[McLovin]

Netflixed THE BLACK HOLE. 70s Disney sci-fi goodness. I still think the lit-from-within effect of the Cygnus is cool. Plus, the robot Maximilian (as opposed to the actor Maximilian Schell who played Hans Reinhardt) still creeps me out.

[Abyss]

Abyss, on 12 December 2011 - 06:22 PM, said:

...
DESPICABLE ME - as an animated movie in an era of brilliant animated movies, this was just okay. But there are certain scenes that made me laugh to the point of falling off the couch, in tears, getting up long enough to rewind and watch them again. Notably, all the Mad Scientist fights, and the Minions' shopping trip. I could have paid big screen prices and been happy with this film. Gloriously recommended....

I just watched this again and it was even more awesome.

[Slow Ben]

Abyss, on 20 December 2011 - 05:19 PM, said:

Abyss, on 12 December 2011 - 06:22 PM, said:

...
DESPICABLE ME - as an animated movie in an era of brilliant animated movies, this was just okay. But there are certain scenes that made me laugh to the point of falling off the couch, in tears, getting up long enough to rewind and watch them again. Notably, all the Mad Scientist fights, and the Minions' shopping trip. I could have paid big screen prices and been happy with this film. Gloriously recommended....

I just watched this again and it was even more awesome.

Lightbulb.....



Watched Super 8 last night.

Not a bad flick, but not as awesome as some people made it out to be.

[McLovin]

Slow Ben, on 20 December 2011 - 06:10 PM, said:

Watched Super 8 last night.

Not a bad flick, but not as awesome as some people made it out to be.

Yeah, I don't get that either. It was well-shot/acted, but not a single original thought in there.

[Morgoth]

McLovin, on 20 December 2011 - 10:06 PM, said:

Slow Ben, on 20 December 2011 - 06:10 PM, said:

Watched Super 8 last night.

Not a bad flick, but not as awesome as some people made it out to be.

Yeah, I don't get that either. It was well-shot/acted, but not a single original thought in there.

It was a return to classic sci-fi/horror sort of genre from the eighties, just with proper acting and good special effects.

[polishgenius]

Morgoth, on 20 December 2011 - 10:22 PM, said:

It was a return to classic sci-fi/horror sort of genre from the eighties, just with proper acting and good special effects.

But no flair whatsoever. The fact that invited comparison to Spielberg just made it all the more obvious.

The biggest problem for me, though, was that it tried to do too many things at once- a rather shallow and trite family drama, the creature feature and a tribute to cinema. And the first, easily the weakest aspect, took up so much space the rest had no real time to breathe.


Attack the Block beat it hollow, for films involving kids dealing with SF-type danger this year go...

[HoosierDaddy]

I'd consider them entirely different films. Attack the Block has much more of an edge to it than Super 8.

In Super 8 I liked the cinematography and the scenes with the kids in them. Thought the kids were by far the best part of the movie. The cookie-cutter, ridiculous "bad-guy" was a major negative, as well as what I considered to be a pretty poorly written "father" figure.

In Attack the Block, the kids were the best part as well, but they also had the benefit of a much better "bad guy/s." Didn't really dislike anything about Attack the Block, though.

I liked both, honestly.

[MWKarsa]

McLovin, on 20 December 2011 - 04:58 PM, said:

Netflixed THE BLACK HOLE. 70s Disney sci-fi goodness. I still think the lit-from-within effect of the Cygnus is cool. Plus, the robot Maximilian (as opposed to the actor Maximilian Schell who played Hans Reinhardt) still creeps me out.

VIncent and Old Bob completely rock. Loved that movie as a kid and I still like it now. Maximillian was fantastic non-speaking villian that could scare the crap out of you.


Saw Hugo this weekend and enoyed it but thought it dragged in the middle. Really good story and characters just developed very slowly but enjoyable nonetheless.

[QuickTidal]

polishgenius, on 20 December 2011 - 11:39 PM, said:

Morgoth, on 20 December 2011 - 10:22 PM, said:

It was a return to classic sci-fi/horror sort of genre from the eighties, just with proper acting and good special effects.

But no flair whatsoever. The fact that invited comparison to Spielberg just made it all the more obvious.

The biggest problem for me, though, was that it tried to do too many things at once- a rather shallow and trite family drama, the creature feature and a tribute to cinema. And the first, easily the weakest aspect, took up so much space the rest had no real time to breathe.


Attack the Block beat it hollow, for films involving kids dealing with SF-type danger this year go...

The movie was partly MADE by Spielberg.

It was always meant to be exactly what it was: a love letter and homage to the movies that JJ and Spielberg made as young men. It didn't come out to subvert any tropes, or push any boundaries. It's a total fanboy movie about being a movie fanboy. I fear if you went in looking for things to make it be something other than that then you completely missed the point of it...or you aren't nostalgic for that era of film.

For me, it's not that I haven't seen what was presented on the screen before, or even that the characters were well constructed across the board. For me it was that as I sat in the theatre seat it felt as if I was transported back to being an 8-year old kid again and there was an element of magic to that. THAT is why the movie got all the press and good reviews...it actually had very little to do with the story or characters.

[polishgenius]

QuickTidal, on 28 December 2011 - 12:12 PM, said:

The movie was partly MADE by Spielberg.

It was produced and part-written by him but his real magic is being behind the camera and I don't think he directed any of this... though do correct me if I'm wrong.

Quote

It was always meant to be exactly what it was: a love letter and homage to the movies that JJ and Spielberg made as young men. It didn't come out to subvert any tropes, or push any boundaries. It's a total fanboy movie about being a movie fanboy. I fear if you went in looking for things to make it be something other than that then you completely missed the point of it...or you aren't nostalgic for that era of film.

I'm not nostalgic for that era of film at all, but that hasn't stopped me loving loving love-letters to other genres that I'm not familiar or emotionally connected with (Donnie Darko, Shaun of the Dead, Brick, Zatoichi- growing up without a telly or parents with an interest I didn't get into film till I was 17, so the only two films I have any nostalgic affection for are The Lion King and Cool Runnings...) before. The tribute aspect was one of the main reasons I eventually saw it, coz I like seeing other people's affection for a form (maybe, lacking in my own, I've become a nostalgia vampire). And I adore stories about storytelling in general. But yeah, I guess that lack of connection didn't help me enjoy it.









Aaaaaaanyway in the last couple of days I've seen:


The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - I was hoping for a great film, but I can't really complain that I got a really good one. On par with the Swedish for me but bringing a different perspective to the story (a more kinetic style, more focus on characters rather than slow atmospherics), I think it's a worthwhile remake, though it probably won't stand as a genre classic.

Easy-A - shoots quickly to the top of my 'favourite films aimed at teenage girls' list. A fantastically witty script with great comic performances from many of the supporting cast (particularly Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson) and I think it's possible that Emma Stone is actually flawless...

Blitz - Jason Statham doing as Jason Statham does, this time with a quality cast including Aiden Gillen and Paddy Considine. It's as daft as you'd expect of a film that mashes the most ridiculous noir cliches with the stylistic excesses of Landahn Gangster flicks, but it is a decent turn-of-your-brain bit of fun.

[QuickTidal]

polishgenius, on 28 December 2011 - 05:48 PM, said:

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - I was hoping for a great film, but I can't really complain that I got a really good one. On par with the Swedish for me but bringing a different perspective to the story (a more kinetic style, more focus on characters rather than slow atmospherics), I think it's a worthwhile remake, though it probably won't stand as a genre classic.

My buddy who edits the behind the scene's features for the DVD's and BluRay's for this one (and most of Fincher's recent work), having been immersed in all things about this movie for months and having seen things like 25 cuts of any number of scenes said that when he finally saw the final product it was as if there was simply TOO much content, which was at war with the kinetic pace. Leaving him feeling that the movie simply moves TOO FAST for you to really FEEL anything from it on an emotional level because the second you think you will connect with any given scene...it's already over and you are two further scenes ahead. He says it's good, but is by no means as good as it could have been.

[polishgenius]

QuickTidal, on 28 December 2011 - 08:14 PM, said:

My buddy who edits the behind the scene's features for the DVD's and BluRay's for this one (and most of Fincher's recent work), having been immersed in all things about this movie for months and having seen things like 25 cuts of any number of scenes said that when he finally saw the final product it was as if there was simply TOO much content, which was at war with the kinetic pace. Leaving him feeling that the movie simply moves TOO FAST for you to really FEEL anything from it on an emotional level because the second you think you will connect with any given scene...it's already over and you are two further scenes ahead. He says it's good, but is by no means as good as it could have been.

This is spot on. The problem is, though, that to make the pace better (it's certainly the problem here- not just frenetic, but uneven) it could have done what the Swedish version did and remove a lot of the plot strands not related directly to Wagner, but that is exactly what left the Swedish version emotionally colder than the Fincher (it removed or minimised the screentime of a lot of the secondary characters which made the mains much more enclosed characters- though it did focus more on Blomqvist and Salander's interaction than here).

In other words, I think the flaw comes from the book.

[McLovin]

Going to see Scientologist Stunt Wacko 4: Ghost Protocol tomorrow. Stand by for report...

[QuickTidal]

Watched one of my Christmas Gifties: KUNG-FU PANDA 2 on BluRay and totally LOVED it. Even better than the first one, and I mean adding the likes of Gary Oldman and Michelle Yeoh was pure win! What a fantastic sequel. Can't wait for the 3rd. (and 4th, 5th and 6th if the notion that they will make it a six film series comes to fruition).

[polishgenius]

The Kung-Fu Panda films are cracking. Skadoosh!



Just watched a French action thriller from last year (but this year in England), Point Blank. It's something like Taken crossed with the Bourne films (especially the third one), well worth a watch.

[McLovin]

McLovin, on 29 December 2011 - 02:17 AM, said:

Going to see Scientologist Stunt Wacko 4: Ghost Protocol tomorrow. Stand by for report...

Well, I saw it. Pretty good from the Kremlin up through Dubai. That mobile wall illusion thing was cool. Tom Wilkinson briefly classes up the movie, and I missed him the instant he was gone. The sandstorm chase was pretty cool. I sharted when they did that shot looking straight down from the window of the Burj Khalifa - that whole climbing sequence was awesome.

After Dubai, though, I started losing interest. The Mumbai parking garage fight was pretty cool. But really, I expected more from JJ Abrams. I liked the first MI movie because you really had to pay attention to what was going on. It was really about all the layers of deception in covert ops. Since then, they've just been mindless action set-pieces. MI 2 and 3 were pretty forgettable, other than Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance in 3. And I think 4 will be too.

[QuickTidal]

McLovin, on 30 December 2011 - 02:22 PM, said:

McLovin, on 29 December 2011 - 02:17 AM, said:

Going to see Scientologist Stunt Wacko 4: Ghost Protocol tomorrow. Stand by for report...

Well, I saw it. Pretty good from the Kremlin up through Dubai. That mobile wall illusion thing was cool. Tom Wilkinson briefly classes up the movie, and I missed him the instant he was gone. The sandstorm chase was pretty cool. I sharted when they did that shot looking straight down from the window of the Burj Khalifa - that whole climbing sequence was awesome.

After Dubai, though, I started losing interest. The Mumbai parking garage fight was pretty cool. But really, I expected more from JJ Abrams. I liked the first MI movie because you really had to pay attention to what was going on. It was really about all the layers of deception in covert ops. Since then, they've just been mindless action set-pieces. MI 2 and 3 were pretty forgettable, other than Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance in 3. And I think 4 will be too.

A. Total agreement that things roll well right up to the Dubai sequence.

B. From Mumbai onwards I felt that the 3rd act was WAY too long and things should have wrapped up after Dubai into a finale, not become a whole other act as long as the previous one was.

C. JJ only produced this one (he actually directed the 3rd one, which is my fave), and this was Brad Bird's first live action foray (He's a PIXAR director) and it's almost like he was having so much fun playing in the live action movie world that no one was there to reign him in running-time-wise.

D. That said, it is still oodles better than MI:2 (which was John Woo Dove flying, slow motion, face changing garbage), and for 1 1/2 hours of the running time I was endlessly entertained.

E. It is not only my gf's fave movie of the sequence, but she also says it's the BEST movie she saw in 2011. LOL. Diff'rent strokes I guess.

[HoosierDaddy]

Watched "Another Earth" and I really, really liked it. A nice sci-fi setting but it is really an introspective look at ourselves. As long as you don't expect sci-fi heavy plot elements (or physics that make sense), what parts are there are really well done.

Solid 8 out of 10 for me.

[McLovin]

Watched THE GIRL WITH THE GINORMOUS DILDO DRAGON TATTOO. The only movie that dares to answer the question "How should we follow a scene of anal rape?" with ANOTHER scene of anal rape with the first scene of anal rape playing in the background. Ho-ho-holy shit! Good movie, but the whole epilogue was unnecessary IMO.

[Morgoth]

QuickTidal, on 29 December 2011 - 01:37 PM, said:

Watched one of my Christmas Gifties: KUNG-FU PANDA 2 on BluRay and totally LOVED it. Even better than the first one, and I mean adding the likes of Gary Oldman and Michelle Yeoh was pure win! What a fantastic sequel. Can't wait for the 3rd. (and 4th, 5th and 6th if the notion that they will make it a six film series comes to fruition).

Gary Oldman is in that movie? Now I have to see it.


I just watched the trailers for the two Snow White movies coming out: Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman (think that's the title). Tarsem Singh is directing the first one and before I saw the trailer I was absolutely positive he'd be the perfect director for that sort of movie. Alas, the trailer didn't convince me. The puns. My god, the puns.

On the other hand, the second version utilizes the renowned acting talents of Kirsten Stewart and Charlize Theron. That in itself might not be bad if the director knows his business, but I have never heard of Rupert Sanders, so I remain skeptical. At least in Mirror Mirror Julia Roberts and Sean Bean will be helping. Still though. The puns; they burn!