Movie/TV recommendations

[Nachimir]

I saw Inception the other night and was very impressed :tup:

I also saw a short film (half an hour) called 12:01 yesterday. In 1993 they remade it as a full length TV movie, and it was shit. The half hour version that came first is really good though.

[elmuerte]

I also saw a short film (half an hour) called 12:01 yesterday. In 1993 they remade it as a full length TV movie, and it was shit. The half hour version that came first is really good though.

Ooh... I love time loops, they are much better that the fruity kind.

shame it's only half an hour, they should have made it 59 minutes long.

[Wrestlevania]

This was doing the rounds on Twitter last night: All of Tarkovsky's films are (in a legit way) online for free.

For a start, Stalker and Solaris were by him

These were all quickly taken down, except for The Sacrifice and Voyage in Time.

Turns out the "public domain" claim was false:

After going online with Andrei Tarkovksy Web TV, we were informed of certain copyright issues regarding the movies and removed the content immediately as requested. We’d like to make it clear that the content was uploaded on www.filmannex.com by an outside source with the claim that the content was in the public domain, and not by Film Annex or any of its parties. Film Annex acted only as a curator and hosted the films on its website. In our contract, it clearly states that the content provider is responsible for the uploaded material, and Film Annex does not claim any ownership over this content. We are already in contact with the copyright owners and are investigating the issue further. In the meantime, we apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused you.

And I was hoping to rewatch Stalker tonight, too...

[elmuerte]

I also saw a short film (half an hour) called 12:01 yesterday. In 1993 they remade it as a full length TV movie, and it was shit. The half hour version that came first is really good though.

Just saw that short film. I liked it a lot. Now I want to rewatch Masters of Scifi again (and the Twilight Zone)

[Roderick]

With Incepton, Christopher Nolan needlessly reaffirms his position as the best filmmaker of our time.

[Nachimir]

@Wrestle oh, bum

--

I've been surprised at how many people I've heard say they found it difficult to connect with or care about any of the characters of Inception. I quite liked them all...

[Roderick]

The New York Times had a fantastic review that I disagree with.

They said that Inception lacks heart, basically, because it never really manages to explain emotionally how the characters work because the film (and other Nolan films) tends to be so absorbed in its mechanical plot. I've thought about exactly this a great deal and in my opinion, that's the thing that makes Nolan's films great. They're art films that delight in plot intricacies. They're not trying to be like other films, they're not trying to let people get into a well-established emotional rollercoaster. Their intention is to engage you on an intellectual level with tricks and traps, storywriting flourishes and plot devices. That's their genius. Nolan's films have always cared less about establishing characters in an emotional way.

I don't mind at all, you just have to not want these films to be something they're not. They're brilliant at what they do, which is deliver hands down the most interesting ideas and storytelling in film today in a bold, uncompromisingly intellectual way.

[MrHoatzin]

I liked what Rodi liked, but I wouldn't use any of the words he used.

I don't think it is necessarily a smart movie, par se, but that it is a very smartly put together conceit. The dream logic is way too complex and reliable and tight and the dreams never get as insane as they could've, considering they're dreams. But, I really did enjoy the complexity of the invention. He set out to invent this dream machine, then put limits on how it can be used and never seemed to invoke it as a deus ex machina, which could've been done by a less competent director.

[Chris]

I liked what Rodi liked, but I wouldn't use any of the words he used.

I don't think it is necessarily a smart movie, par se, but that it is a very smartly put together conceit. The dream logic is way too complex and reliable and tight and the dreams never get as insane as they could've, considering they're dreams. But, I really did enjoy the complexity of the invention. He set out to invent this dream machine, then put limits on how it can be used and never seemed to invoke it as a deus ex machina, which could've been done by a less competent director.

This is how I feel. I didn't see Inception as a film that particularly demands intelligence to watch; it leans extraordinarily heavily on explaining everything to almost too high a degree. The fact that dreams are so codified and grounded is also a stretch, and it that sure doesn't line up with my experiences dreaming. However, within the context of a film, since there are so many movies that are about much more mundane things but still can't stick to a consistent logic, I appreciate that this one was so rigorous.

[Roderick]

When I say intellectual in respect to Nolan movies, I don't mean that they're necessarily smart, but that you're constantly being engaged on an intellectual level instead of an emotional one. You're thinking instead of feeling (so to speak; of course there's an enormous emotional charge in these movies).

[brkl]

I don't understand how anyone could say Inception lacks heart considering how everything revolves around Cobb and his painful history. There's all the heart there that a movie like this could possibly carry.

[DanJW]

Saw Inception last night and enjoyed it. I can see what people mean by lacking heart though - brkl, although we learn all about Cobb and Moll, I never really felt for him (it failed the principle of show don't tell). I blame the robotic DiCaprio - he has never really done much for me as an actor. Ellen Page was much more relatable, but unfortunately her character development got halted in the third act (but jeez did they have to call her Ariadne? I mean come on.

Maybe that's a clue that the entire thing is a dream

). Same goes for the other characters - while I liked them all they were very obviously 'supporting cast' and never became fully fleshed out, in the way that the gang does in truly great heist movies (and Inception clearly takes the heist movie as its basic model). 'Heart' when applied to movies doesn't really mean on-screen emotion - it means that the creators are putting their own truths into it.

What I thought the film did best was layer the tension. Each layer of the dream has it's own tensions and things about to go horribly wrong, all stacked on each other and magnifying the next. I was sweating for the last entire 45 minutes maybe.

The prospect of limbo had me more scared for the characters than regular death did.

.

That tension didn't quite pay off how I would have liked - the whole thing wrapped up very quickly.

I was expecting more time in limbo, that we saw at the opening of the film. The quick escape made limbo seem not so bad after all

.

But yes a pretty damn decent film, all in all.

In relation to games, Lacuna is a fantastic tabletop RPG, actually a couple of years old but with a premise very similar to Inception, only even more mysterious and mind-bending. I recommend it.

[Nachimir]

Yes, on that point of the quick wrap-up

the way they talked about time scaling in successive layers made me think that deeper layers of the dream would have the characters spending much more time and development there, but instead it was "Oh shit, everything is going wrong, lets get this done really quickly".

Not entirely displeasing, but slightly counter to the expectation set early in the film.

Also,

why the fuck did rolling the van not count as a kick and awaken them?

None of these things were big enough niggles to make me feel disappointed.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Yep, Inception is great, but it's not perfect. For once I thoroughly agree with Mark Kermode's stance: Basically it's wonderful to see a Hollywood blockbuster that actually doesn't insult the viewers' intelligence. And also that it's "clever" without being "clever clever", meaning it's smart, but it doesn't do it in a smug way, it just encourages the audience to keep up with the fast moving plot. For that, I loved it.

So yes, it was such an treat for my brain, but it certainly didn't attempt to answer any "higher" questions about life, the universe and everything, and it wasn't very emotional either. Like a Kubrick movie.

[Wrestlevania]

None of these things were big enough niggles to make me feel disappointed.

Rotation over descent? #strawsclutched

I'm planting my Inception flag in the sand, and this bit of sand has "FUCKING ACES" spraypainted on it in 6ft-high hot neon pink letters.

I think the "smart, but not smug" thing sums it up nicely for me. I was very pleased to have seen this in the cinema, and I'm looking forward to watching it again at home in the future (along with Mrs V).

~~~~

I also saw Toy Story 3 last week. Took Mrs V and the kids along and we all really enjoyed it. Stand-out bits for me were:

1. Day & Night cartoon
   before the film proper starts; wonderfully realised and really nice messaging.
   
2. The incinerator scene
   near the end;
   ballsy of Pixar and very tense, but without upsetting the kids
   .
   

~~~~

Both films are particular cinematic highlights for me so far this year. :tup:

[Wrestlevania]

In more televisual news, Channel 4 have released the entirety of Garth Marenghi's Dark Place onto YouTube.

Note that the episodes are listed in reverse order--the first one's at the bottom.

If you've not seen it before, enjoy quirky comedy and taking the piss out of 70s and 80s TV tropes, do fill your eyeballs.

[Sombre]

The new season of Dexter had the trailer shown at comic-con and it looks faaaaaaantastic. Very excited!

[circadianwolf]

In more televisual news, Channel 4 have released the entirety of Garth Marenghi's Dark Place onto YouTube.

Fuck yes! I saw the first episode a long time ago, but it was the only one officially online at the time. This show is extremely lovely.

[MrHoatzin]

Garth Marenghi's Dark Place is pretty fn rad. Did these dudes do anything similarly awesome recently?

[Grufff]

Garth Marenghi's Dark Place is pretty fn rad. Did these dudes do anything similarly awesome recently?

Richard Ayoade brought back Dean Learner for 'Man to Man with Dean Learner' which was a comedy chat show.

Plus both Ayoade and Matthew Holness appeared/were involved in Armando Iannucci's 'Time Trumpet', which I loved although it's based on British politics/tv/celebrity culture so not sure how well it'd go down to any non-Brits.

UjhBf4vlTw0

I love this clip!

[Moosferatu]

Garth Marenghi's Dark Place is pretty fn rad. Did these dudes do anything similarly awesome recently?

Make sure to check out AD/BC: A Rock Opera.

[Roderick]

Few years back I watched AD/BC about every other day. It's among the best British comedies ever.

[JonCole]

Plug:

We made a CastMedium podblast for Inception which has quickly become one of our most downloaded episodes... I had a ton of fun with it. We covered a couple of big theories and dove into some of the film's mechanics when I could convince the guys to stop spinning their interpretations of the plot. Anyways, it comes in at a nearly unreasonable 50 minutes but it seems like people have enjoyed it. Check it out:

http://www.castmedium.com/2010/07/22/castmedium-podcast-inception-podblast-07-22-10/

[Wrestlevania]

Anyways, it comes in at a nearly unreasonable 50 minutes but it seems like people have enjoyed it. Check it out.

Verily, I shall.

PS: Your 'cast needs more "ast" in the title.

[tm_drummer]

Watched American Splendor again today. It's really a good movie. Especially if you liked Harvey Pekar. They probably showed the movie on TV again because he just recently passed away...

Anyway, what I like about this movie is his involvement with it...it makes the movie quite a different experience than your average "biopic"...the funny thing is, since he wrote bits and pieces of his life as it goes, in the form of a comic book, he actually issued a comic called "Our movie year", that's about him making a movie about himself, in which he writes comics about his life and life in general.

So...the movie is about him; we see him making the comics, and the comic "Our movie year" he actually made is about him making the movie that shows him making the comic about him making the movie....lol. Good times.

RIP Harvey.