I understood the movie, with some help from Wikipedia, at least for the most part. Understanding it doesn’t really change the fact that it is weird. I just felt that the HAL part was by far the most interesting, coolest, and best story part of the movie.
I love the film, and I agree those sequences after the intermission with HAL [spoil]killing off the crew one by one[/spoil] are edge of your seat exiting and perfectly edited. But it’s amazing how effecting [spoil]his death is[/spoil] even after what he has done.
Finally, someone who doesn’t find the film weird. I had initially thought Pixar fans would at least be intelligent enough to appreciate the film, so I was kind of disappointed to read all those criticisms in the first place. 
I do apprecciate the film. I think it’s a wonderful piece of filmaking, especially the cinematography, which really impressed me. I also thought the dialouge was just terrific, even though there was little of it. I still think it’s a weird movie, though because, honestly, it is. I love Star Wars more than anything, but I’m not gonan deny that there’s some weird stuff in it. I’ll admit, I’m not into sci-fi (except for Star Wars, which I don’t really consider sci-fi), so I may be biased, but it is a pretty weird film. I’m not saying I didn’t think it was a great, classic movie, because it is.
What gets me pumped when watching that movie are two things:
- The special effects and cinematography. Wait, 1969? Not possible; simply not possible.
- It’s tension. It’s just frightening for me. Mostly the last act. Wow.
I haven’t watched 2001: A Space Odyssey before, but after hearing rave reviews about it and how it apparently inspired WALL-E (I knew about HAL the computer and his attempts to kill the humans because I read the book before), I want so much to watch it! 
BDD - Spritied Away is one of the most beautiful films I’ve ever seen, and my top favourite of the films I’ve watched from Ghibli so far.
TSS and Luke - Have you watched Terminator 2: Judgment Day yet? It’s one of my favourite action films of all time. Brain and heart candy at the same time = Delicious fun!
Speaking of which, I went to the opening night screening of the new Terminator Salvation, and needless to say, it was excellent action-wise, and above-average for plot. But I feel that it is a worthy addition to the franchise, and I’d rank it third-best in the series. I’ll post a more detailed review in the Terminator Salvation thread to avoid cluttering this one with my fan gush and rambling, but in summary, this is the must-see film for the next few weeks. I say this because, really, we’re all waiting for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (At least, my geeky friends are. I don’t know about you. 
The effects are abosolute genius. They where all done in camera using multiple exposures of the same film, not a single frame of greenscreen. For example say you have a scene with the pod, the ship and the actor seemingly floating in space. They turned all the lights off and moved the object with only the background stars visable, everything else blacked out. Then another exposure across the same time of film and movement of camera with only the ships illuminated.
Final pass was the actor. To get the guys the looking like they were floating from space they hung them from the sealing and shot them from below, that way they slowly floated and the wires were hidden.
2001 is probably my favorite film on a purely tech level, followed closely by Jurassic Park.
There’s two new film trailers on Apple.com that I saw today I’m really excited about.
The first is Bruce Willis’ next action flick Surrogates. I first heard about the film’s premise a few months back, and since I am a big fan of the bald guy, I am intrigued how they were gonna pull it off. The trailer looks promising, I won’t spoil it for you guys, but it has shades of Blade Runner, The Matrix and the online game Second Life in it. It’s a long time since we had a live-action sci-fi flick that isn’t a sequel, reboot, or a TV series-adaptation (although this one is “based on a graphic novel” according to the trailer, which maybe makes it no less original anyway), and I’m very stoked fof ‘Mr McClane’ to kick butt again!
The second is a limited-release independent called The Hurt Locker. It’s about an EOD (Explosive Ordinance Disposal, or as the layman would call it, the ‘bomb-squad guys’) team in the Middle East who have the most dangerous job in the world: “disarming bombs in the heat of combat”. I’ve always been curious as to what it would be like to be the guy who has to defuse a bomb; your life can literally end in an instant and you wouldn’t even know it! Has some predecessors in the movie Blown Away and the book Tick Tock Man (which I’ve watched and read, and are excellent portrayals of this dangerous occupation). 
I saw the commercial for that too! I’m totally looking forword to it. It looks very interesting. I’m definitely going to see it.
I also saw Terminator Salvation yesterday. It wasn’t as good as I had hoped, which was really dissapointing. Some of the acting and writing was weird for my tastes. It was still alright though.
I love it. It’s great, whatever some friends of mine say about the plot. 
Plot is perfect, end!
I can’t wait for the upcoming Sherlock Holmes film. Sure, it might not capture the genius mind of Sir Conan’s sleuth, but for many Holmes fans, I’m sure, it would be a splendid opportunity to experience Holmes in a brand new manner. Moreover, for non-fans, this is a significant movie to tell the tale of the legendary, the one and only, the original ‘Sherlock.’
The premiere date of this movie shall be a great day for me! I’m so psyched up! 
I just saw Bruce Almighty and it was really good. Since I’m a really big Jim Carrey fan, I’d say it’s on of his best. 8.5/10.
I watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button last night. It was long, but I loved the acting.
Paul Blart: Mall Cop:
Meh, it was OK, there were some funny bits, but all in all, 6.5/10.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine:
Excellent film, kept with the story of the other three films. Looking forward to the sequel and the other Origins films. 9/10
I haven’t posted here in quite a while - I’ve been really busy.
I’ve seen quite a few movies recently. I saw Up twice (2D first, 3D second), both ways it’s awesome! i’ll probably post more in one of the “Up” threads…
I also just finally saw Happy-Go-Lucky, which I found to be quite enjoyable and entertaining. I’m probably going to be watching Son of Rambow this week as well. Can’t wait for that one, I hear it’s quite good.
I’m looking forword to Year One with Jack Black and Michael Cera. It looks super good. Is anybody else with me?
Count me in! Year One looks really funny.
The Hangover has been getting really good reviews and is apparently hilarious, although I’ll probably wait for the DVD.
I just watched Drag Me to Hell off watch-movie-links.net. I know, it is not an appropriate act, but I was so curious about how the movie is like after I heard so many positive things about it I couldn’t wait for its release in my country (July-ish) any longer.
So, I checked it out just now and man, I hate the ending, not because it sucks, but because it was so creepy. I mean, [spoil]you could practically see Christine’s face rotting before you as she was literally… dragged into hell.[/spoil]
Definitely not for the kids.
Other than that, the entire film had somewhat decent elements. Certain parts of the movie was quite original when compared to the other horror flicks. But, if I am to name a movie that’s most similar in style to this one, I would say the American adaptation of The Ring and honestly, I would say The Ring had a creepier tone, save that dirty feeling Drag Me to Hell gives you as you leave the theater after viewing the ending…
Raimi’s manner of not intimidating the audiences with a cliched fight scene near the end of the movie deserves some credit, but the overused ‘cheap scares’ made the whole movie in total a failure, as I couldn’t stop myself from yawning or even laughing throughout certain parts of the film.
The premise of the plot is not bad, though; the whole battle of your consciousness, how nasty deeds, not necessary evil ones, would have the people who performed them - be them goodhearted people who just had a bad bad - be punished terribly. Of course, both factors mentioned are very common in modern horror flicks, so, again, they are more of factors of failure.
Still, as I said, the best thing about this film is the ending. No matter how I think about it, this sort of ending (normally seen in an episode of Tales from the Crypt) just feels wrong, and of course, eerie. Ultimately, I couldn’t say I wish I never got to watch this film due to its averagely decent nature, but nevertheless, Drag Me to Hell is definitely one cult film I won’t forget.
Not anytime soon at least…
I’m especially looking forward to Away We Go, the new Sam Mendes film!
I recently saw the Eddie Murphy version of The Nutty Professer. It was surprisingly awesome and funny. It’s now probably one of my favorite comedies. 10/10!
I also noticed it’s by the director of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. So now there’s even more reason to like it!