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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: At the movies - what are you watching?
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aunt jane
Shipmate
# 10139
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Posted
I don't know whether anyone has mentioned Divergent yet. I thought it the best film I had seen in ages, challenging storyline, exciting scenes, what more can one ask?
Posts: 97 | From: South East of England | Registered: Aug 2005
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
I did see a movie tonight that might be of interest to some here.
It's called "My last year with the nuns" and it's a memoir taken from a stage monologue. The author and star talks about his life in 1967 as an 8th grader in Catholic school in the then Catholic neighborhood of Seattle's Capital Hill. It was quite funny and sad where it explores bullying, racism and homophobia.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
Do Cable miniseries count as movies?
I decided to re-watch the excellently produced HBO series, "John Adams." I highly recommend netflixing it, especially to y'all Britmates, as it is a great story about a simple, good man and an unsung hero in the American Revolution. Paul Giamatti stars, and Laura Linney almost steals the show as Adams's strong right arm, his wife Abigail.
what drove me to recommend this was one scene that gripped me-- in it, John Adams is received by King George III as the first ambassador of the new nation of the USA. I have seen this series several times, and this scene has always moved me. The actor portraying George is particularly impressive-- he has all of five minutes of screen time, and his quiet dignity and graciousness dominates the screen. The guy had tears in his eyes through most of the scene.
Just to reference other works he may have been in before I wrote this review, I looked the actor up on IMDB and-- hot damn, It's Rev. It's Tom Hollander. ![[Overused]](graemlins/notworthy.gif)
[ 07. June 2014, 05:02: Message edited by: Kelly Alves ]
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
My recent film watching has been Tarzan, The Amazing Spiderman 2 and X-Men Days of Future Past, still with 14 year old teenage boy. He is getting more critical, had to be persuaded to watch X-Men but reckoned it was the best film he's seen recently - and that Spiderman wasn't a patch on this. I do agree with him - lots of very recognisable good actors in the X-Men, and fun action and effects compared to Spiderman. The good thing about Spiderman were the views of New York and the action sequences of Spiderman moving through the buildings.
[ 07. June 2014, 09:06: Message edited by: Curiosity killed ... ]
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
I just saw the closing film of the film festival tonight, so I'll succumb to the temptation of making one more post on it.
The Seattle International Film Festival is a marathon; 25 days, 400 films. I saw about 65 much to my surprise. I was surprised that my votes for best film, actor and actresses actually aligned with the results.
The best film was "Boyhood" directed by Richard Linklater. It follows a boy in Texas from age 6 to age 18 when he's college bound. Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette play his parents. What makes the film unusual is that it was shot for 2 weeks a year for 12 years while the boy grows up. It has a lot of references to current music. The director said it was like shooting a period film in the current tense. There's a sense of getting to know the people being portrayed and while the boy is a little shaky at first he turns into a good actor.
Another great film was "Life Feels Good" which is a Polish film about a man growing up with Cerebal Palsy who was thought to be a vegtable. It's often easy for an actor to play a disabled person, but he did a pretty amazing job. The same actor was the romantic interest in "Ida" which is about a novice who is sent to meet her Jewish aunt before taking vows.
Tangerines was a film set in the Chechen-Georgia 1987 war where a few Estonians are trying to get one last crop from their settlement before fleeing back to Estonia.
The Disciple was a Finnish film about a 14 year old orphan in 1920 sent to a lonely island to assist an abusive Lighthouse Master
In order of disappearance is a Norwegian black comedy revenge film about a snow plow driver who decides to kill the gangster who killed his sun.
Once upon a time in Shanghai is a Kung Fu film set in 1930's Shanghai. It's very elegant with very little color, but the fact that all the evil villains are Japanese or stooges of the Japanese makes for a troubling reflection of modern tensions.
On a somewhat lighter note is "God Help The Girl", where three friends fall in love and start a band while singing the songs of Stuart Murdoch.
I'll stop now.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Palimpsest:
The best film was "Boyhood" directed by Richard Linklater. It follows a boy in Texas from age 6 to age 18 when he's college bound. Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette play his parents. What makes the film unusual is that it was shot for 2 weeks a year for 12 years while the boy grows up. It has a lot of references to current music. The director said it was like shooting a period film in the current tense. There's a sense of getting to know the people being portrayed and while the boy is a little shaky at first he turns into a good actor.
Reminds me more than a wee bit of the British documentary series "Seven Up" where the same people are profiled every seven years: I believe it is still going on!
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
Yes, this has some of the feeling of Seven Up. However it's a fictional story focusing on one extended family.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
Wanting a completely no-demanding evening of nonsense, the other night I put on Carry On - Don't lose your Head - it really is dreadful but so dreadful it is almost good; I certainly enjoyed it - but it will be awhile before I watch it again.
I really must get a copy of Leslie Nielsen's Dracula, Dead and Loving It - equally appalling but fun.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
I saw another odd film yesterday that I missed during the film festival. It's called "Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen". It was made by a Hungarian filmmaker during the period of the unrest as it was leaving the Soviet control. He couldn't make a film so he edited tiny excerpts from 400 film classics in an odd fashion. To use a trailer example, John Travolta dancing to disco in Saturday Night Fever switches to a syncopated dance by Charlie Chaplin in The Gold Rush in time to the disco music.
It shows some interesting tropes and alternatives and it's a fun trivia quiz. What struck me was that the scoring used longer excerpts and it's amazing how powerful some of the film scores are.
About half the audience stayed to read the five minutes of credits which included the movie, director and stars for each cut zooming past.
This manages to get shown as an educational critical anthology in very limited venues like film festivals. It not only reminds you of great movies you've seen, but gives you another bunch you now want to see. It doesn't really work for me as a film though, you're too aware of the editing cleverness or trying to remember what the film clip is from.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
That sounds like a trip!
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
I saw EDGE OF TOMORROW the other day, an excellent summer SF blockbuster. I wrote a review.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
Three of us saw Maleficent yesterday. My 95 year old friend and I loved it. My other friend wasn't so keen on it because of the violence. She asked me if I would take my Granddaughter to see it with all that fighting, and I said I certainly would.
The story is a big twist on the old Sleeping Beauty cartoon so many of us know. I love this version! This is a story that I think should be shared with children and anyone who needs to have a lesson on "true love" and preconceived notions. And giving people a chance.
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Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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Alban
Shipmate
# 9047
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Posted
Recently watched (twice) What We Do in the Shadows which is a strange movie, not to everyone's tastes, but quite funny and thought provoking. It takes a look at vampires and life with a fresh set of eyes.
I am a little biased, because my grandmother is in it, but I think it's well worth a watch.
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Whoever you are, wherever you go, Hophtrig is your friend!
Posts: 722 | From: Under a (long white) cloud | Registered: Feb 2005
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
I saw Edge of Tomorrow yesterday. It was cleverly done, lots of playing with film tropes to create something interesting. And Tom Cruise starts weak and blustering rather than the clean cut hero he usually is. Nice seeing a really strong female role for Emily Blunt, although it still fails the Bechdel test, but that's partly because so few of the characters are named. The link is to an interesting article discussing the Bechdel test in this instance.
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
This week I saw a videotaped version of Nathan Lane in the play "The Nance" which played in New York. It was a special show, but I think it will show up in the Public Broadcasting "Live from Lincoln Center" series later this summer.
It's about a homosexual actor in the 1930's who plays a sissy role in a Burlesque Show. He's a conservative who meets a younger man who wants a romantic relationship. The play mixes the burlesque show that he performs with the world while the authorities try to close the show. It captures a lot of the period flavor of show business and the underground gay subculture.
Technically the sound is a bit spotty but the show works well with an audience. Nathan Lane does a great job with both the Burlesque routines and the unhappy life off state.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
There is a novel upon which EDGE OF TOMORROW is based -- I haven't read it. But the video-game aspect of the entire thing (constantly rebooting so that you can get to the next level) becomes much more clear.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
If you've ever played computer games you don't need that particular idea (in Edge of Tomorrow) explaining - and going into it here would seriously get into spoiler territory. Apparently the book has the Emily Blunt character as male, which explains why it such a kickass role.
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
We finally saw the current X-Men (and women) blockbuster. It was awesome all the way through. It had a crew of 15,000 and a surprise ending for those of us who were intelligent enough to watch the entire credits. I counted six in our cinema at the local multiplex. I did not read the books but still enjoyed it immensely!
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
This week's movie was Three Days to Kill which I rated worst of all the films we've seen. Worse than the fairly stodgy Tarzan cartoon remake and worse than the Liam Neeson take on being an elder action hero in Non-Stop.
For a 12A (PG13 equivalent) the violence was horrific and overdone. I don't think disposal by decapitation by lift should be family viewing. There was supposed to be a comedic setting to this but it was so leaden no-one in the cinema laughed. Such scenes as his daughter calling, with a ring tone she added to the phone, interrupting a torture scene. And the schmalzy family back story contrasted against the level of violence was just horrible - a complete mismatch. The other disconnect came with Amber Heard's character which was just a cardboard cutout - not enough depth to count as wooden.
I like Kevin Costner and he can act, he was here, but I agree with the critic who said that this film made Waterworld look good.
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
Sticking with my recent oldies theme I've just watched Some Like It Hot - terribly dated, terribly politically incorrect over 50 years later but still some good performances.
3 stars out of 5.
eta: not Monroe's greatest performace but I reckon she is always worth watching.
[ 06. July 2014, 11:01: Message edited by: Welease Woderwick ]
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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JoannaP
Shipmate
# 4493
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
Sticking with my recent oldies theme I've just watched Some Like It Hot - terribly dated, terribly politically incorrect over 50 years later but still some good performances.
3 stars out of 5.
eta: not Monroe's greatest performace but I reckon she is always worth watching.
I don't disagree with anything that you have said (although 3 stars does seem rather niggardly) - and we will soon have the opportunity to watch it on a big screen ![[Yipee]](graemlins/spin.gif)
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"Freedom for the pike is death for the minnow." R. H. Tawney (quoted by Isaiah Berlin)
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Benjamin Franklin
Posts: 1877 | From: England | Registered: May 2003
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
Afterwards I thought 3 stars was a bit mean, would 4 be fairer?
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
I like the interaction between Marilyn and the others. And the end joke is hard to surpass for humor and a comment on the underlying panic.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
This week's film was Transformers 4. Yes, I know. There are many, many films I would have preferred to watch. Rotten Tomatoes are scoring this at 19% compared to 3 Days to Kill at 29%. Personally I still dislike 3 Days to Kill more because at least Transformers felt fairly honest about what it was doing with genres, albeit very, very long.
I still like Edge of Tomorrow and X-men best of the recent films and Rotten Tomatoes are scoring them at 90% and 92% respectively. The only film that I really wanted to see was Gravity and that scores 97%.
One more film to go next week but looking at what's on I doubt I'll get to either Maleficent or How to Train Your Dragon 2.
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
OK, we didn't get Maleficent or How to Train Your Dragon 2 but we did go and see Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - amazing effects and story and I agree with the reviews that Andy Serkis did a fantastic job, but I came out feeling that it was a bit worthy - trying too hard to get the messages across without enough leaven.
It also felt as if it was setting the scene for the next one in the franchise.
According to the reviews it's going to go up against X-Men and Edge of Tomorrow for the sci-fi awards. Personally I preferred both of the others which had more humour in them.
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Palimpsest:
I like the interaction between Marilyn and the others. And the end joke is hard to surpass for humor and a comment on the underlying panic.
Wanna see Marilyn really demonstrate her acting cred? Check out a flick called Don't bother to Knock. She basically plays a psychotic Fatal attraction type widow-- who is left to babysit a little girl.
![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
The amazing thing is that she keep her soft spoken vulnerability the whole time she is getting scarier and scarier.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Sparrow
Shipmate
# 2458
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...:
OK, we didn't get Maleficent or How to Train Your Dragon 2 but we did go and see Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - amazing effects and story and I agree with the reviews that Andy Serkis did a fantastic job, but I came out feeling that it was a bit worthy - trying too hard to get the messages across without enough leaven.
It also felt as if it was setting the scene for the next one in the franchise.
According to the reviews it's going to go up against X-Men and Edge of Tomorrow for the sci-fi awards. Personally I preferred both of the others which had more humour in them.
Went to see Dawn of the Planet of the Apes this evening with my partner - it was so dire we walked out. Boring, boring, boring.
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For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Posts: 3149 | From: Bottom right hand corner of the UK | Registered: Mar 2002
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Kaplan Corday
Shipmate
# 16119
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Posted
I can highly recommend The Lunch Box (which should be The Tiffin Tin!)which I saw last night.
It is very moving and understated
But talk about food porn - watching the heroine preparing Indian lunches, it was all I could do to refrain from running out of the cinema in search of a somosa.
It reminded me too, of the changes in India since we worked there, such as television culture (TV had barely been introduced when we were there) and the young fellow openly living with his girlfriend.
Posts: 3355 | Registered: Jan 2011
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Latchkey Kid
Shipmate
# 12444
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Posted
Saw Calvary last week. A confronting film by the same director as The Guard.
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'You must never give way for an answer. An answer is always the stretch of road that's behind you. Only a question can point the way forward.'
Mika; in Hello? Is Anybody There?, Jostein Gaardner
Posts: 2592 | From: The wizardest little town in Oz | Registered: Mar 2007
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
I spent a while this afternoon watching Katherine Hepburn as Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter - some poor direction and camerawork but an exquisite script - Hepburn thoroughly deserved her Oscar for that performance.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Tree Bee
Ship's tiller girl
# 4033
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Posted
I watched Saving Mr Banks last night which has made me curious to know more about PLTravers. How did she get from scruffy rural Aussie to plum in mouth Brit?
Her reaction to Disneyland and a room full of Disney inspired soft toys is the same as mine. I think we might have got along! Still don't understand how Dick van Dyke and the American robin ended up in the film.
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"Any fool can make something complicated. It takes a genius to make it simple."
— Woody Guthrie
http://saysaysay54.wordpress.com
Posts: 5257 | From: me to you. | Registered: Feb 2003
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
We saw "Get on up" yesterday which was partially ruined at the beginning by two dildos talking on their mobile phones. I failed in my effort to get them bodily removed from the cinema, but they finally found their manners and shut the hell up!
That said, it was a spectacular film, well-plotted and with superior acting. As I am a gentleman of a certain age, I remember Mr. Brown in the middle of his career. I would recommend this film to anybody who likes music!
We plan to see "Boyhood" next weekend. Sounds rather a lot like "Seven Up" which we have only seen excerpts of....
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
I saw Boyhood for the second time this week. It holds up pretty well. There's a lot of what the director called reverse time travel in that the music is in the period but was current at the time of shooting.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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Figbash
The Doubtful Guest
# 9048
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
Afterwards I thought 3 stars was a bit mean, would 4 be fairer?
Well, it's not for nothing that the AFA voted it the greatest American comedy film of all time.
Of course much of the point is that the dated feel is deliberate, and all of the characters (with the possible exception of Daphne) are amazingly shallow and self-interested. Perhaps exploring that fact requires a certain amount of what would now be labelled as political incorrectness. Remember that in the seduction scene on the yacht, both characters are deliberately lying and using whatever assets they've got in order to try to snare the other. Who is worse, a gold-digger, or a man who deliberately manipulates a gold-digger into thinking that he has gold worth digging for?
Anyway, my movie is Holy Motors, an absolutely fascinating, if nearly impenetrable, recent French piece in which an anonymous man spends his day being driven round Paris to play out scenes of 'real people' doing 'real things', while making some outrageous in-jokes en route (e.g. Edith Scob donning her Les Yeux sans Visage mask and announcing that she's returning to her parents). It's quite excellent and, I think, has some interesting stuff to say about human existence, questioning whether we have continuous individual state, or are merely assemblages of loosely connected scenes. Well worth another watching or seven...
Posts: 1209 | From: Gashlycrumb | Registered: Feb 2005
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
We saw Get on up produced by Sir Michael Jagger and it was incredible! The cast was spot on.
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Figbash:
Anyway, my movie is Holy Motors, an absolutely fascinating, if nearly impenetrable, recent French piece in which an anonymous man spends his day being driven round Paris to play out scenes of 'real people' doing 'real things', while making some outrageous in-jokes en route (e.g. Edith Scob donning her Les Yeux sans Visage mask and announcing that she's returning to her parents). It's quite excellent and, I think, has some interesting stuff to say about human existence, questioning whether we have continuous individual state, or are merely assemblages of loosely connected scenes. Well worth another watching or seven...
OOOO! OOOO! OOO! Sounds just up my alley!
I also really want to see Les Yeux sans Visage. I just read about it.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Figbash
The Doubtful Guest
# 9048
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
OOOO! OOOO! OOO! Sounds just up my alley!
I also really want to see Les Yeux sans Visage. I just read about it.
My work here is done
Franjou's films on the whole are a joy: coming from the world of industrial documentary, he has a whole other approach. Two others to look up are Judex (loosely inspired by Louis Feuillade's very early silent serial of the same name) which mixes amazing cinematography, ravishing set design and a quite insane plot to produce what is possibly the best superhero movie ever; and Les Nuits Rouges which goes even further into delirium, including mysterious conspiracies, Templars, and yet more Feuillade, to create what to me feels like a weird amalgam of Lang's Spione, Grant Morrison's comic The Invisibles and Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot.
Posts: 1209 | From: Gashlycrumb | Registered: Feb 2005
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Figbash:
...and Les Nuits Rouges which goes even further into delirium, including mysterious conspiracies, Templars, and yet more Feuillade, to create what to me feels like a weird amalgam of Lang's Spione, Grant Morrison's comic The Invisibles and Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot.
(Swoon)
That there sentence is film nerd soft core porn.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Figbash
The Doubtful Guest
# 9048
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Posted
My film of the week is Primer (2004). Described by Wikipedia (the source of all truth) as a cult movie, one of the finest time travel movies ever made, unusually intelligent, etc.
Two blokes, whose characterisation can be summarised by saying that they dress like Mormon missionaries, one is blonde and the other is brunette, make what appears to be some kind of time machine. They use it to make money on the stock market. Then one of them does something rather unclear and, apparently, bad, in some way, which leads to a climactic half hour in which nothing whatever happens at length, but in a deeply, deeply portentous way. Then there is a series of epilogues, none of which make any sense, but which give the impression of considering themselves highly significant.
Technobabble (praised by critics for its realism; actually meaningless pseudo-scientific nonsense) predominates in the screenplay. Production values are bad to appalling. Acting is of the 'I jut out my jaw and glare when I want to look serious' variety. Direction is obsessed with one or two cheap tricks (e.g. a character walks into blinding light and so appears to vanish) which it uses to death. Cinematography is non-existent. Dialogue is under-recorded and often barely comprehensible.
The interesting thing is, this was praised for its originality, right? Well, it is very obvious that the writer (director, actor, composer, you name it - yes, we have another Ed Wood on our hands, only without the passion) based the whole thing on two 1970s SF stories:
- The Very Slow Time Machine - Ian Watson, 1978
- A Little Something for Us Tempunauts - Philip K Dick, 1975
Now, both of these are great stories that use time travel as the foundation on which to build profound narratives about humanity, despair, messianic fervour, etc. What Primer does is to take the time travel mcguffin from each and throw away the actual story. So the mechanics of the time machine are lifted wholesale from the Watson story, and the main plot device comes from Dick. Unfortunately, Primer's writer didn't apparently think it necessary to come up with his own story - he seems to consider the bare mechanics of time travel and lots and lots of technobabble sufficiently interesting in and of itself. It is not.
Oh yes, and in a rather embarrassing development for those critics (such as Roger Ebert, for heaven's sake) who hailed its originality, the film borrows its basic structure wholesale from that well known SF movie . . . . . . . Groundhog Day.
Conclusion: Go watch Robot Monster instead - it's better in every conceivable way.
Posts: 1209 | From: Gashlycrumb | Registered: Feb 2005
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Hedgehog
Ship's Shortstop
# 14125
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Posted
Is there any chance that you could write movie reviews for my local paper?
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"We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it."--Pope Francis, Laudato Si'
Posts: 2740 | From: Delaware, USA | Registered: Sep 2008
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Kaplan Corday
Shipmate
# 16119
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Posted
Don't miss Still Life, which we saw last night.
I thought that the last scene worked, Mrs KC disagrees, but we both thought the film was brilliant.
Incidentally, are funerals really conducted in their entirety, including a eulogy, by a lone clergyman with no congregation at all or only a single mourner?
Posts: 3355 | Registered: Jan 2011
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Figbash
The Doubtful Guest
# 9048
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Hedgehog:
Is there any chance that you could write movie reviews for my local paper?
So long as they would be happy to accept a strategy of ignoring anything susceptible of description as a blockbuster, romcom or 'family' movie, and anything with the words 'Marvel Superhero' even remotely associated with it, in favour of concentrating entirely on the strange and unusual, sure, why not? ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
Posts: 1209 | From: Gashlycrumb | Registered: Feb 2005
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Mere Nick
Shipmate
# 11827
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Posted
This past Saturday my wife and I went to see Calvary We were torn between that and the Get On Up flick about James Brown. We chose the one that rated slightly higher at IMDB and would be a little more thought provoking. A very good flick about a RC priest who has to face a very difficult challenge.
The theater had plenty of beers on tap, too. Pisgah Pale Ale at $7 for a 22 ounce draft was cheap for a theater.
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"Well that's it, boys. I've been redeemed. The preacher's done warshed away all my sins and transgressions. It's the straight and narrow from here on out, and heaven everlasting's my reward."
Delmar O'Donnell
Posts: 2797 | From: West Carolina | Registered: Sep 2006
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Kaplan Corday
Shipmate
# 16119
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Posted
Woody Allen's latest, Magic In The Moonlight, is the silliest film I have ever seen.
Posts: 3355 | Registered: Jan 2011
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Kaplan Corday:
Incidentally, are funerals really conducted in their entirety, including a eulogy, by a lone clergyman with no congregation at all or only a single mourner?
Yes, but the eulogy will be quick. Hospital deaths often end up like that. I knew a healthcare chaplain who reckoned they could do a perfectly reasonable funeral in those cases in around 10 minutes - no music and hymns to slow it down.
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Figbash:
quote:
Originally posted by Hedgehog:
Is there any chance that you could write movie reviews for my local paper?
So long as they would be happy to accept a strategy of ignoring anything susceptible of description as a blockbuster, romcom or 'family' movie, and anything with the words 'Marvel Superhero' even remotely associated with it, in favour of concentrating entirely on the strange and unusual, sure, why not?
![[Axe murder]](graemlins/lovedrops.gif)
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
I saw a sneak preview tonight of "The Imitation Game". It's a dramatization of the life of Alan Turing, starring Benedict Cumberbatch. I enjoyed it a great deal, but I'm easily amused by the shots of the Bombe decryption machine and period British shots.
I think it opens in November in both England and the U.S.
It did get a bunch of the interesting stuff right.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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