Movie/TV recommendations

[Armchair General]

No, I felt that way about Fringe too Blix, especially the Professor thing. X files was much better imho.

Edit: Unless I am dumb too, which is a distinct possibility.

[James]

127 Hours certainly left an impression.

That one bit with the static sound was particularly harrowing. Some of the memories and hallucinations were a bit hit-and-miss, but the arm-removal was uncomfortably effective.

Edited January 11, 2011 by JamesM

[ThunderPeel2001]

127 Hours certainly left an impression.

Hello, James. Long time no see. Nice to see you back on the Thumbs...

That being said, I wish you'd used spoiler tags

Edited January 11, 2011 by ThunderPeel2001

[Roderick]

I saw A Serious Man and god damn are the Coen brothers on a roll! They've been making their best films in the past few years, which is an amazing accomplishment considering they've been at it for so long and their legacy consists of The Big Lebowski, Fargo and O Brother, amongst others.

One thing puzzles me about A Serious Man, though. I've heard many people say (and echo) that the movie is a sort of retelling of the book of Job, but for the life of me I don't see it. Sure, there are some loose references -

the tornado, the pirate-themed motel

- but the story is so different. Job is fundamentally about a man turning away from his god after hardship and god punishing him for his lack of obedience and trust. In A Serious Man, the protagonist never loses faith, but rather is constantly looking for answers from the Rabbis. Furthermore, he never takes action of any kind, is completely passive throughout. Can anyone explain why people seem so easily to draw parallels between the two?

[ThunderPeel2001]

Job is fundamentally about a man turning away from his god after hardship and god punishing him for his lack of obedience and trust. In A Serious Man, the protagonist never loses faith, but rather is constantly looking for answers from the Rabbis. Furthermore, he never takes action of any kind, is completely passive throughout. Can anyone explain why people seem so easily to draw parallels between the two?

Huh? That's not my understanding of the Book of Job. (Maybe mine is wrong.) Job is, as far as he knows, completely innocent. He has no communication with God whatsoever, and wonders why he is being punished so. It's ultimately about a man wondering why he must suffer... just like the film.

(Also, in the Bible his friends all say he must have sinned to have been given God's wrath, but in the end God says they're wrong and rewards Job.)

Edited January 11, 2011 by ThunderPeel2001

[James]

Hello, James. Long time no see. Nice to see you back on the Thumbs...

That being said, I wish you'd used spoiler tags

Oh, sorry about that. I didn't realize any of that was a secret. I'll be more careful in future. For what it's worth, I don't think it's really the sort of film you can spoil. It's more about the telling than the specifics of the plot. You might not agree, of course, so again, sorry.

In other news, I thought A Serious Man was excellent, but I fear my theories about what it all means would crumble before more learned and intellectual interpretations. For example, I have no idea what happens in the book of Job beyond what I just learnt from the preceeding two posts.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Oh, sorry about that. I didn't realize any of that was a secret. I'll be more careful in future. For what it's worth, I don't think it's really the sort of film you can spoil. It's more about the telling than the specifics of the plot. You might not agree, of course, so again, sorry.

No worries. I just haven't seen it yet, and I wasn't sure if that was going to ruin any of the impact when I did.

In other news, I thought A Serious Man was excellent, but I fear my theories about what it all means would crumble before more learned and intellectual interpretations. For example, I have no idea what happens in the book of Job beyond what I just learnt from the preceeding two posts.

Well, for what it's worth, the Coen bros say that the film isn't a retelling of the Book of Job, so you should share your thoughts! (It's an amazing movie, IMO.)

[Roderick]

I now realize my error: I spoke of the book of Job, but had in my mind the story of Jonah. Now it makes sense why nothing made sense, and I see the parallels more clearly.

[Nappi]

The absence of a whale should have tipped you off.

[ThunderPeel2001]

I now realize my error: I spoke of the book of Job, but had in my mind the story of Jonah. Now it makes sense why nothing made sense, and I see the parallels more clearly.

Yeah, that's quite a big difference... Although if you remove the "living in a whale" aspect, I can see how you might try and interpret it like that. Also, now I understand your "pirate themed motel" reference, lol!

[Roderick]

Still, how awesome was the movie's opening with the

dybbuk

?

[circadianwolf]

Job is actually God's most faithful follower, which is the point of testing him.

The three Rabbis presumably parallel the three "friends" of Job, and the tornado evokes the whirlwind that God appears out of to answer Job (though of course without the God appearing and answering stuff), but yeah, it's a very loose adaptation if it is intended to be, much moreso than say O Brother is to the Odyssey.

[syntheticgerbil]

I watched Tekkon Kinkreet again. I think it's still my favorite animated film ever. Too much stuff I relate too in terms of characters and it's so beautiful and realized. The animation is wonderful and the music is so perfect. It almost makes me want to get into Plaid and buy all their albums. Maybe I should bug everyone about them in the music thread?

The really strange thing is it seems like all the Japanese workers in the extras didn't exactly get the tone or emotion of the film (it was directed by an American who had moved to Japan and had been working at the production company over 12 years). It's similar enough to the original comic, but the pacing is very different.

I only wish one day I can be a part of a creation of that caliber.

[Ben X]

Saw Dark City for the first time and holy shit, does it prefigure The Matrix by a year! http://galeon.hispavista.com/cinerama/actu2/matrixdarkcity.htm

Yeah, I've always thought that. The Matrix borrowed a lot from The Crow as well.

[DanJW]

Yeah, I've always thought that. The Matrix borrowed a lot from The Crow as well.

The Matrix actually used some of the sets left over from Dark City (don't know if that was mentioned in the comparison).

I do like Dark City. It has a weird wonky vibe that reminds me of Brazil and other Gilliam films. I must watch it again sometime. I don't think I saw the directors cut either.

(I liked The Matrix too but it was ruined for me a bit by the sequels)

Edited January 13, 2011 by DanJW

[miffy495]

Girlfriend and I went to see True Grit last night. Holy fucking shit. Best movie I've seen so far this year. I don't want to say anything more specific than that, as I may spoil moments by getting too into the movie, but I think that pretty much everyone should see this. Also, special shout out to the actress who played the 14 year old girl. She was bloody great. On a final note, I believe I like crochety old man Jeff Bridges even more than I liked young Jeff Bridges.

Working our way through the big presitge movies of the year. Tomorrow night is Black Swan, and 127 Hours perhaps on Monday. Exciting times!

[Nachimir]

I saw 127 Hours last night. I didn't think it was a great film, but they ways they tried to make 127 hours of a man stuck in a crack interesting was… interesting.

There was one moment where you could see just about every girl that came with a guy suddenly bury their head in boyfriend's shoulder

Question from a friend:

the moment where he photographs his severed hand, I was thinking "Well, you would". Friend: Would you tag it on facebook?It'd show up in the sidebar a year later with "Photo memories" written above it.

The actual scene wasn't as bad as I expected, and the film has some of the best use of sound I've heard. Overall, an inspiring story, but the execution felt gimmicky: We've been told, over and over, what's going to happen, then the film builds up to it. Kind of like the film wouldn't work without the marketing campaign.

--

Also saw The Men Who Stare At Goats on iplayer.

Making a film about massive, insane government wastage on woo woo then giving it a feelgood ending pissed me off quite a bit. Ewan MacGregor should have bounced straight off that wall onto his ass to underline that they were contagious nutjobs.

--

Find of the week through a friend: The Art of Negative Thinking (or Kunsten å tenke negativt). It's a black comedy about a disability support group. Its about them coping not just in the constraints of their disabilities, but within the lines drawn by the government too. I enjoyed it a lot.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Also saw The Men Who Stare At Goats on iplayer.

Making a film about massive, insane government wastage on woo woo then giving it a feelgood ending pissed me off quite a bit. Ewan MacGregor should have bounced straight off that wall onto his ass to underline that they were contagious nutjobs.

Loved that film, and loved the ending. Nothing wrong with a bit of positivity.

The worst bit about the ending for me was the fact that Kevin Spacey was acting stoned. "What was I saying? Um, I'm hungry!" I thought that was a cheap, easy laugh.

Don't forget your field manual: http://arcturus.org/field_manual.pdf

(Yep, that's the REAL deal.)

[Roderick]

I just saw Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief and it is without a doubt in the top five of most atrocious films I've seen in the last ten years. A miserable piece of garbage. I was literally facepalming constantly throughout the movie. Every plot twist was horrendous, every event a horrible play on Greek mythology and every character a complete dumbass.

This was supposed to be a Harry Potter killer? It can't hold a candle to the effortless charm and realization of the HP world.

[juv3nal]

I watched Tekkon Kinkreet again. I think it's still my favorite animated film ever.

Just watched this. It's pretty sweet, although, not having read the comic, I was afraid

for most of it that they were going to kill off a kid and make me cry

, luckily it didn't do that.

[toblix]

I just got sexed through my brain into my soul by Gaspar Noé's Enter the Void. What a trip. Such an intense experience – it's like someone from the future found a film crew and lots of money and said "Okay, here's what we're gonna make." I imagine you have to be either filthy rich, extremely respected or totally crazy to be able to produce this sort of thing.

[Ben X]

Green Hornet is good fun. Should be 15 mins shorter, Cameron Diaz is pointless and the villians are a little under-developed, but it has a lot of cool stuff going on and the 'Seth Rogen comedy meets superhero/superspy' thing gels really well.

The King's Speech is really good - a lot more intimate than the 'Oscar buzz' led me to expect, and full of fantastic performances. I love Geoffrey Rush.

[miffy495]

Did get to see Black Swan last night after all. Really good, though I was able to predict the plot as it went along, and

I felt the swan transformation thing during her performance at the end was a bit heavy handed

. I haven't seen Pi myself, buy my girlfriend who had told me that the plot was pretty much note for note the same, but replace mathematics with ballet. I'll take her word on that, and now want to see Pi more than I already did. I expect the impact of Black Swan would be lessened if you had seen the earlier movie, but she did say that it was still really good. It does not replace True Grit as my favorite movie so far this year, but I do recommend it.

[Roderick]

I have yet to see The Green Hornet (and I will), but let me make these bold statements up front:

1. I know very few movies that wouldn't benefit from having an extra 15 minutes chafed off.

2. Cameron Diaz became wholly superfluous and obnoxious after Charlie's Angels (1).

3. Cameron Diaz spent up all her sexiness in The Mask. Now she's just an annoying twat with a weird face, which I don't want to see smeared over a cinema screen at any particular time.

4. I fucking hate 3D. It's useless and reduces both the quality of the image (everything gets muted and gloomy) and the amount of information you get (details are lost in the background). It is bullshit and I want it to die at the quickest convenience.

[Patters]

I have yet to see The Green Hornet (and I will), but let me make these bold statements up front:

1. I know very few movies that wouldn't benefit from having an extra 15 minutes chafed off.

2. Cameron Diaz became wholly superfluous and obnoxious after Charlie's Angels (1).

3. Cameron Diaz spent up all her sexiness in The Mask. Now she's just an annoying twat with a weird face, which I don't want to see smeared over a cinema screen at any particular time.

4. I fucking hate 3D. It's useless and reduces both the quality of the image (everything gets muted and gloomy) and the amount of information you get (details are lost in the background). It is bullshit and I want it to die at the quickest convenience.

You forgot the most important thing: Kevin Smith's version is much better.