Movies - both new and old

The Common Room Film, Television, Music & Books
#1521

I’ve been to the theatres three times within the space of seven days, which must be some kind of new record for me! :laughing:

Here’s what I watched:

Last Tuesday - District 9
Review here. (Scroll up)

Sunday - Up
Review here. (Scroll up)

Yesterday - The Taking of Pelham 123

A very entertaining and unintentionally hilarious heist flick. I told my friends who watched with me that I thought it would be “scary, but it actually turned out to be pretty funny.” Denzel and Travolta had okay chemistry as they are pitted against each other to determine the outcome of a carriage-full of hostage-passengers. John Turtorro (who some of you may remember as the disgraced Sector 8 agent from the Transformers movies) has little to do besides dispensing advice to Denzel on hostage negotiation and being called a “greaseball” by Travolta. James “Tony Soprano” Galdonfini looks confused for the most of the movie, and is mocked by Travolta in one particularly knee-slappingly funny scene.

Action scenes are marred by the usual stupid shakey-cam movements where you can’t see jack, while the ‘talkies’ are shot with what I call the “Michael Bay rotating-camera around the actors” movement. And instead of the darkly-wicked ending of the original (“Ah-Choo!”), we’re given another howler-of-a-faceoff ([spoil]Denzel keeps yelling for the donut-munchers to hurry up, before shooting Travolta.[/spoil] “You’re my godd*mn hero!” :laughing:).

I swear, there was one point when they had those countdown reminders (17 minutes left! Oh no!), when someone in the audience started guffawing. It was infectious, and pretty soon, everyone was cackling. Talk about inappropriate audience reaction.

Overall, it’s a very enjoyable action-flick, but not the kind of epic ‘battle of wits’ you were expecting from the trailer. There were so many plot holes you could (pardon the pun) drive a train through, and Travolta cracks too many jokes for you to take him seriously, that it comes off as a more a comedy than a thriller. Gather your buddies, board the ‘Mirth Express’, and have a laugh, cos’ this flick is more “pedestrian” than “rapid transit”.

One of the quotes from Travolta in the TV spots was “Everything doesn’t appear like what it is.” He got that right. :laughing:

Rating: 3.5/5

And I watched Waltz with Bashir on FTA after Pelham yesterday night. It’s very beautiful and poetic, but some of the scenes are not for the faint-hearted. I’m too tired to describe it in detail (and because it’s quite difficult to in the first place), but let’s just say it’s like Grave of the Fireflies. Once you’ve watched it, you can’t bear to watch it again.

Rating: 3.5/5

#1522

Glad you enjoy it, TDIT! Too bad, not for me. LOL.

I know this kinda off-topic, but how do you make links for your reviews like that? I’ve tried but still failed.

#1523

I was looking through my family’s DVD collection and found The Passion of the Christ. So I re-watched it, the first time being when I attendend a Christian private school.

I watched an actor getting whipped, hit, poked with a spear, nailed, and spit on for about two hours. Why did I watch this again? Because I was trying to find out why my teacher and half the class were reaching out for a tissue box and sniffling during the movie. The Passion had just as much fake blood flying everywhere as any Leatherface or Saw movie and I’m confused as to why people are “moved” by what schadenfreudic audiences are normally entertained by. Looks like next time there’s a gory movie night at a friend’s place, I’m bringin’ The Passion of the Christ.

I’ve also watched The Final Destination. The [spoil]Ku Klux Klan[/spoil] member’s death being my favorite, you have to admit that was hilarious. Might seem weird, but horror movies are great for a laugh to me. The cheesiness, horrible acting, non-existence of common sense, and the absurd plots all seem to tickle my funny bone.

#1524

I remember watching Final Destination 3 with my friends three years ago (woah, time flies!), and one of us felt too scared to take the MRT home (the form of train network in Singapore) because of the final scene. :laughing:

But d*mn, I’m not particularly scared by horror movies, but I do get tense during the suspenseful scenes (my heart races a million miles a minute and my palms turn all clammy). But after the movie, I feel relieved, and I go home knowing ‘it’s just a movie’, unlike my more wimpier buddies. Come to think of it, it’s been a long time since I’ve watched a horror movie…

To answer your question, wannabechef, you just add the [url] tags with the URL of the destination site enclosed in the opening tag. So it’s like this (with the ‘]’ to close [url=…)

[url=http://pixarplanet.com/ Pixar Planet forums[/url]

Give it a go, and lemme know if you got it. :slight_smile:

#1525

Ditto, FounderofAzn, I thought The Final Destination was hilarious! :laughing: Plus, the plugging of 3D movies annoyed me to no end, especially as we were watching it in 2D. I found the film to be pretty short as well, shorter than I expected at least.

What made me laugh all the way through, though, was how unconcerned all of the characters seemed to be as they were being killed off one by one. I mean, surely, if you’d seen some of your best friends get killed in front of you in the most disgusting ways, you’d be a little…affected? :laughing:

#1526

Here’s the theatrical trailer for The Wolfman:

www.apple.com/trailers/universal/thewolfman

I’ve been looking forward to this for quite some time, seeing as they’ve postponed the release date four times. A remake of the classic Universal Horror film, it stars Benicio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, and Hugo Weaving.

#1527

Saw 17 Again (not sure why there are two movies with the same title but different story). It was a pretty decent movie. The story’s a bit similar to The Shaggy Dog (yet another film that shares the same title but different story as another film) if you think about it (man transforms into another form, unknown to his family, and sees more clearly from their point of view this way, such as the problems his kids have and the feelings his wife has).

The sexual references were there to support a meaning for the story, such as when [spoil]“Mark” (young Mike) boldly told the teacher and the class that it was called “making love” for a reason and that high-schoolers shouldn’t be sexually active for the wrong reasons. [/spoil] I really enjoyed the plot, and especially the hilarious sideplot with Ned. What disturbed me was how [spoil]Mike’s daughter seemed to be making out for most of the movie. What did she see in that guy, anyway?[/spoil] It is a very interesting film and I laughed out loud during [spoil]Ned’s battle with the knight’s helmet and light-up sword thinking young Mike is a theif.[/spoil] It hits a lot of humor but also gets into a lot of meaning. [spoil]The part where Mike as “Mark” “reads the letter” when it turns out he said it from his heart? Touching.[/spoil] That’s what I like about it.

I also saw Bambi II. Beautiful animation that you can tell they took their time with. It also has depth and emotions such as grief, loneliness, not understanding others, yearning, anger, sadness, and also relief and joy. It really completes the first one, too.

The part where the Great Prince is lightening up and playing with Bambi is adorable. Thumper is so cute! [spoil]But did some of the sisters die or something? There’s only four - there used to be more in the first[/spoil]. Young Ronno is this character I hate because of the way he acts, but I just love him for some reason. Maybe it’s because I love how he affects Bambi [spoil]to toughen up[/spoil]. This movie also has references to the first film (such as Ronno [spoil]forcing Faline to step back, as he does as a grown up [/spoil] in the first movie), and also some similarities with The Lion King [spoil](Bambi being forced to leave the past with his mother behind, the Great Prince fighting off the wild dogs since Bambi cannot fight for himself, etc.) [/spoil]. Then again, The Lion King was inspired by the original Bambi film, so I guess they’re all connected.

Though I am thankful for Bambi II, it does lack a few things. The one I cannot ignore is that the original Bambi had more hard work in music. The orchestra’s lively different themes for the Great Prince, for the grown deer, for Man in the forest, for the rain (I loved the “Little April Shower sequence”! Go listen to it again! Yes, you! XD), etc. But what did Bambi II have? Mostly the music sounds like someone plugged in the soft pop music station. I mean, yeah, the music is pretty good and has the right lyrics and such, but couldn’t they save the singing for the end credits? It just doesn’t go right with the woodland world. I mean, this movie takes place in the middle of the first, so it seems kinda awkward to have this pattern: Brilliant flowing orchestra themes - sung pop songs - intense, brilliant flowing orchestra themes again!

Also, the beginning seemed rushed. The same scene in the first movie had so much emotion and is known to be tearjerking. But in the sequel, it kinda went too quick [spoil](they didn’t give Bambi enough time to cry!)[/spoil]. So, you can’t really feel the same deep sadness.

Other than that, it is very enjoyable and definitely one of the better Disney sequels out there. :smiley:

#1528

While we’re on the topic of Final Destination, here’s a parody trailer by my good friend and fellow video artist CannonBoltPhoenix, who just made his return two days ago after a two-month hiatus. I think Pixar fans will something to enjoy here. :wink:

Wow, The Wolfman looks absolutely terrifying! The colour palette is so muted and sombre, too. This looks like an interesting Victoria-era thriller. :slight_smile:

I’m not much of a fan of Zac Efron (I’m from the camp who think HSM is overrated), but I heard decent reviews of 17 Again (which is like the reverse of 13 Going on 30). I think it should be out on DVD now, so I’ll see if it deserves a rental. As for Bambi II, I sorta discovered they had a sequel from all those Within Temptation FMVs on YT! :stuck_out_tongue: The use of contemporary pop songs instead of orchestral pieces in animated films nowadays is also another main of gripe of mine (thanks, DreamWorks!).

Talking about horror movies, there’s Peter Jackson’s next movie, The Lovely Bones, which I’m curious about. It covers the same themes of Up, but in a very creepy stalker format. I like the idea of ‘justice served after death’, and the limbo world is rendered very beautifully and surrealistically. Looks pretty deep and intense too, and I like plots that pits the protagonists through many ordeals that they have to overcome and triumph against (which is pretty much the plot of any good movie, really).

And while we’re on the topic of Peter Jackson (see how everything’s connected? :smiley:), I’m massively, super-duper, freakin-fantabulastic excited for the movie adaptation of my current book obsession: Temeraire! The August issue for Empire (the one with Downey, Jr. as Sherlock on the cover) ran a feature of ‘secret projects under development’ and Temeraire was featured prominently (there was a beautiful, epic concept art of a battle scene splashed across the first page). It had a ‘Yellow light’ icon, which signaled it had a good chance of being taken up, and some info has leaked out about it. And what does this have to do with P.J.? Why, he’s gonna direct it, of course! :smiley:

They also mentioned John Carter of Mars and Newt in that article. I’m so elated! :slight_smile:

#1529

Oh, yes, I can’t wait or The Lovely Bones! I’m a huge fan of Peter Jackson, and I loved the way he handled The Lord of the Rings and King Kong.

Other films I can’t wait to see this year:

i Days of Summer[/i]
Surrogates
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Where the Wild Things Are
Avatar
The Lovely Bones

Films I can’t wait to see in 2010:

Alice in Wonderland
Clash of the Titans
Robin Hood
Toy Story 3
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I

And my top films of 2009 (so far, of course :wink: ):

  1. Up
  2. Watchmen
    3. Inglourious Basterds
  3. Star Trek
  4. District 9
  5. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
#1530

Here’s the teaser trailer for Inception:

apple.com/trailers/wb/inception/

#1531

Well, I just watched Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan for the first time 2 days ago. According to what I’ve read and heard about, it’s supposed to be the best, or one of the best, of the old Trek movies, and I can see why. It really was very good. It was much more intense than I expected, considering that the first movie to me was really just like a 2 hour TV episode. Spock’s death got me a little teary, it was really heart wrenching to me. I think the only reason I could sit through it is because I know he gets ‘reborn’ in the third movie, which is next on my list of movies I need to see.

#1532

Just went to catch an advance for G-Force. Needless to say, I immensely enjoyed it. It’s a ‘guilty pleasure’ kinda thing.

Good knowing that my dough is going for a good cause, too (It was a charity screening).

Read my opinion here.

Movies to look forward to:
Surrogates
Repeat viewings of Up!

Oh, yeah… :smiley:

#1533

Last Wednesday, we saw 9. We all really enjoyed it. You can read our full reviews here. They’re way too long to re-post here, but there is a sort of overview in our current signature.

#1534

My quest to watch Star Trek movies has been made a lot easier since the library ordered pretty much all of them. I watched Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, which was pretty good. Not as good to me as The Wrath of Khan, but it was fast paced and still full of emotion. Plus, there were some really adorable moments there. :slight_smile:

#1535

Saw an advanced screening of the Toy Story/Toy Story 2 double feature. Quite impressive in 3D, although I would have still been excited and enjoyed it even if it wasn’t in the third dimension!

One complaint I have though, is that while there is a 10 minute intermission, it is filled with trivia and Toy Story treats! While it was fun to watch, and at times hilarious, I couldn’t actually use the intermission, since I wanted to watch the ‘intermission show’.

Then Toy Story 2 started, and I hope no one will stay through the intermission then run out quickly during the beginning of TS2, figuring that they have seen it before. The ‘space ranger video game’ that it opens with is so stunning in 3D, you will not want to miss it. So, here’s what I suggest. If you have to run out, maybe go during the credits of the first Toy Story. It’s not really that 3D anyway, and it’s better than missing part of the movie. The only downside is missing Randy Newman’s great soundtrack piped through theatre speakers rather than just on DVD. If you’re like me, though, watching the credits is part of the film.

Oh, and another thing, is at the screening I attended, there were three guys dressed up like the TS army men, and they were handing out t-shirts and other prizes. Too bad they didn’t do like the Pixar animators did when they were making Toy Story, and have their feet attached to snowboard type things. I guess it would have been exhausting and kind of difficult with theatre escalators though…

I was going to wait to post about it, but I wanted to give everyone a heads up about the intermission.

#1536

I just bought both The Jungle Book and Tarzan yesterday; classics. I love them!

#1537

CMB: Total agreement. High-five! :smiley:

Recently watched Robin Hood, Fun and Fancy Free, and Meet the Robinsons. Haven’t seen them in a long time, so I laughed outrageously - I forgot how hilarious and awesome they are! I’ve gotta take notes on as many memorable quotes as I remember - I MUST post them in the Memorable Classic Disney Quotes thread!

#1538

I’m watching The Emperor’s New Groove now. I just bought it, and I’m loving it!

Atlantis: The Lost Empire is up next, I just bought that today as well.

#1539

The Emperor’s New Groove is a bit modernized and kinda hard to take that seriously, BUT I gotta admit, I LOVE its humor, and Atlantis: The Lost Empire is a great Disney Classic, too, and really underrated. The imagined culture is beautiful and the humor is bang-up, too. :smiley:

#1540

I’m watching Disney’s Hercules now. I think I’m going to go buy this flick tomorrow! :slight_smile: