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Total Posts: 932

Joined 2004-03-23

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Oz - 24 October 2013 04:03 AM

I went to see Wong Kar-Wai’s latest film, The Grandmaster, at the theater. Although seeing a Wong film on the big screen is worth paying 10 euros in itself, the film was a disappointment. Wong should stick with his lyrical romanticism or at least he should take a moment to step back and think about how action should be directed. Well, at least his gorgeous cinematography was still there, but it doesn’t help when the script is all over the place and to some degree is quite hard to understand for someone who’s not Chinese.

Which version did you see? I hear there are three different lengthed versions out there.

I had a bit of a Wong Kar-Wai thursday-friday - on Thursday evening I saw In the Mood for Love on the big screen for the first time (and oh my god, how good it is that way), then on Friday morning I saw The Grandmaster (the 2h version). Though I agree (having just seen ItMfL in comparison) it doesn’t hold up to the romantic movies he’s done, I still liked it a lot. I didn’t find it hard to follow, either (aside from one point when I was confused about which guy with a pencil moustache there was on the screen Grin) and I certainly enjoyed it far more than most movies. Of course, they tend to be very lame about what movies they show here anyways (far too many blockbusters, much to few anything else - the amount of different movies shown is 1/4th of what it was in the 80’s, I hear, even though there are many times more movie showings). I almost never go to the movies anymore, the only good movies are on the TV…

But anyways, it was visually stunning like every WKW movie, and I very much enjoyed it.

And of course you can’t top In the Mood for Love Heart

     
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Total Posts: 11

Joined 2013-10-24

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It was the Berlin cut. I can see that Wong tried to go for a tricky approach, but the way he spliced up the story so drastically made the film very messy and hard to identify with most of the characters - or in some cases hard to understand what was even going on (such as the early parts filled with martial arts stuff that seemed quite irrelevant for someone like me who doesn’t know anything about the subject). One of the worst parts was how Ip Man’s wife was completely forgotten in the middle of the film and then suddenly brough back at the end only to reveal that he never returned to her. That didn’t really work at all. An even bigger problem was that razor side character who was given at least over 20 minutes of screentime and he didn’t amount to anything in the film’s storyline. I can only assume he is a famous character in the east and it added to show his adventures as well, but it was an unnecessary addition to this film.

     
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Total Posts: 932

Joined 2004-03-23

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Right, the point about underdeveloped side-characters is totally a valid one. It was a bit weird…

But, personally, I don’t feel the movie had such a tricky approach. It wasn’t anything like, say, Ashes of Time (Redux) which I had to watch twice just to understand what went on Grin I was pretty much always right on the timeline.

I wonder what the original cut would’ve added.

     
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Total Posts: 2648

Joined 2004-01-18

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Thor : The Dark World

Loved it.

Darker than the first film with it’s Dark Elves (led by Ex Doctor Who) and it’s universe destroying plot. However this is balanced by some snappy dialogue, great chemistry from the cast and a lot of laugh out loud moments.

Marvel’s still on a roll.

4/5

     

An adventure game is nothing more than a good story set with engaging puzzles that fit seamlessly in with the story and the characters, and looks and sounds beautiful.
Roberta Williams

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Total Posts: 11

Joined 2013-10-24

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Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers: Fun to watch, but quite terrible no matter how you look at it. Visually intriguing and auditively overpowering, but the combination of all the elements doesn’t really come together that well along with the plot turn in the later half and overt repetition ruining the film to some degree. James Franco’s character was hilarious, though.

     
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Total Posts: 2648

Joined 2004-01-18

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Gravity

George Clooney and Sandra Bullock are two NASA astronauts in orbit fixing the hubble spaceship when the shit hits the fan leaving them stranded.

Directed by Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men, Harry Potter Prisoner of Ahzkaban) this is a visually beautiful film that had me on the edge of my seat for the full 90 mins. The camera pulls in and out to great effect, pulling back to highlight Bullock lost against a blanket of stars or pulling right into her helmet as she spins out of control.

It’s probably the most realistic portrayal of space since Apollo 13, the most amazing opening 20 mins since Contact and the best 3D since Avatar.

By far my favourite film of the year, I loved it. See it in 3D on the biggest screen you can (IMAX if possible)and it will be like you are floating along side looking down on our blue planet.


5/5

 

     

An adventure game is nothing more than a good story set with engaging puzzles that fit seamlessly in with the story and the characters, and looks and sounds beautiful.
Roberta Williams

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Total Posts: 8469

Joined 2011-10-21

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Gravity - 4.5/5

Alfonso Cuarón proves just exactly WHY I refer to him as ‘The Artist’. Gravity is a visual masterpiece with a couple of extremely lengthy shots (the opening ‘oner’ is about 15 minutes long before there’s a cut). Camera work is outstanding throughout, and very effective in creating a sense of direction (or misdirection depending on the circumstances) in space, and the views of Earth are simply breathtaking (as are the silent (!!!) explosions). No less than four sequences in the film can be described as intense rollercoasters (seriously, if I had put a piece of coal up my arse before the movie, I’d have wound up with a diamond afterwards), and coupled with the few downer moments, this makes for a really superb and impressive movie.

It’s also one of the more realistically portrayed movies about space, safe from a few orbital trajectory goofs that were probably left in to avoid too much scientific babble explaining them.
And for the love of God, can someone keep Ed Harris out of NASA? Whenever he’s in Mission Control (here and in Apollo 13), things go horribly wrong… Tongue



Thor: The Dark World - 3/5

Once again a pretty fun movie, but by now we’ve seen it all in the Marvel Universe, so they have to try harder to really excel. They did well, just not enough to blow me away.
Tom Hiddleston as Loki once again steals the entire film, and completely dominates every one he shares scenes with. Cool
I would have liked to see more screentime for Ray Stevenson, though.
And this is yet another instance where Idris Elba could turn straight men gay… Tongue

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

Total Posts: 3

Joined 2013-12-09

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The Avengers - was late to the party but man that movie was great. Had the right amount of comedy and action, reminded me of the first Iron-Man.

     
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Total Posts: 8469

Joined 2011-10-21

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The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - 3/5

Similar to the first film: very competently made (safe for some iffy special effects when The Cornucopia starts spinning rapidly), but still lacking some much-needed depth in its own social commentary (a problem the first film also had).
This one’s slightly better than the first, though, since it doesn’t feel so much like “Battle Royale Light” this time around. And it sets up the final act in this movie trilogy quadrilogy perfectly!
Also, the amount of talented character actors in this are astounding: we already had Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, Stanley Tucci and Toby Jones (amongst others) from the first film, but now they’ve thrown in Jeffrey Wright and Philip Seymour Hoffman as well! Makes you wonder who’ll get added for the Mockingjay films. Daniel Day-Lewis and Meryl Streep??? Gasp
(And yes, I know Julianne Moore has already been confirmed. Tongue)



Escape Plan - 2.5/5

Predictable, seen-it-a-million-times-before film, but still a pretty fun ride, despite Stallone and especially Schwarzenegger being far too old to still be portraying action heroes. They make it look like they had a blast filming this, though, as does Jesus Jim Caviezel who relishes his role as the villain.
The final act goes way over-the-top with its action, but the moment where Schwarzenegger takes a mounted machine gun off its mount is hilarious! Nostalgia / shout-out power to the max! Tongue
There are a couple of overqualified extras in the film: the small roles for Sam Neill and Vincent D’Onofrio are far FAR beneath their acting abilities. But that’s something that never spoils the fun, so meh.
And its very refreshing to finally see Schwarzenegger portray a German-speaking character and to see him have a character meltdown monologue in German. I think it’s fair to say that his German is more intelligible than his English. Tongue

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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Total Posts: 7109

Joined 2005-09-29

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Blue is the Warmest Color

Shot beautifully but too many unwanted closeups on face.
Only God Forgives deserved the Palme d’Or award.
Really hot scenes thanks to Hot female leads. Rest is typical Lebsian affair
which has been done number of times in other lesbian flicks.

I think on the whole Circumstance was better lesbian movie.

 

 

 

     
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Total Posts: 6577

Joined 2007-07-22

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The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug 3.9/5

If you hated the first movie, you’ll hate this one as well - if you loved it, you’ll love the second one even more! Grin It’s simple as that. I’m “lucky” that I haven’t read the book prior to watching the movie, so I had no deeper issues with it, apart from the fact that it kinda seemed to me it’s more on the “action” (especially one scene is the BARREL of fun, literally) or “cinematic” side (even though the 3D does look good). To put it into the adventure games lingo (and as I’m in the middle of BS marathon) - if Lord of the Rings films were Broken Sword 1/2, Hobbit might as well pass as BS3 and 4. Grin

     

Recently finished: Four Last Things 4/5, Edna & Harvey: The Breakout 5/5, Chains of Satinav 3,95/5, A Vampyre Story 88, Sam Peters 3/5, Broken Sword 1 4,5/5, Broken Sword 2 4,3/5, Broken Sword 3 85, Broken Sword 5 81, Gray Matter 4/5\nCurrently playing: Broken Sword 4, Keepsake (Let\‘s Play), Callahan\‘s Crosstime Saloon (post-Community Playthrough)\nLooking forward to: A Playwright’s Tale

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Total Posts: 2648

Joined 2004-01-18

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The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Saw it last week. It’s better than the fist movie, but still too long and padded out.

Even the action sequences which are a lot of fun go on for a little bit too long.

There are a lot of changes from the book, if you care about that kinda thing, some work and some don’t (shoehorning Legolas into the movie).

However Bilbo’s first encounter with Smaug more or less makes up for it. The Dragon is dripping with menace, cunning and evil until the rest of the party shows up.

It’s a movie of contradictions. Some amazing bits tempered with the fact that the whole story has been stretched to the point breaking to pad it out to three movies.

3 or 4/5

     

An adventure game is nothing more than a good story set with engaging puzzles that fit seamlessly in with the story and the characters, and looks and sounds beautiful.
Roberta Williams

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Total Posts: 7109

Joined 2005-09-29

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My best films of this Year

Mud - Matthew is my new fav after this and Killerjoe, Nolan casted him rightly in Interstellar

Iceman - Shannon was great, Top tier stuff.

SingleShot - SamRockwell really underrated, hope he gets attentiion in future like Matthew.

Hunt - Bold topic very well acted by Mads.

Special ID - Donnieyen can do no wrong Smile

Only god forgives - Artistic and Gosling <3

     
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Total Posts: 532

Joined 2009-06-07

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nomadsoul - 14 December 2013 05:09 AM

Blue is the Warmest Color

Shot beautifully but too many unwanted closeups on face.
Only God Forgives deserved the Palme d’Or award.
Really hot scenes thanks to Hot female leads. Rest is typical Lebsian affair
which has been done number of times in other lesbian flicks.

I think on the whole Circumstance was better lesbian movie.

Don’t forget that it’s a comic book adaptation and as such I think it was actually pretty good. They stayed relatively true to the source material.

     
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Total Posts: 2648

Joined 2004-01-18

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Today must be Amy Adams day because both of th emovies I watched had her in it.

American Hustle

A movie set in the 70’s (Check out the costumes and hairdo on the stars it’s hilarious) about a couple of con artists (Christian Bale and Amy Adams) who get caught by the FBI (Bradley Cooper) and forced to set up a sting operation to catch corrupt politicians and mobsters in and around Atlantic City.

This is getting a lot of Golden Globe and Oscar buzz (Esp Jennifer Lawrence as the loopy wife of Bale).

Certainly the performances from all around are great, Christian Bale with a paunch belly and the outragous comb over, Amy Adams showing off a ton of clevage, Bradley Cooper and his tiny hair rollers and Travolta dance moves and kooky Jennifer Lawrence testing out an early microwave are all stand out performers in this. Even the surprise guest star is probably his best work since he sold out years ago.

The plot isn’t as clever as it thinks it is, but the con inside a con story is funny and fun even if a tad preditable in the end.

Overall it was a lot of fun.

4/5

Her

This was an odd film by Spike Jonze.

Set in the near future, we find Joaquin Phoenix a bit if a lonely sad sack. Going through a divorce, he mopes around avoiding company apart from his neighbours (Amy Adams and husband), plays video games and works in a website that does personalise handwritten letters (which are weirdly all done on a computer).

One day he installs the latest in technology on his computer, an AI personal assistant that will organise your life and meet your every electronic need. During the installation he gives it a female voice and she selects the name Samantha. They bond over the softwares ability to learn as you use it, to adapt and evolve to his wishes as if it is a real person. They talk about everything from music to love and life and it quickly becomes like a person with a personality. He soon falls head over heels in love with is AI (Voiced by Scarlett Johannsen) and they start a strange, intense relationship where they go for do most things normal couples would do.

The only thing holding them back is her lack of a real body, intimicy is like phone sex and is mostly verbal, but in one awkward scene Samantha drafts in a surrogate body to stand in for herself.

It is an odd film that highlights love in the 21st centuary, how we communicate and have more of a relationship via twitter and mobile phones than in real life and what would happen if that technology keeps evolving.

People can fall in love over long distances online, via email, skype etc so is it that far fetched that someone could fall in love with an AI.

SIRI just doesn’t push my buttons, Windows 8 makes me hate computers not love them so we are not quite there yet. However it makes for a fascinating film.

4/5

     

An adventure game is nothing more than a good story set with engaging puzzles that fit seamlessly in with the story and the characters, and looks and sounds beautiful.
Roberta Williams

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