Films Recently Watched

[sheatheman]

The Master 8.5/10

 

Equally as brilliant as There Will be Blood, and equally as maddening. My favorite thing about Paul Thomas Anderson is the way he uses soundtracks.

 

Joaquin Phoenix's character is a drifter in the film, and he has this amazing theme, these meandering, contrapuntal, apocalyptic flutes that fade in and out of audibility.

 

thx u plees. i've been pleasure-delaying this one, but now you've got me so worked up with your gushing review, i'll likely burst

 

u wont regret it troodruth

[ghOsty]

Watched "Looper" in the theatre the other night, I enjoyed it, cool concepts, good story, good acting... The only thing that slightly irked me was that JGL doesn't really look like a young Bruce Willis, but if you allow yourself to get past that and just enjoy the movie, it's a good action/sci-fi. Def, worth watching.

 

Other's on IMDB have said there's flaws in the concepts, but I think some of the movie went over a lot of people's heads due to lack of paying attention. If you pay attention in the beginning it explains all the logic of the course of actions pretty well.

[sheatheman]

Watched "Looper" in the theatre the other night, I enjoyed it, cool concepts, good story, good acting... The only thing that slightly irked me was that JGL doesn't really look like a young Bruce Willis, but if you allow yourself to get past that and just enjoy the movie, it's a good action/sci-fi. Def, worth watching.

 

Other's on IMDB have said there's flaws in the concepts, but I think some of the movie went over a lot of people's heads due to lack of paying attention. If you pay attention in the beginning it explains all the logic of the course of actions pretty well.

 

 

i didn't enjoy looper. i was fun in the beginning, but they really didn't know what they had with paul dano. he should have played a more major part. and there are some pretty major flaws, one scene in particular involving amputation, which was just done because someone thought it was a cool time travel idea, but really makes no sense.

 

sorry to disagree on every turn, but i actually thought they did a pretty good job with the prosthetics. i was watching the siege with denzel washington and bruce willis, and there is this one profile shot of Bruce Willis where he looks exactly like JGL. I think it has to do with how the prosthetics were made. I'm assuming it was aided by a 3D scan of bruce willis' magnificent head, and the profile is the easiest feature to copy as its details are basically two dimensional.

[Guest Frankie5fingers]

Watched "Looper" in the theatre the other night, I enjoyed it, cool concepts, good story, good acting... The only thing that slightly irked me was that JGL doesn't really look like a young Bruce Willis, but if you allow yourself to get past that and just enjoy the movie, it's a good action/sci-fi. Def, worth watching.

ive been meaning to see that. but i never got around to it cause i always get a bit nervous with time movies. they usually suck cause they overdue the time traveling concept and things get so confusing and is filled with plot holes.

was looper like that or is it just bam, Bruce Willis is back in time and the plot goes on from there? i really don't want to see something where its jumping back and forth between different time periods.

[awepittance]

maybe some of those who saw looper can answer my questions a few posts back. A lot of the story elements seemed undeveloped and left a lot of unanswered questions.

 

 

 

 

And if dead bodies are so hard to dispose of why did the rainmakers goons just shoot the Bruce Willis older version's girlfriend in broad daylight? The plot holes weren't the fun kind either like 'how is Reese john conners father if he sent reese back in time', they just seemed unintentional and sort of frustrating.. I give it a 7/10, it would be a 9/10 if the 3rd act was something more interesting than a quasi Akira homage. The whole 'kid is the rainmaker' thing was just very uninteresting to me, and it seemed like whoever wrote it thought it would be ultra clever to turn upsidedown the terminator plot, that they actually need to kill this kid before he grows up instead of save it. I found it sort of boring. If the kid is a telekinetic 'freak' who can explode bodies, why would he need to send his 'hits' back in time to be killed? I didnt get that at all, and maybe they were trying t imply that he was 'closing all the loops' because a Looper killed his mom, but even so it still doesnt explain why time travel was used in a coherent or interesting way. It was like after the prologue they just never mentioned the reasoning behind it or elaborate on it anymore. In Terminator 1 they do a great job of expanding on Reese's flashbacks and explanation to Sarah in the police station where the doctor asks him 'but why this elaborate plot with the terminator'. and Reese says, 'we already beat them, it was the only way they could win' (by sending someone back in time to kill sarah), The movie started out extremely promising though. I guess i was expecting something with a little more head fuckery ala Primer, in that aspect it did not deliver. On the plus side best Bruce Willis performance in ages, but like all his movies in the last decade it felt a tad phoned in. And they never really explained why the Jeff Daniels character was from the future, what was his purpose? If was from the future wouldn't his memories be effected by 'new' actions being performed by Bruce Willis coming back into the past, and if so why did he just act like a sitting duck to be shootup by one dude with a few machine guns? I understand that movies like this are supposed to have time paradoxes, i just dont think the writer accounted for all the missing blank spots in the story construction or if he did they were cut out of the movie

 

edit: just realized another strange element, why if 'closing the loops' was so important did they send back the assassins future self to get killed by the younger self? why not just send them to other people. Ie: have JGL close Paul Dano's loop and vice versa? It really makes no sense

 

 

Edited October 28, 2012 by Awepittance

[Squee]

The Comedy - I don't know/10?

 

I actually liked it, but it didn't really go anywhere. It was like watching 10 short films with Tim Heidecker being a depressed dick.

[autopilot]

scene where Ned Beatty lectures Howard Beale. Then, for me, the film became tops.

yes!!!

 

 

Arthur Jensen: [bellowing] You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I won't have it! Is that clear? You think you've merely stopped a business deal. That is not the case! The Arabs have taken billions of dollars out of this country, and now they must put it back! It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity! It is ecological balance! You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no third worlds. There is no West. There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multivariate, multinational dominion of dollars. Petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars, reichmarks, rins, rubles, pounds, and shekels. It is the international system of currency which determines the totality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today. That is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of things today! And YOU have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and YOU... WILL... ATONE!

Arthur Jensen: [calmly] Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale? You get up on your little twenty-one inch screen and howl about America and democracy. There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM, and ITT, and AT&T, and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those *are* the nations of the world today. What do you think the Russians talk about in their councils of state, Karl Marx? They get out their linear programming charts, statistical decision theories, minimax solutions, and compute the price-cost probabilities of their transactions and investments, just like we do. We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale. The world is a college of corporations, inexorably determined by the immutable bylaws of business. The world is a business, Mr. Beale. It has been since man crawled out of the slime. And our children will live, Mr. Beale, to see that... perfect world... in which there's no war or famine, oppression or brutality. One vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock. All necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused. And I have chosen you, Mr. Beale, to preach this evangel.

 

 

bam.

 

i need to sample that.

[Salvatorin]

The Comedy - I don't know/10?

I actually liked it, but it didn't really go anywhere. It was like watching 10 short films with Tim Heidecker being a depressed dick.

I just watched it. I would also give it a big ?/10. I sort of interpreted it as the mumblecore to end all mumblecores. I definitely don't think it cut deep enough to be hailed as some sort of powerful generational statement, though.

[Redruth]

carlito's way 10/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106519/ classic penn and pacino

lonely hearts 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0441774/ salma hayek is unapologetic, manipulative cunt for this. she plays it well. almost had me hate her, but it's salma hayek so..

[Guest Jimmy McMessageboard]

Argo

Enjoyed. Didn't love. The american hero angle outweighed the "US fucked iran up" point so I was left confused and I never felt like they wouldnt succeed so the tension was dimished.

[Guest Jimmy McMessageboard]

I want to see holy motors. Can anyone recommend?

 

Also can anyone recommend a VOD service in the US?

[Guest isaki]

I want to see holy motors. Can anyone recommend?

 

Also can anyone recommend a VOD service in the US?

 

netflix?

[jhonny]

Skyfall - 9/10 - Woah, this was seriously good stuff! The excellent reviews and good trailers had me excited about this after the very poor Quantum of Solace. Sam Mendes does a great job of taking JB in a slightly different direction, but still giving fans a (sometimes hilarious) wink to the old JB of the 60s. It is also the first JB to really have him as weak and vulnerable, and up against the (seriously good) Javier Bardem as an equal match (and ex-MI6), that provides a tension throughout the film that has been lacking in recent years. This new direction does mean that the film feels less like Bond and more like Bourne etc, however that's a good move IMO. It rounds the 'reboot' off very nicely with a strong finale, and contains some of the best setpiece action bits from any Bond film (Istanbul, Shanghai and Scotland in particular). Up there in the Top 3 JB's in my opinion, make sure you catch it - fantastic fun.

[cear]

Primer - 8, one of the few movies about time travel that actually makes "sense" and thought through. character dev (history and stuff) could've been bit wider i suppose, maybe if it had just been a bit longer.. either way great.

[keltoi]

prometheus - shite... felt like i was watching a video game. not even giving it a score so there.

[chim]

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter

 

Disappointing...

[keltoi]

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter

 

Disappointing...

 

lol

[Guest Jimmy McMessageboard]

I want to see holy motors. Can anyone recommend?

 

Also can anyone recommend a VOD service in the US?

 

netflix?

 

i should have been clearer i meant for buying individual films - sch as holy motors which i believe is in limited theaters and available on VOD.

 

nextflix instant is good for tv and documentaries and some older movies but its also full of shite and if a newish (big studio) film shows up you know its gonna be shit

[sheatheman]

maybe some of those who saw looper can answer my questions a few posts back. A lot of the story elements seemed undeveloped and left a lot of unanswered questions.

 

 

 

 

And if dead bodies are so hard to dispose of why did the rainmakers goons just shoot the Bruce Willis older version's girlfriend in broad daylight? The plot holes weren't the fun kind either like 'how is Reese john conners father if he sent reese back in time', they just seemed unintentional and sort of frustrating.. I give it a 7/10, it would be a 9/10 if the 3rd act was something more interesting than a quasi Akira homage. The whole 'kid is the rainmaker' thing was just very uninteresting to me, and it seemed like whoever wrote it thought it would be ultra clever to turn upsidedown the terminator plot, that they actually need to kill this kid before he grows up instead of save it. I found it sort of boring. If the kid is a telekinetic 'freak' who can explode bodies, why would he need to send his 'hits' back in time to be killed? I didnt get that at all, and maybe they were trying t imply that he was 'closing all the loops' because a Looper killed his mom, but even so it still doesnt explain why time travel was used in a coherent or interesting way. It was like after the prologue they just never mentioned the reasoning behind it or elaborate on it anymore. In Terminator 1 they do a great job of expanding on Reese's flashbacks and explanation to Sarah in the police station where the doctor asks him 'but why this elaborate plot with the terminator'. and Reese says, 'we already beat them, it was the only way they could win' (by sending someone back in time to kill sarah), The movie started out extremely promising though. I guess i was expecting something with a little more head fuckery ala Primer, in that aspect it did not deliver. On the plus side best Bruce Willis performance in ages, but like all his movies in the last decade it felt a tad phoned in. And they never really explained why the Jeff Daniels character was from the future, what was his purpose? If was from the future wouldn't his memories be effected by 'new' actions being performed by Bruce Willis coming back into the past, and if so why did he just act like a sitting duck to be shootup by one dude with a few machine guns? I understand that movies like this are supposed to have time paradoxes, i just dont think the writer accounted for all the missing blank spots in the story construction or if he did they were cut out of the movie

 

edit: just realized another strange element, why if 'closing the loops' was so important did they send back the assassins future self to get killed by the younger self? why not just send them to other people. Ie: have JGL close Paul Dano's loop and vice versa? It really makes no sense

 

 

 

Looper probably came about because someone came to someone and said "Hey, lets make Joseph Gordon-Levitt into Bruce Willis." Everything else plot-wise happened out of necessity.

 

 

Yes, all of those are good points. I think your questions answer themselves though. I was mostly fine with the movie until the whole farm and rainmaker kid portion. It was just regurgitated hollywood BS. Everything began to fall apart for me at that point. I doubt it was just Rian Johnson writing the script. It reeks of studio encroachment.

 

Here is one thing. Jeff Daniels wouldn't have remembered anything, because he is from the future, so although a version of everything already happened, for him the passage of time is still linear, so everything happening in the universe of the past he was in was still his future.

 

Let C represent the time constant, and P represent Jeff Daniels' perception of time passing relative to his birth. The blue line represent's Jeff Daniels' passage through time. The green line represents JD in the memory of JGL relative to JD's perception of time. It is outside of Jeff Daniels' experience. The red X represents his death.

 

The problem is the movie couldn't decide what version of time travel it subscribed to, whether the past is connected to the future and fatalistic, or an independent universe. The ending is a paradox within a paradox, because it requires both ideas of time travel to be one. If JGL kills himself to stop Bruce Willis, that suggests they are the same body-killing one kills the other. So that character stops existing from that point in time, which means that everything bruce willis did in the past never happened. So Jeff Daniels is actually alive, as are the two kids Bruce willis killed. But I don't think the director would have us think that, which means that they are independent universes, which derails the whole movie..When you bludgeon the narrative with that much time travel, it just disintegrates.

 

 

 

I want to see holy motors. Can anyone recommend?

 

Also can anyone recommend a VOD service in the US?

 

netflix?

 

i should have been clearer i meant for buying individual films - sch as holy motors which i believe is in limited theaters and available on VOD.

 

nextflix instant is good for tv and documentaries and some older movies but its also full of shite and if a newish (big studio) film shows up you know its gonna be shit

 

amazon and itunes.

Edited October 29, 2012 by sheatheman

[blackdust]

Skyfall 8/10

 

Better than the last one, but its missing something I can't put my finger on.

[Danny O Flannagin]

Primer - 8, one of the few movies about time travel that actually makes "sense" and thought through. character dev (history and stuff) could've been bit wider i suppose, maybe if it had just been a bit longer.. either way great.

Wait, you actually "got" primer. It went completely over my head. I felt like the characters were communicating to each-other rather than communicating to the audience. Needed more explanation.

[autopilot]

primer is about power splitting up a friendship. pretty simple story, really. told with awesome ear-bleeding time travel boxes.

[awepittance]

Primer - 8, one of the few movies about time travel that actually makes "sense" and thought through. character dev (history and stuff) could've been bit wider i suppose, maybe if it had just been a bit longer.. either way great.

Wait, you actually "got" primer. It went completely over my head. I felt like the characters were communicating to each-other rather than communicating to the audience. Needed more explanation.

 

lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgSWgww_fIE

 

part of the reason i enjoyed Primer so much is because of the paradoxical nature of time travel, the confusion factor perfectly played into the tone of the movie.

Edited October 29, 2012 by Awepittance

[awepittance]

anyone else here see Argo? I was surprised and pleased to see the actor who played Abe (in primer) appear briefly as a CIA agent.

Edited October 29, 2012 by Awepittance

[kinski]

Skyfall 8/10

 

Better than the last one, but its missing something I can't put my finger on.

 

good script maybe? like, really.

act first - indian jones, act third - home alone. it got ridiculous so qucik, especially in the context of clearly trying to make a movie to impress the much more clever technology age kids (thus the pen joke). second act was best, really engaging, well paced, etc. i liked it whole just fine for a 2012 bond flick, but so much stuff got on my nerves. the making-no-sense winks to older series (why the aston martin? is bond 80?), the bardem on autopilot bringing nothing new to the table (even in campy perdita durango he was way better and scarrier), the annoying product placement, like a stream of commercials before the screening wasn't enough. and moneypenny introduction, oh was that pointless.