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What Is The Last Film You Watched?


Ollie

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That's not why it has trouble making money. The average film-goer doesn't care if this is the real Cerebro or a prototype. The average film-goer doesn't care if Mystique is turned into Charles' adopted brother, or whether a main character who dies in this movie is a panelist with a very human-looking Hank McCoy in the first movie, or if Moira McTaggert isn't Scottish anymore, or if a main character who is shown walking without hair in Wolverine is shown reduced a wheelchair with hair in this movie. Those incongruities aren't important.

The average film-goer knows that the last two X-Men movies sucked and sucked hard. One had the star power of Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen to carry them, and both had Hugh Jackman in leading roles. This movie, a second X-Men prequel movie, has none of those three. (I know, I know.) The only "big" actor in this flick is Kevin Bacon, but what was the last movie in which he was a really big draw? Footloose?

That makes the average film-goer wary about going to see this comic book movie in what's already been a very heavy comic book movie summer. First Thor, then X-Men, and soon Captain America and Green Lantern, which most non-comic-book-oriented folk are already going to think "well, the Green Hornet was already in theaters, and that blew, so I don't want to see another Green movie this summer."

Even my sister tells me, "I don't think I'm going to like this X-Men movie, there's too many characters to keep track of, why are they all blue, what's going on...." She didn't see it.

But me and my better half saw it, and loved it, but neither of us have a hankering to go see it. Word of mouth in the circle I keep is only so wide. And I never see a film in the theater more than once. I could spend ten times our combined salaries on going back again and again, and this film would still have trouble making money.

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I wonder what they're going to do in the sequel, if there is one. With everything pretty much established, the only that's really missing is Xavier losing hair. Yeah, we deifinitely need a sequel for that. ;)

Before Sunrise

I imagined it to be more pretentious. But that's not the case at all, surprisingly. The film is about being young and naive and enoying this very carefree time of your life. It's quite skillfully done.

Karol

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We need a villain who's not Magneto. Except each time they try to put one in -- Stryker and Shaw -- since Magneto's already established, they make him an "ally" of the X-Men. Every time I heard a loud sound off-screen in this movie, I said "Sentinel!" No such luck.

Hell, when I looked up the cast at Wikipedia, I missed the point in the movie where General Stryker had an appearance. I was probably too busy keeping track of Michael Ironside, James Remar, and Ray Wise, Rade Sherbedgia, & Glenn Morshower, alums of 24.

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Tonight I watched

Face/Off

- Enjoyable. Reg. dvd though, so the quality was kinda shit. But still a fun movie

and

Bound

- LOVE this movie. Underrated, underviewed lesbian soft-core porn mafia heist movie. W/ Joey Pants!

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Before Sunrise

I imagined it to be more pretentious. But that's not the case at all, surprisingly. The film is about being young and naive and enoying this very carefree time of your life. It's quite skillfully done.

To me, both movies always felt like they were made to appeal the young American intelligentsia whose dream is to 'get it on' with a beautiful and smart Euro chick in 'Las Europe'.

To be be honest, Ethan Hawke plays a fantasized American. The real Americans that visit Europe only reply with: "Yeah, man, that's great!" They will avoid anything that might lead to a deep conversation. ;)

Alex

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To be be honest, Ethan Hawke plays a fantasized American. The real Americans that visit Europe only reply with: "Yeah, man, that's great!" They will avoid anything that might lead to a deep conversation. ;)

Alex

I cannot agree with that. I've met a lot of americans here in Berlin over the last years and although they have certain traits, ignorance wasn't one of them. Most were genuinly interested in conversations about history, politics and so on. They were no fratboy-types, though.

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Before Sunrise

I imagined it to be more pretentious. But that's not the case at all, surprisingly. The film is about being young and naive and enoying this very carefree time of your life. It's quite skillfully done.

To me, both movies always felt like they were made to appeal the young American intelligentsia whose dream is to 'get it on' with a beautiful and smart Euro chick in 'Las Europe'.

To be be honest, Ethan Hawke plays a fantasized American. The real Americans that visit Europe only reply with: "Yeah, man, that's great!" They will avoid anything that might lead to a deep conversation. ;)

Alex

It's quite different for me, you see. The film tells the story that you're referring to. It reminds me of this time when you're like 18-22 and absorb a lot of stuff (books, films) without really making any judgement. So it's more about the ambience of it all. I know I had quite a few encounters like this (maybe not exactly) and when I look back I feel almost embarassed by how naive and clueless I was. And I feel the film is partially about that. If you know what I mean.

And Ethan Hawke's character is quite annoying, in a adolescent kind of way. But that was exactly the point, I think.

Karol - who will see the second one tonight

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Saw Hannah. Good movie, though I didn't care for the ending. Very good score by The Chemical Brothers. Like the film itself, this is a score that actually felt like it had a real point of view, and one that I cared for. I was very much impressed by Joe Wright's genuinely eccentric touch.

I thought the sets were gorgeous. The abandoned amusement park towards the end of the film looked really cool.

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Sort of, but more lush.

The Thin Red Line

I went and saw a special screening of it last night. My local art house theater was screening all of Malick's films leading up to their release of Tree of Life(they are only now starting to screen it this Friday.) I'd seen The New World and wasn't very interested in Days of Heaven, so I chose {i]The Thin Red Line.

It felt weird to watch, like nothing was happening. I felt like I was sleeping the whole time I watched it, not out of boredom, but I felt the film had a dreamy style. It didn't feel like a war movie, but rather shorts of nature and the environment with war spliced in between. I really liked that take on it, and it felt unique in this way. I love the shots of animals, particularly the super close up of the owl. How did they even get that?

Zimmer's score was effective, I felt. It seemed maybe too conventional for this type of film, which I think caused it to kinda sit in the background. Maybe that was intentional. I liked it for the most part.

Overall, I liked it, but I feel like I'll need to rewatch multiple times to make a real verdict. There was just so much going on, I couldn't absorb it all. I don't know if I want to rewatch it, though, with the nearly 3 hour runtime.

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Super 8

It's good, I liked it, but it didn't emotionally grab me like I thought it would. The score was mixed pretty low in the first half but what I heard I liked. I picked out three themes, with one of them sounding like the German theme from SWON.

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Sort of, but more lush.

The Thin Red Line

I went and saw a special screening of it last night. My local art house theater was screening all of Malick's films leading up to their release of Tree of Life(they are only now starting to screen it this Friday.) I'd seen The New World and wasn't very interested in Days of Heaven, so I chose {i]The Thin Red Line.

It felt weird to watch, like nothing was happening. I felt like I was sleeping the whole time I watched it, not out of boredom, but I felt the film had a dreamy style. It didn't feel like a war movie, but rather shorts of nature and the environment with war spliced in between. I really liked that take on it, and it felt unique in this way. I love the shots of animals, particularly the super close up of the owl. How did they even get that?

Zimmer's score was effective, I felt. It seemed maybe too conventional for this type of film, which I think caused it to kinda sit in the background. Maybe that was intentional. I liked it for the most part.

Overall, I liked it, but I feel like I'll need to rewatch multiple times to make a real verdict. There was just so much going on, I couldn't absorb it all. I don't know if I want to rewatch it, though, with the nearly 3 hour runtime.

It's one of my favorite films, and my favorite score by Zimmer. Unbelievably powerful film. I don't know if I'd use dreamy to describe it, but it's probably the least typical war film. No short shots and quick editing, but long, sweeping, deep focus shots.

The crane shot of the soldiers running through the meadows with the shadow of the sun catching up with them is breathtaking.

Why no interest in Days Of Heaven? Much more bearable in terms of running time and a superb film overall.

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Amazing theme by Morricone, I have to say. But I haven't seen it yet. It's on my queue of films to see.

And yes the crane shots in TTRL are jaw dropping.

Edit:

Kaze no Tani no Naushika (Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind). Beautiful film. Great scenes and animation all over it. However, I wanted to love it but I didn't. I found the ending disappointing and some dialogue either unnecesary or underdeveloped. But I've been told that the books kick the shit out of the film so I'll have to check them out.

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Caravan of Courage

I havent watched these films since I was a kid. The first one is a nice little family movie, a good way to introduce young kids to the Star Wars universe.

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X-Men First Class

The movie as a whole doesn't feel too coherent. It has a collection of a few great scenes and individual moments, but overall I don't think it leaves a lasting impression or that it's a film you'd want to see multiple times

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Tron Legacy: Wow! I didn't have high hopes for it but I didn't expect it to be a turkey! :eek: Poor main character, a very lousy Jeff Bridges, weak computer make-up, terrible script, disgusting score, but above all, incredibly weak direction/storytelling (this architect should not give up his day job.)

Alex

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What do you mean by "showing something new"? If you mean that the film is very derivative, then yes, it's got Star Wars and The Matrix in there. It's the same old story (and poorly told). Like I said, a terrible script.

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The original film showed us a world we never seen before. yes it may look dated now. but at the time both the concept and the execution (early CGI) were pretty cutting edge.

I have not seen TRON in about 10 years though, but I remember being rather taken by it. Maybe I should rent the DVD.

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Well, that's the deal with sequels. They bring you back to the same world. I didn't expect to see something unique all over again. I expected to revisit the world of Tron. I guess someone could argue that we didn't see those airplanes before in Tron. Anyway, I don't think that's a major problem for me. I rarely see movies that show me something new.

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Blade Runner 2 will surely be unique.

A better example would be Snyder's Supes, Steef. It will be very different from all previous Supes with the difference lying in the way that it's told. At least, that's what I'm hoping for, but you never know, maybe it won't feel like Snyder at all. After all, look at Dawn Of The Dead. He can make 'normal' movies too. Perhaps that's what Snyder meant by 'Supes will be my most realistic movie yet".

Alex

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Hmmm...the problem is that Superman...is probably the most "conservative" Superhero. The fans won't like it is Snyder does something radically new.

How is Sucker Punch. I need to catch up on my Snyder after watching part of Watchmen yesterday.

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We never saw realistic Superman, so it might be new anyway. I just hope Goyer's script won't be anything like his recent short story in the 900th issue of Action Comics where Supes ruminates on how his presence influence global politics and because of that he decides to renounce American citizenship..

Karol

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How is Sucker Punch. I need to catch up on my Snyder after watching part of Watchmen yesterday.

Yeah, I heard it was on TV. There should be a law against that! ;)

I haven't seen Sucker Punch, Steef. I'm waiting for

suckerpunch_bluray001-235x300.jpg

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Watched blu-rays today:

RED - I'm not sure why critics seemed to like this. It just seemed a standard political revenge movie, with characters invented out of nowhere so hat some big names could be cast. The action sequences were really entertaining, but I was getting bored of the story and characters by the end.

Touching the Void - wow. Everything about this was well done - performances, camera work, editing, and Alex Heffes' excellent score. If you can get past its obvious life-affirming nature, it's a well-told story.

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If you can get past its obvious life-affirming nature, it's a well-told story.

Urgh... This type of comment really piss me of!

Are movies so dark, gritty and cynical now that it's a negative if something id "life-affirming"?

Bad form, sir!

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If you can get past its obvious life-affirming nature, it's a well-told story.

Urgh... This type of comment really piss me of!

Are movies so dark, gritty and cynical now that it's a negative if something id "life-affirming"?

Bad form, sir!

Not meant in a negative way at all, it's just a 'layer' to get through in enjoying the storytelling elements.

But yes, in a way, the vast majority of movies these days are throwaway entertainment, and it's so surprising to see one that concentrates on the 'human spirit', that when the narrative emphasizes the life-changing nature of the experience, it can get a bit overwhelming.

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Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbour Totoro). Good one, but I was severely disappointed at the little presence of the title character. I know the kids are the core of the film, but still.

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green hornet, terrible, terrible movie, even if viewed as a spoof.

drive Angry is much more fun.

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Zulu (1964). Not bad for a vanity project. It's got a great, genuine, 'on location' feel, and is defintely some of the least racist colonialist propoganda I've seen. I was quite pleasantly surprised by how well the music worked. I've been familiar with the theme for years, of course, and it really worked like gangbusters.

Dodsworth (1936). After my great experience with The Heiress, I was hoping for another great prestige William Wyler adaptation. Alas, the story wasn't nearly as multi-faceted or interesting. But Walter Houston is magnificent in the lead, and makes the entire thing come together. I was surprised that the score was Alfred Newman, as the cut-and-paste-traditional-tunes dull score sounded like classic Steiner (though there was one good cue in there). This practice in Golden age film scoring is one of the most irritating film-music trends ever.

X-Men: First Class (2011). Matthew Vaughn may be a rather pedestrian filmmaker who bought his way into the business...but as far as I'm concerned, he's 4 for 4. Easily the best film made of a Marvel property to date. If the wit, humor, and storytelling of this film would have been the model Marvel studios went with for their films, I'd accept the "they're just supposed to be fun" argument. It convincingly lays out the origin story, yet does it without breaking a sweat, as if it is desperatly trying to make this all work. Kevin Bacon is fun, McAvoy is good, Fassbender is better, and there was no one who I really minded aside from the poorly written and performed character January Jones was stuck with (perhaps she really is just one note). The score was not terrible, which was a pleasant surprise. It had a theme that actually sounded like a theme, and it didn't sound like a Media Ventures theme-like idea. It sounded like an uninspired real score, as opposed to an uninspired MV score.

Most fun I've had with a summer movie in a couple of years.

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true grit, a really good film, not bad considering it's a Coen film, easily the least "coen" coen film. Next to Miller's Crossing probably the most accessible of their films

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