The Film Thread

[Stevo985]

53 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

Why would they make a film about a band that nobody other than Gordon Brown has heard of ?

I mean I can understand Ron Howard making a film about the Beatles , biggest band to ever walk the planet  , I can kinda understand making a film about Oasis , big band from their time and a huge cultural importance on the UK in the 90's  ... but Arctic monkeys , who the **** are they ?

Is this one of your joke posts or are you serious?

I know they're not as big as the Beatles or Oasis, but Arctic Monkeys are still a very famous band.

[AVFCDAN]

I think its about time we got a film on The Ordinary Boys personally.

[lapal_fan]

9 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

It's on my list of films to see.

Unfortunately there's about 50 films on that list and it's growing faster than I can watch films off it so I might never get to it!

Put all your other shitty films in the bin and put this in your vhs player and glue the door shut because it won't be coming out again.

[lapal_fan]

9 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

Is this one of your joke posts or are you serious?

I know they're not as big as the Beatles or Oasis, but Arctic Monkeys are still a very famous band.

Not worth a film though.  I agree with Tone-zone.  They are Oasis-lite (and by that I mean they are nothing alike because artic monkeys are completely shit, despite how famous they are).

May as well make a film about Chico-time .

[Stevo985]

Yeah I'm not sure it's worth a film. I wouldn't watch it.

I just couldn't tell if Tony had really never heard of them or not

[tonyh29]

9 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

Is this one of your joke posts or are you serious?

I know they're not as big as the Beatles or Oasis, but Arctic Monkeys are still a very famous band.

I bet they don't pass the Mooney test

 

I've heard of them but I seem to recall it was for something daft like a fan site produced a bootleg and the popularity grew from there (or was that some other band ?)  and the previously mentioned GB saying they were his favourite band  ... oh  and it turns out I know "bet you look good on the dance floor" even if I didn't know they were the artists

 

but a film , serious ?  I bet Bananarama have sold more records * , and a film on the bananas would at least offer a chance of seeing Keren in a swimsuit

 

 

 

* no bets

 

 

[sexbelowsound]

Watched Suicide Squad last night.

It shit.  

[Stevo985]

Just now, tonyh29 said:

I bet they don't pass the Mooney test

 

That's not a reliable measure and you know it

[villa4europe]

if you want another band documentary fix then try talihina sky the kings of leon documentary, thats kind of like the oasis one in that it shows their yoof, then their rise, then footage of them outside of the band are they are interesting people when they go back to hick central

id seen AM before the 1st album came out, they were already massive, everyone knew about them, they had smashed reading festival in 05 and their stuff was all over myspace for about 18 months before, they seem to have this myth about them that because they werent in the media that much or marketed to within an inch of their life they came out of nowhere, they didnt, they were followers of what the libertines were doing, there was tons of stuff passed about online, pretty much the entire album was out there a year before it actually got released

[Designer1]

3 hours ago, coda said:

Has anyone seen this 

 

Want to watch but it's nearly 3 hours

Can't wait for this.

I may have mentioned being a big Park Chan Wook fan on here a couple of times before

[tonyh29]

1 hour ago, Designer1 said:

Can't wait for this.

I may have mentioned being a big Park Chan Wook fan on here a couple of times before

[Ginko]

On 22/11/2016 at 22:30, Chindie said:

Arrival has the right amount of explanation, and it's not difficult to understand.

I just found that entire turn to the film intensely unsatisfying. The film presents a logical and somewhat scientific approach to a fantastical thing, and that thing is itself engrossing. And then it

  Hide contents

swerves into the psychic stuff and makes Amy Adams magic for a reason completely at odds with the logical methodology it set out for the majority of the movie. It tries to fudge it by tying into the idea language affecting the way the world is viewed... But that's a helluva leap to being able to see the future and past simultaneously and it's a leap too far and too at odds with everything that came before.

It also kinda feels like the movie has cheated you. You've been drawn into the aliens and the idea of first contact and how you'd communicate. And then the movie goes 'nah forget that'.

I don't think it's a bad movie by any means, but there's 20 minutes of a movie that ends up switching something that might have been a top 10 all time for me, into something that would struggle to get into the top 100.

Spoiler

I don't think the twist had absolutely nothing to do with anything that came before it, there's lots of scenes with Adams and her daughter that contained clues and hints as to what the twist would be.

Also, it's a story about aliens coming to Earth and therefore being able to use Faster Than Light travel as well as lots of other way more advanced technology, so I'm not sure I agree that it went from being realistic to requiring the suspension of disbelief in one fell swoop.

They also linked what was happening to Adams' character in terms of her perception of time with the very real phenomena of how learning a new language can change the way your brain works. In the context of the movie, it made sense for her to be taking on some of the alien 'gifts' the more she immersed herself in their language.

There's also the very real notion of the perception of time at play within the story, of which there is scientific evidence. Obviously the film takes it to the extremes, but again, it's a film about aliens. Not too much of a stretch within the story's context.

I loved it and thought it was a new and interesting take on both the alien and time travel genre. It was explained well; neither too easily that one could explain by way of 'because magic', nor too complex to make absolutely no sense. It wasn't a huge leap for me, it made complete sense within the context of the story and was satisfying. I certainly didn't feel cheated. In fact I felt quite thoughtful and a little buzzed after seeing such a clever and well crafted story.

 

Edited November 25, 2016 by Ginko

[tonyh29]

6 minutes ago, Ginko said:

and there are some pretty big clues in there about what the twist would be.

A neon sign flashing here is a clue would have been more how I'd describe it

[Ginko]

It wasn't that obvious, especially towards the beginning of the story. It got a little more obvious towards the end just before the reveal, but I got a bit of a buzz having figured out the gist of what was going on.

[Brumerican]

4 hours ago, AVFCDAN said:

I think its about time we got a film on The Ordinary Boys personally.

 

 

[hogso]

Fugazi's Instrument is the be all and end all of music 'documentaries' 

[Chindie]

1 hour ago, Ginko said:

  Reveal hidden contents

I don't think the twist had absolutely nothing to do with anything that came before it, there's lots of scenes with Adams and her daughter that contained clues and hints as to what the twist would be.

Also, it's a story about aliens coming to Earth and therefore being able to use Faster Than Light travel as well as lots of other way more advanced technology, so I'm not sure I agree that it went from being realistic to requiring the suspension of disbelief in one fell swoop.

They also linked what was happening to Adams' character in terms of her perception of time with the very real phenomena of how learning a new language can change the way your brain works. In the context of the movie, it made sense for her to be taking on some of the alien 'gifts' the more she immersed herself in their language.

There's also the very real notion of the perception of time at play within the story, of which there is scientific evidence. Obviously the film takes it to the extremes, but again, it's a film about aliens. Not too much of a stretch within the story's context.

I loved it and thought it was a new and interesting take on both the alien and time travel genre. It was explained well; neither too easily that one could explain by way of 'because magic', nor too complex to make absolutely no sense. It wasn't a huge leap for me, it made complete sense within the context of the story and was satisfying. I certainly didn't feel cheated. In fact I felt quite thoughtful and a little buzzed after seeing such a clever and well crafted story.

 

I kinda feel like there should be something other than a spoiler box here...

Spoiler

I didn't say that the twist is unconnected to the film. Of course the twist ties into the flashback/forwards of her daughter. I hadn't ignored those. I was thinking the movie was going to say something profound about the impact of someone who had lost a child becoming a 'discoverer' of a new life and juxtaposing those, or similar. Instead it doesn't and decides to play with ideas of the consequences of foresight and observing time differently. Which is a cool idea. Just not like this.

I also didn't say it went from realistic to requiring suspension of disbelief. Any film dealing with aliens is going to hammer suspension of disbelief. My issue is that all (good) fantastical movies establish the rules of the game. Arrival quietly establishes it's rules as 'the real world, but what happens if aliens turn up?' and then has a realistic, thoughtful approach to solving a practical problem, communication. And thats brilliant. It asks a question and it shows a very real and grounded way to answer it, and brilliantly makes a dry topic fascinating.

The issue arises that it then makes an absurdly fantastical leap that feels utterly and, dare I say it, brokenly at odds with what it established earlier. You note I actually acknowledge they try to justify this in the context they had established by using the theory that language affects the way you think and observe the world. That's a theory I'm actually fairly familiar with, it comes up lots in certain political theories. However, for my money, that theory doesn't support the idea that a language will give you psychic abilities. The idea is there, but by pushing it that far you break it, especially when you stand that next to the stuff that came before, that was so grounded. The twist absolutely hinges on that, and in another movie it could work, in this movie, they've set things up in such a way that that twist is stupid.

I absolutely think that the movie gives you food for thought, and it can be dissected in perhaps interesting ways. But it's, for me anyway, ultimately unsatisfying, because it did go 'a bit magic'.

For the avoidance of doubt, I absolutely understood every second of the movie. I saw the twist coming in the minutes before it came and the audience around me (the little of that there was, and of that the little that wasn't calling the subcontinent at the time) could attest I had my head in my hands as I realised what it was about to do and how it was going to justify it. The movie makes a very pointed reference to a very pertinent thing about 45 minutes in and that set alarm bells ringing, but when it went for it I could feel my love for the thing drain away.

I could still have a chat about it in the pub afterwards and discuss the layers and possible ramifications of what it lays out. But before that twist is was a fantastic movie with nice themes well developed and toyed with, and a few intellectual rabbit runs to navigate, and then it decides it's much more clever if it does that. And it isn't that clever. For me anyway.

[Ginko]

Fair dooz Chindie, I always respect your opinion and that you always put a lot of well reasoned thought into them, especially when it comes to films. Fear not, I certainly don't believe you didn't 'get' the movie or that anyone who didn't particularly enjoy it was too dumb to understand it.

I think what it ultimately comes down to is our expectations of what the film was going to be when we began watching it. That and...

Spoiler

You define Adams' ability as psychic and therefore magic, whereas I choose to believe it was based off a very real concept just pushed a bit to the extreme. I'm not saying I think what she can do in the film is humanly possible, but the fact that it's at least grounded in some form of science and it was established somewhat early on in the film as one of its 'rules' was enough for me to not only see it coming at the right time, but was also a satisfying explanation.

You obviously disagree and I can understand why.

Edited November 26, 2016 by Ginko

[darrenm]

On 25/11/2016 at 08:44, lapal_fan said:

Supersonic!

10/10 - my first ever film review which wasn't a 9.5/10.

Take me back.

Watch the eagles docu on Netflix. Also awesome

[darrenm]

50 minutes ago, Ginko said:

Fair dooz Chindie, I always respect your opinion and that you always put a lot of well reasoned thought into them, especially when it comes to films. Fear not, I certainly don't believe you didn't 'get' the movie or that anyone who didn't particularly enjoy it was too dumb to understand it.

I think what it ultimately comes down to is our expectations of what the film was going to be when we began watching it. That and...

  Hide contents

You define Adams' ability as psychic and therefore magic, whereas I choose to believe it was based off a very real concept just pushed a bit to the extreme. I'm not saying I think what she can do in the film is humanly possible, but the fact that it's at least grounded in some form of science and it was established somewhat early on in the film as one of its 'rules' was enough for me to not only see it coming not at the right time, but was also a satisfying explanation.

You obviously disagree and I can understand why.

This.

the whole concept of the movie was about how powerful language is. This was the whole point, the aliens and everything else a very distant back story. The alien's language is outside of our understanding but someone who understands and can learn languages quicker and better than anyone else started becoming fluent by total immersion and when she got that fluency she was able to break out of our false concept of time. Sorry Chindie, even though you claim otherwise I don't think you quite got it if you think it was anything to do with Adams magically becoming psychic. It's a really interesting topic about how we define our walls and how different languages cause different brain patterns thus altering understanding and perception.