Movie Reviews & Feedback etc.

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[b]GratefulFan wrote: [/b]Excellent movie weekend. Watched both The Descendants and Shame. Each great, though almost diametrically opposed in tone and character. Would recommend either, but you have to be in the mood for Shame. It's kind of slow and dark and grim and there is no real resolution. One of the most compelling scenes was the very last where Fassbender's talent is so evident through the almost micro differences in his face from a near identical earlier scene. And there was so much to like about The Descendants. I thought Clooney and the movie captured the complexities of family and human nature and obligation in moving and surprising ways. Criticism generally seems to centre around a sense that the characters are unlikable and unbelievable and the story too depressing, but to me it was just real the way life is, and ultimately hopeful even through cataclysmic loss and change.[/QUOTE]
Re Descendants, yes yes yes, totally spot on. Did Clooney really say "We're haole as fuck" or was I hearing things? lol! Hard to believe some Native Hawaiians are pissed off at this film. I thought it was very fair and didn't make the same mistakes as other cinemaic and tv portayals of Hawaii.

[QUOTE] [b]Holly2003 wrote:[/b]Re Descendants, yes yes yes, totally spot on. Did Clooney really say "We're haole as fuck" or was I hearing things? lol! Hard to believe some Native Hawaiians are pissed off at this film. I thought it was very fair and didn't make the same mistakes as other cinemaic and tv portayals of Hawaii.[/QUOTE]

I think it was "We're haole as shit", but essentially, yes. :)

In The Grey did you wait for the post credit final scene I mentioned in my review up thread? I wondered if they would leave that as it was - after interminable credits - on DVD. However assuming you saw it on DVD may be a lousy assumption.

I fast forwarded until that final scene. Still not quite sure how it ended though. Various reviews give different interpretations. The wolf's breathing (dying breath?) is a link to previous scenes where Neeson sat over a dying wolf and a dying plane passenger. But as we can't quite see clearly what's going on, it's hard to know who survived. I'll bet there were at least two final scenes shot and they went for the one which got the best test audience reception :)

My take was that neither would survive, which was in it's way a victory for Neeson's character. Thinking about this movie as I haven't done for some time I can recall viscerally the gloom I felt beginning as soon as I allowed in the previously unconsidered possibility that there would be nothing for anyone. The movie stuck to me for hours, and apparently still can in moments.

That makes sense. Both "pack leaders" mortally wounded and contemplating life and death. The film has a number of moments when it ponders how close the gap is betwen life and death. Why did some passengers die and some survive? One slips and hurts his ankle, which is enough to lead to his death a short time later. Another drowns an inch or two below the water. Neeson was seconds away from shooting himself. I suppose the film asks what's important in life, what is there to live for, and what do we leave behind (wallets, photos, memories?) I won't say the film's "deep" but it's certainly more ambitious than the average action flick.

ps I don't know if you get this programme in Canada but here's a clip that cracks me up of Liam Neeson doing deadpan comedy in Life's Too Short: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKTh7zBIcrM

That Liam Neeson thing made me laugh right out loud. I watched it twice and then spent another 20 minutes poking around other clips from the show. It's on HBO Canada apparently, but I'm not a subscriber currently. I don't know how it escaped me all these years, but Neeson appears to be a mildly gigantic human being. He looks about 6 and a half feet tall! He's always been a striking and compelling presence in his movies. Maybe his imposing size was always a part of that, but I just didn't notice for whatever reason.

It's funny...it truly never occurred to me in The Grey that he might have lived. If it had, it might have felt like a different movie to me. My heart sunk when the second to last guy just packed it in, and then when Neeson started with the wallets I was just struck dumb with dread and something almost like grief. I think I was waiting for the sound of a helicopter or something right until the end. I don't always need or want a Hollywood ending, but I couldn't easily accept the ultimate grim futility of it all. We work so hard to cling to our lives in the toughest of circumstances, and sometimes despite our best efforts it's just futile, and completely out of our control. Not as artful or insightful as your observations, but my emotional experience of the movie nonetheless.

As you say, the fact that it leaves one thinking about anything at all is a class above most action/adventure films. In the end, a good solid movie I'm glad I saw.

Guess nobody apart from us watches movies then :)

Watcha doin Saturuday night GF? I'll buy the popcorn :)

Course I'll be in the UK and you in Canada but still ...

;)

ps Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Daniel Craig version)is excellent. It is a bit of a slow burner but the plot is strong so it kept my attention. Some disturbing scenes though: don't watch with kids or vicar around.

pps Mission Impossible: Ghost Protoclo is excellent. I've never really liked the series that much and I generally can;t stand Tom Cruise but this is entertaining and has some humourous moments. Very enjoyable, leave-brain-at-door-and-enjoy-film-plus-improbably-large-kitkat movie.

[QUOTE] [b]Holly2003 wrote:[/b]
Guess nobody apart from us watches movies then :)

Watcha doin Saturuday night GF? I'll buy the popcorn :)

Course I'll be in the UK and you in Canada but still ...;)[/QUOTE]

It would be so sad! You'd be at the cinema and I'd be in a theatre and we'd never, ever find each other! And you'd have too much popcorn! My conviction that you'd be awfully fun to go to the movies with remains unshaken anyway. :)

I saw The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo in it's original subtitled version several months ago. I should check out the other just for interest. I haven't looked up if there was any substantial differences in treatment. It was enjoyable - riveting and tense - but what was almost something like underlying misandry throughout got uncomfortable at times. I mean every male character in that film was a predator of some kind, or so it seemed. Overall, definitely worthwhile.

Didn't see MI. I rewatched Winter's Bone last weekend. It's excellent and didn't get on the radar of many people. Well worth a watch. A tension driven and stomach clenching vision of backwoods America.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100616/REVIEWS/100619992

The Sitter - Jonah Hill. Very dull. I really like Jonah Hill. Superbad is really funny and he usually plays sympathrtic and likeable characters (which, from a grown-up p.o.v, is unusual in teen comedies). But this isn't funny and the plot is boring.

Cowboys and Aliens. Not quite as bad as it sounds. Mildly diverting action movie but don't expect anything deep, new or terribly exciting.

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I saw The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo in it's original subtitled version several months ago. I should check out the other just for interest. [/QUOTE]

The originals are better.  Both Michael Nyqvist & Noomi Rapace gave riveting performances, unlike their US counterparts... Daniel Craig & Rooney Mara.  

Later on, Rapace was great in Prometheus and Sherlock Holmes #2.

Prometheus is rubbish though. The plot can be summed up like this:

Find a ship

something bad happens

So return to their ship

something bad happens

so go back to the other ship

something bad happens

Go back to their own ship

something bad happens

Go back to the other ship: surely their luck must improve?

something bad happens

Quick, run back to their ship. Surely it must be safe now?

something bad happens

Go back to the alien ship. Maybe the neighbourhood has improved?

something bad happens

Maybe their ship wasn't so bad after all? Let's go back and find out

something bad happens

Did I leave my coat in the alien ship? I'll be back in a minute

something bad happens

Back again!

something bad happens

and so on until both ships are destroyed when something really bad happens

so ... let's find another ship. Which they do.

Surely nothing can go wrong with that one?

Well you wil have to wait for the sequel to find out.

[QUOTE] [b]GratefulFan wrote:[/b]
Desperately needed a laugh so went to see 'Ted' this weekend. Crass and crude and, yes, funny. Flash Gordon - the movie and the character - was a running theme so nice unexpected bonus hearing Flash's Theme here and there. [/QUOTE]

Although it's a little bit hit and miss, when it's funny it's REALLY funny. I was in tears at times. And the Flash Gordon/Sam Jones stuff was great! Also good to hear the soundtrack played very loudly!

Observe and Report.

Not very good, but it does at least have It's Late and The Hero as part of the soundtrack. Must be a Queen fan in there somewhere.

Ted has some of the songs from Flash Gordon in it.

[QUOTE] [b]Holly2003 wrote:[/b]
Observe and Report.
Not very good, but it does at least have It's Late and The Hero as part of the soundtrack. Must be a Queen fan in there somewhere.[/QUOTE]

Quite a good comedy, rare to get funny comedies
bad teacher was v good, don't think it had any queen music in it though or did it?.