What DVD / Video did you watch last night? (pt3)

[Reno]

Actually, my "It's complicated on Facebook" met Taylor once and didn't come away thinking "this is a spoilt child in a woman's body". That was just the one time, of course.

The film showed that she could be charming and gracious in the right frame of mind but she was volatile and she could turn in a second, which seems true from what I've read about her.

Of the major female film stars Taylor was one whose appeal I never quite got. In the 50s I found her an OK actress, but no more. By the mid-60s, she had turned into a very good actress even if she didn't have many good films in her after Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf ? When I was a kid the media referred to her as the most beautiful woman in the world, which seemed a lot to live up to and just made me wonder, what about Grace Kelly/ Ava Gardener/Gene Tierney. etc ?

 

[Idris2002]

The film showed that she could be charming and gracious in the right frame of mind but she was volatile and she could turn in a second, which seems true from what I've read about her.

Of the major female film stars Taylor was one whose appeal I never quite got. In the 50s I found her an OK actress, but no more. By the mid-60s, she had turned into a very good actress even if she didn't have many good films in her after Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf ? When I was a kid the media referred to her as the most beautiful woman in the world, which seemed a lot to live up to and just made me wonder and what about Grace Kelly/ Ava Gardener/Gene Tierney. etc ?

Even in her still photos Ava G. radiated a one-two sucker-punch sex appeal. Don't think Elizabeth T. could have been accused of that. My ICOF also met ET while the latter was promoting her own brand of perfume, so presumably she would have been on her best behaviour.

 

[Firky]

I have Oblivion to watch this evening probably cack but we'll see.

 

[Kidda]

Finally got round to 'The Dark Knight Rises'.

Not bad, it wasn't 'dark' in the slightest which had been putting me off watching it as I didn't want a miserable film like The Dark Knight was.
Thought the ending was really good.

Have Malcolm X and Catch me if you can to crack on with at some point.

 

[Orang Utan]

Actually, my "It's complicated on Facebook" met Taylor once and didn't come away thinking "this is a spoilt child in a woman's body". That was just the one time, of course.

My mother is Elizabeth Taylor and she is lovely

 

[Reno]

My mother is Elizabeth Taylor and she is lovely

She was your mother.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

Malcolm X

Only film I ever saw at the cinema that had an interval....

 

[Meh O'Naise]

Ok, what was the point of the eventuality that he could have waited a few minutes and not needed to do as he did? I can't see a link to a theme of earlier impulsiveness, for example. Seems like a cheap shock.

I think you entirely missed the point of the ending. Its got nothing to do with the theme of earlier impulsiveness, by the way.

The book ends them with them just driving into the distance, unresolved. The film?

Spoiler

He's seen how everyone else has died - horribly, painfully, being eaten alive by the monsters (which incidentally, came from a dimensional portal opened in the Army base, Stargate Style. Which happens offscreen).

The car runs out of petrol. They can't run any further. They hear the noises in the background, but with the eponymous mist, he can't see what is coming. By the time whatever caused that noise gets there, it will be too late, the distance of vision is too small.

He wants to spare his child a painful, horrible death. he wants to spare the other survivors the same. They decide to take their own lives, to meet death at a time of their choosing. To also save his child the pain, and fear, and inevitability. To make it quick, and painless. And to prepare in the way everyone else hasn't .

he counts the number of bullets. He realises they are one short. one of them will have to face that agonising, monster death. So they take their own lives. One bullet at a time.

The rumbling out of the darkness increases, and then comes into view. it is the army, rescuing survivors, having killed the monsters

Thats the tragedy. he tried to do the right thing to spare pain and an agonizing death, based on whatever information they had available to them at the time. if he had waited a few minutes, they would not have been able to meet death in their own way, rather than being ripped apart alive.

Thats not a cheat. They gave up hope, and died.

Thats why it works. As an ending its a magnificent subversion of every cliche you'd expect, and bold. You expect everyone to be torn apart in an ocean of gore. And thats not what you get. It defied people expectations in a realistic and believable way.

As for the use of DCD - that piece of music is altered for the film with an additional mid part where it significantly deviates from the original. I loathe that. But the use of it is to heighten the effect that these creatures are both graceful and bizarre, as well as to heighten the sense of foreboding.

Compared to the likes of the usual King Schlock-fest - Mick Garris, Rick Rosenthal etc. etc. - The Mist is probably the best king film since...Dead Zone (1983). (Im not counting Shawshank, its not a horror film).

I don't consider it a homage to 50's style hammy horror movies - its a take upon the same premise but taken seriously and played in a completely different style to the usual "Monster of The Week" bollocks.

 

[pissflaps]

i watched that 'only god forgives', and now i have cancer.

 

[butchersapron]

I knew some good would come of it. btw using simpsons lines without attribution. Not good.

 

[pissflaps]

hi! fuck off thank you good bye!

 

[Orang Utan]

She was your mother.

She will always be my mother

 

[Part 2]

I've not been watching many films, hot weather and all that but night before last watched Between the Canals. Frances Lengel recommended it.

Sorry Frances, it was rubbish.

 

[Yata]

Just watched Oblivion, The Internship, Pacific Rim and saw Killing Season the other day. One of these films was actually decently watchable... starting to run out of movies to watch :S

 

[Idris2002]

Searching for Sugarman.

This is the documentary about the Detroit singer/songwriter who, unknown to himself, became a cult hero to politically-conscious South African youth in the last decades of the apartheid regime.

And it's as good as you've heard it is.

 

[redsquirrel]

Broken.

Sort of a modern take on To Kill a Mockingbird. Great film!

Spoiler

Ending was sort of a let down though with the odd fantasy church scenes

Stupid, horrible film, particularly so considering the book.

 

[Reno]

Just watched Oblivion, The Internship, Pacific Rim and saw Killing Season the other day. One of these films was actually decently watchable... starting to run out of movies to watch :S

Are we supposed to guess which one ?

 

[pissflaps]

and i watched 'The Mist' based on this forum's recommendation. Grim.

/like an extended episode of the walking dead - for obvious reasons.

 

[Yata]

Are we supposed to guess which one ?

well its obvious isnt it?

 

[Reno]

well its obvious isnt it?

There is no accounting for people's tastes here, so no it's not.

 

[Yata]

There is no accounting for people's tastes here, so no it's not.

yet another tom cruise is the messiah movie, transformers spinoff, travolta doing his best borat impression or bloody owen wilson. would be shameful of me to admit which one i liked

 

[Reno]

yet another tom cruise is the messiah movie, transformers spinoff, travolta doing his best borat impression or bloody owen wilson. would be shameful of me to admit which one i liked

It's getting less obvious by the second then.

 

[DotCommunist]

Iron Man 3. A little too much wisecracking overall but otherwise quite good.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

Jack Reacher - It felt really dated and a bit like a dull episode of CSI. I don't know much about the Reacher character, but Cruise interpreted him as fairly bland.

I liked that it wasn't full of big action sequences, but as a thriller it wasn't all that thrilling.

 

[Virtual Blue]

Jack Reacher - It felt really dated and a bit like a dull episode of CSI. I don't know much about the Reacher character, but Cruise interpreted him as fairly bland.

I liked that it wasn't full of big action sequences, but as a thriller it wasn't all that thrilling.

I forgot I saw that.
Jack Reacher is essentially a modern day Sherlock Holmes - problem with that is that Cruise's interpretation lacked charisma or a sense of humour.

 

[Reno]

Jack Reacher - It felt really dated and a bit like a dull episode of CSI. I don't know much about the Reacher character, but Cruise interpreted him as fairly bland.

I liked that it wasn't full of big action sequences, but as a thriller it wasn't all that thrilling.

It was watchable enough if thoroughly unmemorable. While she didn't have much of a role here, I really like Rosamund Pike. She is an actor who will nudge me towards watching a film I probably wouldn't otherwise.

 

[Firky]

Casting Cruise as Reacher was a joke from the start. Reacher is supposed to be a 6'7" brick shit house bad ass with a craggy face. So they cast a half pint pretty boy.

Talking of Cruise I watched Oblivion last night... may contain spoilers:

A film made for good sound systems, large HD screens and dramatic scenery. It looks and sounds fantastic, some of the landscape shots and sets are brilliant and highly realistic. There's a scene which looks like it could have been shot in the Aral sea; huge skeletons of ships and submarines in a dead landscape. Scenes of him flying through a storm in a spherical aircraft type thing are

Then there is the film it's self... the first 30 / 40 minutes is all about building the world, the scene, the monotony of daily life waiting for release from service which immediately makes you think, "this is a bit like Moon" - then a short while later you can see exactly where the film is going to go and it does, but it goes even further with the most cack handed ending I've seen for sometime. All the major twists and turns you can see coming a mile off. Especially the ending. I couldn't believe they actually went for that ending it is so obvious, you now it's coming half way through the film. It really does insult your intelligence!

 

[maya]

:
Sitting Target (1972)- Oliver Reed, Ian McShane, Jill St.John.

I'd never heard of this film, so had no specific expectations- except that Oliver Reed is usually a good sign, according to moi... He was more than decent here.

Hardboiled gangster plot: Two convicts plan their escape from prison and flee the country, but one of them (Reed) hears rumours that his wife (played by Jill St.John) has been having an affair and is now pregnant by another man- Furious, he plans his revenge (thereby delaying their flight after the successful prison escape). But- a rather stern, a bit mousey police inspector (played by Edward Woodward! ) is on the case, following their trail in a cat-and-mouse(sic) game as Reed's character becomes more and more reckless in his thirst for revenge.

What I liked most about this film is the steadily build-up of psychological tension- Some of the lengthier dialogue scenes can be a bit too meh for my attention span used to modern day fast-paced action, but there's some incredible "experimental" scenes whenever the character is in psychological turmoil, and the way they've filmed it is just . Those bits looks very visually modern- Grainy, often slow motion handheld(?) moving camera, zooming back and forth until you're almost seasick- as anodyne an comparision it is, what first came to mind were those Super 8 segments in early Lonely Planet documentaries (which felt very fresh and new when people started using that filming style, since it introduces a sort of intimacy and almost emotional response from the viewer- the footage looks much more personal). That sort of experimental style was very common in the late 60s/70s, and ahead of it's time.

Anyway... Won't unleash more spoilers, but it's definitely worth checking out- I enjoyed it from start to finish. Grading: A Very Good Film.

 

[Grandma Death]

I need to give the new Dredd a watch, heard mostly positive things about it. Plus there's a campaign to get a sequel made, which 2000AD have endorsed.

Its close the strip. He never takes his helmet off and hes ruthless as hell in it. I thought the movie was slightly style over substance-and the style itself is well done. It is really violent in places.

 

[inva]

Underground
Very entertaining silent film with some quite good bits of humour to it. I thought the score worked well too.