Re: Seen any good films lately? [2]

by Eldorion Wed Jul 02, 2014 6:24 am

Not sure if Rose is a spambot or not, but I can vouch that HTTYD2 is in fact quite good. Thumbs Up

Best animated fantasy "epic" movie since the original Kung Fu Panda, possibly longer.

by bungobaggins Wed Jul 02, 2014 6:41 am

I really liked the first one, but have been wary of the second one ever since they released the second trailer and gave away the entire plot. Not sure I want to see it now. Shrugging

by Forest Shepherd Wed Jul 02, 2014 7:03 pm

I watched Her last night. It was, as expected, quite excellent in all ways.
Kristen Wiig even has a hilariously awful voice cameo as an anonymous woman ("kittylover" or something) who has phone-sex with the main character. Dead cat strangulation is involved, typically enough for an SNL alumni like her.
Still, the rest of the film is far more thoughtful and much less potentially abrasive. The end was quite rewarding.

Ending spoilers:

by Eldorion Fri Jul 04, 2014 9:08 pm

Forest, I'm not gonna read your spoiler since I still haven't seen Her, but I really want to and I'm glad to hear a (more or less) positive review from you. Thumbs Up

by Eldorion Fri Jul 04, 2014 9:09 pm

I had heard of The Gods Must Be Crazy before, but I watched it last night on a whim based on a recommendation from a friend. I was quite surprised that it was actually really funny, the physical comedy especially. It's pretty weird and rather cheap, but they find ways to play that for more laughs. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for an off-the-beaten-path sort of comedy. Smile

by David H Sat Jul 05, 2014 5:22 am

I love the rhino. He makes Smokey Bear look like an rooky! Laughing

by Eldorion Sat Jul 05, 2014 6:11 am

The rhino was great, but I think my favorite part was the truck up the tree. I thought N!xau was really good in the lead role, too.

by David H Sat Jul 05, 2014 6:29 am

Yeah, grounding it all to his point of view was brilliant! Without his authenticity, all the slapstick would never have been able to reach the comic heights it did. I remember laughing out loud, which I rarely do.

by bungobaggins Sat Jul 12, 2014 4:48 am

Just got back from DOTPOTA (Planet of the Apes). It was good. The effects were great, especially the orangutan. Honestly couldn't tell if he was real or not in most shots. It was probably the most engaging POTA story since the original, and in some ways it was better than the original (most notably in establishing emotional connections). I was also pleased that there were no jokey references to the original ("Take your stinking paws off me..." etc.).

by Pettytyrant101 Sat Jul 12, 2014 3:14 pm

I've heard some good things about it Bungo- the thing that seems to make it stand out from the rest of the cgi filled garbage (which your own comments echo) is this one is a film- with narrative, characters, and plot ( Shocked

) taking centre stage and the cgi used to help tell and convey the story, rather than replace one with useless spectacle (looking right at you PJ and shaking my head in disappointed crabbit Evil or Very Mad

).

by halfwise Sat Jul 12, 2014 4:21 pm

Eldorion wrote:I had heard of The Gods Must Be Crazy before, but I watched it last night on a whim based on a recommendation from a friend. I was quite surprised that it was actually really funny, the physical comedy especially. It's pretty weird and rather cheap, but they find ways to play that for more laughs. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for an off-the-beaten-path sort of comedy.

The first one was genius. The second one is forgettable.

by Mrs Figg Sat Jul 12, 2014 8:48 pm

this looks interesting, Luc Besson sci-fi. I will defo go and watch Scarlett kicking butt. Very Happy

by bungobaggins Sat Jul 12, 2014 9:00 pm

Pettytyrant101 wrote:I've heard some good things about it Bungo- the thing that seems to make it stand out from the rest of the cgi filled garbage (which your own comments echo) is this one is a film- with narrative, characters, and plot ( ) taking centre stage and the cgi used to help tell and convey the story, rather than replace one with useless spectacle (looking right at you PJ and shaking my head in disappointed crabbit ).

Yeah, the effects were always in service of the plot, and seriously they had to do the all the apes as CGI, wouldn't have been feasible with real animals and those ape suits are terribly outdated. So for me it was the best POTA movie I've seen (I think I've only skipped the last one from the original five). And Jesus H. don't even mention that piece of shit that Tim Burton pooped out.

by bungobaggins Sat Jul 12, 2014 9:05 pm

Ha! Was reading up on Tim Burton's 2001 film, and it looks like there was a lot of development hell for the Apes franchise during the 80s and 90s.

This paragraph stood out to me...

Titled Return to the Planet of the Apes, the project was put on fast track and almost entered pre-production. Rick Baker was hired to design the prosthetic makeup with Danny Elfman composing the film score. Tom Cruise and Charlie Sheen were in contention for the lead role. "I can't accurately describe in words the utter euphoria I felt knowing that I, Adam Rifkin, was going to be resurrecting the Planet of the Apes. It all seemed too good to be true. I soon found out it was." Days before the film was to commence pre-production, new studio executives arrived at Fox, which caused creative differences between Rifkin and the studio. Rifkin was commissioned to rewrite the script through various drafts. The project was abandoned until Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh pitched their own idea, with the apes going through a Renaissance. In the story, the ape government becomes concerned over the new art works, the humans are revolting and the liberal apes shelter a half-human, half-ape from the gorillas. Roddy McDowall was enthusiastic about their proposal and agreed to play the Leonardo da Vinci-type character they had written for him. However, the executive Jackson spoke to was not a fan of the series and seemingly unaware of McDowall's involvement in the series, and Jackson turned his attention back to Heavenly Creatures.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_the_Apes_%282001_film%29#Late_1980s

Thank goodness that movie never got made. Smile

by azriel Sat Jul 12, 2014 9:25 pm

That does look good Figgs Very Happy

I like Luc Besson & I quite like Scarlett Johansson. Her hair & eye flick reminded me of "Ultraviolet" with Milla Jovovitch

by Norc Thu Jul 17, 2014 6:44 pm

anyone seen the movie "iron sky"? it's brilliant! like omg it was amazing! it sounds kinda goofy, but it's so goooood!!! it's a sceince fiction movie, Sarah Palin is president and as a publicity stunt during the election she sends a white and a black man to the moon (capmaign called "black to the moon") and there they encounter space nazis aka. the nazi-people went to the moon after the second world war and have been in hiding there. now they want to "re-populate" the earth, to use a nicer term Very Happy

i really recommend it Very Happy

by Pettytyrant101 Thu Jul 17, 2014 7:52 pm

Saw that a while ago- thought it has some great ideas but couldn't quite stretch them over a whole move.
Worth it mind you for the hot Nazi woman! Nod

by Norc Thu Jul 17, 2014 8:09 pm

well, i thought it was great Very Happy

i saw it with my dad and i laughed quite a bit. also the music was kinda good. i loved it when Palin asked which nation did not arm their space-station and Finland put a hand up (the writer is finish and the production is more or less finish)

by Norc Thu Jul 17, 2014 8:15 pm

this might spoil the ending but i'm posting it anyhow

by azriel Thu Jul 17, 2014 8:19 pm

I liked the look on the face of the nazi's, right at the beginning, when they saw it was a black astronaut they had Smile

After they had killed the white one you just knew how this was gonna go Smile

Every scene was a mickey take ! Smile

by Norc Thu Jul 17, 2014 8:21 pm

it's such a brilliant satire of today's society, dark humour and everything Very Happy

also the main badies are 'Murica, Sarah Palin, that crazy PR-agent/fashion-designer-woman and ofcourse Mini-Hitler (only one man! look at that!)

by Pettytyrant101 Thu Jul 17, 2014 8:21 pm

Every scene was a mickey take ! - Azriel

That was kind of the problem with it for me after a while- its like a series of sketches one after the other, it kind of loses the way a bit I thought as a film story somewhere in the middle- good start good end though.
And lots to smile at throughout even when the story seems to have been forgotten about for a bit.

by Norc Thu Jul 17, 2014 8:25 pm

i don't see ur point at all petty, what u describe sounds like a perfectly good movie. the ending was the most important bit, where you clearly see the "purpose" of the movie.

by Pettytyrant101 Thu Jul 17, 2014 8:29 pm

i don't see ur point at all petty, what u describe sounds like a perfectly good movie. - Norc

Yes but for some reason you seem to have forgotten one crucial factor- just what a crabbit bastard I am! Twisted Evil

by Norc Thu Jul 17, 2014 8:37 pm

yupp, that's true Rolling Eyes