Last movie watched...

[von Boom]

The Wave

Hey, it's Justin Long.  I remember him.
The overall message of The Wave came across as hollow more than it ordinarily might due to... well... everything in 2020.  As a very bright spotlight highlights the various disparities and inequalities, being told [spoiler]that the universe just wants to find a balance[/spoiler] is laughable.  It's cute, but laughable.  That's pretty much my criticism of the film.  Despite being trite and surface level it was pretty good.  There are some really interesting effects that have left an impression and give the film some memorable moments.  I ended up enjoying it and I'm glad I watched it.

Funny you should mention Justin Long. I just watched him in Accepted. A group of kids, led by Long, create a fake university when they don't get in to any of the real ones. It's light and predictable, but still a lot of fun.

[pictsy]

The Wave

Hey, it's Justin Long.  I remember him.
The overall message of The Wave came across as hollow more than it ordinarily might due to... well... everything in 2020.  As a very bright spotlight highlights the various disparities and inequalities, being told [spoiler]that the universe just wants to find a balance[/spoiler] is laughable.  It's cute, but laughable.  That's pretty much my criticism of the film.  Despite being trite and surface level it was pretty good.  There are some really interesting effects that have left an impression and give the film some memorable moments.  I ended up enjoying it and I'm glad I watched it.

Funny you should mention Justin Long. I just watched him in Accepted. A group of kids, led by Long, create a fake university when they don't get in to any of the real ones. It's light and predictable, but still a lot of fun.

It's funny that you mention Accepted.  I watched it a couple of weeks ago and even wrote about on this thread.  I like Justin in the film, he definitely carries it and the film itself is different enough to not feel stale.  It's one I certainly return to.

[von Boom]

The Wave

Hey, it's Justin Long.  I remember him.
The overall message of The Wave came across as hollow more than it ordinarily might due to... well... everything in 2020.  As a very bright spotlight highlights the various disparities and inequalities, being told [spoiler]that the universe just wants to find a balance[/spoiler] is laughable.  It's cute, but laughable.  That's pretty much my criticism of the film.  Despite being trite and surface level it was pretty good.  There are some really interesting effects that have left an impression and give the film some memorable moments.  I ended up enjoying it and I'm glad I watched it.

Funny you should mention Justin Long. I just watched him in Accepted. A group of kids, led by Long, create a fake university when they don't get in to any of the real ones. It's light and predictable, but still a lot of fun.

It's funny that you mention Accepted.  I watched it a couple of weeks ago and even wrote about on this thread.  I like Justin in the film, he definitely carries it and the film itself is different enough to not feel stale.  It's one I certainly return to.

I missed that. You are spot on in your assessment of the film though.

[Funt Solo]

Oh god...I watched The Core! They read "science fiction" and decided to ignore the science and take a nice, healthy bite of the fiction and just gorge themselves on it.

It's passable as an unintentional comedy, especially in the highly enjoyable bird scene in which a London bus driver who's got a phobia of birds entirely fails to remain calm or find the brakes: instead opting to accelerate and swerve wildly towards the inevitable. 

To re-spin the Earth's core and thus avoid Global Mass Chaos by Pigeon, a group of people with no experience in drilling anywhere build a magic and stupidly spacious drill submarine with Star Trek gravity systems and tunnel to the center of the Earth.

[JamesC]

The Core is great fun!

[pictsy]

I missed that. You are spot on in your assessment of the film though.

It's nice to know I'm not the only one who has discovered and enjoyed that film.

[wedgeski]

Oh god...I watched The Core! They read "science fiction" and decided to ignore the science and take a nice, healthy bite of the fiction and just gorge themselves on it.

It's passable as an unintentional comedy, especially in the highly enjoyable bird scene in which a London bus driver who's got a phobia of birds entirely fails to remain calm or find the brakes: instead opting to accelerate and swerve wildly towards the inevitable. 

To re-spin the Earth's core and thus avoid Global Mass Chaos by Pigeon, a group of people with no experience in drilling anywhere build a magic and stupidly spacious drill submarine with Star Trek gravity systems and tunnel to the center of the Earth.

Oh my god that film. "But what if we could?" The answer should have been, don't. Just don't.

[pictsy]

Promare

There is a lot to like about this film.  The animation is top class, the design and colours a fantastic and it's even funny in places.  Nevertheless, it is an assault on the senses going at 100mph from start to finish never taking a breath and just barraging me with constant, frenetic movement.  I found it hard to watch and the narrative was too generic for me to forgive it jumping up and down, shouting and waving its arms at me in a desperate attempt to insure that I don't turn away for even a millisecond.  I also think it may have queer baited.  The soundtrack was abrasive too.  It's a damn shame the film couldn't take 20 minutes extra to calm down and just reflect on itself, because otherwise there might have been lots to love.

The friend I watched with it said it had excellent pacing, but I entirely disagree.  A film that is going full pelt all the way through is badly paced.  Good pacing is not a constant.  It ebbs and it flows.  No doubt it is where the concept of the three act structure comes from.

I'll be clear, there are slow moments in the film, but they are peppered here and they fail to slow the film down.  I think it's largely due to the need to have everything, including the camera, in constant motion in the action scenes (which there is an over abundance of).

In the end I feel like I have missed out and I'll add it to the list of recent anime films that just fail to charm me.

[shaolin_monkey]

I rewatched Spielberg's take on The War of the Worlds the other day. I used to really dislike it, in part because it had Tom Cruise in it, and I struggled to reconcile it against the beloved book.

However, it's a bit of a grower, it seems.  I really enjoyed it this time.  For example, [spoiler]despite applying a critical eye to the construction and pacing of the first Martian War Machine scene, I was still very much caught up in the terror as people ran away from the heat ray.

Spielberg lingers on a woman's face as she flees in abject terror and desperation, moments before she is turned to dust, and there's something quite horrible and affecting about that which has you really feeling for the predicament of the crowd, and Cruise's character. 

Then he gets home in utter shock, and his kids are all like "what have you got all over you?" and he realises it's basically dessicated people. [/spoiler] Grim, but brutally effective.

And it's that [spoiler]emotion that helped carry me through on this viewing.  I think previously I was more intent on the spectacle, and of seeing the glorious War Machines on the big screen. This time I took note of Cruise's acting.  While I'm not a massive fan of his, I was actually quite impressed by his range.  He was utterly convincing as the layabout good-for-nothing poor father figure. Then he totally sold me re someone in shock having seen his friends and his town turned to dust and rubble. Then he very much portrayed a man having to compartmentalise that to get a plan in place and get his kids to safely quickly.  Brilliant stuff.

It doesn't end there of course - later on there's having to relinquish his son, the tension between him and Robbins in the cellar, [/spoiler] and so on.

It's not always effective though.  That scene in [spoiler]the cellar with the one-eyed robot snake having a look around, while cleverly paced and put together, dragged on a bit. Also, there's a sense that the film peters out in the closing 10 minutes or so.[/spoiler].

I did reconsider how it used elements of the original novel though, which I thought were by-and-large successful. [spoiler]

Heat ray - check. 
Killer tripods - check. 
Death, destruction, devastation - check.
Vast swathes of mankind reeling wildy about not knowing where to go or what to do - check.
The military largely useless against the invader - check.
Trapped in a collapsed building as the Martians rove about above - check.
The Martians draining folk of blood - check.
The Red Weed - check.
The vicar and the artillery man - check, but both of these came as one person, Tim Robbins' character.
Reflections upon the human condition - check.
And of course, ultimately being killed by bacteria - check.
[/spoiler]

So overall, I'm much happier about accepting it into the WotW media canon than previously, especially after that godawful BBC attempt set in the original Edwardian era which fell so bloody flat, plus that FX version set in present day that bore little or no resemblance other than the title.

The Spielberg film is probably the best adaptation of the book we're likely to see grace our cinema/TV screens.

The best overall adaptation though, is STILL Jeff Wayne's 'The War of the Worlds' musical though -  the stage show is also just EPIC.

What did you folk think of the Spielberg version?

[Jim_Campbell]

The Spielberg film is probably the best adaptation of the book we're likely to see grace our cinema/TV screens.

I like it a lot. As I've (doubtless) said before: Wells' book is about hubris and the humbling of the pre-eminent military/imperial power in the world. Why the hell wouldn't you do a version set in the US...?

[wedgeski]

I've been a fan of Spielberg's take since it was released. I don't have any issues with Tom Cruise, he's a fine actor, and plays his part convincingly in this as well. The whole first half is stunning. We've seen an awful lot of big budget alien invasion film and TV in the last few years, but back when this was released, it was still kind of novel. Things are more uneven in the second half.

One element I will never get over is the characterisation of his son, who is just goddawful annoying, but Dakota Fanning more than makes up for that. If the film peters out, it's because the book peters out, but kudos to the screenwriters for holding fast to the original ending.

[Citi-Def_Joe]

Last weekend I watched Maleficent: Mistress of Evil which was not as good as the first one (which  i kind of enjoyed  ) but the kid liked it and it passed some time while i shovelled pizza in to my face. Some very ropey CGI....
Sunday night I got to watch Crawl which I have wanted to see since it came out in the cinema, and boy did I enjoy it. Fun, a ash of gore,  nice upping of tension with lots of "out of the frying pan in to the fire" moments and concise (sub 90 mins) a perfect daft film for a weekend with a couple of beers.

[TordelBack]

I've been a fan of Spielberg's take since it was released. I don't have any issues with Tom Cruise, he's a fine actor, and plays his part convincingly in this as well. The whole first half is stunning. We've seen an awful lot of big budget alien invasion film and TV in the last few years, but back when this was released, it was still kind of novel. Things are more uneven in the second half.

One element I will never get over is the characterisation of his son, who is just goddawful annoying, but Dakota Fanning more than makes up for that. If the film peters out, it's because the book peters out, but kudos to the screenwriters for holding fast to the original ending.

Spot-on Wedgski, especially with regard to the end of the book.  It's a very fine adaptation, the best one so far, but I think the son's characterisation as an infuriating prick could have been saved simply by having him stay dead.  I actually believed his actions as person, but I also believed they had dire consequences, until they didn't. A 50% win for Cruise would have been enough for me.   

Not mad about Tim Robbins' whole bit either, but ehhn.

And yeah Shaolin_monkey, that opening attack is absolutely terrifying, no matter how many times I watch it: I find the whole atmosphere from the lightning strikes onwards to perfectly catch that sense of powerlessness in the face of unreality intruding on our lives that we've all had a taste of lately.  That Spielberg can shoot a mood.

And while I would never consciously list Cruise as an actor I like, he has a disturbing habit of (a). picking great movies to be in and (b). working his tiny little arse off in them. 

[TordelBack]

Last weekend I watched Maleficent: Mistress of Evil which was not as good as the first one (which  i kind of enjoyed  ) but the kid liked it and it passed some time while i shovelled pizza in to my face. Some very ropey CGI....

I didn't care for the film (or the first one for that matter), but I thought the CGI was insanely good.  The complex designs of the Fae were just spectacularly well animated - the featherwork alone!

[Jim_Campbell]

And while I would never consciously list Cruise as an actor I like, he has a disturbing habit of (a). picking great movies to be in and (b). working his tiny little arse off in them.

I don't think I've ever actively sought out a movie specifically because Cruise is in it — in fact, I actively avoided him for about a decade after someone made me sit through Days of Thunder — but in the last twenty-plus years, I've seen quite a lot of movies he's been in, and I don't think he's ever been bad in any of them, and been excellent in several.