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Last movie seen — Page 196

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zombie84 said:

Tobar said:

Bingowings said:

Aliens is the remake of Them! if you hadn't noticed.

I dunno if I can see that. I mean, Alien was definitely inspired by IT! The Terror From Beyond Space but Aliens and THEM! ? Hmm...

Aliens is essentially Seven Samurai ...set in space.

How?

At no point do the two stories converge.

Battle Beyond The Stars clearly is The Seven Samurai  IN SPAAAAAAACEEEEE! but you are obviously right about Starship Troopers, so much so that when the film version came out people thought it was ripped off of Aliens.

Indeed you could see a line between the novel Starship Troopers, through Them! (easier to film set in the present on Earth) into Aliens.

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 (Edited)

It's like Seven Samurai because its about a small group of warriors who seal themselves off in an enclosed civilian outpost to fight off wave after wave of oncoming enemies with overwhelming numbers. That's the basic thrust of Samurai, and Aliens too. You also have the use of maps to orient planning and fortifications (blueprints in Aliens, dirt drawings and paper maps in Samurai), booby traps to help even the odds, and other similarities like that. Obviously they are different films, but they have a ton in common.

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Watched "CleanFlix" a documentary on the edited-to-be-family-friendly movie business. Interesting. 

SPOILERS

So there was this one dude who was a huge douchebag, and the whole movie my wife keeps saying "I don't care about edited movies so much, but I hope that guy goes to jail." and at the end he's arrested on a soliciting underage sex charge. 

Had nothing to do with the ideas being documented, but felt satisfying cuz the dude was such a tool. 

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RE: Aliens/ The Seven Samurai.

It's very Night Of The Living Dead in that regard.

But the key element of The Seven Samurai is not the battle at the end but the quest to find the warriors which Aliens hasn't got.

Shame really because it could have worked as the structure for an Alien film (especially if there were plenty of prior films without Ripley).

That way she and the other previous protagonists could all 'assemble' for one last show down.

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Super 8 (2011)

In light of the now officially confirmed news, I decided to go back and check out a couple of our newly crowned director's films. I was really excited for this film before it came out and I wasn't disappointed when I eventually got to see it. Though I don't think it worked very well as a homage to Spielberg. The chemistry between the kids was kind of lacking. You can tell what they were aiming for based on the dialog but the interactions between them don't quite click. That plus there was a lot of light swearing. But if you take that aspect of the film out of the equation and judge the film on its own merits, I think it was a pretty nice film.

Cloverfield (2009)

While Abrams didn't direct this one, he did produce and I think his hand can be felt all over it. Found footage films get a pretty bad rap but they can be pretty engaging if done well. I'd say this is one of the better ones. This was another film that I was excited about when it was first teased because I love seeing modern takes on classic genres like giant monsters. I thought the film had a good pace to it and never got bogged down. Though sadly, I have to say I was disappointed in the main attraction; the monster design was a little boring.

Battle Los Angeles (2011)

This one has nothing to do with Abrams, I just wanted to revisit it after thinking about modern takes on classic genres. A lot of people didn't like this one, I don't know why. I thought it was pretty entertaining.

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Battle Royale.

7/10 grenade heads.  I look forward to watching Battle Royale with Cheese.

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 (Edited)

Star Trek (2009).

After recent news I thought I would give it another spin to see if I was talking out of my arse about it not being all that.

Upon reflection it's not as bad as I remembered it.

The Kobayashi Maru scene is more of a spoof of the event as described in TWOK and is an early blip, as is Sulu leaving the breaks off but the film rattles along at a fair pace and the actors invest the characters with personality (though hopefully Chekov will have less of a comedy accent in future episodes).

It only really falls apart when Young Spock drops Kirk off on the Ice Moon of Frigia/Hoth/Psi 2000.

Nimoy's infodump, the tedious scenes with Nero and the leaping from platform to plaform still grind.

Also Simon Pegg was a big mistake for Scotty.

Paul McGillion should have got the job.

Deep Roy as the mute Walnut guy Jar-Jarred the emotion out of Vulcan's destruction.

I really wanted the Enterprise to fall into the Black Hole and come out in the prime Star Trek universe but Lost In Spaaaaaace.

3 'Photons'.

Next up was Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes (2011).

A film of two halves one of which was totally redundant the other rather good actually.

The apes in this film are the stars. The humans were wasted or plain awful.

There is a thread over on the Star Wars discussion boards about what Hayden would have been without Anakin.

James Franco out planks Hayden in this film.

The camera hates him, he is as emotionally engaging as a thimble of sand and his character could easily be left on the cutting room floor.

Freida Pinto is prettier and smiles with conviction but in every other respect has as less of a right to be there than Franco.

Tom Felton should have done something different after Potter instead of playing a pantomime nasty person with a fizzing taser wand.

David Oyelowo wins the award for the most pants unsympathetic character in any film of this kind.

David Hewlett plays a terribly hamfisted creation. He would stick out as being annoyingly cartoonish even in a Resident Evil movie.

John Lithgow is nice as always but isn't in the film enough and doesn't do enough to save the human side of this film.

Brian Cox literally spends the film sitting near a door (presumably waiting for the paycheck to arrive).

Patrick Doyle's score is obvious and dull not a patch on Goldsmith's or Elfman's.

When the apes rise it's a bit crap that they leap around San Fran pointedly avoiding killing people while wrecking everything in sight.

But the section in the holding cells is a revelation.

It deserves to be in a separate film.

After a while I began to forget it was CGI and the ape characters without any dialogue conveyed more variety and human warmth than any of the human characters (Lithgow aside).

I could easily have watched a feature length presentation with just those characters with perhaps the occasional doping up from a faceless human resulting in their growing intelligence and eventual escape.

What we have here is a bizarre Harvey Dent of a film which on one side is fantastic and the other side actually worse than Tim Burton's film.

Watching it made me love Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes even more.

Now there were humans you could love and hate and laugh at.

Ape Story (Enhanced)/Human story (Gelded). 

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I guess you were paid by the paragraph on that one.

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We're the young generation and we've got something to say.

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Thanks for making me feel better about not loving the Apes reboot. The fact I saw it with someone who'd never seen the original film didn't help much.

There are so many improbable plot points going on in that movie I don't know where to start. ;)

Darned if I know where the heck they can go in a sequel that is fresh and new. If they focus on Taylor and crew returning to Earth, the surprise ending is already out of the bag...

Where were you in '77?

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Bingowings said:

Star Trek (2009).

...hopefully Chekov will have less of a comedy accent in future episodes).

Unfortunately, no. Saw a several minute long preview when I went to see the Hobbit in 3D. new Chekov's fake accent is as comedic and over the top as ever.

The Chekov accent was always a horrible idea. In the future when the world has shrunk even more than it has now and we are all under one government, will we really have such over the top accents? But that horrible idea was easier to forgive back in the 60-80's. Fresh start and reboot, I don't get why they thought it would be cool to make it even thicker than Walter Koenig's just for the sake of some sort of dumb and redundant comedy relief. That film had so much comic relief in it, it is practically as much a comedy as it is a sci-fi or action film. Of course, it does all three genres poorly. 

I think J. J. Trek 2009 makes a good case for how painfully dumbed down our movies are becoming. At the risk of sounding like skyjedi, it is somewhat offensive, it is hard for me to go see movies like that and not feel like the film makers are talking down to me.

 

Next up was Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes (2011).

A film of two halves one of which was totally redundant the other rather good actually.

The apes in this film are the stars. The humans were wasted or plain awful.

There is a thread over on the Star Wars discussion boards about what Hayden would have been without Anakin.

James Franco out planks Hayden in this film.

The camera hates him, he is as emotionally engaging as a thimble of sand and his character could easily be left on the cutting room floor.

Oooooh, but he is so damn HOT!

;)

 

Freida Pinto is prettier and smiles with conviction but in every other respect has as less of a right to be there than Franco.

Tom Felton should have done something different after Potter instead of playing a pantomime nasty person with a fizzing taser wand.

David Oyelowo wins the award for the most pants unsympathetic character in any film of this kind.

David Hewlett plays a terribly hamfisted creation. He would stick out as being annoyingly cartoonish even in a Resident Evil movie.

John Lithgow is nice as always but isn't in the film enough and doesn't do enough to save the human side of this film.

Brian Cox literally spends the film sitting near a door (presumably waiting for the paycheck to arrive).

Patrick Doyle's score is obvious and dull not a patch on Goldsmith's or Elfman's.

When the apes rise it's a bit crap that they leap around San Fran pointedly avoiding killing people while wrecking everything in sight.

But the section in the holding cells is a revelation.

True that.

 

It deserves to be in a separate film.

After a while I began to forget it was CGI and the ape characters without any dialogue conveyed more variety and human warmth than any of the human characters (Lithgow aside).

I could easily have watched a feature length presentation with just those characters with perhaps the occasional doping up from a faceless human resulting in their growing intelligence and eventual escape.

What we have here is a bizarre Harvey Dent of a film which on one side is fantastic and the other side actually worse than Tim Burton's film.

Watching it made me love Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes even more.

Now there were humans you could love and hate and laugh at.

Ape Story (Enhanced)/Human story (Gelded). 

As an old ape fan, I actually really liked this film. In a guilty pleasure sort of way, not a "that was a great movie" sort of way. It was kind of a gleeful romp for me through and through. I think if the Burton film hadn't been such an unbearable and painful to watch pile of steaming crap, I would have been a harsher critic. But as it was, HOLY CRAP, a new PotA film that was not only watchable, but also fairly enjoyable! I look forward to seeing more new Ape films that are better than Burton's.

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CP3S said:

As an old ape fan

To paraphrase Futurama, are you old and like apes, or do you like old apes?

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CP3S said:does all three genres poorly. 

I think J. J. Trek 2009 makes a good case for how painfully dumbed down our movies are becoming. At the risk of sounding like skyjedi, it is somewhat offensive, it is hard for me to go see movies like that and not feel like the film makers are talking down to me.

It is a bit dumb but nowhere near as dumb as Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes (the human story).

In a way it's retro dumb in that it reminded me of the equally conflicted Lost In Space (1998) which might be the reason behind my desire to see the alternate Enterprise voyage into another alternate universe. In that respect it's a crawl back in the right direction.

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CP3S said:

I've come to really dislike the Wilhelm. I mean, I get the whole thing, cool little in joke, but it is just so recognizable and it is in everything. One weekend I watched four things. An episode of The Venture Brother. It had the Wilhelm in it. Reservoir Dogs. Wilhelm. Sucker Punch. Wilhelm. Beauty and the Beast. Wilhelm.

It is basically in everything and every time I hear the thing it comes off as cheesy and I find myself rolling my eyes. Often times it is used in places where it doesn't even fit. Reservoir Dogs, guy gets knocked over and Wilhelm. Quite the dramatic yell for getting knocked over on the sidewalk.

Blame Ben Burtt.

“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.

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Berberian Sound Studio (2012).

This should have been right up my alley.

I like Toby Jones, most of the time but over Christmas I saw Hitch And The Girl (2012) which just came across a salacious selection of dead celebrity gossip.

I like non-linear narrative movies with enough ambiguity to keep you debating what the film was actually about for years but this one just felt abandoned.

It did fuel some debate but the debate was more interesting than the film which didn't go far enough in any direction to satisfy this viewer.

It serves as a weird companion piece to Cigarette Burns (1995).

Where as that film was vile, OTT and dumb this film is trying too hard to be subtle and clever for it's own good.

2 Cabbages.

Whispering Corridors aka Yeogo Goedam (1998).

More K-Horror.

Set in a girl's school (as are the rest of the series though none of the stories are directly related).

Women alive and dead with guilty secrets and horrid male characters ahoy!

Well made, emotionally engaging but not particularly scary.

4 Year Books.

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Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (2005) 8/10 - Good, inventive fun. Way too hectic though. Far too complicated to be so hectic.

Collateral (2004) 9/10 - Really, very good. It starts off perfect, though I feel the quality slowly deteriorates. Still great, though. Jamie Foxx and Tom Cruise both do great jobs. 

Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) 9.5/10 - Well deserving of the praise it has received. The girl's great, as are all the others. Just a very well made film, through and through. 

Brick (2005) 8.5/10 - Took me a bit to understand what they were going for. Before then it was just weird. It's actually a really cool concept, hardboiled high school "detective." Very well done. I just almost wonder if it took itself too seriously.

Dredd (2012) 8/10 - A lot better than I could have expected. It's well done, it's exciting, it's entertaining. But it's not thought provoking. It really does kind of become a video game. And it's fun to watch, but I feel there was a real chance to make a statement or a satire with the set up, but it just never happened. Would be willing to see a sequel, though.

Primer (2004) 8/10 - Very interesting, very original, and quiet thrilling. The third act completely falls apart though; and while I think that was the point, it just didn't work for me. Up until then, I was really into it, then it kind of just said, "stop enjoying this" and totally left me out. 

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Beasts of the Southern Wild-2.5 balls out of 4.

Silver Linings Playbook-2.5 balls out of 4.

The Petrified Forest-4 balls out of 4.

The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (I am not making this up.)-3.5 balls out of 4.

VADER!? WHERE THE HELL IS MY MOCHA LATTE? -Palpy on a very bad day.
“George didn’t think there was any future in dead Han toys.”-Harrison Ford
YT channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader

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DominicCobb said:

Primer (2004) 8/10 - Very interesting, very original, and quiet thrilling. The third act completely falls apart though; and while I think that was the point, it just didn't work for me. Up until then, I was really into it, then it kind of just said, "stop enjoying this" and totally left me out. 

I agree, the last portion of the movie really could have been a lot more tightly woven. I still really love this movie though.

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Shane Carruth's Upstream Color played to great reviews at Sundance. As a fan of Primer I'm excited to see his long-awaited follow-up.

“Grow up. These are my Disney's movies, not yours.”

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 (Edited)

Django Unchained - 7/10 - A lot of fun, but a bit of a mess. A lot less refined in terms of pacing/editing than QT's previous films, but I still enjoyed every minute of it. I can allow that this messy, unevenness may have been purposeful, but sometimes it felt like a byproduct of something else amiss, and not a deliberate attempt to get at something more raw and less polished. Some incredible performances, particularly by DiCaprio. I love that he continued acting even after seriously injuring his hand! And Tarantino kept it in!

Can it be construed as insensitive by some? Yeah, definitely. Does it make QT a racist, or as some have lately been calling him, a "closet white supremacist"? Abso-fucking-lutely not.

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I just hope Abrams doesn't make the same mistake George Lucas made on the prequels. Star Wars isn't shiny or sparkly. It is gritty and worn.

I just haven't been impressed with his directing style thus far, but he understands story very well, so that's one thing over Lucas. I'm already prepared to not like these, I did the same with Star Trek, and was very surprised. The hype isn't near as high as it was in the mid 90's. Of course, back then, the worst Star Wars film was ROTJ, and it's not bad in it's own right. 

And is it too much to ask for a Lens flare limit?

 

"The other versions will disappear. Even the 35 million tapes of Star Wars out there won’t last more than 30 or 40 years. A hundred years from now, the only version of the movie that anyone will remember will be the DVD version [of the Special Edition], and you’ll be able to project it on a 20’ by 40’ screen with perfect quality. I think it’s the director’s prerogative, not the studio’s to go back and reinvent a movie." - George Lucas

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Bits of Star Wars should be gritty and worn and bits of it should be shiny and new (particularly the shiny and new bits).

The look problem with the PT wasn't that it had shiny new things but some of the new bits weren't shiny and over time didn't get beaten up enough.

In the OT the Empire has the best technology and is well funded so it can afford to have new things and maintain older things to look like new.

This is how the Republic should have been but the Senate ships had visible aging and wear to them.

The denizens of Mos Eisley have no money and Rebels are making do and mending so their ships and droids have dents in them and have mismatching panels.

This was true of Mos Espa too.

Over the course of the war as the money ran out both the Separatists and the Republic should have had beaten up ships, the crystal spires of Coruscant should have lost their sheen.

It would have been a metaphor for what the war was doing to the economy of the Republic.

Hopefully whoever is in charge in Episode 7 with have the upper hand when it comes to keeping their ships and droids clean and polished and the underdogs/poor will have suitably shabby technology.

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A director's job isn't just to make a film look good. It's also about getting great performances out of the actors - something George Lucas absolutely cannot do. Abrams is much better at that.

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Part of the director's job is to guide the actors into delivering a good performance but making the film look right is also part of his job (looking right doesn't always mean looking good).