What Is The Last Film You Watched? (Newer Films)

[Quintus 5,399]

American accents + sombre/noble trumpet = PATRIOTISM 

[JoeinAR 1,949]

3 hours ago, TheWhiteRider said:

Sorry, Joe, your whole post was wrong!

No your post was. What were you doing in  April, 1970? I was a 9 year old kid who sat in front of the tv watching at that time. There was no other story on tv. All programming was preempted on all 3 networks. The Apollo 13 saga had all Americans attention. HELL the world's attention. American know how and ingenuity helped save the crew

My parents and grandparents watched and prayed. Our Priest led our church in praying for these men. The nuns allowed us to watch some during the 4th grade. 

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Yes I know that.  I just don't find any of that patriotic.  It's human.  Spaceflight and adventure off the Earth is a collective human endeavor, whatever the nationality of the people involved.  The world cared about it, not just America.  Hence why it comes across to me as general heroism rather than nationality-specific patriotism.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

America went to the Moon, I don't remember any other nation doing that. Apparently you are not old enough to remember the reality, but thanks for your revisionist version.

[Wojo 2,453]

Can somebody please get a Ouija board and ask Horner if it's patriotic? 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

And ask if he wants any steamed hams.

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

7 minutes ago, JoeinAR said:

America went to the Moon, I don't remember any other nation doing that. Apparently you are not old enough to remember the reality, but thanks for your revisionist version.

 

It's pathetic that your arguments seem to consistently come back to "I'm older."  No wonder that new member, Will, was it, felt like he should lie about his age.  Who's being a revisionist?  Not me, so try again.

[publicist 4,643]

3 hours ago, TheWhiteRider said:

Yes I know that.  I just don't find any of that patriotic.  It's human.  Spaceflight and adventure off the Earth is a collective human endeavor, whatever the nationality of the people involved.  

 

The movie is not the event. It's not jingoistic - i would have never claimed that - but the sheer matter-of-course bombast with which Horner claims the movie with his crystalline trumpets, hymnal americana, children's choruses (Re-Entry and Splashdown!!!) make it hard to believe that anyone could not see it as patriotic kitsch (which very well may have been a mandate, cf the old Mencken saying "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public").

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Unlike German partriotism the American people have far less to be ashamed off.

 

It's a beautiful and actually relatively restrained score.

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

I suppose it's just an uncharacteristic instance of me being OK with more than I usually am, preferring this to what perhaps Zimmer would have done in a lower key as with Frost/Nixon.

[publicist 4,643]

Yeah, Zimmer would have been rather caught dead than delivering this kind of sound but then he's german and naturally allergic against such ennobling tactics (at least when they concern proud nations).

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I wasn't saying that at all. I was merely suggesting you're hereditary guilt clouds your judgement.

[publicist 4,643]

Unfortunately, you lived under a rock for the last 20 years. Also, i don't see this brand of patriotism very common in either european or indeed almost any other nation, regardless of how much warmongering and needless killing they have caused. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

In the rest of the Western world this kind of partriotism is seen as vulgar. 

 

Americans don't mince words when it comes to national pride. I don't see anything wrong with that.

[Jay 37,346]

 

The BFG

 

Not a very good film.  It will not be remembered as much more than a footnote in Spielberg's discography.

 

It is a very simple children's story, which is perfectly functional as a short book but doesn't work as a feature length film where you know teams of top notch Hollywood talent worked on it.  A quick made for TV film, sure, but this is what Spielberg chooses to use his resources on out of all possible projects?

 

The film has many flaws with the primary one being underdeveloped characters, and that one shows itself right away.  After a series of logos and a unscored Title Card, we hear narration from a girl describing The Witching Hour (this is the only narration in the film until the end) and we see her living in a orphanage with a certain set of rules she's laid out for herself; But that's about all you learn as by the five minute mark she's been whisked away into Giant Country by a mostly unseen Giant for unknown reasons.

 

And that's the thing; We haven't gotten to know Sophie (I don't think we even learn that's her name until maybe 20 minutes in) so why should we care that she's potentially in danger in The BFG's house?  Spielberg doesn't SHOW what makes Sophie Sophie or The BFG The BFG, instead he has the characters TELL each other in some half-hearted exposition.  Maybe this works in a short children's book but not in film.

 

From there the film is just a series of adventures one after another.  There's a conflict The BFG is having with the nine other Giants that live outside his house, but honestly the stakes are so low in the entire film nothing seems to really matter much.  Late in the film there's an attempt to introduce a conflict and resolution but its all so sudden, but in its introduction and conclusion that it's hard to be invested in the outcome or its execution.

The film tries to have a few themes - friendship, bullying, finding your place in the world - but all these are handled in such small bits its hard to say the film is really trying to tell you anything.

The score by John Williams is exactly what you'd expect, at all times.  The film is like a blend of Hook, Harry Potter, Tintin, The Hobbit, and ET put in a blender on "make a children's movie" setting, and the score reflects those too with a piano theme highlighting the friendly of Sophie and The BFG giving levity to an otherwise fantasy-based score full of dancing flutes, woodwind lines for buffoonish characters, bouncing orchestral runs, and a lot of other playful passages.  How it works on its own is a conversation for another thread but within the film its perfect and mixed loudly (Spielberg loves Johnny's music).

 

If you're a fan of Spielberg and/or Williams but otherwise there's nothing about this film that makes it worth trekking out to the theater.

[publicist 4,643]

I see plenty but that's for another discussion.

[A24 4,331]

46 minutes ago, publicist said:

Unfortunately, you lived under a rock for the last 20 years.

 

A rock called JWFan.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

How long have you been here, Alex?

[A24 4,331]

12 years?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Only a few years shorter then me. We go way back. Its like we are old fri...

 

Forget it....

[JoeinAR 1,949]

12 hours ago, TheWhiteRider said:

 

It's pathetic that your arguments seem to consistently come back to "I'm older."  No wonder that new member, Will, was it, felt like he should lie about his age.  Who's being a revisionist?  Not me, so try again.

It's pathetic that some are too fucking stupid to realize people have  a certain perspective from having experienced an event. 

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

Independence Day: Resurgence

 

What a rambling mess of a film. There's an array of baffling decisions on display in this film. It's a movie that coasts on the name of its predecessor alone. And it shouldn't have to, because there's a few really cool concepts in this film, but unfortunately they're totally wasted. The film feels like it was frantically cut down to 120 minutes, with scenes starting and stopping without any buildup, just there to give us a few lines of important information, then moving on. Some of the returning characters feel completely pointless, while the new generation of main characters has zero charisma and zero character traits of their own. The movie just assumes we'll like them because they were in the first one (except 20 years on, we can expect these to be completely different people). And then of course the whole thing leads up to a sequel bait ending. Fuck me. What a waste of everybody's time.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

The editing is a mess, so a lot of stuff happens without it generating much excitement or impact.

 

London gets completely uprooted because a huge as spaceship is flying over it, and its all "meh".

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

It's a pile of shit. I fucking hate Independence Day: Resurgence.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,513]

26 mil, in the first three days?

Not looking too good.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Bfg is a huge bomb. 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,513]

Ain't that the truth...which, ironically, might make it a more interesting film.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Maybe it will be big in China? US box office is no longer important.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

16 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

Maybe it will be big in China? US box office is no longer important.

What an ignorant think to say. It is a US film afterall. Really don't be Stupid.

[Quintus 5,399]

BFG will probably do alright here when it eventually comes out later this month. In the end its worldwide grosses will probably recoup the production costs and turn a 'small' profit. 

[Sweeping Strings 2,352]

Independence Day : Resurgence - vaguely passable-ish entertainment if you've a couple of hours to kill, but really nothing more. Not a patch on the original. 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,513]

3 hours ago, Lonnegan said:

BFG will probably do alright here when it eventually comes out later this month. In the end its worldwide grosses will probably recoup the production costs and turn a 'small' profit. 

 

You're probably right, Lon.

I'm not sure if any SS film had lost money. Anyone?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

1941 did, right? How about Always? Amistad?

[nightscape94 965]

1941 was nowhere near a flop, and actually did decently in the box office.  Most people seem to believe that since it was a massive critical failure.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

No one involved with The BFG seems to have any idea who they made the film for or how to market it. I know there's people who want to see a live-action The BFG, but it's marketed like schmaltzy family fare... from 1983.

[publicist 4,643]

7 hours ago, nightscape94 said:

1941 was nowhere near a flop, and actually did decently in the box office.  Most people seem to believe that since it was a massive critical failure.

 

That's not true. It cost over 35 Mio. $ and earned $31,755,742 domestic - with some meager international grosses added over the years. Today it's in the black but it sure was a bomb in 1979. 'Amistad' comes right behind with 70 Mio. in costs vs. a 44 Mio. gross while 'Always' at least crawled over 70 Mio. worldwide (30 Mio. domestic) on a 30 Mio. budget.

[A24 4,331]

A few random thoughts and impressions I had of BvS.

 

To me, it actually felt more like a Nolan film than MOS. Not in amounts of plot, but in its tone. It reminded me of Nolan's Batman trilogy but with less dialogue. There's a lot of just visual scenes and I don't mean action scenes.

 

While I did not hate Eisenberg's Lex Luthor, I did find his "Mmm" a bit annoying. However, the big positive thing about this Lex Luthor is that you actually don't like him, you know, like an old-fashioned, traditional villain. Instead of being the one who steals the show or the cool dude that happens to be bad, you feel his negative presence. Finally villains are unlikable again. Will he make it into the best villain's of all time list? Nope! Not a chance. 

 

I don't know why but I'm so Amy Adamsed out!

 

The big buildup is easily the best part of the movie. They don't throw in an action scene every 5 minutes to feed the audience. No, the movie takes its time to show each perspective. In fact, the buildup is so long, the hate was so strong, that it was an anti-climax to see Batman coming to his senses so quickly. That was a huge 'Huh?!' moment for me. 

 

Batman's long post-apocalyptic desert dream/vision sequence looked downright incredible. Weird and incredible ... Yeah!

 

Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman pulls it off with much ease. See! Snyder can create characters! 

 

I dunno about the final act which to me almost felt like a different movie. BTW, I was never a fan of these superfights where characters are being kicked through buildings in a straight line.

 

Oh, I almost forgot, I sorta liked the score. How about that? The sad Krypton theme, the heavenly choir voices, ... Overall, I thought it was very colorful. Must be Junkie's contributions, right? 

 

There's a scene where many people wanna touch Superman with their hands and it was very reminiscent of a scene with Jesus and the lepers in Jesus Christ Superstar. Is Snyder a fan? Just like me? 

 

As you have guessed by now, I was entertained but it's not a great movie. Maybe not even a good movie but it easily held my interest. Like Steef, I prefer this one over Man Of Steel.

 

 

 

Alex

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

The choir was a Whitacre touch Alex!  Check him out, you might like some of his music.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

21 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

A few random thoughts and impressions I had of BvS.

 

To me, it actually felt more like a Nolan film than MOS. Not in amounts of plot, but in its tone. It reminded me of Nolan's Batman trilogy but with less dialogue. There's a lot of just visual scenes and I don't mean action scenes.

 

While I did not hate Eisenberg's Lex Luthor, I did find his "Mmm" a bit annoying. However, the big positive thing about this Lex Luthor is that you actually don't like him, you know, like an old-fashioned, traditional villain. Instead of being the one who steals the show or the cool dude that happens to be bad, you feel his negative presence. Finally villains are unlikable again. Will he make it into the best villain's of all time list? Nope! Not a chance. 

 

I don't know why but I'm so Amy Adamsed out!

 

The big buildup is easily the best part of the movie. They don't throw in an action scene every 5 minutes to feed the audience. No, the movie takes its time to show each perspective. In fact, the buildup is so long, the hate was so strong, that it was an anti-climax to see Batman coming to his senses so quickly. That was a huge 'Huh?!' moment for me. 

 

Batman's long post-apocalyptic desert dream/vision sequence looked downright incredible. Weird and incredible ... Yeah!

 

Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman pulls it off with much ease. See! Snyder can create characters! 

 

I dunno about the final act which to me almost felt like a different movie. BTW, I was never a fan of these superfights where characters are being kicked through buildings in a straight line.

 

Oh, I almost forgot, I sorta liked the score. How about that? The sad Krypton theme, the heavenly choir voices, ... Overall, I thought it was very colorful. Must be Junkie's contributions, right? 

 

There's a scene where many people wanna touch Superman with their hands and it was very reminiscent of a scene with Jesus and the lepers in Jesus Christ Superstar. Is Snyder a fan? Just like me? 

 

As you have guessed by now, I was entertained but it's not a great movie. Maybe not even a good movie but it easily held my interest. Like Steef, I prefer this one over Man Of Steel.

 

 

 

Alex

 

Visually is a lot more interesting then MOS. But structurally the film is all over the place. A sequel, a reboot and a set-up movie all in one.

[A24 4,331]

Well, that's exactly what I heard so many times, but I thought the film was surprisingly consistent, cohesive and focused during the long buildup. Please note that I saw the Ultimate Cut and maybe it's different with the TC. Again, it feels like a hybrid between Nolan's and Snyder's style but with a story that is simple enough to follow. I just have a problem with Batman taking a huge U turn and with the way the good guys were fighting the monster in the final act. I guess I just don't like teams vs an enemy. One more thought: The last image was kinda predictable but it was good that the cut to the end credits came superfast. All that was shown was the very beginning of sand moving (instead of a fist punching through the coffin).

 

 

Alex

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I havent seen the extended cut yet, so that could be more cohesive. The fillm would certainly benefit from it.

 

I agree that there's quite a complex story there, but unlike MOS and many of Nolan's films to me BvS didn't spell out everything as much. But again, my opinion is based on the theatrical version.

[Quintus 5,399]

When's the extended version out Steef? I'm undecided about which one I'll eventually watch. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Since Alex has seen it I would assume it is already out.

[Jay 37,346]

5 hours ago, Alexcremers said:

I don't know why but I'm so Amy Adamsed out!

 

That tub scene though...

 

Quote

Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman pulls it off with much ease. See! Snyder can create characters! 

 

She was great!

 

 

9 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

Since Alex has seen it I would assume it is already out.

 

Blu Ray is out next Friday, but its already on torrent sites which is surely how Alex saw it (he admitted his kid's a downloader, remember?)

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

It's already on iTunes.

[Jay 37,346]

Sure, the digital edition is up for sale on all the platforms that sell digital movies.  Do you think that's what the Cremers family did?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I know Alex would never illegally download a movie.

[A24 4,331]

It's that darn kid but I can't stop him!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

 

Et tu, Alexandre?

 

Say it isnt so!

[A24 4,331]

Kids these days don't pay for anything anymore.