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Last movie watched...

Started by SmallBlueThing, 04 February, 2011, 12:40:44 PM

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SmallBlueThing

Because we don't have a thread along these lines- or if we do, it's buried very deeply and no one uses it.

Over the last few days ive been watching the two movies based on arthur c clarke's 'space odyssey' novels. Although that's not entirely true, bearing in mind the complicated process that led to clarke's novel and kubrick's film, but for now i'll treat 2001 as an adaptation of the book, and not treat the book as a novelisation.

2001 is just astonishing. Completely linear, lacking in any confusing subtext, and so blatant that its reputation as a 'difficult, unknowable' film can surely only come from the audience's disbelief that what is on screen is actually what you're getting. But my grud, it's beautiful in its simplicity. Long, slow sequences, accompanied by perfectly judged classical music, that just ramps up the feeling of 'otherness'. I found the movie deeply moving, and very frightening- the implications of the monolith as the movie's scientific 'god substitute' as effective to this atheist as the omen's devil child, or the exorcist's possession. The film's been discussed to death, but it needs restating just how much of 2001 was borrowed by later scifi. From dr who's slitscan title sequence, to discovery's engine parts being later mirrored in the tech of star wars. It even has the line 'i have a bad feeling about this...'. I must also sing the praises of the ape makeups at the start- i know they are men in suits, but even i was questioning that at times.
Loved it beyond words, and even the much-discussed differences between it and clarke's book (which have implications should the later novels be adapted) didnt bug me. Utterly wonderful.

2010, on the other hand, not so much. Aside from the cosmetic similarities with kubrick's film, this seemed much closer to the source, and as a result made the unfathomably strange quite pedestrian. Great cast (sheider, mirren, lithgow), cant raise this above being just another scifi movie. Richard edlund again demonstrates he's a (admittedly competent) 2nd string
.

SmallBlueThing

(Phoned reached its capacity there) effects artist. The visuals are good, but dull.
The main issue here are the small changes from the novel that undermine it. The world war three subplot needs bowman to appear, in orbit, as the star child and blow up the orbiting weapons platform- here he has no influence until the end. The russians are movie-russkies, all potato faces and beards and sultry females, gruff and distrusting of americans, whereas the novel paints them as human. The chinese subplot, so important later in is missing, and as a result, the entitety of the europa sequences are fudged. It all comes together, just, but to no real end. The only reaction is 'so what?'.

Does anyone know if 2061 and 3001 have ever been optioned, or developed?

SBT
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House of Usher

#2
Last film I watched was The King's Speech. I don't get out much. Most of the other audience members were over 50 and about a third were over 60. I was offended by the advertising reel, which contained two cars ads and holiday ads that suggested I might like to visit Italy or South Africa. It was almost as if they were expecting that the audience for this film in particular must have money for things more expensive than mobile telephones, vodka, razor blades and antiperspirant.

The promo film for holidaying in South Africa was interesting because although it looked like an expensive do, it didn't look like an advert aimed at old people. It was all kayaking, 18-30 barbecues and bicicle tours of Soweto with other young, white trust fund adventurers.
STRIKE !!!

the shutdown man

Watched I Love You Phillip Morris last night. Still one of the funniest films of recent times.

Before that, I finally got around to watching Seven Samurai for the first time. I was not disappointed.
You're at the precipice Tony, of an enormous crossroads.

mygrimmbrother

Watched 'The Reef' last night. Was ok.

JOE SOAP

#5
Watched Carnal Knowledge (1971) last night with Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel. Quite a poignant drama of two men who can't or refuse to form lasting relationships with women that aren't just about sex. A very confident and measured film, the type of which you rarely see these days about such a subject without going into actor histrionics of some sort. Also confirms to me Nicholson was the best on-screen actor in the 70's. He had quite a range of different performances unlike his often more touted peers. His best work was done back then:

Five Easy Pieces

Carnal Knowledge

The King of Marvin Gardens

The Last Detail

Chinatown

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest




Six brilliant yet different and unique performances in the space of five years. After the Shining I think the personality of Jack took over and he became a bit of a parody.

JOE SOAP

#6
Quote from: SmallBlueThing on 04 February, 2011, 12:40:44 PM
I must also sing the praises of the ape makeups at the start- i know they are men in suits, but even i was questioning that at times.


There is the oft repeated story of how in the same year, Planet of the Apes (1968) was given a Special Honorary Oscar for John Chambers' outstanding, convincing makeup (there was no Best Makeup category until 1981) - the Academy members presumably didn't realize the superior, too-believable makeup in the opening scenes of 2001 that included both human actors with life-like masks and infant chimpanzees.


We can ramble about the greatness and ingenuity of 2001 for days but I have to say it's still the most ambitious film in both ideas and execution Seeing it one Saturday afternoon on BBC 2 in the mid 80's, around the age of 12, it's the film that got me interested in how films are made and in Kubrick and what having a style meant. That one cut between the falling bone to the satellite- between that cut lies the evolution of mankind, the ability to dream and the ingenuity to reshape the environment from those dreams, a sequence of one cut; that a huge and powerful idea could be encapsulated in a single edit made me become an editor.

Satanist

I watched "I Saw the Devil" the other night. It reminded me of a poor mans "Oldboy".


At 2.5 hrs its half an hour too long but overall was alright. Some really strange and pervy up skirt shots mind, I don't know if that's a recommendation or not?
Hmm, just pretend I wrote something witty eh?

Albion

I finally got round to seeing Toy Story 3 recently and was very pleased to find it really is as good as everyone had told me.
Dumb all over, a little ugly on the side.

Radbacker

i believe my last movie was Nude Nuns with Big Guns, um title says it all really it did not dissapoint on the Nude Nuns however I expected the guns to be bigger.

CU Radbacker

Mardroid

#10
In Bruges.  I've seen it before on the telly and loved it so when I saw it going for £4 at HMV I couldn't resist picking it up.

A brilliant film. The shots of Bruges alone are lovely (I've actually been there and it really is pleasant. I never entirely bought the main character's referece to it as a 'sh$t hole', but then again I guess that's part of the joke.)

I think I enjoyed this second viewing as much as the first. A mark of a good film in that it can take you to the extremes of emotion, laugh out loud hilarious at one point, heart breaking the next. A great film.

The film I watched before that (which I also picked up in that visit to HMV) was Let the Right One In.
Another great film. I'm not usually keen on romances, but this was actually very sweet... yet dark too. Curious how a story can be both dark yet strangely innocent as well. And of course, it's a vampire film, but don't let Twilight et al put you off. (To be fair I haven't seen all the Twilight films, and for all I know I might like them. I like other films people despise. Considering the subject matter of teen romance, though, I doubt it.)

I found the bit at the end  (don't click unless you don't mind it spoiled)[spoiler]in the swimming pool very amusing, a bit of an air punching moment. I also felt a bit guilty, aware I probably shouldn't be feeling that way considering what is actually being depicted. Everyone likes to see bullies get their comeuppance but.... well. That was a tad extreme wasn't it? So why was I chuckling?[/spoiler]

I watched the film a second time with the director and writer commentary. [spoiler]It wasn't until I heard this that I got the second implication of Eli's statement "I'm not a girl." I took it to be a reference to the fact that
a) she's a vampire and
b) actually rather old.

It's not stated how old in the film but according to the book (which I haven't read) she is around 200! It can certainly be interpreted that way but Lidquist's second explanation was slightly shocking. It fits with the whole theme of the kid's romantic relationship being rather innocent (well to a point), asexual and pure.

I think I prefer the fact that this aspect of Eli's identity is left ambiguous in the film though rather than being spelt out clearly as it is in the book though.  It leaves it subject to interpretation, and I see her as a girl, albeit a rather strange dangerous one.[/spoiler]

Oh, and the CGI cat attack bit was funny.

For a film which actually has a very basic plot and story, it is very layered.

My box set of Knowing, District 9 and Moon arrived a couple of days back. I've yet to watch them, but if the last two are as good as I've read online, I've been spoilt for good films lately.

Ignatzmonster

Quote from: JOE SOAP on 04 February, 2011, 01:41:57 PM

We can ramble about the greatness and ingenuity of 2001 for days but I have to say it's still the most ambitious film in both ideas and execution Seeing it one Saturday afternoon on BBC 2 in the mid 80's, around the age of 12, it's the film that got me interested in how films are made and in Kubrick and what having a style meant. That one cut between the falling bone to the satellite- between that cut lies the evolution of mankind, the ability to dream and the ingenuity to reshape the environment from those dreams, a sequence of one cut; that a huge and powerful idea could be encapsulated in a single edit made me become an editor.

2001 is incredible. I was thinking of Kubrick and editing recently when I was watching the Shining. One of my favorite scenes is where Jack begins to interact with the hotel. Him walking into the empty ballroom sitting at the bar and just talking in what you first think is him goofing off or mildly losing it. And the camera changes position and there's the bartender. No CGI will match the magic of that cut for me.

Professor Bear

I have always found 2010 a more satisfying movie experience than 2001, which I get the impression you're supposed to like so's to not be thought of as a pleb who didn't do film studies in college.  Yes it's great as a bit of film-making, but it's cold, soulless and bleak, with 2010 condescending to its audience by trying to make you care about what happens to its characters.  The bit with the monoliths swallowing Jupiter shit me up when I was a nipper, and as an adult I found the Cold War trappings to actually lend the film a kind of alternate-reality whimsy it didn't have at the time.  Not sure where SBT's getting 'sultry Russkies' from, either, as apart from a female crewmember who shows up scared shitless at one point and then pretty much sticks to the background for the rest of the film, there's only Helen Mirren and she seems more of a stereotypically pragmatic Soviet officer (a traditionally male role) who's well aware of the one thing most people tend to overlook about the Cold War - that the Soviets were simply the other superpower and not actually our enemies.

The most recent films I can recall seeing are Tangled, Never let Me Go and Masters of the Universe.  Never Let Me Go looks great, but (and I shan't spoil the specifics of the story for anyone who hasn't seen it as it's worth a gander) asks too much of its audience in letting a lot of obvious and important questions go unanswered, not least "what does Joe Bloggs make of that situation?" in a world where it's 2011 and people still don't approve of genetically modified food.  These are called 'wallbangers' in the trade, and usually denote some sticking-point in logic so huge it spoils the rest of the story, and the abandonment of logic for emotional manipulation falls rather flat for me when the rest of the film is so devoid of warmth or anything approaching personality in the main characters.  For others this might not be an issue.
Masters is a great bit of camp, though admittedly little to do with the originating franchise.  It stars Tom Paris from Star Trek Voyager, one of the annoying ones from Friends, one of the Universal Soldiers, Bruce Willis' wife from Last Boy Scout, the principal of Marty McFly's school in Back to the Future, her with the wonky eyes from They Live, and Frank Langella doing the impossible by playing Skeletor both too campy and yet somehow not campy enough at the same time.  It's a dumb as fuck film, but really hard to dislike given its main failings aren't so much the story as instances of ambition outstretching the film's effects budget and the cast's abilities as thespians.  Innocent fun, though, and not nearly as homoerotic as you might secretly hope expect.
Tangled is a good movie, but very, very firmly aimed at young girls as a collective marketing demographic.  Some spectacular use of 3D here and there help it, but you get the impression that the script isn't quite filling in the holes you expect it to, with the lead couple not entirely convincing and the male lead not showing anything to support his later heel/face turn beyond that being what you expect of the film at that point.

I'd mention The American, too, but I nodded off a couple times during it and probably missed if I was right about [spoiler]that serial killer in the background being Clooney's character[/spoiler], but I nodded off during it and felt that worth mentioning.  Seemed alright, though.

SmallBlueThing

Re sultry ruskies, well, you have two women on board- one of whom is mirren, looking her mid eighties best, and the other is young and pleasantly angelina jolie-esque. The rest are male, with big beards and heavy, workers' features. Except one, who has no beard but a face that is probably described in the actor's who's who as 'slablike'. The russian ship is grim and industrial, more nostromo than discovery, their worksuits are utilitarian, it's set against escalating coldwar tensions, and they get ordered to split up and go back to their ships by their respective governments- none of which is in the novel. I can see why hyams did it, but to my mind it twists a nice point clarke  was making, about the distance between 'now' and 'the future' and science and then-current politics, and turns it into a mid eighties cold war drama.
SBT
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Professor Bear

You just wanted to bang mid-1980s Mirren, you dirty boy.  No shame in that.

QuoteThe russian ship is grim and industrial, more nostromo than discovery, their worksuits are utilitarian, it's set against escalating coldwar tensions

I'd put this down to the different production aesthetics of the mid-80s that came about after Star Wars and its low-budget knock-offs rather than a deliberate attempt to portray Soviet tech as visually oppressive -you'll note how other tech like Scheider's suitcase-sized laptop and medical equipment during Bowman's Earth visit look less organic than Discovery's interior, or the original movie's space station.  Cold War tensions are also a mid-80s thing, but Clarke's humanist themes remain even there, as the two crews deliberately discard politics based on nothing but trust, while the actual politicking is never portrayed in a positive light at any point.

As for potential sequels, I'm pretty sure Tom Hanks optioned 3001 as a potential movie, but don't know what became of it.