Movie/TV recommendations

[JonCole]

On-topic: I saw Unstoppable yesterday in the sneak preview. It was thoroughly entertaining. Denzel Washington is a really good actor, there's nary a role he plays that I won't completely buy into Unstoppable is an unpretentieus, entertaining film with a clear idea of what it wants to be.

Totally agreed. Unstoppable was probably Tony Scott's most focused, tight, natural movie in years. And I can actually like Denzel without feeling bad about watching the whole movie, like I felt in Deja Vu and Taking of Pelham 1 2 3.

[Ben X]

*draws blade*

In all seriousness, that's quite a bold claim. Can I ask which of the series you have read? Same goes for you, Ben. I'm really, genuinely interested. Please don't be shy.

I've read all the HPs and LOTR, and find the latter far superior. "Entertaining" is a murky word, so I won't try and debate with you on that one (and I was being flippant when turning against you, anyway).

I think JK Rowling generally isn't a very good writer - bad dialogue and characterisation, shallow and rips off Tolkien and Roald Dahl something rotten. However, she can write brilliantly constructed mystery page-turners, and I have read the books a couple of times each. 2 and 3 are especially tight and atmospheric. 4 was also great, although it could have lost a hundred pages. 5, 6 and 7 are all pretty dreadful, and I'd already seen the film before I read Philosopher's Stone, so I don't have a clear opinion on that one.

I won't go into why LOTR is a classic, but I much prefer it to the HP series.

BACK TO MOVIES: I find the HP movies generally slickly done but with awful pacing and some very bad script-editing (I pity anyone trying to follow and make sense of the films if they haven't read the books) due to a slavish recreation of the books' plots. The stuff they do cut out is generally nice character beats and downtime that are really needed, or leave plot threads hanging. Worth watching for the good bits and a lot of great Brit actors doing sterling work, though.

[Orv]

I think you're making a mistake, Orvidos. The discussion is about the language of the Harry Potter books, not Lord of the Rings. Unless J. K. Rowling was also a mid 1900s English professor

Oh.

So I am.

But yeah, she might as well be.

I'd rather read HP than Twilight, though. The latter is so violently hacky and tripe-filled that it makes my orifices bleed profusely.

[tm_drummer]

To get back to the Potter topic, I just saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows an hour ago.

I found it to be much better than the previous sequels (which are, let's face it, quite bland and too hectic - therefore lame).

That means I quite liked this one, since it's a bit different than the previous parts. And by different I mean this (CAUTION: word "different" mentioned several times!):

Quite a different approach to the story progression (after all, the various exterior environments really add up to the effect and every scene takes its time, making the movie itself progress more naturally and differently).

A different (I warned you) way of filming and framing; a larger scope (also related to the exterior - the wide shots come to the fore nicely and really fit here; some exterior scenes look really beautiful - almost reminiscent of the LOTR movies - and NO, I'm not comparing Potter to LOTR by saying that).

A more-or-less slower pace and "course of action" than in the previous sequels (they really turned out to be quite a mess because of this) - there certainly was extra time to put it all in place this time around, rather than to squeeze it all in awfully, like they did before, making the movies almost nonsensical...(although, they naturally did throw several things out of this movie, that I found quite important in the book, but I shall not geek about this).

So, basically, I think that making it a two-part film actually helps the movie and the story itself, other than to make shitloads of money.

Also, much better acting, when it comes to the main actors. Well, in some scenes, at least. Particularly, Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) delivers quite nicely.

[ThunderPeel2001]

I think JK Rowling generally isn't a very good writer - bad dialogue and characterisation, shallow and rips off Tolkien and Roald Dahl something rotten. However, she can write brilliantly constructed mystery page-turners, and I have read the books a couple of times each. 2 and 3 are especially tight and atmospheric. 4 was also great, although it could have lost a hundred pages. 5, 6 and 7 are all pretty dreadful, and I'd already seen the film before I read Philosopher's Stone, so I don't have a clear opinion on that one.

I can't agree that she rips off Tolkien (or Dahl), but I do agree that there's some problems with some of the books. The first two almost gave me headaches (especially the first one) because of how simplistic they were. 3, for me was a huge step up into something interesting, and I really enjoyed it. 4, for me, was the peak. She knew how to drop crumbs all over the place, leading you down certain paths, letting you convince yourself that you'd figured it out all out... only to learn that she'd wanted you to think that all along. Very clever!

The first third of 5 really needed an editor, but then it got (finally) got going and was good. 6, left me a bit cold, especially the awful way she handled the ending... There was no emotional resonance, whatsoever.

7 was brilliantly structured, and once again she showed off her supreme skills at weaving a tale where you genuinely didn't know how it was going to end (if I had to pick one aspect she's utterly brilliant at, it's throwing you off the trail, and not succumbing to tropes with anything obvious). I think I've already said in my earlier post how I felt reading it, so I'll continue to say that I think it's really something special that she never resolves their impossible situation using deus ex machina.

The epilogue, however........ Dear god, if there was ever a few pages that needed to be stricken from the series, this was it. It nearly ruined all previous thousands of pages it was so.... horrible, and dull, and left nothing to the imagination. The ending of the final chapter was the PERFECT place to leave the series, but no... she had to add the pages she'd been keeping in her trunk all those years. Except she really didn't. They sucked balls.

Anways, that was my experience with the series

[tm_drummer]

Also, unrelated to any discussion so far, it has been announced and confirmed that Mark Wahlberg will play Drake in the Uncharted movie adaptation.

[Roderick]

Just back from the cinema (it's becoming obvious to a lot of people here that I have a subscription to it nowadays, so on average I go there twice a week) to see Fair Game with Sean Penn and Naomi Watts.

It was kinda messy. The subject matter (the war in Iraq was based on a lie) gave the movie easy but false gravity, which it didn't manage to own up to with its own themes and execution. It was almost the opposite to Unstoppable in this respect: Fair Game is a movie that doesn't know what it wants, it has an unclear vision. After a while it decides on the marriage issue between the two protagonists, but then it changes to a kinda weak afternoon RTL-drama.

And I guess, a movie about the Bush administration being full of criminals... that's just not that relevant anymore, after movies like W., and during the Obama administration.

Sean Penn was pretty great though.

[Kolzig]

I'm pretty excited about this one Finnish movie that is coming to theaters next week.

Rare Exports trailer

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It was originally just a short movie in 2003 that became pretty famous internationally:

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Then they made a short movie sequel in 2005:

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They wanted to make a full movie out of it in the end so now it's ready and coming to show the true meaning of Christmas.

I saw the original Ringu yesterday. I had never seen it before, but this was the movie that started the scary movie craze in Japan in the 90's as far as I know. I understand the reasons why this movie became such famous at the time, there are some scenes that are quite memorable.

Although the scene at the end when Sadako comes out of the tv looks really weird and cheap, I'd expect to see something like that in a spoof movie. When she is completely out of the tv, crawling and later getting up and "walking", now that was creepy.

It wasn't that scary actually, but still a pretty solid movie and I will now continue to watch Rasen, Ringu 2 and Ringu 0 now so I will get the whole picture. I will not bother with the Hollywood versions as I've heard those are really poor and I also have no interest in Americanized versions of Japanese horror films anymore.

[Nachimir]

Kolzig, that looks excellent. Also, woo: My local arthouse cinema are screening it from the 17th.

[Gwardinen]

That's surprisingly awesome, though I do worry over how well such a great short film concept will translate into a full length picture.

The reaction to the no alcohol safety instruction was so unexpectedly fantastic.

[Nevsky]

Rare Exports! I saw that a couple of months ago (it was also screened at the London Festival), and I really enjoyed it. Damn good fun full of Finnish swearing.

[Nappi]

Some background to Santa in Rare Exports.

Pagans used to have festivities to ward off evil spirits. In Finland these spirits of darkness wore goat skins and horns. In the beginning this creature didn't give presents but demanded them. The Yule Goat was an ugly creature and frightened children.

It is unclear how this personality was transformed into the benevolent Father Christmas. Nowadays the only remaining feature is the name. The process was probably a continuous amalgamation of many old folk customs and beliefs from varied sources. One can speak of a Christmas pageant tradition consisting of many personages with roles partly Christian, partly pagan: A white-bearded saint, the Devil, demons, house gnomes. Nowadays the Joulupukki of Finland resembles the American Santa Claus.

[twmac]

Am really looking forward to Rare Exports since I saw the preview about a month ago.

Watched 'Gentlemen Broncos' on DVD, twice. It is the best film I watched this year. So awkward and weird but genuinely funny with more of a heart that you would expect from such a combination of freaks from middle America. Sam Rockwell is absolutely gold.

[Patters]

Machete is the best film released this year. That is all.

[twmac]

Machete was awesome, but Predators was my favourite of this year.

[tm_drummer]

Machete is the best film released this year. That is all.

Didn't think you'd like it.....

[Kolzig]

Machete was awesome, but Predators was my favourite of this year.

For me Predators was the worst movie of the year. If only I could get back those wasted two hours of my life...

Machete I have not yet seen as it did not come to theaters around here, but when the dvd comes around, I'll watch it.

They were promoting Rare Exports at Carnaby Street in London yesterday apparently. This is a link to Finnish yellow paper website, but it has funny pics:

http://www.iltalehti.fi/leffat/2010112612763719_le.shtml

Seems that they are trying to make some noise outside of Finland about the movie.

[Nevsky]

They were promoting Rare Exports at Carnaby Street in London yesterday apparently. This is a link to Finnish yellow paper website, but it has funny pics:

http://www.iltalehti.fi/leffat/2010112612763719_le.shtml

Seems that they are trying to make some noise outside of Finland about the movie.

Nice publicity stunt, but considering that the feature is a prequel to the shorts, it's misrepresenting the plot a bit. In fact,

the actual Santa-selling business is only part of the last 10 minutes of the film, so it sort of ruins that development for those who haven't seen the shorts online.

But still, as long as it gets people intrigued by the film.

Edited November 27, 2010 by Nevsky

[ThunderPeel2001]

That photo looks... incredibly Photoshopped.

[Patters]

Didn't think you'd like it.....

Robert Rodriguez is one of my favourite directors...

[twmac]

For me Predators was the worst movie of the year. If only I could get back those wasted two hours of my life...

Huh, well I can't really argue with you as all the things I loved about the film would be things that I would generally hate in any other franchise. Predators was the sequel to Predator that I always wanted. Lawrence Fishbourne hasn't been this good in a film in years, I have a new found respect for Adrien Brody as he was unrecognisable in this film in contrast to his traditional choice of roles(if someone had told me it was Adrien Brody's brother or something I would have believed it). The Predators were badass, while managing to treat the rather stupid characters with some modicum of respect.

But, this movie is in full-on 80's schlock mode and I can see why people would have hated it. The plot is taut to the point of anorexic (which I liked), the protagonists are charicatures (which is perfect for this type of film), and the 'twists' are fairly predictable (I thought that was the point).

[Hermie]

Yay Rare Exports. A close friend of the family is the main producer on the Norwegian side. :3 Haven't gotten to see it yet, though.

[Orv]

Ong-Bak (1)

I wish there was a metric for between and

As a fan of some martial arts movies, I quite enjoyed the choreography, as opposed to say, the Wachowski Brothers type choreography. There is a bit of that, but it moves a lot more like an actual fight, if the fighters were showing off.

The story. . .well. Yeah.

One scene made me irrationally angry, because I'm old fashioned, but other than that, not a bad movie. Just don't watch it for the plot.

Oh, yeah. Also, right near the end: Rocks fall, everybody dies.

[miffy495]

My job is really awesome some days. Take yesterday, for instance. We are currently showing The Social Network, but in the opening scene on Friday night, I noticed what sounded like a scratch on the soundtrack (for those who don't know, sound on a 35mm print is a purple or green track all down the side of the print whch is read by a stylus on the projector. Analog all the way.). To the audience, a soundtrack scratch comes through as an audible but not overwhelming crackle anywhere in the movie that it is present. This one was kinda bad, and in a noisy bar scene (first one in the movie) it made it so that at times you could barely make out the dialogue. I informed my boss of it so that he may deal with the distributor to maybe get us a replacement. Yesterday afternoon he told me that they wanted a complete assessment of the damage, so my job was to watch the entire movie and keep an eye out for damage on the print. I did that, but I also got to watch the entire movie. It was really fucking good. Scary for the fact that, if not entirely true, it was at least based off of the accounts of those who know the guy, but a great story to tell. Any comparisons to Citizen Kane are unfortunate, as if you compare another movie to C.K. the other movie will lose, but it certainly hits a lot of the same story beats along the way. I think that it has aspirations of being the equivalent film for the internet age and though it isn't completely successful it definitely makes a good bid for the spot. Long story short, you should probably see it if you haven't already.

Also, my boss plans to open Rare Exports as an exclusive Calgary engagement on Christmas Eve. Whoo!

[brkl]

Yikes, I had no idea Rare Exports was so widely distributed. I always felt the project was doomed because I couldn't see the short movie as feature length.