Won a music DVD set, with shine a light, George Harrison: living in a material world, The doors: When you're strange, Leonard Cohen: I'm your man, and Marley :)
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Won a music DVD set, with shine a light, George Harrison: living in a material world, The doors: When you're strange, Leonard Cohen: I'm your man, and Marley :)
Saw Ender's Game last night! Don't regret going even though the movie def. has its weaknesses both as a movie and as an adaptation. I mostly liked the things that came after they went to the other planet. Of the actors, I mostly enjoyed Kingsley, but mostly because I like everything he does. Ford as Graff was kinda annoying for most of the movie. Anderson, and many of the other characters, were very one-dimensional. I was esp. disappointed by Bean, even though I realise the ages of the actors must come with some compromises wrt the ability to portray superintelligent kids who've been through some shit. I wasn't too pleased with Petra. Bonzo was all right I guess :o
Still, worth seeing.
This post is very meta.Quote:
Originally Posted by wiggin
***
I saw Wadjda. Allegedly the first feature film made in Saudi Arabia. And definitely the first made by a woman. It was pretty good-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3koigluYOH0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3koigluYOH0
Captain Phillips
Paul Greengrass's dramatisation of the true story of the Maersk line cargo ship hijacking by Somali pirates.
Tom Hanks in the lead was strong as always. He plays the ordinary man in extreme circumstances very well.
Greengrass is renowned for two things; his portrayal of the human side to all elements of the story, and his gritty, breathless realism. He delivered on both fronts here. What particularly impressed me was not so much the edge-of-the-seat climactic ending, but the aftermath, with Phillips trying and largely failing to control his emotions.
7/10
Contrary to popular belief, I am not a genius xenocidal six-year-old. :oQuote:
Originally Posted by Dreadnaught
Not exactly a movie, but I saw the first part of Generation War (Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter in the German title). High production quality, thought provoking, interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest. Definitely a bit of Hollywood style nonsense but still good. I can see why it was so widely watched/discussed in Germany.
The Hunger Games; catching fire. Two-and-a-half hours and it didn't feel long. What's a bit annoying though is that it's one of those movies that's not really a movie but just the first half of one.Quote:
Originally Posted by wiggin
Carrie. What can I say? It's a remake, and it feels like one. Not bad I suppose if you don't know the original.
Killing Them Softly. Late at night, in a house, during a food coma, on a big screen. Not a great movie (don't be fooled by the cast) but had some great slow motion special effect scenes and solo performances. And a couple of blatant amateur continuity errors.
Frozen. Not the typical Disney story, even if the characters seem a little cookie cutter at first and remind you of Rapunzel. Its a 2 hour movie and it felt like an hour of singing followed by an hour of story. Worth it for the laughs.
Hum. Was quite looking forward to this. The original was good.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hazir
~
Saw Gravity last night.
A film that really worked in 3D.
Was fairly awesome.
many / 10
Spent a lot of time recently on airplanes, which is my opportunity to watch crappy movies I wouldn't spend money on.
Pacific Rim had a ludicrously transparent plot and some pretty ridiculous technologies (why robots would need to carry out fistfights with aliens is beyond me), but was enjoyable nonetheless. Fairly good effects, I thought.
Elysium wasn't bad - quite heavy-handed at times, but still a decent story with reasonably good acting. It was important to blur the details a bit, though, since there were obvious thematic and plot issues. Overall pretty good.
The newish Wolverine movie was pretty awful, couldn't get through it all. I love Hugh Jackman and would probably marry him if he asked, but not his best effort.
Man on Fire was an old film (the 2004 version) based on a basic revenge novel. Not sure the main character was likable or not, lots of the stylistic choices (e.g. the captions) were flawed, and the pacing was awkward, but the film had some saving graces in a few of the performances.
Prometheus was pathetic.
I think there were a couple more thrown in there but I can't remember them right now...
I guess that's the fate of all movies which are "Part Two" in a trilogy?Quote:
Originally Posted by Hazir
Will try to get into cinema this week for the movie, though.
Had a rather film filled two days :) first saw captain Phillips, which was really good. Exciting, even though I of course knew what was going to happen. Only little thing that annoyed me.. Was in Belgium, so double French and Dutch subtitles, top line being French. Which is okay, but it started to annoy me that the French for US is.. EU. Ugh.
Next I went to the world premiere of a short I worked on earlier this year (The Biggest). It turned out pretty much as I expected, so pretty good :) grading was a little off, unfortunately, but that's probably going to be fixed as the director wasn't happy with it either. I think it's probably also a good film for kids, so after the contract with shortsTV expires he might push to get it on Z@ppelin :)
And since it was partly funded by shortsTV, it was shown together with their viewing of last year's five Oscar nominees for short fiction. Not a bad line-up to have your premiere with :D though to be honest, only two or three were Oscar material if you asked me..
First was death of a shadow (Belgium). So-so story, and I expected more from actors like Matthias Schoenaerts, so the end result was decent but not great.
Henry (France).. I didn't like it at all. Presented as a sort of mystery where the 'surprise' twist is that the guy has Alzheimer's, and that the woman is his daughter. Except that it's glaringly obvious after two or three scenes. Add some over the top drama for tear jerking ('have I been a good man?' really?? Talking about cliché). Acting was good though.
Curfew (USA). Really good one, about a guy about to kill himself who's called by his estranged sister to babysit her daughter. It's pretty funny, but not at the expense of the serious undertone. Great acting, too. Think we'll see more of the little girl, who's apparently the current voice of Dora the explorer :p And the other lead was the director himself, also excellent. Rightly won the Oscar.
Buzkashi Boys (Afghanistan). For starters, great photography, which shows the stunning background around Kabul. It's about two poor kids living there. Story is okay , not too special, but very well made. Only criticism I have is that the one death doesn't really impact you that much. And the project seems interesting, international crew but loads of local trainees, to give experience and hopefully in the long run stimulate a local film industry.
Asad (USA /south Africa). About a fisher boy in Somalia (so surrounded by piracy). Entertaining, funny at the right times, nice ending. Entire cast are Somalian refugees.
All can be viewed on iTunes or shortsHD, if you're interested.
Also saw Somewhere again. Last time i saw it was as a festival closing film (before it was even released), and loved it then. But i hadn't seen lost in translation yet then, and some people complained about the similarity. Now I have, but while I see a similarity in themes, i still like it a lot.
And saw the new hunger games. Entertaining, pretty good. End is indeed a setup for the next one, but that was to be expected I guess.
The Desolation of Smug:
A vast improvement over the first movie but the colour-scheme together with HFR made it look and feel very much like an unholy blend of modern computer game and British daytime soap. Ambivalent wrt the question of whether or not the long running time was justified, ie. whether or not it was an effective use of time. Overall I kinda feel like the longer I get to spend in another world the better.
I can't seem to get myself to watch this, I tried watching the Hobbit twice, but gave up after 2 hours. Admittedly not in a cinema, but still 55" HDTV. The only thing that kept me from being bored was doing other things while watching. And even so, I couldn't watch it till the end.Quote:
Originally Posted by Aimless
Yeh I can't build up the enthusiasm for it either.
~
Saving Mr Banks
Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks on the story of how Mary Poppins came to Disney. Colin Farrell playing a part too. Thompson nominated yesterday for a Golden Globe for her performance.
Very watchable. Solid performances all round. The part of the emotionally cold and haughty British 1950s madame was just made for Thompson.
7/10
Did you like LOTR? Because if you didn't I'm not sure why you think the Hobbit would be good. If you liked the LOTR but didn't like the Hobbit I don't understand you at all.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hazir
The first hobbit film was a lot more boring than lotr, so I can understand that very well.
Indeed, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was inane. It ruined the entire premise that Bilbo was but a small part in the initial proceedings. Whereas Jackson projected some kind of hero status upon him. It was faintly idiotic and destroyed everything that The Hobbit was. And yes it got boring, too.
Whereas the entire Lord of the Rings Trilogy was breathtaking and a masterclass in film-making.
Saw Place Beyond the Pines on a plane last week-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G07pSbHLXgg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G07pSbHLXgg
A bit long-winded, but also very nicely done. Some of the details were just great, plus the staging in upstate NY. FYI Place Beyond the Pines is sorta the Native American name for Schenectady, NY, a sort of mini-Detroit in.
Inside Llewyn Davis. Excellent, as expected from a Coen brothers film, of course. Like with most of their films, the story isn't that important, it's more about characters and their development. Also great acting, especially from the lead. Quite a dark story this time, but enough weird characters/situations that make you laugh and keep it a bit lighter (but does feel natural, not forced). Definitely recommended, especially if you like folk music (I liked the cameo at the end too :p).
And Justin Timberlake as a folk singer is also good :p
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Aq4a7g_wdU
I really liked this movie.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreadnaught
:up:
I've had four people say this to me this weekend. Maybe I'm just not musical enough, but I heard they sang full four-minute songs in the movie. Which seems too much, I suppose this is a sign of ADD.Quote:
Originally Posted by Flixy
:) I have the same thing with those stupid songs in fantasy flicks. Guess it's a Tolkien thing, but it s just useless filler to me.
The film is about musicians, though, so the songs also illustrate the characters, similar to a casual conversation that doesn't add to the plot but adds to the character in other films. Not useless, and doesn't feel like filler. But it may be because I do love music, and the songs help me 'feel' the characters. Plus it adds to the atmosphere.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreadnaught
Snowball Express...again...whenever it freaking snows heavy...Better Half HAS to watch it. <facepalm>
We rewatched Coraline this afternoon, such fun.
Also the original 30 minute Grinch cartoon that is far superior to the Adam Sandler monstrosity.
I think they were indulging me, but they enjoyed themselves anyway.
Philomena, story about a woman who goes on a quest go find back the son she had to give up for adoption 50 years ago in Catholic Ireland. Works as a personal drama with a great performance of Judy Dench, not so much as a critique of the Catholic church; the makers seem to forget that back in the 40s of the last century it wasn't just the Catholic Church that treated unmarried mothers and their children horribly. It's easy to make them stand out for their 'evilness', but given the alternative forced adoption wasn't such a bad deal at the time. Better than being labelled a bastard in the deeply conservative catholic Ireland of the time. With that stigma removed the children at least got a shot at a normal life.
My mom loved this one, that's a good point.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hazir