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Author Topic: Write about the last movie you watched (2006-2010)  (Read 5997341 times)

Clovis8

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #25310 on: January 09, 2010, 11:43:43 AM »

again, glad you loved it.  i'd say that is about more than S&M relationships, but questions of Love itself


That is the most important distinction to make. Most S&M relationships are about love.

i am also speaking to the film's other relationship - Nancy and Albert (Sewell) - the one assumed to be more traditional; here a very messed-up representation of "love".

I agree. Albert seems like a decent enough guy but he is just unable or unwilling to move beyond traditional ideas of sex and therefore is forcing his wife to seek satisfaction outside their marriage. I think this is a very common problem in many relationships.

1SO

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #25311 on: January 09, 2010, 11:59:50 AM »
The Rules of the Game

I dunno.  This is my 2nd viewing, and I'm listening to the commentary as I type this.  I like the movie, I do.  But it's so often listed among the very best movies ever made and I just don't get why that is.  It's subtle and complex, with themes that don't reveal themselves on the surface.  In many regards, this style of writing reminds me of A Serious Man.

I prefer Renoir's The Grand Illusion, but is that because Grand Illusion is more blunt by comparison?  And is that such a bad thing?  I feel like The Rules of The Game is praised precisely because it's the extreme opposite as heavy-handed, and yet that's why it doesn't stick with me.

Really well acted, and very engaging.  But I wish it made more of an impact on my emotions instead of sifting through my brain.  Capt. von Rauffenstein and Eric von Stroheim's performance in Grand Illusion sticks with me more than anything in this film.

The Rules of The Game: B+ (which apparently is scandalous)
The Grand Illusion: A-

Clovis8

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #25312 on: January 09, 2010, 12:09:36 PM »
LOTR: The Two Towers (extended edition)




The Good


I still really like most of the acting. Nearly every character is perfectly cast. The battle at Helm's Deep was really well done and very exciting. The star of this film, however, is clearly Gollum. The CGI, motion capture, and voice work on this character is amazing. When people originally talked about Andy Serkis deserving an Oscar, I thought they were insane. Having seen it, I totally agree. He steals every scene in the film.

The Bad

They really deviated from the book a lot in this film. So much so it kind of distracted me. I am not going to list all the deviations as they have been discussed a lot before. Apparently this was originally not suppose to be a stand alone movie and it really shows.

I also dont like the pacing of this film nearly as much as TFOTR. There are a ton of filler scenes in TTT which just reiterate some plot point or motivation we are already well aware of. It is far too long.

Orlando Bloom is really really bad as Legolas. All I can think of when he is on screen is the Friends episode where Joey talked about "smell the fart" acting where you look to the distance, inquisitive, like someone just farted and you are trying to figure out who. This is how Bloom reads every single line.

The Ugly

The me preface this by saying that Avatar may have ruined previous CGI for me but the CGI in this film seemed far inferior to TFOTR (with the exception of Gollum). Part of this is the CGI characters have a lot more to do in this film and are not simple set pieces. Nonetheless, the CGI is very obvious in nearly every scene.

I HATED Treebeard and the other Ents. Not only did they look really bad (during close-ups it was so obvious he was a puppet) but Treebeard did not act like the character in the book. Their motivations and actions were completely different. They were portrayed as kind of slow and stupid. It pretty much single handedly ruined the film for me.

Grade: B-

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #25313 on: January 09, 2010, 12:14:02 PM »
Yea, Two Towers is the only Lord of the Rings film I won't vehemently defend. When I saw it in theaters my 13 year old self was pissed off. Had a ton of issues with the story, still have a few now.

Not sure I agree about CGI. Of course, comparing it to new stuff is like whining about how Mario Brothers has sucky graphics compared to Gears of War 2.

Still, I think it's a great film with a lot of great moments.

Corndog

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #25314 on: January 09, 2010, 12:41:27 PM »
#11.
Leap Year (Anand Tucker, 2010) -

I didn't have any expectations of this being anything but average and by the end of it itwasn't anything but average. I was supremely worried for a better part of it. The writing and directing were pretty bad for the first two acts. Everything was just so bland and predictable. Look, I love Amy Adams, and I still do. She was not the problem with the film, but her character, along with all the other characters were written so horribly that I didn't like or care about any of them, except maybe Declan (Matthew Goode) a little bit. The performances were fairly typical. Adam Scott as Jeremy was awful as was Kaitlin Olson as Anna's friend Libby. They were both annoying. I could watch Amy Adams watching an infomercial and be entertained and Goode was decent as well. The third act saved this. It finally came around and tied some things up and made decent strides to being a respectable film. There is even an amazing shot near the end, that they have shown a little of in the trailer, where Amy Adams is standing on a cliff looking out. All in all very forgettable and very average, but because of Amy Adams and the third act, I don't entirely regret having seen it.

Another thing was that the theater was quite crowded, not really for this one, but there were long lines for tickets and concessions. It surprised me on a Saturday morning but it was nice to see. Maybe people were going to the movies this morning since the Bengals game is at 4:30.

Rating: **1/2

BEST FILM OF 2010 SO FAR!! #1!!!
« Last Edit: January 09, 2010, 01:04:32 PM by Corndog »
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oneaprilday

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #25315 on: January 09, 2010, 01:34:38 PM »
The Rules of the Game

I dunno.  This is my 2nd viewing, and I'm listening to the commentary as I type this.  I like the movie, I do.  But it's so often listed among the very best movies ever made and I just don't get why that is.  It's subtle and complex, with themes that don't reveal themselves on the surface.  In many regards, this style of writing reminds me of A Serious Man.

I prefer Renoir's The Grand Illusion, but is that because Grand Illusion is more blunt by comparison?  And is that such a bad thing?  I feel like The Rules of The Game is praised precisely because it's the extreme opposite as heavy-handed, and yet that's why it doesn't stick with me.

Really well acted, and very engaging.  But I wish it made more of an impact on my emotions instead of sifting through my brain.  Capt. von Rauffenstein and Eric von Stroheim's performance in Grand Illusion sticks with me more than anything in this film.

The Rules of The Game: B+ (which apparently is scandalous)
The Grand Illusion: A-
I saw both of these for the first time fairly recently, and I'm with you in preferring TGI over TRotG. Both were incredibly engaging, but I found that TGI had much more emotional impact. And maybe that's the point. I felt I was missing out on some of the social commentary present in TRotG? Anyway, I'll have to watch them both again at some point.

The Ugly
I HATED Treebeard and the other Ents. Not only did they look really bad (during close-ups it was so obvious he was a puppet) but Treebeard did not act like the character in the book. Their motivations and actions were completely different. They were portrayed as kind of slow and stupid. It pretty much single handedly ruined the film for me.
Yes, I agree. What they did with the Ents was awful. So annoying that they changed Treebeard's character to be "hasty" when the hobbit first met him, judging them as orcs (what? to add drama and tension, I guess?) but then he was extremely slow in deciding things later on relative to the war/Saruman. Stupid and inconsistent.


IDrinkYourMilkshake

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #25316 on: January 09, 2010, 01:39:40 PM »
Dan In Real Life

Average indie twee-com. A couple of mildly amusing moments, when Steve Carell goes slightly improv, a couple of cloying "learning about life" moments. All a bit pointless.
"What should have been an enjoyable 90 minutes of nubile, high-school flesh meeting a frenzy of blood-caked blades, becomes instead an exploitational and complex parable of the conflicting demands of agrarianism and artistry. I voted a miss."

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #25317 on: January 09, 2010, 01:42:19 PM »
Dan In Real Life

Average indie twee-com. A couple of mildly amusing moments, when Steve Carell goes slightly improv, a couple of cloying "learning about life" moments. All a bit pointless.
It has Juliette Binoche, hence you are wrong.

FroHam X

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #25318 on: January 09, 2010, 01:43:51 PM »
I disagree with the bad things people are saying about Two Towers. It's another A film, with a bump to A+ in its extended form.
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IDrinkYourMilkshake

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #25319 on: January 09, 2010, 01:51:18 PM »
Dan In Real Life

Average indie twee-com. A couple of mildly amusing moments, when Steve Carell goes slightly improv, a couple of cloying "learning about life" moments. All a bit pointless.
It has Juliette Binoche, hence you are wrong.

she's ok in it but she's really given nothing more to do than smile now and again, giggle now and again, and look a bit confused now and again whilst some indie acoustic nicety flutters in the background. All of which she can do perfectly well. I just didnt really go for the film.



"What should have been an enjoyable 90 minutes of nubile, high-school flesh meeting a frenzy of blood-caked blades, becomes instead an exploitational and complex parable of the conflicting demands of agrarianism and artistry. I voted a miss."

 

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