general movie discussions

[NovaCoder]

Prometheus International Launch Trailer

We're going to see this movie early next month.....please let it be awesome!!

[gimbal]

No doubt about that, this movie is going to be classically awesome. And even though it has been basically deflected that this is an Alien movie, I have that gut feeling that they're in there anyway

[gilgamesh]

Alien without Sigourney? The better be standing on their toes.

[gimbal]

She's only an actress, there are plenty more out there that can be chased by monsters and look sufficiently frightened to make it believable

I'm not too sure that the people in Prometheus apply though :/

In any case I've had the pleasure of seeing Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.

As a fan of Guy Ritchie these movies are instant sources of joy for me. This one is no exception, although it does start out a bit slow to tie off the first movie. It would have been better to just let that part go and start a fresh story as if almost everything in the previous one didn't happen, that's what the remaining 90% of the movie does anyway.

Entertaining as it is, I have one major beef with it: why still call it Sherlock Holmes? The movie is seriously lacking in the "Holmes deduction methods" that filled the first one, in stead it has turned into a freight train of action and witty comments without trying to at least reference the source slightly constantly throughout; it has been thrown in once or twice just for good measure.

But at the end of the day, its an above average Hollywood production with insane visual style (in a good way) and a set of very decent actors that match their characters incredibly well. Its just very good! And I want more!

[gimbal]

And saw Underworld 4.

I enjoyed the first three; decent action, nice lore. There really was a story to tell.

And yeah, then it all basically turns into nothing in this one. The movie has almost no plot to add to the original story line and just throws some disposable new characters in there all for one purpose: to be able to create a fifth movie. Its going to be there, the ending is as open as they could make it. It is official, Underworld has become the next Resident Evil.

Shame, it could have been something decent but I guess inspiration has run out. At least it still has Kate Beckinsale in tight leather - that remains a thing of beauty for now

[gimbal]

Prometheus.

Anything I say about this movie is a huge spoiler so I'm not going to. I'm just going to make a few observations.

- My faith in 3D has been kindled. This movie uses it -perfectly- and professionally. Thought Avatar was beautiful? Imagine hovering over a raging river and every wave looks like it could wash over you at any second. Its that detailed. I hardly ever noticed any "That isn't right!" signals from my brain either and for the first time ever, I left the cinema without a splitting head ache. The tech is definitely improving.

- The movie starts out pretty light, but about halfway through flips into a kind of nightmare that rivals or even surpasses Alien - Scott did it again. let me put it differently: if Alien gave you nightmares way back when, better skip this one. Ugh!

- Acting is pretty decent, nothing more, nothing less.

- Its not your average Hollywood movie - after seeing it I was left wondering about many things but never under the impression that there were holes in there. A very good thing indeed.

Holy crap what a movie! I can't rate it as a generic movie, but as a sci/fi horror flick I rate it 9/10. Go see it in 3D if you were hesitating about it, its spectacular.

[gilgamesh]

Kthx. Now I'm going to watch it in 3D.

[NovaCoder]

We're seeing it this Sat, can't wait

[gimbal]

Safe House. What can I say - its a little bit (or actually a lot) like the Bourne series, its a little bit like Training Day. If you like either type of movie, you'll mostly likely enjoy Safe House. Its quite good, the acting is very much above average. But of course its quite predictable, you basically already know how it is going to end up at the start of the movie. Unless you have seen no movie of say the last decade.

7/10, "a good way to spend an hour and a half indeed; just don't expect the next Godfather".

[pintcat]

I watched the press release of "The Dark Knight Rises" yesterday and must say it is quite good. If you enjoyed the last two Batman movies you'll like this one too. It some how tries to follow the plot from the first part with a little reappearance of Ra's Al Ghul and his Shadow Society (no, he's not alive ;). Bane is a new type of villain. Due to his strength, his fighting abilities and his uncompromising cruelness he appeared more scary to me than his predecessors (great acting by Tom Hardy). But in the end you'll learn that he isn't the actual enemy...
To cut a long story short - it has a good storyline, decent acting (next to Bale we have Freeman, Caine, Oldman... the whole bunch plus some new interesting faces) and great visuals - both, fighting scenes and sfx are pure pleasure! All in all it is the familiar Nolan-style.
A few downsides: some long-winded dialogues and more, unnecessary surprises at the end (let me just say: "introducing Robin" - aaawwwrrrgh!)

[T_hairy_bootson]

Wtf!

Spoiler Alert!!!

[gimbal]

Damn, don't do that pintcat. Say what you think only and keep it as vague as possible :s

[pintcat]

Did I tell too much? Sorry, but don't care about that stuff at the end, because it isn't associated with the story itself and I hope I didn't blab out too much about what actually happens in the movie.

[s2325]

14 people shot to death on new Batman premiere.

[gimbal]

Yeah and many more wounded. One of the deaths was a 6-year old boy (unless I misread it and he was actually one of the wounded) :/

It is not entirely unrelated to the movie either - apparently the (masked) bloke could get in because it was a batman movie and he looked like he just dressed for the occasion. Makes you think!

[Muzkat]

As a person who thought The Dark Knight was somewhat overrated and Batman Begins was abit meh, I can honestly say I enjoyed the hell out of The Dark Knight Rises.

The acting, the dialogue, the pacing and the storyline are all much better this time around in my humble opinion, and the action in particular was just superb.

My only grievance was Bane's voice - he sounded like a well to do aristocrat, leaning back in his recliner chair before the hearth, smoking a Cuban cigar, as opposed to a fanatical terrorist.

That aside, The Dark Knight Rises gets a 9/10 from me. Nolan has finally got it right.

[Muzkat]

I liked Prometheus, but not as much as others here did. There were simply too many characters (17, I believe) aboard the ship to care about and connect with, so that I found myself unsympathetic when they were inevitably snuffed out. Furthermore, apart from a few gross out moments, the film was not scary enough for me. The android in this movie was a far cry from, say, Bishop in Aliens, and Theron oversold her politicking and coldhearted character to the point of comical absurdity.

Still, it was a much more cerebral movie, which set out to do alot more than most other films nowadays aim to achieve, so points must be awarded for that. The screeplay and set locations were also quite beautiful, with a subtle yet effective use of 3d.

I guess I just wanted abit more out of this film. Hence I give it 6/10.

[Muzkat]

Snow White and the Hunstman was a real surprise packet for me. A modern day take on a fairytale, starring Kirsten Stewart? This is doomed to fail, right?

To my delight, I found that this was not the case. The film pulls a gritty and gothic spin on the much loved Snow White and the Seven Dwarves story, without letting it spiral out of control into girly Twilight territory, which was my greatest fear. Kirsten Stewart's cold, blase facial expressions are actually quite at home in this film, as she does play a princess, and hence her lack of emotion does equate with royalty quite compatibly. The film is paced well between action scenes and more exploratory phases, and the dialogue isn't too cringeworthy, with respect always being paid to the venerable source material.

I also liked how the budding romance between Snow White and the Huntsman is never delved into in full gratuitous detail. Hell, it is only barely touched upon, again in what I feel is an inexplicit and very respectful way. Once again, staying well away from Edward Cullen and Twilight inspired tales is a classy touch.

Strangely enough, my only grievance is (once again) Charlize Theron, who overacts as the evil queen almost to the point of being a caricature, just like in Prometheus. Never thought I'd be saying this about one of Hollywood's top leading ladies and a former Oscar winner.

Pleasantly surprised by this movie - 7/10.

[gimbal]

Charlize Theron... she just sucks IMO. I've never seen her play a single role in which I thought she was convincing. The worst of all being the Devils Advocate, but to be fair that was Mr. Reeves' incredible overacting rubbing off on the rest of the cast.

Still love that movie though, its one that even the actors can't screw up and all the baddies in the movie really carry it.

[gimbal]

Speaking of Charlize Theron, I saw the Astronaut's Wife.

Yuck Its supposed to be unnerving I guess. Putting repetitive and long winded screeching noises in the movie is not the way to do it.

A pain to watch fueled by really bad acting - don't do it, just leave it be.

[pubzombie]

It's not movie but I have got to tell somebody. I have just watched the complete 2 series of Game of Thrones - awesome stuff, I usually avoid fantasy stuff because hobbits, gnomes, elves and hey nonny nonny stuff just annoys me. But this series is well rooted in medieval history and society and the characters and politics are really believable. Also you can stream it legally online.
I am hooked - I ordered the first books off amazon and they are even better. Great stuff and some brutal nasty stuff happens that I can't believe got accepted on US mainstream tv.

[gimbal]

I read the first book before watching the first season (I'm onto the last two episodes). The book didn't start to interest me until about halfway through (from "the golden crown" moment I started to like it) but then I finally got sucked into it and I'll gladly read the others as well before seeing the TV show

I must say that it is one of the better book adaptations. Of course large chunks of dialogue are taken out but you hardly miss it.

[pubzombie]

Just started the third book and pretty excited to be moving past the end of the tv series... In fact haven't enjoyed a book this much in years.

[gimbal]

Originally Posted by pubzombie

Just started the third book and pretty excited to be moving past the end of the tv series... In fact haven't enjoyed a book this much in years.

OT but I advise you to read some books written by Robin Hobb, starting with the Assassin trilogy. Really epic writing that should appeal to anyone that likes Game of Thrones.

[pubzombie]

I was going to ask about any other fantasy that was worth reading - probably committing a major sin here, but I can't stand Tolkien.....

[gimbal]

I can understand why. I happen to like it, but notable exceptions not counting the characters are just not something you'd like to read about three books long (or in my case: one large one).

So then I again I advise Robin Hobb as her books are really driven by well-defined characters - which might not even be human in nature. Her second trilogy deals with so called "liveships" - even effing ships become interesting and lovable characters (combined with human pirates which makes it all the more fun).

[pubzombie]

Sounds more like it.
As for LOTR I actually really enjoyed the films, I thought Jackson did a great job of getting rid of what wasn't essential to a good fantasy yarn. Hobbits and Elves still annoyed me - at one point I thought how cool it would be for the baddies to actually win.
But they were enjoyable stories and good action films.

[gimbal]

Yeah but Jackson maintained that overall... I'll put it like this: it are movies (and basically also books although there it is a bit more left up to the imagination) filled with men who are not men and women who are not women; I'm not talking about them having pointy ears either. That gets so tiring eventually...

[gimbal]

How's this for silly: last Saturday I was going to see Batman 3 in the cinemas.

So eventually my girlfriend asked me "At what time are we supposed to be at the cinema?". I look at the clock and answer "Oh, about 4.5 hours ago".

DOH! That is going to be one expensive movie to see now because I'm certainly going this weekend... if I remember. Getting old...

[pubzombie]

Just picked up Clint Eastwoods Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwojima - £4 from local mall. & House season 2 £3:20
That's my weeks viewing sorted.
Love House but get too tempted to act like a total jerk @ work

[gimbal]

Well I finally saw the Dark Knight Rises.

Its a good movie, but IMO not really worth it to go see in the cinema. The movie is actually quite laid back compared to its two predecessors which were an audio-visual spectacle, in stead its very character driven revolving around the mysterious Bane and a cop that is quickly developing as a new white knight. Bane is an incredibly good villain that provides some dark comedy - up to the ending events. Like the Dark Knight, the movie is simply about half an hour too long and ends up with what feels to me like a lot of filler to stretch it out.

On top of that mr. Nolan unfortunately missed the opportunity to put some plot devices in the previous movies which ended up quick quick in this last one, turning some events which could have been big surprises and a spectacular ending into something very predictable and ultimately a bit disappointing.

[seuden]

The Cabin in the Woods.

I have no rating for this movie as I don't know how I felt about it. Was totally not what I was expecting.

[pubzombie]

Watching the final few episodes of house series 1. It was only made in 2004 but can't believe how much younger everybody looks.

[gimbal]

Not so surprising, the actors were likely already in the age group of 30-50 and in that period the aging effects give a strong visual transformation (wrinkles, first grey hairs and/or thinning of hair, tummy, spots on the skin).

[NovaCoder]

I watched the new Batman film last weekend. Very strange experience, the plot was so full of holes that you find yourself just not bothering to try and work out why people are doing what they are doing or what the hell is the point of it all.

But saying that, I still really enjoyed the film, in particular I loved Bane as the bad guy. In fact I'd go as far as to say the Bane saved the movie, without him it would have been a bit crappy.

[Muzkat]

Saw the Bourne Legacy a few days ago, and boy, do I have mixed feelings about this one. And those feelings are at either end of the emotional spectrum.

You see, I loved 98% of the movie. It took its time setting up the plot and fleshing out the characters, rather than dumping you, the viewer, straight into the bloodletting and the bombast ala standard action movie fare. When things started heating up, the film threw in some truly awesome shootouts and action scenarios, together with an extremely disturbing scene that honestly left me rattled. This was all packaged nicely with two very convincing performances from Renner and Weisz, the latter who, in particular, depicts her "terrified scientist in over her head" character amazingly well.

What I found myself loving the most, however, was how the film went into the backstory of the Bourne experiments, which segued into a bitter tussle over the ethical dilemmas of it all. This created something I haven't experienced in a long time. Dare I say it, but the Bourne Legacy is a "thinking mans'" action film.

It was all going so well, so swimmingly in fact, and then the ending hit. I'm not going to spoil it for you all, just to say that it was a real let down, leaving the audience lost and adrift. The person I was watching it with said, "is that all?" and I echo her sentiments.

A crying shame, really. Up until the ending, I thought that The Bourne Legacy was of a higher calibre than any of the previous Bourne films, and I honestly preferred Renner over Damon (yes, I know that is blasphemy, but I don't care). But the cheap ending left a horrible taste in my mouth, and ruined the entire film experience.

The Bourne Legacy - 6.5/10, sadly enough.

[gimbal]

I had a Joss Whedon weekend.

the Avengers - bloody good movie. Funny, plenty of action, plenty of eye candy. But the opposite of Batman - its not too long, its too short. There are simply too many characters to be able to properly fill such a short time without feeling that things were rushed. Still highly recommended but at least see Iron Man 1 and Thor first, to get necessary background. You may want to watch Captain America too but I did not find it really necessary to understand where his character is coming from.

And the Cabin in the Woods. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1259521/

Again... its really good! Its not really meant to be a horror movie, its more intended to be humorous. And laugh I did, not only at the on-screen jokes but also at myself. The entire movie I thought I was predicting how it would end up but how wrong I was each and every time; I got punked. Well worth it!

[lordofchaos]

I made a short film, I guess you could call it Retro...and it features a very breif appearance of a Commodore 64. A tenuous link I know, just shamelessly plugging.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvYj3OMiIr0

[Muzkat]

I loved Total Recall.

Much more action driven than the original, and the purists might not like some of the changes made in this remake. But I just thought this film was so much fun. The unending action scenes were brilliantly choreographed, the dingy locales were beautiful, and Kate Beckinsale was great as the murderous Lori, despite some wooden acting here and there.

8.5/10.

[gimbal]

Okaaaaay. Now you got me interested in seeing it, thanks! Until now I read nothing but smack about it.

What did I see lately. Snow white and the Huntsman. Quite entertaining, beautifully made, acting is above par. There is a part in the movie where they go to a fairy sanctuary... such brilliant design. The highlight has to be the dwarfs - you'd think they'd hire actual little people to do that job, but nope!

Also Battleship. Not bad, but its not Transformers. There were some clever moments in it, especially towards the end. Good humorous action flick, nothing more. Also: the guy (or woman, but this just seems like a movie designed by guys) who designed the razor machines is dangerous and should be locked up without access to the internet.