Official Film Discussion and Last Movie You Watched

[onebigeric]

Just caught Hot Fuzz with my bro the other day, and I absolutely loved it. It and Shaun of the Dead are neck and neck awesome as far as I'm concerned.

Also have midnight tickets for Spiderman 3(bro's idea), so we'll see if it can live up to the hype.

 

[Rocky]

^Let us know what Spiderman 3 is like. I thought the other ones were good so hope this manages to up the ante a bit!

 

[MuscleHead]

Just joined the library able to borrow a lot of the latest + classic films now for nothing.

here is the review
Synopsis:
HARVIE KRUMPET is the biography of an ordinary man seemingly cursed with perpetual bad luck. From being born with Tourette's Syndrome, to getting struck by lightning; from having his testicle removed to developing Alzheimers disease; Harvie's troubles seem unending! Yet, Harvie learns many lessons in life and enjoys its many fruits. He finds love, freedom, nudity and ultimately the true meaning of what it is to be human.

 

[onebigeric]

^Let us know what Spiderman 3 is like. I thought the other ones were good so hope this manages to up the ante a bit!

Will do

I feel it shows great promise; the second really shined when it portrayed how doing the right thing[through the first half or so] actually made his life fairly crappy. Seeing Parker give into the anger(with the symbiote's help) should put an interesting and honest feel to the film.

 

[Pain]

I watched The Exorcism of Emily Rose last night and it scared the crap out of me. Movies about demons taking over someone just freaks me the hell out.

The part where that guy is sleeping in Emily's bed and he wakes up to see Emily lying on the ground just lookin at him was messed up.

The ending was terrible though. This is supposed to be a true story, i find that hard to believe. Is there any documentaries about it?

 

[Rocky]

^ I thinkit's the same story that most of the "possession" films are based on. I thought it was meh. Better as far as scares go than most hollywood offerings but still inevitably weak and unfulfilling. I think there have been documentaries on it, but not sure the names.
Hopefully gonna watch the Prestige tonight.

 

[Line]

Pain did you watch Natural Born Killers the other day? If so, your thoughts?

 

[Pain]

Pain did you watch Natural Born Killers the other day? If so, your thoughts?

It was pretty creative i guess.

 

[Line]

It was pretty creative i guess.

I was curious about it because the original screenplay was written by Tarantino but Oliver Stone did so many re-writes that he only ended up with a "Story by" credit. QT also claims Stone misdirected the entire thing so he pretty much detached himself from all credit of the film. It looked like it could be fairly interesting, Stone just hasn't on my good side as of late (Any Given Sunday, World Trade Center, Alexander...hell...pretty much everything he's done since JFK).

 

[Rocky]

^Have you not seen it yourself then Line? Definately worth a watch even though as you said he did bastardise QT's original script.

Watched 'The Prestige' last night and really liked it. However I concur with Line's statement about the way it ends. To be honest I expected a little more from Nolan in the way it could be wrapped up, you really have to take a suspension of belief for both the major conceits are pretty much almost "cop-outs" in a way. Admittedly one of them is hinted at throughout the entire film but still there's almost a sense of convenience about it, and the other conceit is basically fantastical. But then in a film about magic I suppose is almost acceptable. It only slightly mars what is still a great film. The performances are spot on as the set design and as ever the direction from Nolan is solid. It's just whether you suspend belief to believe the 'prestige' itself.

 

[Line]

I was enjoying The Prestige thoroughly, even through the end, but when I started reflecting on it I realized how bad it truly was and it teeters on whether or not I even consider the entire piece a well made film. Basically, he's what's going on and what's wrong with it.

A Guide to Understanding The Prestige's Ending and Flaws
SPOILERS

-The machine in fact did make duplicates of Angier (Jackman), as it did with the hats, rabbits, etcetera. This by itself really isn't a flaw (more to come though) but it does cheapen the movie to more of a sci-fi mystery than anything else. The last line spoken of the movie, which is spoken by Cutter (Caine), tells us that there is no mystery or trick to be revealed and he's right; it's merely science. Letdown.

-There are so many inconsistencies dealing with the machine itself...

• Apparently it was working the entire time yet Telsa (Bowie) kept tinkering with, which of course would have had some affect on its performance. Apparently not.
• The machine transports the replica of whomever stands under it and then must transport them to a defined area upon creation because, with no part of the machine present where replicas appear, the replicas would not be able to be created outside the realm of the machine itself. Therefore a double should appear in the confines of it first, then be transported. This does not happen though.
• Angier's first replica of himself appears about fifteen feet in front of him, which he shoots. From here he has to make a conscious decision to end his own life every show which, if one believes in souls, robs the picture of the entire point of why he had the machine built in the first place - to be able to hear the applause himself and receive credit for his magic.
• Replicas appear at different areas throughout the film, based on the convenience of what needs to occur next in the plot. For instance, the duplicate hats and rabbits locate themselves at the same location, far away from the machine outside Telsa's house while Angier's first appears 15 feet away from him (which he shoots). Now, one can argue that humans are more complex than rabbits therefore would not travel as far, but to the same token rabbit replicas then should not travel the same distance as hats. Another argument would be that Telsa's last minute tinkering allowed the newly made machine to produce more proximal duplicates but then during his stage performances how did the "take a bow" Angiers appear 300 feet away up in the balcony?

-The blind stagehands were a nice touch when it comes to them not seeing the bodies. Nonetheless, you still have 100 bodies from 100 performances to dispose of which are not being found and/or piling up anywhere.

-Framing Borden (Bale) at the last performance of "The Transported Man" is just a string of coincidences. Somehow Angier had to know that Borden would come backstage, but only at this show. As a magician struggling to come to terms with his rival's trick, Borden was at the show many times before and could have easily slipped backstage courtesy of the blind stagehands at any one of them. Why Angier waited until the last show to set-up a frame is a pretty huge gamble on his part.

-The movie's polarity comes from Nolan making us believe that Borden and his brother were good and Angier was evil, so when one of the brothers is hung (and proudly I might add), there's this underwhelming sense that the Nolans could not come up with a more fitting conclusion.


And with that being said, I think I'll watch Oldboy

 

[Rocky]

-Framing Borden (Bale) at the last performance of "The Transported Man" is just a string of coincidences. Somehow Angier had to know that Borden would come backstage, but only at this show. As a magician struggling to come to terms with his rival's trick, Borden was at the show many times before and could have easily slipped backstage courtesy of the blind stagehands at any one of them. Why Angier waited until the last show to set-up a frame is a pretty huge gamble on his part.

Just a small thought but why did Angier know he was going to come backstage on this occasion. Surely it would have been the same result at the end of every performance with the duplicate going into the waterbox and therefore it was just a case of Angier knowing that inevitably Borden was going to appear at one of the shows and try to work out how he was doing it by going backstage and seeing what he thought was the real Angier apparently drowning.

And with that being said, I think I'll watch Oldboy

About time. Let me know what you think.
I've got Tenacious D or Glengarry Glenross to watch tonight. I know it's a no-brainer as to the better film but being tired I don't want to rob myself of enjoying Glengarry Glenross and may just take the easy viewing Tenacious D tonight.

 

[Line]

Just a small thought but why did Angier know he was going to come backstage on this occasion. Surely it would have been the same result at the end of every performance with the duplicate going into the waterbox and therefore it was just a case of Angier knowing that inevitably Borden was going to appear at one of the shows and try to work out how he was doing it by going backstage and seeing what he thought was the real Angier apparently drowning.

I know it doesn't really matter if I expand on this more due to all the other painful shortcomings of the film's final act, I'll just offer a few words. Angier could have never known for sure whether or not Borden was going to come backstage. I haven't watched the film in a little while and have since deleted it from my computer but if I'm not mistaken I thought I remembered other details concerning the last performance and coincidence (the axe being there perhaps, quick police response, not sure what else...it's been a little while).

About time. Let me know what you think.

Really enjoyed it. I see what you meant by Korean films blending somewhat over-the-top comedic moments with serious ones but Park handled it far, far better here than Bong did with The Host. Extremely well made, beautifully shot film which I have no major complaints about at all. It would certainly fall into my Top 100 somewhere.

I also just got back from Spider-Man 3. Talk about a blown opportunity. What started off as piece that took it's time developing characters and creating viable arcs ended up a mess by the second act when it's concern for needless multiple sub-plots completely overwhelmed Raimi. The rest is driven by conveniences that are hollow and annoying. By the end, the once calculated emotional tone began resorting to soap opera drama and there are several points throughout the film where you just want to throw your arms up in the air and say, "Come'on, they didn't really think this was a good idea, did they?"

**

 

[Rocky]

Glad you enjoyed Oldboy - although if you had not then I would have seriously wondered about you!

Shame about Spiderman 3. I'll still get it anyway as I have the others and even if I just take it as another popcorn film with larger holes in it than Chesty after a night on the town with his gay friends.

 

[Rocky]

Yeah, so I watched Tenacious D...
Passes the time I suppose.
Will be watching Glenngary Glenross tomorrow to make up for it.

I ordered 'The Princess Bride' today aswell.

 

[Rocky]

Who's seen Cronos?
I've found it cheap so think I might get it. I like his other films.

 

[Pain]

I'm gonna go watch Spiderman 3. Didn't like the first 2, hope the third is better.

Only comic to movie i liked wasThe Punisher, and that was horrible too.

 

[Line]

I'm gonna go watch Spiderman 3. Didn't like the first 2, hope the third is better.

You're fucked.

 

[Rocky]

Only comic to movie i liked wasThe Punisher, and that was horrible too.

Come on - the original Superman and Batman.

 

[Paulie]

Come on - the original Superman and Batman.

Great movies. Even Superman 2, one of my favs.

Punisher sucked ass.