Last movie watched...

[I, Cosh]

Beasts of the Southern Wild Wow! That was really something. More later, maybe.

Man. I've not been able to stop thinking about this for days. It's ages since something's become lodged in my head like this. Every so often I've tried to write down some thoughts on it and now have pages of semi-coherent dribbling. Here's an attempt at brief round up which misses out lots of the interesting tangents.

The best I can come up with is that Beasts of the Southern Wild is a sort of post-apocalyptic road(river)-trip fever dream obviously inspired by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina but deliberately divorced from real time and place to become an ecological allegory centred around a six year old girl, who could be the little sister of the kid from Mad Max 2, and her father: both outstanding performances from non-professional actors.

It's filmed almost exclusively from her point of view so, while the narrative is pretty loose and doesn't really flow the way you expect it to, it does all makes sense, even as reality and fantasy scenes interleave, and allows the filmmakers to be pretty vague about the passage of time and so on. This point of view isn't just a figurative thing, a lot of scenes really are shot from a kid's eyeline, staring up trying to make sense of the adult world around her or, as in the fantastic opening scenes, as she runs wild around the animals they keep at home. Later, the sound design is really well used to keep us in Hushpuppy's head as conversations around her are muffled while only the focus of her attention is fully audible.

There are elements of the film which could very easily be seen (not least by me, had I been in a different mood) as cheesy or irritating yet I had no problem letting most of them slide.

Joyful, sad, beautiful, fascinating and made me think about some stuff. Really worth seeing.

[MR. ELIMINATOR]

Just watched the Total Recall remake. I thought it was actually OK. Better then it looked anyway.

[Spikes]

Leon. Or The Professional, as our American chums called it.
Not seen this in ages,  but still a top film. And of course, one can never have enough of Jean Reno.

[JOE SOAP]

The original John Spaihts screenplay for PROMETHEUS "Alien: Engineers".

[Spikes]

The original John Spaihts screenplay for PROMETHEUS "Alien: Engineers".

Interesting. A thumbs up, or down Joe?

[Richmond Clements]

Well, it was Dredd again.
But, before that, John Carter. Bloody great fun and a shame it became the victim of company politics.

[I, Cosh]

Tyrannosaur. One of those films so relentlessly downbeat it becomes laughable.

[Richmond Clements]

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Thanks to your endorsement, I think I shall be going to see this.

[Richmond Clements]

Just back from watching Moon on the big screen. Bloody hell but that's a good movie.

[I, Cosh]

Salute of the Jugger. I'm never really convinced by future sports stories in any medium but this was pretty good fun, driven along by the presence of the prematurely grizzled Rutger Hauer and a young, ungrizzled Joan Chen. One thing I appreciate in a post-apocalyptic scenario is somebody taking the time to think through some weird little details like the character of Dogboy who laps water out of Hauer's hand or using nuts and bolts as currency.

Just back from watching Moon on the big screen. Bloody hell but that's a good movie.

Was just having a look at the listings. That's quite a season you've got on up there at the moment.

[Richmond Clements]

Quote from: Richmond Clements on 13 November, 2012, 10:26:59 PM
Just back from watching Moon on the big screen. Bloody hell but that's a good movie.Was just having a look at the listings. That's quite a season you've got on up there at the moment.

Yeah, some craking stuff on.
Going to miss Star Trek II this weekend, but have Silent Running and many others coming soon.
And as a special bonus, I had a nice little Twitter conversation with Duncan Jones last night!

[Fisticuffs]

Just back from watching Moon on the big screen. Bloody hell but that's a good movie.

I love Moon.

Saw Iron Sky a couple of days ago, enjoyed it immensely, glad it didn't take itself very seriously at all.

[Keef Monkey]

Salute of the Jugger. I'm never really convinced by future sports stories in any medium but this was pretty good fun, driven along by the presence of the prematurely grizzled Rutger Hauer and a young, ungrizzled Joan Chen. One thing I appreciate in a post-apocalyptic scenario is somebody taking the time to think through some weird little details like the character of Dogboy who laps water out of Hauer's hand or using nuts and bolts as currency.

Just back from watching Moon on the big screen. Bloody hell but that's a good movie.

Was just having a look at the listings. That's quite a season you've got on up there at the moment.

Pretty sure I watched that movie a few times as a kid, along with Robot Jox and Arena (them were the days)!

Even watching the trailer though I can barely find a shred of it in my memory, which has made me feel old.

[shaolin_monkey]

Just back from watching Moon on the big screen. Bloody hell but that's a good movie.

Yeah, awesome film.  I really don't see why some people hate it.  It's beautifully understated.  Personally if I found out [spoiler]I was one of a long series of clones to be used over and over, for ever, I'd go nuts and tear the place apart.  I'd be lost in existential angst and rage.  However, his reaction in the film seemed to fit well, and it was a fantastic conclusion.  [/spoiler] Loved it.

[radiator]

I just found Moon to be really slow and boring, I couldn't even make it to the end. I also found elements of it to be really silly and unintentionally funny, like when he catches the robot talking to the execs on Earth. Just not my cup of tea I'm afraid.