Movie review thread...
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[i]Witness[/i]<br />
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Michael Mann has a short documentary series on HBO about war correspondents. First stop is Juarez.<br />
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Episode was outstanding. Grim but constantly beautiful. Very immediate but with perspective from narration and editing. Every single shot was 1000x better than anything in that piece of shit [i]Looper[/i].<br />
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Highly recommended. -
[quote name='Tim' timestamp='1352282095' post='323650']<br />
Critics must be suffering from the soft bigotry of diminished expectations, because [i]Looper[/i] was a thoroughly mediocre film. Not an interesting idea or shot in it.<br />
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Crap. 5/10<br />
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I enjoyed Looper in the sense that I was absorbed for most of it. (7/10) Naturally there were convoluted holes & inconsistencies and logical improbabilities/impossibilities, but I thought that time-travel would be the extent of it. The intersection of telekinesis was probably a bit much, made me think the writer did a mash-up of the Twilight Zone's [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It's_a_Good_Life_(The_Twilight_Zone)"]It's a Good LIfe[/url] with Anakin Skywalker's amazing midi-chlorians and maybe some X-Men mutations. The kid actor was pretty damned terrific, too. It didn't make a lot of sense, but as I say, I found it nevertheless absorbing and was entertained. -
The debut film by Stanley Kubrick, Fear and Desire, has just been released on DVD. Apparently Kubrick wanted it buried, and is kinda ashamed of it. There's a feature commentary about it at Grantland:<br />
[color=#2A2A2A][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][size=3][b] [/b][/size][/font][/color]<br />
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[quote][color=#2A2A2A][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][size=3][b][size=5]Before Kubrick Was Kubrick[/size][/b]<br />
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[color=#555555][font=Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif][size=4]A look at the master filmmaker's not-so-masterful first film[/size][/font][/color][/size][/font][/color]<br />
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[url="http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8599030/the-career-director-stanley-kubrick-first-film-fears-desires-last-eyes-wide-shut"]http://www.grantland...-eyes-wide-shut[/url][/quote]<br />
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It's definitely a good read, but what got me jazzed was a sidebar link to a documentary film called Kubrick's Odyssey. It postulates and examines the theory that Kubrick faked the Apollo moon landing. (The director of the doc believes man got to the moon, but that TV footage was faked.) I've heard the theory for years and dismissed it out of hand. Maybe I'm the last guy to see this documentary? The director here breaks down The Shining as a film that has very little to do with the Stephen King novel, and everything to do with Stanley Kubrick and his symbolic confession about selling his soul to the devil. After viewing the doc, I am still skeptical, if not completely dismissive, but nevertheless found the thing strangely, unbelievably, utterly compelling. If you are a Kubrick fan, a movie fan, or a NASA fan, even if you find it laughable, you will probably be mightily entertained.<br />
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Video here:<br />
[url="http://vimeo.com/34039692"]http://vimeo.com/34039692[/url]<br />
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(The doc may very well be a hoax perpetrated by the director against the audience, but apparently, this is Part One of a series of documentaries planned about Kubrick's films by the same director. Maybe that's a hoax, too. If true, I can't wait to see the others!) -
Just saw Looper, thought it was a decent film and kept me entertained, the storyline was not what I imagined and I always enjoy it when that happens. The weakest part of the storyline was the boy although he put in a great performance.<br />
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As Red Terror said the time travel throws up inconsistencies - but find me a time travel movie that doesn't. -
Crikey, a Zombie that can run and think...there goes rule number 1!
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That's not that many original ideas left, and I don't mind that if the execution is good. Nothing wrong with cliche as long as it's entertaining.<br />
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The thing I liked about that trailer was the horde/insect like wave of humans, that seemed pretty cool. Unusual film for Pitt to get involved with these days. -
Vampires, Aliens, Zombies, Werewolves, Sharks, Snakes, Dragons, Futuristic, Post-Apocolyptic, Time Travel etc....any genre can be seen as tired and over used, but like Kirwan says, if done properly, can still be awesome.
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[quote name='taniwharugby' timestamp='1352429063' post='323978']<br />
Vampires, Aliens, Zombies, Werewolves, Sharks, Snakes, Dragons, Futuristic, Post-Apocolyptic, Time Travel etc....any genre can be seen as tired and over used, but like Kirwan says, if done properly, can still be awesome.<br />
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Wonder if they'll ever bring back some of those Italian cannibal films from the 70s. Actually I doubt a single cinema would show them now. That was some depraved shït. -
[quote name='Rancid Schnitzel' timestamp='1352464451' post='324045']<br />
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Wonder if they'll ever bring back some of those Italian cannibal films from the 70s. Actually I doubt a single cinema would show them now. That was some depraved shït.<br />
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There is a kiwi cannibal film call Fresh Meat doing poorly at the box office, with temuera in it, I don't expect he asks for too many eggs....I'll leave now -
Is Tem supposed to be a Maori in it? Cause that is all Tem is these days. Since Lucas let him be a Maori in Star Wars, it's become his default. I watched approx 3 mins of "The Scorpion King 3" and i think he was supposed to be Asian, but still sounded like he was ordering jugs at the local.<br />
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Need a middle eastern bloke, or a South American? Cliff Curtis is your guy. Tem would make Pablo Escobar sound like he was in Turangi Vice.<br />
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Watched "American History X" yesterday. Fuck that's a brilliant film. But can someone explain to me how a movie that spends 2 hours telling us racism is stupid and ignorant, still has its final act as a black kid shooting a white kid for no good reason? That seems counter productive to my symbolism challenged brain. -
[quote name='mariner4life' timestamp='1352507315' post='324083']<br />
[b]Is Tem supposed to be a Maori in it?[/b] Cause that is all Tem is these days. Since Lucas let him be a Maori in Star Wars, it's become his default. I watched approx 3 mins of "The Scorpion King 3" and i think he was supposed to be Asian, but still sounded like he was ordering jugs at the local.<br />
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Need a middle eastern bloke, or a South American? Cliff Curtis is your guy. Tem would make Pablo Escobar sound like he was in Turangi Vice.<br />
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Watched "American History X" yesterday. Fuck that's a brilliant film. But can someone explain to me how a movie that spends 2 hours telling us racism is stupid and ignorant, still has its final act as a black kid shooting a white kid for no good reason? That seems counter productive to my symbolism challenged brain.<br />
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No idea, basic synopsis of the film is some people do a home invasion and turns out the people they invade are Maori cannibals...<br />
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Watched Killer Joe last night, Matthew McConoughy (sp) Emile Hirsch, Thomas Hayden Church.<br />
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Some great characters in it, still deciding if I liked it or not, I think I liked most of it...there is one scene in particular that is like, [size=5]WTF[/size], seriously, that is one of the most bizaare scenes I have seen...Anyone who has seen it, will know what I am talking about. -
Yes, it had never occurred to me before to use fried chicken in quite that manner ...<br />
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I enjoyed it - I thought it was a well executed, small scale (adapted from a play), modestly ambitious update of a Jim Thompson type scenario. In keeping with that sort of material, it ended on a bloody and difficult note, which can be a bit frustrating/unsatisfying. -
Fire with fire - Josh Duhmal (sp) and Bruce Willis. <br />
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Decent action flick with Duhamal as a fireman who witnesses a murder by a big time Nazi arian brother and goes into witness protection, like these, a bit predictable at times, but decent paced film to keep you interested. <br />
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These kind of films are quite good, you know what to expect, and they usually deliver. -
[quote name='Tim' timestamp='1352423569' post='323951']<br />
Zombies are the most boring, played out gimmick in film. Flogging a dead horse and the wife is a dog. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz<br />
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This was made for you <img src='http://www.daimenhutchison.com/rugby/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':biggrin:' /><br />
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