movies

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Applecore
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Re: movies

Postby Applecore » Mon Mar 02, 2015 10:32 am

Darkweasel wrote:
Applecore wrote:Jude Law is also one of the few good things about eXistenZ.

I really cannot watch that film. Not because of Law, but because the whole thing is basically Fisher Price My First Cronenberg.
Elements of nearly all of his earlier work, but tamed down and sanitised for a younger, wider audience. I lost quite a bit of respect for him on that film.
He earned it back though.

That actually makes a lot of sense, as it's the first Cronenberg film I watched all the way through. Before that, I'd seen snippets of Videodrome late one night on TV at an age too young to understand what was going on, and it freaked me out (in fact, it may well have been the first film to actually scare me). By the time I watched eXistenZ, I was old enough to actually understand what was going on and enjoyed it. I then absolutely loved Scanners and Videodrome when I finally watched them properly.

Haven't seen any of those for years now. May have to change that.
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Re: movies

Postby Darkweasel » Mon Mar 02, 2015 4:48 pm

The Hunger Games - Mockingjay Part 1

Even though I wasn't expecting to like either of them, the first two Hunger Games were actually rather enjoyable. So when I came to watch this one, my expectations were understandably a little higher than they were previously.
Maybe that's why I've come crashing back down to earth with a bang.
Mockingjay Part 1 is a total waste of everybody's time. There's no story other than what it does to set up Mockingjay Part 2, the whole thing plods along with no urgency, and it doesn't even bother to leave you with a big dramatic cliffhanger. The acting is poor (Donald Sutherland looks as bored as he does unhealthy) and everyone seems to be just going through the motions in what is basically just a 2hr long teaser trailer for the final film.
4/10
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Re: movies

Postby MetalBeast » Mon Mar 02, 2015 9:47 pm

Just seen it follow. A very good film but quite as good as I was expecting. Wish I'd ignored any reviews/hype and gone in with no expectations.

Spoiler (not plot/production details, but may still spoil the film for you):
I keep thinking "What if they remade it as a Robin Askwith sex-comedy?".
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Re: movies

Postby Luke_X » Tue Mar 03, 2015 9:57 pm

Only God Forgives - visually, it's a great piece of work. Camera angles and the use of colour is great but the complete lack of any plot makes what is shown boring and completely confusing. I really wanted to like this before I watched it as Drive is such a masterpiece I can't understand how the director got away with making this. The only thing I have come out of this with, is the desire to watch the documentary about it to find out just what drove him to use no plot what so ever. I hope his next film is a lot better than this. 3/10

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Re: movies

Postby AnnihiSlateR » Tue Mar 03, 2015 10:21 pm

I have to agree in some regards and not in others.

Does a film need a plot to be considered good? Can it not just explore themes?

The whole thing with Only God Forgives is that he's in purgatory and the old cop guy is God deciding who lives and dies. I think something visually impressive that uses sound well, and has thematic overtones can be just as effective as anything else.

That said I don't think it was particularly well executed in this case. I think there was a lot of style over substance. But I don't think the plot was the problem, more the execution of the exploration of the ideas. Like he could have done a lot more with it. I think it was a bit too heavily reliant on 'shock tactics' which for me cheapened it a little. Done right though it could have been a visually stimulating meditation on morality and the theoretical implications of an afterlife.
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Re: movies

Postby Luke_X » Tue Mar 03, 2015 10:44 pm

While I agree you don't necessarily need plot for a good film, it helps to spread a message like the one that film is trying to portray. It was done really poorly and is just a film of visualization as opposed to one of meaning.

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Re: movies

Postby Haldamir319 » Wed Mar 04, 2015 8:34 am

Kingsman: The Secret Service - very entertaining film! Also possibly the most violent certificate 15 film ever.
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Re: movies

Postby Darkweasel » Fri Mar 06, 2015 12:10 pm

Rec 4: Apocalypse

Although 2007's Rec was a fantastically effective little Spanish horror film, it somehow managed to spawn two of the worst sequels ever. The second one decided to turn the original's very simple premise into some ridiculous claptrap about The Vatican, demonic possession, priests with machine guns, and a Satan worm. The third one, set during a wedding at the same time as the original, was so utterly awful it couldn't even be viewed as a comedy. Something, for reasons best known to themselves, it looked like the film-makers were actually striving for.
That the fourth instalment takes events and plot points from those dreadful films and turns them into something which comes close to being as good as the original deserves an awful lot of credit. Especially when, on top of that, you have to consider they've added angry zombie monkeys into the mix.

After the reporter from the original is discovered seemingly unharmed by a GEO special operations team clearing the building (a great scene which creates a nice feeling of deja vu as it's clearly the same building they used the first time) she is taken aboard a quarantine ship and tested for signs of the virus along with the GEO members who rescued her. A sinister doctor tells her everything is fine, but because he's a sinister doctor you really don't believe him for a moment. Especially when it turns out the ship has got a restricted area which you just know will hide something as equally sinister as the doctor.

Apart from the fact that lead actress Manuela Velasco has noticeably aged since 2007, everything else looks and feels exactly as it should. It's claustrophobic, occasionally funny, and of course, nice and bloody. And although the hideously inferior sequels are referenced occasionally, there's enough covered in the script that you can happily go from the original to this one without ever having to waste your precious time watching either of them ever again.

7.5/10
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Re: movies

Postby Applecore » Fri Mar 06, 2015 12:50 pm

Excellent, I really liked [rec], can't remember a damn thing about [rec] 2 and skipped the third. I shall look this one up.
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Re: movies

Postby mathewxentrix88 » Fri Mar 06, 2015 1:28 pm

Applecore wrote:Excellent, I really liked [rec], can't remember a damn thing about [rec] 2 and skipped the third. I shall look this one up.

Don't let your expectations get too high-Darkweasel is usually spot-on but is wrong in this case.It's the worst Rec. film by miles and it's not even very gory.5/10 from me.

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Re: movies

Postby Soze » Fri Mar 06, 2015 3:20 pm

I loved Rec., moderately enjoyed the sequel and pretty much loathed the third. Darkweasel's review is by far the most positive thing I've read about the fourth as yet but I'll probably watch it anyway.

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Re: movies

Postby Darkweasel » Fri Mar 06, 2015 6:43 pm

mathewxentrix88 wrote:
Applecore wrote:Excellent, I really liked [rec], can't remember a damn thing about [rec] 2 and skipped the third. I shall look this one up.

Don't let your expectations get too high-Darkweasel is usually spot-on but is wrong in this case.It's the worst Rec. film by miles and it's not even very gory.5/10 from me.

It's not as good as the original but it's better than Part 2 and MILES better than Part 3. Part 3 might have pulled out all the stops gore-wise but it was also an absolute shit heap of a film.
Yes, Part 4 is probably the least gory of the series, but I'd rather take a little restraint this time than have to put up with the cartoon shite of the third one.
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Re: movies

Postby Applecore » Sat Mar 07, 2015 3:07 am

mathewxentrix88 wrote:
Applecore wrote:Excellent, I really liked [rec], can't remember a damn thing about [rec] 2 and skipped the third. I shall look this one up.

Don't let your expectations get too high-Darkweasel is usually spot-on but is wrong in this case.It's the worst Rec. film by miles and it's not even very gory.5/10 from me.

Me and Darkweasel are usually in agreement with movies. Not all the time, mind.
I'll be honest, it's a low priority for me, but I'll get around to it eventually. Probably after a re-watch of the first.
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Re: movies

Postby Matty_the_Emo_Slayer » Sat Mar 07, 2015 7:13 pm

Good Vibrations is on BBC2 tonight. Highly recommended.
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Re: movies

Postby AnnihiSlateR » Sat Mar 07, 2015 10:46 pm

Nice, really solid film that one.

I also think it was my first experience of The Corner House in Manchester.
Which interestingly is showing Badlands next week amongst others, so I'mm hopefully going to get to see my first Malick film in a cinema.
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