[McLovin]

MWKarsa, on 09 August 2011 - 11:22 PM, said:

Saw Rise of the Apes today and really enjoyed it. From the trailer I probably would not have gone to see this but the reviews were good so I gave it a shot and I'm glad I did. Couple of naggling things but overall a really good backstory for the series to build off of after the bad first attempt to re-start the series.

Same here. No interest in seeing it till I heard the buzz. Glad I did.

King Kazma, on 10 August 2011 - 03:53 AM, said:

Also saw Rise of the Apes today. Great stuff, one of the better films I've seen this summer. and it handles the whole apes take over/humans wane thing in a VERY interesting believable way. AKA it's not just the Apes conquering if that's what you are thinking.

a great film that is better for having Andy Serkis performance as Ceasar.

Caesar absolutely steals the show, but the film as a whole was awesome. Nothing terribly original, script-wise (Frankenstein meets The Great Escape meets Braveheart meets '70s disaster flick), but very well done. I also enjoyed spotting all the references to the original films. There were loads of them and they were worked in surprisingly well.

worrywort, on 10 August 2011 - 04:34 AM, said:

Those reviews are very heartening. My one question left, I suppose, is -- and I'm not asking for specific spoilers -- was the ending more or less conclusive, or was there blatant sequel-baiting? Hope that makes sense.

It's a pretty conclusive ending. Obviously, they left room to remake the original PotA based off this movie. (The Mark Wahlberg version of PotA IIRC does not have continuity with this movie.)

Don't forget to stay through the credits...one cookie partway in the credits and a little bit extra as the credits continue...you'll see what I mean. No cookie at the end though.

All in all, highly recommended.

[QuickTidal]

Full Apes review, no spoilers.

http://icebergink.bl...et-of-apes.html

[amphibian]

Crazy Stupid Love - excellent date movie. I'd give it 8.5 out of 10 Michael Scott's In Love Moments.

Every role is perfectly cast and only a little weird convolution at the very end prevents it from being a full 10 out of 10.

I also hate to say this, but Ryan Gosling has a scene in this movie that basically ensures he's spank bank material for the remainder of time for every female who sees both the Notebook and this movie. It sounds odd, but I watched that scene and had respect for both the character and for Gosling himself for having the chops and smarts to do that. There's just no way a normal man can compete with that scene.

This post has been edited by amphibian: 11 August 2011 - 12:20 AM

[McLovin]

Saw The Help. Pretty good stuff. Perhaps a wee bit too sure of itself regarding a time in America's history that was actually very uncertain. But the performances by all the actresses were good. I'm not sure any were Oscar-worthy, as critical buzz is going, but I can see how they'd be Oscar-bait. I give it 10 disgruntled maids out of 12. Worth checking out.

[Slow Ben]

Watched The Adjustment Bureau last night.

Not bad. I enjoyed the idea and the way it built up to the finale. But the ending kind of fell flat and pushed it down to 6.5 ripples out of 10.

[Beezulbubba]

Behold! (link)

[QuickTidal]

Geekstad Nerdhammer, on 14 August 2011 - 01:35 AM, said:

Behold! (link)

Thankfully this is the European collectors set and not the North American one...as I REALLY don't like the look of it at all. It's kind of gaudy, and the only good thing about it would be the Elder Wand...but having my own resin Sirius Black wand (TWWOHP in Florida)... the cheap plastic this one would inevitably be would probably be would only annoy me.

The suitcase boxed set they did for years 1-5 of HP was nice. Discreet, simple and yet collectorish without being overly tawdry.

What I'd like to see is a nice, solid boxed set, packed in a better way. Look at the sets for both the LOTR Extended Edition and the forthcoming StarWars Blu Ray sets....both are flip/magnetically closed boxes, with slide out fully cased discs (in LOTR's case the cases are elegant black instead of blue) and gorgeous inner art. I can speak for the LOTR one as it is a fantastic map of Middle Earth. Why companies feel the need to go overboard with these over-the-top sets, is beyond me. Like the latest Alien Quadrilogy boxed set with the alien egg/fachugger statue with the discs at the base....REALLY? Come on, who the hell is going to buy that? Like the Matrix set WB did with the maquette of Neo on top of it...I bet you like 8 people bought that one before it was discreetly repackaged in a much more compact and yet serviceable set. When are some companies going to learn the word subtlety?

This post has been edited by King Kazma: 14 August 2011 - 04:34 AM

[Beezulbubba]

^ If 'ifs' and 'buts' were candy and nuts, we'd all have a Merry Christmas.

I'm sure Potter sycophants will queue up at midnight for this. I just have to figure out how to become Rowling's sex toy so I can enjoy the rain of riches.

[QuickTidal]

Geekstad Nerdhammer, on 14 August 2011 - 04:43 AM, said:

I just have to figure out how to become Rowling's sex toy so I can enjoy the rain of riches.

I'd do it for J.K. Rowling's cougar body to be honest. She's yummy!

[Beezulbubba]

25 Greatest Unscripted Scenes in Films

[Beezulbubba]

50 Trippiest Drug Hallucinations in Films

[Gothos]

Watched The Hangover and... it's was pretty poor. I expected shenanigans of Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, but all I got was some weird American Pie mutation with a celebrity co-star. What a letdown.

[Traveller]

I watched The Dark Knight again.

Definitely enjoyed it more a second time - the soundtrack is great, and for some reason city-scapes always look super amazing on blu-ray.

I won't rant against costumed villains this time; the chaos-bringing joker was really well done. (Although I do wonder why actors who play deranged people feel the need to stick their tongues in and out a lot to show how 'mad' they are. David Tennant does it in The Goblet of Fire, and now Heath Ledger. I could understand a sort of twitch or tic of some kind, but something so obviously done intentionally looks like an unnecessary, gimmicky addition to an otherwise great performance).

Good film though - I'd be looking forward to the next one if I hadn't just seen a picture of Anne Hathaway in it.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 19 August 2011 - 12:56 PM

[QuickTidal]

Traveller, on 19 August 2011 - 12:55 PM, said:

I watched The Dark Knight again.

Definitely enjoyed it more a second time - the soundtrack is great, and for some reason city-scapes always look super amazing on blu-ray.

I won't rant against costumed villains this time; the chaos-bringing joker was really well done. (Although I do wonder why actors who play deranged people feel the need to stick their tongues in and out a lot to show how 'mad' they are. David Tennant does it in The Goblet of Fire, and now Heath Ledger. I could understand a sort of twitch or tic of some kind, but something so obviously done intentionally looks like an unnecessary, gimmicky addition to an otherwise great performance).

Good film though - I'd be looking forward to the next one if I hadn't just seen a picture of Anne Hathaway in it.

David Tennant's Barty Crouch Jr.'s "tongue out" was actually a facial tick that was in the script meant to give him away when he was Polly-Juiced up as fake Mad-Eye Moody. So that, at least, was intentional.

In TDK I believe it was because when they were developing Heath's Joker they talked about his "grin" as a sliced wound that he would keep compulsively licking (you know when you have chapped lips and your instinct is to lick them...even though that makes them worse) and therefore would never heal properly and actually (if you look closely) gets WORSE over the course of the film...so intentional there as well.

So not so much "showing us how mad they are"

At any rate, yeah that film looks bloody gorgeous on BluRay, every scene is amazing. I love that in the Joker interrogation scene the blacks in corner behind him are so entirely dark that you can't see Batman standing there at all, so when the lights bang on you really are stunned a bit to see him standing there. Well done on the lighting overall.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 19 August 2011 - 01:25 PM

[amphibian]

I think they were also shooting for a more "lizard-like" appearance from the Joker. They were trying to emphasize his difference from regular humanity with his head positioning and lip licking.

The sliced wound thing makes this even more fitting for the character.

[QuickTidal]

With all this talk about the West Memphis 3 possibly being released today innocent, it got me thinking about the Guildford 4...

...which of course led me to IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER which was such a stunning film and I think one of the first ones that made me angry afterwards at how injustice can be orchestrated by those supposed to be just. I recall walking out of the theatre with my dad and absolutely fuming. I asked him "Does that sort of stuff happen a lot?" and he didn't really have an answer for me.

Kinda wanna watch that movie again. Daniel Day Lewis and Emma Thompson were amazing in that.

[Traveller]

QuickTidal, on 19 August 2011 - 01:24 PM, said:

Traveller, on 19 August 2011 - 12:55 PM, said:

I watched The Dark Knight again.

Definitely enjoyed it more a second time - the soundtrack is great, and for some reason city-scapes always look super amazing on blu-ray.

I won't rant against costumed villains this time; the chaos-bringing joker was really well done. (Although I do wonder why actors who play deranged people feel the need to stick their tongues in and out a lot to show how 'mad' they are. David Tennant does it in The Goblet of Fire, and now Heath Ledger. I could understand a sort of twitch or tic of some kind, but something so obviously done intentionally looks like an unnecessary, gimmicky addition to an otherwise great performance).

Good film though - I'd be looking forward to the next one if I hadn't just seen a picture of Anne Hathaway in it.

David Tennant's Barty Crouch Jr.'s "tongue out" was actually a facial tick that was in the script meant to give him away when he was Polly-Juiced up as fake Mad-Eye Moody. So that, at least, was intentional.

In TDK I believe it was because when they were developing Heath's Joker they talked about his "grin" as a sliced wound that he would keep compulsively licking (you know when you have chapped lips and your instinct is to lick them...even though that makes them worse) and therefore would never heal properly and actually (if you look closely) gets WORSE over the course of the film...so intentional there as well.

So not so much "showing us how mad they are"

At any rate, yeah that film looks bloody gorgeous on BluRay, every scene is amazing. I love that in the Joker interrogation scene the blacks in corner behind him are so entirely dark that you can't see Batman standing there at all, so when the lights bang on you really are stunned a bit to see him standing there. Well done on the lighting overall.

That makes sense, but even watching it a second time, his make-up covers up his 'sliced wound' so much that you don't know it's there until he talks about it - and even then the red make-up looks like only that, so the intention for the licking might have become a bit lost to anyone whose not actually read about how the film was developed.

Bit like that scene in 'Let the Right One In'... for anyone who'd read the book, the close up shot of the vampires, er, girly bits, was intended to show that she was actually a weird hermaphrodite. Anyone who hadn't read the book, like the majority of the people who saw it, thought 'what the fuck was that in there for?'

It's all very well for the makers of the film to know all the details, but if they don't convey them to the audience, then they're not doing their job well - maybe if the jokers scar was more like a scar and less like a drawn on red line, the intention would have been more apparent.

Good point though, I'll definitely see it in a different way the next time i watch it.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 19 August 2011 - 08:32 PM

[worry]

But the Let the Right One In reveal is perfect

Spoiler

"She" continuously tells Oskar that she's not a girl throughout, so the viewer assumes she means she's a vampire, but the reveal clarifies everything with double the shock. It's an extremely effective "ohhhhh" moment, not at all a WTF moment.

The Joker thing is a bit more obscure, granted, but I dunno about the scar thing...they're apparent on his face from the beginning. It's no sin not to notice them or anything, but I'd imagine you're in the small minority who didn't. Just happenstance I guess, but not a failure of the filmmakers.

Your post does make me wonder, however, if there's other crazies in movies who stick their tongue out a lot.

[Mezla PigDog]

Traveller, on 19 August 2011 - 08:29 PM, said:

Bit like that scene in 'Let the Right One In'... for anyone who'd read the book, the close up shot of the vampires, er, girly bits, was intended to show that she was actually a weird hermaphrodite. Anyone who hadn't read the book, like the majority of the people who saw it, thought 'what the fuck was that in there for?'

Well finally an explanation! I just figured "Bloody Swedish film makers can't stop themselves"

[QuickTidal]

Traveller, on 19 August 2011 - 08:29 PM, said:

Bit like that scene in 'Let the Right One In'... for anyone who'd read the book, the close up shot of the vampires, er, girly bits, was intended to show that she was actually a weird hermaphrodite. Anyone who hadn't read the book, like the majority of the people who saw it, thought 'what the fuck was that in there for?'

...aaaaaand I hadn't watched it yet....so thanks for that. LOL. Um, spoiler tags are your friend.