My Friend Flicka 19/43
Printable View
My Friend Flicka 19/43
TouchéQuote:
Originally Posted by IdolEyes787
Scaramouche 19/52 .18 of those points are for the name.
The Debt 2010.
An interesting if largely lacking in excitement tale of an ill fated mission by three Mossaud to capture a Nazi war criminal know as the Surgeon of Birkenau and bring him to justice and how what happened in the past still has repercussions in the present.
I was surprised that the bulk of the movie was told in an extended flashback and that the film was more driven by the core mystery than the action.
Not a bad movie but I felt that mostly there was nothing in the characters to elicit much sympathy or disgust until it was almost too late to matter.
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012).
There is not the slightest whiff of irony or cynicism in this movie- everything works out exactly as you'd hope (if you're a total optimist) and the old people win.
Even the single death is a more or less happy one.
A first rate cast of British all stars- Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, etc.- are a group of retirees lured to an Indian retirement hotel run by- who else?- Dev Patel.
There are no plot twists, the entire story is laid out and progresses in a series of cliches/tropes as if in a film school outline.
And yet I enjoyed it and was glad to have been entertained.
Sometimes kind trumps epic.
Keep 'em coming guys. This is a fantastic thread.
Kind of sounds like Munich being reclassified under a different film genre.Quote:
Originally Posted by IdolEyes787
Chronicle
(imdb link : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1706593 )
Absolutely brilliant. The best low budget movie I've ever seen, enjoyed every second. The ending is a bit awkward but all in all this movie is different, highly recommend it.
Damnit! Me and wifey were watching that and never finished it. The only bad part is how they got those powers.Quote:
Originally Posted by redwhitevision
No one would do that shit.:ermm:
The black kid was in The Wire.
IMHO go ahead and finish it. of course, it has it's flaws but overall i kinda liked the idea of the movie and the way the scenes were shot.
Dark Shadows
After hearing Danny Elfman's score, I was primed for this film. To my utter amazement it began upon a hill on high, and literally crashed over the
Collinwood Clifts. Casting was workable, dear lord Mr Frid had not long passed before release. Vampire concept for Barnabus went from serious
menacing and extraordinary to cheap comedic scripting, and the Angelique character again held promise, but went downhill from intense to comedic cheapening
of the Dark Shadow series. And the totally unexplained werewolf daughter scene was the stake that killed this film for me. Dan Curtis must be rich, and senile.
Sorry this was not as indepth as I would have wished, but I'm trying to actually forget this one. Do yourself a favor Christmas gift this one to anyone you don't consider a true friend, in fact I'd send it to my old boss as a gift.
Holy crap...a real post from a new person.
Wonders never cease.
There's actually been a couple of real honest to goodness non-douchey members come out of the woodwork lately (plus a someone on mushrooms in the hardware section), you can color me gobsmacked. :blink:
I didn't get the deluxe Crayola set, so I don't have "gobsmacked".
Will Cornflower Blue work?
Aren't gobs off-white?
Depends what they are gobs of. :blink:Quote:
Originally Posted by mjmacky
Whatever it is, a blue hue would be a concern.Quote:
Originally Posted by ArtemisDepends what they are gobs of. :blink:Quote:
Originally Posted by mjmacky
In your case tar coloured with an occasional dab of whatever a diseased lung's hue is .:)Quote:
Originally Posted by mjmacky
Are you inferring that I hock up pieces of my lung?Quote:
Originally Posted by IdolEyes787In your case tar coloured with an occasional dab of whatever a diseased lung's hue is .:)Quote:
Originally Posted by mjmacky
Not so much inferring as straight up saying it.
Are you trying to say that you don't?:)Quote:
Originally Posted by mjmackyAre you inferring that I hock up pieces of my lung?Quote:
Originally Posted by IdolEyes787
Like my gnue strategy where I end every comment with a happy face?
I figure as so few people here seem to have any understanding of the English language, in no time at all I'll be widely considered to be the most affable person on the board.:)
Joseph Goebbels would approve.:)
The Pledge (2001)- Jack Nicholson, Robin Wright, Aaron Eckhart, et al.
I've never been a big fan of Nicholson (I think Axe body spray was based on his sweat) but he's very, very good in this film (which had flown completely under my radar till yesterday).
In fact, everyone in this movie is good and it's a very high profile cast (not many films have cameos by Helen Mirren, Benicio Del Toro and a fairly normal Mickey Roarke).
Without getting too spoiler-y it's hard to summarize the plot...basically, Nicholson is a retiring Reno police detective who gets drawn into a child murder case on his last day and it overwhelms his life.
He promises the grieving mother that he will find the killer and goes to extraordinary lengths to do so.
For such a sensational premise (he's convinced there's a serial killer at work), the film is remarkably low key, almost elegiac.
For me it was a rare experience in that the questions I was asking and the details I thought important turned out to be irrelevant...the real point isn't made clear till the movie is over and the whole thing is seen in a different light.
Like I said, it's difficult to talk about without being too revealing but I recommend it as a very interesting film, if for no other reason than Nicholson's performance.
Marley (2012)
A documentary about reggae superstar Bob Marley.
I wasn't greatly into reggae music but was fascinated to see how incredibly political and influential Bob Marley was. Bono/Geldof don't even begin to approach Bob Marley in terms of activism and charisma.
Some pretty amazing archival footage and the music ain't bad either.
Lockout (2012)
Another shitballs stupid "action" movie, rivals Taken for improbability.
For an excellent explanation of exactly why this movie is so execrably awful read the novel Redshirts by John Scalzi (it really is a wonderful book).
Nuff said.
Zombieland (2009)
One of the few zombie movies I've seen. In fact I think it's the only zombie film I've watched. I actually really enjoyed it. The main character Columbus along with his male companion Tallahassee were great together. However, the two girls Wichita and Little Rock ruined the film for me with their presence. It seemed that they were just thrown in there so the main character could have a love interest with one of them. I felt that the film could have been a lot better without them and without the main character "falling" for the selfish girl Wichita.
Divine Madness (1980)- Bette Midler and The Harlettes.
Bette Midler is sui generis and in my experience, one of the few real "entertainers" I've ever seen.
I first saw her in New York in the 70's and was an instant fan...she would do anything to connect with her audience, they loved her and she loved them back.
No doubt, her singing is not to everyone's taste but you cannot watch this concert and deny that she didn't give your moneys worth.
Even now, thirty years later, the staging and costumes are terrific, and some of the medleys are sheer genius.
If you simply want to be entertained by a movie, I don't think you can do better.
While I'm on the genre, I'd also recommend Stop Making Sense (Talking Heads) for it's tremendously clever production, P.U.L.S.E (Pink Floyd) for it's masterful live recreation of Dark Side of the Moon and Live in Australia (The Eagles) for a master lesson in guitar by Joe Walsh (and some great classic songs).
I think I've just totally dated myself.
I would have seen the movie Stop Making Sense, but I went to see Talking Heads live that year instead (imo one of the best live bands I've ever seen). :01:
What is so improbable about a prison in space where all the prisoners are put into to stasis? It's only a small leap from Demolition Man after all and we have already had space marines zooming around in James Bond's Moonraker. It's all perfectly feasible, I don't know why you're getting your tits in a tangle. It's sort of Snake Plissken versus homicidal Glaswegian scousers instead of the World Wrestling Federation baddies he had to deal with in Escape from New York, but apart from that it's all perfectly rational. :blink:Quote:
Originally Posted by clocker
Explain why the prison is set up to repel invasion from the outside and has such easily defeated controls for the inside.Quote:
Originally Posted by Artemis
/sarcasm mode off
I can think of two reasons why the controls were easy:
1.They arrogantly believed that since theirvictimstest subjectsprisoners were going to be sleeping and didn't need that much security
2. A really well designed internally secure prison would have made the story r e a l l y s l o w. In fact it probably would have ruined the whole flow of the admittedlymoroniclighthearted action and repartee.
But lots of guns on the outside was really silly.......
Out of the 500 prisoners released how did the Sean Connery wannabe become the undisputed leader so quickly and why did he continue to let his psychotic brother fuck things up?
Also, I actually LOLed when they encountered the gravity generator...it was a direct ripoff of the scene in Galaxy Quest where Tim Allen and Ripley come to the hallway of random pistons, except it lacked the hilarious explanation.
Again, read Redshirts...it's worth it.
Movies don't have to make sense to be entertaining but it certainly helps.
Also Bette Midler lost me somewhere around Beaches and Wind Beneath My Wings.
Being Midler of the road doesn't suit her.
I rewatched Drive sat through 3 hours of Tour de France and still not bored enough to download this.Quote:
Originally Posted by clocker
Also clocker on review you were right and Ryan Gossling's character is merely empty ,not overflowing with interesting stuff going on just below the surface.
It did get me to start reading the novel though, just so I finally get a story to associate with the visuals.
It's one thing to make an audience swallow improbability but once done, internal consistency is key.Quote:
Originally Posted by IdolEyes787
Attack the Block would be an entertaining example, Primer another (but far less exciting).
Once I've bought into your premise, don't make me keep paying by heaping impossibility upon ridiculous impossibility.
Some films simply seem intent on fucking with the audience until they either walk out or become totally brain dead.
Battleship
Based on the game (lol), it's basically about a fleet of good guys, trying to beat a fleet of bad guys, and they have trouble finding each other.
Better than I'd thought. Unlike Transformers, it didn't re-imagine any of my childhood memories badly. And while it pretty much was a Transformers-movie without the robots, and the product-placements, it was watchable.
The acting wasn't terrible, though why the fuck someone casted Rihanna, and had her handling guns at that, I'll never know. Other than that, the casting wasn't terrible, and there were a couple of actors in it it really didn't deserve.
The plot was meh, but the effects were pretty good.
The movie as a whole went back and forth between being really dumb, and being sentimental and cheesy, but I found myself liking it as much as is possible with a movie with no depth or point.
It had no soul, really, but it was watchable.
---
Cannonball Run
A Burt Reynolds classic. About a race engaging mentals and the idle rich, those who are both, and Burt Reynolds.
What makes it worthwhile is the gallery of characters. Roger Moore and Jackie Chan feature as distorted versions of themselves, Dom DeLuise is Reynold's nutjob of a sidekick, Farrah Fawcett is the love interest, and a heap of other known and unknowns (to me anyway), bring up the rear. Obviously, it's not to be taken seriously, but if you're willing to accept it for the lighthearted comedy it's intended as, without reflecting too hard on the plot or the actions of the characters, it's fairly enjoyable.
---
Lockout
Surly, master of the one-liner, CIA-agent in the future played by Guy Pearce, breaks into a space-prison controlled by the prisoners, to save the president's daughter.
Essentially Escape from New York/Escape from L.A in space.
It's not good. Downright bad, in fact. Even the effects are at times cartoonish in a way that would have fit right into the Matrix-trilogy, parts 2 or 3, and there's really no logic to anything.
I thought it was great, but as more than one of the people I watched it with pointed out, you could take Pearce's character, and insert him into anything, and it'd be funny. And I really didn't expect him to be able to do that. That said, Pearce isn't quite the only thing worth watching, in there. Joe Gilgun, whom I've only previously seen in Misfits, does a splendid job as a psychotic scotsman, who plays a large part in the story. I didn't really like him in Misfits, but here, he works. Also watch out for Lennie James, Peter Stormare and Maggie Grace - essentially, like Battleship, I felt that this had a better cast than it deserved.
But, everything said, this isn't souless, or at least not as souless (?), as Battleship. And I don't care if the rest of you hate it :snooty:
Clocker REALLY hates it: http://filesharingtalk.com/threads/4...=1#post3689064Quote:
Originally Posted by Snee
so blame him. :blink:
Yes. I read. And Idc.
I kind of liked it, it was what Escape From New York would have been if John Carpenter was on Ketamine when he filmed it, with a healthy dash of Demolition Man's storyline heaved in for good measure, so you aren't all alone in the wilderness, and your last recommendation, Iron Sky was brill. :yup:
The Hunger Games
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392170/
This is the story of a post-apocalyptic society, reformed from the ashes of the North American countries, it is called Panem, and has 12 districts and and the capitol (city). In the past there was a rebellion by the districts and after this was quelled, the hunger games were instated as a yearly tribute to the capitol. In this totalitarian society the tribute is a young male and female from each district who are chosen at the reaping to fight to the death in the hunger games until there is a lone victor.
In the movie there are strong visuals of the french upper class and it's idle rich at the time of the french revolution, as well as the obvious parallels to the gladiatorial games of ancient Rome. This is an underlying theme to the movie, the oppression of the totalitarian state which is the backdrop to the hunger games and why the poorer districts are forced to give young people each year, while standing little chance of them surviving, yet this theme is not developed at all apart from a riot happening as a result of one incident in the games there is no real political upheaval. Which is truly strange in a story that purports to be about totalitarian oppression of the masses, the theme wanders off and becomes a story of two star crossed lovers?
The storyline for this movie based on the first of a trilogy, strongly reminds me of Stephen King's early work under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, in particular the two short novels, the Running Man and the Long Walk, yet the ending is vapid and does not live up to the promise of the underlying storylines which seem to become stillborn and are left with little explanation.
The character development too, is basically non-existent leaving you not even feeling for the deaths of the characters in the hunger games, they have no real meaning since they are so two dimensional and bland.
In conclusion, this isn't a bad movie, but it could have been so much more, and for this reason I was disappointed by it. I genuinely enjoy the post-apocalyptic near future stories, and the fact that many of them are a comment on the political situation of the times, and while this movie had that potential, it went all twilight on me at the 11th hour, leaving me feeling just a bit cheated.
I agree with you, Art. I didn't dislike the movie, but it felt extremely empty, and would have been far better delivered as a Rated-R (18+) much like the Alien films. Unfortunately, the movie (and books, I believe) are targeted towards the teen summer-movie-goer crowd and not adults. Apparently, that is where the big money is to be raked in.
Regardless, the evil-opposition (ones out to get the star of the show) had FAR too much of a paperboard cut-out feel to them. Even when we see them meet their (inevitable) demise, there is a sense that we should be counting down one more so that the ending can come.
Even the "romance" was one-dimensional. There's not even any reason to be on Team-X or Team-Y as with the Twatlight series.
Empty calories, to be sure. Are there elements that could have been developed in its 2:15 run time, certainly.
3out of 5 stars. Hint: See it on medication/street drugs/alcohol and it may gain another star.
I would say that the new J.J. Abrams series directly rips off elements of this but I fear the wrath of Busyman.
Anyway the main romantic relationships from the book were unsurprisingly altered for movie idiot consumption as were the generated creatures and the climatic fight which proved to be the biggest letdown for me.
Ten seconds to wrap up two hours of build up.Yawn.
i watched "living in oblivion"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113677/
quote from review on the site
"Living in Oblivion is an unusual, funny, and interesting example of the movie-about-movies genre, focusing on the low budget, independent movie making scene. The lead performances by Steve Buscemi and Catherine Keener are first-rate, and the supporting cast is excellent as well. The film veers from satire to realism to surrealism in depicting the problems and tensions involved in off-off-Hollywood filmmaking"
i found it funny and entertaining, once you sit thru the beginning 7/10 may be even 8/10.
Thanks for contributing, stitched. For future note, this section strongly favors original thought/writing. There is a rate the movies thread (but I can see that you were trying to go beyond that). All I'm saying is that your effort was appreciated, but we are looking for yet another notch up in this thread. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by stitched