howevaire, not bad.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on March 29, 2014, 06:40:40 PM
Re-watching The Sopranos, still brilliant

Breaking Bad got so many plaudits, and it was entertaining, but imo it didn't come anywhere near Sopranos or The Wire, all of the principals in those shows are fascinating characters, Season 1 and 2 especially where it's purely character driven and there isn't really anything stopping the main characters except their own and each other's weaknesses are amazing. I haven't seen the later ones properly because I tuned out at the time due to a combination of my life and how dark it was becoming. I know they all die, same as when it was on TV I don't really want to see their world deteriorate but I will this time

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on March 31, 2014, 04:30:09 PM
I would like to state exactly what I thought of "I, Frankenstein" but I fear the amount of vitriolic invective that would be used to fully make my opinion of this movie crystal clear might result in the server hosting the Saloon burn. So I will simply say that, should there ever be a massive zombie uprising and Mary Shelley coming back as a flesh-eating corpse, it would not only be justifiable but mandatory to feed every person involved with that movie to her. It was worse than "Van Helsing", "The Wolfman" and "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" combined... llllllllll llllllllll Basically a huge pile of  bqbqbqbqbq with an excessively poor plot and the kind of CGI that would make the horrendous CGI found in travesties like "Once Upon A Time in Wonderland" look like ingenious artful masterpieces. To put it bluntly, should anyone ever have to decide between engaging in the somewhat odd leisure time activity of counting turds, dog and human, in the nearby park or watch the aforementioned movie, the former choice would, by far, be more entertaining.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on March 31, 2014, 08:22:21 PM
I would like to state exactly what I thought of "I, Frankenstein" but I fear the amount of vitriolic invective that would be used to fully make my opinion of this movie crystal clear might result in the server hosting the Saloon burn. So I will simply say that, should there ever be a massive zombie uprising and Mary Shelley coming back as a flesh-eating corpse, it would not only be justifiable but mandatory to feed every person involved with that movie to her. It was worse than "Van Helsing", "The Wolfman" and "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" combined... llllllllll llllllllll Basically a huge pile of  bqbqbqbqbq with an excessively poor plot and the kind of CGI that would make the horrendous CGI found in travesties like "Once Upon A Time in Wonderland" look like ingenious artful masterpieces. To put it bluntly, should anyone ever have to decide between engaging in the somewhat odd leisure time activity of counting turds, dog and human, in the nearby park or watch the aforementioned movie, the former choice would, by far, be more entertaining.

They've never really cracked Frankenstein as a film imo. The De Niro one was ok but a bit silly, the old ones are all kitschy, modern versions have all been awful. I remember really liking the book as a teenager but I've never seen a film with the sort of sadness the book implied about the monster
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on April 01, 2014, 12:48:52 PM

They've never really cracked Frankenstein as a film imo. The De Niro one was ok but a bit silly, the old ones are all kitschy, modern versions have all been awful. I remember really liking the book as a teenager but I've never seen a film with the sort of sadness the book implied about the monster


This one got it. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072431/?ref_=fn_al_tt_9)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on April 05, 2014, 01:34:33 PM
"Noah" starring Russell Crowe and Emma Watson did not do much for me.  The word God was left out and the less incendiary word Creator was used. We are really left in the dark as to whether this is meant to be the actual Bible tale. I understand that the writers have assumed that a straight retelling would alienate the non-believers.

"The Monuments Men" was based on a true story . It focuses on an unlikely World War 11 platoon, tasked with going into Germany to rescue artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves and returning them to their rightful owners.  These seven museum directors, curators and art historians had an almost impossible task.  George Clooney, Mat Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchet and John Goodman were some of the stars and George Clooney was also the Director. I didn't mind this movie. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on April 07, 2014, 02:17:53 AM
I just finished episode 3 of "True Detective"...now that is a good show. Excellent narrative, good acting. There really should be more shows like that.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on April 13, 2014, 01:28:58 PM
Only Lovers Left Alive

Starts slow, contains one or two ridiculous conceits, but is wonderful. Not really a story or a drama. More like a distillation of particular experience. (As seemingly every Jarmusch film is.)

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf


But this place will rise again.
Will it?
Yea. There's water here. When the cities in the south are burning, this place will bloom.

 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on May 02, 2014, 01:34:51 AM
I just finished episode 3 of "True Detective"...now that is a good show. Excellent narrative, good acting. There really should be more shows like that.

Wondering if you've since finished the series and, if so, did your opinion of it change?  I did watch the whole thing, but don't want to say anything to spoil something.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on May 02, 2014, 10:40:30 PM
I watched all of it....I loved it. Not a work of staggering genius but a dashed sight more original and gripping than most of the other rubbish.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on May 02, 2014, 11:25:44 PM
Ah the guilty pleasure of a pointless action movie loosely based on a game fondly remembered from my first childhood (I start a new one every 10 years just to keep things fresh ahahahahah).

BATTLESHIP bcbcbcbcbc


Surprisingly, it was much more watchable than expected.  Sure, it could have been better, but considering the low expectations I had, I was very pleasantly surprised.  I've seen plenty of movies done in a much more serious way end up far worse than this one.

Regarding the scene in Hong Kong, I do have to comment that watching mass destruction in a generic city is much less disturbing than watching the buildings in a familiar (and nearby) city get wrecked. aqaqaqaqaq

My thanks to the people at Hasbro for the game and the movie. agagagagag

Of course, now I want a new version of the game that will let one opponent be aliens instead of an identical opposing fleet. ababababab
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on May 17, 2014, 06:57:53 PM
3 Days to Kill - 3 days too long

Pompeii  - A real disaster

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit - A stupid but fun time waster

47 Ronin - Seppuku is a better use of time
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on May 17, 2014, 07:32:33 PM
Still Mine -beautifully acted and Genevieve Bujold is stunning at over 70
Last Vegas- silly but I like De Niro and Michael Douglas
Best Exotic Marigold Hotel- perfect
The Railway Man- True story sad and touching
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on May 18, 2014, 01:39:10 PM
"Belle" is the true story of Dido Elizabeth Belle who was the illegitimate daughter of a Royal Navy Admiral and a negress slave.  Belle was an interesting figure in 18th Century society, being the first mixed race woman to be raised as an aristocrat. I like stories based on fact, particularly this one which leads up to the abolition of slavery in England. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cruisemonkey on May 18, 2014, 03:30:32 PM
I've seen the trailers for Belle when I watch PBS (Nova, Nature, Frontline etc.) online and made a mental note -
'Miss this'.

It might be a good 'chick flick'.
ababababab
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cruisemonkey on May 18, 2014, 03:37:22 PM
Pompeii  - A real disaster

LOL... the ending was volcanically corny.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on May 19, 2014, 12:58:37 PM
I've seen the trailers for Belle when I watch PBS (Nova, Nature, Frontline etc.) online and made a mental note -
'Miss this'.

It might be a good 'chick flick'.
ababababab

I am not a fan of "chick flicks", but I am interested in human behaviour, particularly back in those days. It is interesting to compare the behaviour of people today. If any guys do see it, I would be interested in your views.   I saw "The other woman" starring Cameron Diaz but it didn't do much for me as it was a "chick flick" I had to see because it was the only one left for me to see in the Theatre.

If you want to see a crude film, see "Bad Neighbours" starring Seth Rogen and Zac Efron. They talked too much and too fast for me and I didn't really need to see a baby chewing a condom he found on the front lawn. bibibibibi
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on May 19, 2014, 11:53:40 PM
Hostel I, II, and III.  Some vacations end badly. Very, very badly.   uuuuuuuuuu  Definitely not for the squeamish. aaaaaaaaaa

Snow Piercer.  I tried to like this movie, but couldn't.  Brainless shoot-em-ups are usually fun, but this wasn't.  I'd say this new low in slow-motion train wrecks made the extinction of humanity look like the best of all possible options. kkkkkkkkkk  If you want death, action, and adventure in an unusual environment, get a copy of Snakes on a Plane.

Tokarev.  Nice try at an "vengeance leads to more sorrow" movie, but when the final source of the weapon is revealed, they don't explain how the guy was stupid enough to retain such a thing in such an easily accessed location or why the cops didn't ever bother to pursue such an obvious possibility.  Those 2 yawning chasms of plot holes sort of ruined what was a very noble concept.

Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing.  Who knew Joss could do such an incredibly great job messing about a bit with Shakespeare? agagagagag

Dead Snow (finally got my wife to watch this one agagagagag).  Let's see.  A remote cabin and some clueless students on vacation.  Just add one or more heartless killing machines to complete the equation.  Zombies?  Not bad, but more is needed.  In this case, more is provided.
Nazi Zombies. hhhhhhhhhh
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on May 24, 2014, 12:57:40 PM
"HEALING" starring Hugo Weaving and Don Hany will probably be of interest to the Aussies over there. This story is inspired by true events and is set in a low security Prison farm 200 km outside of Melbourne in regional Victoria.  The senior case worker (Hugo Weaving) has established a unique program to rehabilitate broken men through giving them the responsibility for the rehabilitation of injured raptors - beautiful, fearsome proud eagles, falcons and owls.  Against all odds, Hugo takes on Don Hany as his number one test case, introducing him to Yasmine, the majestic Wedge-tailed Eagle with a two metre wing span. If these two can tame each other, then anything is possible.  Being a country person for most of my life, I really enjoyed this show, given that we nursed many creatures back to their being able to be released into their native habitat. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on June 01, 2014, 02:12:27 PM
"A million ways to die in the west"  starring Seth MacFarlane and Charlize Theron. The verdict is that it is filthy but fun.  I was a bit surprised at some of the toilet humour and the curse words used. It riffs on the peculiarities of the 1880's such as the high value of the dollar and the fact that no one smiles in photos. My old neighbour said "that was fun wasn't it" which surprised me, particularly given scenes like the sheep with human looking penises. aoaoaoaoao
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on June 05, 2014, 12:49:04 PM
"MALEFICENT" starring Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning etc. was an interesting movie. I wasn't going to bother seeing it, but I'm not sorry that I did. It is the story about a beautiful pure hearted  young girl who became the evil fairy princess who cursed Princess Aurora in Sleeping Beauty. I know it doesn't sound like a guy's movie, but there were guys in the audience. I suspect that they came to perv on Angelina. I loved the visual effects. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 05, 2014, 04:05:28 PM
300 Rise of an Empire

Possibly the stupidest movie ever. A vastly homoerotic collection of grandiose, pompous accents with shaven chests but still they had beards - seriously, not a chest hair amongst them all but they had beards? - and worse: actually quite dull. Gouts of blood everywhere, people skewered on spears, boats crushing one another like some totally legitimate oil prospecting in international waters and yet, kinda boring. Not knowing enough to be camp, not substantive enough to be cathartic.

There were boobs though. There were boobs everywhere. I thought the manchests would never end.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cruisemonkey on June 05, 2014, 07:04:26 PM
300 Rise of an Empire

Possibly the stupidest movie ever. A vastly homoerotic collection of grandiose, pompous accents with shaven chests but still they had beards - seriously, not a chest hair amongst them all but they had beards? ... There were boobs though. There were boobs everywhere.

Were they hairy boobs?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 05, 2014, 07:06:58 PM
They were chiseled manchests of glory. Ergo, clean shaven. Possibly waxed.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cruisemonkey on June 05, 2014, 09:23:24 PM
They were chiseled manchests of glory.

Men have boobs?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 05, 2014, 09:47:13 PM
This is not a question I feel comfortable answering.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 06, 2014, 01:38:49 AM
300 Rise of an Empire

Possibly the stupidest movie ever. A vastly homoerotic collection of grandiose, pompous accents with shaven chests but still they had beards - seriously, not a chest hair amongst them all but they had beards? - and worse: actually quite dull. Gouts of blood everywhere, people skewered on spears, boats crushing one another like some totally legitimate oil prospecting in international waters and yet, kinda boring. Not knowing enough to be camp, not substantive enough to be cathartic.

There were boobs though. There were boobs everywhere. I thought the manchests would never end.

I agree completely. It was one of the most disappointing movies I have seen recently.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on June 06, 2014, 04:00:54 AM
300 Rise of an Empire

... A vastly homoerotic collection of grandiose, pompous accents with shaven chests..

It aint called the RISE of an Empire for nothin'
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on June 06, 2014, 12:44:07 PM
300 Rise of an Empire

Possibly the stupidest movie ever. A vastly homoerotic collection of grandiose, pompous accents with shaven chests but still they had beards - seriously, not a chest hair amongst them all but they had beards? - and worse: actually quite dull. Gouts of blood everywhere, people skewered on spears, boats crushing one another like some totally legitimate oil prospecting in international waters and yet, kinda boring. Not knowing enough to be camp, not substantive enough to be cathartic.

There were boobs though. There were boobs everywhere. I thought the manchests would never end.

I agree completely. It was one of the most disappointing movies I have seen recently.

I'm surprised you were disappointed. Did you not see 300? A sequel to a steaming pile was bound to be a larger steaming pile.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 06, 2014, 02:44:54 PM
Because 300 Rise of an Empire is such crap, I watched the original 300 again last night to see if my memory was working or not, because I didn't remember it being as awful. And it's not. 300 is kinda cool. It has a story with people doing things and something at stake. It has about the same level of nearly nudes but where Rise has gleaming white skin like searchlights in the night, 300 is, if anything, understated. The fellows appear bronzed and the fact they have their shirts of literally all the time isn't even noticeable. I mention this because Rise pretty much really is all about the shiny white chest (and some growly chick). Also, in 300, there's only one plummy accent, the story-teller dude's. (I don't know why he was playing up the roundness of his vowels - he's Australian in real life, maybe that's it.) Rise is all accent, all the time.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on June 06, 2014, 10:28:50 PM
300 was not awful. Ok, certain parts were, like all the historical incorrectness but then again, it is impossible for Hollywood to make any movie about ancient Greece or ancient Rome without screwing it up. At least 300 had a decent plot and cool fights...the sequel had none of those.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: latefordinner on June 07, 2014, 03:39:46 AM
(Maybe this should be in the "What's in the news" thread?)

Yes, men do have boobs. My wife tells me mine taste faintly of beer. Never thought anyone would want to make a movie about them though.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on June 07, 2014, 01:32:06 PM
"THE FAULT IN OUR STARS" was an interesting tearjerker movie.  Teenagers will love it . The story is based on the New York Times best selling novel by John Green. My older neighbour cried her eyes out and I heard an old bloke behind me blowing his nose quite frequently. I guess it depends on your life experiences as to how much this will affect you. My neighbour thinks that I'm a hard old fart because I don't cry (unless I'm punched in the face).  Hazel (Shaileen Woodley) is a teen with stage 4 thyroid cancer. She meets Gus (Ansel Elgort) at a support group and their friendship blossoms. Hazel is reluctant at first to get involved,because she knows that she will die.  I thought it was nice that two young people found some happiness on top of the underlying sadness. The movie is getting good ratings here in Australia.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 23, 2014, 07:25:21 PM
The Raid 2: Berandal

Iko Uwais reprising his role as Rama, an undercover cop reluctantly on the trail of corrupt police. On this trail he must join a criminal organization and wade through many, many men like so many planks of balsa wood that sometimes fight back. Many, many high speed fist fights are had. So many, in fact, that they become banal. As a martial arts boxer, Iko Uwais is really, really fast. The fisticuffs are so fast it's sometimes difficult to get a sense of the physical power behind them (except maybe when he takes his shirt off - for a little guy, he has a giant's shoulders). In any case, he beats up lots of people (because reasons), but it's only really the last third of the movie where they turn on the ultraviolence, right about where the car chase begins. I maybe liked the first movie better.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 28, 2014, 06:42:10 PM
Bad Words

A grown man enters a national spelling bee competition because reasons. Some laugh-out-loud, tears-in-the-eyes funny moments. Some moments that could have been funny but really weren't. Jason Bateman's character was great though. Perhaps not carried through to proper fruition.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 04, 2014, 12:18:02 AM
Transcendence

Lame.

Johnny Depp becomes an AI that takes over the internet prompting TheyTM to turn off the internet. Roll credits. I have the impression this was supposed to be a love story. It, however, wasn't. It was some kind of mechanical throwback to I don't know which decade of boring scifi movie making. I mean, for most of the movie the AI is an image on a flat screen tv. How is that even scifi anymore?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 04, 2014, 03:02:16 AM
"The Wolf of Wall Street"...what an utter piece of self-indulgent crap. This movie had no redeeming qualities. It was bilge...bad bilge...bilge that had gone rotten, been crapped by other bilge and then left to simmer in the sunshine in South China in July.... aaaaaaaaaa
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 14, 2014, 03:05:52 PM
Sabotage

Unusual movie. Arnold Schwarzenegger very nearly presents an actual character, and an interesting one too. But there's a lot of shallow violence porn and aggression that in the end makes the movie kind of hateful. Which is a pity because the supporting characters are super, weird accents aside. (I looked em up: Investigator Caroline Brentwood (Olivia Williams) and her partner Darius Jackson (Harold Perrineau).)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 19, 2014, 09:05:20 PM
Spring Breakers

Art.

Really, really horrible art.

Unpleasant to watch, and an assault by banality. I skimmed.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on July 20, 2014, 02:31:16 AM
Sabotage

Unusual movie. Arnold Schwarzenegger very nearly presents an actual character, and an interesting one too. But there's a lot of shallow violence porn and aggression that in the end makes the movie kind of hateful. Which is a pity because the supporting characters are super, weird accents aside. (I looked em up: Investigator Caroline Brentwood (Olivia Williams) and her partner Darius Jackson (Harold Perrineau).)

I liked it.

It also has Sam Worthington, Terrence Howard, Mireille Enos and Josh Holloway in it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: English Gent on July 20, 2014, 11:43:22 AM
The number 23, starring Jim Carrey
Don't read about it, just watch it, faintly sin city style film noir storytelling in parts, psychological thriller/suspense, I liked it very much.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on July 20, 2014, 12:35:57 PM
Godzilla (2014)

They decided to not bother with any kind of plot and just go for action, action, action.

It was boring, boring, boring.

They wasted some good actors and the female characters especially were just brutally written.

Looked like a lot of money spent but none of it on a script.

So many movies now are just made for 14 year old boys, it seems that anything good is now on cable TV.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 20, 2014, 01:53:59 PM
All Cheerleaders Die (2013)

Outstanding.

A genre film, obviously - cheerleaders, high school, horror/comedy - but at several points it amps right up to 11 in splendid and effective fashion and is modestly subversive of genre expectations.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 21, 2014, 01:58:13 PM
Starred Up

A 19-year-old violent offender gets "starred up", counted as too violent for juvenile detention so moved early to adult prison, where he meets his father.

I was puzzled by this movie. It's violent and realistic, but it's also set up as Greek tragedy, and I think probably the story payoff is in the former rather than the latter, which is possibly not all the movie could have been. (You could also say Ben Mendelssohn was not quite as scary as he should have been.) Meanwhile, still a compelling movie.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 29, 2014, 01:54:33 PM
Calvary

Baffling.

In confession one Sunday, a local man tells the priest he will kill him in a week, but not for anything he did. For the next six days the priest goes about his duties ministering to the people of the parish. The movie is a funny passion play containing real anger and hatred, and I can't tell whether in the end it is a condemnation or confirmation.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on July 29, 2014, 11:13:10 PM
Under the Skin

Oooohhh... an erotic scifi thriller.  A hot alien babe seduces and kills men - starring Scarlett Johansson.

So let's take stock of what we have:

Sex bhbhbhbhbh
Nudity afafafafaf
Scarlett Johansson engaging in both of the above. afafafafaf bhbhbhbhbh afafafafaf
Plus alien killings.

This should have been a 100% sure-fire way to make a movie that would, in a worst case scenario, be ever-so-slightly below average.  It would take serious effort to screw this up.  Sadly, someone decided to put in the effort to do just that.

Take a mental detour and run through 2001 A Space Odyssey in your mind.  Now, go back and try to imagine a similar movie with ALL the most memorable parts removed.

Jonathan Glazer, the director of Under the Skin, seems to be a Stanley Kubrick fanatic who totally missed the concept.  Minimalist dialog can be OK, but is NOT supposed to be a competition to set a new record for fewest words spoken in a feature length film.  Leaving some items vague and unresolved is NOT an excuse for dumping the whole concept of having a plot.  This film is not an homage to Stanley Kubrick.  Instead, it's an insult.

I'm also sorry to inform Mr. Glazer that there is no award given by any film group for slowest bite of cake ever seen in a movie.  If he really wants to apply for a Guinness World Record on this, no one will ever bother to try to take it away from him.  BTW - The real reason she yacked up that bite of cake is probably because it has rotted by the time the director finally let her put it in her mouth.

Sadly, Ms. Johansson appeared to either be suffering  terribly throughout the film or else had just had a massive series of botox injections.  She had a single frozen expression that was supposed to serve in every scene, or perhaps it was just her attempt to cover the horror she felt being forced to perform in such a pathetic film.

What could have easily been a great movie instead turned into a long, painful experience of intense boredom that gradually escalated into a form of slow torment while waiting hoping praying for something important to the plot anything vaguely interesting to happen.  A few moments of Ms. Johansson in various stages of undress and a couple of nice shots of Scottish scenery can't come close to making up for the suffering this movie inflicts on anyone watching.

If you are even thinking of watching this film, don't.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 30, 2014, 02:01:02 PM
Cold in July

Starts commonplace, a standard psycho-killer thriller, and I was wondering why all the good reviews. Sure, it has Texas Dexter with a mullet, but it was looking rote! Then it changes into something else. And after a while it changes again, this time almost into the surreal. All told, an imperfect end, but not a bad movie.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on July 30, 2014, 02:42:48 PM
Under the Skin

Sadly, Ms. Johansson appeared to either be suffering  terribly throughout the film or else had just had a massive series of botox injections.  She had a single frozen expression that was supposed to serve in every scene, or perhaps it was just her attempt to cover the horror she felt being forced to perform in such a pathetic film.

What could have easily been a great movie instead turned into a long, painful experience of intense boredom that gradually escalated into a form of slow torment while waiting hoping praying for something important to the plot anything vaguely interesting to happen.  A few moments of Ms. Johansson in various stages of undress and a couple of nice shots of Scottish scenery can't come close to making up for the suffering this movie inflicts on anyone watching.

If you are even thinking of watching this film, don't.


She must have practiced that same expression for the movie "Lucy".  Embarrassingly bad even for a summer knockoff.  I did find it interesting though that the "dastardly villains" in this one were from Tee-Wan.  I'm sure the marketing department for this studio was proud of itself.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 31, 2014, 01:49:14 PM
A Prophet

I saw this one referenced in a review of Starred Up, so I took a look. A French Algerian kid, 19 years old, winds up in adult prison right when a long-term prisoner, a Corsican mobster and boss in the local hierarchy, finds he has orders to kill another inmate, only that inmate is Arab and has retreated to the Muslim section. The boss recruits, with menaces, the new kid. The movie turns out to be a lengthy gangster flik about how a kid might shake up the hierarchy without ever having expected to. If you ever eventually work out why the movie has the title it has, an extra layer is added that sort of is needed given the ending. Still...

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on August 01, 2014, 06:19:56 AM
Presently going through the British series, Foyle's War, having finished watching Have Gun, Will Travel.  Also enjoyed seeing Call The Midwife, based on Jennifer Worth's books about her days in Poplar.

Love them all, for different reasons.  Apart from occurring in various locales and times, they are all very well-written and hold our interest.  Highly recommend agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 03, 2014, 09:59:03 PM
(http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/zNclmDwWW6UM1M2qXIDUVlHLKfb.jpg)

from: 1994.

"What's prison taught you, Billy?"
"Don't get caught."


In some quarters, regarded as one of the worst British films ever made. TO THEM I SAY, SOME PEOPLE HAVE NO IDEA AT ALL WHAT A MOVIE SHOULD BE!


NB: under no circumstances should you watch the US release. Egregiously stupid edits were performed for the US market that defy explanation.  It's shockingly stupid for instance to see implied in the US release that Billy and Jo have sex, when in the real movie Billy pulls away and says  "Come on, Jo, this is the nineties. Sex isn't safe anymore"? Mind: boggled.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 04, 2014, 12:21:19 PM
21 Jump Street (2012)

Funny; energetic. 
bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf


22 Jump Street (2014)

Less funny; more labored. 
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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on August 04, 2014, 04:50:01 PM
Dead Snow

It's spring break for some med students in Norway.  What do to?  How about heading up to a remote cabin in the snowy mountains and hope that nothing goes wrong?  After all, a group of young people in a remote cabin never ever have life-threatening problems in any movie, right?  It's not like there could be anything bad out there like zombies. uuuuuuuuuu

These are not your usual zombies.  These can move at a fairly fast rate and can use weapons.  They are reasonably intelligent and also are truly monstrously evil . . .  Nazi Zombies!

Funny and deranged all at once, this one is well worth the time to watch.

But wait!  There's more!


Dead Snow 2

Sequels often fail to live up to the quality of the original.  Not this time.  The original was good, but this one amazingly better on nearly every level.  As a zombie movie fan, I'd have to rate this as the most original and fun (and sick and disgusting) zombie flick in years.  If you liked Army of Darkness, Shaun of the Dead, and Dead Alive, you'll love this movie.

Special note for the squeamish - Bring an air sickness bag.  You'll laugh so hard the puke will come out your nose. ahahahahah

It also contains a lesson that all filmmakers in all genres should take to heart:  If you can get your hands on a tank, have as much fun with it as possible.
axaxaxaxax
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 07, 2014, 02:48:19 AM
Well, I accepted that dare, and sadly, Doed Snoe was in my humble estimation, okay. Two stars. A handful too many Evil Dead references, and intestines too often used as props.  But not bad.

Now for hi-larious gorefests, I am reminded of Braindead (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braindead_(film)). I can't bring myself to watch it again, but I remember laughing out loud at various points (and also not really ever wanting to watch it again).
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on August 07, 2014, 02:06:24 PM
"These final hours" is a movie set in Australia. It is about the last day on earth. A self obsessed young man makes his way to the party to end all parties as the final hours are at hand. You can imagine what was going on at that party, with plenty of nudity and drug snorting and wild dancing etc. This guy ends up saving the life of a little girl who was searching for her father. Their relationship ultimately leads him on the path of redemption.  The lady in charge of the theatre told me that she considered it one of the top movies of the year. She told me that she ended up in tears and that she was really interested in my view. To be very honest, there was a lot that I couldn't make sense of and I really think that things would be very different if this situation came about where we knew that we only had a few hours to live. I would be really very interested in the views of you guys who watch a lot of movies.  I didn't end up in tears and actually laughed where I think that I was supposed to cry. Perhaps I really am getting old and cranky!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on August 08, 2014, 12:46:51 AM
GM, if the world is going to end, come visit me and we'll give it a great sendoff!  afafafafaf

Well, I accepted that dare, and sadly, Doed Snoe was in my humble estimation, okay. Two stars. A handful too many Evil Dead references, and intestines too often used as props.  But not bad.


See #2 as soon as you can.  #1 is just a good lead in.  Sort of like Evil Dead 2 leading to Army of Darkness.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 08, 2014, 02:59:08 AM
Challenge accepted. Meanwhile...

Dawn of the Dead (2004)

A remake, colourful and shiny. Within minutes people are already running and screaming.  bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf

Now, as we all know, in the beginning there was Night of the Living Dead, and it was an actual horror movie, intended to make you feel bad. (Which it did. I was bummed by how it ended.) It was remade in 1990 as a much more fun film. Oh, there was screaming and so forth, but by 1990 B-movie makers had discovered "helpless girl transcends role to become ninja amazon lone survivor". Which brings us to...

Hell (2011)

Post the global warming heat apocalypse, people are very mean to one another. Very, very. But in a rather more egalitarian fashion than totalitarian. Thus, an interesting German survival horror movie. No camp at all, and no zombies, but plenty of existential worry plus running and screaming.  bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 09, 2014, 02:47:49 AM
Dissenting opinion.

Dead Snow 2 is indeed different from Dead Snow 1. But, like 1, I want to say "comedy monster movie", not zombie movie. Granted, there is precedent for zombies with intelligent motive. Witness Bub and (I had to look this up) Big Daddy. But Herzog is just too organized. He's a cursed person, not a zombie.

Actually, it's been a while since I last saw them, but by this rule the Evil Dead "zombies" are probably not zombies either.

Night of the Living Dead (the remake), 28 Days Later, and World War Z (however much it differed from the book) - these are zombie movies. Zombies are impersonal exterior forces made horrible by their representation as entropy in human form. They are what is disgusting in the form. The Form! And how it corrupts the psyche. But they can't themselves have a psyche. Typically, zombies are thought redeemable if they cling somehow to a psyche. And Herzog, who has a significantly human but evil psyche, is thus not a zombie.


As a gross-out comedy monster movie, Dead Snow 2 is okay. Needs an associated drinking game.  bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on August 09, 2014, 03:18:36 AM
Well, if we are going to list odd zombie flicks, how about "Black Sheep"...zombie killer sheep....
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 09, 2014, 01:21:20 PM
I think we must admit that just as among the stars we may find both wars and treks, then among the dead there are those that yet live and those that are evil. The "lives" of those that are evil are challenging, colourful, and directed while those that merely "live" have no life at all. The "living" dead are more truly just the animated dead. These are the zombies. Flesh without psyche. If the two groups are the same, then Darth Vader is a Klingon. And Captain Kirk is a Death Star functionary.

Black Sheep, as I recall, is a comedy monster movie too.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on August 09, 2014, 01:27:49 PM
She must have practiced that same expression for the movie "Lucy".  Embarrassingly bad even for a summer knockoff.  I did find it interesting though that the "dastardly villains" in this one were from Tee-Wan.  I'm sure the marketing department for this studio was proud of itself.

I saw "Lucy" yesterday and I agree about the expression. I noticed that I was the only one who laughed my way through the movie. I am starting to wonder why I seem to be the only one who finds humour in  most situations. bibibibibi  Perhaps that is also why I sing a lot of the time; If I don't, I will probably swear. bibibibibi
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 12, 2014, 09:40:13 PM
The Descent (2006)

Six women - several cavers, climbers, adventurers, and a doctor -  enter an un-mapped cave system and become trapped. And they are not alone. Significantly not alone. Lots and lots of not alone.

This is a pretty cool movie. (Not least because Natalie Mendoza (http://galbite.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/The-Descent.jpg).) Following the adventure-horror style, the story is set up really fast, but in my humble estimation, surprisingly well for a pace so brisk. They use next to no telling and nearly all showing. Super-cool story-telling. It is however a horror movie, and does not let up on the tension. There are also no heaving bosoms, nearly no conversations about men, and no comedy gore. It straight up grinds you down.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 19, 2014, 01:41:57 PM
Banlieue 13 (District 13) (2004)

realistic parkour, comic book storyline 
pretty good acting within the comic book style. 
bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf


Banlieue 13 - Ultimatum (2009)

comic book martial arts, incidental parkour
slightly more realistic storyline, but no Dany Verissimo
bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf  kkkkkkkkkk



Banlieue 13 was recently remade as Brick Mansions, which apparently is crap.
Accurate subtitles, incidentally, for both the Banlieue movies are hard to find. There's English subs that give you most of what's said, but the ones I had kept going out of sync.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 21, 2014, 12:44:53 AM
神女 (The Goddess) (1934)

One does have to listen to rather a lot of piano to get through this movie, and it takes a while to generate interest in seeing what happens to the characters, but once it gets rolling, it's remarkable. The characterisations on display are great! Also, ten culture cred points if you watch through to the end.


Sorcerer (1977)

Takes thirty minutes of almost no talking jumping around the world to establish that these guys are a disparate bunch of desperadoes. Then they get into trucks in South America loaded with unstable nitroglycerin. Then they drive across a river, in a storm, on a rope bridge! While this is an existential thriller, and from the seventies to boot, it does have some nail-biting moments simply from watching trucks sway. The fashions are to die for too. Also, locations, locations, locations. Must watch in hi-def or bluray.



/olden-movie-thon
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 24, 2014, 02:28:05 PM
Two Hands (1999)

Lil Heath-y Ledger comes of age in Kings Cross (Sydney). Heath-y does a couriering job for a local bad man and it all goes wrong when he leaves the money on the beach to have a swim. Also, Rose Byrne. One of my favourite movies.


The Year My Voice Broke (1987)

Lil Noah Taylor, along with his inseparable childhood friend Leone Carmen, come of age in rural New South Wales in the early sixties. They're growing up, and a little apart,  and she gets a boyfriend. A snapshot of young life in Australia, at school, in town, on the land. It won Best Film, Best Direction, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Actor in a Supporting Role, and it's pretty good.


Animal Kingdom (2010)

A new film, I watched it last night. Not as horrible as The Boys nor as psychotic as Romper Stomper, but it's in that vein. A teenage kid's mother ODs and dies, and he goes to live with his uncles and grandmother in Melbourne. The uncles are just guys, they're all family, but also crooks and have been targeted by the Armed Robbery Squad of the police. The kid comes of age.


/australia-thon  bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on August 24, 2014, 05:35:38 PM
The Prince...a movie which seems to have been written by drunken film students in one weekend. Laughable acting, plot wafer-thin and one can only speculate that either Bruce Willis is hurting for money or was being black-mailed by Jason Patrick into doing it. This is a revenge story blended with the now post-Taken trite and insipid uber-awesome-killer-parent-who-retired-have-to-save-daughter-from-baddie schtick. It did not work. At the end of the movie, which has the immensely predictable hostage-stand-off the viewer is absolutely unengrossed and, as such, could not really care less which of the one-dimensional, flat and pointless characters waving a gun around dies. Should you have a choice between studying the history of clog-making in Holland or watching this movie, the clog-making endeavour will be more exciting.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 27, 2014, 04:39:57 AM
Ai Chu Se ("Color Me Love") (2010)

There are three bouts of suckface in this movie, and two of them work. Which in my humble estimation is astounding because movie kissing never works. Movie kissing is more often a grotesque battle for last meal domination with partners chewing on one another until one of them snuffles a breath and exposes a jugular. The other thing about Ai Chu Se is the storytelling goes off the rails at around the one hour mark and it sort of doesn't matter. While the main story itself goes gappy, the various story lines around it and part of it, as instantiated by the various actors, remain strong and attractive. Joan Chen is pretty super duper in this movie too. As of course is Yao Chen.


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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 28, 2014, 01:42:23 PM
The Rover (2014)

Intense. Uneven. Ten years after the world economic collapse, in a South Australian outback populated by white men, yanks, Chinese, and a handful of indigenous, three crims steal a hardened loner's car. They shouldn't have. Included is an opium den, a travelling circus, and no kangaroos. The soundtrack is exceptional and Robert Pattinson has more tics than a mangy dog.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 28, 2014, 11:10:38 PM
Waar (2013)

Histrionic. Melodramatic. Patriotic. A Pakistani action thriller with heinous Indian super-operatives bent on mass murder in a variety of paste-on mustaches. The hero however has real facial hair and a grudge to settle. We learn that in Pakistan, wooden matches are still a thing and, goddamn, we will build that dam! On it's own this movie is about as balanced as, say, Top Gun or any one the Hollywood actioners from the 90s. In context however it's kind of cool, and develops into quite a bit of mayhem by the end. They even have a fantastically arch take on the Bollywood habit of inserting dance numbers into otherwise normal movies.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on September 09, 2014, 01:32:10 PM
I decided to see "SNOWPIERCER" before it finished in the theaters I go to in Brisbane.  I read your review last month EL, so wasn't in a hurry to see it.  The behaviour of the humans was certainly predictable, given my life experiences. The perpetual-motion engine was an interesting concept.  I suggest that you guys Google it to get a better idea of the story and of the writers and of the Korean Director Bong Joon-ho. I must admit to having a smile at the last two humans we see. Without wanting to appear racist, I  certainly wasn't surprised.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on September 10, 2014, 09:28:02 PM
Did you figure out how the smaller one got a form-fitting fur coat since all previous views of those showed adult sizes. mmmmmmmmmm
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on September 11, 2014, 12:56:17 PM
I picked up on it EL, plus the boots. I was wondering if the pair were supposed to breed. I also wondered if the writer was trying to change the concept of the older man with a younger woman. Perhaps some others survived and someone will come up with a sequel. bibibibibi The mind boggles.  Perhaps I've got too much time on my hands. bfbfbfbfbf :candyraver: :dancemj:
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on September 13, 2014, 12:46:34 PM
"THE GIVER". Starring Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep.  Apparently Lois Lowry's award winning science fiction novel for young adults, is a favourite of Jeff Bridges. He has apparently been waiting to make a film of it since it was published in 1994.  To my way of thinking, it was watchable, but a review I read, couldn't understand what drew Jeff Bridges to the book so passionately.  I'd be interested in the views of some of you guys.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 14, 2014, 04:22:29 AM
The kind of film that I wish I had made about China.

http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/lasttrainhome/

(http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/lasttrainhome/LastTrainHome_poster_hires.jpg)


Deserves all the awards it won. Horribly bitter at points. Beautiful imagery. I also found it laugh out loud hilarious at times. Not because they were trying to make jokes but just because people are hilarious sometimes, the moreso if you know a bit about living here and what some of these people are up to. A cautionary tale too. Watching the Spring Festival train rides, I was having flashbacks.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 14, 2014, 02:21:36 PM
"THE GIVER". Starring Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep.  Apparently Lois Lowry's award winning science fiction novel for young adults, is a favourite of Jeff Bridges. He has apparently been waiting to make a film of it since it was published in 1994.  To my way of thinking, it was watchable, but a review I read, couldn't understand what drew Jeff Bridges to the book so passionately.  I'd be interested in the views of some of you guys.

The movie is watchable. It suffers some from being the third such movie in recent times. The book was written before either of The Hunger Games or the Divergent books, but the movie feels very familiar if you seen both of their adaptations already. As a movie in its own right, it feels like they backed off making it as stark as it could have been. With personal attachment being the key to the utopia/dystopia, it seems like they could have placed more value on the meaning of experience. Otherwise, the utopia seems really quite pleasant. But it includes people like Jonas's father, for instance.

Basically, the first third felt like Divergent. The middle third with Jeff was pretty good, though plagued by the very poor aesthetic choice of smeary slo-mo. I found the last third a bit shallow, a little like Hunger Games on the cheap. The memory payoff at the end was cool though. /no spoilers.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 15, 2014, 02:55:21 AM
Z-108

Somewhere in Taipei they're cloning Shu Qi. All the clones that lived, and were willing to take their shirts off, starred in this movie. It may not have been worth it. This movie has a lot of pointless meanness, a great deal of shouting, and zombies. By and large, the zombies are nicer than the people.

 ananananan bqbqbqbqbq bqbqbqbqbq
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on September 15, 2014, 01:24:17 PM
Thanks Calach! bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 15, 2014, 06:43:57 PM
Presumably the book was better. As a movie, The Giver was, I think, a bit immature. I suspect the book may have a bit more kick to it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cruisemonkey on September 16, 2014, 11:01:23 AM
I just watched The Giver and went "Meh" (and I've stopped taking my injections).   awawawawaw
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on September 16, 2014, 12:17:42 PM
Thanks for the input guys. bfbfbfbfbf It's good to know that it is not just me and/or a female perspective.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 18, 2014, 02:25:15 PM
Bio-Zombie (1998)

Where Z-108 was mean, Bio-Zombie is generous and entertaining and, eventually, has zombies. Two dudes, Woody Invincible and Crazy B, have a VCD shop in an arcade (looking a lot like upstairs at Chungking mansions) and one evening collecting their boss's car from the repair shop they encounter the last survivor of a criminal exchange gone wrong, and that dude has in his possession what his boss was trying to buy, an Iraqi bioweapon that turns people into flesh-eating zombies. Win!

Or, in short, Cantonese comedy-horror with elements of farce (and once the horror starts it seems like the movie takes a long time to end).

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf awawawawaw
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 19, 2014, 03:52:38 AM
Begin Again (2013)

Honestly, it's kind of an extended iphone commercial. I have never seen a movie with this amount of pop polish. Not that it's a bad movie. I don't really buy Keira Knightly as a musician, but the story's inoffensive and the soundtrack jaunty. It has Stevie Wonder

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 19, 2014, 07:04:10 PM
Turns out though, it is her doing the singing.

Like a Fool: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNzg1ODExNjc2.html
Lost Stars: http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/s8EB6of0TaY/
Tell Me If You Wanna Go Home: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNzU4MzU4NTA0.html
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 20, 2014, 02:45:45 PM
A Million Ways to Die in the West

An unfunny case study in using "fuck" and "shit" as placeholders for humor. I got the impression that were they simply removed, the movie would improve. Not as a matter of tone, just as a matter of how heavily layered each scene is with "shit" and "fuck". For the rest of the movie, I laughed once every hour, and the mustache conceit was kind of funny. Also, Seth MacFarlane is funny-looking.

 bibibibibi bqbqbqbqbq bqbqbqbqbq
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 21, 2014, 02:12:00 PM
The Scribbler

In the vein of Sin City and Sucker Punch but with less mythic narrative and fewer visual effects, though a smidge more surrealism. A girl half-cured of multiple personality disorder goes to a halfway house where residents keep killing themselves and she might be next if she can't finish her treatments. Was okay.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on September 22, 2014, 02:13:56 PM
"THE MAZE RUNNER" :  Just saw this 2014 American Science Fiction thriller based on James Dashner's 2009 book of the same name. I understand that they are already working on the sequel.  Have you seen it yet Calach or ETR or anyone else who might like this type of movie? I'd be interested in your perspective. 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 22, 2014, 03:17:45 PM
The Maze Runner's been in my book queue for a long while. (I read a few pages and haven't come back to it yet.) The movie though is yet to be pirated. I did however see something that might interest you, Gran: a very imperfect movie from Tommy Lee Jones...

The Homesman (2014)

It's the light and lush story of transporting three frontier women back home. Ostensibly, the women break under the strain of 1850s Nebraska frontier life. When no man can be found to do the job, another woman, Hilary Swank, volunteers to carry the three "back east" to a sanitarium. Coincidentally she rescues a claim jumper from a hanging and co-opts his help for the journey. This movie does for westerns what Only God Forgives did for martial arts, except the tone is really odd considering how harsh the story.

Verdict: a bit weird; did it go wrong or does the cavalier tone have meaning?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on September 23, 2014, 12:59:25 PM
I'll keep an eye out for "THE HOMESMAN" at the movies. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 28, 2014, 02:26:58 PM
Mardaani (2014)

Stylized Indian action drama with Rani Mukerji as Shivani Shivaji Roy, a police officer in Mumbai who decides to break up a syndicate of human traffickers.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 30, 2014, 02:23:39 PM
Vi är bäst! ("We are the best!") (2013)

Charming.

In 1982, two early-teen girls decide they'll be a punk band. They rope in a third to teach them how to play. The story goes a bit mundane once boys are introduced, but that's not until much later. For the larger part, the movie is delightful.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 03, 2014, 02:07:41 PM
Bună, ce faci? (Hello! How Are You?) (2010)

Romanian romantic comedy. Gabriel and Gabriela (Gabby and Gabby) are so alike in their boredom and disappointment that they meet in a chatroom and fall in love despite already being married, to each other, having a son, and living in the same house. Now I've seen everything.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on October 04, 2014, 01:55:38 AM
Sin City-A Dame To Kill For: I liked the first Sin City. This one was silly, The Johnny story line made no sense, the continuity seemed completely off. It was like a sequel and a prequel at the same time. I had expected better.

A Walk Among the Tombstones: Liam Neeson delivers excellent noir. Good movie but I enjoyed the book more.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 07, 2014, 02:22:14 AM
Versus (2000)

Cult classique  ababababab ababababab ababababab

In Japan, when one particular group of Yakuza make someone disappear, they end up in a particular forest. One day, the boss tells his men to kidnap a girl and meet two prison escapees in that forest. While waiting for the boss himself to show up, one of the escapees starts an argument with the goons, and that's when they all find out why it's called a Forest of Resurrection.

Kung fu samurai ghost zombies reincarnated with guns!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 12, 2014, 02:40:55 AM
Jersey Boys (2014)

Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons biopic - music plus a movie. The movie surrounding the music is innocuous, and kind of drama-lite. It tells a very familiar kind of story these days, I guess. The music is, of course, great. I had fun. The strongest character is that voice.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on October 13, 2014, 01:57:07 PM
"THE JUDGE": (142mins) Robert Downey Junior really played his part well as the smug city Lawyer who specialises in defending the guilty. The part of the Judge is played by Robert Duval who is now in his 80s. The movie becomes a cross-examination of a father-son relationship as the past comes boiling to the surface. I  didn't mind this and I think some of you guys might take a look. It is getting about a 3 star rating here.

"Gone Girl":(149mins) Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike star in this missing persons thriller.  Movie reviewers have given this one 4 and a half stars. Perhaps it is again "just me", but I'd love to hear what you guys think of it.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: El Macho on October 13, 2014, 02:32:23 PM
"THE JUDGE": (142mins) Robert Downey Junior really played his part well as the smug city Lawyer who specialises in defending the guilty. The part of the Judge is played by Robert Duval who is now in his 80s. The movie becomes a cross-examination of a father-son relationship as the past comes boiling to the surface. I  didn't mind this and I think some of you guys might take a look. It is getting about a 3 star rating here.

"Gone Girl":(149mins) Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike star in this missing persons thriller.  Movie reviewers have given this one 4 and a half stars. Perhaps it is again "just me", but I'd love to hear what you guys think of it.
Both of those sound good. I'm looking forward to getting them here in China…may take a while, though.

We watched Guardians of the Galaxy this weekend. Pretty standard stuff, not that interesting.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on October 16, 2014, 12:59:03 PM
"The Little Death":  This is a comedy about sex, love, relationships in a multi story narrative as we peer behind the closed doors of a seemingly normal suburban street.  I took my neighbour to see it and she learned a few more things about sex. ahahahahah  I laughed my head off. I think the younger movie patrons were surprised to hear this old fart laughing at things they apparently didn't see.  I don't call this a "chick flick", so I reckon some of you guys will get a laugh. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on October 17, 2014, 05:30:34 AM
Saw "The Judge" and enjoyed it very much by the end.  Was impatient when Duvall and Downey were not on the screen much at first, but patience paid off. Had a very poignant scene about his dad's aging and dignity which I thought was outstanding and even cutting edge for mainstream movies.  And, what a cast!!!

Also saw "Gone Girl". Just my experience, (and my sister who went with me), but couldn't stand it. Never bought into it and knew how it would end after about 15 minutes.  Was even more angry that I couldn't fall asleep in my chair. However, my son who is in the business, loved it.

Would recommend "Kill The Messenger". Jeremy Renner in a big role about an historical event in the U.S.  Always tough to make a movie about journalism, but this one does okay. 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on October 17, 2014, 01:28:50 PM
Thanks A-Train.  I'm glad that  someone else shared my view on "Gone Girl", especially after it received a high rating here in Oz. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on October 17, 2014, 04:02:19 PM
Thanks A-Train.  I'm glad that  someone else shared my view on "Gone Girl", especially after it received a high rating here in Oz. bfbfbfbfbf

My son tells me that it's a work of genius. Says the plot is just a, (predictable), structure that allows the director to give us a meditation on relationships and what is real and unreal about them.  But, he's a self-admitted David Fincher groupie.  I'll have to watch it again, (for free), with this in mind.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on October 18, 2014, 01:46:33 PM
I'll be interested to hear if you change your mind A-Train.  For my part, I don't  think too deeply about the movie I'm seeing, I just like to let it unfold. I have learned, particularly by listening to my elderly neighbour, that people certainly see things from a different perspective. Sometimes I am left wondering if we were even watching the same movie. I have also heard folks discussing movies and to my way of thinking, they often appear to have  missed the point. I often think that if a group of people were to see a movie and then had to write a precis on what they saw BEFORE they speak to anyone else about it, it would be a real eye opener.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 18, 2014, 02:25:05 PM
Coherence (2013)

A truly excellent slow-build scifi variation on bump-in-the-night.

This is a dinner party movie, closely focused on eight old and new friends around a table, and then the power goes out.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 23, 2014, 06:16:38 PM
"Breakup Buddies" - Xin Hua Lv Fang - 心花路放 - (2014)

Goofy

Where Lost in Thailand stayed goofy right through to the end, Breakup Buddies has more substance, more heart, as it follows two guys down the road after one of them gets a divorce, but it's still kind of goofy. A native speaker would likely have a lot more fun with it though. I missed a lot of the early humor just because they speak so fast and the subtitles can't keep up. The narrative structure is episodic (not unlike Touch of Sin) right up until a very cool narrative twist that's very pleasing. Meanwhile, it's fun. Seems like there might be a number of in-jokes too. I'd watch it again with a better quality copy to enjoy the scenery and maybe catch more of the story.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 24, 2014, 07:31:52 PM
A Most Wanted Man

Philip Seymour Hoffman's last starring role. He is the nearly-disillusioned spy master, Günther Bachmann, who happens upon Issa Karpov, a recently arrived Russian/Chechen refugee in Hamburg. Soon everyone wants to know where Karpov is hiding and what Bachmann thinks he's up to. This is a curious movie because it's very attractive to look at, but strangely cold. The Cold War sensibility used on modern terrorism makes for a puzzlingly desperate mix, and Hoffman is very hard to read. Some would say the whole story's right there on his face, but still I found the mix of bitter and earnest to be opaque. Perhaps it's supposed to be.

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Addendum: a damnably attractive mix of Tom Wait's Hoist That Rag plays over the credits, and as far as I can tell that's the only place you can hear it. You listening, media distributors? If you made this stuff available for download at the same time as the movie, normal people would buy it you idiots!
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on November 01, 2014, 07:54:13 PM
These Final Hours

A self-absorbed dim bulb is redeemed (nearly) by the apocalypse.

The story is familiar but also well-told and extremely well localised (set in modern day Perth, Western Australia), and except for the fact that the world ends, comprehensively and completely, there's just enough story left over for a sequel. Issues: (1) one sequence has so many continuity errors it's almost funny; (2) I think the movie would have been better without that particular voice over.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on November 02, 2014, 04:28:36 AM
Zombi 2 (1979)

Famous (Italian) zombie movie. Also a boring zombie movie, except for those glorious sixty seconds wherein a zombie wrestles a shark on the seabed. Also, there is no Zombi 1 except inasmuch as the makers hoped to cash in on the release of Dawn of The Dead. Thus, pfft.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on November 02, 2014, 12:42:56 PM
"Fury" starring Brad Pitt.  I thought it was too long and I found myself telling them to hurry up and when to take a shot etc. To be honest, I thought the story was designed to make Brad out to be a real hero. bibibibibi  Have any of you guys seen it yet?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on November 07, 2014, 07:47:09 PM
"Fury" starring Brad Pitt.  I thought it was too long and I found myself telling them to hurry up and when to take a shot etc. To be honest, I thought the story was designed to make Brad out to be a real hero. bibibibibi  Have any of you guys seen it yet?

Saw it.  Loved it.  The dinner scene was more than a little off kilter, but loved the grittiness, the odd, religious character and Pitt was pitch perfect. No hero. Just a man guilt of many war crimes who wanted it all to make a positive difference and went all-in at the end. The tank battle scenes were breath taking even though they were on a small scale.  And, for the most part, the tank team were not caricatures, but interesting adjuncts.  Just my opinion and I'm a bit of a sucker for good, war movies.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on November 07, 2014, 07:51:24 PM
"Birdman" by Iñárritu is a frenetic, crazy and humorous romp with more acting than plot/direction, but entertaining from beginning to end. Not sure what it means, but I'm glad I witnessed it.  Edward Norton gets the best lines and Keaton displays his best acting ever.  Not sure what it amounts to in the end, but I saw a bit of myself in many scenes.  That was plenty for me.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on November 07, 2014, 07:55:31 PM
Not as good as "Birdman", but "Night Crawlers" makes some dreadfully, truthful points about the emptiness of popular entertainment and the self-importance of the cipher-humans who televise this drek.  It's a sick nation and we're eating up the poison with both hands.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on November 08, 2014, 01:22:59 PM
Thanks A-Train! I like a good war movie too. I think that his going "all in" at the end, was designed to make him look like a "hero".  I thought that most of them couldn't hit the side of a barn at 20 paces, but I'm a good shot, so I probably expect too much.
 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on November 09, 2014, 08:43:43 PM
A Chinese Odyssey Part 1 - Pandora's Box (1995)

Cheerful, slapstick, semi-surreal comic fantasy drama from Hong Kong, still funny almost twenty years later.

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A Chinese Odyssey Part 2 - Cinderella (1995)

Confusing. If I hadn't already known, more or less, the Monkey King and Journey to the West stories, I doubt I'd have followed any of this story at all. It's like watching an extended edition of all Part 1's deleted scenes.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on November 29, 2014, 03:05:54 PM
Fury (2014)

Nasty, brutish, and long. And strangely adrift. It's a WWII movie, obviously, but what WWII movie? There's an absence of context that leaves the movie one lengthy track through episodes of brutality. They are, to some degree, not even increasingly desperate episodes of brutality, except for near the end. So, one knows it was a WWII movie, but one doesn't know what it was a WWII movie about. Jason Isaacs has a very neat, but ever so brief turn as the intense and angry Cpt. "Old Man" Waggoner, and if he and Brad spent more time together, we could have had a movie, but well, there it is.

Not a bad movie by a long straw though. Just unresolved.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on November 30, 2014, 08:35:41 PM
Still Alice (2014)

Julianna Moore, a cognitive psychologist, gets Alzheimers, her family responds poorly. Apple products may or may not be the cause. Certainly they conspire to aid her death. Meanwhile, Kristen Stewart is Angels in America. About halfway through Julianna gives a speech. Watch for it.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on December 01, 2014, 09:28:33 AM
Hubby and I are presently revisiting the Herbie movies.  Cute, inane and perfect for a weekend of NuffinMuch agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 27, 2014, 04:09:55 AM
The Interview (2014)

Steeeee-ew-pid, stupid movie. But funny.

It's not the jokes, because most of them are dumb, and it's not the acting, because, lord, they're so woodenly unfunny almost all the time. It's how sacrilegious the movie is. The real lol moments come from the hyper-emotionalism, and knowingly included in all that is a bunch of Asian stuff as well, which is like, no, omg, you can't laugh at that because OMG?! But no, it works. In a very stupid setting.

Two thumbs up, and a toe.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on December 27, 2014, 05:57:20 AM
Also saw Still Alice ,CP and thought it was wonderful in every way,sad,touching,well acted and most endearing in a non typical Hollywood way.
Have The Interview and will give that a whirl tonight.
I hear there are new episodes of Black Mirror out so I am on the prowl for those.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cruisemonkey on December 27, 2014, 10:45:19 AM
The Interview

Steeeee-ew-pid, stupid movie. And not funny. A waste of bandwidth to download and a waste of two-and-half-hours to watch.

Sony's genius PR hype worked - you cant buy advertising like it got because of the 'threat', cancellation and reinstatement.

If you want to see a funny movie about the DPRK, watch Team America: World Police.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 27, 2014, 02:52:07 PM
Eminem wasn't funny. James Franco wasn't funny (except perhaps when talking about his tell all book). Seth Rogen never is funny (although "me so sollee" almost worked). I lol'd at such things as the cascading grief (where Glorious Leader grieved, then everyone in the room grieved harder) and the painted children (because heavily made-up children performing complex, massively over-perfected artistic expression is hilarious). Also, butts. Who doesn't laugh at things in rectums?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on December 27, 2014, 11:42:54 PM
The Interview was just bad. It was horrible from beginning to end. If Puerile Idiocy and No Talent Whatsoever got both high and drunk, had a lovechild WHO then grew up then gew up to be a colossal failure and descended into a maelstrom of drug and alcohol abuse and did not care at all what he did, completely let himself go and died in a ditch to be eaten by a donkey WHO subsequently had massive and explosive diarrhea over a toxic landfill, the result would be The Interview. Or at least, about as pleasant and entertaining. I knew any movie with Rogen and Franco would be reaching new Lows but this reached the ultimate low, rock-bottom and then got out the shovels and dug Down a few more feet.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 28, 2014, 01:10:01 AM
And yet, well recieved in China...

http://www.ecns.cn/2014/12-26/148214.shtml

I liked the meta aspects. As a movie, it's a puerile waste of time. James Franco in particular is heinously unfunny. But if his character didn't go so far over the top as to barely even count as a characterisation, the rest of it couldn't happen, that rest being a shift in who can control the narrative. Culture, politics, all that shizzle, particularly where it comes to Asian commies, is near completely owned by propagandists on that side. 5000 years? Catastrophic destruction to rain down on all western interests? Finally poking at that kind of hysteria is a catharsis after so often having to bow down. So, toilet humour plus an infantile, though really not all that telling an undermining of dominant, frankly aggressive narratives... it's the lol. It's been a long while since I saw Team America, and possibly they did the "satire" better, but pfff, it seems like a while since anyone else did it at all.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on December 28, 2014, 02:29:02 PM
Charlie Chaplin showed how one satirizes a megalomaniac psycho on "The Dictator". Hell, even that Borat chap's movie was fun. The Interview failed on all points.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 28, 2014, 03:18:49 PM
Pfff, anyone can make a "satire" when you're already at war. It's almost mandatory.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 28, 2014, 03:45:38 PM
Also, lest we forget, consider the China blockbusters of recent times. Breakup Buddies, Lost in Thailand... Plus there's a whole online thing about "fatty Kim"... The Interview is going to fit right in.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on December 28, 2014, 03:50:58 PM
And the Korean War ended when? The DMZ is still there, American troops are still in the viscinity. If being at war is a necessity, then America has had 50 plus years to do a good satire on NK. Satire does not need a war. Gulliver's Travels did not need a war. Tristram Shandy did not need a war. Jane Austen satirized English society, as did Oscar Wilde and neither of them needed a war to do so. Your argument is...well...not an argument. Chaplin and Cohen both showed intelligence and class when they made fun of their subjects. The Interview does not, I would not classify The Interview as satire because, to me, satire is intelligent humour. There was no indication anyone above the age of 5 having been involved in making that travesty. Prebuscent amateur toilet humour, vulgar slapstick, but not satire.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 28, 2014, 07:47:26 PM
If satire is the holding of vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings up to ridicule, then, technically, it's satire. Though, if the object of the satire was to be Kim Jong Un, then, since he is already such a caricature, one is, technically, hard pressed to see what was satirized. He's already a man-child with nuclear resources and a nation's necks under boot heels, and the rest of the movie was remarkably gentle on every other thing it could have poked fun at. But for as long as no one else comes forward to put into moving pictures that, man, it's kind of ridiculous how all these rigid commie dictatorships are so inhumanly stylized, and look how they prop themselves up on high-contrast, low content formal cultures, it's just so insane!, then this is what we have.

I think the movie was kind of gentle on Asian cultures. I think it plucked absurd parts out to highlight them, and I think I lol'd most often (aside from bum jokes) at those times I perceived, omg, that's an image that'll get the Chinese and/or Koreans bent out of shape, that stuff is super serious when they do it and omg now it's looking as comical as it always has been. As a late in the movie example, the trio of child guitarists, for instance. I think if they did that kind of thing *and* tried a Team America approach, it'd be racist. It'd be mocking Asian culture for even trying to be a culture at all. As it is, the damn movie was kinda almost inclusive, fingers bitten off an all. Hell, they even gave the machine gun to the girl.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 28, 2014, 08:02:07 PM
Also, u hate them

cuz you ain't them.


boom.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on December 29, 2014, 12:52:14 AM
Fantastic marketing for this movie.

This is a movie that I would never bother to see. (come on Eric... you had to have known what it was going to be.)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 29, 2014, 01:29:51 AM
Fantastic noise for this movie. Buzz isn't marketing, especially not if buzz means let's torrent this crap first. Marketing is when you hit a target group of paying customers hard enough they cough up money. It's possible the over-the-top language of the Sony "hackers" was meant to, dare I say it, satirize the death and destruction language that routinely comes out of North Korea and that the whole thing was a stunt (on top of an embarrassing email leak) to create some lowered resistance to actually paying to see this pablum.But slash and burn "marketing" like this is a one-off and comes back later to lower profits. And did people actually see it in theaters?

Actually, putting it that way, and knowing the movie was hardly blockbuster material to begin with, maybe it was "marketing". It's not like they were going to make that much money anyway, nor do they really need to make their brand seem any kind of premium thing...
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 29, 2014, 04:24:16 PM
I take it back. People pay for movies online. Who knew.

Sony: ‘The Interview’ Has Made Over $15 Million Online (http://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/sony-%E2%80%98the-interview%E2%80%99-has-made-over-dollar15-million-online/ar-BBhiM4J?srcref=rss)

“The Interview” is shaping up to be a groundbreaking VOD success, earning $15 million online through Saturday.

The comedy, which has earned nearly $3 million in theaters, was rented or downloaded over 2 million times since hitting the Web on Tuesday, Sony disclosed. It was never supposed to be this way.

The film about a hapless TV host tasked with assassinating Kim Jong-un was originally intended to be released on roughly 3,000 screens on Christmas day. It was expected to generate $20 million during its opening.

However, the gory subject matter likely inspired a cyber attack from North Korea that brought Sony to its knees. After hackers evoked 9/11 and threatened violence, a theatrical release was briefly scuttled before Sony backtracked and lined up 331 art house and independent theaters willing to show the film. Its decision to release the film simultaneously on-demand and theatrically infuriated major exhibitors who refused to show the picture on their screens.

Overhauling the film’s rollout required the input of its theatrical distribution team, as well as its home entertainment staff.

“We worked hard to get the film out there by Christmas day,” Rory Bruer, Sony Pictures president of worldwide distribution, told Variety on Sunday morning. “It was such a whirlwind to get it done that it kind of amazes me that we were able to make it happen.”...



The article goes on to say it cost $75 mil to make and market. So I suppose the question is: was the "cyber attack" real? Given the emails leak, one perhaps should guess that *a* cyber attack did happen. But was it North Korean (aka Chinese) hackers? I suppose it could have been, but since when are state-sponsored hackers patriotic? I suppose it'd be hilarious if it turns out they had no choice but to be.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 29, 2014, 04:38:15 PM
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/12/27/tech/north-korea-expert-doubts-about-hack/index.html
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/12/27/fbi-faces-skepticism-over-claim-that-n-korea-hacked-sony/

http://www.engadget.com/2014/12/10/sony-pictures-hack-the-whole-story/

etc
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cruisemonkey on December 29, 2014, 10:47:26 PM
People paid 15 million dollars online to watch that piece of crap?... Idiots!  ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 31, 2014, 03:31:43 PM
Haider (2014)

Hindi crime drama set in 1995's Indian-occupied Kashmir in a context of civilian disappearances. Story focuses on Haider, the poet son of a disappeared doctor. It's a bit ponderous for the first hour but changes dramatically after the intermission and the Hamlet storyline properly kicks in with Haider beginning to go nuts. Exactly one of the interminable musical interludes, Haider's Bismil number, is worth it, though the others do begin and end well. Good movie.


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Official Trailer (http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNzM3ODIxODQ0.html)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on January 04, 2015, 01:52:40 PM
"THE WATER DIVINER".  For his directorial debut, Russel Crowe opted for this big hearted fact based tale of a father searching for his missing sons on the battlefields of Gallipoli.  Russel also stars in this movie as the father. I am from the "bush" in OZ, so I probably understood some of the "country ways" better than city folk. The story is designed to hammer home its core principle of family values, in which the Turks and the Anzacs are no different. I have helped my husband with the windmills and have actually had a go at "divining" for water, so I can assure you that it is no "fairy tale".  It only rated 3 stars here in Oz, but I reckon the Aussies over there will enjoy it. I hope that some of you other folk will have a look at it and enjoy it and remember that it was set in the early 1900's. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 04, 2015, 03:57:08 PM
My mother saw that recently. She said she enjoyed it very much, it has a little bit of everything. Also, the air conditioning in the cinema was a relief on a hot day. Mum is a practical cinema-goer.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 07, 2015, 04:49:21 PM
PK (2014)

Indian comedy-drama. A (luckily) humanoid alien arrives on Earth for a research mission and within minutes has had his communication device stolen. Enough people refer to God when telling him they can do nothing that he goes in search of these missing and mysterious gods hoping they will help him get home. Then he meets a reporter in search of new news. The style of adventures they have owe a lot to Mister Bean and Charlie Chaplin, and even if the movie requires some not very well realized attractions between people, it's still pretty fun.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 07, 2015, 06:21:49 PM
The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies: The first book I ever read in English was "The Hobbit". I loved it. However, I found that turning the one novel into three full-length movies was a bit much. The third instalment is splendid when it comes to visual effects, cinematography and coreographed battle sequences. It just seemed to me that parts of the second movie could easily have been latched onto the first movie and the entiire third movie could have been latched onto the second movie. It was a good movie though. Thoroughly enjoyable. Leaves one wondering what the result of a dwarf/elf romance would look like, why armour seems to serve no purpose in Middle Earth, why it is a that elves can hear twig snap four miles away in a forest but can't hear a crashing big dwarf army approach until their blow their trumpets and how exactly did the huge dwarf army arrive so quickly when it took forever for the intrepid heroes to find Erebor? Why would you breed giant bats, WHO are blind and nocturnal and then send them into battle during the day time? Is a moose really a better animal for riding into battle than a war-horse? Thorin gives Bilbo a mithril shirt and tells him "no blade can pierce it"..well...then....why don't he Wear one so...you know...he can't get stabbed? There are two great toadies in the movies...Grima Wormtongue and Alfred Lickspittle...which is the best toady name? I think Lickspittle.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on January 08, 2015, 08:48:56 AM
People paid 15 million dollars online to watch that piece of crap?... Idiots!  ahahahahah

My son's girlfriend, (a Korean), was beside herself in anticipation for this, so we went to an L.A. art house theater.  The police were in high profile before and after the showing.  They should have arrested Seth Rogan et al for stealing our time.  Surpassed my expectations for pablum. You could be justified for actually feeling sorry for Kim for being associated with this movie. The real vandals of free expression is SONY for lowering our standards and releasing this turd.

I'm pretty sure some people actually believed they were standing up for freedom by going to this "movie".  I was much more afraid of the L.A.P.D. than of the D.P.R.K.

BTW: I understand that James Franco will be directing Faulkner's "The Sound And The Fury".
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on January 08, 2015, 01:32:14 PM
"THE IMITATION GAME" As most of you will know, this is the story of how the Nazi Enigma code was broken during World War 11. I found it quite interesting, given that it led to the development of computers, if I understood it correctly. I think that Benedict Cumberbatch played his part well. I look forward to hearing what you folks think.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on January 08, 2015, 02:44:29 PM
Is a moose really a better animal for riding into battle than a war-horse?

A moose seems like an obvious choice, unless there's a giant armadillo available. ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on January 09, 2015, 04:56:10 AM
Watched "Birdman" today. Fantastic movie. After watching it, you can't help but wishing one of the prizes Michael Keaton will win for this is permission to, if and whenever he encounters them, punch Seth Rogen and James Franco in the nose and yell "BAD ACTOR! BAAAAAD ACTOR! FOR SHAME" for perpetuity.

Tomorrow: The Imitation Game and Unbroken. Saturday, Into the Woods....I do so love this waiting for my last exam period, I cannot recall the last time I was so relaxed.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on January 09, 2015, 07:12:34 AM
Just finished watching "The Imitation Game " and my ghast is flabbered.Sooo brilliant I really hope he gets an Oscar.It was just perfect.And no I don't care if it was 100% Historically accurate or not,although according to Wikipedia it was pretty damn close.God Bless the Queen.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on January 13, 2015, 09:55:34 AM
Watched "Birdman" today. Fantastic movie.


I also liked it a lot. A great ride.  The critics have mostly panned it.  Glad I'm not one.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on January 13, 2015, 04:01:26 PM
Just finished watching "The Imitation Game " and my ghast is flabbered.Sooo brilliant I really hope he gets an Oscar.It was just perfect.And no I don't care if it was 100% Historically accurate or not,although according to Wikipedia it was pretty damn close.God Bless the Queen.

Haven't seen it yet.  Does it explain why Turing made his test so hard.  I keep failing it. llllllllll
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on January 15, 2015, 01:38:13 PM
"INTO THE WOODS" was the movie I saw yesterday and I really can't decide about it. What did you think ETR? There were several older guys at the movie and I noticed that some were jiggling their feet in time to the music. To be perfectly honest, I thought that it (the story) would be a bit boring for a bloke even though the cinematography was great.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on January 23, 2015, 12:57:24 PM
"UNBROKEN" This film was directed by Angelina Jolie and shot in Australia as most of you will have heard. Most of the reviews are not great. One verdict was that it was "A stirring tale of survival that's oddly lacking in depth or insight." To my way of thinking, there was a lot to like about the movie. I must confess to constantly saying "Lest we forget!" I would have liked more insight into what made these men tick, particularly the Japanese Commandant. What did you folk think of it?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 23, 2015, 03:22:21 PM
American Sniper (2014)

Kind of odd as a movie. Chris Kyle joins the Navy relatively late in life, becomes a SEAL sniper, goes to Iraq four times, is hyper-alert when he's not there, then kills his enemy and gets to come home. There's kind of no story here and little in the way of tension on the screen. Things blow up, people get shot, that's kind of it. For those of us not born red, white, and blue nor overly hard for the warrior elite, the film is kind of flat.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 24, 2015, 03:02:21 PM
Selma (2014)

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on January 24, 2015, 11:14:58 PM
Note - Chris Kyle and a friend were shot dead on a practice range on 2 February, 2013.  The guy who shot him is suffering from PTSD, and Kyle and his neighbor were trying to help the man.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 24, 2015, 11:26:23 PM
Yup, --*spoilers*-- it is on that note that the movie ends, and it's more a factoid than a culmination of anything. Selma, for instance, by way of considerable contrast, ends with King's speech before the Alabama State Capitol. I watched it three times in a row. That cadence and the words are mesmerizing. Chris Kyle, while one horrifically lethal dude, has, imho, nearly no presence in his own movie. There's no comparison, really.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on January 26, 2015, 06:59:01 PM
The Grey - 2011

Nice try at an arctic survival flick.  Too bad the writers probably couldn't survive an attack by a toy poodle.  In the end, I'd say this one was a complete and utter failure across the board.

SPOILER ALERT - If you don't want details, skip this.

Reality is that wolf attacks on humans are rare, especially in North America.  Minor facts like this don't seem to stop movie makers from having a hero who's job is "anti-wolf sniper" for an oil company drilling in the arctic.

After a plane crash, our unlovable hero leads a band of 6 equally unlovable idiots in an attempt to find safety.  Naturally, they end up getting hunted and picked off one by one.

The only successful wolf kill during this death march was using an improvised bang stick (shotgun shell on the end of a sharp stick).  Somehow, after that, everyone seemed to forget that they still had several more bang sticks and no one even bothers to get a walking stick or make a new spear.  The wolves take advantage of this mental lapse and use their obviously superior intelligence to keep taking out humans who can't remember any weapon much bigger than a knife.

Near the end, there were some attempts to gain empathy for the few survivors, but this failed as badly as the attempt to get away from the wolves.

Unless you think getting into a final fight with the alpha male (while the rest of the pack comes up behind you) is a good way to die, this movie sucked.  It's not a survival story.  It's an anti-survival story.  The humans all died (yes, even the "hero"), and most of them richly deserved it.

Rule 1 if there's a plane crash - stay with the plane.  Our "hero" says they'll starve before being rescued.  Maybe so, but there was a transponder with a signal device and it was working.  This would make locating the downed plane very simple.

If you are worried about wolves in an open, snowy area, heading to a distant treeline to hide is incredibly stupid.  Trees give more fuel for fires, but also make it easier for wolves to get very close before being seen.  The plane wreckage provided ample opportunities to build a wolf-resistant shelter and to insulate it sufficiently to avoid freezing.  In a worst-case scenario, there were already plenty of bodies ready for Donner Party cooking.  For those wanting to avoid nibbling on their dead companions, a simple wolf trap or two wouldn't be hard to build.  After all, there's plenty of sharp metal scraps laying around.

Perhaps I'm misinterpreting the film.  Maybe it's really intended as a guide for young wolves on how to catch and eat incredibly stupid humans. ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 28, 2015, 03:04:50 PM
The Little Death (2014)

Fantastic little multi-story comedy about couples, sex and death in the suburbs.

 bhbhbhbhbh bhbhbhbhbh bhbhbhbhbh


Lush Like You - Sunbird (https://www.triplejunearthed.com/jukebox/play/track/328811)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 29, 2015, 09:24:33 PM
Birdman (2014)

That was pretty cool - theatre in a movie. Once you get over the awkwardness of watching super-long takes, it starts being pretty fun as a movie. Not sure about the end.

 aiaiaiaiai aiaiaiaiai bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 30, 2015, 03:56:18 PM
The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

Joss Whedon comedy-horror movie, the comediest of all horror movies. It starts out straightforward enough, five college kids go to a cabin in the woods... a cabin they were guided to by a giant corporate agency. Satire comedy porn ensues.

 apapapapap apapapapap apapapapap
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on January 31, 2015, 01:04:01 PM
American Sniper (2014)

Kind of odd as a movie. Chris Kyle joins the Navy relatively late in life, becomes a SEAL sniper, goes to Iraq four times, is hyper-alert when he's not there, then kills his enemy and gets to come home. There's kind of no story here and little in the way of tension on the screen. Things blow up, people get shot, that's kind of it. For those of us not born red, white, and blue nor overly hard for the warrior elite, the film is kind of flat.

It is getting good reports here in Oz, so I thought it was just me. To be honest, I found it a bit "flat" as well.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 31, 2015, 08:43:42 PM
Supposedly it's anti-war, pro-warrior. There is of course no such thing as a warrior class these days so "pro-warrior" is a misnomer - should be "pro-professional soldier". And I suppose it could be read that way. What's interesting about the US military these days is how divorced it has become from US society. I was reading an article somewhere on the subject recently. In the past, US families would have more or less direct contact with the US military. They'd have a son or brother or father or uncle or cousin, or possibly some female family member, also be a member of the military, so they'd take an interest and have an understanding. These days some huge percentage of US families have no direct or even indirect contact with military life and while they're willing to exalt "our warriors", they don't really know what they're talking about or supporting. They'll give soldiers parades, but that's about it. The point of the article was something along the lines of how the nation and the nation's wars have become divorced from one another.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 31, 2015, 08:51:45 PM
Meanwhile...

Predestination (2014)

A pretty faithful recreation of Robert A. Heinlein's short story "—All You Zombies—", which, by the way, is about time travel, not zombies. Beyond the use of the line, "all you zombies", there are no zombies in this movie, just a time traveler working for a security agency to set up his own time line and prevent crime. The movie recreates the weirdness of the story exactly as the story created it, and Ethan Hawke as an older man is great.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 02, 2015, 08:15:01 PM
Top Five (2014)

I think Chris Rock is funny. Top Five is not. It's a mismash of various other movies. There some Spike Lee style in there, a bit of Tyler Perry (or any other big ole black family in the USA comedian style), some romance thing, a bit of the angry comedian/sad clown biography oeuvre, some hip hop, and some kind of ve-e-ery gentle satire on reality tv shows and cameos. I didn't feel it.

adadadadad adadadadad pppppppppp
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 05, 2015, 01:54:51 PM
"WILD" This is based on a true story about a young woman's 1770km hike along the Pacific Crest Trail. Reese Witherspoon stars as Cheryl Strayed, a young woman reeling from two major life mistakes in a row. I must admit that she played her part well and I could see that she had no idea about what she would have to face. I am from the country and do understand that many city folk have no idea about surviving in the wild. I didn't mind this movie.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on February 05, 2015, 02:20:49 PM
I didn't mind this movie.

Best endorsement I've ever seen in a movie review. ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 06, 2015, 12:42:27 PM
Thanks EL! bfbfbfbfbf My elderly neighbour is always telling me that, as far as movies go, I am too critical and don't like anything. bibibibibi
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 08, 2015, 01:42:32 PM
 "THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING"  As most of you will know, this is about the legendary theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.  While some people believe that this movie plays it a little too safe and sanitised, Eddie Redmayne's astonishingly expressive portrayal of Hawking excuses most flaws according to the film reviews here.  For my part, I was really and truly impressed by Eddie's acting and also the fact that it was not until Hawking's body was devastated by the ravages of Motor Neurone disease, that he began decrypting the mysteries of the universe.  I wonder what ETR and Calach will think of this movie. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 08, 2015, 03:29:41 PM
Tr(http://anarchism.net/images/download_ca_black.jpg)itors (2013)

A Moroccan punk rocker needs money for her band's demo so she takes a job as a driver for the hash lords. Great little movie. Wish I had the soundtrack.

 bfbfbfbfbf ababababab bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: xiao.baba on February 08, 2015, 04:52:26 PM
The Little Death (2014)

Fantastic little multi-story comedy about couples, sex and death in the suburbs.

 bhbhbhbhbh bhbhbhbhbh bhbhbhbhbh

Yeh watched this about a week ago, great movie. Watched it again the night after with the wife, she loved it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 08, 2015, 07:06:01 PM
^ re The Little Death: all the sub-stories had their laughs, some of them happy laughs some of them dark, but my favourite pair of characters were the deaf guy and the translator.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 08, 2015, 07:45:57 PM
"THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING"  As most of you will know, this is about the legendary theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.  While some people believe that this movie plays it a little too safe and sanitised, Eddie Redmayne's astonishingly expressive portrayal of Hawking excuses most flaws according to the film reviews here.  For my part, I was really and truly impressed by Eddie's acting and also the fact that it was not until Hawking's body was devastated by the ravages of Motor Neurone disease, that he began decrypting the mysteries of the universe.  I wonder what ETR and Calach will think of this movie. bfbfbfbfbf

Depends. I haven't watched it. Is it or is it not A Beautiful Mind (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Beautiful_Mind_(film)) but with Stephen Hawking? Big name scientist starts as a nobody, has the love and support of some forgiving squeeze, goes nuts/deathly ill/twisted but makes big science discoveries with rousing backing track anyway ?

I can be convinced to watch such things. I did watch The Imitation Game and thought it good (if overwrought). (Legitimately overwrought of course, because the treatment of Turing was horrendous, but it seemed to me undeveloped in the movie, it just happens kind of as backstory.)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on February 09, 2015, 04:26:35 AM
It's a little flat but it's a lot better than that Beautiful Mind turd. That Eddie Whatshisname really was good.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 09, 2015, 12:07:20 PM
Stil, I think that Eddie Redmayne's acting was what really kept me interested. As a matter of interest, I saw this actor in the shorts for a new movie coming out, but I can't remember its name. I'll take notice next time I'm at the theatre. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 12, 2015, 12:22:28 PM
Saw the shorts of JUPITER ASCENDING and Eddie Redmayne is in it. I think you guys might like this one. Eddie is also in KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE It sounds interesting. I'll get to see one of them. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 12, 2015, 10:43:45 PM
Trash (2014)

Adventure-drama. Three Brazilian trash picker kids who live at the dump find a man-purse with money and some cards. They don't know the purse is important until creepy police come looking and offering a reward. Rather than hand it over, they decide to find out for themselves what its worth. Then time starts running out.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 13, 2015, 08:14:27 PM
Nightcrawler (2014)

An earnest young man becomes a "nightcrawler", a stringer with a camera and a police scanner capturing on-the-scene accident and crime video for a morning news channel.


*spoilers*


With that ending, the movie is the false story of a successful sociopath. With the ending it should have had, the movie would have been a richly dark satire.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 14, 2015, 02:59:39 PM
Northern Soul (2014)

In Lancashire, 1974, John meets Matt and is introduced to a Northern Soul music scene based almost entirely around finding import 45s and dancing to them.The first hour's an amphetamine rush. The last ten mins or so is something of a soft ending with not everything resolved, but the movie is charming and exciting anyway, itself like a night out dancing where you come home in the daylight. 

Fantastic music.

:banana: :candyraver: :dancemj: bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: piglet on February 15, 2015, 06:31:49 AM
Thanks that looks great! Just watched the trailer  agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on February 17, 2015, 03:51:54 PM
I tried to watch  Mortdecai and stopped half-way through. I read and re-read Kyril Bonfiglioli's books. They are brilliant. Great characters, good plot. Somehow the makers of this movie decided that such things  have nothing to do in a Hollywood adaptation. It was utter, utter crap. It was, by far, the most cringe-worthy unpleasant amateurish infantile and idiotic adaptation of a book I have seen in ages. You know that there is something off about a flick  when about 20 minutes in you start wondering if you should begin doing the Spring Festival cleaning and tidying now or after the afternoon APUSH class is over. Read the books, Saloonies, do not waste  your time on this piece of smelly garbage.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 18, 2015, 12:21:25 PM
ETR, Have you seen "The Theory Of Everything"?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on February 18, 2015, 03:17:41 PM
No...I know it is supposed to be good and probably will Watch it but honestly, I have zero interest in the life of Dr. Hawkings. I know he is brilliant and such but the subject matter is, to me, uninteresting.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 19, 2015, 12:58:04 PM
ETR, I was interested in your opinion about Eddie's acting. I expect actors to be able to act, but this guy really impressed me. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 21, 2015, 04:54:04 PM
The Theory of Everything (2014)

So, yeah, I watched it. Why did she love him, again? The company of very clever men who refuse assistance with their infirmities isn't that great, really. And that theory of everything, what was it, again? Beyond that, yes, a tour de force for Eddie Redmayne. He captured the expressive physicality. And actually, an impressive, expressive performance by whatshername too, Felicity Jones. Cosmological physicists are dicks, though. They have either the burning aggressive intelligence or the chilly aggressive intelligence. I suppose that was in there too.

All in all, not bad. Kinda romantic.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on February 21, 2015, 08:04:47 PM
Well, if the major releases have you bored and you enjoy a little of the bizarre, you might have a look at "Under The Skin" starring Scarlett Johansson. It's science fiction, but on a small scale, (no "War Of The Worlds" epic).  Not much set up or dialogue so you have to figure things out or read into them as you can.  Been compared to "The Man Who Fell To Earth", but I enjoyed it much more. Not really fair since the Bowie movie is going on 40 years old, but I kinda understand why the comparison is made.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 22, 2015, 12:43:19 PM
The Theory of Everything (2014)

So, yeah, I watched it. Beyond that, yes, a tour de force for Eddie Redmayne. He captured the expressive physicality. And actually, an impressive, expressive performance by whatshername too, Felicity Jones.
All in all, not bad. Kinda romantic.

Thanks Calach. I was really interested in your opinion of the acting. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 22, 2015, 12:56:16 PM
KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE. This show has been given three and a half stars here in OZ. I'm glad they say that its a thriller-comedy as I laughed a lot and only one other person in the theatre laughed as much as I did. Colin Firth plays a posh British spy who recruits a housing-estate kid  with potential, to join a secret society of super spooks. I know that there was a lot of "crap" in it, but I found it amusing.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 22, 2015, 11:54:35 PM
Thanks Calach. I was really interested in your opinion of the acting. bfbfbfbfbf

I'm not usually a connoisseur of acting. I only ever really notice acting when there's stuff that takes you out of story (without making a bigger more interesting story). Like, for instance, in Birdman you can sometimes see the actors behind the performance. Come to think of it, I think stage acting, the few times I've seen it, is cool stuff. For movies, I kind of don't notice the craft. So I don't actually know how to say that Redmayne's performance was the shizz. But, on the screen, what I did see was the Hawking I suppose I know, and never saw the actor.

You mean though it's impressive that he captured and presented the disability? I reckon I agree. There's something about long term disability and decline, and living with it, that is there to see on the screen.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 23, 2015, 04:20:11 AM
The Beaver (2011)

A depressed man, suicidal, has alienated his children, is kicked out of the house, and finds a new voice, that of a plain-speaking Cockney hand puppet called.... The Beaver.

Best. Movie. Ever.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cruisemonkey on February 25, 2015, 01:35:12 PM
Best. Movie. Ever.

Thanks - I'm downloading it (after wading through a LOT of porn to find it on Kickass).  ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 25, 2015, 02:23:02 PM
Best. Movie. Ever.

Thanks - I'm downloading it (after wading through a LOT of porn to find it on Kickass).  ahahahahah

Oh.

Well, in that case, my real review holds that this movie only hints at the darkness inherent in its story. The hints are strong enough that the story is there. Effect is damped down perhaps a little too much to make the humor truly black. But it comes close and it's a beaver.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 25, 2015, 02:33:10 PM
Citizenfour (2014)

As a documentary, this movie has a bizarre, nearly non-sequitur cliff hanger ending which detracts. That aside, the story falls into three parts with meeting Snowden as the middle. The movie functions like an extended version of those initial interviews with him when he outed himself as the leaker. As such, a major feature of the exposition is the size and effect of the programs he brought to light. They and he with his concerns about them become easier to understand. Government responses look even more outrageous. You should take a look anyway. This documentary helps to make sense of the breadth of the disclosures. Quoth J Appelbaum, a fellow from the third part, "What people used to call liberty, and freedom, we now call privacy.

"...And we say, in the same breath, that privacy is dead."
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Tree on February 26, 2015, 02:50:49 AM
Funny I just finished downloading that CP.

Also...

Searching for Sugar Man

Chronicles the life and music of an unknown American philosopher/artist whose albums, unbeknownst to him, were the soundtrack of the anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 26, 2015, 03:14:00 AM
It needs to be watched a few times, I think. The scope of the surveillance programs are honestly mind-boggling. And it's not clear what they mean. It's definitely important to have this kind of version of the information, too. There should be no doubt that the documentary represents one kind of view, but that in the absence of other voices like this one... well, I don't know. Just that the other side - "them" - has access to monolithic powers. It is not reassuring to know that politicians are just people nor that governments have checks and balances. The kind of access to power the governments have now is so very heavily weighted in their favour it's no longer clear how to be free on their watch, nor what it's worth.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cruisemonkey on February 26, 2015, 11:20:39 AM
Under The Skin was just friggin' weird. mmmmmmmmmm  I don't know what I just watched... but while I was watching it, I couldn't stop watching it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on February 26, 2015, 11:14:59 PM
Under The Skin was just friggin' weird. mmmmmmmmmm  I don't know what I just watched... but while I was watching it, I couldn't stop watching it.

Neither could I.  I kept expecting something interesting would happen.  It didn't. kkkkkkkkkk

I must say that it takes am amazing amount of talent to wreck a movie involving an alien, sex with an alien, multiple homicides, and the very shapely Ms. J, but somehow the writer, director, and producer went far above and beyond the call of duty to achieve this unfortunate waste of time. llllllllll
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 28, 2015, 12:06:21 PM
FIFTY SHADES OF GREY This is and has been, for the last couple of weeks, the BIG movie in Brisbane. No wonder the author E.L.James (Erica Mitchell) was very worried about translating the sex on to the screen. She wanted it to look classy and not trashy and that it should be sexy and erotic. I believe that she was happy with the film adaptation of her book which has been translated into 52  languages worldwide.  Again, I laughed when no one else did, but perhaps I could see how weak and fragile  Christian Grey really was and that Ana was the strongest of the two of them. I can't wait to hear what you guys think of this movie, particularly from the male perspective. Calach and ETR, if you haven't seen it yet, I suggest that you put it on your list.  bfbfbfbfbf  I must confess that I found myself saying "hurry up" a few times, but I am inclined to lose patience. bibibibibi
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 28, 2015, 02:44:49 PM
Is there a reason to see that movie other than it's notoriety? I will watch movies just because they're part of the popular imagination - Twilight for instance, or the hobbit stuff - but notorious for kinky sex? Pffft. In a movie, when the sex scene starts rolling, I'm like, all right, fine, but let's get this over with so we can see something that advances the story. On the whole ( bpbpbpbpbp), sex in movies is the actress boob scene. And soooo earnest. I'd rather not.

Or, to put it another way, is there anything to recommend FSG other than it's what's on right now?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on February 28, 2015, 07:35:28 PM
Under The Skin was just friggin' weird. mmmmmmmmmm  I don't know what I just watched... but while I was watching it, I couldn't stop watching it.

That was pretty much my reaction. I like that they left so much unexplained, yet enough for my imagination to work with. I'm guessing she was put here to gather information and the guy on the motorcycle was her overseer, yet they never cement that. I REALLLY don't understand the killing scenes. Thought the water was symbolic; how a man will go so far into danger to chase a beautiful woman, even to the point of no return. But, then I had to say it was real and not a metaphor which really lost me.

Can't blame anyone for not liking it, but unlike EL, I thought Johansson was more beautiful in this than in the movies where they make her up, Hollywood-style. I'm not usually given to highly mysterious science fiction at all, but this one I bought in to. Like a few of David Lynch's movies. This director also did "Sexy Beast" with Ben Kingsley cast completely against type and "Birth"; both of which have just enough surrealism for me without blowing up the test tubes.

The review that got me started on "Under The Skin" is below if interested and I still think it really nails it.

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/under-the-skin-2014
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on March 01, 2015, 02:06:45 PM
- but notorious for kinky sex? Pffft. In a movie, when the sex scene starts rolling, I'm like, all right, fine, but let's get this over with so we can see something that advances the story. On the whole ( bpbpbpbpbp), sex in movies is the actress boob scene. And soooo earnest. I'd rather not.

You sound just like me Calach! bfbfbfbfbf
 

Or, to put it another way, is there anything to recommend FSG other than it's what's on right now?

I was really interested in the male perspective, particularly when the "head" on the shoulders is the one being used. I ask, because People are always asking me about the latest movies I have seen. There has been a LOT of interest in FSG and probably because of the publicity it is getting. To be completely honest Calach, it didn't do a lot for me, but I thought that it might have just been me. I do value your opinion and I'd certainly like to hear what some of the other regular movie watchers think.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on March 02, 2015, 04:37:23 PM
Under The Skin was just friggin' weird. mmmmmmmmmm  I don't know what I just watched... but while I was watching it, I couldn't stop watching it.

That was pretty much my reaction. I like that they left so much unexplained, yet enough for my imagination to work with. I'm guessing she was put here to gather information and the guy on the motorcycle was her overseer, yet they never cement that. I REALLLY don't understand the killing scenes. Thought the water was symbolic; how a man will go so far into danger to chase a beautiful woman, even to the point of no return. But, then I had to say it was real and not a metaphor which really lost me.

Can't blame anyone for not liking it, but unlike EL, I thought Johansson was more beautiful in this than in the movies where they make her up, Hollywood-style. I'm not usually given to highly mysterious science fiction at all, but this one I bought in to. Like a few of David Lynch's movies. This director also did "Sexy Beast" with Ben Kingsley cast completely against type and "Birth"; both of which have just enough surrealism for me without blowing up the test tubes.

The review that got me started on "Under The Skin" is below if interested and I still think it really nails it.

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/under-the-skin-2014

She was hot in the movie, but the perpetual blank expression looked more like "please let me get out of this contract so I can be allowed to act" than "I'm proving I have no human emotions."

I do like David Lynch and other surrealists.  Even David Lynch is usually kind enough to answer 1 or 2 questions for every 4 or 5 new ones he raises, plus he tends to make interesting actions happen after the more bizarre interludes.  This looked to me more like a poor attempt at a Kubrik film, except with most of the dialog and action replaced by even more endless shots set to music.  Take 2001, cut the scene where Dr. Floyd explains about finding the monolith on the moon, cut most of the dialog leading up to HAL going homicidal, cut all of the dialog from HAL's deactivation, remove the video file Bowman finds after he finishes HAL off.  Call it 2001, Try to Figure Out What The Hell Is Going On.  It would still make more sense than Under The Skin.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cruisemonkey on March 03, 2015, 11:47:12 AM
Take 2001, cut the scene where Dr. Floyd explains about finding the monolith on the moon, cut most of the dialog leading up to HAL going homicidal, cut all of the dialog from HAL's deactivation, remove the video file Bowman finds after he finishes HAL off.  Call it 2001, Try to Figure Out What The Hell Is Going On.  It would still make more sense than Under The Skin.

Hell... China makes more sense than Under The Skin.  ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on March 03, 2015, 12:33:31 PM
EL, you have been very quiet about "Fifty Shades of Grey." Have you seen it yet?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on March 03, 2015, 01:47:54 PM
Hell... China makes more sense than Under The Skin.  ahahahahah

LMFAO!!!!

EL, you have been very quiet about "Fifty Shades of Grey." Have you seen it yet?

It's on my list. afafafafaf

Now that school has started up again, it may be time to visit the more entertaining shelves my lovely video pirates keep stocked for me.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 07, 2015, 03:28:18 PM
Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)

Epic in scope and scene, surprisingly thin in mythos. People don't pray much, Moses might as well be schizophrenic, and awe inspiring nature doesn't inspire fear of god. Some anachronistic turns of speech too. You might wonder if there's not some subtext with all these many modern yankies (and one Australian) in a bible story. However, the epicity is epic, and pretty to watch.

 :respect: :respect:
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on March 12, 2015, 12:59:56 PM
"Unfinished Business" starring Vince Vaughn also Tom Wilkinson and Dave Franco. A hard working small business owner and his two associates travel to Europe to close the most important business deal of their lives. Of course, this trip goes off the rails in every imaginable and unimaginable way. This included unplanned stops at a massive sex fetish event and a global economic summit. To be honest, the two "associates" would never work for me. I really mention this movie because I was a bit surprised by some of the vulgar content. No! it didn't stop me, or a couple of other old ladies, laughing in several places. Makes me wonder, what will be shown in films, in 50 yrs time. mmmmmmmmmm
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 15, 2015, 01:55:35 PM
Buzzard (2014)

Like Office Space meets Clerks meets Naked. Like watching a man eat a twenty dollar plate of spaghetti.


 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 20, 2015, 02:50:22 PM
Monsters (2010)

Not a monster movie, more a meditative travel movie, but set in a world where six years ago a returning NASA probe crashed and introduced a monstrous alien animal species that adapted to Earth conditions and became destructively common. The monsters would be a pest species if they weren't so very, very big. The movie is extremely cool, though. It wanders through South America, just like the two leads do, and lingers on destruction and whether or not the breakdown is beautiful.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf


Monsters: Dark Continent (2014)

Not so much a sequel to Monsters as a development of the world. The original Monsters movie described a world where the initial hysteria of alien invasion had passed, and accommodation to the new species had begun. The monsters remain dangerous and destructive, but the world goes on. In Monsters, the "war" on the species has become institutionalised and has given rise to other conflicts, notably in less developed countries where people get bombed along with the monsters. The Monsters story follows several young men out of Detroit into the Army and over to an unnamed Arab country where an insurgency has grown up alongside the monsters to fight the American approach to monster hunting. This movie is in its way just as meditative as the first, but it's subject is "the violence of action" rather than the beauty of decay. If you can sit through the unfortunately misleading first twenty minutes (they spend too long setting up the main characters immaturity), then this movie is actually pretty cool.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on March 20, 2015, 04:58:56 PM
Monsters (2010)

Not a monster movie, more a meditative travel movie, but set in a world where six years ago a returning NASA probe crashed and introduced a monstrous alien animal species that adapted to Earth conditions and became destructively common. The monsters would be a pest species if they weren't so very, very big. The movie is extremely cool, though. It wanders through South America, just like the two leads do, and lingers on destruction and whether or not the breakdown is beautiful.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf


Monsters: Dark Continent (2014)

Not so much a sequel to Monsters as a development of the world. The original Monsters movie described a world where the initial hysteria of alien invasion had passed, and accommodation to the new species had begun. The monsters remain dangerous and destructive, but the world goes on. In Monsters, the "war" on the species has become institutionalised and has given rise to other conflicts, notably in less developed countries where people get bombed along with the monsters. The Monsters story follows several young men out of Detroit into the Army and over to an unnamed Arab country where an insurgency has grown up alongside the monsters to fight the American approach to monster hunting. This movie is in its way just as meditative as the first, but it's subject is "the violence of action" rather than the beauty of decay. If you can sit through the unfortunately misleading first twenty minutes (they spend too long setting up the main characters immaturity), then this movie is actually pretty cool.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf

Just watched these both in the last couple of days. Loved them and was surprised I'd never heard of them before.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on March 21, 2015, 02:05:28 AM
EL, you have been very quiet about "Fifty Shades of Grey." Have you seen it yet?

OK, watched it. 

Considering the subject matter, I had high hopes.  Sometimes it's so much better to go in with lower expectations.

Damn do I hope the novels are better.  After the movie, I'm less than enthusiastic about exploring the possibility.

SPOILER ALERT

Allow me to summarize:

Her:   Aaaahhh... *thud*
Him:  Girls who fall down in my office are sexy.  Think I'll be flirtatious.
Her:  He's cute.

Next scene

Him:  I'm interested in you.
Her:  I'm interested in you too.
Him:  Get away from me!!!

Next scene

Her:  I just called to say I'm drink and I hate you.
Him:  HERE I COME TO SAVE THE DAY!
Her:  aaaaaaaaaa
Him:  Girls who puke really turn me on.

Later:

Him:  I like dominating girls.  I want them to obey me in all things.
Her:  But I'm a virgin.
Him:  Since this is a special occasion, I'll waste 2 whole minutes of my precious time on foreplay before deviginizing you.
Both:  Ooh, ah, oh. (takes about 2 more minutes kkkkkkkkkk)
Her:  I think I love you.
Him:  Get away from me!!!

Later:

Her:  I thought you didn't want to see me.
Him:  I'm obviously deranged.  After all, I stole your car.
Her:  So you really really want to spank me hard?
Him:  Yes.
Her:  I WANT to know!  Do it!  DO IT NOW AS HARD AS YOU DARE!
Him: *smack*  *smack* *smack* *smack* *smack* *smack*
(if that's as hard as he dares, he'd be thrown out of the local B&D club)
Her:  You sick bastard!  How could you!  I hate you!  I'm never seeing you again! (unless there's a sequel)

So, what we have is:

A guy who has a very nice and expensive set of toys, wants a girl who wants to be owned and is totally devoted to his every whim, yet freaks out the moment she shows any hint of getting an emotional attachment.

A girl who obviously isn't into kinky games, yet keeps shifting between Yes and No - and then she finally asks for a firm spanking as hard as he's willing to give, yet goes into a mental meltdown over 6 smacks that won't leave her with even a trace of a red mark a few minutes later.

These two both need therapy.  He fails as a dom.  She fails as a sub.  They both fail at a normal relationship.  Both are so indecisive, it's surprising either can cross the street without a helpful boyscout as a guide.

As an intro to D&S/B&D/S&M, etc., it's a pale shadow of the true eroticism that some practitioners can reach.  It's also like an after school kids' special compared to the extreme levels some people can take things to.


As mentioned, I haven't read the books, so don't know if this lackluster attempt at a movie exceeds the novels or fails to live up to them.  I also don't know if this is only the first part of the story or the whole thing.  In any event, I'd have to be pretty bored or read a very encouraging review from someone I trusted (like Granny Mae ajajajajaj) before wasting time watching a sequel if there is one.  Yes, there were a few moderately erotic scenes, but not enough to make it worth wading through the all-encompassing perpetual state of confused indecision the main characters were kept in.


P.S.  If you want to see a glider flight as part of an extended seduction, it's done 1000 times better in the 1999 version of The Thomas Crown Affair.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on March 21, 2015, 12:50:21 PM
Thanks EL! bfbfbfbfbf I thought that it must have just been me, given the reviews "Fifty Shades of Grey" received here in Oz. I wish that I had your way with words and that I could type quickly; I think that you described the movie pretty well from my perspective anyway. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on March 21, 2015, 07:30:36 PM
Monsters (2010)

Not a monster movie, more a meditative travel movie, but set in a world where six years ago a returning NASA probe crashed and introduced a monstrous alien animal species that adapted to Earth conditions and became destructively common. The monsters would be a pest species if they weren't so very, very big. The movie is extremely cool, though. It wanders through South America, just like the two leads do, and lingers on destruction and whether or not the breakdown is beautiful.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf


Good flick. Makes you wonder why they were called monsters and if the humans were really more monstrous.  This had obvious implications to the U.S./Mexican border issue. Could have called it "Aliens" but that was taken and would be a bit too obvious.   Roger Ebert had given this movie a very positive review, but I somehow missed the movie entirely.  Thanks for the reference.  I am afraid to watch the 2014 sequel for being disappointed.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 21, 2015, 08:20:00 PM
Good flick. Makes you wonder why they were called monsters and if the humans were really more monstrous.  This had obvious implications to the U.S./Mexican border issue. Could have called it "Aliens" but that was taken and would be a bit too obvious.   Roger Ebert had given this movie a very positive review, but I somehow missed the movie entirely.  Thanks for the reference.  I am afraid to watch the 2014 sequel for being disappointed.

Give the sequel a shot. The people and what they're doing aren't the same but that same aesthetic and storytelling sense is there. Definitely a worthy continuation. That thing both movies have, where the alien invasion is over and the monsters are part of this world now, is really interesting, I think. I'm having a hard time picking out just what it is they've captured by going that route with the stories, but there is definitely some fruitful and compelling thing in there.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on March 21, 2015, 11:22:10 PM
Yes, the sequel is worth a look. A completely different story, they didn't try to re-do the first movie.

I only found the first one, because the sequel came up on a torrent list and looked interesting, so I thought I should watch the 2010 one first.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 21, 2015, 11:56:18 PM
^ same here.

Also I was intrigued when I saw the first one described as low budget. Wikipedia said:

Filming took place in five countries, and many locations were used without permission. Most of the extras were people who were at these locations during filming and were persuaded to act in it; all of their dialogue was improvised, and Edwards provided outlines of the primary plot points.

So I thought, this'll be different, it might have some cred, and it might be super-awful too, better take a look. I went in kind of expecting schlock and got astounded instead. You can see sometimes how they caught certain things on film and represented them as something else to make a story - sort of re-purposed tourism - which strains the suspension of disbelief a tiny bit, but then again the cinematic elements do work out strong enough.

Both of them should be watched in high def where possible. if only for the boat in the sunrise on the river.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on March 22, 2015, 12:13:20 AM
Gotta give this guy some credit for huevos.  IMDB says he made it for only $800,000.  Also:

"Gareth Edwards created all the films visual effects himself using only his home computer and store bought visual effects programs."

"The film was shot opportunistically, with little to no outline of scenes and their direction. The two actors were given a general outline of scenes and simply interacted with one another and the other cast members, all whom are not actors."

"In the scene when the guerrilla fighter is retelling his experience with one of the monsters and explains how it was over 100m tall, he is actually talking about an encounter a relative had with a UFO."



Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 28, 2015, 06:40:24 PM
Paddington (2014)

I watched it. I kind of wish I hadn't. This movie is effectively charming but I wasn't charmed. There was two or three instance of gross-out humour not needed for the movie but tacked on anyway. Visual elements of the fantastic where included too, and that was pretty okay. It's hard to take the charm out of visual effects. All in all, perhaps since I have never read the Paddington Bear stories nor had them read to me, the only thing I recognised in the story was how creepy the bear is - a well-spoken and polite bear that sounds like a man wants to play with your children and live in your house?  Sure, okay. Why not?

I also didn't like the Lego Movie. Sue me.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cruisemonkey on March 29, 2015, 01:56:06 PM
I haven't seen The Lego Movie because I watched two minutes of it and stopped. It sucked... big time! My students didn't want to see it either.
 kkkkkkkkkk
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on April 05, 2015, 03:20:47 PM
Pompeii - 2014

The one good part - Kiefer Southerland is slowly turning into William Shatner. ahahahahah

I could tell by the cover that this was going to be Titanic, except with a volcano.  I had no idea just how accurate that first impression would turn out to be.

Girl skips chance to marry up in order to hook up with studly rogue far below her social station and then disaster strikes and lots of people are killed by excessive special effects (volcanologists and Roman historians - please don't watch this - it will cause you to suffer great mental anguish).  I kept expecting her to call him Jack.

One small change from the Titanic ending best summarized in song:

Oats, hay
It's we who must stay
We must die
So my horse can go on and on

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cruisemonkey on April 05, 2015, 04:04:51 PM
I think Pompeii may find a sort of immortality and become required viewing in university film schools... as the quintessential example of how not to make a movie.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on April 10, 2015, 10:54:37 PM
The Voices (2014)

Ryan Reynolds is a cheerful, disturbed young man who's daily life is mediated by a layer of hallucination, including the friendly voice of his dog and the needling voice of his cat. Then he starts killing people.

A little hard to take the measure of this movie. Possibly we are seeing a swing away from serial killer as cool to serial killer as miserable, and Ryan Reynolds is the one to show us the way. I think we can draw a line between this movie and Other-Ryan's movie, Only God Forgives. This one wouldn't have been made if that one hadn't been. In summary, I don't know what was going on.


 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf kkkkkkkkkk
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on April 11, 2015, 04:27:20 PM
Let Us Prey (2014)

A mysterious stranger, and Rachel, a rookie cop, provoke extreme reactions among the overnighters at a remote police station in Scotland. Some hell brakes loose.

The central conceit, which doesn't really become apparent until the end, doesn't work. The rest of the movie does though. The misfits  knock each other around convincingly, and there's blood and guts and anger aplenty.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on April 11, 2015, 09:43:59 PM
"Going Clear"

A new documentary about The Church of Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard. I know it seems like all the craziest shit in the world occurs in the U.S., but even by those standards, this film shocked and surprised me. Extensive footage of John Travolta and Tom Cruise as well as other long time, high ranking members of this "church". It's hard to conceive of how gullible and obedient otherwise reasonable people can be. And I didn't know the lengths of vindictiveness that this organization would and will go to in order to keep their members in line and punish those who have left. Of size and complexity of the organization is surpassed only by the size and scope of the founder's insane visions and prophecies. If it was a drama instead of a documentary, it wouldn't be believable.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: mlaeux on April 12, 2015, 12:10:30 PM
Quote
"Going Clear"

A new documentary about The Church of Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard. I know it seems like all the craziest shit in the world occurs in the U.S., but even by those standards, this film shocked and surprised me. Extensive footage of John Travolta and Tom Cruise as well as other long time, high ranking members of this "church". It's hard to conceive of how gullible and obedient otherwise reasonable people can be. And I didn't know the lengths of vindictiveness that this organization would and will go to in order to keep their members in line and punish those who have left. Of size and complexity of the organization is surpassed only by the size and scope of the founder's insane visions and prophecies. If it was a drama instead of a documentary, it wouldn't be believable.

Thank you for the heads up A-Train. "Going Clear" was one of the better documentaries that I've seen on Scientology thus far. It hits close to home for me. During the 80s, I watched sleepy little Clearwater, FL turn into International Scientology HQ complete with white shirt clad security goons standing on every corner downtown. Fortunately, I had enough sense not to sucked into the cult. I stood firm on my principals, as I believed that if Scientology was a real religion then the auditing and course work would be free or at least offered on a donation basis. I lived there during the struggle between law enforcement and big Scientology money. As it stands, Scientology won. They own downtown Clearwater now.  cccccccccc

Clambaked is an awesome resource if you care to peruse it's archives, you can find additional documentaries, articles and documents exposing Scientology. http://www.xenu.net
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on April 12, 2015, 01:50:30 PM
Spring (2015)

Everything falls apart for a pleasant young man in California so he splits and on a whim winds up backpacking in Italy, where he meets Louise. Genuinely charming horror romance ensues.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on April 25, 2015, 01:24:12 PM
Jupiter Ascending (2015)

Ridiculous. Bloated. Overblown. And all the more so for the overly dramatic score and the just plain wrong aesthetic sense used to makeup the hero. Which is bizarre given that everything else about the visuals is stunning. Must watch in HD on a huge screen. The premise is interesting though.

 ababababab awawawawaw
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on April 26, 2015, 02:51:54 PM
The Blair Witch Project (1999)

First time to watch this. I WASN"T SCARED AT ALL. I did sit back from the screen a few times when I absolutely knew they were going to throw something out of the shadows.... and then they didn't. Really though, although it does grind on a bit in the third quarter, the development of the drama was great. Managing somehow to make those arseholes relatable...

(http://ts2.mm.bing.net/th?id=JN.M7Bi8YoxMfvqbqTS%2b4OG%2fQ&pid=15.1)(http://ts2.mm.bing.net/th?id=JN.M7Bi8YoxMfvqbqTS%2b4OG%2fQ&pid=15.1)(http://ts2.mm.bing.net/th?id=JN.M7Bi8YoxMfvqbqTS%2b4OG%2fQ&pid=15.1)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on April 26, 2015, 03:47:26 PM
I remember when I watched that...halfway through I longed for a witch to come out and kill them all the movie to end and the remainder of the time be taken up by Looney Tunes shorts...Blair Witch Project is, to me, one of the crappiest and least scary movies ever made. A movie entitled "The Manic Edible-rainbow Pooing Unicorn and Her Friends from Funville Goes to the Circus" would be scarier.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on April 27, 2015, 06:34:25 PM
The Last Horror Movie (2003)

A "found footage" movie of a serial killer documenting his activities. Kind of dumb, really. Not very horrifying. (Mostly because the victims seem not to be scared for their lives.) The switcheroo near the end though takes the movie to another level. (And it almost stays there.)

 rrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrr
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on April 28, 2015, 03:10:59 AM
Wish I had seen it before all the buzz raised expectations to an impossible level. Probably wouldn't have liked it anyway.  Similar hype right now for the movie "It Follows". The premise sounds great but all the talk is starting to scare me off.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on April 28, 2015, 03:39:35 AM
Which one, Blair Witch or Last Horror? The Blair Witch Project is worth watching. It is genuinely good as drama. The Last Horror Movie is - well, it's worth it for the sake of completeness, and the switcheroo is pretty good, but it's not a good movie.

As for It Follows, I too have been wondering about the hype. Possibly will take a look after I've finished my "found footage"-athon.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on April 29, 2015, 02:33:48 PM
[REC] (2007)

Spanish found footage: filming one night at a firehouse, a cameraman and the host of a tv documentary show, "While You Were Sleeping", go with their assigned firemen on a call out to rescue a woman trapped in her apartment. Little do they know she is infected.

As a horror movie, it's very shouty. And includes a lot of "shaky cam", which doesn't seem entirely right for a professional tv cameraman. But it is scary at the end.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf


Credits tune: Carlos Ann - Vudu (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCU1kLwbtm0)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 01, 2015, 02:23:44 PM
Paranormal Activity (2009)

A couple bring a video camera into their new home in an attempt to document what is haunting them. The haunting gets worse. This movie is tense nearly from the beginning. The drama is there, but so is the anxiety and then the fears. Scary movie.

 apapapapap apapapapap aoaoaoaoao
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on May 02, 2015, 01:10:39 PM
"THE LONGEST RIDE": A star-crossed love affair between Luke(Clint Eastwood's son) a former champion bull rider looking to make a comeback and Sophia, a college student about to embark upon her dream job in New York City's art world. As conflicting paths and ideals test their relationship, they make an unexpected and fateful connection with Ira (Alan Alda from MASH). I guess I liked this movie because I understand bull riders and their usual country lifestyles. I also watch MASH on TV every night, even though the episodes must be well over 30 yrs old. It was strange to see how Alan Alda aged. I'd never given any thought to how old these episodes were; I just enjoy them. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: A-Train on May 03, 2015, 06:07:25 AM
I also watch MASH on TV every night, even though the episodes must be well over 30 yrs old. It was strange to see how Alan Alda aged. I'd never given any thought to how old these episodes were; I just enjoy them. bfbfbfbfbf

You might have Netflix. I've also been watching the first couple seasons of M*A*S*H.  The quality and quantity of gags and one-liners might be unmatched in TV history. Those first two or three seasons don't get the true credit they deserve. And 24 episodes per season???  I'm with you on the time line shock. To think it's been 43 years since it premiered and it was only 20 years from the Korean War to that premier.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 03, 2015, 02:19:57 PM
Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)

Fairly run-of-the-mill throwback comedy/drama to the days of James Bond before Daniel Craig, yet elevated into something else by the church scene, the implant scene, and I was hoping for a third but it turned out to be a do it in the arsehole joke. Otherwise, not entirely a bad movie. Worth watching if you have nothing else to do.

 bfbfbfbfbf cccccccccc

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 05, 2015, 05:20:34 PM
Afflicted (2013)

Imperfect but thoroughly awesome "found footage" take on being "turned" in an age of uploaded video and travel blogging.

Being "turned" in this case means being infected by whatever it is that makes a vampire. The actual turning concentrates on the physical changes - strength, speed, need. The inability to die. So, these are monster vampires, not Tom Cruise-style seducers. Thank goodness for that. And the movie is great.


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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 10, 2015, 03:27:34 PM
Infini (2015)

Bit of a jaw-dropper, this. The standard scifi tropes are there: faraway mining planet, stranded search and rescue mission, weird time dilation. So there's lots of running around in claustrophobic industrial settings with jets of steam venting into corridors. But... the whole movie is a fantastically novel take on the meaning of survival instinct in personal identity, and it incorporates story elements of "the enemy within" that lift this film into something else. (Watch out for the violence, though - there's a lot of it.)


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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on May 11, 2015, 05:10:04 AM
Maggie (2015)

A different kind of Zombie movie. It's a drama with Arnold Schwarzenegger as a father in rural Kansas who's daughter Maggie is slowly turning into a zombie. It's not focused on survival or cures or origin stories, but on how Maggie and her father (and those around them) feel and cope with the situation.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 17, 2015, 07:33:41 PM
Chappie (2015)

Zef style sci fi. Totally gangsta.

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/odv_jyyCW-4/
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 01, 2015, 06:48:11 PM
Pitch Perfect (2012)

Cheerful. Funny. Delightful. A women's a capella singing team in competition in college.

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Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)

Feels like a rush job, to capitalise on what a hit the first movie became. Thus, it has a few moments, but overall not as much fun.

 bfbfbfbfbf


We Came To Smash (http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XOTIxNTIxODE2.html?from=s1.8-1-1.2)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on June 03, 2015, 12:21:46 PM
"San Andreas"; Starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.  He plays the part of a rescue helicopter pilot for the Los Angeles fire department. He is in the air, when the mother of all earth quakes hits California. He sets out to rescue both his estranged wife and teenage daughter.  As a matter of interest, the massive chasm is actually a scene from the Lockyer Valley- 90km west of Brisbane, and is passed off as rural California. Parts of Brisbane City, the Gold Coast and the Lockyer Valley were turned into disaster zones. Some scenes portraying the streets of San Francisco were filmed in Brisbane's Central business district (as Granny Mae was at the "den" playing the pokies). No, I didn't even notice that I was being flooded and shaken! ahahahahah  To be quite honest, I wondered why "the rock" would play the lead in this film, because even I wouldn't want a part in it. Perhaps it is just me, but I found a lot of it quite laughable  and improbable when I think it was supposed to be serious; I was the only one laughing in the theatre. bibibibibi If you see it Calech, I'd love to know your opinion of it. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Phillis on June 03, 2015, 07:40:01 PM
Bend It Like Beckham

 aaaaaaaaaa

Even Beckham refused to be in it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 06, 2015, 03:26:41 AM
It Follows (2014)

As horror, a total snore-fest. The movie isn't really horror at all. Watch it as psychodrama, and it becomes a movie.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 09, 2015, 02:12:15 AM
Bande de filles (Girlhood) (2014)

Slow-moving, fantastical, and probably not social realism it appears to be. Nonetheless...

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Reading some other reviews, it turns out there's a lot political to say about this movie. I don't know how to address that.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 12, 2015, 02:32:23 AM
Jurassic World

Box office three days ago was in the vicinity of 850 million USD. Everyone - producers, director, actors, viewers, ticket buyers - you should all go sit in a corner and think about what you've done.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cruisemonkey on July 12, 2015, 12:54:15 PM
Spring (2014)

A romance with a twist (I won't spoil it). Entertaining and, I thought, well done - you just have to suspend your disbelief. 

EDIT: ... or should that be "done well"??? Is it a movie or a steak?...  ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on July 13, 2015, 01:21:40 PM
"MAGIC MIKE XXL"  This is the continuing story of Magic Mike, the male stripper.  The ladies may get something out of this even if it is only eye candy. afafafafaf To be honest, I found it too slow.

"TED 2": Being about a Teddy Bear in a relationship with a human, I wondered if writers had run out of ideas. Even though it was rated MA15, I saw a few kids in the theatre  who probably slipped under the radar. To be honest, I just found it unnecessarily crude and I'm VERY broadminded.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 13, 2015, 09:41:42 PM
Spy (2015)

Melissa McCarthy is a deskbound analyst/handler for CIA agent Bradley Fine. Overweight, underappreciated, and strung along, she is thrust unprepared into the field when Bradley bites the big one and no one else is left. She has to retrieve a missing suitcase nuke before it falls into terrorist hands!!!

Neat movie. Turns some tropes around for fun and is an enjoyable ride. A much more entertaining take on spy glam, imho, than the recent Kingsman.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 15, 2015, 03:59:02 AM
Dragon Blade (2015)

So it turns out, foreigners in Chinese media aren't turgid lumps of wood because they have no acting chops. China alone does it to them. Witness for instance John Cusack in this bizarre historical fantasy. By Beijing opera standards he and a large collection of no-names probably did adequately. In foreign terms, really only Adrien Brody did any better than a cardboard cutout might have. I can't really judge the local talent. Jackie Chan did okay.

But the big winner by the end, towering over all, was the bloodthirsty new Rome subtext. If this movie is to be believed, and perhaps it should be, then we are all going to die. In a fire. And by sword. Killed by the new centurions. For they are making us into friends, one death blow at a time.

 bqbqbqbqbq
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on July 18, 2015, 03:50:22 PM
I Watched this piece of cinematic fecal matter and was laughing all through it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 19, 2015, 02:07:10 AM
Hollywood Adventures (横冲直撞好莱坞) (2015)

A Chinese language movie in Los Angeles, starring Zhao Wei, Huang Xiaoming and Tong Dawei, and really fun, with lots of rollicking, nearly absurdist adventures, and good laughs. And juuuuust enough substance to be not highbrow at all but certainly entertaining. A middle-of-the-road farce. So, a Chinese cast with American writing? I wonder how it'll do in China. In any case, my crush on Zhao Wei is rekindled.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 20, 2015, 12:33:04 AM
Dude Bro Party Massacre III (2015)

The highlight for me was the montage of dog dicks. Really. Then there was the six minutes of credit roll listing, by name, every Kickstarter donor. They made this movie possible, and now we know their names. Now, I like cheesy 80s movies. I watched The Black Hole just recently goddammit! But Dude Bro Party Massacre III has left me unsure of myself and my choices in life.


/sizzler
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 22, 2015, 02:36:35 AM
Murderer (Saat yan faan) (2009)

I saw a review of this that said "a rollercoaster ride filled with entirely inappropriate emotions". This is true. For best enjoyment, don't look for spoilers. Do note, the first few minutes are gory. After that, for about an hour, this is a fairly accomplished, genuinely intense HK police thriller whodunnit. And then something very unusual happens. Something. Very. Unusual.

bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf  aiaiaiaiai
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 07, 2015, 04:14:45 PM
Gunhed (1989)

One of Alan Smithee's finest efforts, which could actually have been a good movie, if only they had not jumbled it so much. They could have ditched the vast stretches of scale model nonsense and just left cigar smoking Texas Air Ranger Brenda Bakke onscreen.

(http://dilemma.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/11/13/photo_2.jpg)

Hey Brooklyn. Good luck. if I don't see you again, it's been swell.

/cult crushes
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 09, 2015, 01:48:04 AM
Terminator Genisys (2015)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo.......


That was not Sarah Connor, and that was not Kyle Reese.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on September 06, 2015, 01:27:25 PM
"HOLDING THE MAN":  Timothy Conigrave's 1994 memoir is an Australian literary classic. The story of Conigrave's relationship with John Caleo, after they met as students in College in Melbourne in 1976, is a story with wide appeal. It is full of humour and humanity, with an honest approach to sex. I spoke to some male friends of mine who also go to see lots of movies and one asked if there was any kissing in it. When I said that there was, plus naked bodies etc, the guys indicated that they were not interested. I tried to persuade them about the really great acting which really impressed me. I'm sorry that they probably won't see a great movie based on a true story. bibibibibi
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on September 07, 2015, 03:46:06 PM
Terminator Genisys (2015)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo.......


That was not Sarah Connor, and that was not Kyle Reese.

It's hard to get people who can fully match the original actors.

I did appreciate the wide array of twists from the expected.


SPOILER ALERT!  Stop reading now if you hate spoilers.


Arnold vs. Arnold - HELL YEAH!!! agagagagag  If only that fight scene could have gone on longer.  Let's wait for the director's cut and see.

What?  No T-X model Terminator? mmmmmmmmmm

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on September 08, 2015, 03:52:46 PM
I want to see The Equalizer go after John Wick.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 08, 2015, 07:37:01 PM

It's hard to get people who can fully match the original actors.

I don't think they even partly matched. Sarah Connor learns about the future and gets chubby? Kyle Reese gets thrown a curve ball and turns all lackadaisical? Pffft.

That wasn't John Connor either. I could see the floppy nancy kid from Terminator 2 growing up to be Christian Bale, but this other dude?


Terminator Genisys takes place in a telemovie universe, and shall not be consider canon.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cruisemonkey on September 10, 2015, 11:11:08 AM
I haven't seen it yet. Should I delete Terminator Genisys and 'free up' some space on my hard drive?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 10, 2015, 02:00:46 PM
I have wondered sometimes what must go wrong with a given movie for me to recommend someone else not watch it. But I don't think I can express movie critiques that way. One must see with their own eyes. Terminator Genisys, which I watched and rolled my eyes at again last night, is an entry in the franchise. Not a satisfying one, in my opinion, but one must see with their own eyes...

(http://www.themarysue.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/EmiliaTerminator-copy.jpg)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 10, 2015, 05:06:28 PM
For a franchise entry that recasts the main character yet retains and even rejuvenates the original aesthetic, spirit, and story, and is a decent movie besides, then with one's own eyes:

(http://mondocine.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Mad_Max_Fury_Road_4.jpg)

(http://tamilgun.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/mad-max-fury-road.jpg)

http://i2.wp.com/bitcast-a-sm.bitgravity.com/slashfilm/wp/wp-content/images/Mad-Max-Fury-Road.jpeg

Mad Max: Fury Road.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on September 11, 2015, 04:13:05 AM
I'm not sure that Mad Max the main character in Mad Max: Fury Road
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 11, 2015, 06:29:16 PM
He does the voiceover.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 15, 2015, 03:14:10 AM
Monster Hunt (2015)

Don't really know how to rate this. Imagine the Teletubbies do martial arts. Include possibly no subtext at all. Reference, in a scattergun fashion, many modern actual texts - nosebleeds for attraction, woman as tiger wife, weird shit about marriage pressure. And make it very pretty with really quite subtle wire work and various magical fantasy elements. Ladle on the charm. And that's about it.

Not bad, really. A bit weird underneath the charm. But probably okay.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 15, 2015, 06:00:30 PM
One thing about Monster Hunt is it's almost certainly the first of two, possibly three movies. I suppose this is a spoiler of sorts, but while the movie does, mostly, stand on its own as the semi-martial arts, semi-homestead story of two likeable youngish people and their weird baby, there are a collection of smaller elements that are highlighted but not concluded within the frame of this one movie. These smaller elements appear to indicate a larger story yet to be told. Also, some of the complexity of the Monster Hunt Bureau storyline don't really make sense unless you watch the movie twice.

And, Bai Baihe is attractive.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 17, 2015, 01:30:47 PM
Jian Bing Man (2015)

Not really the superhero parody film everyone's been calling it. More like a star vehicle/Beijing movie making satire. Which is interesting for the elements of the Beijing "Hollywood" life it appears to offer up. I wondered too if whole minutes long, fairly nonsensical scenes (such as the whole which superhero are you scene with the four guys in superhero costumes playing mahjong) made more sense to a Chinese audience than to me. Perhaps to a specialist audience who knows Beijing movie-making. Anyway, the movie starts out fairly tiresome but develops some heart by the end.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 19, 2015, 06:23:26 PM
Anti-Social (2015)

Brit gangster family fantasy masquerading, fairly successfully, as 'ard, with odd dual storylines of a motorcycle gang smashing n grabbing, and a kid growing up n selling out graffiti style.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 25, 2015, 02:45:36 PM
Tomorrowland (2015)

Very Disney, with a weirdly non-specific core message, which, in a meta-sense, suits the text well. It's not explained entirely in-film, but the movie concept seems to have been what if Disneyland had a Tomorrowland that actually was our ideal and real future, and then something goes wrong with the ride. What the movie could have been is not entirely realised, which is a pity, and what's left is a bit jarring in places, but it's not too bad. With the benefit of doubt, it's entertaining enough.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on September 25, 2015, 08:01:53 PM
One HUGE flaw in Tomorrowland:

It's a Small World cannot under any circumstances lead to anything good.  It's always a one-way ticket to agonizing death and despair.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 09, 2015, 07:01:52 PM
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015)

Not entirely a fan of the resolution, but the movie itself is a superior entrant in the mature teenager meets challenges category.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 17, 2015, 02:36:41 PM
Go Away Mr Tumor - 滚蛋吧!肿瘤君 - (2015)

While this movie does work as a study of a particular kind of character (the ENFJ), the central contrivance is juvenile as all hell and the first hour is overburdened with puffery that is pretty to watch but which barely if at all contributes to the storytelling. Throughout, Bai Baihe does have some tremendously white teeth, and that can sometimes be reason enough.

This film beat out Monster Hunt for best opening weekend and replaced Wolf Totem as China's submissions for best Foreign Language film at the Academy Awards.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 19, 2015, 02:59:58 PM
Beasts of No Nation (2015)

Civil war breaks out in an unnamed African country. During fighting in an around their village, a family is separated. The mother is sent with the daughter to the capital. The father and oldest son in an ill-conceived effort to stay and defend their land are massacred by government troops. The youngest son, a boy, escapes to the bush. There he encounters and is saved by The Commandant, the leader of military-aligned rebels.

I really didn't want to give this one a bad review. YMMV but I unfortunately wasn't able to buy Idris Elba as a high-functioning sociopath. The character had the right moves at the beginning, but grew less rather than more extreme as the movie moved forward. He had Idris' real human charisma rather than a psychopath's overwhelming charisma. I couldn't see why anyone would follow him. I found this to overshadow the boy's story, which is extremely well rendered by the kid actor, Abraham Attah. If you can ignore Idris and watch the kid, the movie is fantastic.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 27, 2015, 02:53:21 AM
Bone Tomahawk (2015)

75% Western, 25% Cannibal Holocaust. Which is an odd mix. But aside from opening with a throat cutting scene, the first act is not only damn slow, it's sparse. Then at the end the flabby third act is fundamentally ridiculous. It's the second act that *almost* makes this movie worth something. "Four doomed men ride out." This is the resolutely Western part of the movie, and an intensely character-driven sequence it is, almost like a stage play. But then they find the "troglodytes" and the movie is unmoored. Still...

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Warning: includes semi-realistic horror violence.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cruisemonkey on November 03, 2015, 12:22:45 AM
Youth (2015)

To appreciate this Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel  snore-fest, it helps to be senile.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on November 18, 2015, 01:03:48 AM
The Nightingale (2013)

Also known as Le Promeneur d'Oiseau and Ye Ying, a French-Chinese co-production, and I couldn't find any subtitles so I watched it without. The story is straightforward enough that this worked fine, although I didn't learn what had caused the estrangement between the father and the grandfather, nor what had happened with the grandmother, though it was easy enough to guess. Nor do I know what story the grandfather told the granddaughter, but I have the impression he lied. Meanwhile, the movie, the performances, and the story are all charming (with a dash of spite here and there to keep it from slipping into the saccharine). The landscapes are glorious. And there are one or two forced moments, but they are easily overlooked. Recommended.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on November 19, 2015, 12:44:13 PM
"THE DRESSMAKER":  A glamorous woman returns to her SMALL town in rural Australia. With her sewing machine and haute couture style, she transforms the women and exacts sweet revenge on those who did her wrong. This movie is getting a good response in Oz, but to be honest, I was not overly impressed. I've been in many small towns and have experienced small town gossip etc and perhaps that has a lot to do with my response, or lack of it, to this movie. Have you seen it yet Calach? 

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on November 19, 2015, 07:31:23 PM
Not yet. I like Australian movies, of course, but there's a limit to how much laconic charm one can watch in any given calendar year. The best Australian thing I've seen in recent-ish times has been Wentworth, the tv series with Ephiny from Xena in prison.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cruisemonkey on November 27, 2015, 10:29:10 AM
Love (2015)

I didn't know if I was watching a boring porn flick with good acting, or a boring 'art' flick with bad acting.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on December 03, 2015, 12:57:46 PM
"By The Sea": Written, directed and produced by Angelina Jolie Pitt and also stars Angelina and her husband Brad Pitt.  To be very honest, I was ready to walk out of the theatre after about 30mins. There was a lot of sexual reference in this, but I found a lot of this boring. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but I would be really interested in other opinions. I am told that it didn't get very good reviews here. Perhaps we Aussies are looking for a little bit more "action". afafafafaf uuuuuuuuuu ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Just Like Mr Benn on December 03, 2015, 04:36:12 PM
Star Leaf (2015)

So, imagine that you're a film producer and somebody has come to you with their one sentence pitch for a movie.

"Hikers find a secret grove of extra-terrestrial marijuana and must fight for their lives when they anger the other-worldly forces protecting the plants".

Oh, and the tag line is 'Some highs are out of this world'.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cruisemonkey on December 04, 2015, 12:53:25 AM
Could Star Leaf be the worst movie ever made?   ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 05, 2015, 07:11:42 PM
Baahubali: the Beginning (2015)

So many things wrong, one or two things right. First, it may just be me but all the dubbed versions are ridiculous. Watch with the original Tamil audio. (And note the English subtitles that work perfectly with the Hindi dubs swing wildly and widely in and out of sync underneath the same movie with Tamil audio. That's a head scratcher but whatevs.)

Second, the first hour of this movie is just asinine. The dopey hero seduces a capable, driven, and murderous young woman by turning her into a lipstick wearing airhead who then goes right ahead and gives up her lifelong quest to free her 25-year-imprisoned queen because the dopey hero says he'll take over now that he's done a sex on her. He goes to the city and starts beating people up. And frees the queen.

Third, after that first hour, the dopey hero is less dopey and asks who he is, really. The movie, to tell us and him his story, jumps back a generation.... and stays there for the next one and half hours! That one and half hours is by itself pretty decent entertainment. There's palace intrigue, singing and dancing, an invasion by hordes of African caricatures, and a monumental battle of which Xena would be proud.

Then boom, this two-and-a-freakin-half hour journey turns into a part one. Part two, presumably Baahubali: the Ending, comes out sometime next year. Meanwhile, there was lots of colour and movement. It was okay.


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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 13, 2015, 08:00:26 PM
Dope (2015)

Is dope.

 ababababab ababababab ababababab


Go Head - Awreeoh (http://music.163.com/#/song?id=35345656)

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: TrevorTheTee on December 16, 2015, 12:21:40 PM
Love (2015)

I didn't know if I was watching a boring porn flick with good acting, or a boring 'art' flick with bad acting.

Easy answer: If the soundtrack has violins, it is a bad art flick. If you hear synthesized "chick-a chick-a bow wow", you are watching porn.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 21, 2015, 07:36:41 PM
Sicario (2015)

A woman from Arizona SWAT is picked up to join a task force comprising CIA operatives and DELTAs just back from Afghanistan designed to respond to almost apocalyptic levels of cross-border cartel violence. Very action. Strangely flat ending. Probably still worth it.


 ababababab ababababab
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cruisemonkey on December 29, 2015, 02:29:11 AM
Spectre (2015)

This latest James Bond film has it all the standard 'stuff': exotic locations, beautiful women, Aston Martins, gizmos and an evil megalomaniac 'badie'.

However, it requires more than the usual suspension of disbelief during a scene in the Austrian Alps -
While chasing three vehicles down a snow-covered mountain road in a plane, James crashes... and the fuselage with wing stumps (engines attached) slides down the mountain... but he still manages to use it to run down and stop the three fleeing SUVs... after he 'powers' it through a chalet/barn. Bad flying, good driving!  ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on December 29, 2015, 04:07:23 AM
Loved Sicario and I had no issues with the ending.

Spotlight is an amazing movie. A really difficult story to tell and they nailed it.

I also enjoyed In The Heart of The Sea. Moby Dick but not Moby Dick at all.

Concussion was good but it did seem to be afraid of the NFL in it's telling. The Insider was harder on the tobacco companies than this film was on the NFL. I find that very, very interesting.

Spectre was pretty but crappy. It reminded me of the second one with the newest Bond; Quantum of something or another, when there was a writers strike and they didn't really have a script.

Sicario is my favourite movie this year with Mad Max: Fury Road close behind, but I think Spotlight is the best movie I've seen in years.

Downloaded and waiting to be watched:

The Hateful Eight
Revenant
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 29, 2015, 06:07:19 PM
Sicario. The Princess Bride. You be the judge.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cruisemonkey on December 31, 2015, 07:36:40 PM
The Revenant (2015)

This is the entire plot -
A fur trapper/guide in the late 1600s is badly mauled by a bear. He spends the movie crawling through the bush to hunt down the man who killed his son and abandoned him to die.


Actually, the plot is deeper than that. Unfortunately, Hollywood gives not a crap about plot, rounded characters, good dialogue or any kind of tool used to create and maintain a good narrative. The book it is based is terrific. And it is set in the early 19th Century. The main character, Hugo Glass, was actually a real person and the novel is a dramatized account of his life. I found the movie cinematographically splendid but lacking in narrative depth. There are a few flashbacks which aims to inform us of Glass's past but they are merely confusing.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on January 21, 2016, 12:07:38 PM
I found "The Revenant" pretty tedious. Whilst Leonardo DiCaprio received awards for his acting, I must confess to getting a bit bored just watching him. I'd be interested in your opinion Calech, if you've seen it yet.

"THE BIG SHORT". :  Four outsiders in the world of high finance, who predicted the credit and housing bubble collapse of the mid 2000's, decide to take on the big banks for their lack of foresight and for their greed. An interesting topic, but I found that I had to really concentrate on the story and even then I'm not sure that I got it right. I'd love to have asked the other patrons to give me a run down on what they thought they understood. ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Nolefan on January 21, 2016, 08:14:18 PM
planning to watch that one tonight.. so please, not too many spoilers!

one that impressed me so far was Creed... the next chapter in the Rocky story! really well done and directed! sure, as predictable as can be but really nicely done.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 21, 2016, 01:54:40 PM
How I Live Now (2012)

The source book is, perhaps unfortunately, a superior YA-meets-WWIII novel. The film, though not bad in its own right, relative to Meg Rosoff's novel is grossly, arse-toundingly disappointing. Aside from hollowing out several significant characters and making Daisy a type A teenager the whole way through, they made everyone call Edmond Eddie. Lord that did grate.

Not a bad movie, but thumbs down anyway.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 27, 2016, 07:44:58 PM
Deadpool (2016)

Funny in places ("you know what to do"), and surprisingly perhaps actually underdoes the fight scene cgi. The supposed breaking of the fourth wall is a bit twee too, and used without purpose. The character might well have been genuinely subversive in the comics, but in the movie he's entirely yoked to the current standards of comic book movie making. (And from the perspective of ancient movie making, quite overshadowed by characters like Tyler Durden.) He does get off some good lines though and the movie's fun.

 dddddddddd dddddddddd
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on March 28, 2016, 02:06:45 PM
"GRIMSBY" with a cast of Sacha Baron Cohen, Mark Strong and Rebel Wilson, went a bit far I think.  I must confess that I did laugh when everyone else was quiet, but that is because I see humor when others don't, or perhaps they were in shock! uuuuuuuuuu It only got 2 stars here. I mention this film because I wondered if anyone else had seen it?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on April 07, 2016, 12:05:33 PM
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice.  When some begin to fear Superman, Gotham City's vigilante, Batman decides to take on the superhero. The infighting leaves the world exposed to a new threat that puts mankind in greater danger than anyone could have possibly imagined. If you like this type of movie, the visual effects are pretty good.

EYE IN THE SKY Complications arise when a Lieutenant General (Alan Rickman) and a Colonel (Helen Mirren) order a drone missile strike to take out a group of terrorists in Nairobi, Kenya. I don't want to spoil things, but there is a child involved.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Stil on April 08, 2016, 09:09:30 AM
Alan Rickman knocks up Helen Mirren?

Hmmm, that might be worth watching.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on April 08, 2016, 12:37:45 PM
Stil, it sure would be! afafafafaf ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on April 17, 2016, 04:48:56 PM
Mr. Six - 老炮儿 - (2015)

Old school local gangster comes up against super rich fuerdai when his estranged, unconnected son incurs a debt. Spoilers: this is a film that starts as one thing and ends as another. Somehow, by the end, the gangsters are laobaixing and the fuerdai are cured. Nonetheless, great character flick.

 ababababab ababababab
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on April 18, 2016, 12:34:25 PM
The Jungle Book...I rather liked it. Must admit, it was Bill Murray as Baloo that rather lifted the movie for me.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Arnold J. Rimmer on April 18, 2016, 07:16:51 PM
The Jungle Book...I rather liked it. Must admit, it was Bill Murray as Baloo that rather lifted the movie for me.

I liked it too. My only complaint is that the songs were too short (though a full version of my favourite song is played at the end, so not too bad  bfbfbfbfbf)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on April 23, 2016, 11:24:04 AM
"EDDIE THE EAGLE" The story of Britain's first ski jumper to enter the Winter Olympics. Because it is based on a true story, I liked it. Hugh Jackman's part was certainly unusual for him! bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: old34 on April 26, 2016, 06:42:03 AM
Le  Tout Noveau Testament: The Brand Mew Testement. Filmed in Brussels in French. Fantastic cinematography and script, even in French.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on April 26, 2016, 03:38:54 PM
Finally got my lovely wife to sit through enough Star Trek that she'd get the concept of Galaxy Quest.  Must have worked - she laughed in most of the right places. agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 01, 2016, 03:47:06 PM
Batman vs Superman (2016)

Critically panned. I don't know why. You could replace Superman with Captain America, Batman with Iron Man, and Lex Luthor with more or less any villain and you'd get any recent MCU movie. They didn't milk the drama to anything like the extent they could have, and there was a greater emphasis on preparing for later movies than on the story at hand, but there were gadgets and explosions and a lot of things you need a widescreen monitor for.

Two things. First, the Knightmare is jaw-dropping, I hope it becomes a movie. Second, when I realised who she was, I, as they say in books, cried out. Luckily my various neighbours weren't home or they would have heard the wooting

(http://cdn.sketchclub.com/emoticons/batman.gif)(http://cdn.sketchclub.com/emoticons/batman.gif)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: ericthered on May 01, 2016, 07:20:32 PM
I found the Nightmare sequence baffling...and who is this she you talk about?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 01, 2016, 08:00:50 PM
I found the Nightmare sequence baffling...and who is this she you talk about?

It was indeed baffling. But chock full of content too. As a nightmare, it was exciting, both in terms of straight up film content, but also in terms of the Batman's psyche. And it was different in style and tone from the rest of the movie. And it presented some altogether more compelling Batman scenario, I thought. City-bound crime-fighting Batman is all well and good, but dystopian future warlord gladiator Batman in a duster is altogether more impressive on the woot-meter. (Batman's actually a character that can fill that role, he can transcend Gotham; whereas some character like say Daredevil can't.) Within the context of the movie there's reason to believe it was as much a vision as a nightmare too. Which is cool.

And "she"? Why, *spoilers*:

WONDER WOMAN OF COURSE! I had forgotten that she was to be introduced in this movie. I enjoyed the reveal. The surprise made me happy. (That Wonder Woman is in the movie is not really a spoiler since it's in the trailer and everyone knows, but for the sake of what the movie was supposed to be, let's whiteout.)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 02, 2016, 04:48:41 AM
Fire Walk With Me (1992) (Remastered)

Did you have to have seen Twin Peaks first? To recognise how iconic Dale Cooper is, maybe. But he's barely in the movie. The movie is all Laura. ALL Laura. To love or hate Laura is to love or hate the movie. Anyway, 25 years ago, Laura told Agent Cooper "I'll see you again in twenty-five years," and the revival/reboot season 3 of Twin Peaks will start showing in 2017... so I watched the 1990 pilot, and I watched the 1991 finale (plus the two penultimate episodes), and I watched the movie, Fire Walk With Me. Twenty five years ago I did watch all of Twin Peaks too. Could the movie stand on it's own? I have no idea.


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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on May 03, 2016, 02:02:50 PM
(Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me - SPOILER ALERT)

Not sure if they modified it or not, but the original "Twin Peaks Pilot Turned Into A Movie" was 97% pilot and 3% "Hey, we need to solve this murder in the next few minutes or we'll go over budget, so let's invent some some guy in the basement who hasn't been referenced before in the movie and pin it on him!" kkkkkkkkkk
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 03, 2016, 02:49:28 PM
(Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me - SPOILER ALERT)

Not sure if they modified it or not, but the original "Twin Peaks Pilot Turned Into A Movie" was 97% pilot and 3% "Hey, we need to solve this murder in the next few minutes or we'll go over budget, so let's invent some some guy in the basement who hasn't been referenced before in the movie and pin it on him!" kkkkkkkkkk

Yeah, the "international" pilot, which was the pilot I watched recently. Apparently, "they" thought Twin Peaks wouldn't succeed as a series outside the US, so the "international" pilot has 20 extra minutes tacked on at the end in which Cooper dreams the Black Lodge, meets the One-Armed Man at the hospital, gets led downstairs with Sheriff Truman, and they all find BOB in the basement being weird. One-Armed Man shoots BOB "dead". The end.


/25-year-old spoiler
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on May 03, 2016, 05:13:27 PM
Let's hope the return of Twin Peaks keeps the original weirdness, but maybe with just a little more planning and focus.  For example, the sudden ending of the chess game killings in the series was reported to be because David Lynch got bored with it and wanted to do something else.

And I've always wondered what would happen if David Lynch and Quentin Tarantino decided to collaborate on a film. aqaqaqaqaq
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 03, 2016, 07:25:06 PM
Reportedly, Tarantino said once (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_Peaks:_Fire_Walk_with_Me#Release) "After I saw Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me at Cannes, David Lynch had disappeared so far up his own ass that I have no desire to see another David Lynch movie until I hear something different. And you know, I loved him. I loved him."

I don't get it, personally. I remember watching Twin Peaks back in the day and finding season two to be a chore by the end, and like everyone, I found it redeemed by the finale. Then I saw Fire Walk With Me, and I don't remember what I thought, but I probably liked it because I liked it a lot this time around. Fire Walk With Me is not hard to understand. It's not that wanky either. It contains a great deal of ambiguity, for sure, but little vagueness, so it's not that difficult to navigate.

Tarentino and Lynch pull in different directions I think. There's a similarity between them in the way they use culture and groups of people, but they focus differently.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 04, 2016, 03:35:34 PM
The Missing Pieces (2014)

Fire Walk With Me was originally conceived as a miniseries and apparently ran to 5+ hours in its first cut. The eventually released single movie  was still pretty long at 134 minutes. Then in 2014 appeared The Missing Pieces, 90-minutes worth of deleted and extended Fire Walk With Me scenes cut together into one long, largely coherent narrative movie of its own. It's fascinating. You get to see the Bowie scenes in full (not much of a bonus) and you find out why Laura calls herself The Muffin (interesting). Numbers of the cut scenes were cut because they're redundant and some were cut because they contained needless extra info. Some, like some of the scenes Above A Convenience Store are just opaque. Some of the extensions are a bit clunky. Some of the deleted scenes are wildly awesome in their own right. The Ring gets more attention. Teresa Banks does too. Leland shows more of who he is. I watched the whole thing and it all made sense. Worth it.

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《The Pink Room》 — Angelo Badalamenti (http://www.kuwo.cn/geci/l_1413084)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 15, 2016, 07:10:33 PM
Even Lambs Have Teeth (2015)

2 giddy girls get treated badly in the countryside. Then they escape.

More rape-revenge exploitation than horror, but almost camp enough to be in the horror camp. It works though. Makes you root for the murderers after the gritty first third.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 02, 2016, 06:55:30 PM
Green Room (2015)

A punk-ass punk band gets locked in a neo-Nazi skinhead clubhouse after walking in on murder. Densely-packed action thriller, and you don't realise how camp it all is until maybe after (and that that was Captain Picard).

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 04, 2016, 06:56:59 PM
Batman vs Superman Extended Ultimate Edition (2016) *spoilers*

The first Batman v Superman I watched was a cam. Then came the bluray rips. And the first 1080p version I found was the Extended Ultimate. This super mega ultra Ultimate version is 3 hours long, and it seems to me a lot of the extra footage is at the beginning. there's probably more elsewhere too, but the beginning of Ultimate is the better for the additions. It's still kind of a wtf movie. I mean,Wonder Woman's in the movie because...? And why is there a Doomsday? And for the love of god, Lex Luthor saves his biggest reveal for the lastest  minute *after* creating a Doomsday?!??! (And btw, how did he even know how to make one of those?) Etc.

Biggest are-you-kidding-me moment: Batman cowers. I mean, please. Who was kidding who right there? And that's in both movies.

Nonetheless, all in all, Ultimate Extended is better than Theatrical.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 19, 2016, 09:22:48 PM
Sing Street (2016)

In 1985 inner-city Dublin, a boy starts a band to impress a girl. Musical comedy drama. Uneven but charming. Fun soundtrack.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 31, 2016, 01:43:12 PM
The Nice Guys (2016)

As flabby as Russell Crowe.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 01, 2016, 11:18:13 PM
The Big Short (2015)

Seems legit

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 05, 2016, 04:26:42 PM
I have discovered fanedits. In particular of Ridley Scott's Prometheus. For no reason that I remember I decided I should look at Prometheus again. (Possibly for the visuals since as I recall the last version I watched was a cam.) Anyway, being aware that Prometheus is bland jumble of angry people making puerile mistakes against awe-inspiring backdrops they could care less about, I wondered if there hadn't by now been released a Director's Cut that could tell the story better. But it seems The Ridley has refused the concept of director's cuts completely, saying that theatrical releases are by definition director's cuts anyway so bog off! Then lo, google searches for "Prometheus expanded extended directors" revealed a whole new world of fan-made revisions of the movie. People have incorporated deleted scenes, altered existing takes, attempted to cut out some of the dumber continuity crap that came with the original, and have, in a sense, created whole new movies from the source material. I had no idea people did this with movies.

So I watched Prometheus: Giftbearer, a respectable fanedit by Severian, and it's actually pretty cool. The edit does excellent things like: they start the story with Peter Weyland's TED talk rather than the Engineers supposed visit to Earth, which is a fantastic choice since it makes his third act reappearance so much less out of place. The story telling ability of the editor is a bit hit and miss, though. There are missed beats and sequences that include artless non sequitur jumps, some of which are very distracting, particularly during some action sequences. But overall I think it works. Was worth the download.

The other Prometheus fanedit that's supposed to be good is Agent 9's "Special Edition". Might watch that next.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on September 05, 2016, 05:49:41 PM
Star Trek Beyond finally opened in China.  Big Screen and 3 D are definitely worth the price of a discounted ticket purchased online. agagagagag

Could it have been better?  Sure.  Trekier?  Sure.  On the other hand, not every Star Trek film can live up to Wrath of Khan (actually, no Star Trek film has every matched it, but Undiscovered Country did at least come close).  Overall, I'd put this one in the middle of the range of Star Trek films.

And, if anyone wants a spoiler.

Spoiler Alert!

Spoiler Alert!

Sulu is married.  He has a cute daughter and a nice looking husband.

George Takai has come ou, er weighed in on the issue.  He said that although Star Trek needed some gay characters, he objects to Sulu being changed so much from how the character's background was laid out by Gene Roddenberry.  George made it very plain that he feels it would be better to introduce a new character instead of reorienting an existing one just because the first actor is to play the role is gay.

And we're still not quite sure of the exact nature of the relationship between Mr. Scott and his odd little companion. mmmmmmmmmm


Spoiler over.

You may now return to your game of Whack-A-Tribble.  Remember to set phasers on kill.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cruisemonkey on September 08, 2016, 09:20:19 AM
I loved the original Star trek TV series as a kid - couldn't wait for Friday night when it and Wild Wild West were on back-to-back.

I downloaded and watched Star trek VI Undiscovered Country because you mentioned it and I'd never seen it... hokey.

I don't want to watch a 'gay' Star trek movie.

I guess my Star trek days are over.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on September 08, 2016, 09:01:29 PM
If you consider a 3 second long reveal of someone's orientation to make a movie gay, you'll be missing out on a lot of movies.   It wasn't a major (or even minor) plot point.

I still say Undiscovered Country is one of the best movies, but if you skip straight to it without seeing some of what happened in the prior movies, it won't make nearly as much sense.  Skip #1 (unless the thought of Nomad on steroids appeals to you), enjoy Wrath of Khan, then sit through 3-6 while keeping in mind that the even numbered ones make up for the lack in the odd numbered ones.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 26, 2016, 07:00:50 PM
Ghostbusters (2016)

The only thing I remember of the original Ghostbusters is thinking that it was all quite beneath Ripley and she should have had a better movie to be in. So now I've watched the remake. I found it hectic and not funny. More importantly, I didn't believe any of the various characters interests in anything.

I mostly watched this movie to find out why there's such a backlash. Why are a certain vocal segment of the internet so enamored of their perished childhood icons that they hold them up as a current standard? I found that it's better in general to consider the internet an immature medium and its products by default puerile.

I wonder if the non-English speaking internet is as under-developed.


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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on October 03, 2016, 05:46:16 PM
Ghenghis Khan, To the ends of the Earth and Sea

Allegedly took 27 years to plan this movie.  More like 27 days to write a draft and the rest of the time spent wrecking it.

Acting was lame, mostly dur to poor scripting and direction.  Every now and then the actors were doing a good job - most likely on ad libbed scenes.  I don't seem to recall a Mulan clone being one of Ghenghis Khan's greatest soldiers.  I'm also sure you can't be the greatest conqueror in history if you are worried about being politically correct with civilians.

It's so sad.  They had a big enough budget.  They had adequate actors.  The writer, director, and producer should all issue apologies for this.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on October 08, 2016, 11:57:10 AM
"SNOWDEN": This is the untold personal story of Edward Snowden who exposed shocking illegal surveillance activities by NSA. I think that Calach would find this quite interesting. Google his name for a bit more info.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 08, 2016, 02:27:57 PM
"SNOWDEN": This is the untold personal story of Edward Snowden who exposed shocking illegal surveillance activities by NSA. I think that Calach would find this quite interesting. Google his name for a bit more info.

Yup, I'll be watching it when it becomes available. I'm wary of it though. Like the man himself said, he's not the story. Also, it's a little early for dramatized accounts, especially given how everyone and their dog from the very first leak has been inventing narratives for this man and what he did. Man, the way US politicos grabbed the narrative by the neck and started shouting soundbites was... illuminating. Traitor, irreparable damage to security, millions of documents, even misinformation about Snowden's actual job. The propaganda efforts have been so successful people still say he fled to Russia. But yeah, I'll take a skeptical look at it as a movie.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 17, 2016, 02:16:22 AM
Blue Jay (2016)

Two people in a house. Which movie is not truly explained by the blurb - two high school sweethearts reconnect when both return to their hometown - but that blurb is what happens. A realistic fantasy of connection and meaning. Hardcore.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf ananananan

From the press release (http://www.theorchard.com/press_releases/orchard-release-duplass-brothers-blue-jay/):

BLUE JAY, a tender, wise and affecting chamber romantic drama, stars Duplass and Paulson as two former high school sweethearts. They return to their tiny California hometown and meet by chance, reflecting on their shared past through the lens of their differently dissatisfied presents.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 18, 2016, 05:49:08 PM
The Wrath of Khan (1982)

Pffffffffffffffffffffffffft. That is one slow moving movie. I had to watch it in stages lest I fall asleep. I was taken aback too by the age of the actors. I guess the movies came after the tv show. What I did end this movie with was a moral certainty I had seen Dr David "Kirkson" Marcus before. It ate away at me every time he was on screen: where had I seen him before?!?!?! Google told me all. He was Johnny Slash from Square Pegs, a teenaged Sarah Jessica Parker early 80s high school sitcom (which shows theme tune was by The Waitresses!)

:dancemj:
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on October 20, 2016, 11:20:36 AM
"DEEPWATER HORIZON": A story set on the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon which exploded during April 2010 and created the worst oil spill in U.S. history.  I like movies based on true stories. I am constantly amazed at the incredible Cinematography that goes into the making of these films.  bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on November 17, 2016, 03:07:34 PM
Snowden (2016)

As most reviews note, Snowden is not as lean a movie as it could be, and while Lindsey Mills was and remains a real person in the real Ed's life, her role in the movie version of his life is shallow enough to be distracting. Other distractions include Corbin O'Brian and Hank Forrester. These two were apparently necessary to simplify the storytelling but they stand out as false - as composites or caricatures - next to all the "real" characters. So when watching this movie in search of fact, they, curiously enough, undermine some of the impact of the story. But I will tell you, the movie has an impact. We - almost - see clearly the existential horror. Snowden's actions are more contextualised. We find him differing substantially from the standard reportage of his position in the intelligence community. We learn about Epic Shelter and Heartbeat (which may or may not be real). We meet Laura Poitras, Glenn Greenwald, and Ewen MacAskill, and the entire way through Snowden the man is present through the voice and body of Joseph Gordon Levitt. And after a while we start to get bored and slowed down and begin wondering how Oliver Stone managed to suck the life out of even this story, but the actual scope of what's happening and an emerging sense of why Snowden could have cared in the first place does appear by the end. The character of Snowden the whole way through is so clearly the one who's going to have moral qualms that it's a wonder no other character tried to push him out a window when he started looking like someone with issues, why so many of his superiors tried to assert that caricatured moral position over the top of him, that the movie does run the risk of being boring, like Stone really wanted that underling vs ossified military bosses conflict when in fact the real story was of emerging horror. But we get there in the end.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 11, 2016, 03:25:08 PM
Mad Max: Fury Road - Black & Chrome Edition

(http://cdn0.dailydot.com/cache/d1/a4/d1a4ac960b00d09af0d9e2fe1b5ef1f2.jpg)

Worth it in every way


(http://static.srcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/Mad-Max-Fury-Road-Bluray-Black-and-White.jpg)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on December 12, 2016, 02:12:18 PM
"The Queen of Katwe" I think that you would like thia one Calach. It is based on a true story about a young girl from Uganda who trained to become a world class chess champion.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cruisemonkey on December 20, 2016, 11:04:33 AM
Suicide Squad (2016)

Stupid.

I watched about 20 min. and deleted it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 29, 2016, 07:27:30 PM
The Accountant (2016)

As a standalone movie, a confusing mishmash with some excellent Jason Bourne-style action sequences. The movie is much easier to understand as a two-hour franchise pilot. In that case the improbable coincidences are much more allowable, and possibly even fun.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 02, 2017, 07:30:19 PM
The Girl With All The Gifts (2016)

Brings the book to life. Also, she kills and eats a pigeon. Bravo! Author! Wonderful flick! Take the kids to see! Kill them all.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on January 16, 2017, 02:10:47 PM
Rogue One - Not bad, but not great.  I wonder if George Lucas put this out to help fund better special effects for SW Episode VIII.


Spoiler Alert!

Peter Cushing didn't let his death in 1994 stop him from getting more lines in this film than he had in Episode IV.

"Death isn't the handicap it used to be in the olden days. It doesn't screw your career up the way it used to." - Lister, Red Dwarf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 02, 2017, 04:46:37 PM
Arrival (2016)

Hepatapod-As-a-Second Language. Any ESL careerists should have a look. Aliens arrive. They don't speak like us. A linguist with a security clearance is called in. Based on the Ted Chiang short story Story of Your Life. Very science. More like what might really happen if no one shot first. And China saves the day. Has mystical scifi elements.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 03, 2017, 04:11:34 PM
The Edge of Seventeen (2016)

Actu-lols. Genuinely funny coming of age story with what seemed to me a compellingly sophisticated portrait of how being a teenager is both simple and complex. A bit glossy at times, but substantial nonetheless. Could be good in classes.

Plus, Phantogram in the soundtrack so, you know, can't help myself.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 04, 2017, 11:33:57 AM
"LION"; A five years old Indian boy gets lost on the streets of Calcutta, thousands of kilometers from home. He survived many challenges before being adopted by a couple in Australia (Nicole Kidman): 25 yrs later, he sets out to find his family. As you can imagine, it was an interesting story.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cruisemonkey on February 07, 2017, 11:06:00 AM
Masterminds (2016)

Entertaining, quirky, light comedy. Supposedly based on a true story.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 09, 2017, 08:12:09 PM
Robbery (Lou Lap) (2016)

Apathetic slacker Lau Kin-ping starts work at an all-night convenience store in Hong Kong. Surreal. Bloody. Violent. Sharp references to other movies. Has some particularly wild twists. Not for everyone but great fun nonetheless.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: old34 on February 10, 2017, 06:34:11 AM
So Young (c. 2013)


Very accurate glimpse of college life in China. The campus, the classrooms, the classes, the dorms and the dorm drama.


And the afterlife of their college experience. Rings very true to my almost 19 years of experience teaching in various Chinese universities.


Not much to do with teaching English in China, but lots to do with the straum and derge (sp?) of Chinese college student life.


Find the version with English subtitles if you can.



Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 15, 2017, 09:51:25 PM
Passengers (2016)

Jennifer Lawrence is a far better actress than Chris Pratt is an actor. In fact, Chris Pratt is so far outclassed here, this movie really can't read as anything other than a barefaced win for the patriarchy. This movie could be less blandly poisonous, but not with StarLord in the lead.

One thumb up for the probably deliberate ship's thrusting prow during a sex scene moment. Otherwise:  aaaaaaaaaa
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 18, 2017, 11:26:28 AM
"HIDDEN FIGURES"." This is the incredible untold story of three African-American women working at NASA, who served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history: the launch of astronaut John Glen into orbit. This was the stunning achievement that restored the nation's confidence, turned around the Space Race and galvanised the world. The visionary trio crossed all gender and race lines to inspire generations to dream big." Calach, I'm pretty sure that you will like this one as will EL and several other movie buffs.  To be quite honest, I was surprised that it had the impact on me which it had. bfbfbfbfbf I hope that some of you folk will see it and give me your opinions. bjbjbjbjbj
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on February 20, 2017, 04:46:18 PM
Sounds interesting.  I'll add it to my list.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 13, 2017, 04:24:34 PM
The Hunger Games Quadrilogy (2012-15)

First movie is best movie. The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay I & II. Viewed as love stories, they're quite weird. But they're not love stories. They're traumatic stress stories. For me, that total lack of Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson chemistry really does mirror the weird baselessness of the Katniss/Peeta relationship in the books. Maybe the author intended something different. But she definitely was into stripping the romance out of war, and putting the whole of the humanising/dehumanising conflict into the person of Katniss Everdeen, and it seems like that's where the movies end up too, I think.

Meanwhile, "fire is catching" - that's a great line.


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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 16, 2017, 08:08:39 PM
I've been watching the Resident Evils. As always, first movie is best movie. As a horror action film it rightly is called survival horror. Last night however was watching Retribution and was distracted the whole way through....

Resident Evil: Retribution Main Theme - "Flying Through The Air" - Tomandandy (http://music.163.com/#/song?id=26758602)

Jason Bourne: The Bourne Ultimatum - "Extreme Ways" - Moby (http://music.163.com/#/song?id=423118313)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 17, 2017, 03:41:42 PM
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016)

The Resident Evil movies are strange beasts. They always more or less feature Alice, the Milla Jovovich character from the first movie, but they keep trying to shoehorn game characters in as well and it never works. Characters like Claire and friends turn up largely unannounced and try somehow to be a part of the story, but the story is and always will be Alice and the movies go lopsided. They wander out of horror territory into fantasy gun porn and not altogether bad kungfu sequencing. Personally, I think the first movie contained more substantial drama than the rest of the movies combined, and those other movies would capitalise better on their outstandingly cool imagery if they would commit more fully to flash over substance. There's a whole lot of basically physical drama they could do with their cameras that just would work better if they were creating atmosphere rather than action, and in particular a horror atmosphere, duh.

The Final Chapter is as chock full of non sequitur alliances and hurdled gaps in plot as all the other movies and has tremendous potential in some of its action imagery and landscapes, and it actually does round out the six movie long story pretty well, but I do miss the leavening effect of actual horror I think. First movie remains best movie.

Final Chapter? Worth it, anyway:  bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 27, 2017, 11:18:47 PM
"HIDDEN FIGURES"." This is the incredible untold story of three African-American women working at NASA, who served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history: the launch of astronaut John Glen into orbit. This was the stunning achievement that restored the nation's confidence, turned around the Space Race and galvanised the world. The visionary trio crossed all gender and race lines to inspire generations to dream big." Calach, I'm pretty sure that you will like this one as will EL and several other movie buffs.  To be quite honest, I was surprised that it had the impact on me which it had. bfbfbfbfbf I hope that some of you folk will see it and give me your opinions. bjbjbjbjbj

Saw that. It is good.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cruisemonkey on March 29, 2017, 11:02:07 AM
"HIDDEN FIGURES".
I hope that some of you folk will see it and give me your opinions. bjbjbjbjbj

I thought it was really good... except for the scene where a TV reporter says "Alan Shepard and Freedom 7 will reach an altitude of 106 miles per hour". WTF?

I Googled mistakes/errors in the movie, but couldn't find anything. Perhaps it is a tongue-in-cheek 'poke' at the stupidity of the writers of Star Wars who had Hans Solo say of the Millennium Falcon "It's the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs." But, I doubt it. It seems people in Hollywood just don't understand while speed and distance are related, they're not interchangable.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 29, 2017, 02:39:50 PM
"HIDDEN FIGURES".
I hope that some of you folk will see it and give me your opinions. bjbjbjbjbj

I thought it was really good... except for the scene where a TV reporter says "Alan Shepard and Freedom 7 will reach an altitude of 106 miles per hour". WTF?

That particular goof was so outstandingly jarring I assumed it had to have been part of actual archival footage - as in, some actual reporter did say exactly that on live TV back in 1961. But I can't find any Google verification.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on March 29, 2017, 05:38:18 PM
Stupidity quote from an actual reporter or stupid dialog written by a "Hollywood professional"?  I find both explanations easily plausible. kkkkkkkkkk
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on March 30, 2017, 11:44:17 AM
"Beauty and the Beast"; This is described as being the fantastic journey of Belle, a bright, beautiful and independent young woman who is taken prisoner by a beast in his castle. It starred Emma Watson and Dan Stevens.  To be honest, I didn't think it would do much for me except fill in some time. I was pleasantly surprised. I found quite a few things to make me laugh or smile. Has anyone else seen it yet?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on March 30, 2017, 03:30:43 PM
Haven't seen this version yet.

The basic plot line of the story does make me wonder.  Seems to me that it boils down to "If you are a hideous beast who can't get a date, kidnap some lovely young thing, try not to terrorize her too much, and hope Stockholm Syndrome leads to a relationship."
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cruisemonkey on March 31, 2017, 02:11:25 AM
Seems to me that it boils down to "If you are a hideous beast who can't get a date, kidnap some lovely young thing, try not to terrorize her too much, and hope Stockholm Syndrome leads to a relationship."

I haven't seen it either (it's only available on a 'Cam' torrent so far... and I won't watch' Cams').... but the plot leads me to believe I may have hope.  afafafafaf afafafafaf

P.S. Another thing that bothered me about Hidden Figures was you don't see anyone smoking in the movie. The reality was almost everyone smoked... and the air at Mission Control was so thick with cigarette, pipe & cigar smoke, you could have cut it with a knife.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on March 31, 2017, 02:00:11 PM
P.S. Another thing that bothered me about Hidden Figures was you don't see anyone smoking in the movie. The reality was almost everyone smoked... and the air at Mission Control was so thick with cigarette, pipe & cigar smoke, you could have cut it with a knife.

Hollywood actually has to add warning messages about "historical smoking" to movies as part of the rating box.

Also, I have a suspicion that with fewer and fewer actors smoking (tobacco at least), there have probably have been complaints about having to work on a set with a bunch of burning cigarettes.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cruisemonkey on April 03, 2017, 11:13:31 PM
The Vessel (2016)

Booooring (watched 30 min. and deleted it). The critics call it "dream like"... they're right, and it is... because it puts you to  awawawawaw
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on April 04, 2017, 01:48:43 PM
The Discovery (2017)

Not a B movie, but if watched as one, is excellent. Robert Redford discovers scientific proof that there is an afterlife.


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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cruisemonkey on April 07, 2017, 02:45:08 PM
The Founder (2016)

Michael Keaton gives a good performance as Ray Kroc the 'founder' of McDonalds. A salesman hustler, his dogged determination, ambition and persistence build a grudging admiration in the viewer while also a simultaneous repulsion at his 'flexible' ethics and (completely legal) slimeball actions. The viewer comes to realize, without him McDonalds as we know it simply would not exist.

8 out of 10
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on April 08, 2017, 11:59:18 AM
GHOST IN THE SHELL: This is a SCI FI film starring Scarlett Johansson. I think some of you folk might find it interesting, especially the cinematography and special effects. I have NEVER seen such along listing at the end of the film re special effects etc. I usually don't bother with this type of movie, but I had nothing left to see; I was surprised that it kept me interested. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on April 08, 2017, 04:22:21 PM
Underworld Pentalogy (2003-17) (...and counting)

Currently there are five Underworld movies (but there will be a sixth and possibly a seventh - hooray?). Underworld, Evolution, Rise of The Lycans, Awakening, and Blood Wars. First movie is probably best movie, although the second movie tells a better(ish) story. We shall pretend the third movie does not exist. The third movie, a cheating, thieving, conniving prequel of a movie, is marked by the nearly complete absence of Selene, is set in the distant past, and is therefore definitely the worst. But then there's the fourth movie. Awakening boldly drove the ailing franchise down a scifi path, setting the story several years into a future where everyone now knows there are vampires and werewolves and a great purge of their kind has taken place. At the same time, Awakening ups the kungfu gore to 11. That's a pretty great direction for this kind of franchise. Naturally, in the fifth movie, this year's Blood Wars, they just forget all about that and pull the same old gothic vampire crap again. All the Underworld movies so often have the opportunity to do great stuff with their characters and storylines and then... they don't. However...

Underworld:  bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Evolution:  bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Rise of The Lycans:  asasasasas  bqbqbqbqbq
Awakening:  bfbfbfbfbf akakakakak
Blood Wars:  awawawawaw
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on April 09, 2017, 03:25:56 AM
The Great Wall (2016)

Granted, I watch things like Underworld and Resident Evil, but dang it, this is not a bad movie! It's not especially Chinese, and the first, say, fifteen minutes or so are a bit overly self important, but once you work out this is a monster movie and Matt Damon is the quippy hero leaving room for the "strong woman" heroine, the whole thing's fine goddammit! Resident Evil and Underworld have better quippy heroes and more horrible monsters, but The Great Wall has a great wall and a better executed "story", so there. Mistaking this movie for art or essential drama has maybe led to some of the really bad reviews, but this movie is very notably better than some of the more recent historical-epic-with-a-foreigner adventures we have seen in recent years. It doesn't really deserve the scorn that's been heaped upon it.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on April 11, 2017, 01:57:11 AM
Ghost in the Shell (Kōkaku Kidōtai) (1995)

Alarmingly meditative. Has guns.

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M1 (Making of Cyborg) - Kenji Kawai (http://music.163.com/#/song?id=4878701)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cruisemonkey on April 11, 2017, 11:41:18 PM
I thought The Discovery was "meh"... a waste of 143 minutes. I hope in my 'after life' it is never made.  kkkkkkkkkk  ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: cruisemonkey on April 16, 2017, 12:03:01 PM
La La Land (2016)

You probably know this already but...

A musical 'love story' filmed on 35mm film in Cinemascope, it's meant to be evocative of 1950s 'feel good' escapist entertainment; and it works... sort of.

Some great song & dance numbers with amazing production values, a saturated colour palate and the fact all the music is real (the entire score is people actually playing musical instruments) do not make up its shortcomings:
- it's a musical with no great/memorable song(s)
- the lovers never really 'click' (perhaps on purpose)
- the ending sucks!

Is it a love story... or a tragedy... or a tragic love story? Its none of these. The lovers give up each other to follow their dreams; so it's not a love story. However, they do get what they want; so it's not a tragedy. And, they don't die together; so it's not Romeo and Juliet.

The thing that makes 'feel good' escapist entertainment work is, in the end, love conquers all. The ending of La la Land leaves the viewer feeling hollow, disappointed and 'ripped off'. The characters get what they want... but the viewer doesn't.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on April 17, 2017, 11:22:53 PM
Robot Wars (2016)

To be confused with neither the Robot Wars tv show (wherein real production teams make robots and make them fight) nor the 1993 "cyberpunk" Robot Wars movie wherein who even knows what happens, this Robot Wars is a "found footage" reconstruction of the corporate heist gone wrong of a SHINY AND POWERFUL MACGUFFIN! Featuring a FPS video game aesthetic and lots of Shaky Cam with annoying HUD overlay from ocular implants, this movie is actually not bad. Worse acting than the Blair Witch Project, but better story telling. The movie would be better called Kill Box or Sprawl Heist or SHINY AND POWERFUL MUCGUFFIN KILLS ALL! since there is just the one robot, and it has next to no role in anything that happens. but hey. Robots.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on May 06, 2017, 12:54:23 PM
THE ZOOKEEPER'S WIFE: This is based on a true story and is really worth watching. I had no real idea about the movie before I saw it, except to know that there was a woman in the picture holding a lion cub. I won't say anymore in case anyone wants to do as I did. If not, you can always look it up on the computer and decide if you will see it. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 08, 2017, 04:32:43 PM
Titanic (1997)

Finally watched this. All 3 hours and 14 minutes. I thought Jack's sketches rather pedestrian, tbh, no individual spark and not really "art". That aside, I don't entirely know what I watched. The romance was engaging, the disaster compelling (and maaaaybe contextualised the romance), Celine Dion finally made sense. Aw shucks, I enjoyed it overall.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on May 08, 2017, 07:12:37 PM
Oh Jack!  I'll never let you go! (drops Jack's hand and watches him sink like a rock)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 18, 2017, 01:56:02 PM
Logan (2017)

Lotta elements in this movie. It's a scifi future urban dystopia cowboy noir thriller road movie with superheroes. Set twenty-five years after the goofy exploits of various X-Men franchise movies, we find that in all that time no new mutants have been born. Professor X, the collector of mutants and superhero teacher, now has Alzheimer's and has to be kept away from other people, while the last of the superheros, Wolverine/Logan, is a punchy old man and dying. And then this kid appears.

For a solid ninety minutes this movie gallops down a compelling urban gothic road and is good. (I suppose it would look good in colour but I watched with the colour turned off and the contrast turned up - getting a jump on the "Noir" edition that'll be released next week, thank you Mad Max: Fury Road Black & Chrome Edition for starting that trend.) The movie runs for 2 hrs and 13 minutes however. Still worth it.


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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on May 18, 2017, 11:44:24 PM
Looking forward to the new Alien movie.  Planning to go to the US to see it, since it's not showing in China and I want to see it on the big screen.  Seeing everything Alien on the big screen has been a tradition since my grandfather took me to the first one in 1979 and I'm not going to let being in a country that's not showing it get in the way.  (OK, I'd have settled for catching it in HK, but am going to the US in early June anyway.)  I've gone to great efforts to avoid any spoilers - even skipped watching any trailers for it.  Sucky or spectacular, I don't want to know about 1 frame of the movie until I'm sitting there watching it on the big screen.

Fair warning:  Reviews are welcome, but anyone posting spoilers of that film without a BIG spoiler warning will suffer the following penalties:

1.  A 5 year job at a badly run branch of EF - in some South Korean backwater - so far back there's no running water.

2.  Nothing to eat for those 5 years except moldy rice guaranteed to provide you with 24/7/365 dysentery at levels just short of fatal.

3.  You'll have an MP3 player - with 1 song, a low quality copy of the Titanic theme, as performed by Alvin and the Chipmonks.

4.  Electricity?  You get a palm sized solar panel - for recharging your MP3 player.

5.  Your bed is guaranteed to be free of bedbugs, because the scorpions in the mattress ate them while waiting for you.

6.  Lice.  Lots of lice.  Head lice, body lice, and an extra abundance of crab lice.

7.  And more!  Much much more!  I'd tell you now, but I'm trying to avoid giving away too many spoilers about your doom.  uuuuuuuuuu


Trust me, we'll all be happier campers if there are no surprise spoilers posted for that movie. agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 19, 2017, 12:39:05 AM
My grandmother took me to see the first Alien in 1979 - me, my brother, and my sister too. We trooped into the cinema. A guy in the row ahead did a double take. The lights went down. The eerie music began to play. Then the title letters began to appear. That's when I turned to my baffled siblings and said, you know, I think this might not be the Muppet Movie....

(http://www.clker.com/cliparts/6/d/5/f/11954445111790682754smiley_lawyer_nicu_bucul_01.svg.hi.png) aoaoaoaoao aoaoaoaoao aoaoaoaoao
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on May 19, 2017, 03:30:27 PM
My grandfather and I spent a good part of the movie trying to scare each other. ahahahahah

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on May 20, 2017, 11:33:12 AM
Pardon my ignorance, but is the movie called  ALIEN: COVENANT ? I don't think that I have seen any of these types of movies, so I might make the effort. agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 21, 2017, 04:14:01 PM
The Alien Franchise:

Alien (1979)
Aliens (1986)
Alien 3 (1992)
Alien: Resurrection (1997)

Prequels series:

Prometheus (2012)
Alien: Covenant (2017)


The original Alien movie gave us the character of Ripley. The sequel, Aliens, gave us Bishop, Hicks, and Newt, and then Aliens 3 cruelly took them away. Resurrection tried to give us Winona Ryder and then we endured the long dark night of no more Alien movies. One doesn't know for sure what to say of Prometheus except that it could have been great. We await Covenant and wonder what can be next, our chests bursting with hope...

The original Alien is worth watching. It leans more on horror and suspense. Aliens is worth watching too. It leans much more toward the action genre. They're all scifi.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on May 22, 2017, 12:21:44 PM
Thanks Calach! I can only watch what is on TV or at the movies, so I'll have to get my introduction through Alien: Covenant which is now at the movies. I hope that I will be able to understand what is happening. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on May 22, 2017, 04:45:51 PM
Make sure to watch at least Alien and Prometheus first (and catch Aliens if you've got the time).  I've got no idea if Alien Covenant is going to provide enough background for people new to the Alien franchise or if it's going to be primarily for those of us who can quote dialogue from many of the films.

And Calach left out the Alien vs. Predator crossover movies.

And for those of you who were also crushed by the untimely interruption of Sigourney Weaver's disrobement in the first Alien movie (I know I was), about 25% of the otherwise forgettable Half Moon Street involves Sigourney taking off all of her clothes over and over again. afafafafaf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 22, 2017, 04:46:35 PM
Thanks Calach! I can only watch what is on TV or at the movies, so I'll have to get my introduction through Alien: Covenant which is now at the movies. I hope that I will be able to understand what is happening. bfbfbfbfbf


Covenant is both a prequel and a sequel. Prequel to the first four Alien movies (and - presumably - featuring none of the original characters), and sequel to the first prequel, Prometheus. The original movies featured a fearsome and terrible "alien" species, an aggressively violent monster that would gestate inside a host species and had acid for blood. The prequels have introduced to us a second collection of aliens, the Engineers. These Engineers may or may not be the creators of us. They appear to have been the creators of the original monster aliens, which apparently they intended to use as a biological control agent on.... us.

In short, Covenant, which I haven't seen yet, will probably follow the dramatic model of the original movies (female protagonist sees the fight coming before others do, may have to sacrifice much in order to stay alive), but likely is a different story.

Also, according to the director, Ridley Scott, they're going back to their horror roots with this one. So it might be some icky parts.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 22, 2017, 04:50:26 PM
Calach rightly left out the Alien vs Predator crossovers. They're shit. The first one is a bravura display of actually wooden histrionics by nearly every actor involved, and has dialogue so leaden you can see it not bounce when it hits the floor. The second one is.... both generic and parochial, which is kind of the opposite of Alien. Horror flick set in a small USA town with high schoolers? And Aliens? I skipped large parts of it so who knows it might be good for what it is but I'll never know.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on May 23, 2017, 06:02:03 PM
I thought the first AVP wasn't all that bad.  On the other hand, I think  that those behind AVP 2 need a few years of remolding through labor before they are allowed to get involved with any more movie projects.

Then again, any extensive series of movies is likely to have a few that just don't work right.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 23, 2017, 06:17:05 PM
I happened to watch Alien vs Predator again just this weekend, and the poopiness of that poop is fresh in my mind. Alexa Woods, the Antarctic guide, was an okay Ripley surrogate, but holy crap did that movie show it's goofiness when she latched onto Charlie Wayland as a Newt surrogate. Even before that bizzaro development, characters were dropping leaden lines like pipe. One has literally only to view the first five minutes to see how dialogue is going to work in this movie.

A tech and her supervisor look at a data stream from [a satellite]

Supervisor
What is it?
Technician
It's the data stream from PS12.
SUPERVISOR
Big Bird. Where is she?
TECHNICIAN
Right above Sector 14.
SUPERVISOR
There isn't anything in Sector 14.
TECHNICIAN
There is now.

Dun-dun-DUUNNNNNN!

The most egregious though was that wholly crappy Hicks surrogate, Sebastian, literally spelling out an aphorism. "The enemy of my enemy," he says, and pauses, AND WE WONDER WHAT COULD POSSIBLY FALL NEXT FROM HIS GLISTENING LIPS. "Is my friend," he says.

But when we have to rely on an actual Predator for character development, the movie is just shit. Predators act out their hunter's code. They don't become buddies with future prey. And they do not stand around getting maybe hot and bothered about how capable the Ripley surrogate is and how maybe, just maybe, they might jump those bones with the flesh still on them..... yuckola with a pile of ew on top.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on May 24, 2017, 03:38:52 PM
But when we have to rely on an actual Predator for character development, the movie is just shit. Predators act out their hunter's code. They don't become buddies with future prey. And they do not stand around getting maybe hot and bothered about how capable the Ripley surrogate is and how maybe, just maybe, they might jump those bones with the flesh still on them..... yuckola with a pile of ew on top.

Now that would have been an interesting sequel.  The predator decides to take her home to his personal dungeon. - 50 Shades of Predator. ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 24, 2017, 05:16:34 PM
Technically, since going to Earth and killing themselves some "Alien" was a rite of passage, the Predator, who for all we know is female, is, or was, a juvenile. The Ripley surrogate being the older woman, that Predator might be more of a Dustin Hoffman and the sequel will be his 1960s breakout hit, The Preduate.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 25, 2017, 01:39:05 PM
Logan "Noir" (2017)

Same as Logan (2017) but in high contrast black and white. You can in principle make your own black and white showing of any movie - go to wherever your video player has its "Contrast", "Saturation", and "Gamma" settings: set "Saturation" to zero (to remove colour), kick "Contrast" up a notch (to make the blacks and whites separate more strongly) and maybe also up the "Gamma" a smidge if the image becomes too dark (don't use any Brightness settings for that, they'll wash out the contrast effects) - but studio-released B&W is better. They know what they're doing with the levels and what they're trying to highlight.

As for the movie, it's one of those that does benefit from the black and white treatment. A lot of the physical structure and composition effects become that much more pronounced. It ain't just "art", there's a storytelling effect too, a starkness that suits how austere and severe the story is. I thought I might even reevaluate my opinion of the ending. What I will say is high contrast black and white is best viewed in high def too - really good quality video makes the most of the black and white, and allows you to see some of the high speed action that works so well in this movie.

Severe black and white also works for this movie because, for a superhero show, they did rely on some quite subtle storytelling in glances and passing reference. Like, for instance, when the X-24 seems to come out of nowhere and you're like, wtf? But it doesn't in fact. It was introduced quite early on and all the necessary details are present for you to know what's going on.

Ergo, high score:  bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on May 25, 2017, 10:26:50 PM
Technically, since going to Earth and killing themselves some "Alien" was a rite of passage, the Predator, who for all we know is female, is, or was, a juvenile. The Ripley surrogate being the older woman, that Predator might be more of a Dustin Hoffman and the sequel will be his 1960s breakout hit, The Preduate.

I think we have a winner!  AVP 3, The Preduate.  A young hot predator (of indeterminate gender) just graduating from Alien Extermination University pursues an older female human action hero.  Both families object, and both sides are well enough armed to cause some serious havoc.  Can they be convinced to accept that true love knows no bounds?  Will the Preduate also find himself attracted to his/her/3rd gender possessive GF's 18 year old daughter?  Can we think of an excuse to put the couple in suspended animation long enough to let them meet Ripley?  Will nuking the site from orbit really be the only way to make sure?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 25, 2017, 11:23:13 PM
lol

Mrs. Ripley: Benjamin, I am not trying to nuke the site from orbit
Benjamin: Voooom-wop-wop. Guggle-uggle-uggle

(https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/hphotos-xfa1/t51.2885-15/e15/11376095_1661397694090422_1524151632_n.jpg)

 ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 29, 2017, 03:17:58 PM
Free Fire (2017)

Shootout shenanigans in 1978 -  bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 29, 2017, 03:23:25 PM
T2 - Trainspotting (2017)

Not a bad followup to the original. A lo-o-o-ot of callbacks to the original movie, but this one is quite a bit different - much more about reunion than junkies. The only actual junkie left is Spud, who becomes a more prominent character in this flick.


 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 03, 2017, 06:40:04 PM
John Wick 2 (2017)

Mean, dumb, kind of like kinesis but with people. Flashy, I guess, and colourful, but empty.

 bfbfbfbfbf

Free Fire is considerably superior.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 06, 2017, 06:09:14 PM
Life (2017)

Gravity (2013) meets Alien (1979)

Add a fantastically icky body-horror monster in the Alien mold to the slick, floaty, Pale Blue Dot capsule world of Gravity and you get... LIFE! But it's not life as we know it, Jim. IT'S LIFE THAT'S GOING TO KILL US ALLLLLLLLLL AIEIEEEEEE!!!!! NB: if you can't watch even kissing on screen, this is really not the movie for you. I was saying yuck a lot. Effective body horror, though. Mos' def.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on June 08, 2017, 07:18:54 AM
ALIEN COVENANT -  agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag

Perfect?  No.  Equivalent to Aliens?  No.  Up their with the original Alien?  Close enough!

Will save any spoilers (and inevitable debate with Calach ahahahahah) until others have had a little more time to see it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on June 10, 2017, 12:27:02 PM
Wonder Woman;  I went to see this because I'd seen most of the other movies. I was pleasantly surprised. Have any of you folks seen it yet?  bfbfbfbfbf

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 22, 2017, 01:48:53 PM
The Fast and the Furious 8: Fate of the Furious (2017)

Indulgent beginning. Backstory without much heart. But otherwise, a movie jam-packed with outstandingly ridiculous action, colourful side characters, and a bloated, tired motive in "family". Worth it for the car zompocalypse. You don't need to know much about the other movies to get through this one. Just know that it stretches on a bit toward the end.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on June 22, 2017, 03:24:37 PM
You were expecting more than fast cars and the occasional scantily clad female? ahahahahah

I've actually enjoyed all the Fast and Furious movies, but watching these does require putting parts of one's brain into neutral.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 22, 2017, 04:08:04 PM
No, I liked the Fart of the Furious 8. "Dominic Torretto" looks old. He has no chemistry with the love of his life. His crew are all bimbos. And Jason Statham does parkour. The Rock actually is about the only real person in the whole movie. But the absurd, James Bond style action is what I was looking in to see. The movie could have made a whole lot more, ahem, mileage out of the zombie cars (and could therefore have let the cyber criminal be a fraction more cyber), but it's a fun movie anyway. Boring by the end, but fun along the way.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on June 23, 2017, 03:09:27 PM
I wonder how many more movies until they have to rename them "The Old, Slow, and Annoyed" ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 29, 2017, 07:03:07 PM
Speaking of the Fast and the Furious...

Death Race 2000 (1975)

hahaha oh lord, is every decade inherently goofy or did the 70s reinvent clownishness in a special way? A lot of the music I willingly listen to these days is from the 70s so maybe it was just the movies. Anyway, in a dystopian future 2000 USA there's a four car intercontinental death race, and lol, four cars?! They get points for knocking down pedestrians. And underneath it all, revolution is brewing...

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 30, 2017, 01:03:19 AM
Operation Mekong - 湄公河行動 - (2016)

Related, sort of, to the Mekong River Massacre (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mekong_River_massacre) where 13 Chinese nationals were murdered by pirates (maybe in collusion with, or at least in the presence of, corrupt Thai anti-drug police). That massacre happens in the movie. The rest of the movie is an uneasy mix of partial truth and wildly exuberant action movie untruth: real settings, real names, made up shootouts with rocket launchers, and other criminal weirdness (the big bad guy in the movie was real, but he apparently did not in fact, for instance, have a child army....)

As an action movie, a lot of stuff happens fast. Then there are the classic enmity tropes (one of the cops has personal history with one of the many baddies). And so on. Not a bad movie all in all. It's interesting seeing the clash of genres: HK action with fists of fury, kungfu, long running jumping throwing stuff fights in the same scenes with modern special forces action where in assaulting a bad guy hideout no squad ever would step slowly into a dark room and inch forward looking for a baddie who might be lurking in any shadow.

Starts polemical, finishes absurd, quite good in the middle.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on June 30, 2017, 03:25:32 PM
Speaking of the Fast and the Furious...

Death Race 2000 (1975)

hahaha oh lord, is every decade inherently goofy or did the 70s reinvent clownishness in a special way? A lot of the music I willingly listen to these days is from the 70s so maybe it was just the movies. Anyway, in a dystopian future 2000 USA there's a four car intercontinental death race, and lol, four cars?! They get points for knocking down pedestrians. And underneath it all, revolution is brewing...

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf

Definitely worth dusting off the old VCR and watching. agagagagag

I'll be they've already got a 50th anniversary release for blue ray (or whatever replaces blue ray) planned for 2025.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 30, 2017, 04:21:09 PM
Death Race 2050 (2017)

A Roger Corman 2017 remake of the 1975 original! Same setup, nearly the same four cars, not quite the same four drivers. And in an accidentally prescient move, the "Chairman" of the United Corporations of America rules by division and has hair-in-the-wind issues....

This movie is not bad. Well, relatively speaking, it's not bad. It can be watched. But the goofy original probably has more bite. This movie has some very interesting characters in Tammy the Terrorist and Jed Perfectus, but they're not used much. Also, this movie still has a Frankenstein, but we don't know why. Some of the state names are funny.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on July 03, 2017, 02:53:18 PM
Death Race 2050 was a great flick.  Watching the original and the remake back to back would be a great way to waste an evening. agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 05, 2017, 03:48:30 PM
ALIEN COVENANT -  agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag

Perfect?  No.  Equivalent to Aliens?  No.  Up their with the original Alien?  Close enough!

So I watched it. (There's a Korean hdrip available at the moment - acceptable video quality and crappy audio that can be made listenable with judicious equalizer tinkering.) And.....

Yeah, nope. Nope, nope, nope. No. I see what they were going for. But nope. I'll watch it again with properly adjusted expectations when the bluray comes out, but.... nope. Especially given that this is a prequel.

Granted, as a standalone horror movie, indeed as scifi gothic horror, it works. And maybe I'll thank it later for letting me know I had expectations, but yeah, first reaction was WUT?! THAT'S NOT THE STORY YOU WERE SETTING OUT TO TELL! As crappy as Prometheus was, Covenant seems like quite a, um, detour in the journey.

Yeah, I'll have to watch it again to know for sure, but:

[spoilers]
blitzkreiging the Engineers offscreen and then doing a Frankenstein with David? The robots are the "us" now? We are the engineers instead of the Engineers being the Engineers? Did Noomi Rapace ask for too much money or something? Making Weyland/"us" be the evil creators in this Evil Creators story when we already had the Engineers in place as the Evil Creators is......... well, I had expectations, I guess.
[/spoilers]

It was okay. I'm still processing.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on July 05, 2017, 04:45:56 PM
Alien Covenant

And it's open in China.  Guess I didn't have to see it in the US.

I still think it's far better than Prometheus.  Not as good as Alien, but much more in line with the whole mood of Alien.

SPOILER ALERT

The whole Engineers being genetically more or less human was established in Prometheus.  My best way to interpret is is that Engineers have been around for a very very long time, and humans (along with most/all of life on Earth) were the result of Engineers either establishing life on the planet and guiding evolution or else finding that Earth organisms were sufficiently genetically compatible to allow selected alterations over time to result in humans.  Either way, they were planning to end the experiment until a lab accident ended their bioweapons program.


BIG SPOILER ALERT

Yeah, making David the creator of the egg and facehugger Aliens did seem a bit farfetched.  It also is in conflict with a frozen alien queen being in the pyramid in AVP.  However, there is a possible way out of both of these objections.

David has access to an Engineer ship which was part of their bioweapons program.  He also had access to one of their cities (homeworld?).  It's possible the Engineers had already developed (or discovered) the egg and facehugger Aliens we all know and love, but discarded them for the infectious version - since that makes bombing a city or planet a much faster way to clear out the local population if one is in a hurry to redevelop the area.  If this is the case, David would have access to the information and technology to recreate the older version.  Why he'd prefer this version remains unknown.  Maybe he likes this slower, more terrifying version of Alien reproduction for esthetic reasons.

The implication is that the passengers on the Covenant become hosts/snackfood for Aliens.  He yakked up a pair, which were probably a queen and a drone of some sort, so was all set to get production of new eggs going.  But this leaves some big unaswered questions before we get to the original Alien movie.

The Engineer ship David previously flew appears to be wrecked halfway up a mountain.  He and his victims to be are in space aboard the Covenant moving on towards their original destination.  But the crew of the Nostromo discover a huge pile of eggs on an Engineer ship, not a colony ship or at a colony.  Does David manage to take Covenant to a world with Engineer ships and transfer all the eggs his new queen lays to an Engineer ship for some reason?  Why park the ship on a world which is uninhabitable without major terraforming?  In Aliens, it appears that this level of terraforming was developed while Ripley and her cat were still waiting for their lifeboat to be rescued.  Why is there a beacon on the shipload of eggs which takes just a little too long to translate as being a warning?  David would have put out a sign saying "Free Kittens!" and found a way to preserve himself so he could watch the fun when someone showed up, or he'd just have taken the eggs to another colony world.  How does the Company know there's some life form so interesting along the Nostromo's flight path that they put Ash on the crew to try to insure retrieval of a specimen (crew expendable uuuuuuuuuu)?

My guess is we need one more movie to fill in the gaps.  agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 05, 2017, 07:26:39 PM
Alien: Covenant

*SPOILERS*

I still think it's far better than Prometheus.  Not as good as Alien, but much more in line with the whole mood of Alien.

Agreed.

Quote
BIG SPOILER ALERT

Yeah, making David the creator of the egg and facehugger Aliens did seem a bit farfetched.

That's what was going on? Good lord. I breezed right over that, taking it to be both odd as something for David to say in this movie and sufficiently self-aggrandising that it fit in with whatever was going wrong with his personality. Didn't take it to be true, even though the sudden appearance a little later of an Original Alien sort of did back up the claim.... All the creatures on the planet were thin-skinned, pale and afraid of light whereas the OAs are dark, more primitive lizard-like and considerably more armoured.

So I went back and got some David quotes:

The pathogen was designed to infect all non-botanical lifeforms. All the animals. The meat if you will. Either kill them outright or use them as incubators to spawn a hybrid form. Highly aggressive.

The pathogen took so many forms, and was extremely mutable. Fiendishly inventive in fact. The original liquid atomised to particles when exposed to the air. ten years on, all that remains, outside of the original virus, are these gorgeous beasts.

Patience is everything. From the eggs (!?!?!) came these parasites. Shock troops of the genetic assault. Waiting for a host. Entering the host. Rewriting the DNA. And ultimately, producing... well, these enviable unions. My beautiful bestiary. Soon enough I began a bit of genetic experimentation of my own. Cross breeding, hybridising, what have you.

But then

I've found perfection here. I've created it. Perfect organism.


So, gothic horror, a la Frankenstein, Dracula, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, etc. I suppose I can live with that. It lets the original Geiger ideas come out and play. I think the 1979 Alien was, for lack of a genre term, industrial horror rather gothic, but what the hey

And David winning is a sour end for industrial horror but suitable for gothic, I guess.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on July 06, 2017, 02:03:00 PM
SPOILER ALERT

David did some cross-breeding and other genetically tinkering, but it's quite possible he's exaggerating his role and really just rolled back the clock on an Engineer creation to be very close to its original form.  The infections version is great for quickly taking out large populations.  The facehugger version works better in close quarters (and can blow right through a space suit helmet).
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 06, 2017, 02:44:33 PM
Alien: Covenant & Alien: Prometheus

*spoilers* & speculation

The original "pathogen" appears to have various roles. Assuming it's the same stuff as used at the beginning of Prometheus, then in very small doses it can jump-start evolution. And by very small doses I mean one cupful for an entire planet. So I shall just go ahead and assume the black stuff is a powerful mutagen that promotes aggressive adaptation, aggression and violent struggle being good things in terms of evolution. In very large amounts then, this pathogen either completely fries anything living or really focuses every aggressive, predatory characteristic into one mobile, living package. That sort of makes science-y sense. And then along comes David...

So yeah, I guess it makes sense. From the stuff he's given - the pathogen, the population of the planet, and Shaw - he crafts a particular version of the pathogen's results. He uses some dose of the pathogen that's more than is needed for evolutionary development and less than is needed for genocide, and the stable version he gets has eggs and facehuggers. How he got the eggs is another question. Did they come from a queen or did he craft them himself? If the narrative is going to fall apart, it'll be there, I guess.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 06, 2017, 10:41:09 PM
Wonder Woman (2017)

Origin story, backdated to World War I. Steve Rogers blunders upon Themyscira, the lush city state island nation of the Amazons, bringing with him news (and violence) of WWI. Diana, the daughter of the queen, insists she must go into the world to seek out and kill the cause of all this violence, Ares, the god of war.

The movie is likeable. FWIW, I think the ending a bit weak. The lessons Diana learns could have used quite a bit more development. The story might well have been a decent ten episode tv show, like Daredevil or Jessica Jones. (Except that DD and JJ are Marvel whereas WW is DC, like that matters anything worth a damn.) I suppose it means something good of the movie that the character appears a whole lot more substantial than the story quite allowed  That might be from Gal Gadot's characterisation - she seems to make the character be larger than the story she's in.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 07, 2017, 12:57:54 PM
Ghost in the Shell (2017)

Recreates iconic imagery and sequences from the anime on top of a significantly altered story. Odd! The effect is a jumble, and whoever Scarlett Johansson is, she's not Motoko Kusanagi. For one thing, she has a human brain and a former identity to seek out, whereas Kusanagi's thing in the anime is whether or not she was ever human at all.

The movie's okay, I guess. Every scene looks like a chunky back alley or a sound stage (or both) and Scarjo is too short, but pffft. I have no real opinion in the end.

 bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on July 07, 2017, 03:28:25 PM
More Spoilers and Speculation. agagagagag

Alien: Covenant & Alien: Prometheus

*spoilers* & speculation


So yeah, I guess it makes sense. From the stuff he's given - the pathogen, the population of the planet, and Shaw - he crafts a particular version of the pathogen's results. He uses some dose of the pathogen that's more than is needed for evolutionary development and less than is needed for genocide, and the stable version he gets has eggs and facehuggers. How he got the eggs is another question. Did they come from a queen or did he craft them himself? If the narrative is going to fall apart, it'll be there, I guess.

Chicken (alien) and egg conundrum.

In Covenant, we can see that David had a sketch of a facehugger.  He'd evidently spent some time on his project.  Whether he back-bred the airborne version to something strongly resembling an earlier form or the egg and faceghugger version was completely new (thus wrecking the AVP timeline), I think it's reasonable to say if he can create, swallow, and barf up (literally) a couple of Alien embryos, he's got the situation well under control.  My guess is that the 2 embryos David had would be the equivalent of what a facehugger would implant into a host.  One's a queen and one's a drone (assuming Alien reproduction isn't asexual).  He just needs to select 2 victims, shove an embryo down each of their throats, and wait for their chests to burst. . .

OH - Just thought of a complication.  The ship carrying all those eggs in the first Alien movie had an Engineer with a burst chest.  This means that in the space between Alien Covenant and Alien, somehow the eggs laid by David's queen (or, perhaps a daughter of David's queen) have to not just get on an Engineer ship, but have to get on one with a live Engineer sitting in a crew position on the bridge.

Yes, I think we definitely have enough here for one more Alien prequel. agagagagag

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 07, 2017, 04:35:44 PM
My instinct is David's original queen was Shaw. I have no particular basis for saying so other than wild imagining based on her one, brief (and dead) appearance in Covenant. And because he said he loved her.

We do know that David lies, and that possibly he believes some of his own lies. But all that mimicry he does is totally not just his way off the planet, it is emblematic of who and what he is - a copy. So while he does lie, his lies - his performances - are meant to be real in themselves. Thus, when he said he loved her, he did mean it, although perhaps not in any conventional sense. Probably, the sense is in how she worked out as a tool in his creation program.

Or so goes my made up reconstruction.


Alien: Covenant could have been substantially meatier then if perhaps they had taken the time to tell all that properly. Seems a bit to me like Covenant kind of takes place after all the good stuff happened.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on July 08, 2017, 12:04:59 AM
STILL DOING ALIEN COVENANT SPOILERS!

On that point I'll have to agree.  A couple of momentary flashbacks just doesn't quite fill all the gaps in a fully satisfactory way.  At the end of Prometheus, David needed to be rebuilt.  Then he and Shaw had to figure out how to fly an Engineer ship.  Plus, David had to do a lot of sneaking around in the background to be ready for bombing the Engineer city, declaring his love and then turning around to murder her for a science experiment, etc. (Was the Engineer city on their homeworld?  Maybe, but I'd think the homeworld of an advanced starfaring race would have had some cities visible from orbit even if the inhabitants had all been turned into Aliens or used as snack food.)

It's possible that more of the "between movies" story was filmed, but got cut.  Ridley Scott isn't known for brevity in his films, so there's probably a significant number of unused scenes.  I guess we'll have to wait for the blue ray or the director's cut.

Even if Shaw was used to incubate a queen (or proto-queen), David didn't bring anything as big as a queen along with him when he left on the Covenant.  So unless this trip goes in circles, I'd say one of those embryos David puked up is the queen who is the mother or grandmother of the eggs discovered by the crew of the Nostromo.

One small nit to pick.  Covenant is a colony ship.  It's not designed for easy take offs and landings, but it evidently capable of landing at least once to unload all the passengers and cargo.  Even so, a ship that size where there's the possibility of checking out an alternate destination planet (and also possible an alternate site to set up the colony on the original destination planet seems to be sadly short of landing ability.  They had ONE lander and a flying crane which could be mis-used as a lander.  The Covenant should have been equipped with more than a single certified landing craft.  I can forgive this for the Nostromo.  It was a cargo tug with zero intention of any side trips and probably seldom ever had to do anything but orbital rendezvous.




Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 08, 2017, 12:59:05 AM
Alien: Covenant and the Elizabeth Shaw Problem (http://www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/alien/264976/alien-covenant-and-the-elizabeth-shaw-problem)

Alien: Covenant is a sequel to Prometheus, but what it does to Noomi Rapace's Elizabeth Shaw underscores huge fundamental problems.

We’ve been here before. Following the ending of a popular (or at least widely viewed) entry in the universe of facehuggers and chestbursters, major decisions were made behind the scenes by the studio and filmmakers. As a consequence, the next movie was different, darker, and devoid of one or more of the central characters who just survived the last picture. The fact that I could be describing Alien 3 or Alien: Covenant is a testament to how uninhibited by fan expectation this franchise continues to be....

Alien: Covenant - deleted prologue (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeMVrnYNwus)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 08, 2017, 01:26:21 AM
How Alien: Covenant fits in the larger Alien timeline, and what comes next (https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/19/15567256/alien-covenant-aliens-prometheus-franchise-ridley-scott-explainer)

The latest installment of Ridley Scott’s space-horror franchise, Alien: Covenant, hits theaters today. The series is coming up on its 40th anniversary, and over the course of its lifetime, it’s taken some interesting turns — and some downright unfortunate ones.

The franchise is already in a strange place, with the latest films sitting somewhere between prequels and sequels. And as with any long-running franchise, numerous entries can led to a complicated timeline. With the latest film coming out, it’s a good time to look back at the scope of the series, where it started, and where it’s currently landed....



Covenant appears to be a standalone entry. It's (probably) part of the universe, but not really a sequel to Prometheus. And in fact there is some (very iffy) intimation that there is (or was) an actual planned sequel to Prometheus and it would (have) take(n) place between Prometheus and Covenant. Another intimation has it that wherever the Covenant story takes place, it is indeed not the homeworld - and that some sequel/prequel or other in the future will go there, perhaps before Covenant happens or (maybe more likely) after.

Basically, Alien:Covenant is another Alien 3 - not a bad movie (necessarily), but not the movie that was expected. I can probably cope with that. I'm basically okay with both Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection. The relative tonal weirdness of Resurrection was much easier to accept initially than what happens right at the beginning of 3, but as movies by themselves, in the end, they're okay. Probably Covenant will work out like that too. Meaning I guess all along we're looking at an anthology series, not at a collection of movies with one overarching story.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on July 10, 2017, 03:04:02 PM
I'm ok with Prometheus/Covenant being stand-alones, but still think they could be linked in as an Alien prequel with one more film.

If we got to an array of movies not all fitting in the same time line, that's ok, as long as it doesn't get as wide-ranging as X-Men.  I haven't checked, but I'll bet someone's had to create serial numbers for all the different timelines in those films.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 10, 2017, 05:02:17 PM
Assuming Alan Dean Foster's novelization is canon, then

Alien: Covenant

*Spoilers: Movie & Book*

In the book, before David and Captain Oram go downstairs to the "successes"...

David shows Captain Oram a large leathery "egg". It has to be opened by hand. Inside is a dead face-hugger. Of this, David says:

“This one was a true survivor. Not unlike myself, I suppose, although my survival stems from intelligence, and its from inherent instinct. It can evolve and reproduce very quickly under a wide variety of situations.” His expression fell. “Sadly, it became aggressive, so I had to euthanize it. Such a shame. I place no blame on something with motivations that are purely primal.”

Captain Oram is encouraged to look inside. He does. Nothing happens. The Captain backs away and expressed horror and/or disgust.

“Oh, Captain.” David shook his head sadly. “Acknowledge beauty when you see it. Even if its appearance disturbs you, surely you can admire the skill that went into its design. In case you are wondering, I had nothing to do with it. It lies as I found it, a supreme example of the Engineers’ skill. And also, I suppose, of their hubris.

or tldr:

In the book, David says he did not create the face huggers. Neither it seems did he create the more familiar big black aliens
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on July 10, 2017, 05:46:46 PM
SPOILERS!  Covenant.

Yet he made claims to having created them.  So now we've got 3 major possibilities (and a bunch of other possible variants)

1.  Book is totally wrong and David's skill at genetic manipulation is right up there with the Engineers.

2.  Book's version is somewhat wrong.  Infectious version was an Engineer variant on a pre-existing designer (or even natural life form the Engineers discovered).  David had to do some manipulation to get this line of Aliens going again - could have been as easy as cloning from the embryo the facehugger was carrying all the way up to breeding back from the infectious version).

3.  Book is totally right and David is stealing 100% of the credit for "creating" something he found ready and waiting for use.  Of course, David hasn't exactly proven himself to be a paragon of honesty in other areas. uuuuuuuuuu

My operating theory is that the exact origins of the egg and facehugger versions weren't fixed at the time the script and novel were begun, so we may have to wait for official word on what's canon - possibly until the sequel I hope can bridge from Covenant to Alien.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 10, 2017, 07:04:57 PM
The book isn't particularly clear on exactly what David did, and of course David lies, but based on his various speeches, which are more or less the same as in the movie but with more, and sometimes new, details, David was indeed experimenting, cross breeding and so on. He seems to have imagined himself drawing out the best of the pathogen. But he does say:

“Would that I could create something so perfect in its function,” he added. “I try, but I don’t have thousands of years of practice at biological and genetic engineering. I have only my pitiable programming on which to draw. That, and ten years of earnest effort on my own behalf. I have learned only a little, yet I soldier on, hoping always to achieve something like this, always striving to do better, to improve. That’s what the Engineers did, I suppose. That is what someone playing God should do.”

My own understanding finds that David was acting as a host. Whereas a human (or any other item of fauna) would provide dna and a warm squishy environment for one iteration of pathogen's imperatives, David managed a whole world-wide (or as near to world-wide as was possible) chain of iterations.

And as it happened, among his bestiary, and not shown in the movie:

Oram found himself filing past a row of tall, menacing bipeds. Their tough exoskeletons gleamed like black steel. Though there were slight individual variations, all had in common the same threatening aspect—long tails ending in scorpion-like points, curving elongated skulls devoid of visible eyes, and jaws filled with teeth shining like chromed chisels.

The movie only shows the weird pale deformed versions. In the book, those come after these more properly "Alien" forms in david's display.


Everything is based on the "parasites" David discovers as having come from the egg sacs. (I still don't know what that means - which egg sacs? Which eggs? It's not at all clear.) They're in the movie too. Those black dots that come, seemingly, out of plants to infect the first two red shirts. In the book, and in the movie, David has them preserved in amber in their various development stages. So, the book might be making things up, trying to preserve a legacy that Ridley Scott was trying to undo, but the book seems to fit over the top of the movie version quite well, adding detail rather than subtracting. And the idea of David as glorified host rather than Engineer-equal seems suitably gothic Romantic.

In any case, there does need to be another movie, if only to find out whether or not we're truly heading down the gothic horror path or this is just a detour in a larger industrial horror story. One may well accept the former, indeed eventually come to acknowledge its beauty even as the outward appearance disturbs, but from the first movie the Alien legacy has been the latter, so........
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 28, 2017, 08:59:52 PM
Shot Caller (2017)

Jamie of Thrones gets sent to the pokey, and he.... likes it? He goes in a cleanskin businessman and ten years later he's muled drugs, shivved dudes, sprouted tatts, and gotten parole? We never really know why any of this happens. The whole way through he seems entirely too cultured for any of this so the movie is one long wut?! Enjoyable, I suppose, but it doesn't really make any sense. "Jon" Bernthal makes a whole lot more sense as a wildly over-tattooed Aryan Brotherhood dude, but still.

Okay, I don't want to poop on the parade too much. The movie is okay. For this kind of thing though, the French movie from 2009, Un Prophete, is better.

One star: 🌟
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 03, 2017, 11:47:39 PM
Cyborg 2 - Glass Shadow (1993)

A very - very - low-rent Bladerunner clone without much in the way of dramatic tension but by jingo it provides us with Angelina Jolie's first starring role and somehow not Jack Palance's last and is still chock full of ideas. Don't get me wrong, this is not a good movie - the acting is portentous, the pacing leaves everyone stranded, and the actors frequently get in each other's way - but darn it, Harrison Ford and Sean Young hated each other and Bladerunner is still considered some kind of masterpiece so this one is too!

As a movie:  mmmmmmmmmm awawawawaw awawawawaw   But if measured on the cult-o-meter:  bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 05, 2017, 12:05:57 AM
(https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1600/1*lu1WUUd7JMBrh0oX1xUyrA.jpeg)

(1995)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 10, 2017, 04:23:15 PM
Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol.2 (2017)

The cynical might call this a lengthy advertisement for Baby Groot merchandise. It's not nearly as charming as Vol 1. But the spectacle is very pretty to look at anyway. Should be watched in hidef on a big screen, or, if you're old skool like that, in a cinema. Dramatically speaking there seems to me one very big mistake undermining the execution of the father-son story, but I suppose it has moments anyway because it is as mentioned very pretty.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 13, 2017, 07:02:53 PM
Kill Switch (2017)

Very attractive to look at. Super-dumb to listen to. This is a movie quite literally rendered as a first-person shooter video game. The main character has a HUD, you see through his eyes, in lieu of on-going drama he says dumb things over and over, like "no no!" or "don't do that" or "just wait a minute" meanwhile finding  guns, ammo, information posted to walls, and later, squad members who stomp around his area of operation following his lead. he takes hits along the way and gets medical attention and he has a cube. That's right, he has a cube. If you've played Half-Life or Call of Duty, you'll get this movie, and might even see it through to the end. I did.

 bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 14, 2017, 12:22:15 AM
So Young (c. 2013)

Very accurate glimpse of college life in China. The campus, the classrooms, the classes, the dorms and the dorm drama.

And the afterlife of their college experience. Rings very true to my almost 19 years of experience teaching in various Chinese universities.

Not much to do with teaching English in China, but lots to do with the straum and derge (sp?) of Chinese college student life.

Spoilers, I guess, and this is a reaction post rather than a review but.... My goodness, this movie... it's excellent, of course, and I've just watched it. By the end it's so wildly messed up. I've not had so visceral a reaction in watching a movie that, yes, it's the real deal. They could have done it as a 90-minute university story or a 3-hour pre- and post-graduation story, and it would have been easier to bear, I think. As it is, it is complete though, so....

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf

So Young - Wang Faye (http://music.163.com/#/song?id=26207292)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 27, 2017, 04:23:23 PM
The 5th Wave (2016)

A very pedestrian translation to film of the book. There's a part in the book, right at the start, where the main character, Cassie, says "Aliens are dumb". She explains why, and the book moves on from there. The movie, however, seems not to. Which is a pity. The book, which shouldn't be as good as it is, is fast-moving and exciting. The movie seems not to show any of that even as it stays a bit too literally faithful to the book. Maybe the sequel will be better.

 bqbqbqbqbq
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 09, 2017, 01:12:54 PM
ill Manors (2012)

Written, scored, and directed by the very multi-talented Brit rapper, Plan B. The movie is aggressive and the stories are harsh - it's a crime drama with a human toll - we spend 7 days with 8 main characters and the many people around them in one council estate in Britain. The movie has imperfections but it tells a lot of story anyway, as you might expect from a genuinely good rapper. Worth it.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf

Fantastic soundtrack in any case: Ill Manors - Plan B (http://music.163.com/#/album?id=1976542)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 11, 2017, 01:57:44 AM
The Running Man (1987)

hahahah oh lord

By 2017 the world economy has collapsed... 

And Mick Fleetwood is leader of the resistance!!!

Long, long ago, would have been late eighties, no later than 1990, I had a public access radio show... entirely crappy, and entirely volunteer, one hour a week... but I used to use samples. Watching The Running Man was surprising for just how much quotable dialogue I must have collected (and left running around my subconscious all this time).... oh lord, and I would have done it by VCR to cassette tape player too bibibibibi  ahahahahah  ahahahahah

Who loves you? AND WHO DO LOVE!

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 13, 2017, 12:25:30 PM
Baby Driver (2017)

Very hype movie. "Baby" is a young getaway driver and music lover and he's stuck working for a kingpin who keeps putting him together with trenchantly cool robbery crews. Unfortunately for the momentum of the movie, this kid is about as charismatic on screen as a slice of white bread. Despite all the quirk and action (and music), that kid is just really opaque, which has everyone in-story keep hating on him, like I'm doing now, but he's a robot and I just couldn't find the heart of the movie. Imma fault the soundtrack too. I mean, yeah man, Bob & Earl's Harlem Shuffle and "Trex" Debora, but then I don't know what happens

Given how much hype this movie has, I'm probably missing something. It was ok.


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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 16, 2017, 06:44:57 PM
Star Wars (1977) - Despecialized, v2.5

PRINCESS LEIA HAD FRECKLES?! Who even knew?

The Despecialized Trilogy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmy%27s_Despecialized_Edition) is an unauthorised fan project that has attempted, to some considerable acclaim, to recreate the original Star Wars Trilogy. As we all know, George Lucas tinkered with the films between their original release and the various subsequent releases. The Despecialized Editions remove much of the added CGI stuff. Reviewers make a big deal about the colour corrections too, saying the Despecialized Editions are so much more colour accurate that they're a joy to watch. (Also, Han shoots first.)

Personally, I have little to no Star Wars nostalgia. Of the Lucas additions I recall only that I watched a newer edition once and kept noticing the CGI - the Mos Eisley alien thing in particular. But yesterday I just thought I'd watch the movie again, and the Despecialized Editions were a easy catch, so I watched A New Hope that way. I liked it, and it's the first time I've seen Star Wars in (mostly) 720p, and thus, for instance, Leia's freckles. I suspect, aesthetically speaking, the Despecialized probably is a better viewing experience than the newer Lucas versions. I enjoyed it.


 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 02, 2017, 04:29:45 PM
The Man From Nowhere - 아저씨 - (2010)

Reclusive pawn shop owner lives next door to a junkie exotic dancer and her daughter. Then men from the criminal organization the mother tried to cheat turn up to recover their goods, and they decide the pawn shop owner can be their fall guy for the bad things that happen. Slick Korean action thriller movie ensues.
Imperfect but effective nonetheless.


 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 04, 2017, 06:38:20 PM
Blade Runner (1982) - Final Cut - (2007)

I still find this movie opaque. I don't know why Deckard does anything nor, as far as the movie is concerned, why the replicants are so hated and feared. The existence of the Voight-Kampf test does not, in my humble estimation, provided indication enough of the movie's themes. You can work out for yourself from Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep that it's all about empathy and being human, but spotting that in the movie itself.....?


Two shrugs up:  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 08, 2017, 12:50:52 PM
No Tears for the Dead - 우는 남자 - (2014)

Surprisingly poor reviews for a movie so not bad. Korean-American hitman kills a bunch of people by choice and then a child by accident and if you look closely he was already on the path of hating who and what he was, which puts him at odds with his organization when he has to go to Korea and kill the mother too. The dramatic elements may be a little undercooked but there are just so many of them! Slick, compromised action movie about a slick, sick, and fatally compromised man. Boom.


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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 16, 2017, 02:54:11 AM
Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017)

Outstanding! Vince Vaughn doing better than he did in True Detective and S Craig Zahler (the writer/director) doing better than he did in in Bone Tomahawk. I thought I was watching one thing and then I was watching something else. Maybe you should know going in that this is throwback grindhouse prison cinema. Perhaps the title is a giveaway. Worth it.


 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 18, 2017, 01:13:48 PM
Suddenly Seventeen - 28岁未成年 - (2016)

An optimistic and mostly cheerful version of dissociative identity disorder the Chinese fantasy of youth. A 28-year-old woman isn't proposed to by her boyfriend of 10 years and seeks solace in magical chocolates that make her "young at heart", which is to say, 17 again. She regains her youthful exuberance and gets into trouble. Billed as "fantasy", but more interesting if considered a very lightweight vision (with minor darkness in the undercurrents) of how being an attractive nutcase can (almost) be good for you.


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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 24, 2017, 11:35:42 PM
The Warriors (1979)

Still good. Technically a heavily bowdlerized version of Sol Yurick's novel, but still fun. Nine gang members travel to a city-wide conclave in the Bronx, which quickly deteriorates after the star attraction is shot, and for the rest of the movie they have to bop their way back to Coney Island with everyone thinking they did the shooting. Based on Xenophon's Anabasis (which the Director's Cut portentously and needlessly informs us). Even the entirely needless comic book transitions in the Director's Cut can't ruin the good time.


 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf


(https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5506c073e4b0f11c1e33194f/t/5654525ae4b095b3882d0eff/1448366683933/image.jpg)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 27, 2017, 09:29:27 PM
Atomic Blonde (2016)

Confusing. In a timeless 1989, an undercover MI6 agent (Charlize Theron) is called in to debrief on her violent and undermotivated recent mission to (Cold War) Berlin. She's cold and hard and snarly. We see flashbacks to all the crosses and double crosses and some tremendous lengthy one-take fist fights, but the whole thing is pretty garbled and supposed to be all Fight Club cool but isn't which kind of just leaves the mystery of what the hell's going on which isn't much..... The movie is notable I guess for allowing the female lead to be as thuggish as any James Bond, but there's some missing element that for me left the rest of the movie incoherent.


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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on November 01, 2017, 02:11:25 AM
American Werewolf in London (1981)

If I were telling my thirteen-year-old self anything, well, it'd be quite a long lecture and would cover much ground, but I'd say, kid, you might not need this movie just yet. Kid, I'd say, 35 years later you're still going to be exorcising that stuff... It's not that scary to me these days of course. Or........ it's the ease with which the nightmarishly surreal just slips into David's life and how easily he accepts it, how the freakish (and violent) was real and present and just there in an everyman's life....... totally freaked me out as a kid. That and the jump scares. That first setup on the moors in particular.


 aoaoaoaoao aoaoaoaoao alalalalal
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on November 05, 2017, 06:39:19 PM
Singularity (2017)

Artificial intelligence, abrupt technological growth, killer robots exterminate most of humanity, John Cusack.... the movie had it all... and was so very boring even I couldn't watch it. Wooden acting, vacant script, not even camp...


 bqbqbqbqbq
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on November 06, 2017, 11:25:50 PM
American Werewolf in London (1981)

If I were telling my thirteen-year-old self anything, well, it'd be quite a long lecture and would cover much ground, but I'd say, kid, you might not need this movie just yet. Kid, I'd say, 35 years later you're still going to be exorcising that stuff... It's not that scary to me these days of course. Or........ it's the ease with which the nightmarishly surreal just slips into David's life and how easily he accepts it, how the freakish (and violent) was real and present and just there in an everyman's life....... totally freaked me out as a kid. That and the jump scares. That first setup on the moors in particular.


 aoaoaoaoao aoaoaoaoao alalalalal

Oddly enough, I didn't like it the first time I saw it, but ended up loving it the second time around and have enjoyed seeing it every few years since then.  Maybe it had something to do with that really big dog that bit me one night sometime between the first and second times I saw the movie. ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on November 11, 2017, 02:13:26 PM
Just not a true fan of horror I guess. Speaking of which....


West Side Story (1961)

Wanted to see why switchblades got banned. Got distracted by the teeth.


West Side Story - Dance at the Gym (http://music.163.com/#/song?id=483581539)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on November 12, 2017, 11:50:29 AM
"Murder on the Orient Express"; I was a bit disappointed. Perhaps it is just me. bibibibibi

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on November 19, 2017, 12:18:53 AM
Fire Walk With Me (1992) (Remastered)

Did you have to have seen Twin Peaks first? To recognise how iconic Dale Cooper is, maybe. But he's barely in the movie. The movie is all Laura. ALL Laura. To love or hate Laura is to love or hate the movie. Anyway, 25 years ago, Laura told Agent Cooper "I'll see you again in twenty-five years," and the revival/reboot season 3 of Twin Peaks will start showing in 2017... so I watched the 1990 pilot, and I watched the 1991 finale (plus the two penultimate episodes), and I watched the movie, Fire Walk With Me. Twenty five years ago I did watch all of Twin Peaks too. Could the movie stand on it's own? I have no idea.


 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf


Watched this again. As a psychological horror odyssey with Laura at the center, it remains aces. (Sheryl Lee probably makes it - another actress might not have.) And just as the original Twin Peaks had a focus - the murder investigation - FWWM has a focus - Laura. And the ring exists in FWWM. A lot of things make a little more sense in Twin Peaks season 3 because of FWWM, and vice versa. I'm baffled that this movie should have been considered a failure, but I do remember that it was. I recall reading reviews saying it was an embarrassment to Lynch and a disappointment to fans. People are dumb.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on November 27, 2017, 01:45:29 PM
Anti-Matter (2017)

Has no antimatter.

Physics postgrads accidentally invent a localisable wormhole technology and with an alarmingly antiscientific abandon proceed to make it big enough for a person to go through. One of them does go through. The trial is a success. But then she's losing time, she gets attacked, and her friends are keeping secrets.

Rapid-fire philosophical and intellectual horror (with really bad ADR at the beginning and a terribly wooden male supporting actor all the way through).


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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 23, 2017, 08:23:50 PM
The Future of the ‘Alien’ Series Involves Fewer Aliens, Says Ridley Scott (http://www.slashfilm.com/alien-covenant-sequel/)

If you watched Alien: Covenant earlier this year and thought, “Huh, director Ridley Scott really doesn’t seem all that interested in the aliens in this Alien movie,” well…it seems like you were right. While Covenant was a box office disappointment, the legendary filmmaker still intends to make another movie in the franchise and it certainly sounds like he’s going to double down on not caring all that much about the creature that supplies these movies with their titles.

Scott has been busy reshooting swaths of his new movie, All the Money in the World, replacing disgraced star Kevin Spacey with Christopher Plummer. And he’s also planning to shoot his adaptation of Don Winslow’s The Cartel next year. And he’s also taking time to talk about the next Alien movie with Entertainment Weekly. May you be so busy when you’re 80 years old.

Anyway, Scott says that the key to the series’ longevity will be replacing the drooling, acid-blooded alien with a different kind of monster – artificial intelligence. Here’s his reasoning:


Quote
We are [going to make another], we are. I think what we have to do is gradually drift away from the alien stuff. People say, ‘You need more alien, you need more face pulling, need more chest bursting,’ so I put a lot of that in Covenant and it fitted nicely. But I think if you go again you need to start finding another solution that’s more interesting. I think AI is becoming much more dangerous and therefore more interesting.


/pffft
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 24, 2017, 03:45:01 PM
Bright (2017)

Urban fantasy. The world is run by Elves. The Dark Lord may be returning. And Will Smith and some Orc are LA police. They find a magic wand.

Really bad reviews. But you know... yes, the witty one liners are not quite right all the time, and the buddy movie formula doesn't entirely sit too well in the fantasy setting, and the whole thing would have been better if they'd gone properly grimdark, but it's a lot of fun anyway. Definitely more shallow than it needed to be if it wanted to be great, but the ideas and the setting are kinda cool. I could see it as a pretty nifty tv show. Hard to tell if Will Smith makes this movie or he brings too much Bad Boys baggage with him.


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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 29, 2017, 07:49:41 PM
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

aka Blade Runner, 2 hours and 43 minutes. It's damn long. But good, I thought. A great deal of the "good" is the visuals. It's a very compelling film to look at. I got lost after the second hour though. Han Solo showed up and I didn't quite know what was going on anymore. Would watch again though. I think maybe the cyberpunk/slave horror themes are a bit too muted. They're there but really dialed back, like maybe no one knows what to say about a slave rebellion anymore.


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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 02, 2018, 02:19:16 PM
White Christmas (1954)

Bing Crosby foments US insurrection. A classic.


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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 05, 2018, 08:37:19 PM
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971)

Psychedelic. The original blaxploitation movie.


 ababababab ababababab


Sweetback's Theme - Earth, Wind & Fire (http://music.163.com/#/song?id=27333799)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on January 08, 2018, 10:12:12 PM
Star Wars Episode 8: The Last Jedi

Did seem a little like a remake of some major parts of Episodes 5 and 6.  Not as bad as some complain about.  Not as good as some gush over.

There were complaints about the Porgs.  Personally, I liked them.  I thought they looked very tasty. uuuuuuuuuu
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 14, 2018, 08:22:09 PM
Coffy (1973)

Blaxploitation. Nurse "Coffy" Coffin (Pam Grier) seeks revenge for her younger sister's drug addiction. Better than Foxy Brown.


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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 19, 2018, 11:55:47 PM
The Continent - 后会无期 - (2014)

Chinese road movie, written and directed by Han Han. Episodic rather than filmic, and kind of inconclusive, but genuinely funny.


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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 21, 2018, 11:07:56 PM
Mountains May Depart  - 山河故人 - (2015)

A Jia Zhangke movie thus remarkable at capturing essential Chinese silences - follows the life of Tao from young womanhood in 1999, through marriage in 2014, and into the aftermath in the next generation in 2025 (!!!) - an excellent, ambitious movie, maybe especially with the weird and uncomfortable way it ends.


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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 23, 2018, 11:55:32 PM
Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock & Roll (2015)

Details the growth in the sixties and what is known of the later destruction under the Khmer Rouge of the people who made Cambodia's pop and rock. Described as a meticulous and unsparing reckoning, I found this doco unsettling for the alarming sentimental streak it displays, which I found to be at odds with the meticulous and unsparing streak it does also display. It's an odd conjunction. But valuable to consider. And I guess apt as well.


 ananananan ananananan ananananan
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Nolefan on January 25, 2018, 07:40:58 AM
Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock & Roll (2015)

Details the growth in the sixties and what is known of the later destruction under the Khmer Rouge of the people who made Cambodia's pop and rock. Described as a meticulous and unsparing reckoning, I found this doco unsettling for the alarming sentimental streak it displays, which I found to be at odds with the meticulous and unsparing streak it does also display. It's an odd conjunction. But valuable to consider. And I guess apt as well.


 ananananan ananananan ananananan

I enjoyed that one..... while you're at it, you should most defintely check out "In the shadows of Motown"..... a great little piece about arguably the most unsung heroes of modern music.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 27, 2018, 08:22:24 PM
Macbeth (2015)

Is Macbeth a really slow moving play? This movie version with Michael Fassbender is intense, but surprisingly quiet, and.. sort of... nothing much happens? They speak the Shakespeare's English too. I watched with the subtitles turned on, lol. It was good.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf

(And you know what? I've just now realised Fassbender was in Alien Covenant - so not a trace of that in this movie.)



Thor Ragnarok  (2017)

Not as charming as Guardians of the Galaxy, but a decent attempt at that type of movie. Enjoyable.

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Only the Brave (2017)

True story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, the first municipal (as opposed to federal) Hotshots firefighting team in the US, and what happened to them at Yarnell Hill. I watched this because reviews said "affecting fact-based story add up to a no-frills drama that's just as stolidly powerful as the real-life heroes it honors", which is true.

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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 31, 2018, 10:55:33 PM
Kubo and The Two Strings (2016)

Stop motion Japanese-style fantasy. Charming, pleasing to look at, ends weird, and one worries about authenticity since this Japanese-style stop-motion fantasy is a US production, but I suppose we can chalk that up to globalisation and not yellowface... they don't stick the landing, that's all. Otherwise this Japanese-style fantasy is fine. A kid with a backstory and a sick mother and skills with magic and paper folding goes on a quest. It's really very enjoyable.


 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 01, 2018, 11:59:10 PM
while you're at it, you should most defintely check out "In the shadows of Motown"..... a great little piece about arguably the most unsung heroes of modern music.

That proved to be an interesting watch (and listen). The music was great throughout.

It's interesting. It's probably just a function of what I do and don't listen to, but with my untrained and wholly amateur ears I've had for some time the suspicion that modern singers just don't have what the singers back in the 50s and 60s did have. I could almost try pointing at this special as proof, but then Chaka Khan did What's Going On... (and was possibly the only singer on the show not overshadowed by the original version too).

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf

Standing in the Shadows of Motown (2004)

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 02, 2018, 02:15:25 PM
The Shanghai Job (2017)

Expat Legolas in Shanghai. If it had just had a sense of humor, this movie could have been good. There are a handful of laughs, scored by bit players usually, and some sullen jabs, but the main players are po-faced in the extreme. Super serious about goofy crap that could have been so much more fun. But that's China, I guess.


 bqbqbqbqbq bqbqbqbqbq
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 06, 2018, 03:11:30 AM
Death Race (franchise)

In the beginning there was Death Race 2000, the Roger Corman cult political satire from 1975. It was goofy. Then there was the 2008 prison-based car combat action movie, Death Race, which started Jason Statham and was advertised as a prequel-slash-remake but it was a long time ago I watched it and I don't remember much and anyway except that it had almost nothing to do with the original. But then came Death Race 2, an actual prequel. Death Race 2 is a prequel to both Death Race in that it is set before the events of Death Race, and to Death Race 2000 in that Death Race 2 presents the origin of Frankenstein, the driver who keeps getting killed but who keeps on winning Death Race anyway.

Now, where Death Race 2000 was political satire dressed in goofy 70s schlock, Death Race 2 is humourless prison schlock that isn't satire anymore because big bad corporations being mean to prisoners is so 90s who even knows why they made it in 2010. But then came Death Race 3: INFERNO. Frankenstein is established now, society is going to hell, and while the corps still own Death Race, the CEOs are being mean to each other. So they go international, and the whole thing jumps the track on them. And then came Death Race 4: BEYOND ANARCHY! The race has forgotten its international spread and moved to a gigantic prison city called The Sprawl (and yes, there are so many references to other weirdo mad max-style movies, there should be some kind of drinking game). But the cars have taken on their Death Race 2000 fairings and everyone everywhere is nutcase bonkers suicidal and woo, is society in the shitter or what?! It's almost time for a political satire again! Death Race 4 doesn't quite go there but it does have the goofy done almost right so perhaps there's hope for Death Race 5, because you know there will be one.

There was by the way a Death Race 2050, but that was a nearly direct remake of Death Race 2000. The Death Race prison movies are getting there in their own time, and may yet even make it. In Death Race 3, they had racers killing, by accident, civilians. You can see them almost going the full 2000. Then in Death Race 4 they don't, but they do have just about everything else that eventually sets up Death Race 2000. The crazy cars, the weirdo drivers, the Mad Max (Beyond Thunderdome) aesthetic, the international audience, and lots of guns...

The Death Race 2000 and 2050 are good movies, more or less. Death Race 1, 2, 3, and 4 and super-crappy but they are getting better with each iteration. Punish yourself today.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 07, 2018, 11:51:18 AM
"THE SHAPE OF WATER":
This was an unusual movie set against the backdrop of Cold War era America circa 1962. Elisa (Sally Hawkins) and a co-worker discover a secret classified experiment in a high security Government laboratory where they work as janitors. Elisa forms a strange relationship with the masculine looking aquatic creature. I am not surprised that it was listed as MA15+. I thought that I must have been at the wrong movie when they showed a full frontal of a naked Elisa (pubic hair on display). I am pretty sure that she was also masturbating in the bath tub. aoaoaoaoao I didn't consider myself a prude, but these scenes really surprised me. It received very good reviews here in Oz. Has anyone else seen it yet?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on February 23, 2018, 10:12:33 PM
I'm definitely going to need an unedited copy of that to view. afafafafaf

In the meantime, I've just wathed the edited to local cable TV standards version of Friday the 13th, parts 2 - 8.  Sadly the edits took out 98% of the best parts of the movies.  Happily, the censors slipped and a few frames of uncovered C cups made it on screen several times. afafafafaf

Part 8 had Jason acting way out of character.  He's never passed up an opportunity to kill one or more people just because another target was running away before. kkkkkkkkkk
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on March 12, 2018, 01:11:27 PM
"Sweet Country" is a movie which might interest some Aussies! It is set in the 1920's in the outback of Australia's Northern Territory. It is unusual in that it revolves around a middle aged Aboriginal man. Having been a Nurse in the Northern Territory in the early sixties and having also lived on a large country property, I think I saw things which a lot of folks would miss. Most city folk have never seen a" full blood" Aboriginal person and certainly not in his own environment. The story was inspired by real events.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on March 22, 2018, 11:36:56 AM
I've probably asked this before, but do any of you guys go out to movie theatres to see a movie?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Nolefan on March 22, 2018, 08:57:54 PM
only when the movie is worth it.. usually big special effect things do it for me.
Saw Black Panther 3 weeks ago and it needed to be on a big screen. For everything else, there's my laptop
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on March 22, 2018, 09:31:06 PM
Some movies deserve the big screen, so I go out for those.  Otherwise, I just end up waiting for the video pirates or cable TV to have them.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 23, 2018, 01:04:13 AM
Last time I went to an actual cinema was in Oz to see Inception. It might just have been that session or that cinema, but I recall being distracted by the image quality. The big screen seemed to me both pixelated and blurry.

But truth be told, I'm not much into the social aspects of movie watching. Watching a movie is more like reading a book than going out to dinner.


/curmudgeon
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on March 23, 2018, 07:13:18 PM
For me, going out to a movie has no better social aspects than watching the movie on TV with friends.  Some movies just deserve the big screen treatment.  Sad to hear that theater screwed up with Inception.  That was a movie which need a BIG screen for maximum effect.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on March 25, 2018, 12:21:01 PM
"Red Sparrow"is a movie which stars Jennifer Lawrence and Joel Edgerton. Sparrow School, a secret Russian intelligence service, trains exceptional young people to use their minds and bodies afafafafaf as weapons. I think some of you guys will find it interesting. uuuuuuuuuu
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on March 29, 2018, 07:45:31 PM
I saw the reboot of Tomb Raider in the theater on Monday.  It had potential which it just couldn't quite figure out how to achieve.  It wasn't exactly bad, but instead was sort of in the middle and missed out on the possibility of being a really good flick.  Maybe we'll get luckier if they make a sequel.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on April 29, 2018, 01:50:48 PM
Coin Locker Girl - 차이나타운 - (2015)

Kim Go-Eun (from Guardian) is Il Young, a kid originally abandoned as a newborn infant in a subway coin locker, found and raised by beggars, then sold to "Mother" (Kim Hye-soo, Signal), a sociopathic people smuggler and organ harvester. In time she comes of age in the business. Korean family drama ensues.

Imperfect, but good.


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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on May 01, 2018, 04:30:02 PM
Downsizing (2017).  Get irreversibly shrunk down to 5 inches tall!  It's good for the environment and you can buy a fabulous mansion for a tiny price.

Since it was a movie, it just barely got started with some of the more interesting aspects of a situation like this - the potential political and economic frictions between the full sized and small humans.  In some ways, it would have been better to try to cover less ground than to just begin to touch on so many things.

Matt Damon needs to have his agent screen his contracts better.  Once Hong Chau's character showed up, she stole every scene from him.  ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 05, 2018, 02:25:23 PM
Black Panther (2018)

I found it shallow? And characters poorly fleshed out? And kept hearing odd pockets of hackneyed white expression - "This never gets old", "Now more than ever"? And - spoiler - for a technologically advanced society of plenty, the top level of Wakanda was way too quick to drop into civil war. Something weird going on with the story there, an unexpressed tension within the society that wasn't explored properly? Is it going to be weird to say my perspective isn't the right one?

#nopithyclosingcomment

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I Am - Jorja Smith - Black Panther The Album (http://music.163.com/#/song?id=536870480)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 04, 2018, 02:38:28 AM
Tomb Raider (2018)

so much suck


Run for your Life - K Flay (http://music.163.com/#/song?id=538793726)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on June 04, 2018, 06:42:58 PM
A Quiet Place (2018)

The only good thing I can say is that the actors tried their best to overcome a bad script built on a bad concept.


SPOILER ALERT - I can't rip this one to shreds without giving most of the story away.

The origin of the monsters isn't stated.  They may be aliens or might be a genetics experiment gone wrong.  Either way, anyone bright enough to take advantage of their "scary?" limitation of being blind and tracking exclusively by sound could easily deal with them.  Will Smith already dealt with bigger, scarier blind monsters in "After Earth" (Sadly, that movie shares the same big flaw - a monster that can't see you and which can be drawn in a predictable direction by a non-visual stimulus would be pathetically easy to trap or kill.)

1.  The family has a daughter who is only capable of hearing with a rather high end hearing aid which includes a bone conduction speaker (and and the new one her father makes far too conveniently messes with the monsters).  When being hunted by creatures listening for sounds, being proficient in sign language is a great advantage, but not enough without using some brains.

2.  The father seems skilled in electricity and electronics.  The farm they live on had lights, and separately wired red lights to warn of an emergency.  Oddly enough, the father who build all of this over a period of about 2 years wasn't smart enough to put in a few ropes to ring bells outside the house.  This means if one comes in, you've got to be super quiet and have no way to distract the beast to go hunting outside.

3.  A special crib/box with an oxygen mask is ready for an anticipated baby.  No one was bright enough to think of something as simple as a padded emergency box to hide in if one of the monsters entered the house.

4.  Blind monster who runs at incredible speeds towards any sound.  It also can't detect a quiet person standing right in front of it.  So, no significant echo location abilities and much of this is in the woods.  Funny that these things never run into trees.  Also, how hard to set up a bell suspended over the edge of a significant drop?  If no convenient cliffs are handy, any building more than a few floors high with even as little concrete as a parking space could be rigged with few remotely operated bells to lure one up the stairs out off the roof/out a window.

5.  Although these things are strong, I think a typical jail cell even the simple rolldown bars in some stores should be capable of containing them.  Oddly enough, there's no sign of our "heroic" survivor family or anyone else trying to trap or kill one.

6.  The family evidently makes outings to town for supplies.  With multiple children in tow, they have no fixed plan and allow the youngest boy to lag behind.  Let's just say that this pathetic lack of planning means there's one less child to worry about.

7.  The monsters have such good hearing that everyone goes barefoot, even when they are wearing knit caps.  There's some indication the mother can do needlework, plus there's a town.  How bloody hard is it to strap a few potholders on the bottom of shoes?  I guess it's even harder than noticing a bent over nail on a regularly used stairwell, just waiting to snag something so it can be pulled upright.  Naturally, only a human would step on the nail while a blind monster can go up and down the stairs all it likes without having any problems.

8.  Why doesn't everyone keep a few coins/marbles in a pocket?  Each could be separately wrapped in tissue paper or cloth to avoid any sound.  Having one to toss at the proper moment could be the difference between life and death.

9.  The father is standing within a few steps of a box of large tools, including a pitchfork.  He's got to draw the monster away or he's going to lose 2 more children.  Which of these is the stupidest choice?

A.  Stand firmly rooted to the spot and yell loudly.
B.  Step towards the tools while yelling.  Grab the pitchfork and at least see if you can inflict some damage as you die.
C.  Step towards the tools while yelling.  Grab the pitchfork and some non-useful item.  Stop yelling and throw the useless item to the side, preferably in front of anything which would be painful for a blind monster to slam in to.  Then decide whether it would be better to try to stab the creature in the back or to slink away very quietly.

Which does he chose?  Let's just say the fact he lived as long as he did while being so bad at making decisions is amazing.

10.  If the deaf daughter keeps cranking up the speakers (why would there be HUGE speakers on a radio when you don't want monsters to hear you?) to amplify the feedback her mutant hearing aid causes from the noises the monsters make, she's going to blow a circuit somewhere.  One way or the other, that lame attempt at a final heroic scene was going to end with a lot of human blood all over the floor.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 22, 2018, 01:24:59 PM
Last Jedi, as we know, was maybe three different story ideas mashed only semi-coherently together, and a number of legacy characters... "developed" in a not-entirely-canon way. In particular, Leia Poppins. If you don't know who Princess Leia "Poppins" Organa is or how she got that way, then look away, because someone fixed that moment in the movie...

http://www.ign.com/videos/2018/06/07/star-wars-the-last-jedi-fixed-by-the-internet
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on June 22, 2018, 04:52:06 PM
Definitely a vast improvement! agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on June 28, 2018, 05:40:31 PM
Jurassic World 2 (2018)

After the first 4 Jurassic movies, you would think people would have learned to act sensibly around huge carnivores.  Then again, if they had, the movie wouldn't be as fun.

Like all the other Jurassic movies before it, the basic concept comes down to:  "Let's try to do something reasonably straightforward while not taking the safety precautions needed to avoid getting eaten."  This is followed by lots of running and screaming with assorted people getting eaten.

As usual, it's way too easy to tell up front which handful of people will miraculously survive no matter how many times they coat themselves in barbecue sauce and try to hurl themselves directly into the mouths of the dinosaurs.  Maybe we'll get lucky with Jurassic World 3 and they'll surprise us by having an apparently unkillable character get eaten half way through the film in some terribly unheroic way. ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 07, 2018, 11:59:19 PM
Ready Player One (2018)

In the absence of any nostalgic feeling for various kinds of computer gaming, this movie is entirely superficial. The acting is balls, the story doesn't make much sense, and the characters are nobody. But if you liked MMOs and can stand hunting for all the references, it'll probably be really fun. I don't get the nostalgia economy though so....

 bqbqbqbqbq
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 08, 2018, 11:48:09 PM
Also, I would like to point out, yes, films are filmed. Scored even. Written. Scenes are lit, maybe even lighted. But a movie is no more "lensed" than it is "cameraed". Cinematography is the art and science of motion-picture photography. Lensing is focusing light, They are not the same.

 yyyyyyyyyy
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on July 10, 2018, 05:38:00 AM
The Darkest Hour (2017)

Covers Churchill becoming Prime Minister and almost getting tossed out at the moment when he's most needed.  Lucky for us he stayed in charge.  Otherwise, we'd all be teaching German.  ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on July 30, 2018, 01:06:09 AM
Operation Red Sea - 红海行动 - (2018)

Episodic, a little too familiar if you've ever played Call of Duty Modern Warfare, and really quite ludicrous by the end BUT HOT DAMN THE ACTION IS NUTZ AND EVERYONE GETS SHOT TO PIECES AND STILL WINNERS!!!!!

The story is plotted like a video game and the first twenty minutes is entirely disposable. Once past that hump though the action kicks in and KABLAM! BOSS FIGHTS, EXPLOSIONS, SEMBLANCES OF STORY, ENDLESS AMMO AND PEOPLE MOWN DOWN LIKE LEAVES!!! The heroes get chopped up from time to time too and my god the shouting! (The best one was "Calm down! I'm Chinese military!" You'll know it when you see it.)

And they finish the whole thing off with a call to war in the South China Sea, woohoo!

It's a bit dopey, like an 80s actioner without any Rambo. The middle part works though so woohoo boom boom, I guess. Cut off the first and last episode and you have yourselves a movie. With them in it's a patriotic video game. But you know ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 03, 2018, 07:43:59 PM
Avengers Infinity War (2018)

Eh, I'm not feeling it anymore. The movie does a good job of squeezing most all the extant weirdos of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) into one story, but you know it's not by itself one story and the MCU is kind of an I Ching divination anyway - each movie is one shoulder bone tossed on some supposedly larger board to tell some larger story except no one can see it all and you need someone to make up an interpretation...  In my humble estimation, it's only the Guardians of the Galaxy movies that work as movies.

Well anyway, AIW is not bad as a part 1.


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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on August 06, 2018, 07:11:18 PM
Had a Screamfest at my place.  Scream, Scream 2, and Scream 3 all in a row.

Silly, campy, stupid, but fun. agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on August 13, 2018, 01:07:52 PM
Has anyone seen "Mission Impossible-Fallout" starring Tom Cruise? If you did, what did you think of it?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on August 13, 2018, 09:51:09 PM
I tried, but my copy self-destructed after 5 seconds. ahahahahah

I'll try to remember to let you know if I get a chance to see it.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on August 14, 2018, 12:16:43 PM
Thanks EL. I saw it, but there was too much going on for me to write a precis on it. I wondered if it was just me. bibibibibi
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 16, 2018, 10:44:42 PM
The Wailing - 곡성 - (2016)

Korean. Probably a masterpiece. Might need to be watched twice. (Much of the story is hidden in plain sight.) And they call it horror but maybe I'm jaded in my media consumption because it seemed more like a drama with murdered people. In fact, if you go in expecting gore and monsters, aka "horror", you'll see some, but you may miss, as I did, the allegory and fantasy elements.

Worth it tho.


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(And likely on a second viewing to become  bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 22, 2018, 02:52:04 AM
Ocean's 8 (2018)

I think what they did wrong was no opponent. In all the other Ocean's movies there's a heist, sure, but an antagonist as well. 8 is supposed to have had but [spoiler] has zero ability to respond in any antagonistic form so pffft, and we end up with a very low stakes robbery story instead. Would have been boring whether the characters were male or female.

 awawawawaw awawawawaw
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on August 22, 2018, 03:33:33 PM
Ocean's 1

Mr. Ocean gets bored and shoplifts a bag of potato chips from a convenience store.  ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on August 23, 2018, 12:37:35 PM
 "The Darkest Minds" This movie had Science fiction themes and violence. A group of teens form a resistance group to fight back to claim control pf their future. For some reason, the adult world feared everyone under 18 and young folk were imprisoned.  I must admit that I got lost along the way, but perhaps that's just me. bibibibibi Has anyone else seen it?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on August 23, 2018, 07:37:59 PM
Back when I was in middle school, it felt like prison.  Then they put tall fences all the way around the school just to let me know I wasn't imagining things.

The only flaw I can see with the described movie plot is that if a bunch of 16 year olds took over, they'd just end up oppressing people young and older than themselves, which really wouldn't me much of an improvement.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on August 25, 2018, 12:33:37 PM
Saw "THE BOOKCLUB" yesterday. It is listed as having coarse language and sexual references. There were a few guys in a theatre of mainly older women. There was a lot of laughing going on. I think that they were interested in the fact that the women in the club were reading "Fifty shades of grey" and sequels. afafafafaf To be honest, I think it would basically be boring for many males.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on August 27, 2018, 03:23:54 PM
The movie does sound a little boring.  On the other hand, meeting a group of women who are reading all about how fun it is to spank and be spanked has interesting possibilities.

 cbcbcbcbcb
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on August 28, 2018, 12:08:22 PM
EL, that is probably why the men came to the movies with their partners. afafafafaf uuuuuuuuuu
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on August 29, 2018, 04:29:36 PM
Guess I could pick up a copy of the movie and invite some female friends over for movie night. afafafafaf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on September 01, 2018, 12:24:22 PM
Saw "CRAZY RICH ASIANS" yesterday at the movies. With an almost all Asian cast and the Asian culture in the spotlight, I found it different from the way most movies are presented. It has been given very good ratings here. Has anyone there seen it?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on September 03, 2018, 04:22:11 PM
Haven't seen it yet.  Unless something really needs the big-screen treatment, I usually wait for a good qualify DVD or for it to be available on the movies on my cable TV plan.


Alien 1979 Theatrical Release.  I finally got my beautiful daughter to agree to watch it.  What she didn't know is that I'd managed to get my lovely wife to order a plush version of a facehugger.  Just when the examination of Cain's firmly attached friend began, my wife slipped out, got the facehugger, and came back to collapse on the couch.

Sadly, the plush version is more cute than scary, but my daughter did appreciate the gesture.

And Sigourney Weaver was, as always, excellent to watch.  I've still never forgiven the alien for interrupting Ripley's efforts to undress in the shuttle.  I had to wait until 1986's Half Moon Street to see the rest of the clothing come off. afafafafaf 
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on September 04, 2018, 12:26:26 PM
Pardon my ignorance EL, but what is "a plush version of a facehugger"? :wtf:
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on September 04, 2018, 04:05:24 PM
Cain's friendly facehugger - https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/avp/images/3/39/FacehuggerA11080.png/revision/latest?cb=20161110195801

Plush (stuffed animal) version - https://www.getdigital.eu/web/getdigital/gfx/productsMore/AlienFacehuggerPluesch_facehugger.jpg

The plush version is a bit less scary looking.



Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on September 05, 2018, 12:55:02 PM
That's certainly a strange looking creature.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on September 05, 2018, 03:30:29 PM
You haven't ever seen Alien??? mmmmmmmmmm



Spoiler Alert

It's cute and cuddly and gives you a special gift while hugging you.  It implants an egg in your chest.  When that hatches, it rips out through your ribcage (you die).  The initial "chestbuster" stage grows quickly into an adult alien (7-9 feet tall) which kills or captures people.  Those captured get their very own facehuggers.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on September 06, 2018, 12:11:27 PM
No, I haven't seen Alien. I'm deciding if I'll see a new movie here called "The Nun". I don't like scary movies.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 09, 2018, 07:40:06 PM
Next Gen (2018)

Serviceable B list Big Hero 6 knock-off, and you wouldn't know it was from a Chinese studio unless you spotted the telltales or were weirded out by the Wang Nima cameo. Written and directed by US people tho, and overall kind of bland. No real personality. That said, the final boss battle is impressive. Almost worth it.

 bfbfbfbfbf



Why Did Netflix Pay $30 Million At Cannes For The Chinese Animated Film ‘Next Gen’? (https://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film/why-did-netflix-pay-30-million-at-cannes-for-the-chinese-animated-film-next-gen-158348.html)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 10, 2018, 12:38:04 AM
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)

is Jurassic World #2

BUT WITH A VOLCANO!!!

and then a lot of some other movie called Jurassic Boat and Jurassic Basement.

Can be watched


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Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 13, 2018, 01:23:38 AM
Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

Definitely a Star Wars story - long, populated by lots of people we don't know or care about, and presenting a story so thinly realised you can't not help but observe how conservative these producers have become in maintaining their properties.

 awawawawaw


Also, Emilia Clarke. She seems like a very nice person irl, but she is the septic arm of franchise death.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 13, 2018, 05:59:07 PM
Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018)

In my opinion, softgore hardware and tactics porn. Not really a story. Mostly just sequences of trained men advancing upon targets. (There's a peculiar glorification these days in movies of a particular assault tactic, the squads of men who stack up, aggress around corners, move as a unit *toward* gunfire, shooting as they go... the prevalence of that kind of scene in movies these days is - well, it isn't cliche yet because it's still exciting, but I guess it's on the way.)

Anyway, movie is almost saved by Benicio del Toro's ability to make Alejandro Gillick an almost-hero in the traditional mold, the driven man who accepts suffering in order to achieve moral goals. But he's not operating in a human environment. The entire backdrop is one of American militarised might.

Or, to put it another way, it's like the first movie but not as sophisticated.


 bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 17, 2018, 12:45:30 AM
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

For a beloved classic, that sure is one creepy movie.


 aoaoaoaoao
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on September 17, 2018, 12:53:32 PM
Calach, I don't go to see any scary movies.  At the moment. my theatre is showing "The Nun" and "The Predator". aoaoaoaoao
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 17, 2018, 02:47:22 PM
La Haine (1995)

French. The original banlieue movie. During the shootings, bombing, austerity, and rioting of 1995 Paris, three young guys try to make it through a day with nothing much to do.

Kind of innocent in retrospect. Worth watching though. Astonishingly funky soundtrack too, which doesn't really become apparent until you listen to the tracks separately from the film.


 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on September 17, 2018, 05:10:23 PM
Calach, I don't go to see any scary movies.  At the moment. my theatre is showing "The Nun" and "The Predator". aoaoaoaoao

Nuns are scary?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 17, 2018, 08:18:11 PM
They sure are.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Just Like Mr Benn on September 17, 2018, 11:46:39 PM
Creepy as in scary, or creepy as in makes you wonder about Spielburg?
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 18, 2018, 01:02:43 AM
It makes a little more sense if one knows ET was originally a horror movie (http://entertainment.time.com/2012/05/25/et-at-30/), but even so....

Partly it's suspension of disbelief. The ET creature just is not attractive. There's no way a collection of kids are bypassing how freakish the thing looks. But more often it's how the creature resembles a penis. The neck stiffening and the head rising into the air? That's a no right there. What was even the story function of that?!

But anyway... I fast-forwarded a lot because it was boring. Might not be in the best position to critique.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 21, 2018, 11:28:24 PM
Fahrenheit 451 (2018)

Shallow. Slick. Doesn't really make sense. Kind of like watching a super-long intro to a music video.


 bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 22, 2018, 06:28:26 PM
Martyrs (2008)

French. Starts out as violent action, finishes as genuinely horrifying. The story begins when a young girl escapes physical confinement and abuse by unknown captors, then jumps ahead fifteen years to see what she does next. Watch with a friend.

Excellent. But horrible.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on October 01, 2018, 11:15:59 PM
Split 2017

I had completely written off M. Night Shyamalan.  Yes, Unbreakable and The Sixth Sense were great, but after that, his films mostly seemed like a poor way to waste time.

Then I heard a sequel called Glass was coming out.  What little I heard was that it was a sequel to both Unbreakable and something called Split.

My lovely video pirates had it in an easy to find location, so I bought a copy of Split.  Yes, there are a few details that are a bit of a stretch, but it actually was worth watching.

Now I have to see about watching Glass.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on October 02, 2018, 12:30:39 PM
One of the Movie Theatres I go to, is having 30's and 40's classic movies on Mondays in September and October. Yesterday I saw "THE WOMEN" starring Joan Crawford and Rosalind Russell. This was a 1939 movie and there was not a man in it! bibibibibi The strange part was that it was about their relationships with men. I thought that I had just missed seeing a man somewhere, however a male patron also commented on the same thing. bfbfbfbfbf Movies were cetainly different in those days. I can't even imagine what types of movies will be produced in 80 yrs time. aoaoaoaoao
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on October 14, 2018, 12:39:42 PM
Last Monday I saw "Buck Privates" a 1941 movie starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. The Andrews Sisters also did a couple of singing and dancing acts. It takes me back to when I was still at school in Tenterfield, NSW. Australia.  We'd see black and white movies like this. Tomorrow I'm going to see a 1949 movie named "On the Town", starring Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra. It will probably be a musical. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on October 14, 2018, 01:28:32 PM
 agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on October 24, 2018, 12:13:19 PM
Monday's movie was "Double Idemnity"from 1944 starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwick and Edward G Robinson. It was in black and white. I love to see these old movies which bring back memories of the rare occasions I could get enough money to go to the movies; that is, in my early teens. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on October 26, 2018, 10:36:35 PM
The Night Comes For Us (2018)

Indonesian, with Joe Taslim, and intermittently featuring Iko Uwais. Kinda goofy for an Indonesian fight film. There's almost Evil Dead levels of gore and the emotional core of the film is kinda flimsy, but hey, lotsa punchups, and there's at least one time they fantastically undermine fight movie tropes to jaw-dropping effect. That said, the girl fights are actually better than the dudes, I think. Probably best to go into this expecting a very well realised graphic novel of a movie.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf


Murderer - Low (https://music.163.com/#/song?id=21038653)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on November 12, 2018, 02:03:45 PM
Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

Not terrible

Really very pedestrian rom-com though. If this is the "breakthrough for representation" everyone has been waiting for, then Asians really are as stereotypical characterless as all those one-note tropes from previous movies suggest. The soundtrack is ironically better than the movie in that it's all Asian covers of recognisable songs.


Wo Yao Ni De Ai - Grace Chang (https://music.163.com/#/song?id=1302132204)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on November 12, 2018, 04:22:53 PM
My niece is here and wanted to take a break from the Saw series of movies.

I decided to show her a nice movie about a caring nurse who rescues a man from certain death after a car crash.  It's a fun little family film called Misery.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on November 13, 2018, 01:34:37 AM
 ahahahahah ahahahahah ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on November 13, 2018, 04:16:07 PM
Since this was for a houseguest, one might even say that Misery loves company. ahahahahah ahahahahah ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Nolefan on November 17, 2018, 10:23:20 AM
crazy Rich Asians... much better than the critics let on..

fun with a bottle of wine.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on December 10, 2018, 08:56:40 PM
The Predator (2018)

Predator reboot, has a weirdly Back To The Future vibe, is mostly crap

 bqbqbqbqbq
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on December 11, 2018, 05:00:07 PM
Niece and I finished the Saw series.  The newest entry, Jigsaw (#8), was good, some of the earlier ones are better.  Having dealt with some US insurance companies, #6 remains one of my favorites. uuuuuuuuuu

Now I'm driving her crazy by narrating her actions like one of the taped messages from the movies.

"In your life, you've eaten thousands of bowls of noodles without ever thinking of the suffering of noodle makers.  Before you is a hot bowl of noodles.  You have 5 minutes to decide whether to eat it or not.  The choice is yours.  Let the game begin."

 axaxaxaxax
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on December 15, 2018, 12:17:16 PM
One of the Movie theatres I go to gave out some gift cards which entitled you to different gifts like a free soft drink etc. You had to ring a certain number and give the code on your card. I rang and got my Christmas gift; a Silver Movie Card which gives me and a guest FREE movies at the cinema for SIX months. We can go once every day if we wanted to. bfbfbfbfbf  agagagagag I'll certainly use that! :dancemj: :candyraver: :banana: The card arrived in the mail yesterday. agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on December 24, 2018, 02:35:09 PM
Wow!  Very happy for you (and more than a bit jealous too).
 agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on January 25, 2019, 08:35:50 PM
GREEN BOOK based on true events was the movie I saw today. I really enjoyed it and suggest that anyone interested look it up on the internet. It was the winner of the Audience award at Toronto International Film Festival. bjbjbjbjbj
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 26, 2019, 04:29:59 PM
Widows (2018)

Ordinary American movie version of the superior 1983 British tv series of the same name. Movie version is kind of incoherent and feels displaced in time. The original tv version makes more sense in story terms and is a better production.


 bfbfbfbfbf awawawawaw
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 25, 2019, 12:38:36 PM
'Alita: Battle Angel'  I didn't think I'd like this movie but it really surprised me. Rather than me babble on about it, I suggest that anyone interested in movies, take the time to look it up. I think Calach would find this one interesting. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on February 25, 2019, 04:41:00 PM
Ooooohhh.... I saw an short video for it somewhere and wasn't sure if it was a movie trailer or a video game advertisement.  Guess I'll have to see if it's playing here or if I have to wait for it to be available on DVD.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 25, 2019, 04:52:59 PM
'Alita: Battle Angel'  I didn't think I'd like this movie but it really surprised me. Rather than me babble on about it, I suggest that anyone interested in movies, take the time to look it up. I think Calach would find this one interesting. bfbfbfbfbf

Having been a big fan of the original Yukito Kishiro manga... Yeah, the movie has a lot to live up to. Iconic imagery is possible in the movie - I think for instance Blade Runner 2049 did a good job of making a cyberpunk world - but I'm honestly not liking the images I'm seeing for Alita: Battle Angel. That Gally just ain't right.

But I'll watch anyway and try to see it as a movie in its own right.

(https://i81.servimg.com/u/f81/14/21/61/69/gally210.jpg)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on February 25, 2019, 07:17:46 PM
ah man.

Battle Angel Alita, aka Gally, was a cyborg found in the junkyard without a body, likely tossed from Tiphares, the city in the sky. The cyborg engineer who found her gave her a small body and raised her as a child. At this time the great age of technological development had passed and robotics was more a salvage job than anything developmental. In fact, salvaged robots and robot bodies were in demand mostly for sports, and in particular for motorball, a violent combination of roller and demolition derbies. In that sport, size and power matter most. Alita, through a combination of events, is discovered to possess knowledge of a long lost art of robot combat called panzer kunst, meaning that although small, she is considerably superior as a fighter than almost all other motorball competitors.

And I wrote all that because I just saw a movie still in which the Damascus Blade is a goddamn freakin sword.. IT IS NOT A SWORD, PEOPLE.

I will still watch the movie anyway
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on February 26, 2019, 12:02:05 PM
I'll be interested in your opinions Calach and EL, particularly since I found myself actually watching this type of movie. bjbjbjbjbj
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on March 02, 2019, 12:06:06 PM
I went to the movies yesterday to see "Vox Lux". It's a drama starring Natalie Portman and Jude Law. I was the only person in the theatre and the sound was FAAAAAR TOOOOOO LOUD! I tolerated it for a while then I went down to report it. The guy behind the counter said that they couldn't turn it down. I spent most of the movie with my fingers in my ears. llllllllll When I came out, I was asked by a senior staff member what I thought of the movie. I told her the story and she told me that they CAN turn down the sound. She probably would have given me a free pass to the movies except the staff know that I have a six months free pass. To cut the story short, I am still not much wiser about the movie. bibibibibi
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on March 04, 2019, 11:27:32 PM
I'll be interested in your opinions Calach and EL, particularly since I found myself actually watching this type of movie. bjbjbjbjbj

I'm hoping to visit the video pirates sometime in the next few weeks.  Have a few things on my shopping list and will see if they have that one yet.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 05, 2019, 02:57:41 AM
Doubtful. The movie's only just started appearing in cinemas. Copies in the wild so far are only the crappiest of crappy cam jobs.

I will say this: the start of the movie, as revealed by a disgusted glance over one of those crappy cams jobbies, seems a fraction too reminiscent of the 1993 OVA, which to me is a bad sign. I don't recall the OVA as being bad per se, but the homage it is paid in the movie doesn't sit right...

Gunnm was cool. That's the thing. Neuromancer, Gunnm, and probably nothing else was the real cyberpunk. I mean maybe Snowcrash or something like that. But Gunnm was about identity. And philosophy. And flan. So....


pffft. I'll try to find a way to like it. One doesn't hold onto the past that strongly, eh.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 11, 2019, 01:38:29 AM
Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

Unbelievable, Super Cool, Outrageous, and Amazing (https://music.163.com/#/album?id=75418290)

 bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on March 13, 2019, 02:36:31 PM
Mortal Engines (2018)

#steampunk #vanlife

At least one of the problems with Mortal Engines is it looks like a Broadway musical. The other is it's steampunk at all. The third is how absent any human spark all the characters seem to be. I'm hoping the books aren't this dull because they've been sitting in my to-read pile for some time now.

 bfbfbfbfbf bqbqbqbqbq

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 03, 2019, 12:03:16 AM
Dragged Across Concrete (2019)

From S. Craig Zahler, the same guy as made Bone Tomahawk and Brawl in Cell Block 99. Imma call it Reservoir Dogs In Various Locations But With Cops This Time.


 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf

Street Corner Felines - The O'Jays (https://music.163.com/#/song?id=1361193196)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 05, 2019, 12:41:24 AM
In honour of Star Wars Day, I've been watching guys ride bikes on Endor...

Can I Keep Up With Seth's Bike Hacks While on Hard Tails? // CIKU #3 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWA8UMv-wkI)

How Much Faster Are PRO Men Enduro MTB Racers? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVyhKlrUq9E)


Bonus: city riding -
HARROWING URBAN DOWNHILL MTB IN SAN FRANCISCO // Redemption CA Ep. 6 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZPRnZtczJw)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 15, 2019, 01:27:29 AM
The Wandering Earth (2019)

Chinese scifi blockbuster produces truly horrifying vision of materialist dystopia. Pretty to look at, though. probably should see it on a big screen. And afterwards try washing the soullessness from the soul you don't have anymore.


 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on May 16, 2019, 05:08:33 PM
Did you get The Wandering Earth with English subtitles?


Iron Sky 2 - I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but if it's half as funny as the original, it will be well worth watching.  Will update soon.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on May 16, 2019, 08:00:09 PM
Yep. Couple of weeks ago, The Wandering Earth became available to stream on Netflix and the official subtitles came along for the ride.

As blockbusters go, there are a few issues, like for instance, WHERE'S THE DAMN NARRATIVE FOCUS, WHY DO WE KEEP JUMPING FROM BLOCKBUSTER LOCATION TO BLOCKBUSTER LOCATION?! Is it a driving movie, a buddy movie, a freaking Spring Festival movie, a war movie, a skyscraper disaster, or is it a goddamned space story?! JUST TELL ME ONE OKAY>!

Which actually is relatively minor as a complaint in a blockbuster. I mean, all of the different aspects are genuinely well accomplished. It looks great!

But...

the movie has exactly one god, exactly one spiritual core, and it is nothing personified at all. It is nothing other than technical capability. Everyone and everything is not only subject to massed technical capability, THEY NEVER QUESTION IT, EVER! They might be pissed at how it has affected their lives. The kid is. But no one in the movie is horrified, and the movie itself is not horrified, at what they have done. THEY LAUNCHED THE EARTH OUT OF ORBIT.

My name is Charlton Heston. They are maniacs.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 10, 2019, 07:14:55 PM
I Am Mother (2019)

A robot in a bunker raises a child. What could go wrong? Apparently entirely unrelated to anything written by Fred Saberhagen. But when one other human shows up.........

Not bad. Avoid spoilers.


 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on June 20, 2019, 12:20:00 PM
TOLKIEN: This movie explores the formative years of the orphaned author as he finds friendship, love and artistic inspiration among a group of fellow outcasts at school. Lots of people were there because it was Seniors Morning Tea. Most of the people I spoke to said that they enjoyed the movie as did I. bfbfbfbfbf agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on June 21, 2019, 03:49:19 PM
Godzilla, King of Monsters:  It's a Godzilla movie, so shelve any desires you may have for great writing or acting (or even plot).  But, if you find giant monsters getting into fights and causing massive amounts of collateral damage to be appealing, this movie is for you. agagagagag

I had my very own flashback moment when Rodan ate a pilot.  A much less graphic version of that scene was in one of the old Japanese movies.  At the tender age of 7 or 8 when I saw the original version, I was terrified.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on August 09, 2019, 03:50:03 PM
A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014)

Best probably to know this movie isn't Iranian. All the actors are, and the only language spoken in the movie is Persian, but the "Iranian ghost town, Bad City" in which the movie is set is played by the town of Taft in Kern County in southern California and there's a US independent movie sensibility underneath the seemingly Iranian story being told. Knowing all that resolved a certain cognitive dissonance I had watching the movie, too much of a sense of unexpected familiarity and "modern".

All that said, this is a Down by Law for Persian vampires. Not "horror", though, as it is sometimes called. It also gets called an Iranian vampire western, which is close enough, except that it also has a fair few modern noir elements too.

One runs out of comparisons and descriptors. Let's just call it new, a particular evolution in story telling, that successfully switches several kinds of focus. It's good.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf


Farah - Dancing Girls (https://music.163.com/#/song?id=31861364)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on September 08, 2019, 06:39:03 PM
John Wick; Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019)

John Wick 1 was okay, as I recall. Very violent, sometimes intense, not always engaging. John Wick 2 amped up the background meanness of 1, and really was kind of distressing to watch because it ground through so many people, just murder after death after killing after murder. Supposedly stylish too but, I thought, mostly just lurid.

So then comes John Wick 3. The first hour was very promising. Lots of killing, but of the action variety, with a very nearly mythological quality. Which is to say there might actually have been a core of story in there rather than just brutality. They deliberately pooched the second hour, I think, with a view, ironically, to franchise extension. Rather than bring the story to what should have been it's conclusion, they swapped out properly climactic action for an intermediate conclusion than allows for a John Wick 4. Reasonable, I guess, but it made the second hour actually boring compared to the first, even with all sorts of fights and colorful locations. I suppose when 4 and possibly 5 comes out, the collection will make for a relatively compelling if sometimes draggy marathon.

In short, neo-noir but with a New Brutalist hero instead of a genuine antihero., is my feeling.

 bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on September 10, 2019, 07:01:00 PM
Air Raid aka Unbreakable Spirit, aka Bombers (2018)

One movie, three titles.  The second two are over 20 minutes longer, but I doubt it would be enough to save this from the oblivion it deserves.

It's supposed to be a movie about Bruce Willis training Chinese fighter pilots to help defend ChongQing against Japanese air raids in 1937.  Other stars - about 50% of all current Chinese movie stars, with most of them getting cameos.

But there's a problem.  The entire "training program" consists of less than 5 minutes of Bruce Willis telling the other pilots how wrong they are about everything, and not one second of it involves flying planes.  Then there are multiple side issues (2 badly done romances, an attempt to regain control of a tea house via a mahjong tournament, and a full scale attempt to hijack the film by a long drive in a truck containing a secret decoding device and a pair of very important hybrid pigs that get more screen time than most of the human actors) which never allow any real plot development.  It looks like someone really wanted to make a TV series which would allow for these barely connected events each have plenty of time to develop and then the whole idea got turned into a very very badly done movie.

In short, no plot development, bad screenplay, bad directing, some very good actors with too little screen time to act.  Total waste of time.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on October 08, 2019, 03:33:18 PM
Alpha (2018)

Well worth watching.  I'd rate it somewhere around 8+ out of 10.

SPOILER ALERT!!!


SPOILER ALERT!!!


SPOILER ALERT!!!

Wolf meets boy.  Wolf tries to eat boy.  Boy survives and decides not to eat wolf.

Boy and Wolf have puppies which are humanity's first doggies! akakakakak akakakakak akakakakak

OK, it's a little more complicated that that.  Well worth the time to watch.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on November 05, 2019, 07:23:03 PM
Terminator, Dark Fate (2019)

He's baaaaack, and so is she!  I'm struggling to resist saying it should have been titled Geriatricnator, Grey Fate. ahahahahah

Without giving anything away, just pretend you've only seen T1 and T2 when you sit down to watch this one.  It's well worth the price of the ticket and popcorn.  I was just sad that it wasn't 3D.

And, there's a possibility of Dark Fate sequels.  agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on November 18, 2019, 02:32:56 AM
孩子王 - "Háizǐ Wáng" aka "King of the Children" - (1987)

A young man is sent to teach at a rural school in a poverty stricken area of Yunnan province. A Chen Kaige film. A fraction too theatrical at times but holy crap if it isn't resonant.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on December 09, 2019, 06:25:37 PM
Jumanji, The Next Level (2019)

If you want an intellectual movie, move along, there's nothing to see here.

If you want a bit of mindless fun, buy a ticket and catch it in 3D.  If at all possible, make sure you've already watched Jumanji, Welcome to the Jungle first.  Otherwise, you'll miss a few hundred references to that movie.  Even better, make sure to also see the original Jumanji too.


I'm still holding out hope for a Saw-Jumanji crossover movie.  That would add a whole new dimension to playing a game. ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on December 13, 2019, 06:16:33 PM
Ready or Not (2019)

Horror-comedy is a difficult mix.  Ready or Not is a textbook case of doing it right! agagagagag

It starts a little slow, has far too much foreshadowing, but then takes off on a spree of hilarious mayhem. ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 15, 2020, 07:17:38 PM
Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)

Shallow, melodramatic, tiring by the end. Better than Genisys though. And it starts with my favoritest double-recorded Sarah Connor speech, that one from Judgment Day. Which I think is telling: they were trying to recapture that second movie. Trucks, deserts, shapeshifting terminators, Mexicans, they're all there, even flying planes for no reason. The new legion terminator, btw, is both cool and gross, nanomachines over an autonomous skeleton, super icky when they separate but cool as a horror vehicle. Etc and so on. it's a jumbled movie that could have been three smaller, cooler films, probably should have, but they jammed them altogether under an 80s action veneer and it's probably not so boring that i won't watch it again but goddamn, Grace turning her back on a terminator just about says it all

Dudun dun dun dadun  one poo-stained thumbs up bqbqbqbqbq bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 23, 2020, 03:28:05 AM
Abominable (2019)

It sure was
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on January 31, 2020, 07:32:44 PM
Parasite - 기생충 - (2019)

Pretty close to worth the hype.

 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Calach Pfeffer on June 21, 2020, 03:36:43 PM
Da 5 Bloods (2020)

This movie wears "Vietnam War movie" like a disguise. It's not a Vietnam War movie. It's some kind of allegory that *might* actually be gaining power from how much mysticism it eschews. Might need a second watch to find out just how much old man anger and despair it contains despite looking a lot like some 80's A Team clone.


 bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on September 08, 2020, 04:35:53 PM
Tenet (2020)

I went to extreme efforts to learn NOTHING about this movie before seeing it.  SciFi and big budget was my only data.  So, I'll hold off on any spoilers for now.

I liked it.  It was an intriguing concept, but things got complex.  Very complex.  Very very complex.  One issue the director needs to take blame for is that quite a bit of dialog was hard to hear over the other sounds in the movie.

Even without the sound issues, it was a major mind bender, so I'd like to see it again just to catch things I might have missed the first time around.  I'm looking forward to a DVD copy with subtitles.

Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on September 10, 2020, 01:09:32 PM
EL, I think I'd have to see "Tenet" a few more times to understand what was going on. I also found it too noisy. bibibibibi
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on September 11, 2020, 05:14:36 PM
EL, I think I'd have to see "Tenet" a few more times to understand what was going on. I also found it too noisy. bibibibibi

Maybe if we watched it forwards and backwards a few times?  ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on September 13, 2020, 12:49:04 PM
I don't have any way to do that EL. bibibibibi I go to two movie theatres and they show a lot of the same movies. One of the theatres is now only open from Friday to Monday. bibibibibi
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on September 14, 2020, 05:32:52 PM
Just smile at the projectionist and ask for the film to be run in reverse. :D

And in other movie news:

Mulan (2020) - Unlike the cartoon version, Disney thankfully skipped the wisecracking mini-dragon this time.

The actress who played Mulan did a good job and was quite attractive ajajajajaj, but was outshown by the Goddess of Beauty.

Yes,  akakakakak Gong Li akakakakak was in the movie.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on October 08, 2020, 01:15:58 PM
Saw the movie "David Attenborough:A Life On Our Planet". It ran for 140mins. It was really thought provoking and required the audience to pay attention. At the start of the movie, he said that at the end of the movie, he would be having a discussion with someone whose name I can't remember. At the end of the actual movie, all the credits were shown. The only man in the theatre thought it was finished and he left the theatre and didn't see the last bit which ran for about 45minutes. bibibibibi It was the most expensive movie I have seen. I am a movie club member and I usually pay $8 (Australian). I  had to pay $26. aoaoaoaoao
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on October 08, 2020, 03:22:40 PM
Any reason why the price was so high?  Yes, it was long, but not that long.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Granny Mae on October 10, 2020, 11:58:37 AM
EL, I understand that the theatre was told what price to charge when they ordered the movie. If I find out any more, I'll let you know. bfbfbfbfbf
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on October 10, 2020, 01:33:21 PM
I just watched Watchmen (the film, not that ridiculous TV show that missed the whole idea)

I didn't like it at the time, but rewatching it it was more prescient than it was when it came out (even though it's a story written in the 80s about the late 70s lol)
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on November 12, 2021, 05:02:12 PM
I caught Dune on opening night while in the US.

Despite what critics say, I liked the original.  Still, this new one was also excellent.  I noticed that it said "Part I" under the title at the beginning.  Just as everything fell into place for things to really get exciting, it ended.  If Part II lives up to what's been laid out, that will be spectacular.  If somehow Part II doesn't get made, I'm going to be quite sad. ananananan

I'd rather not give away any details, but will say I'm very pleased at how the ornithopters worked in this version.  The moths in the LEXX TV series seem to have some new competition. ahahahahah


Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on June 13, 2022, 07:24:52 PM
Jurassic World Dominion (2022) in glorious IMAX 3D regular 3D since we left a couple minutes late and there was a traffic jam.  amamamamam

I don't want to give away any spoilers, but I can say that the dinosaurs made ignoring a few glaring plot holes easier.  Just put your brain in neutral and enjoy a whole lot of people and dinosaurs chasing each other.
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on December 08, 2023, 04:57:36 PM
Napoleon (2023)

Not as great as some say, but not bad.  The editing looks more than a little choppy - as in someone took an ax and chopped well over an hour out of it.  Ridley Scott is already talking about a 4+ hour long director's cut.

I do think Joaquin Phoenix is a great actor, but someone he just didn't seem to fit the role.  The expression on his face during a large part of the film seemed to convey "Damn this uniform is uncomfortable!" instead of reactions more relevant to the scene.

Historians are (as usual) complaining about the large amounts of poetic license taken by the script.  Then again, Shakespeare's "historical" plays were full of all sorts of factual errors.  I think historians should chill out and advocate for making factual documentaries and reinactments instead of worrying about details in entertainment that was never billed as "the actual true story."

Oh, and one phrase that will mean little until you see the movie.  "The mating call of Napoleon."  ahahahahah
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: kitano on December 09, 2023, 02:49:57 PM
I just watched the new Nicholas Cage film 'Dream Scenario' and just, wow. That's a classic. It completely gets it right about so much stuff
Really good satire and Nic Cage, well, the man is a legend

I also rewatched Sprited Away because that has been back in the culture since Miyazaki has a new one out, I want to see the new one, but Jesus Spirited Away is such a piece of art. I have an opinion on it now that it's about NoFace as much as ChiChiro but it's not even the plot so much as the world and the logic of it. One of the best things ever
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: El Macho on February 11, 2024, 05:54:34 PM
Haven’t gotten to watch Napoleon yet but really looking forward to it. The Chapo Trap House podcast did an interview about it that I enjoyed: https://www.reddit.com/r/BlackWolfFeed/comments/1898vyb/786_able_i_was_ere_i_saw_ridley_feat_everett/
Title: Re: Movie/film thread: resurrected
Post by: AMonk on February 12, 2024, 06:33:56 AM
 bfbfbfbfbf bfbfbfbfbf
Thanks