ysbreker

Movie/TV recommendations

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Yeah I'm with JonCole I enjoyed Luther, but I'm also not a big stickler for believability so far as that story is concerned. It struck me as basically a "comic book" type thing from the get go and I just rolled with it.

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Just saw Birdman (still in pre-release screenings in Australia), really liked it.

 

Random thought about long choreographed single takes: they are basically the antithesis of improvisation, and having finely choreographed sequences feel naturalistic and improvised is incredibly difficult to pull off, if not impossible. I don't know if on the whole Birdman was 'successful' in doing that, or if that was what it was even going for, and instead it was deliberately contrasting the somewhat naturalistic dialogue/action with the choreographed long takes. In any case the acting is great, and it's really tempting for me to over-think all the formalistic details of the movie.

 

I've also been really lazy about seeing movies that I've been meaning to, so thanks to people for reminders to see 'We Are The Best' and 'Mr. Turner'.

 

Nightcrawler was also great, learning about the production details and thinking about the movie after seeing it made me appreciate it even more. I really want to see 'Prisoners' and 'Enemy' now as well.

 

Also 'Big Hero 6' and 'Into The Woods'.

 

And 'Foxcatcher', 'Selma', 'Inherent Vice', 'Rosewater'... film distribution in Australia really sucks.

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Good ol' Village Roadshow, absurdly powerful and fiercely protective of the Australian market.

 

(That said, most of the prestige films come to Australia in January because they were rushed out for the American market so they'd qualify for Oscars. From what I understand, they re-release these films in the US about the same time.)

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I was browsing through stuff on Amazon Prime Instant Video and found an HBO comedy half hour by Louis CK from 1996. If you're a fan it's an interesting watch because you can see the elements that would evolve into his modern act. Also totally fascinating because it's mostly terrible. At one point he does several impressions, including one of JFK as a Vietnamese prostitute. It's so bad...

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Just saw Birdman (still in pre-release screenings in Australia), really liked it.

 

Random thought about long choreographed single takes: they are basically the antithesis of improvisation, and having finely choreographed sequences feel naturalistic and improvised is incredibly difficult to pull off, if not impossible. I don't know if on the whole Birdman was 'successful' in doing that, or if that was what it was even going for, and instead it was deliberately contrasting the somewhat naturalistic dialogue/action with the choreographed long takes. In any case the acting is great, and it's really tempting for me to over-think all the formalistic details of the movie.

 

This gels with the personality of the director from what I heard. A friend of mine was a PA, and to hear them tell it Keaton's performance was pretty much based on how controlling and abusive the director was while making the film.

 

 

...this does not change that I loved that movie though.

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Just saw Birdman (still in pre-release screenings in Australia).

I've also been really lazy about seeing movies that I've been meaning to, so thanks to people for reminders to see 'We Are The Best' and 'Mr. Turner'.

Nightcrawler was also great, learning about the production details and thinking about the movie after seeing it made me appreciate it even more. I really want to see 'Prisoners' and 'Enemy' now as well.

Also 'Big Hero 6' and 'Into The Woods'.

And 'Foxcatcher', 'Selma', 'Inherent Vice', 'Rosewater'... film distribution in Australia really sucks.

I'm really sexcited for those movies particularly Foxcatcher and Birdman.

Also I feel you on distribution. It's so frustrating hearing about awesome movies I need to see and knowing that they won't come out in NZ for another 2-3 months.

It's pretty hard to stay blind going into those kinds of movies too.

In fact, question time.

How often do you guys see a movie without any info to what it is?

Last time I did that it was The Drop with James Gandolfini and Tom Hardy. I found it to be a pretty solid form of an older slow burn Hollywood film you don't see much any more. I'm not sure if I'd have seen it I I knew about it but it was pretty good all the same.

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How often do you guys see a movie without any info to what it is?

Last time I did that it was The Drop with James Gandolfini and Tom Hardy. I found it to be a pretty solid form of an older slow burn Hollywood film you don't see much any more. I'm not sure if I'd have seen it I I knew about it but it was pretty good all the same.

Funny you should mention 'The Drop', the last movie I recall seeing more or less ignorant and with an absence of expectations is 'Rundskop' (Bullhead), the debut film from the director of 'The Drop'.

In general I very rarely chose to see a movie I know little about (or to be more accurate, very rarely refrain from researching a movie i'm interested in seeing). It's a shame that the novelty of being pleasantly surprised is more rare, but I think in general I like knowing a bit a bout a film before hand so I can be engaged on it's own terms, rather than have some arbitrary and uninformed expectations colour the experience.

Having said that, 'Moon', 'How To Train Your Dragon', 'Primer', and 'Mind Game' are movies I knew very little about going into, and feel like that naivety probably added to the experience in a (very) positive way.

For the complete opposite of seeing a movie 'without any info', FILMCRITHULK finally published an article about 'Gone Girl' (http://badassdigest.com/2015/01/13/film-crit-hulk-smash-dialogues-gone-girl-and-the-maybe-art-of-post-feminist/), and now I feel informed and comfortable enough to actually go see the movie.

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Funny you should mention 'The Drop', the last movie I recall seeing more or less ignorant and with an absence of expectations is 'Rundskop' (Bullhead), the debut film from the director of 'The Drop'.

In general I very rarely chose to see a movie I know little about (or to be more accurate, very rarely refrain from researching a movie i'm interested in seeing). It's a shame that the novelty of being pleasantly surprised is more rare, but I think in general I like knowing a bit a bout a film before hand so I can be engaged on it's own terms, rather than have some arbitrary and uninformed expectations colour the experience.

Having said that, 'Moon', 'How To Train Your Dragon', 'Primer', and 'Mind Game' are movies I knew very little about going into, and feel like that naivety probably added to the experience in a (very) positive way.

For the complete opposite of seeing a movie 'without any info', FILMCRITHULK finally published an article about 'Gone Girl' (http://badassdigest.com/2015/01/13/film-crit-hulk-smash-dialogues-gone-girl-and-the-maybe-art-of-post-feminist/), and now I feel informed and comfortable enough to actually go see the movie.

 

Yeah I know what you mean, I'm far more tempted to go into a movie at least with a view of the trailer and then often after reading some words on what the movie is trying to do. Like hearing that Selma is a civil rights movie that goes beyond what Hollywood biopics typically do is what would get me to see it. Or seeing a movie like Control by Anton Corbijn and knowing that unlike other biopics say, Walk The Line it doesn't have a typical three act structure.

 

It can just as much damage my interest in a film. I put off seeing Interstellar at the theatre -something I later learned my boyfriend specifically wanted to do- because of conversations I'd read about the film particularly with how it handles emotional content and its ending. (plus I haven't been a fan of Nolan for some time, he comes up with interesting situations and proceeds to explain the crap out of them, add to that his usual problems with emotions, and female characters.)

It can be pretty fun to go into a film blind and it's something my partner does really well; he often finds cool-but-broken films that I wouldn't think twice about. But it's mostly about how we watch movies I think, he goes in for the experience and soaks it up while half the time I'm trying to 'read' the film (unless it's one of the big dumb movies like the comic book films or Pacific Rim). We both like what we do but it can be hard to agree what to watch sometimes.

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Normally I don't like stuff about dogs, but this is intriguing.

That does seem interesting. I don't even know many serious movies about dogs, but Wendy and Lucy is one of my favourite movies among those I've seen in the past year or so. It's more about Wendy (the girl) than Lucy (the dog), though.

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I just finished watching 'Howl', and I couldn't stop giggling about how much Chris Remo resembles Allen Ginsberg (as played by James Franco) in this movie.  I can't be the only one who's made this comparison, can I?  Maybe it's just the geographic connection to the bay area.  I see little similarity between the actual people besides a shared fondness to internal honesty of form, be it poetry or game design.

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How often do you guys see a movie without any info to what it is?

 

I generally try to go in as blind as I can into a film. I also watched birdman yesterday, and knew very little about it going in. This is generally harder in the UK, because the ads for the film tends to fucking ruin everything about a movie. Which is fucking irritating. I don't know why they do this.

 

 

Random thought about long choreographed single takes: they are basically the antithesis of improvisation, and having finely choreographed sequences feel naturalistic and improvised is incredibly difficult to pull off, if not impossible. I don't know if on the whole Birdman was 'successful' in doing that, or if that was what it was even going for, and instead it was deliberately contrasting the somewhat naturalistic dialogue/action with the choreographed long takes. In any case the acting is great, and it's really tempting for me to over-think all the formalistic details of the movie.

 

I thought that a lot of birdman didn't feel naturalistic at all. specifically

long monologues to the camera, and pretty much every scene with Emma Stone in, especially the 'truth or dare' scene.

 

My general impression of birdman was that it's a great film, but I'm not sure I know why yet. I need - and want - to see it again.

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I generally try to go in as blind as I can into a film. I also watched birdman yesterday, and knew very little about it going in. This is generally harder in the UK, because the ads for the film tends to fucking ruin everything about a movie. Which is fucking irritating. I don't know why they do this.

I don't think this is unique to the UK.

 

Over-exposure via marketing, be it in-theater trailers or whatever, is the number one reason I've turned into That Guy who just doesn't give the slightest shit about spoilers.

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In the last forty-eight hours, I have become utterly preoccupied with the image of Josh Brolin in Inherent Vice screaming, "Motto panukeiku," with a full mouth.

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I very rarely walk into a film blind, but I blind-bought tickets to Whiplash last October at a film festival. I had absolutely no idea who was in it or what it was about, other than it was supposed to be good. I was expecting some kind of auto-horror. It was a wonderful surprise.

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I watched Into the Woods on Wednesday and I really had a good time. I'm generally not a musical guy, but I do have a fascination with fairy tale-related fare so it seemed a good idea to check it out. It's kind of amazing how much star power they packed into this movie and how well they all sing and perform. I do agree with many people who felt the first and second halves were a bit disjointed, with the first half very comical and whimsical and the second quite tragic. Major accolades to Chris Pine, who couldn't have been more surprising in his role. And this film continues my love of Anna Kendrick, who is just delightful and a joy to watch.

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In the last forty-eight hours, I have become utterly preoccupied with the image of Josh Brolin in Inherent Vice screaming, "Motto panukeiku," with a full mouth.

Doc's face in that scene is so great. Just so disgusted

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So I've seen The Lego Movie about 30 times now thanks to my kids being obsessed with it. And I have to say, it is a really really good movie. I am constantly catching new details and the humor and comedic timing is just so spot on. I think this is one of the best animated films I've ever seen.

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Normally I don't like stuff about dogs, but this is intriguing.

 

Rise of the Planet of the Apes with dogs?

I don't know what to say about that trailer. It looks well made, but hard to say which direction the movie will take.

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Rise of the Planet of the Apes with dogs?

I don't know what to say about that trailer. It looks well made, but hard to say which direction the movie will take.

 

I'm actually borderline cynophobic. If I'm not really, really familiar with a big dog, I'm extremely uncomfortable with it. And if I encounter a big dog unaccompanied just out and about, it terrifies me. So depending on how its presented could actually make this a horror movie for me, which is why I think its interesting.

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I finally got around to watching Ghost in the Shell. I thought it was fantastic. The writing is the weakest part, because it brings up things that the movie looks like it's about and then ditches them so it ends up saying nothing. That's okay (I think it fits the movie actually), but the problem is that it's not written in a way that's suggestive. There's very direct exposition about its themes and you can't have that and then not take it anywhere. I still loved it though, because it has such an incredible mood. I suspect some people don't like the pacing, but that was another thing I loved. The slow cuts, the long collage of the city, the two second bursts of action, it all comes together perfectly. I don't know what the live action version of this will be, but I suspect it'll have an entirely different feel. The movie strangely does remind me of a film Scarlett Johansson was in though, namely Lost in Translation. If you took out the action scenes you'd mostly be left with long shots of a city evoking existential angst, which is what Lost in Translation is (I love that movie too).

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I feel like the TV series is a more successful version of what people thought Ghost in the Shell was about.

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I feel like the TV series is a more successful version of what people thought Ghost in the Shell was about.

 

The two seasons of the TV show are equal parts police procedural and futuristic philosophical essay. I find them enormously successful in general.

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Yeah, I don't think I've rewatched the series since I watched it as it was coming out, but I remember the TV show being really enjoyable.  I've been meaning to watch Solid State Society at some point, but I just never get around to it.

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