Seen any good films lately? [2]

But he's such a loveable asshole.

bungobaggins wrote:I watched about half of frozen. It's not that I didn't like it, it's just that I got half way through the movie then sort of lost interest at the moment. I do like Let It Go, though. (Pretty sure the guy who wrote the music for Frozen also did The Book of Mormon, which also has some fantastic music.)

Eldo, have you seen Pinocchio? I'd definitely recommend that if you haven't see it. Great music.

The Book of Mormon connection makes sense, some of the songs do sound like they're a similar style. I saw that recently on its current tour and it was great. I didn't used to care much for musicals but I've seen a number of stage ones in the past few years and they're growing on me. As far as Disney films, though, I haven't made it farther back than the Disney Renaissance. There are a number of older ones I want to see though, especially Fantasia. I've heard really good things about Pinocchio though.

bungobaggins wrote:But he's such a loveable asshole.

True and he does it so well

Saw Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy for the first time yesterday. Pretty funny. And Christina Applegate sure was awful purdy.

cant remember the last time I was truly blown away by a film. maybe Gravity comes close in recent times but thats it. The last time I walked out of a cinema well and truly in awe was probably Matrix and before that ROTK. ages and ages ago.    maybe the bar has been set too high for technology to match up to expectations idk. Matrix set a new standard for digital effects just have to wait for the next quality jump I suppose.

"Rush" was the film that blew me, before that ?..............................................?  I wish I could say TH but, "Woman in Black" was just about ok in levels of creepyness, (shame bout the ending) I did sit gripped by it & it did make me FFFFttttt a few times so, there must be something going for it. I wanna be "Wowed", I wanna feel on a high !   but, Im just feeling "oh yeah, *yawn*"   There was a time when choosing what film to see at the Flicks was a tough choice to make, you'de be outside oooming & aarrhhing, looking at the stills, then plumping for it & skipping up the steps in excited anticipation ! Now, I feel "flat".Flat as a Flat.....thing... Unless...... ..Peejers secretly brainwashed my mind whilst sleeping..er...watching The Hobbit, a cunning code devised so that I can only watch AND ENJOY all of Peejers coming films ?? !!.............dum dum daaaaaaaaaah !!      

Mrs Figg wrote:cant remember the last time I was truly blown away by a film. maybe Gravity comes close in recent times but thats it. The last time I walked out of a cinema well and truly in awe was probably Matrix and before that ROTK. ages and ages ago.    maybe the bar has been set too high for technology to match up to expectations idk. Matrix set a new standard for digital effects just have to wait for the next quality jump I suppose.

The Matrix was also a great story.... until they made the sequels.

Re Disney type films. The ones that always stuck in my mind were 'An American Tale' and 'The Land Before Time.'

I was disappointed by the Matrix- I enjoyed everything up until Nero was the Chosen One- that felt like a total cop out to me after they said he wasnt- would have been much more interesting if he had turned out not to be.

Wasn't a cop out. The Oracle said he was waiting for something... another life maybe. He got shot and died, Trinity brought him back therefore new life....?

The first Matrix film was visually unlike anything anyone had seen before. The story itself, was for me at least, secondary to the style. It was amazing at the time 15 odd years ago.

I liked the look, I liked the concept, I even liked Keanu in it, but him being the One just didnt sit right with me narratively.
Felt to me like they had panicked and changed their mind halfway through and decided to keep him alive so they could make sequels.

Eldorion wrote:

Pettytyrant101 wrote:I was disappointed by the Matrix- I enjoyed everything up until Nero was the Chosen One- that felt like a total cop out to me after they said he wasnt- would have been much more interesting if he had turned out not to be.

I saw Noah. Had a pretty good time too.
So yeah, fun fun.
I would like to go see The Grand Budapest Hotel while it's still in theatres; ever since I saw The Darjeeling Limited I've been a sucker for Wes Anderson films.

I liked Noah as well, though it got reeally slow after the flood. I liked how they made the building of the ark and the gathering of the animals somewhat plausible - from what I can remember in the Bible Noah builds it all by himself.

Ringdrotten wrote:I liked Noah as well, though it got reeally slow after the flood. I liked how they made the building of the ark and the gathering of the animals somewhat plausible - from what I can remember in the Bible Noah builds it all by himself.

You're right. It took so long for the film to wrap up, for some conclusion to all that Noah angst on the ark that once it finally came it almost didn't work.
From what I remember, Noah and his three sons built it. They each had their own wife as well, so there's another difference. I felt some rather unsettling parallels with Transformers once the stone angels (heheh, Dr. Who fans )

Spoiler:

but the backstory scene of how they came to be fallen was pretty darn epic looking.

Spoiler:

Forest Shepherd wrote:I would like to go see The Grand Budapest Hotel while it's still in theatres; ever since I saw The Darjeeling Limited I've been a sucker for Wes Anderson films.

The Grand Budapest Hotel is really good, though unexpectedly a bit of a downer (bittersweet might be a better word). I'd highly recommend it, in any event.

Moonrise Kingdom was my first Wes Anderson film, which I saw by accident back in 2012. My brother and I drove to the arthouse theatre downtown, but we were running a few minutes late and missed the film we had intended to see, but MK was starting in like 10 minutes so we went with that instead. I absolutely loved it, so when I heard about TGBH I knew I had to see it.

Forest Shepherd wrote:
From what I remember, Noah and his three sons built it.

Seems like I've got to go back and reread some Bible stories :  And you're not the only one who suddenly thought they were watching Transformers 4

Forest Shepherd wrote:

Spoiler:

Agreed, this was one of the best scenes in the entire movie. It's well worth a visit to the cinema, if only for the first half of it

Noah may not have been close to the source material in some respects, but at least preserved the message of the story. Unlike The Hobbit where the movie doesn't stay close to the source material, and doesn't give a damn about the message.

From what I understand Noah is actually closer to the source material than most people believe. Haven't seen it yet, or read the book recently    just parroting what I've read. But the book is definitely far grittier than what people pick up from sunday school.

Bungo that little creature is so cute    whats it doing? ha ha!

washing its bum & scratching its head, all at the same time  

watched "Angels in America" today, phew !    Its long, its brutal in its honesty, it left me feeling icky ! It didnt hold back any punches, it was honest, it was depressing & hopeful, without being TO miserable. It was an eye opener thats for sure ! And yet again, for me, the star was..........Meryl Streep, she fooled me at the beginning ! Pacino played it as he always does, with all & believable, If you can sit thru 6 hours ?(it comes in 2 dvds)  then its worth a watch ! It ended on a high, thank God, or I wouldnt be able to do a dinner ! (if it ended badly I would have blubbed & sulked & lost my appetite !)

halfwise wrote:From what I understand Noah is actually closer to the source material than most people believe. Haven't seen it yet, or read the book recently just parroting what I've read. But the book is definitely far grittier than what people pick up from sunday school.

Well creative license is taken in many many ways, and some elements of the bible passages are ignored. But for the most part, the movie is enjoyable enough, and the additions or subtractions are interesting or exciting or plausible enough that it doesn't matter.

For example, no mention is made of the offspring of angels and human women (the giants of the time, Sons of Anak, cool stuff like that ). The fallen angels are fallen more through their disregarding of the Creator's commands than through, say, lust or greed or vainglory. They see humanity in its pain and suffering post-Eden, and they wish to help them. In the movie they attempt to aid the line of Cain by showing them technological advances and the secrets of metallurgy (Tubal-Cain, the villain of the film is a renowned forger of bronze and iron). However, with this knowledge humanity builds up cities, develops mining, and grows into a society based on consumption that leaves behind it barren landscapes and decimated wildlife. Eventually, the men they helped rise up and destroy many of the angels in their hatred and fear (or something like that).
So these angels play a different role from the brief mention of them that we get in Genesis. However, the role they play feels right, the means by which they become fallen feels right, and the misguidedness with which they aid in mankind's self-destruction suits the story very well. I don't want to spoil anything, but the scene in which we see how they have become shells (literally, heheh) of their former glory is pretty cool looking.

There is a mythic feel to almost everything in the movie. The drama in the film is realistic and inherently human. Noah and all his crap post-flood gets old fast, but the conflict in Tubal-Cain's heart, the feeling of rejection, over why the Creator does not also speak to him--why the Creator has given this bounty to Noah and not himself--plays out really well. He is not a villain in the self-aware sense, because he doesn't see the world the way Noah does. In his eyes the evil things that does are not evil, they are the natural actions of Man. Noah carries on the tradition of stewardship over the earth originally given to Adam and Eve. He teaches his sons to be conservative, not to eat meat, avoid violence (a rule he utterly ignores for himself).
Tubal-Cain will do anything to survive. His self-will is what is most important to him. He and all his followers do eat meat (even human flesh, at the end), and he is willing to kill.
The one similarity between Noah and Tubal-Cain, that they both kill other people, is an interesting one. Sure, one could argue that Noah only does this in self-defence, while his counterpart kills as a way of life. But the addition of Noah's violence is a large departure from what we read in Genesis, where no mention is made of Noah ever needing to kill in order to keep the ark intact.
There is a great scene where, when the rain first begins, Tubal-Cain is in his tent praying to the Creator. He asks him why He will not speak to him and says "Am I not made in your image? Do I not give and take life, just as you do?" It was pretty cool stuff. Ray Winstone is great in the role.
Overall, solid movie. Not great, because of its flaws, but interesting, and solid.

P.S.
I would have to disagree with the book being grittier than Sunday school lessons. You pretty much read the story in Sunday school, so there's no real difference. The one big difference is that in Sunday school you see happy bright images, cartoon-like, of Noah and his family, and the death by drowning of everyone else is never dwelt or elaborated on. Still, the book is no grittier than what you hear at school, it's the imagined details that are nice-ified.

P.P.S.
Speaking of Ray Winstone (whom I usually call Mr. Beaver for his unfortunate involvement in the unfortunate Narnia) has anyone seen London Boulevard? The film got mixed reviews for its neither-here-nor-there story, the way it jumped around. But I liked it a lot. Winstone has a great, if cliched, role as a London gangster. The part that stood out to me is that:

Spoiler:

P.P.P.S.
Apparently he's also in that older Robin Hood series. Petty at least, has mentioned liking his darkly motivated portrayal of Will Scarlet. I have that in my netflix queue, so I'll see that eventually.

Petty at least, has mentioned liking his darkly motivated portrayal of Will Scarlet.- Forest

Yes indeed. One of the best things in the show   And his first regular role in tv role too I believe.