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The Movie Thread


Slaughter

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No problem, I hate it when a film comes out and every synopsis you see tells you pretty much what happens in the first two acts (rendering the majority of the film redundant) and summing up with what is basically "Will it be a happy ending or not?" when you know 99.99% of the time the answer is Yes, For God's Sake.

 

You should know enough to interest you, and no more. It's quite possible to inform someone about a film by talking around it, rather than just telling them what happens.

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In other great news in a day full of it, Akira is probably cancelled. Thank you, common sense.

 

How I Ended this Summer. Two chaps on a remote weather observation outpost in Russia, which is about as remote as things get. There are of course problems with the radio, and the two do not always get along. A little bit bleak, but very Russian, and well-acted.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I owe Thorondor an apology.

 

In Time is actually an entertaining film. Timberlake is a bit too competent at everything to be believable (he works a factory job, yet shoots and fights like Bond), but the acting isn't bad, and the central idea is interesting enough to carry the film. Plenty of flaws and any serious thought will sink it as workable, but a decent film.

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It's rare, but a movie's premise can sometimes carry enough weight to make even sub-average actor deliveries sufferable. Mortality in particular is always going to be a subject that pulls on our strings, be it our own mortality or that of others who are close to us.

 

::

 

Anyway, it's really not every day an immortal strategy god appologises, so apology accepted, FA... :)

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Drive. So close to being perfect, with just one or two mis-steps that keep it at 9/10. There's one song on the soundtrack that I am convinced is a piss take. Gosling gives a great but very subtle performance, everyone else can and does act, it's well-directed and the driving scenes in particular are good without trying to compete with classic stuff like The French Connection and To Live and Die in L.A., with a lot of them viewed from within the car. The violence is abrupt and shocking, as it should be. There isn't a great deal of dialogue, but Winding Refn knows how to speak using visuals. One of the best films of 2011.
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Project Nim. A documentary about what happens when you try to raise a chimp as a human. It's not a prequel to the Planet of the Apes, that would be a much more cheerful film. Needlessly manipulative at times, when the events speak for themselves. Otherwise, a good use of time.
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I'm personally getting tired of all these Twilight knock-off movies coming out. The only vampire movie I am even wanting to see is the new Underworld one. Otherwise, stop with the whinging, whining, teenage girl movies, and make something good. Ok, I ranted on that enough, I think.

 

The only DC comic movie that I want to see is the Batman The Dark Knight Returns. Batman Begins was a good yarn, and could even have R'as Al'Ghul come back later on, resurrected via Lazarus Pits, and go forward with that story line. Then when I sat in the theater to watch The Dark Knight, I thought I was watching a great movie. The only change I saw was they switched from Katie Holmes to Maggie Gyllenhall, or however that is spelled. Watching TDK was like watching how Batman should have been done first off. This new movie will end the Chris Nolan trilogy, as well as Christian Bale as Batman. Personally, I like the idea of NOT having a Robin in there, and they can continue that as long as they can, and not ruin it like they did by bringing in Chris O'Donell, or however that's spelled, into play Dick Grayson. If anyone, please use a younger person, to start with.

 

The Marvel Movies I would like to see are Thor 2, Captain America 2, Ironman 3, and The Avengers. I know that they reworked Thor's armor, but it was just like watching the comic step up and out of the page, become human, and onto film, and projected. And that's really not a complaint against Thor, just an observation, that I actually liked. The Captain America, I do have a couple more issues with, but the main one is the actual suit he wears. If my memory serves me, it was made out of metal, almost like chain mail and scale mail put together. And the wings off the ears. The other thing that gets me, is that he was supposed to be strapped to a bomb with Bucky Barnes, and gets free, but can't Save Bucky from dying, and actually lands in a lake and freezes, and found and comes back into play years later. However, it's all good the way they did it. At least it's not major, to me. Others may think so, but to me, it's ok.

 

I will say this, that Super 8 is fairly good. However I do need to watch it again to catch things I didn't see the first time around. I thought that the story line flowed fairly well, and even worked. It wasn't super great, but it was good. I'm willing to see it again, at least once more.

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From Beyond. A slice of extremely strong 80s cheese, complete with dodgy effects, dodgy acting, big hair, massive glasses, a daft plot and even stupider events. It starts with experiments with a resonator that stimulates the pineal gland and allows the scientists (one a sadomasochistic genius, the other a crazed naysayer) to see otherworldly creatures and only gets better. Based on a Lovecraft short story, the hysteria is ramped right up from start to finish, complete with hilariously intense overacting. I could describe some of what goes on, but it has to be seen to be believed.
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Another Earth. Really enjoyed this, up there with films like The Man From Earth and Never Let Me Go,

Watched. Personally I wouldn't compare it to the two masterpieces. It DID make my eyes meet the onion, but the whole ordeal was very bugged by the whole "this is not improbable, it is utterly impossible" thought that ringed through my brain throughout the movie. It is thought provoking though and I loved the end, quite a catharsis. I'm a sucker for those. Worth the watch.

 

Unthinkable. A lot of moral dilemma thrown in the face of the "must be done". Which, in the end, must be done.

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"this is not improbable, it is utterly impossible"

 

Which bit? The premise, or her actions? Dammit, where are our spoiler tags!

 

Okay, it might not be quite as good as TMWFTE or NLMG, but for me it's in that same band of sci-fi films that aren't dominated by CGI and stupidity. In each film, there is really just one fairly simple central idea, and the story spins out from there. Glad you liked it though! :clapping:

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Which bit? The premise, or her actions? Dammit, where are our spoiler tags!

Here they are! :clapping:

 

Having a copy of the Earth, with the second Moon, with the same evolution... Basically every single atom (boson, whatever) had to be moving exactly the same on both planets since the beginning of time - until we become aware of each other. That is not just improbable. Existence of God and its sense of humor can deal with this though. It can not deal with the absence of their Sun though. They just wandered through the vastness (and darkness) of space with no star? Yikes. But ok, God could probably do that, too, he he he!

 

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Magic! :clapping:

 

I thought it

was one of those quantum universe jobs. Earth Two wasn't there all along, it was in its own parallel universe (albeit one very close to our own in terms of probability) up until it appeared? We know it's not 100% identical since Rhoda Two chooses to travel to Earth One, but excellent point, I never thought of that.

 

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I just watched the 'For Normal people' version of Tekken... pretty hilarious though completly <facepalm>.

 

Yeah I prepared myself for such a film having drunk 4 heavy beers it was so funny - never saw so many shots of undies and garters (and pandas) in my life - though probably I never saw Jap animations before (except Gigi, yataman, etc - but those were different times).

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Gamer. I can't decide if this is an insightful, clever comment on social media, gaming, and the depersonalising effect of technology on people, or a pile of cynical, manipulative shite. Contains stupidity, either way, but not an awful lot.

 

Piranha (the 2010 version) on the other hand, does contain an awful lot of stupidity, but it's a decent silly film, with plenty of gore and breasts (sometimes, disturbingly, together). If you need to see a film about flesh-eating fish, this is by far the best of a bad bunch.

 

Rise of the Planet of the Apes. A sci-fi CGI EXTRAVAGANZA that also just so happens to be a PILE OF SHIT. Riddled with idiocy, from start to finish. Please stop making films like this, it's embarrassing.

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Empire's Top 20 films of 2011 list seems to have been made just to wind me up.

 

1. Drive - fair enough

2. Senna - Tried to make him look like a good guy. FFS.

3. The King's Speech - good film, but not this high.

4. HPATDH Pt.2 - this is a joke.

5. The Artist - not seen it but I hear it's amazing.

6. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - great film.

7. True Grit - not one of the Coen's best efforts. Entertaining, but not brilliant.

8. Bridesmaids - no.

9. Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes - LOL.

10. Black Swan - good film.

11. Blue Valentine - not seen.

12. The Fighter - it was okay, I enjoyed it but I don't think any of it was particularly exceptional

13. Hanna - again, enjoyed it, great soundtrack, good fight scenes, not enough to make it to a best of list.

14. We Need To Talk About Kevin - not seen, I hear it's excellent.

15. the Inbetweeners Movie - not even as funny as the series.

16. Super 8 - a pale imitation of the Goonies/ET/etc.

17. Incendies - not seen.

18. The Tree Of Life - too pretentious.

19. Tintin - Do one.

20. Fast Five - this is a joke.

 

Where's The Guard? Kill List? Submarine? 13 Assassins? Le Quattro Volte? The Skin I Live In? Melancholia? A Seperation? Tyrannosaur? Another Earth? Never mind, I'm off back to sleep.

 

Bastards.

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Saw Limitless the other day and fully expected it to all go horribly wrong at the end.

 

 

Turns out it doesn't go horribly wrong and the moral of the story is "drugs are cool, take them until they've worked out the kinks, ween yourself off eventually and you'll be an amazing superman as a result. Oh, and your girlfriend who didn't like you when you were on the drugs will magically come back to you because of how cool you are now you're not on them but you're acting like you still are.

 

Is there some original ending where he actually steps off the building? That should have been the ending, not him getting away with it.

 

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Princess. A Danish mix of animation (very anime-styled) and live action, about a missionary coming home after the death of his sister, to rescue her daughter. It starts off like a fairly innocuous look at the sex trade, only to go off the deep end. Really well animated, the live action stuff is used judiciously (not very much at all), and it's well worth watching for how twisted things get. Good voice acting, some black humour.
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The Hunter. Bloke gets sent to find the (almost certainly extinct) Tasmanian tiger by a shady biotechnology company. Quite a beautiful film, well shot, very nice palette, and well acted. There's a great emptiness (or humanity, or both) to it, where the central character is something of a blank (nicely played by Willem Defoe), which everyone else acts around. Surprised, saddened, and pleased me throughout.
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