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Ah, Bollywood. Endhiran - or I think The Robot. Saw a Youtube clip of it just recently too. The scenes where there's hundreds of the robot linking up to form objects or a giant version of it is CG heavy, but also sheer lunacy. Whee!

 

What's bothering me is that I had only guessed that you talking about that movie, and it was correct.

 

- NKF

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Decent acting, some nice dialogue and troll lore, overall made for an enjoyable watch.

Heh. We loved it over here in the proper country for it. I expect there are bits that don't translate well and suffer from lost subtext. ;)

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Heh. We loved it over here in the proper country for it. I expect there are bits that don't translate well and suffer from lost subtext. ;)

 

Quite probably. I have a passing familiarity with trolls, and certainly a fair bit of the mytholgoy has made it over here in many forms (see the film version of Roald Dahl's The BFG, for instance), so I got most of it but no dout some subtleties will have passed me by. Hope it makes it to DVD/Blu ray.

 

Black Swan.

 

I'm going to admit right off that Natalie Portman pleasuring herself and lezzing it up with Mila Kunis was a factor in going to see this. Let's be honest, didn't hurt, but even without such scenes, the film is rather good. While I knew ballet was physically demanding, when you see it being performed it rather hammers the point home. Aronofsky isn't exactly known for keeping things low-key, so the special effects are a surprise (in a film about ballet, remember).

 

Portman goes crackers under the strain of playing the Swan Queen in Swan Lake, but you're never really sure how crackers. Some nice supporting performances (Cassell's role is a bit cliched, I thought, but he did alright with it), and the film is visually striking. Aronofsky moves ably between atmospheres, changes moods quickly without making it a farce, and it never gets dull or boring.

 

Now, have fun trying to convince your friends to try and see a film about ballet.

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Children of Men. Suddenly, everyone is infertile, and the world is thrown into chaos...because now we don't have to spend all our time looking after smaller, stupider versions of ourselves that do nothing but make demands?

 

Hmm.

 

Anyway, it's a fairly good film. Not a must see or anything, but one of the few where the violence actually feels violent, it's abrupt and sudden and not telegraphed. The themes aren't particularly subtle, and it's a relief when ginger Julianne Moore gets shot (ha ha), but aside from that, I liked it. Good camerawork, some great long takes (faked, I think, but never mind), Chiwetel Ejiofor is the man (is it just me or does he kick arse in every film he's in? The Operative in Serenity, a martial arts master in Redbelt, etc), Caine has a good little role, and the audio is hoofing. Clive Owen is basically the same bloke in every film, but you could say that about a lot of actors, and here he suits the role.

 

One of the best things about it is it never even tries to explain the infertility, that's just the background for the characters and events. Better than the book.

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Got this one on blu-ray without much of a background check, given that I'm a bit of a post-apoc fan.

 

Very nice production values overall I'd say. Pleasantly understated, and though set in a fictional backdrop it feels well grounded in reality, not pulling any punches.

 

::

 

Not very uplifting by any stretch, except for "Pull my finger!" ;)

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It was a nice take on the apocalypse. The unusual aspects of it (abandoned schools, maternity wards, etc) really stood out as different from your bog-standard end of the world. The way it changed society (armed police, euthanasia kits) and yet life went on in an almost normal way was fairly well shown.
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  • 2 weeks later...

Saw the Mad Max trilogy for the first time in my life.

 

First movie, though a cult classic, I found to be forgettable. Easily summed up as Max's friend and family are killed by loony bikers, Max kills bikers. End of story.

 

The Road Warrior and Beyond Thunderdome on the other hand were quite entertaining. The third film was actually not as violent as the others, with less folks getting killed. Chattier too - though my main complaint with all the films is that most of the time you can't hear the dialogue. Then again dialogue wasn't really their strong points.

 

Was also fun to see where a lot of the elements in Fallout and Fallout 2 were 'borrowed' from.

 

- NKF

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Attempted to watch Due Date, but couldn't get even to half of it. It's plot is, simply put, stupid, and I felt like I've watched the same movie many times before, another plot rehash with idiotic humour.

 

Then moved on to The Other Guys, slightly more entertaining, with Will Farrell playing the exact same role he plays every single other movie he makes. Still, a very bad and repetitive comedy I felt I watched many times before.

 

Finally, it was refreshing to actually see a good movie in The King's Speech. Not as boring as the title and synopsis made it to be. Great performances, interesting (and real) plot. Overall a great movie.

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Karate Kid (2010) is a decent film, entertaining, Jackie Chan may not be playing himself (sadly), but he's an enjoyable actor.

 

Left me pondering, though... why does Mr. Han (2010's Miyagi) not teach him KARATE? you know... the movie is called something like KARATE KID, not Kung-Fu Kid...

Did this happen in the original? I don't recall, must watch it again.

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Memories foggy, but the original Karate Kid was taught the art of polishing. :laugh:

 

Just saw the anime film Summer Wars. Probably the most entertaining bit of Japanese animation I've seen in a while. Has the little subtle touches to it that remind me a lot of Studio Ghibli films. The film gives an idea of the sort of chaos that could happen in a world where all of its services, businesses, major infrastructure, etc is reliant on a virtual massively multiplayer world called OZ and a rogue AI that likes to play games is let loose on it and starts stealing accounts and gaining control of said services.

 

- NKF

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Enjoying my way through Ghibli films these days. Wonderful storytelling.

 

And I enjoyed 雨あがる as well. Kurosawa wrote it but never got to direct it. Real feel-good movie.

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Never Let Me Go.

 

Expected this to be shit. It isn't.

 

It's brilliant. It made me feel physically sick, at times, not through gore or disgust, but through sadness and horror. Best sci-fi film in years, and not a CGI shot in sight.

Yes... it is a brilliant shit. :laugh: Not meant as a bad movie, it is a really good movie, I'm just not sure I'm happy to have seen it. Leaves many questions, far too many. It scared me more than most horror movies, too.

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Az - for a bloody good film and also one where Will Ferrell is not playing the same character yet again try "Stranger Than Fiction". One of the most original films you'll have seen in recent years too.

 

I enjoyed the 2010 Karate Kid film which I saw last night. It was a bit predictable, but the shift to China (which I suspect put a lot of people off at the cinema as they had to read subtitles) was a good move. It was refreshing to see Jackie Chan doing some serious acting, though in his fight scene early on there is still some of his Tongue in cheek fighting but it's much more serious and realistic here.

 

The bit where the film shines is that all if the kids actually do kick ass. The bullies are obviously all trained in martial arts to a high degree, and there's some good parcour (spelling?) scenes. The but that really surprised me is that whilst Jaden Smith isn't that good an actor yet he obviously spent a lot of time learning all of these moves to a point where even though we assume they're choreographed he could quite probably kick your ass in a fight. He trained hard - he can stand on one leg and point the other leg straight up which isn't something everyone can do!

 

I think it got lower ratings than the original probably because it's not very original, but also because of the attention span of movie-goers who can't be bothered with subtitles. From a technical standpoint it's an infinitely better film than the original and contains some of the best and most believable fight scenes I've seen in a while.

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I enjoyed that film, I liked his performance there, but I found the movie rather senseless :S I can not make heads or tails out of what happens in the film, I know what but I don't know why and the fact that there is no why simply bothers me :oh:

 

Az - for a bloody good film and also one where Will Ferrell is not playing the same character yet again try "Stranger Than Fiction". One of the most original films you'll have seen in recent years too.

 

I enjoyed the 2010 Karate Kid film which I saw last night. It was a bit predictable, but the shift to China (which I suspect put a lot of people off at the cinema as they had to read subtitles) was a good move. It was refreshing to see Jackie Chan doing some serious acting, though in his fight scene early on there is still some of his Tongue in cheek fighting but it's much more serious and realistic here.

 

The bit where the film shines is that all if the kids actually do kick ass. The bullies are obviously all trained in martial arts to a high degree, and there's some good parcour (spelling?) scenes. The but that really surprised me is that whilst Jaden Smith isn't that good an actor yet he obviously spent a lot of time learning all of these moves to a point where even though we assume they're choreographed he could quite probably kick your ass in a fight. He trained hard - he can stand on one leg and point the other leg straight up which isn't something everyone can do!

 

I think it got lower ratings than the original probably because it's not very original, but also because of the attention span of movie-goers who can't be bothered with subtitles. From a technical standpoint it's an infinitely better film than the original and contains some of the best and most believable fight scenes I've seen in a while.

 

 

For a really entertaining comparison between the old Karate Kid and 2010 Karate Kid, check here. The Nostalgia Critic always cracks me up :laugh:

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:)

 

I LOVE science fiction bit if a movie is boring... It shows very little of the aliens, armed guides react to alien threat like imbeciles (one HAS to wonder how they survived for this long), it has no conclusion to speak of and it has a lame excuse for a love story.

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  • 3 months later...

Had a bit of a blu ray fest lately.

 

L.A. Confidential - bloody good noir film.

 

City of Life and Death - horrific, on par with films like Katyn and Schindler's List. Won't be watching it again in a hurry.

 

Ip Man - great fight scenes, dodgy history. Not a biopic at all, but just another kung fu film.

 

Zach and Miri Make a Porno - actually quite funny, a sort of romantic comedy but for men.

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