Movie/TV recommendations

[juv3nal]

Zack Snyder seemed to know how to handle this stuff with Sin City and 300, but in Sucker Punch he makes amateur mistake after mistake.

What did he do on Sin City?

[Hermie]

So, Borgias...

From what I can tell from my limited history, not really sticking to what we think actually happened at all, but I found it pretty entertaining.

Jeremy Irons' Alexander was sufficiently ruthless but didn't seem as clever as I would have liked.

for example, paraphrased & compressed conversation with his son:

Sean Harris as Micheletto is badass.

Derek Jacobi dies so soon

I'm not a history guy at all, so I don't know about all that, but my biggest issue was, similar to you I think, how they try to be all about coyness and intrigue, but then they keep spelling out everything.

Instead of series that are better at criminal and political intrigue [read: The Wire] Where you would just see a boss wave and say "take care of it", and someone nod. Here it was that, then we see the assassin explicitly get ordered, then assassin overtly seducing target, THEN the body shows up. It didn't take enough risks (in writing anyways, there's plenty of tits and fucking).

Film festival started here today. Rubber, the psychic killer tire movie, was super weird, but fun in it's absurdity. American Grindhouse is great if you want John Landis, Joe Dante and other talking heads to teach you the basics of exploitation cinema. Animal Kingdom is an intense, character-driven crime thriller, if you can deal with the Australian accents and/or seeing Guy Pierce with a porn mustache.

More to come.

[Patters]

What did he do on Sin City?

Nothing.

[Orv]

I think the issue with SuckerPunch (two words, one?) is that Zack Snyder is an interpretive genius. . .and a madman. As long as he sticks to things he didn't create, he seems to do okay.

I could be jumping the gun on that of course, but two issues arise there. After Sucker Punch, is anyone going to let him do anything original again so we can find out? And two, if they are, he hasn't yet, so. . .remains to be seen.

[brkl]

What did he do on Sin City?

And how was 300 competent?

I'm still surprised by how Watchmen ended up (well IMO) considering it was directed by Zack Snyder.

[Roderick]

I was mistaken about Sin City, that was Robert Rodriguez.

300 was exciting and tense. It was ridiculous, but it made sense and the fighting had purpose. The abundant CG and slow motion scenes had the very clear goal of emphasizing that this battle was Epic.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Sucked Punch sucked. It's true. (Although I did enjoy the Samurai battle.)

I was at a screening with Mr. Snyder doing a Q&A at the IMAX. Man, does that guy waffle. I don't know if he was nervous, but you'd think the guy who'd wrote and directed the film would be able to coherently explain what it was about. What the themes were. Why it's "not" sexist.

It came down to: "It's an examination of the genre of action." (I swear that's how he put it.) And why wasn't it sexist? "Because er, some people have said to me it's very 'girl power' -- and anything that provokes a debate is good, right? Also, it's an examination of the genre of action. [He kept repeating himself.] So it asks the audience to think how they see the women, and hopefully makes them question that."

To which the person sitting next to me said: "That's like telling a racist joke, and then when someone complains saying, 'It wasn't a racist joke, it was a joke about racism'".

Needless to say the Q&A came before the screening.

Edited April 5, 2011 by ThunderPeel2001

[pabosher]

Yeah, I can imagine the Q&A coming after the screening:

"Uhm, Mr. Snyder... WTF was that?"

[ThunderPeel2001]

Amusingly he also described 300 as the "gayest movie ever". Which cracked me up.

[Roderick]

I didn't think any of the action sequences were interesting in the slightest. The samurai battle was atrocious, completely devoid of tension. I didn't think the movie was that sexist though. It had lots of scantily clad women, but thematically that's what you get in a brothel, and narratively it was about these women empowering themselves to get through an ordeal. In the end, their strenght wins through, so I fail to see what was sexist about it.

I mean to say: the movie doesn't need that claim to suck outrageous balls.

[Scrobbs]

Amusingly he also described 300 as the "gayest movie ever". Which cracked me up.

By that he meant the most homo-erotic?

[Roderick]

He meant Leonidas was having a gay old time in Bedrock.

[ThunderPeel2001]

By that he meant the most homo-erotic?

Yes. As in, to quote Mr. Synder, "People said 300 was homophobic... but, c'mon! It's the gayest movie ever!".

I didn't think the movie was that sexist though. It had lots of scantily clad women, but thematically that's what you get in a brothel, and narratively it was about these women empowering themselves to get through an ordeal. In the end, their strenght wins through, so I fail to see what was sexist about it.

Well, they weren't really in a brothel, for one thing, but secondly, why did they remain scantily clad in their own fantasy sequences? Are you saying that you think they liked dressing like sexual slaves?

[Roderick]

Why couldn't it be an expression of their own sexual empowerment? It's going a little off-topic, but why should women wearing sexy outfits necessarily be a sign of repression, slavery and anti-feminism? It would be if there's an element of (male) coercion involved, but if they wear it in their own fantasy segments where they're kicking ass, I don't see the problem.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Why couldn't it be an expression of their own sexual empowerment? It's going a little off-topic, but why should women wearing sexy outfits necessarily be a sign of repression, slavery and anti-feminism? It would be if there's an element of (male) coercion involved, but if they wear it in their own fantasy segments where they're kicking ass, I don't see the problem.

The film is made by a straight man, for a predominantly straight male audience. Women don't generally go into battle wearing stockings and suspenders.

Even Synder said that the reason they were dressed like that was to try and make the audience think about how they were viewing them... which just rang totally false. They were dressed like that because it was titillating. Just like the reason they fought giant robotic Samurai: It's exciting. It had nothing to do with the story.

I wouldn't have too much issue with this sort of exploitation, except it's aimed (in this case) specifically at 13 year olds... That's where I start thinking. "Hmm :hmph:"

[Hermie]

More festival!

Source Code: Really cool, despite some plotholeyness. Made up for by strong performances and execution.

Either way, it's cool that original, more complex movies like Source Code & Inception still get made and in a world that keeps dressing Martin Lawrence as a fat woman.

While Sound of Noise didn't quite sell me on all aspects, it's still an enjoyable Swedish film if the concept "musical terrorism" sounds even remotely interesting. It's based on a really cool short film starring the same drummers:

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The Cave of Forgotten Dreams is that one movie where Werner Herzog goes into an ancient cave with a 3D camera. Like his South Pole movie, it's all about the beautiful shots while Herzog's soothing German voice asks esotheric questions about nature, history and philosophy. The 3D was a little jarring in the interviews, but worked great to convey the depth and curve of the cave wall.

American: The Bill Hicks Story is a fairly straight-forward documentary about a fairly straight-forward comedian. I didn't know much about him, so it was fascinating to learn the trajectory of his life.

[Nachimir]

Even Synder said that the reason they were dressed like that was to try and make the audience think about how they were viewing them... which just rang totally false. They were dressed like that because it was titillating.

I've not seen sucker punch, and won't, but a friend who did summed part of it up this way:

it trades in the rather annoying trope that empowering women means abusing them first

and:

a horrid concoction of misogyny and half baked ideas all tied up in a short skirt and bare midriff

Based on the trailer, I'm prepared to believe that.

[Kolzig]

I have never considered Zack Snyder to be a quality director. More like extremely overhyped guy, even though he did make a quite honest attempt at creating Watchmen as 1:1 movie of the comic book.

I love Superman mythology and I'm really worried how Snyder will handle it. At least the whole movie will be in front green screen full of effects and that is one of my biggest issues I have with his works. Henry Cavill in the title role will propably work well as he was also considered to the role by Bryan Singer. Shame that Routh isn't there though.

[Hermie]

Yesterday was all about the Asian movies.

13 Assassins is Takashi Miike's newest film, and... It's 7 Samurai, but with more blood. That's pretty much it. Entertainment!

[edit]Apparently it's a remake of an Eiichi Kudo film, makes sense, as it's still way less crazy than "regular" Miike.

Haru's Journey was a touching little road movie about a young girl and her grandpa, and all their family relationship. It dragged a bit, but some of the drama really hit home.

I Saw The Devil is a fantastic Korean thriller that had me at the edge of my seat. From the director of The Good, the Bad and the Weird. The Bad guy from that movie is the good guy here, while the good guy from Oldboy is the bad guy. My favourite so far.

[Kolzig]

Three seasons of Ryomaden watched now. Amazing show, I had no idea that NHK's taiga dramas can be this good.

Masaharu Fukuyama is a great actor, the range of emotions he is displaying throughout the series is so wide.

[Scrobbs]

Has anyobe seen The Illusionist (2010) yet? S'posed to be pretty fine.

[Gwardinen]

Has anyobe seen The Illusionist (2010) yet? S'posed to be pretty fine.

Yeah, I've seen it. I quite enjoyed it, but that may be because I'm pretty much game for anything with Edward Norton in (with the exception of the Italian Job remake). It's not a film that's going to change your world, but the story, acting and atmosphere are all done well.

[elmuerte]

Yeah, I've seen it. I quite enjoyed it, but that may be because I'm pretty much game for anything with Edward Norton in (with the exception of the Italian Job remake). It's not a film that's going to change your world, but the story, acting and atmosphere are all done well.

No, wrong movie. Scrobbs is talking about this one: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0775489/

I liked it. It's actually quite amazing how that movies tells a complete story without a single line of spoken word.

[Nappi]

I didn't know this existed until now and now I just have to see it. The Triplets of Belleville was such a beauty in so many ways.

[Gwardinen]

No, wrong movie. Scrobbs is talking about this one: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0775489/

...oops. Now that I look at this one, though, it actually looks kind of interesting. Though I hate any marketing summary that ends with "and he/she/it meets a young/wacky/unusual whatever and finds his/her/its life changed forever!" I'm willing to hope the film itself is better than that.