Movie/TV recommendations

[Grufff]

An amazing fan-made opening sequence for AMC's forth-coming The Walking Dead TV series

That video is truly awesome. I'm really looking for to the TV show and have high hopes for it. Frank Darabont should do a good job and he seems to have the full support of AMC to make it a success.

I wasn't too sure about Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes but I'll hold judgement until I've seen a bit more. Hopefully he'll do a good job.

[toblix]

Just saw Human Centipede, and it was, not surprisingly, terrible. Just awful. Bad.

[Roderick]

I don't know who here recommended it, but I just saw Six String Samurai. A weird, B-like film carried by two cool main characters, a Buddy Holly-esque singer-songwriter-samurai and a kid.

First half hour was precious and arguably promising. The film doesn't manage to deliver in the end though, choosing a rather cheesy and disappointing road. More 'Bill & Ted' than 'Seventh Seal', for those who get the reference I'm making. More generally, the movie just never ups the ante enough to carry the interesting setting and characters through to the end.

Still, I don't regret watching it. If anything, it was decidedly entertaining.

[juv3nal]

Still, I don't regret watching it. If anything, it was decidedly entertaining.

Glad to hear it (it was me with the recommendation).

Float away, little butterfly. Just flutter away.

[Roderick]

Oh and Jeffrey Falcon was amazing as Buddy! I want to cosplay as him

[brkl]

I saw Four Lions yesterday and really liked it. They went a bit too far in making the characters apart from Omar stupid, but somehow that didn't bring it down as much as I would think. Also, the ending worked really well IMO.

[Wrestlevania]

Just watched The Fall; remarkably underwhelming.

Bad sound design, bland cinematography (despite the spectacular locations) and a confused, incoherent mess of a story. And I mean "confused, incoherent" in the sense that it was awkward and lumpen to watch, not because it was supposedly crafted that way.

That and I thought the lead character was a thoroughly unlikeable, shallow cunt (even before he was revealed as being a thoroughly unlikeable, shallow cunt).

Feels like I'm coming down off some cheap, weak drugs, having been promised the good stuff. Watery, wholly unsatisfying pap.

[Roderick]

I too watched The Fall a few weeks back. I didn't find it as wholly unsatisfying as you, Wrestle, but it was a little long and unwieldy.

The best part was the black & white opening, those gorgeous images without any context. Just epic. And the introductions of the lead fictitious characters!

[MrHoatzin]

I disagree about the cinematography, but I see your point about the story.

[juv3nal]

That and I thought the lead character was a thoroughly unlikeable, shallow cunt (even before he was revealed as being a thoroughly unlikeable, shallow cunt).

Ha! I got halfway through that comment thinking you were being super mean about the little girl.

I really enjoyed the Fall mostly from the point of view of eye candy. The cinematography didn't strike me as being horrible. The shot of the swimming elephant was pretty awesome as was the black and white slow motion stuff at the beginning.

[toblix]

I assume you watched it in HD, at least? I thought it was fantastic.

[Hermie]

Scott Pilgrim FINALLY appeared here! I found it totally worth the wait, possibly to no-ones surprise. I wont keep ranting, as everybody is already bored of discussing it.

Other things:

-Expendables was meh. I pretty much agree with what has been said in the thread before, the good moments was only because it was those guys.

-First two episodes of Boardwalk Empire are pretty damn fantastic, especially the Scorsese direction of the first one. I hope they keep up the quality and pace, and don't get drowned in melodrama.

I've also been dow... watching everything with "1x1" on it. Lots of middling procedural crime dramas. One that stood out was "The Whole Truth", where instead just following the pure prosecutors/police detectives, or the heroic defenders, helping the innocent, but following both sides of the court, not revealing if the defendant is guilty until the very end. The characters are pretty stock, but this twist will have me watching at least a couple more.

The new Hawaii five-0 is kinda empty action fun. (And yes, they kept the theme song.) There's also No Ordinary Family, that's... Well, it's basically live action The Incredibles. It also has a light-hearted attitude, none of the Heroes-style staring-at-each-other-for-long-stretches-before-delivering-a-line-about-how-important-[blank]-is. Rather it's "Hey, we got super powers.... Sweet!". We'll see how it progresses.

Toblix, you're a Stavanger-person right? Gonna see Nokas?

[toblix]

Toblix, you're a Stavanger-person right? Gonna see Nokas?

At some point, probably. I'm not really a big fan of Norwegian film.

[Wrestlevania]

The cinematography didn't strike me as being horrible.

Not horrible; bland.

I was anticipating something akin to Pan's Labyrinth, shot with the same of sort of tactile hyper-reality of The Cell (I personally love the visual execution of that film).

Certainly, the opening scenes had some beautiful shots in them; the princess running around the citadel, Alexander in that sand bowl, the elephant swimming and the beach they ford out onto where they meet the mystic. But it pretty much fizzled after that in my opinion.

For me, the lack of dynamics was particularly noticeable towards the end of the film, with all that wonderful architecture mostly being shot from fairly rote - albeit slow-tracking - angles.

Disappointment, then, from a visual point-of-view. Self-indulgent teen angsty wank from a story point-of-view. I have real issues with anyone manipulating children, so I accept this may well be clouding my better judgement. But I still stand by the fact I thought the main character's writing and overall portrayal were shallow and under-developed.

[Hermie]

At some point, probably. I'm not really a big fan of Norwegian film.

Yeah, agreed. I kinda hate that they are put to a lower standard (for everyone else, people will often say something is good... "for being Norwegian". Basically it's the "for a Wii game" syndrome). Also, just about every Norwegian movie is about buddy buds who are buds, but then there's a conflict, but then they are buds again. (see: the film "Buddy".)

I'm curious about Arne Treholt og Ninjatroppen, though partially because a guy I know did a lot of stunt-work on it.

[brkl]

I can't really agree with anything you've written, Wrestle. The cinematography is excellent in my mind and has managed to take my breath away in repeated viewings. It's more like Baraka than The Cell, though I haven't seen the latter. Maybe I should. Here the cinematography gives room for the beautiful vistas. It's not a dream, it's a story.

I don't understand your criticism of the movie which seems to come from the main character not being nice. He's a tragic and sympathetic figure, but acts selfishly in this situation. He's clearly clinically depressed and seems to know he's doing wrong but is unable or unwilling to stop. It's still a flawed movie with problematic pacing, but visually it's magnificent and the manner in which the story is presented is unique.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Feels like I'm coming down off some cheap, weak drugs, having been promised the good stuff. Watery, wholly unsatisfying pap.

Could this be to expectations? They're (usually) the enemy of being able to enjoy films... at least for me.

[Kolzig]

Watched Prince of Persia, only because of Jordan Mechner. Well that movie was exactly what I feared and expected it to be. Chesty Jake running in a Jerry Bruckheimer world. I wonder how much input Jordan actually had in the movie even though he was billed as creator and executive producer in the project. If I remember correctly from the Remo interviews, Bruckheimer changed pretty much everything from the first draft to make it more Hollywood™.

I've started to watch two series by Stephen Fry. America and Last Chance to See. If I'm not mistaken, both are BBC produced miniseries that consist of six hour long episodes. America is of course about America, Stephen Fry driving a London cab through all the 50 states of America and Last Chance to See is about endangered species of animals of the world. Really cool shows.

Edited October 6, 2010 by Kolzig

[Ben X]

Castle, Sons Of Anarchy and Jersey Shore are my favourite shows at the moment. Castle is fun and charming, Sons Of Anarchy is basically Full Throttle The TV Show, and Jersey Shore is dreadful yet hilarious.

[Roderick]

The Social Network is terrific. Surprisingly awesome movie that could have been extremely middling and boring in lesser hands. As it is, Fincher knows how to handle the story and give it great zest, and the actor playing Zuckerberg pops from the screen.

This is really good stuff. It reminded me spiritually of Citizen Kane. It has a classic feel to it. Definitely a recommended view.

[JonCole]

The Social Network is terrific. Surprisingly awesome movie that could have been extremely middling and boring in lesser hands. As it is, Fincher knows how to handle the story and give it great zest, and the actor playing Zuckerberg pops from the screen.

This is really good stuff. It reminded me spiritually of Citizen Kane. It has a classic feel to it. Definitely a recommended view.

Fincher was pretty brilliant. The second scene (when Zuck is running to his frat house) was truly well shot and the tilt-shift scene at the rowing competition was breathtaking. Don't forget about Sorkin, though, as his dialogue was the driving force behind practically every dramatic scene. The back and forth snappiness was artfully done.

[MrHoatzin]

The Social Network was indeed good, but I find all superlative reviews that compare it to Citizen Kane or The Godfather to be way, way hyperbolic.

Also, I wanted to barf when

at the end, the lawyer lady was all, You're not an asshole, Mark, you just try really hard to be! No, lady. What tha fuck. He is a GRADE-A, petty, prime rib Asshole Laureate Extraordinaire! What the fuck kind of flimsy, diluted bullshit way to end the movie is that?! They might as well have had Fincher show up at the end as the curtains fall, throw his hands up and say to the fourth wall, I don't even know what this movie is about! Herp derp!

[JonCole]

Yeah, unfortunately Rasheda Jones's character was a completely heavyhanded way to handle the ending. She didn't really need to be there at all.

[Ben X]

Stuff coming up at the PCC I'd be up for seeing:

Chinatown

11/10

6:20 pm

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

11/10

9:00 pm

I'm deffo up for this double bill. Anyone fancy it? (And does anyone mind me using this thread to organise cinema trips?)

[Nevsky]

Damn, that's an ace double bill. Can't go, though. I'm seeing 3 or 4 other films that day.