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Re: Last movie you watched

BigDamnArtist wrote:

Alright you guys have officially got me interested. Short list for the absolute newbie to Korean cinema (Aka me)?

I think auralstimulation mentioned some good ones above—Mother and The Host, plus Oldboy, which is part of the Park Chan-wook "Vengeance" trilogy (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance). People really like Oldboy a lot. The special edition DVD I have of it is tremendous: it has three discs, multiple commentaries, booklets, physical pieces of film, and other detritus related to the movie. It comes in a big cookie tin.

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Re: Last movie you watched

Watched Re-Animator last night. It was good old fashioned over the top body horror type of flick. Little slow at points, but I'd call that a product of its time and budget. Thoroughly enjoyed it though.

Jeffery Combs is awesome, it's nice to know that he can just generally do batshit creepy and that's not just a product of Weyoun.

ZangrethorDigital.ca

Re: Last movie you watched

redxavier wrote:

What did you think of Minority Report? I remember thinking it was good, and that I hadn't any complaints whilst watching it (even thought it was reasonably clever), except that I came away thinking that it missed being 'great' and was somehow unremarkable (if that makes sense).

Makes perfect sense. I agree, pretty good but falls short. VFX and the techy stuff is superb, but the script and acting (Sam Morton's performance falls into the "Nell" category) have always bugged me. Spielberg seems unsure if he's making a dark sc-fi thriller or a lighthearted summer flick... or was trying to have it both ways.

As cheesy and dated as it is, I prefer Verhoeven's Total Recall to Minority Report. It's a better story and script, takes itself less seriously, and is more fun to watch.

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Re: Last movie you watched

I just got back from The Hangover III. It felt like a cash in movie. There are a few laughs, but not enough to make you forget it's a bad movie. It's a much darker film than the first two, and never quite gets off the ground.

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Re: Last movie you watched

Just got this on DVD. One of my favorite childhood movies.

"Belay myself off? ..... BELAY MYSELF OFF?!?!"

http://www.joblo.com/posters/images/full/1995-bushwhacked-poster1.jpg

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Re: Last movie you watched

TechNoir wrote:

I watched "Upstream Color", the latest Shane Carruth film (the guy who made "Primer").

It is definitely an art film, and it is not very accessible when you are watching it. Shot on a Panasonic GH2 DSLR, and the budget was probably very low, which makes it very interesting from that angle.

The movie has very little dialog and long passages of only visuals guiding you through the story, and it has a disjointed style to the storytelling following two protagonists and their relationship to each other and others. While it might not seem like it for the first half of the film, it does have a point. But unlike Primer which had so much information you tried your best just to keep up and sort thigns in your head, this has almost the opposite approach, not giving you much information at all, making you constantly grasp at straws to find meaning in it. Unfortunately this makes subsequent viewings less rewarding, possibly even tedious, unless you fall in love with the cinematographic or acting aspects of it.

I just watched this over the weekend and I adored it.

I guess my opinion about it, along with Primer for that matter, is that Carruth's films tend to invoke reactions more like musical albums than typical movies (even typical art house movies). There's a lyrical and rhythmic aspect to everything that seems more important than any particular shot, line of dialog, or plot point.

An extreme example would be Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon'. It's widely considered one of the best albums of all time, but it's chock-full of lengthy soundscapes and meanderings that make it generally tough to just pop in and listen to. However, when you actually sit down, listen to the whole thing, and let yourself get engrossed, it becomes something remarkable.

That said, I do agree that Primer is more accessible, even with it's complexities. There's simply more information there to process, so it's easier to stay focused. Upstream Color requires the viewer to let themselves be pulled in and swept away. It's also a much stranger and sort of vague magic bean, which I'm sure will turn a lot of people off just because it's so abstract.

I, however, ate that shit up.

PS - For the more hardcore Carruth fans among us, there is (what I believe) a really fun 'A Topiary' reference around the beginning of Upstream Color.

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Re: Last movie you watched

I also loved Upstream Color. It's definitely a better film than Primer, which was Carruth at his roughest and least filtered. It's also a more emotionally engaging film. Primer gets a little bit too caught up in the science to actually be about anything. Upstream Color shows exactly the kind of film that Carruth wants to make, and I'm so excited about where he goes next.

"The Doctor is Submarining through our brains." --Teague

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Re: Last movie you watched

Doctor Submarine wrote:

I'm so excited about where he goes next.

Check THIS interview out.

Lots about UC, but near the end they ask about his next project "The Modern Ocean"...more "connectivity" stuff. Also a depressing note about 'A Topiary' being shelved.

Also HERE is a more extensive interview...some of which feels like the interviewer is trying pretty hard to seem high-concepty...but it does have a lot of interesting tibits if you're a Carruth fan.

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Re: Last movie you watched

Upstream Color is pretty wild. For me, it felt like riding the Tilt-A-Whirl. The whole time I'm sitting there saying "This is kind of insane. Am I supposed to be enjoying this?" Then when it's over I say "Yes, totally insane. I didn't realize it, but that actually was me enjoying myself back there."

The first 15-20 minutes are really quite well done—beautiful filmmaking on all fronts. The film never fully regains the sense of urgency it had during that opening stretch, which was my only major criticism of it (other than Carruth as a leading man).

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Re: Last movie you watched

I watched Shane for the first time this past weekend. It was surprisingly by-the-numbers, I felt, altho if you're interested in seeing ONE old, pre-Eastwood western, this is the one.

  • Mysterious stranger arrival? Check

  • Idealistic kid? Check

  • Farmer vs rancher feud? Check

  • Sweeping music? Check

  • Thug mockingly spilling drink on hero? Check

  • Notorious killer arrival? Check

  • Country dance? Check

  • Saloon brawl? Check

  • Funeral on cemetery hill? Check

  • Villain offering to hire hero? Check

  • Gunfight showdown? Check

  • Hero riding off into sunset? Check

The only things missing are a slipknot hangin' party and a pretty gal whose pa gets shot. Ripe for a remake, too.

Warning: I'm probably rewriting this post as you read it.

Zarban's House of Commentaries

Re: Last movie you watched

Oh, and I watched Dogma yesterday. Interesting and not bad, but also not really funny. It's slightly overwritten and underdirected.

Warning: I'm probably rewriting this post as you read it.

Zarban's House of Commentaries

Re: Last movie you watched

Zarban wrote:

Oh, and I watched Dogma yesterday. Interesting and not bad, but also not really funny. It's slightly overwritten and underdirected.

I think the idea of God as a skee ball fan is one of my favorite bits from that otherwise odd movie. Also, without it, we wouldn't have this, for good or for ill
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j99VUrX25a4/TNoAKqZF1tI/AAAAAAAAIVA/7vnsBDvefX4/s1600/BuddyChrist.png

God loves you!

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Re: Last movie you watched

Zarban wrote:
  • Hero riding off into sunset? Check

Wait what? Didn't Shane die at the end of the movie?

---------------------------------------------
I would never lie. I willfully participate in a campaign of misinformation.

Re: Last movie you watched

The story goes that he's dead in the saddle as he's riding off...

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. - Carl Sagan

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Re: Last movie you watched

That's a myth. I was waiting for it, but he's clearly reining his horse as he rides over the hill.

That doesn't mean he'll survive the wound, but he's definitely not dead.

Warning: I'm probably rewriting this post as you read it.

Zarban's House of Commentaries

Re: Last movie you watched

You never seen The Negotiator?

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. - Carl Sagan

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Re: Last movie you watched

Zarban wrote:

That's a myth. I was waiting for it, but he's clearly reining his horse as he rides over the hill.

That doesn't mean he'll survive the wound, but he's definitely not dead.

It's never specified in either the book or the film whether Shane is dead, mortally wounded, or simply wounded.

Honestly, I don't have a stake in which it is...but I'd note that just because the actor was reining the horse to stay on it during the shot doesn't mean the story wasn't supposed to be that he was dead. Those sorts of "mistakes due to real life" crop up all the time, especially in older films.

There's also the argument that he's mortally wounded, so even if he may be technically alive as the movie roles credits, it's the same as if he was dead.

But again...it's not specified in either the book or the movie. There is no answer, and I've never seen an interview from the author that identified his thinking/intentions on the subject.

//shrug

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Re: Last movie you watched

Sure there's an answer. He's clearly alive. If the director intended it to be more ambiguous, the director failed. It's a good ending. It's just not the ending some people want to believe it is.

Last edited by Zarban (2013-06-06 16:43:56)

Warning: I'm probably rewriting this post as you read it.

Zarban's House of Commentaries

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Re: Last movie you watched

It's not like it'd be the first time a director failed, or that a real life limitation like a guy acting while on a horse caused a foul up.

The book was ambiguous, so my only real opinion on it was that the end of the film was also supposed to be ambiguous. If you loathe the idea of him being dead and the reigns thing merely being reality bleeding into the film, then it's just as ambiguous to say that he was mortally wounded and going off to die vs. being regularly wounded and fine.

Again...I shrug.

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Re: Last movie you watched

Jack Reacher.

Well... it's not really a movie. It's more like a collection of scenes filled with badly delivered lines that don't really go anywhere. Also, Tom Cruise plays a character that's supposed to be 6'5"/250lb. That pretty much sums it up.

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Re: Last movie you watched

Lamer wrote:

Jack Reacher.

Well... it's not really a movie. It's more like a collection of scenes filled with badly delivered lines that don't really go anywhere. Also, Tom Cruise plays a character that's supposed to be 6'5"/250lb. That pretty much sums it up.

I honestly thought the whole thing was supposed to be a spoof until my friend told me afterwards that it wasn't. The movie was kind of entertaining, but thinking back it was really weird if they were taking themselves seriously.

Edit: Since this seems slightly relevant in this thread. A while ago there was a thread about movies to watch before you die or something along those lines. I remember a google doc being made with a huge list of movies on there, could anyone do me a favour and link me?

Last edited by MrDudeMan (2013-06-07 00:25:50)

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Re: Last movie you watched

Just watched Pitch Perfect. I'm super underwhelmed. The musical numbers were great, but the rest of the movie was just...boring. And the editing kills almost all the jokes. I'm also not sure why everyone was obsessed with Rebel Wilson after this movie came out. Her performance isn't very good.

"The Doctor is Submarining through our brains." --Teague

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Re: Last movie you watched

Seconded.   Although I give Anna Kendrick a lot of credit for classing up the joint as much as possible.   

Rebel Wilson was clearly hired to do the same schtick she did in Bridesmaids, just too much of it and not as sharply written.    And I figured there'd be at least some kickass musical numbers, but blown away I was not.

Especially Anna Kendrick's "audition".    Is tapping a plastic cup and moaning softly considered musical skill now?  I feel like there was a punchline that I missed on that one.

But, as with many movies, I am not the target audience.  I can see teenage girls digging that movie all to hell and back and good for them.  It's pretty much their Revenge of the Nerds.   Just not mine.

Re: Last movie you watched

Doctor Submarine wrote:

I'm also not sure why everyone was obsessed with Rebel Wilson after this movie came out. Her performance isn't very good.

I like the movie but Wilson was the worst thing in it in my opinion. I just don't find her funny, so I'm with you on this.

Trey wrote:

But, as with many movies, I am not the target audience.  I can see teenage girls digging that movie all to hell and back and good for them.

Yeah, my sister is 21 and she loves it. She also loves The Breakfast Club (thanks to me) and that modern music kids today seem to enjoy so she's absolutely the target audience. I just had fun with it smile

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Re: Last movie you watched

There are two movies that start streaming on Netflix today.

http://www.filmofilia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Upstream-Color-Poster.jpg

and

http://www.impawards.com/2012/posters/oogieloves_in_the_big_balloon_adventure.jpg

Choose wisely.

"The Doctor is Submarining through our brains." --Teague

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