movies

Put the world to rights here (off-topic discussion)
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Haldamir319
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Re: movies

Postby Haldamir319 » Thu Jan 15, 2015 12:53 pm

So, Only Lovers Left Alive is a bit ace!
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AnnihiSlateR
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Re: movies

Postby AnnihiSlateR » Thu Jan 15, 2015 6:34 pm

Haldamir319 wrote:So, Only Lovers Left Alive is a bit ace!

Bollocks.

Worst film I saw last year.

edit: actually no, I saw the third Hobbit, but still.....

Further edit: Granted it only came on around 11:50Pm, and I'd just sat though roughly 5 hours of Nymphomaniac and Q+A right before hand, so perhaps I was a little tainted.
But still no. It was such a nonsense film, nothing had any reason to happen.
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some_thing_wild
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Re: movies

Postby some_thing_wild » Fri Jan 16, 2015 1:06 pm

Showbow updated and now has Imitation Game, American Sniper, The Gambler, Pride, Whiplash, Selma, Birdman, Dumb and Dumber 2, Hobbit and the Trip to Italy. Gonna be a good day off.

Just watched Whiplash. Remarkable. I cannot stop tapping my fingers on the back of my phone and wish i had a drumkit. It cut off at the end though when it was getting really good so dont know how it ends. Still, 10/10
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Potato-Jim
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Re: movies

Postby Potato-Jim » Fri Jan 16, 2015 3:50 pm

My current film list includes:

Gone Girl
Selma
The Imitation Game
The Theory Of Everything
Inherent Vice
Tale of Princess Kaguya
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Whiplash
The Hobbit
Foxcatcher

Good thing I've a week left off until college :D

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AnnihiSlateR
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Re: movies

Postby AnnihiSlateR » Fri Jan 16, 2015 6:54 pm

My to watch list is just getting longer and longer, I'm just not getting the time. Physically I have Fitcaraldo
Baraka
Spoine
Frau Im Monde
Die Nibelungen
Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind
Northern Soul
The Arbour
My Summer of Love
Passion
Alphaville
The Kid With a Bike
Foxfire
Kaboom

Plus stuff to rewatch, like four of Malick's films on Blu Ray, and a few more Blu-ray upgrades, and then stuff I'd seen in the cinema and bought, but not yet watched again.
Then there's my list of stuff I've downloaded that I need to catch up on from the last few years. In particular;
The Spectacular Now
White Bird in a Blizzard
Two Days One Night
Night Moves
Blue is the Warmest Colour
Under The Skin
Palo Alto
Hellion
Gimmie Shelter
An Oversimplification of Her Beauty
The Counselor
Kill Your Darlings
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Potato-Jim
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Re: movies

Postby Potato-Jim » Fri Jan 16, 2015 8:38 pm

Birdman was fucking weird.

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Re: movies

Postby AnnihiSlateR » Fri Jan 16, 2015 8:46 pm

I assume by weird you mean awesome?
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Potato-Jim
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Re: movies

Postby Potato-Jim » Fri Jan 16, 2015 9:23 pm

Oh definitely. Really enjoyed it. Particularly appreciated how most of the film appeared as one long tracking shot. Very well done.

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Jobdone
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Re: movies

Postby Jobdone » Sun Jan 18, 2015 1:15 am

John Wick

Fucking revenge action thrillers are the best movies ever made.

Guaranteed.

And this is perfectly made. Any exposition dialogue is fairly natural, and the action scenes are a combo of gun fights and random MMA submissions. It's pretty sick.

Just generally the whole movie is fucking fantastic.

9/10.
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Re: movies

Postby Darkweasel » Mon Jan 19, 2015 1:40 am

Birdman

There's a scene in Jean Claude Van Damme's JCVD where the Belgian splitmeister briefly steps out of the film to addresses the audience, speaking about his past, why he became an actor and how it changed him. It was a moment of honest reflection that changed a good film into something far better. Towards the end of Birdman, there's a similar scene where Michael Keaton's character (sort of a vague facsimile of his actual self) does the same type of thing which unfortunately has the reverse effect, taking you out of the film rather than bringing you closer to it.

Riggan Thomson (Keaton) is an actor trying his hand at writing, starring in, and directing a Broadway play in an attempt to make a comeback as a serious actor after years of being typecast as fictional superhero, Birdman. After an accident befalls a supporting actor, Thomson enlists the services of Mike Shiner (Edward Norton) a highly unpredictable method actor who proceeds to throw the entire production into chaos with his antics and attitude. Thomson's daughter, his ex-wife, agent, girlfriend and co-stars all end up adding to his stress, resulting in an unforgettable opening night.

Filmed almost entirely as one long tracking shot (although not actually done that way, obviously) a single camera follows Keaton's character around the labyrinthine underbelly of the theatre, into a local bar, and in one highly memorable scene, running through Times Square in nothing but a pair of socks and his underpants. The acting performances range from average (Naomi Watts) to excellent (this includes a real, "wow, you can actually act" moment for the beardy one from those awful Hangover movies, Zach Galifianakis). Emma Stone plays her role brilliantly during one scene, but sort of ambles through all her others without any real purpose, and Norton pretty much steals the show from under Keaton's nose (replicating the events of the film quite nicely).

The scene I mentioned at the beginning revolves around a moment where Keaton's former alter ego, Birdman, tries to convince him (amusingly using Christian Bale's Dark Knight voice) that films are where his future lies and not in the theatre because people like explosions and action rather than talking. We then get said explosions, machine guns, bombs, and a giant mutant raven or something to illustrate the point. However, all that did was remind me of a scene earlier in the film where Norton tells Keaton that some of his lines are simply unnecessary and that he should cut them down to make the same point more succinctly.

On the music front, I have to admit I'm not a fan of freeform jazz drumming, so having that as the sole score to accompany the film became an irritation to me after a while. Although it must be said that there were a few scenes where that kind of pulsing, pounding rhythm drove the momentum of Keaton's character forwards quite brilliantly.
An absorbing, stylish film, but also one bogged down by a nagging feeling of self importance.
So the Oscars will probably love it then.

"Why don't I have any self respect?!"
"Honey, you're an actress".

7/10
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Re: movies

Postby Luke_X » Mon Jan 19, 2015 3:12 pm

Elysium - I know everyone on here seemed to hate it but I have to say I loved it. It was as brilliant as District 9 and seemed to get bogged down with "let's use so slow motion to show off some cgi". The story was great and although it never deviated from being a sci fi film, there were a lot of bits that reminded me of the satirasation of the government in Robocop, mainly the scene in the parole office. " would you like some pills?" This is clearly a film of a great director who knows how to be visually impressive but had too much money. So I'm looking forward to Chappie as it just reminds me of Short Circuit and I can't wait to see what he does with that.

8/10

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Re: movies

Postby Jobdone » Mon Jan 19, 2015 3:54 pm

I just really struggled to connect with pretty much any of the characters in that movie.

Matt Damon was kind of a dick, and I didn't really like the incredibly ham fisted "CORPORATIONS BAD. RICH PEOPLE BAD" that I was hammered with endlessly.
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Re: movies

Postby Luke_X » Mon Jan 19, 2015 4:10 pm

I thought it was handled on the same level as Robocop in that respect. The common man was poor and living in derelict buildings while the OCP man stood in his office treating you like you were easily replaceable. if I hadn't know better I'd say it was a better attempt at a Robocop remake than the Robocop remake.

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Re: movies

Postby AnnihiSlateR » Mon Jan 19, 2015 7:20 pm

Enter The Void - Frustrating. At times it looks glorious, and certainly tries to do something new, and is like nothing I've ever seen. But it's at least an hour too long. I think after about 80mins or so it just looses it's focus which it only really regains in the last ten minutes or so. 3 fists, though I feel it probably deserves more.

Sex, Lies, and Videotape - Second watch, but it was on my list as my mate hadn't seen it. Enjoyed it just as much the second time round. I love how engaging, and how big he manages to make a film essentially about people sitting around talking to each other about life and sex.

Whiplash - Seriously good. It's not often I wish films were longer, but this I did. 5 fists, in as much as I'd gave it 4.5 on letterboxd, but given the lack of half fists mean I'm rounding up.

edit: copied from another forum which explains the rating system.
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Re: movies

Postby Bisset » Tue Jan 20, 2015 8:43 am

Watched a few at the weekend so here's a quick overview:

Horns: Overtly silly with some serious undertones throughout the entire film. Still, very much enjoyed

Lucy: Started well and fell apart very quickly. Visually very nice but the rest was utter tripe.

Sin City a Dame to Kill For: Much the same as the first but suffers from being released too long after the first one. The Joseph Gordon-Levitt storyline annoyed me in that it had a terrible ending. Still enjoyable but probably not worth a re-watch.
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