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Posted

This Aronofsky talk is pleasing. I looove The Fountain. Saw Requiem for a Dream years ago (only parts of it) and didn't think much of it at the time. Need to go back and rewatch it. Tempted to get the soundtrack for The Fountain, it's too beautiful.

Posted (edited)
This Aronofsky talk is pleasing. I looove The Fountain. Saw Requiem for a Dream years ago (only parts of it) and didn't think much of it at the time. Need to go back and rewatch it. Tempted to get the soundtrack for The Fountain, it's too beautiful.

 

I have only seen The Fountain once but I found the entire film enthralling and feel there is a lot to unravel upon a rewatch (got it on Bluray) unlike when I rewatched Black Swan after the intial "shock" factor didn't offer up anything new to the experience.

 

:)

 

Spoilers for The Master ahead.

 

Sweet!

 

From Thomas Anderson I think I've only seen The Master. Visually it's incredible, the performances are superb and everything, but I didn't think there was much of a pay-off / gratifying story arc. But as long as I find a film interesting I don't mind so much, and it certainly was interesting. I've heard it was his most obscure and difficult work so I'll definitely look into his other stuff :)

 

I liked the direction less ending as the whole film had been building up to this moment of non revelation. Man doesn't hold the answers and whether master or slave we can't escape our bodies trappings even when trying to seek that higher goal beyond our humanity.

 

"You pay no rent, free to go where you please. Then go, go to that landless latitude and good luck. If you figure a way to live without serving a master, any master, then let the rest of us know, will you? For you'd be the first in the history of the world."

 

If you want a PTA film with a punchier ending look no further than There Will Be Blood arguably one of the best films of the noughties or if you are looking for something with a less sprawling runtime try Punch-Drunk Love which is succinct and sublime. :)

Edited by Coolness Bears
Posted

As far as PTA goes, IMO it goes:

 

There Will Be Blood > Boogie Nights > Magnolia = The Master > Hard Eight > Punch-Drunk Love.

 

Punch-Drunk love is ok, as is Hard Eight. Magnolia and The Master are pretty damn good movies. Boogie Nights is a fucking classic. However... There Will Be Blood is absolutely perfect and an astounding masterpiece. Pretty much the best film of the past decade. Speaking of which, everyone should watch The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Redford, a criminally underrated masterpiece of a movie and one that's certainly in the running for a spot as one of the best movies of the past decade and also one of the best Westerns ever and quite possibly the best modern western.

Posted

Anyone been to see Oz the Great and Powerful yet?

 

What are peoples thoughts? Worth the cinema trip?

 

Feel like a cinema trip this week not sure what to watch.

Posted (edited)

Went to see Oz the Great and Powerful

 

Was bloody good alright, well worth the cinema trip :D

 

 

Was surprised for a Disney film there seemed to be a lot of sexual inunedos going on, haha. My mate with me actually said after one moment (not much of an innuendo... one character describing "his body pressed against mine") said "Isn't this a kids film?" :heh:

 

I loved the way they handled the first part of the film "before Oz", in the black & white with square box view. Nice little touch.

 

The only part that didn't set well with me was the character development of Mila Kunis' character. Seemed a bit too forced in her transition from "Nice girl" to "I WILL KILL YOU ALL"

I actually felt very sorry for her and had hoped by the end she might be "saved" by Oz or that he would at least appologies for being a dick to her. He did offer her a chance to return if she found her "good self" again but it still felt like he owed her more. :(

 

I know she was set up to become the Wicked Witch of the West and all but it just seemed too forced given how she was introduced and her change wasn't her fault at all as she was tricked by her sister and Oz was a bit of a dick to her. Felt like she should have been redeemed or realised her sister tricked her and tried to turn good again.

 

Also...damn I love those leather pants she wore at the start :D Was like paint!

 

EDIT:

 

Oh and I loved the China Girl character. Her intro scene where Oz fixes her legs was a nice emotional scene very touching. And later how she acted when Oz was telling her to go to the Emerald City but she wanted to go with him was a great little scene.

 

 

 

 

Wonder will they do a sequel and remake the more conventional story with Dorothy and co?

Edited by Mokong
Posted (edited)

Just got back from a late night showing of Robot & Frank and I loved it. I wouldn't say it's a perfect movie but it's one of those imperfect movies that still managed to reach something truly great. Frank Langella was brilliant as he always is and it addressed his relationship with the robot in exactly all the way I hoped they would, avoiding cliché. The social satire is broad but works and the study of our relationship with technology is genuinely poignant. Some of the supporting characters are underdeveloped even for the limited time they're on screen but it doesn't manage to distract from the central relationship and the main character's struggle with his isolation. Recommended to anyone who wants something to walk home and still have to sit for ten minutes, just mulling it over.

 

Incidentally, for a film about isolation and the way we use technology to manage it, watching it late at night all alone in a 150+ seat auditorium before trudging back past neon laser bars built over a historic dockyard provided a disturbingly appropriate atmosphere.

Edited by gaggle64
Posted

Watched Oz, thought it was incredibly well done. A little too campy in places, but other than that it was a great surprise. A family film done correctly. I was crying laughing every time Mila Kunis' character screamed though, it was hilarious. NEVAAAAAAAAR.

Posted

Watched my new blu-ray of Kung Fu Hustle.

 

Man, i love that film. It's just so much fun. Everything from the music (dat opening scene with the Axe Gang) to the fight choreography is amazing.

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I wanted to find a gif of when the woman is chasing after Steven Chow, but i could not...

 

 

Posted

the-croods.jpg

 

Saw this tonight. It was okay, nothing spectacular but entertaining enough. Didn't realise Emma Stone was in it, so that was a bonus. They overdid it with 3D at times, but there was also a sloth that acted as a belt. Let's face it, that's what we all want from life, right?

Posted (edited)

The bar for the Riddick franchise is still the hideously unrecognised and underrated Assualt On Dark Athena video game. Can't blame it for pursuing it's Pitch Black roots though, as it seems to.

 

Watched my new blu-ray of Kung Fu Hustle.

 

There are a very, very small handful of movies I actually want to own in HD on home disk. Kung Fu Hustle is one of them.

Edited by gaggle64
Automerged Doublepost
Posted

Well i got the blu-ray for £8, so it's not going to break the bank! (Unless your bank is very easily broken).

 

Tonight i watched The Watch. It was alright, although Vince Vauhgn (sp?) is beginning to ruin the films that he's in. That film could have been 30 mins shorter and 100% better without him in it. Just boring monologues all the way from him.

 

Otherwise, it was ok, Richard Adoyade was good, and it had some funny moments (especially the bit with the cop at the end: Oh no! Those aren't tears of joy are they!?).

 

Once you found out that DeMarcus was an alien, i realised there was a surprising amount of foreshadowing for it. I.E he doesn't run when the alien attacks him; he tries to shoo the alien out the door in the bar room fight; he really doesn't want to try out the orb thingy (because he knows it is a weapon); he says he is new in the neighbourhood. It was obvious really, not that i noticed it.

 

Posted

Compliance_061803279.jpeg

 

Watched this (on US Netflix, although it has just come out in cinemas here apparently). It was okay. An interesting concept (based on real events) that does highlight how these shitty little jobs can put such pressure on you (to meet the customers' needs, make targets etc all the while under threat of higher management coming to moan at you) that you can fall victim to someone who claims they hold superiority over you.

 

The directing had iffy moments and the conclusion was rushed, with the actual end itself kind of awful because it just felt like "...and we'll just stop there", but it was okay.

 

Then I read about the real life incident that it's based on. Man, that's fucked up.

Posted
Well i got the blu-ray for £8, so it's not going to break the bank! (Unless your bank is very easily broken).

 

Tonight i watched The Watch. It was alright, although Vince Vauhgn (sp?) is beginning to ruin the films that he's in. That film could have been 30 mins shorter and 100% better without him in it. Just boring monologues all the way from him.

 

Otherwise, it was ok, Richard Adoyade was good, and it had some funny moments (especially the bit with the cop at the end: Oh no! Those aren't tears of joy are they!?).

 

Once you found out that DeMarcus was an alien, i realised there was a surprising amount of foreshadowing for it. I.E he doesn't run when the alien attacks him; he tries to shoo the alien out the door in the bar room fight; he really doesn't want to try out the orb thingy (because he knows it is a weapon); he says he is new in the neighbourhood. It was obvious really, not that i noticed it.

Yeah I actually enjoyed The Watch, the reviews for it were way too harsh in my opinion.

 

did not see it. It makes so much sense too. Even his casting....just some random relatively unknown English guy.

 

Posted (edited)
the-croods.jpg

 

Saw this tonight. It was okay, nothing spectacular but entertaining enough. Didn't realise Emma Stone was in it, so that was a bonus. They overdid it with 3D at times, but there was also a sloth that acted as a belt. Let's face it, that's what we all want from life, right?

 

I saw this last night and really liked it! It was a bit Dreamworksy at times (like when it randomly had the same ending as How to Train Your Dragon...) but otherwise really good.

 

I couldn't work out who voiced Grugg the dad. I kept thinking, 'that sounds like Cage, but it can't be, he sounds too restrained.'

 

And then he 'Waarrgh-blarrrgh-blwrwrlwaaaagrh!!!' at something, and i thought 'Ah, yes, that's Cage'.

 

I really like Belt, he was great, but the best bit was all the bizarre animals they encountered, it was like watching a film based on Gervais Flanimals book. i could have sat through another 2 hours of them walking through the jungle discovering new creatures. Awesome.

 

EDIT: Oh, and for anyone thinking about sitting through the credits to see the little end scene - don't. It's incredibly weak, and it makes you look like an idiot to the cinema staff waiting to clean up and wondering why you would sit there for 10 mins to watch such a shittiness.

Edited by 130131301364
Posted

Saw Identity Theft, Bateman & Mcarthy do their level best to keep it ticking along but it's incredibly by-the-numbers stuff. It sort of tries to stumble towards something interesting but it doesn't give it much development. Some of the story beats are so exactly like Planes, Trains & Automobiles it's like somebody just took that script a rewrote a few key scenes. Not terrible but not much to recommend either. Go watch PT&A instead.

Posted
Compliance_061803279.jpeg

.

 

This Garnered my Most Pleasant Surprise of the year award 2012. (Poorly named)

 

What I said back then:

 

The fact that this film made me squirm is a great testament to it because I thought I was dead inside. The film recreates the horrific true story with aplomb and does well in making it focus on how far a human can go under authoritative orders.

____

 

After watching Compliance the next day I saw Dreama Walker in Don't Mess with the B which was odd.

 

We have Dancer In The Dark ordered from LoveFilm. It's been on our table for about a month now. I haven't geared myself up to watch it yet. Soon.

 

Ooh let me know when you have watched it! :D I geared myself up for it and STILL wasn't prepared. Get ready to feel empty as a human. :p

___

 

I REALLY WANT TO SEE THE CROODs. :grin: It looks colourful and Dreamwork's have got a lot better recently and the director of How to Train your dragon is co-directing this. :)

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