Printable View
my two cents about Les Miserables....
WOW...that was some suck. If it was a movie based on the book, with less singing, i would have enjoyed it more. Russell Crowe singing is enough to ruin anyone's day. I've slowly decided that it isn't a very good movie and is something I won't re-watch.
because evoking a positive emotional response is better for the box office than a negative one.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stavros
if spielberg did a movie about stalin or pol pot, he'd make them seem like victims of circumstance and the hero.
Just watched the new Total Recall
For a remake, it was very good. Similar, but not identical with quite a few subtle nods to the original. I give it a 7 out of 10
What is trulyscary is that you are right -there is a film called Mongol about the early years of Genghiz Khan, soaked in sentiment it is hard to believe he became one of the most prolific mass murderers in history; but then the Russians had a lot of problems in 20008 when they had their version of the Greatest Russian on tv and it looked like Stalin was going to win! He came third behind Pyotr Stolypin (the last Tsar's Prime Minister) and the winner, Alexander Nevsky. In 2005 Ronald Reagan won it for the USA -no further comment!Quote:
Originally Posted by RallyCola
I have that Genghis Khan film but have never got around to watching it. It's true he was a terrible mass murderer, but he is still idolised in Mongolia i believe as the greatest figure their history has produced.
Did they ever do a comparable thing about the greatest Briton? Thatcher or Churchill would probably win.
That was supposed to be the first of a triliogy. Do you know the progress on the other 2? I agree the first being sappy really scratching my head.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stavros
Churchill made it as the 'Greatest Briton' even though he was half-American; how Shakespeare never made it should be the subject of an enquiry given that he must be the most loved Englishman who ever lived. It was as scandalous as Reagan winning the American version, a sad commentary on political ignorance.
Dino -no idea about parts 2 and 3 of Mongol -great shots of the Mongolian landscape, that's the best one can say, and probably already done by National Geographic.
You can always dust off the John Wayne version. Haven't we formed a circle and poked this film with a stick before? Shoulda got Robert Mitchum instead.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stavros
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq1K0Y-I6vg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoXu6QmxpJE
http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV...341_SY450_.jpg
Train....stupid hostel ripped off butt still funny 2 watch.
http://http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1015474/
A good Horror Film on a train is Horror Express. You got Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and Telly Savalas plays a Cossack. Can't lose. The creepy Rasputin-type character almost steals the thing. Hammer-like but a Spanish production.Quote:
Originally Posted by ImpulZ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L86jAuTQZ-E
Costa-Gavras' The Confession
Flightplan (2005)
I like Jody Foster a lot, but she has made some stupid films, and this is one, shown on tv last night, has so many plot holes its a wonder that plane ever got off the ground. Just the end where a plane landing in Canada is surrounded by the FBI...hmmm...Peter Sarsgard, another fine actor cannot rescue his preposterous role. Also, I thought the baggage compartments of aeroplanes were not depressurised whereas on this plane the lights are always on, you can breathe, and there are access points into the rest of the plane -?? I know its a film but a degree of credibility should be observed...hmph!
Last night, I watched Bucky Larson Born to be a Star. It is something you watch only in the background of whatever else you are doing because it isn't funny and it gets old fast
Good point. Some of the most recent films, like Les Miserables, Django Unchained, The Hobbit and Skyfall are around three hours. Too long. There are some excellent films that tell their story much more effectively in 90 minutes or less.Quote:
Originally Posted by fred41
I'd agree with that judgement Robert... though Lincoln is 2.5 hrs long and doesn't seem too long. I watched "Zero Dark Thirty" last night. That's also a very long haul. Directors are being indulged too much by their producers. Some - like the wretched Tarantino - are spoilt brats anyway.
I'd also defend this film's content. Showing unethical methods by the CIA (special rendition, waterboarding, black sites, torture etc) does not amount to approving of them. I think Katherine Bigelow has made a powerful, if flawed film.
Prospero-- self-indulgence aside, what long films do you admire?
Just saw zero dark thirty last night. Very interesting but a little long
Stavros - how LONG is long? Well i guess Shoah.. but more as a testament than a film. Solaris (the Russian one) Stalker, and most of Tarkovsky's other films. But they're not that long. Celine and julie Go Boating by Rivette.
And Abel Gance's Napoleon - though its been year's since i saw it. There is a chance to see it this coming November in London
http://www.philharmonia.co.uk/concerts/30nov13/
Otherwise almost every long film would benefit from some judicious editing. (Nope not seen Satantango.)
I do rather like slow films though (Paris Texas for instance which had many very long still takes)
One of the worst vry long films was "Renaldo And Clara" Bob Dylan's five hour home movie. I love Dylan but this.....
Lincoln - Youve seen this movie before but Daniel Day Lewis is just amazing
Zero Dark Thirty - They introduce Jessica Chastain as "a killer" and she cant handle a "torture" scene that consists of pouring water on a guys head? Its a good movie but very overrated.
Argo - Siimply a really really good movie
Flight - My favorite of them all and I cant believe how it got snubbed. Denzel Washington is the firsrt film alcoholic Ive ever seen who behaves like an alcoholic. Fucking brilliant. That said, they should have dropped the super hot druggie hooker girlfriend and if they had and made him a guy who drinks alone, it would have and should have been perfect.
Hitchcock - More like shit cock
FYI- these are based on watching screener copies so I have no idea what they show in the theatre
To Rome with Love directed by Woody Allen. A very typical Woody Allen movie winding four unique stories dealing with a variety of human frailties. Good cast, first movie Woody has personally acted in since he did since he did Scoop. His dead pan humor is still there as his raising questions about mortality, morality and meaning.
Lighter fare than many of the films mentioned here but it contains Woody's flair for making cities beautiful backdrops, his use of long single shot scenes.
Being a huge fan I enjoy all his movies but this one is probably somewhere between his best and the clunkers from early 2000's. It amazing to think that this man is screenwriter and director and puts out a movie every year. A prolific career indeed!
Available now streaming and DVD.
But the thread about the man who can only sing in the shower was stolen wholesale from an old Chinese film. I was shocked when i found that out.Quote:
Originally Posted by fivekatz
Zero Dark Thirty.... too long and predictable. Jessica Chastain is terrific. I agree with the director that portraying waterboarding, torture, special rendition, black sites etc and other dubious practices is NOT endorsing them. Rather more interesting question is did they really help in the pursuit of Osama bin Laden? Many argue that nothing gained by torture is reliable. Another interesting element is the assertion that the director and writer were given access to classified material not available yet to the media or general public.
Django Unchained
This is a very long and tedious film that fails to rescue Tarantino from the decline that set in after Pulp Fiction. We are asked to believe that the lead character, Dr Schulz, who has abandoned dentistry to kill people for money, acquires a conscience while working with a slave called Django. A plantation owner called Candie (Leonardo di Caprio) has set dogs on a slave who tear him to death, an incident which apparently turns Schulz against Candie and precipitates a bloodbath led by the 'slave'/freeman Django. But nothing substantial in the film up to this point justifies this moral change, throughout the film Schulz and Django are both killers, and the moral assumptions about the iniquity of slavery are pre-ordained precisely because nobody these days either believes in it or can justify it. As a result the film is basically the story of an attempt by a slave to rescue his wife from bondage, and that's about it. The script is dire, using a reportoire of words and phrases, mostly ending with the word 'boy' that are presumably derived from the way people spoke at the time, though I doubt it.
The initial conceit of a black man riding a horse generates an astonishing series of responses -yet surely slaves were used as cowboys to herd cattle across Texas and other states, so what is the problem? The nadir of this silly film arrives with Tarantino himself pretending to speak with a South African accent, and he can't even do that.
Tarantino has made a living making films which poach from other films, he is a film nut, fair enough. But this is not an homage to Corbucci's western, Django, but an insult. Corbucci's work is not an homage to the classic western but a severe critique, offering an alternative narrative which removes the morals so loaded in the typical John Wayne film -whereas the moral assumptions in Django Unchained choke it to death. Nor is the film rescued by any notable acting performances, while the mere idea of a German speaking slave called Broomhilde is just potty.
Perhaps an enthusiast can give this film a credit. I can't.
Dude, thank you so much for that. I've seen Sukiyaki Western Django even but Tarantino is still the assistant manager at Blockbuster Video to me.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stavros
judge dredd and it wasnt very good at all .. just average .. the older one in 90s with sly stallone was much more fun to watch ..
Just saw Looper. It felt like with a little more work it could have been a really good film. Something was missing for me. But I can watch Emily Blunt all day long.
Looper had an interesting premise, but wasted in what is essentially a standard shoot 'em up film....
Blockbuster in the UK went bust last week; they are finished. I sometimes wonder if Tarantino's isn't just a sump -he saw all those movies, and he can quote from them, but did he ever understand them?Quote:
Originally Posted by Dino Velvet
I hear Tarantino really wants to work with Denzel Washington. You all in or all out?Quote:
Originally Posted by Stavros
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8...o11_r2_250.gifhttp://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8...ko2_r1_250.gifhttp://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8...o10_r2_250.gif
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8...ko6_r2_250.gifhttp://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8...ko9_r2_250.gifhttp://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8...o17_r1_250.gif
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8...o21_r1_250.gifhttp://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8...o19_r1_250.gifhttp://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8...o18_r1_250.gif
:iagree::iagree::iagree:Quote:
Originally Posted by Stavros
I get the feeling Tarantino is less interested in making a good movie than in trying to prove how 'cool' he is.
The UK still had Blockbuster? I thought they went belly up years ago.
Wonder if he has to run it by Le Spike first? DZ was interviewed recently saying how much he wants to play bad guys; I was kinda hoping he was going to announce his retirement...Quote:
Originally Posted by Dino Velvet
A declining set of stores chasing a declining market -the one they had in my town, in a poor location, closed I think in 2002, it is still an empty unit. They failed because the online facility has knocked the ground from under store rentals; in addition, if you want to buy the dvd and can wait, the top price of a new release at around £15.99 will go down to under £10 in a year, and if you wait long enough it might be £5 or less. HMV is currently offering 25% off most of its DVD's in a desperate attempt to stay in the market. There are real bargains to be had-an independent shop in town is offering two boxes of Fassbinder films which normally retail at £40 each, for £20; but if you spend more than £20 you get a 5% discount voucher -I guess it all depends on whether you want to spend a week watching Fassbinder films...Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy W
Really? Denzel is corny corn corn as a hero but I'll always dig Alonzo. Little Spike might get his glasses all fogged up if he defects to Quentin. I'll accept retirement if this is not the case.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stavros
Watched Pineapple Express yesterday great movie:Bowdown:
Watchef Taken 2 last night and going to watch Batman The Dark Knight Rises tonight.
yes, the outcome was certainly predictable. we all know America found the scumbag and killed him.Quote:
Originally Posted by Prospero
The movie gave me an admiration for the dedicated people who hunted him down. Aggressive interrogation is part of getting bad guys. "Bro, I'll break you... it's biology" In the words of Jack Nicholson from A FEW GOOD MEN. "You value the freedom that I provide and then you question the manner in which I provide it"
I also like the fact that it was pro Obama because it depicts the odds of the CIA thinking they found Ben Laden as only 50-50, but he went ahead and sanctioned the mission anyway.
I love happy endings.