ysbreker

Movie/TV recommendations

Recommended Posts

Watched Inglorious Basterds yesterday, and I thought it was rather fabulous. Pitt was good, but Hans was far superior!

I think I'm going to watch it again tonight.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Watched Inglorious Basterds yesterday, and I thought it was rather fabulous. Pitt was good, but Hans was far superior!

I think I'm going to watch it again tonight.

Yeah, I really enjoyed Inglourious Basterds (ignoring Eli Roth). Waltz was really awesome, and there are some really wonderfully tense moments, too (the opening, the bar scene). Good stuff.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Saw The Princess and the Frog yesterday. The characterization and the music were revolting, but I fancied the animation.

:tdown::tdown: + :tdown::tdown: + :tup::tup::tup: = :tmeh::tmeh::tup:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Saw Where The Wild Things Are on Sunday and thought it was fantastic. It's not a kids film at all; it's quite slow and essentially is all about

different aspects of Max's personality struggling with each other.

Also, unspoiler, Max does not die at the end, which is a rumour some people have been trying to spread online. I fell for it, and as the film started I was thinking "Bloody hell this is going to be a bit harsh for a PG rating".

Evil, but nowhere near as bad as someone spoiling The Usual Suspects by using a marker to

put a big ring around Kevin Spacey's head on a poster at a London Underground station, with "IT'S HIM --->" written beside it

:)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Got back from Avatar in IMAX 3D. I'm still a bit overwhelmed by it all. I'm sure plenty of criticisms can be found, but I don't care at this point. It's been such a long that that I was completely absorbed into a movie. It felt really great.

Watch it in IMAX 3D, if you have the opportunity to.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Saw The Shawshank Redemption for the first time yesterday and after sleeping on it, I'm pretty willing to say that it lands in my top five.

Today I got a chance to check out No Country For Old Men - palpable suspense, great acting, great use of silence (lack of dialogue, if you want to say it a different way), and an excellent conclusion.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Going on a bit of a horror movie streak lately because my wife is fan of the genre.

I've been watching this year a lot of different types of horror movies, both Japanese and American ones, there was also one Finnish one in the mix.

For this week / next week we have plans to see the whole set of movies about Child's Play, the old Chucky movies. I've never seen any of the original three.

I'm very excited as I learned that Brad Dourif is at least in the first movie.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I guess I should comment I saw A Serious Man and Where the Wild Things Are weeks ago, but I don't have much to say.

A Serious Man confused me until I found someone explaining how it's like the Book of Job (I don't have any religious background, can you tell?). Then the movie became much more understandable instead of just a laughfest of weird ass characters acting obnoxious or otherworldly, although that's great in itself too, because I love Coen made characters for the most part. I liked it a lot more than Burn After Reading.

Where the Wild Things Are made me cry a lot, which I feel like I should reveal publicly when asked about what I thought, but this is about as public as it's going to get, on a forum where I'm semi-anonymous. It made me so sad that I really couldn't stop the tears and it was embarrassing leaving out of the theatre lobby. Brought back way too many difficult childhood memories, I suppose.

While I am a Spike Jonze fan and me following his work was the reason I went to see the movie, I did not expect to be a movie with a bunch of muppets to be so powerful. I was never a big fan of the original book and had only read through it a few times in my childhood, so I was really caught off guard.

Sorry for that awkward post. ;(

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Mrs V and I went to see Avatar in 3D last night and we both really enjoyed.

Just make sure you don't go trying to rationalise every detail; sit down, shut up and let the whole thing consume you totally. It was really quite wonderful. :yep:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah, I didn't really get A Serious Man either, perhaps because of being such a damned atheist. Funny that I didn't even think of Job. I appreciated parts of it quite a lot, but it didn't seem to have a structure.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Yeah, I didn't really get A Serious Man either, perhaps because of being such a damned atheist. Funny that I didn't even think of Job. I appreciated parts of it quite a lot, but it didn't seem to have a structure.

I don't think you really need to know anything about Job to appreciate the film, in the same way you don't need to know anything about Job to appreciate Job. It's really just about a guy looking for answers and meaning in the apparent randomness of life. By us being an outside observer we can see there isn't really any meaning other than what we add to a situation (as in the opening sequence -- one person views it as the end of their life, the other as a moment of triumph). At least, that's how I took it. I could be wrong :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think to just cast off the whole film as an unfortunate randomness of life is to really sell the film short. There are some obvious parallels between the Book of Job (although not a retelling) and links between the Schrödinger's cat theory within the story.

I'm not going to say I know what the hell the film is trying to say, because I don't. It's more easy for me to somewhat get an idea of what's going on in A Serious Man compared to Barton Fink, but how it all fits together is beyond me unless someone were to explain it. The Coens hardly ever talk so it's tough to shake a stick at what they are trying to do half the time.

These are some things I picked up which seem to make sense for sure:

Apparently in the Book of Job, God appears as a tornado in order to kill Job's offspring and ruin his material possessions. In A Serious Man, the tornado appears right after Larry gives into the pressure of the bribe. In his first selfish act of the movie, crazy vengeance is thrown upon him.

The major difference though is Larry ends up failing God, assuming he exists, while Job is supposed to be a good example of what it takes to have faith. It's definitely not an exact modern day retelling as some people seem to have taken it, thanks to Ebert's review.

The prologue, from what I've heard, seems to suggest a world in which a demon can exist, so therefore God would exist. The only problem I have with this explanation is, the beginning scene mirrors the Schrödinger's cat theory almost exactly, because the Rabbi walks out home before ever letting us know if he was alive or dead for sure, making him both alive and dead at the same time.

I have no idea why Schrödinger's cat is in this movie and why it comes up multiple times. It made more sense when I last saw it used in a Dirk Gently novel, but I figure there must be some link going on in A Serious Man to dedicate so much screentime to it, but maybe is just too obscure.

I have no idea what was up with Larry's brother, The Goy's Teeth, and all of those weird dreams though.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I just came back from an illegitimate double feature matinee where I watched Avatar and Princess & The Frog.

About the latter, I can be brief: it's charming, but nothing more than that. It didn't manage to grab me at all, and many of the jokes were stale. The songs seemed particularly dull and disguised moral lessons. But then I had my doubts as soon as I heard that Randy Newman was doing the music.

Avatar was a whole other thing. Amazing. I didn't see it in 3D (which is apparently jawdropping), but even 'normal' it was a good experience. I came in there quite sceptical, even kind of prepared to hate some of it, but it manages to be so sincere in what it says and does that it swept me along. Whatever flaws it may have, it has a huge heart.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I think to just cast off the whole film as an unfortunate randomness of life is to really sell the film short. There are some obvious parallels between the Book of Job (although not a retelling)

But the Book of Job is about the apparently randomness/unfairness of life. That's a pretty big and deep question for any book or film to tackle. (eg. "Why are we here?", "What's the point of all this?", "Why must I suffer?") I don't think it's selling the film short to say that's what it's about.

I like your observations, too. I didn't get the literal Schrodinger's Cat connection in the opening sequence, but that seems to make a lot of sense, and it also connects to what I'm saying: By being a witness to the experiment, you also change its outcome. Probably more importantly than that, though, it also sets the idea of there being some answers that we're never going to get, mirroring the frustrating experience of Larry Gopnik (and of life itself).

As the Rabbi said of the "Goy's teeth", "who cares about the answer?".

And, as Gopnik's student's father said to him: "Why can't you just accept the mystery?"

So really, I don't think it's selling the film short to say it's attempting to address the apparent crippling unfairness/randomness of life. Talking about it is really making me analyse it further. Very interesting stuff!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Guh, I wish Dollhouse would end already. I've followed it this far, so I might as well see the end, but it's such bullshit...

The second season seems to try to address what people didn't like about the first, but fails badly.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Saw Avatar yesterday in glorious 3D. It was quite, quite jawdropping. Amazing technology developed, I bet in the future many movies will have 3D made this way.

Now 3D has truly arrived to my little town. :tup:

Me and my friends agreed that Quaritch is the old school Man.

I have a problem with the 3D glasses, I experienced the same in Japan when I saw in the Disney parks the Terminator 2 3D and the Honey I shrunk the kids 3D shows. My nose hurts because the glasses feel kind of heavy and not totally user friendly because of that.

These are the brand new glasses we have now at the Cinema:

http://www.xpandcinema.com/

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I saw Avatar yesterday. (We had the exact same 3D glasses you linked to, Kolzig)

The experience was spectacular. :tup: While the story wasn't very amazing, it was believable and the characters and the world were very convincing. I think the 3D really contributed to that.

There's one little detail I noticed, though: At one point in the movie, someone's looking at a photograph (can't remember the details anymore). And the picture in the photograph was in 3D as well. I found that to be a bit odd.

But yeah, this movie rocks. :clap:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm going to see it tomorrow. I wasn't planning to, but people seem to like it and my friends are going to see it so I might tag along. It's almost embarrassing to see actors being interviewed about it though. It really doesn't seem to be a movie where you should think too much about the details of the plot :P

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
There's one little detail I noticed, though: At one point in the movie, someone's looking at a photograph (can't remember the details anymore). And the picture in the photograph was in 3D as well. I found that to be a bit odd.

But yeah, this movie rocks. :clap:

I think I remember that scene as well, but as the movie is supposed be in 2154 (I think that was the year?) that by that time they could've developed 3d photographs like that. :tmeh:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I want to give a shout out to "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" because I'm sure most people wrote it off like I did as frat-boy-comedy-nonsense...and maybe it kind of is...but with a self-awareness that makes it satirical and elevates it above its roots. Plus Danny DeVito's never been funnier.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Avatar was fantastic. I would recommend it to anybody, no exceptions.

This makes my potential "top # movies of 2009" that much harder to assemble, goddamn it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Avatar was fantastic. I would recommend it to anybody, no exceptions.

No exceptions? Apparently some in the US have deemed it "too liberal"............ *sigh* Whatever.

JonCole is right. Go see it in IMAX 3D if you can! (It's quite the spectacle, despite the wafer-thin story and cheesy ending.)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
No exceptions? Apparently some in the US have deemed it "too liberal"............ *sigh* Whatever.

JonCole is right. Go see it in IMAX 3D if you can! (It's quite the spectacle, despite the wafer-thin story and cheesy ending.)

I honestly don't think that the implied environmentalism is that overt, I think it's more of a populist anti-colonization/"make sure to use technology right!" message that most anyone can agree with. I mean, when it comes down to it, I think Avatar is such an "experience" that I'm going to have to watch it a second time to really critically dissect it, but that speaks in its favor; if you're immersed, the smaller things quite easily fly over the radar.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Interviews are currently proclaiming "Cameron always planned it as a trilogy"; in the words of a friend "Did he fuck". :tmeh:

Still, yes. Went to a 3D showing the other night and was pleasantly gobsmacked. It's visually amazing, plot and characters are cheesy but well realised. The CG arts geek in me was admiring the glass in the gunships. The shots with the pilot, gunship canopy, and reflected scenery were some of the moments that absolutely suspended my disbelief and gave me a lurch to think I was watching CG.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now