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The Film Thread


DeadlyDirk

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On 12/01/2020 at 12:40, Dr_Pangloss said:

I saw Alien Covenant on TV last night, it was on the flex of being utter garbage but Michael Fassbender's performance was extremely good and saved the film. It was pretty much a collection of the Alien series cliches and explored themes which have been covered in other movies within the genre. Particularly grating was the CGI which can only be described as horrific. I don't know what it is with modern movies but there's a massive over-reliance on CGI and it seldom looks convincing. The Xenomorph looked comical, nothing scary about it. In the first Alien it was terrifying, no CGI was used, just clever lighting, cinematography and practical effects.

Yeah they really ruined it, there was so much that could have been done.

Prometheus was okay, not great but it felt like a good setup film for the sequel, then it’s like they all had a total brainfart and just threw out the first piece of shit they could come up with, like you say, cliched and stale, acting wasn’t great and you didn’t really come to like any character.

I went to the cinema to watch it and was gutted.

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2 hours ago, sne said:

I don't know...

You're kinda on a hiding to nothing with Morbius, he's a real, real D list Marvel character, and you can really see it with this.

Also I kinda hate the look Sony gives these films. They love the generic high tech lab aesthetic and this slightly golden hued soft focus, and it looks shit.

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2 minutes ago, Chindie said:

You're kinda on a hiding to nothing with Morbius, he's a real, real D list Marvel character, and you can really see it with this.

Also I kinda hate the look Sony gives these films. They love the generic high tech lab aesthetic and this slightly golden hued soft focus, and it looks shit.

Not gonna lie, never heard about this one before the movie was announced. 

Is he in the same universe as Blade?

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2 minutes ago, sne said:

Not gonna lie, never heard about this one before the movie was announced. 

Is he in the same universe as Blade?

Yes. He and Blade have crossed over multiple times. He actually technically had a cameo in the first Blade movie, in an alternative ending he appears in the distance (not that you can tell).

He's not actually a vampire. He's a 'pseudo-vampire', hence the name 'the living vampire'. He has a load of powers similar to vampires but doesn't have the mystical weaknesses or some of the more out there powers vampires classically have had - he can't turn into a bat, he doesn't 'infect' his victims with vampirism, he isn't harmed by garlic etc etc. He's a fairly poor character, most well known for appearing in the 90s Spiderman cartoon where they steadfastly refused to have blood, so rather than bite his victims for blood, he sucked 'plasma' from them with bizarre suckers on his hands.

He's a bit rubbish.

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The Gentlemen is OK. If you like Guy Ritchie, it'll fill a few hours. If you've never seen Guy Ritchie you might think it's great, but go and watch Snatch for a better version.

Parasite is good. Not sure it's worth the monstrous adulation myself.

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So watched two films yesterday:

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood - Strange film as most Tarantino's are. Very slow paced but by the end of it I enjoyed it. Surprised how little I know about the Manson murders, is there a film or series that covers them in any depth?

1917 - Superb, up there with Saving Private Ryan. If the film had lasted another two hours I would happily have sat there. Really hit home what some of the guy's went through in WW1. Would highly reccomend.

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2 hours ago, wilko154 said:

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood - Strange film as most Tarantino's are. Very slow paced but by the end of it I enjoyed it. Surprised how little I know about the Manson murders, is there a film or series that covers them in any depth?

'Inside the Manson Cult: The Lost Tapes is a good doc that first got me interested: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8527036/

Also recently watched Charlie Says starring Matt Smith who is very good in the titular role.  Explores the girls time in prison afterwards too.  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1759744/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

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~~Hogso's thoughts on Ni No Kuni (Netflix)~~

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Released today on UK Netflix, this Ni No Kuni is an animated movie set in the same world as the computer game series. Importantly for fans of those games, it's important to note that this is in way an adaptation on any of the games, but instead is a story in isolation, featuring a few subtle references. Knowledge of those games is certainly not a requirement - however, enjoyment of Japanese animation may be.

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This production comes from OLM, who would be most widely known as the producers of the Pokémon animated series. Considering that the Ni No Kuni (PS3) had it's animated scenes produced by the world renown Studio Ghibli (being one of their very few associations with a video game), they had an awful lot to live up to here. The standard of the animation is fine - nothing ground breaking, but serviceable. There are a few computer animated effects which I wasn't so keen on, though, as they rarely work for me in anime as they look so out of place.

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It does feature both the original Japanese dub, and an English dub. Again, the dub is serviceable...although I think given some of my recent toils with the issues of localising the Japanese language in film or video games (see my Kiseki thread in the games and gaming thread for a bit more on that) I've noticed a few things that just didn't sit well with me. There's also a pretty horrific attempt to emulate the voice of Mr Drippy from the most popular game. 

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Stefan Rhodri produces one of the finest voice performances I've heard in any in his role as Drippy. In this, though, we have two little side characters who provide zero bearing on the plot, and have a weird Scottish / Welsh accent. It's very very strange and a pretty terrible casting choice. 

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As far as the plot goes, it does it's best to emulate a classic Studio Ghibli tale, but doesn't ever reach such heights. That doesn't mean there isn't anything to enjoy here, as much as it does plod along, and is a bit by the numbers, it does produce some enjoyable sequences and a suitably emotional finale.

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What I do find most interesting about it is that it's been given a 15 certificate on Netflix, due to the violence in the fight sequences, and a little bit of blood. Which is a shame, as the games are something I would definitely recommend to those with younger gamers in the family, and this could open a gateway to the video game series, pardon the pun. The violence isn't on a par with other contemporary anime series like Attack on Titan, for example, and although it should definitely not be a PG, a 15 seems a little much.

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Probably my favourite thing about it was the score, provided by the legendary Joe Hisaishi, which features some fantastic call backs woven into this original soundtrack to the games.

(oddly I can't find an offical Netflix UK trailer on YouTube). 

A 7/10 for me, quite a long way off the quality of the PS3 game, but especially worth the time for fans of the series. 

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Watched 'By The Time It Gets Dark', saw it get compared to Mirror, and the descriptions of Films within films, tricks of perception, and doppelgangers made me think of Inland Empire, really liked it a lot, thought it was very cleverly done. Also watched L'Avventura, which I liked.

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wasn’t that impressed with 1917 , I mean sure it looked good and was will filmed but the script / plot was a bit weak ... it was like a poor mans  Apocalypto at times,  decent film but dunno just didn't  do enough for me ... 

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Really top notch horror.

Well rounded, interesting characters and a storyline that creates a good sense of impending, unsettling doom whilst never going too OTT.

Takes a few of it's beats from movies like The Amityville Horror but retains it own identity.

Recommended for the VT horror fans. :thumb:

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Stray Dogs (Tsai Ming-lian) which is about an homeless family that lives in an abandoned building, during the day the dad works as a human billboard and his two children fend for themselves. There is hardly any dialogue, there's no real structure to the film, and a lot of the shots are long silent takes, quite bleak overall, but despite the two hour plus runtime with not much happening, I thought the film went by pretty fast and didn't drag at all.

Jallikattu, about an escaped buffalo running amok in a village and the villagers attempts to capture it. Has to be one of the most chaotic films I've seen, lots of running around, shouting and arguing, think I might have liked it better if I'd have watched it on another occasion, but it certainly has it's merits, I especially liked the way the night scenes in the forest looked with all the torches lit up.

Le Voyage Dans la Lune, another short silent film, watched it after seeing a segment of it used in 'By The Time It Gets Dark', thought it was interesting and well done.

 

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So, The Irishman... Clearly exceptionally well shot and well acted but I just didn't feel the love for it as it's compatriots Goodfellas and Casino. 

maybe it was the de-aging, which at youngest made De Niro look in his forties (not the early to mid twenties I suspect his character was) and it couldn't stop him moving around like the older man he is.

The scene where he set upon the grocery store owner was the least threatening shoeing I've ever witnessed - it looked like he was stepping on a bug! 

It was very long and in part unnecessarily so, with too many characters introduced for no reason other than a cameo appearance by an actor wanting to be in a Scorsese movie. 

I enjoyed it but didn't love it. Once is probably enough for me. 

 

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