Movies

[arcobaleno]

I watched Man of Steel yesterday with my parents (they bought it Saturday, but didn't get around to watching it yet). I enjoyed it, and the CG was pretty spectactular! I know a lot of people complained about Amy Adams not being dark-haired, but I think she made a pretty decent Lois.
 
It's definitely more "darker and edgier" than the Superman movies from the 70s that I watched with dad when I was younger, but I think they pulled it off pretty well.
 
Of course, I did have to tease mom since she was practically drooling over Henry Cavill :P
 
Somehow, I still can't get over how odd Superman's outfit looks without the red underwear. Even though it looks like an actual suit now, it still seems so wrong lol

[star]

I went to see Catching Fire today with Quentin.
People were saying that it was terrible and I may have held it to that because of the slight errors they made in the first movie, but they were wrong; it was good. Its a two and a half hour movie, but it goes by very quick. Its been awhile since I read the book, so the details are a little fuzzy, but almost everything was included except for the part towards the beginning where Katniss is trying on wedding dresses and small things like that. I remember in the book, it took them forever to figure things out in the arena, but for the sake of time they figured them out very quickly in the movie, which bothered me because some of the events seemed a little rushed. I also feel like a few of the tributes that aren't really focused on in the book get killed off a lot sooner, but they didn't contribute to the story as it was, so its not really that big of a deal.
Who else has seen it??
 

[sheikhyerbutay]

Me and Mrs. Shiekh watched Gravity a few weeks ago.   We saw it in IMax 3D.  WOW!!!  It was our first film ever in IMAX 3D and it was a real wild ride!  You will love this, if you are into space movies.
 
We sat close enough the screen took up most of our field of vision.  Once the movie bagan it became all encompassing. 
 
At the movie's apex, Mrs. Sheikh reached over and squeezed my hand really tight.  I thought it was kinda romantic of her.  You know, like when we first dated?  Walking out of the theater she said at that moment the simulated weightlessness was so real it was making her dizzy!  So much for romance!  Haha.
 
About that same time in the movie, the action was very intense and the simulated weightlessness had an effect on me too.  I was not dizzy.  Instead, I had the sensation of the movie screen floating on the ceiling.  I knew it was on the wall in front of me, but it still felt like it was on the ceiling.  It was great!!!!! 
 
There were a few bullshit moments.   But mostly it was  awsome!!  Sandra Bullock proved she still has what it takes for a major motion picture.  She also proved she still has a very hot bod!  Un-huh!
 
<img height="300" src="http://cdn.screenrant.com/wp-content/up ... ravity.jpg" title="New Gravity Images Show George Clooney and Sandra Bullock in the Ultimate Wilderness" width="570" alt="Sandra-Bullock-in-Gravity.jpg">
 
 
S
 
 

[showraniy]

I like you, Sheikh. Welcome. :P

[arcobaleno]

I'm going to drag mom to Gravity someday, I promise that. I want to see this so baaaaaaaad.
 
I like you, too! Stay forever~

[sheikhyerbutay]

[quote="showraniy"]
I like you, Sheikh. Welcome. :P
[/quote]
Showraniy, that is the nicest thing anyone has said to me all day.  Thank you!
 
Arcobaleno, Thank you too!!  (I don't know how to do a multiple quote after I posted the first one yet). 
 
Damn!  I hit the jackpot today!

[Ap2000]

I just saw the trailer for the worst Hollywood movie of 2014:
http://www.gamestar.de/videos/trailer,86/best-night-ever,72941.html

[arcobaleno]

Just finished watching The Conjuring with my parents, and honestly, I expected wayyyyy more from all the hype it was getting.

Not bad, but I don't think it's the second coming of horror movies, myself.

[al kusanagi]

Watched Catching Fire tonight. I liked it. Nowhere near as derivative as the first, and crazy axe chick was hot.

[star]

Yeah, Quentin just looked at me like I was crazy when I didn't cover his eyes when Joanna was getting undressed, even though there was nothing to see.

[Ap2000]

So it's not a shaky cam teenage angst galore anymore ?
 
 
EDIT:

How do you not make a Hercules movie ?
1) by not including Kevin Sorbo in any way.
2) by not focusing on Greek mythology.
3) by focusing on some love interest.
4) by making it like an absolutely generic and uninspired Gladiator and 300 rip-off.
 
Here's the trailer for this borefest:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBq1AupSrLI

[Sabaku Ika]

[quote="Al Kusanagi"]
Watched Catching Fire tonight. I liked it. Nowhere near as derivative as the first, and crazy axe chick was hot.
[/quote]
I just got back from this. Your impressions are much like mine. Therefore, I will not add to them.

[aine]

We went to the Rebuild of Evangelion Marathon. It was fun. I didn't think about it before, but it was actually my first movie marathon (in a proper theatre that is). It's just as well that it was with one of my favourite franchises ever.

I watched Evangelion 1.0 before, and it was just as it was - a somewhat rushed remake of the first half of the original TV series. It was made and animated from scratch so it actually looked up to date and quite sexy - nothing like the TV series clip show that the Evangelion:DEATH movie was. Whether it was enjoyable was another question. If you watched the TV series a few times too much and knew it by heart you would be both annoyed by all the stuff they left out as well as by the time it took to get to actually new content. If you were completely new to the franchise you would probably have little idea what the hell was going on. I can only speculate about the latter case, but I really don't feel it's that effective for someone unfamiliar with the story and characters. But as an eye candy, it's delicious.

Evangelion 2.0 - turns out I must have seen it before too, because I remember Asuka from Rebuild and she only appears in this part. I didn't remember anything else though. It was much better than 1.0 in terms of being a story in its own right. After the rushed plot of 1.0 this one actually gets some proper character development and you start getting attached to them, however I'm still iffy about the plot rushing and the changes from the original storyline they made. However, towards the end it turns into that emotional rollercoaster that we all loved Evangelion for so overall I was pretty satisfied and optimistic about the third instalment.

That is, Evangelion 3.0. I'm gonna spoiler it since it's relatively new and it's hard to talk about it without revealing some major plot points. The first few minutes had me stare at the screen with the "wtf am I watching" face, and not in the good sense. Misato et al turned into some ridiculous rag-tag Captain Herlock-like crew of a flying fortress must have been a joke, right? They would soon reveal that it was something dumb, like Shinji watching a movie-within-a-movie about himself, a la original Macross series, right? No, it was what it was. An alternate, 15-years-later reality, with the characters completely disconnected from their previous selves, and rather unlikeable now too. I know that complaining about over-the-top plot twists in Evangelion context is risky, but it made me lose my suspension of disbelief almost completely. And there was nothing to care about - the Earth and human race is basically entirely fucked and the characters are unlike themselves (well, except Shinji). The only thing this movie is good at is being fanservice for Kaworu fangirls. And I'm not mentioning the new character Mari on purpose - she felt shoe-horned into 2.0 and she was still useless and unnecessary in 3.0. It's probably too much to ask for, but I really hope they will somehow retcon this whole mess of a movie out of existence in 4.0. WTF, Anno.

On the technical side, the first two movies were played from 35mm film. The copies were clearly used, but not faded or anything, just a little dusty or scratched in places. The sound would occasionally glitch or - I think - switch between 2.0 and 5.1 channels. Annoying, but not really distracting except during the Tsubasa wo kudasai sequence where it made the clear song vocal hiccup way too often.

3.0 was played from a digital copy - and not a good one. I didn't have a chance to ask and confirm, but I suspect it was BluRay, because frankly it looked like shit when blown up to a theatre screen size. Gone was the detail and subtle film grain of the first two movies, instead we had the overly smooth, low resolution something. With distracting ringing artefacts around contrasty edges and awful, awful chroma compression of reds. Now think of Unit 02 and all the bright red screens so common in Evangelion and you'll know why I wanted to gouge my eyes out every so often. I don't know if 3.0 was even distributed on film at all, but I wish they had at least secured a proper cinematic 4k copy.

The house was almost full. Full of mostly nerdy types. I didn't really see anyone looking like an innocent moviegoer. A shame really, because I always have the urge to share the gospel with new people - especially after so many of them wet their pants over Pacific Rim. Instead we had one Ayanami cosplayer who, from what I've seen, has been wearing the same costume (with a very shiny, reflective wig in a bad shade of blue - I forgot to turn around after the lights went out to check if it glows in the dark) for the last few years to various Japan-related events in the neighbourhood. When we re-entered the theatre after a pee break before the third movie it smelled of body odour and farts, but that was a given. It was general admittance so we cautiously left our jackets in our (pretty good) seats. Many other people didn't which resulted in a few minor that's-my-seat scuffles. A bit of an organizational blunder really. Still, Lighthouse Cinema is a cool venue, very modern but at the same time full of a small studio/discussion club theatre atmosphere.

But I ramble. It was a great afternoon overall. I hope they pick up the pace with 4.0, maybe this will put my misgivings about 3.0 to rest.

[Ap2000]

[quote="aine"]
 
I watched Evangelion 1.0 before, and it was just as it was - a somewhat rushed remake of the first half of the original TV series. It was made and animated from scratch so it actually looked up to date and quite sexy - nothing like the TV series clip show that the Evangelion:DEATH movie was. Whether it was enjoyable was another question. If you watched the TV series a few times too much and knew it by heart you would be both annoyed by all the stuff they left out as well as by the time it took to get to actually new content. If you were completely new to the franchise you would probably have little idea what the hell was going on. I can only speculate about the latter case, but I really don't feel it's that effective for someone unfamiliar with the story and characters. But as an eye candy, it's delicious.

Evangelion 2.0 - turns out I must have seen it before too, because I remember Asuka from Rebuild and she only appears in this part. I didn't remember anything else though. It was much better than 1.0 in terms of being a story in its own right. After the rushed plot of 1.0 this one actually gets some proper character development and you start getting attached to them, however I'm still iffy about the plot rushing and the changes from the original storyline they made. However, towards the end it turns into that emotional rollercoaster that we all loved Evangelion for so overall I was pretty satisfied and optimistic about the third instalment.
[/quote]

Have I ever linked you my review of Rebuild 2 ?
http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=animeatt&attid=7418

[aine]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Ap2000" data-cid="167666" data-time="1385855239"><blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="aine" data-cid="167665" data-time="1385854533">Evangelion 2.0 - turns out I must have seen it before too, because I remember Asuka from Rebuild and she only appears in this part. I didn't remember anything else though. It was much better than 1.0 in terms of being a story in its own right. After the rushed plot of 1.0 this one actually gets some proper character development and you start getting attached to them, however I'm still iffy about the plot rushing and the changes from the original storyline they made. However, towards the end it turns into that emotional rollercoaster that we all loved Evangelion for so overall I was pretty satisfied and optimistic about the third instalment.</blockquote>Have I ever linked you my review of Rebuild 2 ?
http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=animeatt&attid=7418</blockquote>
You haven't. Judging from your review of 2.0 and my feelings about 3.0, you would probably walk out of 3.0 screening.

The more I think about Rebuild, the more pointless it seems. It's always been Evangelion's greatest tragedy that it's so inaccessible to casual viewers. I consider End of Evangelion one of the greatest achievements in filmmaking, but to understand and appreciate it one must sit through the 26 episodes of the TV series. And that's just too much to ask for of most people, especially ones with no interest in anime. I was hoping Rebuild would change that, but it doesn't - it's just confusing and meaningless to everyone else, and annoying and disappointing to actual Evangelion fans. End of Evangelion was the perfect conclusion and it should have been left at that.

I agree with most of your review, however not with one thing:
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote">Why does one of the scenes where Asuka’s lying in her bed has to start with an ass-shot ? Did I miss anything in the original show by not seeing this ? Absolutely not.</blockquote>
I LOVED that shot, and believe it or not, not for sexual reasons (really, I don't even like Asuka in general). First thing, Anno is a genius of composition and framing. There are hardly any scenes in the movie that are just shots of what's going on. Each scene is composed so carefully and works so well on purely visual level - be it with simple symmetry, or the relation of one object or person to another, or by the absence of something in the scene. I cry inside every time I realize I'll never be anywhere near his level. Anyway, this scene is such an eye candy and not because it's Asuka's ass, but because it's so masterfully composed. And second, more important - it's really powerful in developing Asuka's character. Better than hours of dialogue could be. After only seeing her external mask before now we get to see her exposed and fragile. Innocent and at the same time subtly erotic. In other words - humane. Behind the wall that she's built for herself, she's just a human being.

Yes, if it was up to me, I'd give this two seconds long, two cut shot of Asuka's ass every Art Direction award there is.

[Shoujo Q]

Godzilla!
 
I'm hoping for the best. 

[Ap2000]

[quote="Shoujo Q"]
Godzilla!
 
I'm hoping for the best. 
[/quote]
 
 
Is this the long-awaited sequel to the 1998 United States of America's masterpiece monster movie ?

When did Elizabeth Olsen get so damn hot ?
Ken Watanabe playing the mandatory semi-important Japanese side character again...

[aine]

Peter O'Toole passed away.

[michisings]

That is so sad. I personally haven't seen Lawrence of Arabia yet, but I have a lot of respect for him. 

[Sabaku Ika]

[quote="michisings"]
I personally haven't seen Lawrence of Arabia yet, but I have a lot of respect for him. 
[/quote]
Nor have I. It is one of those films I know I must watch eventually and the death of it's main actor might get me to do that. RIP

[Madara]

Sir Run Run Shaw, the Chinese mogul who ran Hong Kong's Shaw Bros. studio for many decades, died at 106 on Tuesday.
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/07/movies/run-run-shaw-movie-mogul-seen-as-creator-of-kung-fu-genre-dies-at-106.html?_r=1&
 
I've seen hundreds of Shaw Bros. movies, including many famous kung fu movies. The studio's heyday was the late 1950s to the mid-1980s when they switched over primarily to TV production and churned out dozens of popular Hong Kong TV series, which then made it to video rental shops in Chinatowns all over the world. I have one of their series, "Legend of the Condor Heroes."
 
 
 

[Madara]

Last night I went to a screening of a new Japanese film by Hirokazu Koreeda called LIKE FATHER LIKE SON. It's about two couples who find that their sons, both five-years-old, were switched at birth. Do they keep them or exchange them? Complicating matters is the fact that one couple is affluent--the husband has a high-level corporate job at a development firm and expects his son to be high-achieving also--and the other couple is lower-middle class, with a slacker husband and a wife who works part-time in a takeout restaurant. Class differences abound. How does it all play out in this two-hour drama? Very carefully and subtly, following each character through the changes they undergo through all of this, including key scenes from the P-O-V's of the boys. No easy answers. No cheap shots. No decks stacked against any of the characters. Great acting all around, but the two boys are quite remarkable. Why can't Hollywood dramas be like this? The director has made a number of  arthouse hits, e.g. MABOROSI, DISTANCE, STILL WALKING, HANA and NOBODY KNOWS (about siblings abandoned in an apartment by their mother). I haven't seen any of them but now I want to.
 

[aine]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Madara" data-cid="169642" data-time="1389371315">The director has made a number of  arthouse hits, e.g. MABOROSI, DISTANCE, STILL WALKING, HANA and NOBODY KNOWS (about siblings abandoned in an apartment by their mother). I haven't seen any of them but now I want to.</blockquote>
I had Still Walking lying around for the longest time but never got around to watching it - on our movie nights we're usually in the mood for more mindless entertainment rather than 2deep4u dramas. But I'll try to give it a spin. 
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Madara" data-cid="169498" data-time="1389181255">Sir Run Run Shaw, the Chinese mogul who ran Hong Kong's Shaw Bros. studio for many decades, died at 106 on Tuesday.</blockquote>
I saw the headlines about this, but didn't realize he was this old. Pretty remarkable.

[Madara]

Tribute to Run Run Shaw on my film blog:
 
http://briandanacamp.wordpress.com/2014/01/12/in-memoriam-sir-run-run-shaw-1907-2014/#more-1569
 
Some characteristic shots:


 
And the kind of thing the studio's probably more famous for in the west:

[sheikhyerbutay]

[quote="Madara"]
Tribute to Run Run Shaw on my film blog:
 
http://briandanacamp.wordpress.com/2014/01/12/in-memoriam-sir-run-run-shaw-1907-2014/#more-1569
 

 
[/quote]
 
Wow.  Madara, how did you manage to keep all those flyers for so long?
 
I saw a few of those Hong Kong movies back in the day.  There was some really great fight scenes in them.
 
RIP Run Run.

 

[Madara]

[quote="sheikhyerbutay"]
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Madara" data-cid="169750" data-time="1389570098">
<div>
Tribute to Run Run Shaw on my film blog:
 
http://briandanacamp.wordpress.com/2014/01/12/in-memoriam-sir-run-run-shaw-1907-2014/#more-1569
 

 
[/quote]
 
Wow.  Madara, how did you manage to keep all those flyers for so long?
 
I saw a few of those Hong Kong movies back in the day.  There was some really great fight scenes in them.
 
RIP Run Run.

 
 
</div>
</blockquote>
 
Foresight, my brother, foresight.

[sheikhyerbutay]

[quote="Madara"]
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="sheikhyerbutay" data-cid="169757" data-time="1389601759">
<div>
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Madara" data-cid="169750" data-time="1389570098">
<div>
Tribute to Run Run Shaw on my film blog:
 
http://briandanacamp.wordpress.com/2014/01/12/in-memoriam-sir-run-run-shaw-1907-2014/#more-1569
 

 
[/quote]
 
Wow.  Madara, how did you manage to keep all those flyers for so long?
 
I saw a few of those Hong Kong movies back in the day.  There was some really great fight scenes in them.
 
RIP Run Run.

 
 
</div>
</blockquote>
 
Foresight, my brother, foresight.
 
</div>
</blockquote>
 
I am honored.


 

[Ap2000]

Philip Seymour Hoffman died, possibly from a heroin overdose.
Another person lost to drugs.

[aine]

Shirley Temple passed away.

I don't think I saw a single movie with her, though her name has always been in my mind as one of those unquestionable film stars of old. Maybe I'll try watching one of them one day, but I wonder if they will have the same charm and impact these days that people talk about.

And there's more obituary talk than film talk on this page of the thread.


Anyway, a while ago we watched 47 Ronin. I don't really understand why it was so panned by everyone, it was a very well filmed and well acted re-relling of Chushingura. It was almost classical (as in conservative) in its approach, so perhaps it didn't meet the expectations of those waiting for all the modern action film tropes. The almost exclusively Japanese cast did a great job in what's otherwise still a Western movie. Kou Shibasaki grew at least 100x prettier since her Battle Royale and other early day titles. Rinko Kikuchi of Pacific Rim fame is now the Japanese Helena Bohnam-Carter in my mind after her Witch impersonation. Strawberry thought that Jin Akanishi was hot and later she cried when she found out he's part of Johnny's. I just don't understand why they put Zombie Boy on the posters since he was on screen for some 30 seconds or less. Worth seeing if you can still catch it anywhere, just avoid the useless 3D version which unfortunately was the only one offered here.

[Ap2000]

[quote="aine"]

Anyway, a while ago we watched 47 Ronin. I don't really understand why it was so panned by everyone, it was a very well filmed and well acted re-relling of Chushingura.
[/quote]
 

Judging by the trailer I saw, it looks like a complete destruction of the original story.
Not just because of the fantasy stuff they threw in, but because they had to bring an "Asian looking" white guy into the story, to have those poor Japanese people.