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Last movie watched...

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

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Hawkmumbler


Colin YNWA

Quote from: TordelBack on 16 September, 2019, 09:04:42 PM
Quote from: Frank on 16 September, 2019, 07:55:04 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 16 September, 2019, 07:48:41 PM
Beowuif

From the makers of Dogtanian.

Hwart! Ana for eall ond eall for ana
We Great Danes are ealway ready

Sir its taken a few posts to get you there but you've finally shown us forum perfection. We all have to stop now I guess.

Tiplodocus

Ha ha.

Looking back, the original thread for the movie back in 2007 was titled something like "Beowoof! Woof!". Probably a reference to some boarders finding this depiction of Grendel's mother attractive.
Be excellent to each other. And party on!

TordelBack

#13428
Ey thenk yooo.

Frank does make a clever point about Heaney's Beowulf, but as I have read neither Dumas in French nor Beowulf in Old English I don't know which is the most faithful.  But I do know that translation is always adaptation.

Daughter-instigated re-watch of the Star Wars cinematic canon commenced at the weekend. Phantom Menace remains remarkably fresh: the art design, practical builds and location work are astonishing, not equalled in any of the subsequent films, and while McGregor and Lloyd's performances are pretty far from what one might wish, the rest of the cast do a very good job chewing the ball-bearings they've been fed. Pre-Taken Neeson conveys a real sense of inner strength and conviction, and Portman is charming throughout, switching between kabuki formality and an eager openness. I timed the sole Senate scene for a laugh, it's all of 2 and a half minutes long and it's about a planetary invasion, not taxation: not quite what popular memory would have you believe.

Attack of the Clones on the other hand is a cack-handed mess, a series of disjointed sequences, some quite excellent (the arrival at Coruscant, the speeder chase, Kamino, the Clone battle, Dooku and Sidious' little chat), some dire (all of Naboo, most of Tatooine, the younglings, the droid factory, dear god the droid factory), many just boring. The awful compositing of poorly-directed Jedi extras posing aimlessly into 'scenes' in the arena is unforgiveable.  In a sub-series famed for its plot lacunae, this really takes the biscuit. We tried to puzzle out what the actual scheme of Palpatine's was that was proceeding as foreseen, and failed. 

Surprisingly it's not Reflections on Sand that is the nadir: it's Padme comforting Anakin after he admits to murdering children that is the low-point of the whole saga: "to be angry is to be human", she says - well yes, but the real trick is not butchering children with a lightsabre while you're out of sorts: at that exact moment I lost all hope of ever being invested in their toxic relationship.

On the plus side, Morrison's Jango is appropriately threatening and Lee is quite excellent, every time he speaks he lifts everything around him, even when it makes no sense: they should have ditched General Grievous entirely and given him a bigger role in RotS. I found Threepio's cheesy bon mots quite funny this time, and that opening sequence is still my favourite of the entire series.       
 

wedgeski

PM has the duel of the fates, so I can't bring myself to hate it utterly, and I agree with many of your comments on Clones. Kamino in particular; Obi-Wan vs. Jango (less so the obnoxious little Boba); the whole last 20 mins. Absolutely spectacular, ground-breaking imagery in that Jedi. vs everyone hoopla. If I ever re-watch them, it certainly won't be for Annakin's narrative arc.

Hawkmumbler

I remember seeing Clones in cinemas first time around aged 7, even then I thought it tiresome and overly tedious.

In retrospect Menace has generated a certain appeal over time, and most certainly isn't the poorest of the prequels, if for no other reason than the aforementioned Clones.

Not sure I agree with Tordels on General Grievous exclusion from Sith though, he was in many ways one of the highlights of that immensely flawed final part.

TordelBack

#13431
Grievous is cool, a great design with lovely movement, but his presence reduces Dooku's role to nothing, and I'd really have liked more Lee.

We'll pass over the fact that Hawkie outed himself as a fetus.

Hawkmumbler


Greg M.

I quite like Attack of the Clones - certainly more so than the other prequels. It's superficially exciting, astonishingly violent, and, whilst bits of it are like watching someone else play a video game, it also features Obi-Wan going for a drink, which is about the most human moment of the whole prequel trilogy.

TordelBack

#13434
Ah yes, that is a good point. Obi-Wan at the bar and at the diner are both good character bits. There's a much better movie to be had in just following Obi-Wan's story (no Naboo, no Tatooine and no goddamn droid factory).

JOE SOAP

Quote from: TordelBack on 17 September, 2019, 08:44:11 PM
There's a much better movie to be had in just following Obi-Wan's story

... in all 3 Prequels.

Hawkmumbler


Hawkmumbler

So last Saturday I took a trip dawn south to see a personal favorite of mine in what could be a once in a life time screening considering the legal madness the franchise is trapped in in the West.

So yeah, Macross Plus is the most under appreciated piece of science fiction to come out of the last 50 years. It's a superb meta narrative on the Macross franchise as a whole up to the point, a startlingly frank discussion on the dangers of yet inevitability of transhumanism, and just look and sounds gorgeous. This was an OVA/Movie that seriously benefited from being seen on the big screen, and as a last hurrah until Harmony Gold vanishes up it's own arse and relinquishes the life long rights, it damn near brought a tear to my eye.


JamesC

Anaconda

A really fun mid-budget 90s creature feature with an excellent cast of scenery chewers who all seem to be having a great time.
Jon Voight is hilarious - he really should have played more crazy baddies.
There are some great lines - my personal favourite is when Jonathan Hyde knocks out Voight with a golf club "Arsehole in one!"

Accoridng to IMDB the dodgy CGI cost $100,000 a second!

Rately

Quote from: JamesC on 20 September, 2019, 10:31:49 AM


Accoridng to IMDB the dodgy CGI cost $100,000 a second!

Sweet Jesus.

The Jon Voight performance is one for the ages. Amazing.