-  [JOIN IRC!]


[Return]
Posting mode: Reply
Name
Subject   (reply to 6)
Message
File
Embed   Help
Password  (for post and file deletion)
¯\(°_O)/¯
  • Supported file types are: BMP, GIF, JPG, PNG
  • Maximum file size allowed is 10000 KB.
  • Images greater than 400x400 pixels will be thumbnailed.
  • Currently 268 unique user posts. View catalog

  • Blotter updated: 2015-09-02 Show/Hide Show All


File 132510269430.jpg - (5.96KB , 187x159 , ScreenShot1.jpg )
6 No. 6
I like movies and watch them quite a lot, one a day if I can. I find film to be a great medium full of artistic intrigue and of deep interest to me. In this thread I'll give little writeups on notable titles I come across or am revisiting. I'm mostly big on 'smart' movies or ones that are emotionally visceral or good character pieces, but I enjoy good general entertainment movies from time to time also.

Please feel free to share any gems you come across too. Yay movies!
Expand all images
>> No. 8
File 132510304994.jpg - (163.40KB , 1000x1469 , mpasunshineposterb.jpg )
8
Today's movie was 'Sunshine' directed by Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours), and written by Alex Garland (28 Days Later).

I initially heard about this one from some forum I came across while searching for self-sacrifice themed stories, and probably would have ignored it completely if the suggesting post hadn't described it as carrying such an immense amount of humanity to it, something that usually goes along with 'good movie' to me. The plot snippet on IMDB describes it as "A team of astronauts are sent to re-ignite the dying sun 50 years into the future", which instantly reminded me of all those cheesy Hollywood save-the-earth-mission movies like 'The Core' and "The Day After Tomorrow", which tend to be a pain to sit through. I'm a fairly deep believer in the idea that anything can make a good story though, and put some faith into the forum post and gave it a watch, which is quite fortunate as I ended up liking it quite a bit.

Although self-sacrifice, and by extension the whole save the world thing, is there and core to the plot- I wouldn't say it was the operative theme of the movie by a long shot, but rather instead capturing and expressing the raw awesome force and feeling that is an entity as powerful as a star, and how man reacts to it. Some really powerful shots, dialogue, acting, and musical scores really drive this to heart, and I would say they are used in such a way as to be a monumental testament to the visual medium that is film. I found myself quite a bit enthralled by our sun coming out of it, and certainty hold a new respect for stars after all things settled. Overall a really interesting theme, and really well done.

Many apparently are critical of the third act, which holds a rather tremendous shift in conflict from the man vs nature that defined the first two; Quentin Tarantino himself actually criticized the film to this regard in a presentation he did of it. To this I agree a good bit, it was certainty... a shift, but I wouldn't say it was random or even inappropriate as would be implied, but actually quite well inline with the themes of the movie and extensively foreshadowed by them. They could have taken it in a much better direction, but I wouldn't say it was a disaster, and the rest of the movie certainty outshines (I'm sorry) it's blemish.

All things considered, I liked this movie a lot. Interesting to see such a cut and paste story handled in such an elegant and beautiful regard.
>> No. 9
File 132511776112.jpg - (708.95KB , 1772x1000 , russian-ark.jpg )
9
Russian Ark (2002) is a single shot 96 minute film shot in the Hermitage museum. It has a voiced protagonist who is mostly invisible to the surroundings. Very enjoyable.
>> No. 10
File 132520077615.jpg - (51.81KB , 468x687 , downfall.jpg )
10
I watched Downfall last night. It's a German film (yes, a "reading movie") about the last days of the Third Reich. Takes place during the Battle of Berlin and mostly in Hitler's bunker.

When I tried to describe this film to my friends they said "I love war movies! I'll watch it!", but the first thing of note is that it's not really action oriented. Don't expect Saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers. It's vastly a character drama about some of the people in the third reich. It switches around multiple characters at once. From Goebbels, Hitler, a secretary, Himmler, a Hitler youth, etc.

All in all, it's quite good. Probably one of the best war movies I've seen, up there with Saving Private Ryan and All Quiet on the Western Front. If you don't like watching films with subtitles, however, I'd stay away from it as it's all in German.

Not related, but I'd really like to see a Soviet oriented war film. Maybe something about Stalingrad. If there's a good one out there that anyone would recommend please do.
>> No. 14
>>10

Not to downplay subtitled movies (since I do like them), but I tend to feel like something is lost when you take something from another language and try to portray those same ideas and concept into another language. Same thing goes for poetry. Sure, I think you can feel the passion and humanity in the film (since it is visual), but I just feel like when you add words to it, a lot can be lost. Ever feel like this during a subtitled movie?
>> No. 15
>>10

A very nice one indeed, amazingly mature and reserved compared to most media that deals with the era. They did a fantastic job at building the moods of hope, despair, and 'what could have been' in the characters and setting.

>>14

Well the original language vocals are still there of course and things such as tone, speed, and delivery need no translation. Some subtleties in definition may get lost in the translation, especially with German which possesses many words that don't quite have 1:1 English parallels, but I think the auditory emotion itself is well enough preserved through it all.

I think different trope expectations of the filmmakers for their native audience and also just general differences in filming styles between cultures plays a far more significant hurdle. I hear that Indian movies are especially good examples of this, being designed and viewed as more of an 'event' and filled with on-screen musical numbers and the like, quite in contrast to the western approach to film.
>> No. 19
File 132564887753.jpg - (53.40KB , 351x500 , cross of iron.jpg )
19
Cross of Iron - A tale of heroic tragedy on Germany's eastern front in WW2. Although played by british actors the characters give an insight into german soldiery. No they are not the nameless and maligned subjects of Brad Pitt butchery as in recent films. They are are crack troops on the front lines and harbor no illusions, yet fight the most brutal war in history on the losing side.
>> No. 39
File 132666533088.jpg - (125.66KB , 416x500 , 3220618142_02b6bb2907.jpg )
39
Revisited 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' lately by sharing it with a family member. While not necessarily a little-known movie, I would say it's arguable that it's not known enough considering it's quality. Sharing the same director as 'Fight Club' and 'The Social Network', David Fincher, and written by Eric Roth, the mind behind the screenplay of 'Forrest Gump', it's got quite a lot of skill behind it and is certainly up to par with any of their other works.

It's operative theme is aging and that which is gained and lost through it, all done via the touch-of-scifi plot of a man who ages backwards. Much like Forrest Gump it's a life story piece and starts with his infant birth at the brink of death, with many of the characters he meets and events he takes part in all feeding into the theme of the joys and sorrows of life, and that nothing lasts. Notably and most core amongst these being the love interest which is effectively as much of a protagonist as Benjamin himself, especially considering the tale as a whole is being told modern-day by her on her deathbed to her daughter. Being one who ages normally, she effectively acts as a counter-balance to Benjamin and provides tremendous amounts of contrast to him when they are at either ends of their age extremes.

It's long setting and wide breath of content makes it a little difficult for me to identify specific elements that make me really like it; the narration is elegantly done, the performances all astounding, many scenes are notable and long lasting in the mind (I especially liked the war scenes and the lightning strike man), and the screenplay is very tightly woven and well done; but these are all devoid of a lot of the emotional satisfaction that comes out of the whole of the movie when all the elements are put together. I would defiantly say it's a 'feel' movie, but without the ambiguous art-film implications that usually come with that statement. 'Forrest Gump' is defiantly a good analogue as they share a tremendous amount of similarities, although the theme here is a bit more fundamental and grand than Gump's, dealing with the in-exhaustible force that is the arrow of time itself, though it does not loose the deep-set sense of humanity they both share. It was defiantly an interesting watch.

Though save for a select few scenes it's quite action secular, and also quite long and slow as a whole. I certainly wouldn't say it's for everyone.
>> No. 41
File 132677898277.jpg - (245.39KB , 940x1393 , drive2011.jpg )
41
Finally got around to watching 'Drive' (2011) tonight, I've had on queue for a while now but just haven't actually watched for whatever reasons. It's a fairly recent release that's been making it's way around a few review circles and has been getting a good bit of acclaim for it's cinematography and other well executed elements, notably on RedLetterMedia's web-show 'Half In The Bag' which I'm a large fan of and heard about it from.

It found it to defiantly hold it's merit to those claims. The strong moods established within each scene through the expert use of lighting, camera work, music, and just general pacing are quite a delight to experience for any fan of film, and I imagine immensely educational for those who make them. Besides just technical grace though I quite enjoyed a lot of the subtlety and reservation the writers held in relation to action and events within the film too; for a movie about a professional driver there are all of one chase scenes, and despite having multiple fight scenes none of them last but more than a few seconds. Instead of spamming these things like so many other modern films do they instead build the tension around them and make what little is given far more valuable and rewarding because of it. Overall I would say it's quite the film lover's movie, the story itself that's being told may not be a marvel of fiction by any means and is probably not the thriller I imagine many would expect out of the synopsis, but the skill used in telling it is defiantly worthy of respect.
>> No. 42
File 132681089831.jpg - (8.79KB , 210x187 , 1323198896731.jpg )
42
>>39

Sorry, but Curious Case of Benjamin Button sucks.

Theres just so much wasted potential. You have 2 very competent actors (pitt and paltrow), and a story that could have been very interesting.

But they fucked it up by being too self-indulgent. What was the point of the movie? the last 30 mins was nothing. And the hummingbird scene was just ridiculous and over melodramatic
>> No. 44
>>42

I can certainly understand that perspective towards it, like I said it's largely a life-story and 'feel' movie so is a bit unorthodox to what's usually kosher, and I imagine quite uninteresting to anyone who isn't able to get such 'feel' from it or is just jaded to them. I've actually heard some people refer to the film as a 'chick-flick' because of this and the romance which is dominant within the plot, but I quite disagree with taking it that far. I don't think any elements of it held any real gender preferences or trope reliances, and I think the relationship acted as more a reference point for the progression of the plot than it did as a central focus point of it's own accord. Again, it's much like Forrest Gump in many of these regards, a life story, and probably stands as about as much of a chick flick as that film did.

And as for the last 30 mins, that's just simple resolution of the plot. It follows the story into the end of his life, and shows him going out in full opposition to how he came in and brings us to the full inversion of his age relation with Daisy. The movie is dominated by entangled elements with inverted paths of age: his mind and his body, him and Daisy, time and the clock maker's clock, and really just him and the world. The ending sequences wrap all of these up into their natural opposing extremes from where they began and effectively give full closure to the story. I agree the hummingbird was a little out of place amongst it all and whatever meaning it was trying to give came off really hollow, but it was a small enough element.

For me personally the themes it held on on time and the passage of life resonated quite strongly, as they're just interesting topics to me; I greatly enjoyed another film titled 'Mr. Nobody' for similar reasons (which I may post about someday). I also tend to greatly enjoy rooted stories like these that follow one supernatural element in a world of otherwise grounded realism, and tracing the life drama that comes about from it; 'The Prestige' a shining example of this and one of my favorite films. So I suppose I may perhaps fit a narrow segment that Benjamin Button holds appeal for, and like I said I an completely understand those to whom it doesn't. Being at it's most fundamental level the communication of a feeling; film, and really art as a whole, holds an innate subjective quality to it. Something which resonates to one mind may be completely muffed out by another, and I think that this is where a lot of it's true appeal as a medium lays. The drive to communicate is a deep set one in the human psyche, and the transmission of thoughts and feels themselves is a sort of Holy Grail of this exchange.
>> No. 52
>>44
Bitch
>> No. 53
File 132754153265.jpg - (27.22KB , 500x531 , the_man_from_earth.jpg )
53
The Man From Earth is pretty neat. It's like, six people in a livingroom talking the whole movie, but even for someone like me who gets bored and falls asleep at the drop of a hat it was pretty great. Super interesting, especially if your the type that browses sciencedaily, or wikipedia and such in your down time.
>> No. 55
>>53

I'll second that. Very intriguing concept.
>> No. 102
File 133369493660.gif - (210.45KB , 328x264 , animation (1).gif )
102
>>53
Thank you so much for this post.
>> No. 106
>>39
I, for one, have found myself disappointed after watching first half of the movie. Apart from being too cheesy to my taste, it features an Irishman who is always dr-uh-nk, a blatantly British-looking British lady who speaks posh and wears fur, a scene of people eating caviare and drinking vodka in a hotel called "Winter Palace" in a place called MurmAnsk and plenty of other clichés, each one more or less disturbing. I bet the screenwriter votes G.O.P. and has a high opinion of Ayn Rand.
>> No. 107
File 133428281943.jpg - (302.88KB , 1270x1843 , Cashback_-_Cover.jpg )
107
Ehh, haven't posted in quite the while. Been spending a lot of my free entertainment time with 90's era scifi shows rather than any movies lately; more likely than not as an attempt to fill whatever scifi hole was left by Mass Effect 3's 'end'. Figure I'll drop something though just to keep the board flowing, this time one that I sort of didn't like.

Month or two ago I watched 'Cashback' which was fairly interesting. Essentially an art film about an artist, it follows a 20-something fellow who suffers from chronic insomnia after a breakup, to which rampant boredom follows soon after. He gets a job at a convenience store to get 'cashback' for what would otherwise be wasted time for him, where which his imagination and lucid-focus as an artist allows him to invent a game where he can stop time. There's a bit of a Fight Club meets Donnie Darko aspect to the premise, which would be neat if anything particularly interesting came out of his situation and ability as it did in both of those movies but unfortunately does not here.

I greatly liked the first act or two, quite a bit of humor, intrigue, and other interesting aspects to it; and his calm monologues on art and the female form during his stopped time episodes are very surreal and by far my favorite aspect of the movie. After all these elements get established however, they tend to never much get raised or evolved as a plot would usually demand, and some even just get neglected and devolved altogether. From here the rest of the movie consists mostly of an overly-long soccer game which has no real significance to the story, and a party sequence in which he goes through some girlfriend drama and then -spoiler out of nowhere his time stopping headgame becomes a real superpower he possesses and can transfer to others, which to at least me was a really awkward and odd 'twist' from the themes of the rest of the film. Overall I found it to heavily weaken out as it progressed, but I did like the early aspects of it to still find it an enjoyable watch.

Also, the cover makes it look like a cheap porn/horror movie.
>> No. 115
File 133492740227.jpg - (25.95KB , 432x285 , pusher.jpg )
115
>>41
You should definitely watch Refn's other films, particularly his shaky cam-90s Pusher trilogy, they're essentially focused on a few characters in Denmark's criminal underworld. Drug dealer, thief, gang boss.
The first will get you hooked and despite using a lot of 'edgy' 90s tropes, it doesn't seem dated, just a product of its time.

The only other one of his I've watched is 'Valhalla Rising', which, like Driver is a bad story, beautifully crafted.
While the film is very watchable, you might get to the end and go "huh?"

OH SHIT, I LIED. Another excellent film he did was BRONSON, based around one of Britain's most eccentric and enigmatic criminals. Again, wonderfully shot and a good laugh.

Lovely reviews so far btw.
>> No. 160
>>53
it was ok if you dont think alot,
[spoiler]but a man that old is suppose to be wise and clever![/spoiler
He hasnt established any kind of philosophy about life, and as old as he is he continuously use's weak words like belief and faith to express what he knows.
His age could have been proved by stoping his heart, or stating life lessons[it's hard to believe that a person stops thinking about life after studying under budda]
It just wasnt well thought out for my taste, there is more to be desired.
>> No. 182
Please post more movies !!!
>> No. 204
File 133912654720.jpg - (24.00KB , 345x230 , GS4.jpg )
204
Ginger Snaps: unleashed
I tend to like most werewolf like movies but this one is pretty good.
Overall Im pretty sure I liked it because of its partly non traditional story line
>> No. 205
unbreakable, it doesnt get exaggerated even though it still shows the delusion of men and mans dream
>> No. 207
>>115
I'll give em a look, thank you.

>>182
Yeah, sorry I've been so scarce. Pretty big dry spell for both movies and my watching of them right now though. Only really good title I've seen in the past two months or so has been Serenity (which was insanely good).

>>205
I liked the tone and reality that movie was trying to present, but boy was it all one big setup with no payoff. I'm sure there could have been a pretty good real life superhero movie in there if it had played on for another half hour or so, but it essentially ends halfway through it's plot, right where the action is rising as revelations are revealed and the main character usually chooses his path towards a final confrontation. Then it proceeds to literally tells us the ending in pre-credits text blurps.

I think they should have cut down a lot of the slow Bruce Willis walking around discovering his talents shots, or even some scenes all together, and instead used the time and budget to give the story a fulfilling last act.
>> No. 208
File 133919104686.jpg - (25.01KB , 300x433 , l_1303828_f8a8fe4c.jpg )
208
Speaking of vigilante and real life superhero movies though, a somewhat little known flick named 'Defendor' is certainly worth mention.

It stars Woody Harrelson in his career "touching retarded guy" role as Arthur Poppington. Much similar to Hanks and Gump, though less life-story war-movie and more real life superhero drama. Arthur is a pretty genuinely good natured but simple minded guy, who grew up an orphan under the care of his granddad. The combination of having learned to read from comic books and his lingering vivid imagination, he grows up to develop his hero persona Defendor, and takes up a quest to stop Captain Industry whom he believes killed his mother. On this quest he comes to touch the lives of others quite significantly, which I think most of the appeal of the movie lays in.

Arthur is a kind-natured and simple-minded individual in a very dark world where those who do have any good in them have been made cynical by the drab realism of life. Arthur is a sort of outside force to this however, as he did not grow up in this world but rather his own comic inspired imagination, and it provides a sort-of fish out of water hero mechanic which is interesting to watch. This ignorant and innocent sincerity he exhibits eventually comes to break people out of their cynicism, and the story starts adopt some feel-good heroism themes to it; though it's of course not without it's low points and drama too.

I liked it quite a bit, even made me tear up at the end. Far too many movies of this genre come off as really aimless and over the top, Defendor does pretty well at just telling the story it wants to tell though.
>> No. 214
>>207
I liked that it ended that way.
It's like most movies are a lead up to a climax and then a jizz on a chicks face
But the way this movie ended was it leaded up to the end and then instead seeing him jizz it shows the endorphins explode in his brain.
What im saying is its suck an open ending, anything except the predictable is welcomed
>> No. 272
>>53

Watched this, interesting one. I really liked the single-setting conversation nature of it, allowed the bulk of the focus to remain on the main character and his story which to me was the biggest merit of the film. Quite the story it was too, very interesting and cerebral themes to it, and besides just the factual narrative itself I enjoyed the thought put into the explanations on how he experienced life and processed his memories and knowledge. It allowed you to imagine walking in his shoes a little, giving a perspective that I had never imagined before and found quite believable. It's a film where you can relate to and have empathy with a character very different from yourself, which I find to be a very compelling aspect of storytelling.

I did rather dislike a lot of the events and dialogue that occurred outside of the narrated story though. Some of the side-character's actions and reactions were quite awkward and largely unnecessary. The movie attempts justifications for much of these moments, mostly with trying to say something on how people process truth by accepting it or building self delusions or something, but with both the scenarios and reactions coming off as unbelievable, it's a bit missed imo. A lot of the cinematography was a bit weak also and it had a very 'made for TNT' look to much of it, but being almost exclusively about a man telling a story in a single room, you're not watching this for awe-inspiring camerawork.

But to restate: a very interesting movie. I agree fully with your recommending for those with an intellectual interest, it'll deliver pretty well there. The movie as a whole feels a lot like a good thought-experiment going through it.
>> No. 361
File 135903647224.jpg - (35.22KB , 300x423 , Underwater_Love.jpg )
361
It's been a while, but here's an entry of a particular little oddball.

Extracted from the Wikipedia page, Underwater love is a Japanese-German co-production of a whimsical pink film musical about a woman and a sea creature. Pink Films apparent being a sort of a genre of soft-core porn within Japanese cinema. It was was shot in 5 ½ days, one take only, and fits exactly what the stereotype-based image of a Jap-German softcore porn musical about a woman dating a sea creature conjures in your mind.

Apparently some people take it more seriously as a piece of art, however it struck me as simply an exceptionally bizarre and surreal musical comedy, perhaps art in it's own right of such. I watched it with a group of friends and we had an incredibly entertaining evening. The costumes are comically terrible, the actions and reactions of the characters wonderfully bizarre, the plot events even more so, the random musical numbers out of nowhere amazing, and generally a movie with content and pacing that really make you shout out "what the fuck am I watching?" between you and your friend's laughter.

This isn't to say you're laughing at it in a condescending way however, like you would with a "so good it's bad" movie or anything. The film seems aware of the humorously surreal experience it offers, and you get the sense you're entertained along with it, even though the characters you're watching may hold a straight face. It's overall a fun watch, and I would suggest it for anyone who's looking for such and is familiar some with the tropes of the more 'wtf' side of Japanese culture and pornography.

There's a scene where the girl uses a magical anal pearl to ward off the grim reaper.
>> No. 363
File 13590393259.jpg - (267.29KB , 1000x1500 , 135903900895.jpg )
363
>>361
And appealing to a kind of similar niche, though drastically more western and different, was 'Being John Malkovich' which I saw recently also.

Charlie Kaufman films are a bit of an give or take with me, you can't argue they don't beat to their own drum, but on the other side of that they often seem very hollow, pretentious, or just forced sometimes. My interest in sort of muddy reality psychological themes causes me to run across mention of 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' a lot, but I just found it to be the awkward story of a guy being lead on and exploited by some girl he met off the street. I never got the love-story vibes it was trying to force, and it was generally a poor experience for me.

Luckily though Malkovich didn't suffer from any of this, I don't know if it was because it was Kaufman's first movie and he genuinely had some creative gold sitting under him or what, but it was clever, funny, surreal at times, and generally smartly fun. It follows a mysterious portal into the mind of the actor John Malkovich that a struggling puppeteer/officer-worker discovers behind a filing cabinet at his bizarre workplace. John Malkovich's life and the ability to just experience being John Malkovich begins to consume his life, and later the life of his girlfriend and others, to the point where they even have surrogate sex with each other through him in one of the most creatively bizarre love triangles I've ever seen.

The whole movie has this fun, creative, and bizarre feel to it, and it really cleverly explores some interesting themes of human infatuation and obsession. Along with a build up of more horror-orientated body snatching stuff too. I found it to be an amusing and interesting watch.
>> No. 371
>>363 just had a HORRIBLE thought... what if... they started using John Malkovich masks instead of Guy Falkes???

just wondering...
>> No. 376
>>371
Why do you type like a tweet message?

And dunno, as least they'll be using a better movie than that shitty V adaptation. On the flip side they'll also be ruining a better movie than that shitty V adaptation too, so dunno.
>> No. 431
File 13771898422.jpg - (74.98KB , 1600x659 , MMMM.jpg )
431
Been struggling to find recent movies that OP relates to. Sometimes think I watched everything worthwhile when younger.

One that I really enjoyed though was Martha Marcy May Marlene.
I'm really no good in detailing things with fancy words, but believe the film fits in this thread so take a look.
And as it's related I'd also like to mention The Master.
>> No. 432
oh right I had a thread lol

I've seen a good few things since my last post forever ago, nothing that's swept me away too much or anything though. Here's some quick blurbs for a few:

Cube (1997):
If you haven't heard of it before, it's an indie cult horror movie that had a little influence on the genre back in the 90's. While most horror films at the time were teenagers at a lake slashers, this little guy poped out of Canada and presented a more "man I really wouldn't wanna be in that scenario" model of horror with psychological tension and interpersonal suspicion. Much of the horror also comes just from the unknowable mystery of the setting too, which is an interesting element.

All in all, you certainly feel it's date and indie nature, and the characters still fall into the more or less cliche rolls despite the film's maverick approach to the genre. Despite these however, it's a pretty damn engaging watch that leaves you thinking about the whole thing a good while afterwards.

Shutter Island:(2010):

Detective goes to an insane asylum for an investigation, things happen that cause him to question if his while life's been a delusion and he's a patient in there or if there's just a grand conspiracy to make him thing that. If it sounds familiar, it's because you've probably seen this general premise in quite a few muddy-reality movies or Next Generation episodes before.

This one get's a special approval despite it's unoriginality though just simply for it's clean and well-done execution of the premise, and for possessing an ending to it all that's actually genuinely ambiguous and inline with the presented elements. A good retelling of an old story deserves praise well enough.

Also, some really balla shots of Scottish island cliffsides. Love me some Scottish cliffsides, best part of Dear Esther.

Let Me In (2011):

Hollywood remake of a Swede film remake of a book about a boy befriending a little girl vampire in really cold weather.

It was a pretty well executed and well preformed little drama piece. I felt the little boy lead was a bit too effeminate and the bully characters a bit to unbelievably evil, also, a certain crucial plot element of who a certain character actually was initially flew over my head because it was presented a tad too subtly. Other than those little nit-picks though it was an alright little slow drama thing, nothing too significant to criticize it for or praise it for. Chloe Moretz can defiantly pull of a creepy scary little vampire girl in the scenes that use it though.

I'll probably get around to trying the original Swede version someday too.

Europa Report (2013)

Science movie about a 5 minutes in the future team of astronauts taking a research expedition to the moon Europa. It's a tad bit Sunshine, a tad bit Science Channel movie-documentary. Tons of fantastic CG work of space, the craft, and Europa's surface all about. It's a tad hollow on characterization and story, but not without some quite moving scenes of wonder, sacrifice, and discovery.

If you're the type that hold Sagan as a personal hero and are comfortable with a documentary-like presentation of a movie, then you'll probably love it. If you prefer your scifi more along the lines of an Aliens movie, then it'll probably come off as boring and pretentious.


>>431
>Sometimes think I watched everything worthwhile when younger.

Yeah I know that feel. Gets harder and harder to find those really visceral watches.

And yeah, I may give those a go when I get the time, thanks.
>> No. 433
>>432
typos, lazy, tired, etc.
>> No. 443
File 13899429284.jpg - (37.99KB , 353x497 , Invasion-of-the-Body-Snatchers-poster-4.jpg )
443
1978's remake of Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers.

Really glad I came across this little 70's horror gem.

Essentially the story of a species of invasive xeno lifeforms who begin replicating people in order to slowly hijack human society. An admittedly somewhat generic b-movie premise (and title) elevated by it's expert pacing, tone, and conclusion.

I've heard it said that the difference between fear and horror lies in one's ability of action. In fear one can run, fight, hide, or preform a host of reactions to a stimuli. In horror, by contrast, you overwhelmingly powerless to act. There is nothing to do.

Bodysnatchers is one of the rare pieces of fiction that I think are able to really communicate such a sense of horror in the viewer. A sense of inevitability and ineffectiveness that rivals even that of the classic novel 1984.

All of that combined together with some great practical effects and 70's era charm. A really refreshing watch for someone who rather despises most modern horror.
>> No. 499
>>495

I enjoyed Inception quite a bit. It has an incredibly well refined screenplay with some really expert narrative tension to drive it along. Pretty fine example of the ability for any premise, even one as trope-driven as a heist movie, to have the potential to still be elevated to something complex, intriguing, and emotionally engaging when done with the proper execution.

As a writer and director he has a particular strength in taking a premise; weaving a single supernatural, scifi, or otherwise unusual element into it; and then encasing it around these strong emotional cores that build some of the most incredibly focused and engaging narratives I've ever seen. My three favorite films of his: The Prestige, Memento, and Inception are shining examples of this and imo certainly his defining works. I feel it's when he strays from this and is more limited by pre-established settings and narrative goals such as in Insomnia or the Dark Knight trilogy he begins to falter some however. They're still largely fantastic films (save for Batman Begins, ehhh), but they just lack the ooompth of his original works.


But yeah, all that aside, yes I'm excited for Interstellar. It beats the drum of my space interests and from what little information that's been provided it does seem to be right up his strong point alley. Even if it's a weaker venture, it's hard to imagine him making anything distinctly bad with the pedigree he's been able to establish.

The only strong warning point I kinda hold is in it's nature as a space scifi, which is a genre with a particular sensitivity to any plot holes and scientific inaccuracy; elements for which Nolan's style just simply isn't completely focused towards. As said, his settings are usually inservice to the emotional core of the movie. This is inverse to much of science fiction, or at least hard scifi, where the world building takes the helm and only later is story attempted to be found within the setting. Inline with Nolan and his brother's style I expect it to go a very soft scifi route, more akin to 'The Fountain' than 'Gravity', however I still expect even more division over this film than the amount that usually crops up over his movies.
>> No. 617
I watched Edge of tommorow the other day I'm not a huge Tom Cruise fan but it was decent. A scientologist in a sci-fi movie, go figure.

Sin City a dame to kill for sucked and so did Transformers Age of Extinction.
>> No. 641
File 141573020348.png - (492.49KB , 1200x650 , interstellarblack_hole_.png )
641
>>499
>>502

Well now after having seen it, I can say that was certainly an interesting Nolan watch.

I'm still a bit unsure if it was a hard scifi film with softness sprinkled in or soft scifi with hardness. It was certainly much less tightly woven than his other films, and perhaps weaker in it's lasting appeal because of it, yet at the same time amongst one of his most impressive works yet. It had some of the most nergasmingly accurate science I've seen in a big screen scifi, yet at the same time not without it's inaccuracies too.

I'd say it's one of his weakest scripts to date, yet at the same time one of his strongest narratives and defiantly his strongest visual direction. I absolutely adored the exploration element (particularly the planet designs), and the sense of space certainly matched if not exceeded Gravity. The 10 dollars and 3 hours of my life was worth it just for that. I'd be interested to see what I think of it a year from now after a re-watch. Overall, a very unique movie of his.

I'd wholly suggest if for anyone who loves space science.


>As an aside, I don't know why Inception didn't get more attention than it did. I thought that it was every bit as fresh and original as a psychological thriller as the original Matrix was, but that's just me.

Honestly, it was pretty huge after it's opening week. I heard about it from everywhere, 'Inception' became a temporary replacement for 'mindfuck', and southpark threw out a shitty episode about it. It's this pop-culture phenomenon of it that I think ultimately hurt it's lasting cultural appeal, it just sorta became a summer-movie fad which has faded under the weight of releases since.

Hell, even though personally I know that I loved it and consider it a fantastic film, I still have this negative knee-jerk reaction against it whenever it's mentioned anymore. I seem to feel this need to dislike it simply because it was so successful.


>>617
Edge of Tommorow was an exceptional watch. Fantastic groundhog day story which played well off the usual tropes. I didn't quite like how he got drafted in, but beyond that I loved every single moment and thought it was a pretty perfect execution of what it is.

It's a pity Warner Bros. so completely failed in it's marketing and caused it to bomb. It's theatrical trailer provided absolutely nothing about the movie other than dumb looking exosuits and Tom Cruise, a tripple whammy for people who want to know what a movie is actually about, are tired of robot movies, and dislike Tom Cruise. I'm surprised anyone saw it in theaters at all with those going against it. And now they're renaming the movie's damn title on it's disc release.


Delete post []
Password  
Report post
Reason