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

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Tiplodocus

LIFE on Netflix.

So rather than write a review of this "contemporary" science fiction thriller where a Martian life form invades the International Space Station and starts offing the crew one by one, I recommend that you go read other reviews of this film.

Because while my review will have a handsome and charismatic cast and great production values, it won't be anything that you haven't seen before in other reviews that covered the same ground but with more inventiveness and originality.

So, a bit like the film itself, really.
Be excellent to each other. And party on!

wedgeski

Quote from: Tiplodocus on 22 March, 2021, 11:13:28 AM
LIFE on Netflix.
So, a bit like the film itself, really.
Yeah, not great, but I did think the alien was pretty cool.

broodblik

Justice League The Snyder Cut – With a marathon session we watch this in one go (yes we did take toilet break and made a cup or two). I must say that this was 100x better than the original one. This version gave us a lot of back story which was clearly missing in the original. Further the story was much expanded and things that just whistled pass you where actually given a lot more depth and detail. Do not worry about the runtime because it never felt like 4 hours. Plus, the whole movie is broken down in 6 episodes and an epilogue. These episodes give it a more natural break. So final verdict is it was a great movie enjoyed it from beginning to minute 240.
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

Definitely Not Mister Pops

Escape from Pretoria

Daniel Radcliffe might just be my favourite actor at the minute. I've always found something enjoyable in every movie I've seen him in (except Harry Potter*). He seems to have enough "fuck you" money from his childhood stardom to pick and choose only projects which interest him. Usually these projects are either really weird like Swiss Army Man or stylishly bonkers like Guns Akimbo, or creepy and brooding, like The Woman in Black. The common thread being they're all movies that really nail a certain tone. Well Escape from Pretoria nails tense as fuck.

Based on real events, in apartheid South Africa (Surprisingly no Neill Blomkampf regulars, or even Die Antwoord in sight), Radcliffe gives a masterful performance as a man with a constant turtle head poking out.

*nothing against Harry Potter, was just a wee bit too old/not old enough to appreciate it and besides, when I became aware of it, I still had about a back log of about a dozen discworld books to get through. When my sisters dragged me to the first Harry Potter movie ("but we thought you liked wizard stuff?") I was not impressed by Radcliffe, but clearly young Daniel was closely studying his fellow cast of beloved British national treasures. 
You may quote me on that.

Colin YNWA

Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 22 March, 2021, 10:47:54 AM
It's sort of like the Coen Brothers remade Reservoir Dogs.

Has there ever been a better one line recommendation for a film? Already added to my watch list!


CalHab

Free Fire is a great example of the one-room genre. Loved it.

CalHab

High Fidelity (2000, on Disney+). After aimlessly flicking through the options of Disney+ for at least 15 minutes, I finally decided on a film that I've got fond memories of. Or I thought I did. Turns out I have fond memories of the Nick Hornby novel, but now I'm afraid to return to that. This has aged extremely poorly. I remembered it as an affectionate look at fan culture and a comedy about a man-child who finally has to face growing up. It turned out to be about a misogynistic serial abuser who faces no consequences of his actions, which are frequently played for laughs. His partners in crime are creepy but, again, played for laughs. The whole thing is repellent.

Why does his girlfriend come back to him? There's no convincing explanation.

John Cusack has always had a distinctive way, definitely not naturalistic, but here he's as wooden as the tree on the cover of John Lennon's critically acclaimed 1970 album "The Plastic Ono Band". Not good.

They've remade this as a tv series with a female protagonist. I guess you'd have to do something like that if you were making it now.

My wife's comment: "Yeah, I've always hated that film. He's a monster." She's not wrong.

TordelBack

#15472
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 22 March, 2021, 11:05:04 AM
Think it was someone on here a few months back who brought up Leighs PETERLOO ...

That may have been me. Watched it over Christmas just gone, and I'm still thinking about it regularly. That's powerful filmmaking.

There's a series of scenes with all the magistrates and knobs in a meeting room overlooking St Peter's Square, while people pour into the city from all over,  full of optimism and good humour, that I can't get out of my mind. The contrast between hopeful desperation, and contemptuous avarice, framed so perfectly.

Barrington Boots

I really didn't like Free Fire. In fact, it's in my 'DVDs to give away' pile, so if anyone who fancies it is in the Midlands, they're welcome to have it. Perhaps in cold war spy type exchange where I leave it on a bench in a used newspaper.
You're a dark horse, Boots.

pictsy

I enjoyed Life as a bleak war of attrition as the scientists loose ground.  It might not be entirely original, but it doesn't need to be.

OK, I also wrote what was turning into a very lengthy essay of what I enjoy about High Fidelity.  I decided not to post it because it was getting longer and longer.  I disagree with CalHab's description of the film. 

The main character faces no consequences.  I don't understand this, the film is all about the consequences of his shitty behaviour.  It's the plot.

Why does Laura get back together with him?  I'm not sure why love is an unconvincing motivation and explanation.

I accept someone not liking the film because the protagonist is a shit, that the humour doesn't land, that the consequences and motivations are not satisfying, that the performances are bad and/or they find the film repellent.  There are other of legit criticisms to be made, like a poor handling of mental health (at least, that's my inference) and an uncomfortable scene where one of Rob's exes describes an experience "close to rape" which doesn't seem to register with him.

I don't wish to change CalHab's opinion of the film.  That description, nevertheless, is in conflict with my experience of the content of the film.

OK, gonna stop this now in case it turns into another essay.

milstar

The Parallax View (1974)

Imo, the best film in Pakula's "paranoia" trilogy and one of essential 1970s films. Better than All President Men, that deals with similar thematics. Warren Beatty plays a journalists that uncovers evidence that a clandestine corporation, called Parallax, is behind every world event, often performing hits on a VIP people. True to the decade, the films shares many tropes common for 1970s. Visuals, bleak ending, antiheroes who find themselves in way over their heads. In a way, the film is a statement on JFK murder, with Pakula sharing subtle scepticism on the results of Warren commission. And the idea of deep in, multinational corporation, makes you think. After watching this film, I won't discard that theory aside.
The highest mark in the movie is brainwashing technique for possible assassins, akin to Ludovico treatment in A Clockwork Orange, that basically conveys state of mind of America of its time. Confused, naive, gullible, and utmost perverted. Underrated, thought-provoking film.
Reyt, you lot. Shut up, belt up, 'n if ye can't see t' bloody exit, ye must be bloody blind.

Colin YNWA

Thanks to Woolly I watched 'Here's Johnny' a documentry about John Hicklenton and his battle with MS. The fact that John is an incredible artist is secondary to his astonishing bravery in the face of this horrible disease.

Now full(ish) disclosure my family has been affected directly by MS and so I have some insight into what the disease can do. It has to be said that for all that John's honesty and the forthright way he tells his story and the impact of his illness has taught me a great deal about something I thought I had good insight into. The disease is different for each person it impacts, as much due to the way the person it inflicits deals with it. John deals with it with a strenght and dark humour that is rich in his art, which has never felt more from his soul than after watching this.

A fascinating and heartbreaking documentry I recommend to all.

Thank you Woolly.

Thank you John.

Funt Solo

Jiu Jitsu - how the fuck did they get Nicholas Cage to do this? It must have been a favor. The lunk hero has amnesia so everyone else has to Basil Exposition at him all the time, the premise is entirely cribbed from Predator, but for some reason they left the plot out entirely and failed to replace it. Cam switches from third person to first person to strapped on (like Sir Digby Chicken Caesar), seemingly at random. There may be some charm here in the so-bad-it's-good category, but not much.

Summary: [altogether now] Jiu Shitsu, more like.
++ A-Z ++  coma ++

Barrington Boots

Based off the mainly mediocre reviews yesterday I watched Life last night and I thought it was alright. Less splattery and more peril-y than your average Alien knockoff, but still enjoyably tense and reasonably engaging.
The only thing I'd knock was the CGI - the Alien itself was decent but the blood effects etc were really bad.
You're a dark horse, Boots.

milstar

Quote from: Barrington Boots on 23 March, 2021, 10:05:40 AM
Based off the mainly mediocre reviews yesterday I watched Life last night and I thought it was alright. Less splattery and more peril-y than your average Alien knockoff, but still enjoyably tense and reasonably engaging.
The only thing I'd knock was the CGI - the Alien itself was decent but the blood effects etc were really bad.

It really grinds my gears when I see that filmmakers adopt CGI to such extent as showing blood effects. Couldn't they get someone who'll just blow a hose or something, instead relying on computer graphics to generate something simple, like blood? Assholes.
Reyt, you lot. Shut up, belt up, 'n if ye can't see t' bloody exit, ye must be bloody blind.