I've actually had that one recommended to me alot too,  the Phil Lord and Chris Miller attachment is a huge boost though. It's been on my list for a bit now, I'll have to check it out eventually.

Last edited by BigDamnArtist (2014-04-11 04:05:18)

I saw Captain America: The Winter Soldier and had about the same reaction as Skepton. I liked it, but it seemed to tumble from one plot point to the next. I think a better director would have made better use of the various reveals; it had some good stuff in it. The central idea of Cap struggling with what SHIELD is was a good one.

And Robert Redford's corpse did a good job.

You're out of your mind if you think The Raid 1 is a piece of shit. But I get the vibe you don't like Martial Arts as a genre (if your complaint is that there's a lot of punching), so I can see where you're coming from.

The Raid 2 is a mixed bag. It tries to be this epic canvas undercover crime story, which works really well for about an hour, then it throws out and abandons all that setup for a poorly justified series of action sequences that render the setup a complete waste of time.

The action sequences are next level amazing though. If you think this stuff is boring or uninteresting, I don't know what to tell you (except that, again, you're out of your mind). The camera compositions, editing, the way he builds up to an encounter and then just unleashes a relentless hail of action, the way the sequences build and flow as they reach their conclusion (the final fight has like 5-acts to it).

You can (and I do) knock the movie for sloppy storytelling that hurts the structure, but from a film-making craftsmanship level, it's outstanding.

I'd love to fan-edit this movie and lose about 30 min. I do have to agree in the end though that it's a misguided piece of over-ambition. There's so much plot that ends up going no-where by the 3rd act, all at the expense of time that could be spent making us care about our protagonist. It bothers me that there's practically 0 personal stakes between him and the 3 main opponents he fights at the end.

Last edited by bullet3 (2014-04-12 00:34:38)

Couldn't disagree more. At least the fight scenes in the first one had a fluidity to them. Everything in The Raid 2 that isn't shot shaky handheld-style puts on a faux-Kubrick symmetry that makes it look "important" or "meaningful" without actually saying anything. Every cinematic element in these films is used for IMPACT and that's pretty much it. The first one is just barely more competent, if only because the camera movement feels deliberate and graceful.

I'm fine with martial arts as a genre. My complaint isn't so much "there's a lot of punching" as it is "there's nothing but punching, and all the punching is identical, and oh god I get it already please do something different."

Also lol at the suggestion that characters named "Hammer Girl" and "Bat Boy," whose names pretty much cover the extent of their personalities, are in any way developed or fleshed out. I sure WISH they were, though. They seemed a hell of a lot more interesting than Boring Invincible Protagonist Who Just Wants To Keep His Family Safe.

More than anything, though, these films are soulless, and I really can't get behind that. The violence is meaningless, and without consequence since every receiver of a punch/kick is a "bad guy" and our Boring Invincible Protagonist can get his fucking leg tendons sliced and still kick the shit out of the remaining bad guys.

Last edited by Doctor Submarine (2014-04-12 00:59:17)

That's funny, because "demo reel" is exactly how I'd describe both Raid movies, especially the second one. At least CGI porn generally has a sense of humor and/or humanity. If you enjoy them, I don't want to take that away from you. But I think that this niche audience can spring for better.

The Book Of Eli (2010) - 7/10

Had considered watching this one for a long time but never got around to it for some reason. Finally I watched it since it was directed by the guys who made "From Hell" which I found very interesting and well-told.

This one is also a bit of a gem in many aspects. Primarily I was struck just how well each scene works on their own. Very well-directed, well-acted, there's a apprehensive tension to everything (this being the trust-no-one people-eating-other-people post-apocalypse).

The movie is dead set on creating atmosphere, including a non-spoken 9-ish minutes at the beginning. Music is very fitting throughout, somehow blending into the world and feeling very organic to my ears.
Denzel is fantastic, and the world-building in general also sells his character completely. Mila Kunis is also very good with some genuinely touching scenes. Gary Oldman is also delivering.

Overall, this is just very competently made. What it may be lacking in plot intricacy (the movie being mainly just one throughline with few offshoot subplots) it makes up for in tone, atmosphere and authenticity.

Religious motifs throughout, but it's just as much about the way religion, or information in general, is used for power and control as it is more straightfoward themes of faith, etc.

If you like well-directed, gripping scenes that allow actors to deliver performances, this one probably won't disappoint. The Hughes Brothers are already in the "i'll probably blindly see anything they make" category for me just based on how well they direct scenes and actors and create believable, yet cinematically immersive worlds.

Very recommended.

This week I've watched a bunch of films!

War Of The Worlds (2005)

Really an interesting film. Lovely visuals, a grim and dark tone, I'm a fan of the story to begin with and it's interesting to see how they've modernised the time period for the film  but it does have it's problems.

I think the major thing that urks me is the ending. Not the fact that the aliens die due to the common cold, but due to the main character's son survives. Not only that but somehow managed to beat the main character to the house. It loses all dramatic weight and just generally feels cheap. I didn't have too much of a problem with Dakota Fanning though she could be a bit shrill and she feels like a prop that has to be dragged around at times.

My other issue is with the aliens themselves and their design. After spending so much time with the tripods, seeing the aliens and their rather generic design feels disappointing. They don't particularly look that scary. Hell, the camera probe has a more intense scene than they do. I would of cut the scene where the aliens are in the basement, making the only reveal of the aliens is at the very end of the film. The scene where the tripod 'vomits' out the alien. Even then, I feel that they should have it so that you see maybe only a hand flop out. Not the moment where it shrieks at a man with a gun then appears to fossilize. It still gives the mystery of the aliens and their ulterior motives behind conquering earth.

The film got me listening to Jeff Wayne's Music Version of War Of The Worlds so theres that! Haha.

UUULLAAAAAAAAAA

The other film that I was saw was the animated film, Perfect Blue (1997)

If you fancy a psychological thriller then this is one that definitely likes to play with your head. It's hard to talk about the plot because you don't want to spoil anything. Perfect Blue is definitely one of those movies that takes you on a ride that has you guessing what is real. I suppose the latest film that is like it to compare to (that I can remember) is Black Swan (2010)

What I can tell you is that the basic premise follows Mima, lead singer of a Japanese idol band called "CHAM!". She decides to leave to follow a career as an actress, from there the film follows her on her first acting project. Some of her fans don't seem happy about it.. and neither does she?

So there is your hook!

Unbreakable (2000) - 7/10

This movie is pretty darn great. The plotting and structure is really scaled down and slow-moving. However so many other interesting aspects are at play here, including great cinematography (this movie on Bluray looks fantasticly cinematic with filmgrain, shot anamorphically leading to some soft shots, with great contrast and colors) and spectacular sound mixing and sound design which excels at providing atmosphere and bridging some scenes with others (a great example is early on in the hospital where Willis walks out and we only hear distant echoing footsteps, the rest of the sound being comprised of almost Lynchian atmospheric ambience.

The Sixth Sense and this movie both showcase Shyamalan as a great filmmaker in my opinion. His later films both have much worse writing, performed by the wrong actors, and without the more esoteric ambiance and uniquely artistic touches that add an extra layer of interesting texture to the film. Most scenes in Unbreakable are quite simply setup and executed, but the sound work and cinematographic touches just captures my interest. They take it one step beyond just a banal everyday situation of, for example, two people talking, and wraps them in an otherworldly aura.

The plotting in this one might become a bit stilted at times, but that's a small niggle, as an emotional experience and an example of the craft of film-making this is awesome. Willis and Penn are great, so is the kid and Sam Jackson. Great score by James Newton Howard.

12 Years A Slave (2013)  - 9/10

Very recommended. I haven't seen too many exampels in the past of media depicting slavery (only Django being fairly recent but coming from a very different angle), but if you have I can see this being perhaps one too many for some people.
This movie excels at one thing, and that is what it seems to set out to do: Create a pervasive feeling of dredd. The story is of a free black man who is essentially kidnapped into slavery. The contrast of going from a normal life into one of absolute despair and hopelessness makes this immediately accessible to anyone, this didn't need to be a period movie for it to work just as well.

Taking place over 12 years, this places almost no focus on tracking the time. Its one goal is to convey to the audience the realities of living as a slave.
Have you ever had that situation in life where something is just making you really anxious to the point of having a lump in your throat, and you try to sit down and eat something and pretend like nothing is wrong, yet just the act of forcing food down your throat seems almost an impossibility?
That's the feeling I got more or less throughout. It lacks melodrama for the most part, only some points allow for Hans Zimmers score to really guide you. It is also quite matter of fact and doesn't really caricature any character, good or bad. Which makes it even horrible since that leads you to realize that some people who owned and abused slaves weren't necessarily bad people, they were simply conditioned to see the slaves as nothing more than cattle. To me that seems even more horrifying than having evil be personified as a moustache-twirling villain.

Some remarkable and earnest performances in this, again rarely dropping into melodrama.
Michael Fassbender is AMAZING. Truly one of the most powerful performances this year, including a 4-ish minute single take scene which is probably the best single scene I've seen all year. Horrifying aswell.

Most time jumps are fairly isolated and with little connective tissue, but as a matter-of-fact presentation of one man and his experiences, this works so well. The fact that it doesn't try to tell you what to feel most of the time allows room for you to actively think about what is happening as it is happening.

Last edited by TechNoir (2014-04-13 13:09:37)

I watched FROZEN. I liked it but the machinations are ridiculous. Things happen because they do. Every character makes terrible decisions until they don't.

An animated feature from the people who brought us Ice Age (Carlos Saldanha and Blue Sky Studios). Rio is a nice little story, but it didn't exactly blow my mind. The human couple looks very much like Flint and Sam from Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs (it's almost hard to believe it was made by a different company).

That was the "too many characters and stories" part that I mentioned. Some of the characters were good, Sorbo, as you mentioned, as well as the pastor and Josh. Some of the others were, as you said, more caricatures, but, had a bit of an everyman feel to it. So it is a mixed bag, depending on how you respond to the characters. Personally, I thought Amy, the blogger, and her reaction to her diagnosis was one of the better one's that I have seen in film.

Again, your mileage will vary.