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The Film Thread


DeadlyDirk

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yeah, it's my favourite of his so far. Got Vertigo and Rear Window to come in the next few days I think. First thing I'd seen James Mason in too - albeit with an Ezzie Izzard impression of his voice in my head going into it :/

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yeah, it's my favourite of his so far. Got Vertigo and Rear Window to come in the next few days I think. First thing I'd seen James Mason in too - albeit with an Ezzie Izzard impression of his voice in my head going into it :/

As he has also ruined Christopher Walken for me

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Watched Gus Van Sant's Elephant earlier. An interesting approach which reminded me of The Shining for some reason. Was a bit grim with a massive sense of foreboding.

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I watched the Green Lantern last night. In fairness to me, I only bought it because I took advantage of Amazon's 3 for £17 offer and could only find 2 movies I really wanted.

Blimey.

Where do you start with it. As most probably know now I'm a bit of a comic geek, but I can't say I actually care for the Green Lantern. It's a character that suffers from 'DC back catalogue syndrome', something that afflicts every DC character that isn't Batman or Superman. The affliction leaves the character feeling just a little shit to everyone who isn't a fan. The base idea behind the Green Lantern isn't bad (in fact it's pretty decent comic book fare - a hotshot test pilot with tragedy in his past is chosen as the first human to join an intergalactic army/police force who all possess a ring able to conjure the physical manifestation of their will, and they fight bad guys), but theres something about the way it's done that feels incredibly wank.

The film doesn't really get away from it. Watching the Lanterns in the film conjure solutions to their problems feels like you're watching the result of what a 5 year old would think of to solve the problems characters face. A huge group of Lanterns try to capture the big baddie - their solution is to conjure a comedy net. Hal, our hero, is faced with preventing a helicopter crash, as the aircraft falls out of the sky he conjures a race car chassis under the wreckage and a HotWheels track for it to run around to safety, complete with jump. It really says something that they manage to take a fairly daft idea, but one you just about are prepared to run with, and make it so daft you snigger. I mean... you're given the ability to conjure anything your will desires to solve a problem like stopping a helicopter crash hurting some bystanders, and your solution is obviously going to be to make it into a race car with track leading to safety, isn't it? The comedy net would probably be less ridiculous.

It isn't helped by the fact the powers that be behind the film seem to have decided that the objects conjured by the Lanterns (always in green transparent shiny-ness) should have a very Bugs Bunny style to them, a very cartoon-y bold exaggeration to them that serves only to make it look all the more daft. It's not even that the CG is bad, throughout it's pretty decent, but every single piece of art design is shite. Hal's suit is a case in point. The Green Lantern suit isn't difficult - it's green, has the silly symbol on it, black accents, white gloves, a green domino mask and the ring. The film makes it even simpler, they just give him an all green suit. But it's a CGI suit and looks shit, you never believe it's real, and the mask is even worse, it looks like someone has fired some radioactive silicone at his eyes.

And all thats before you even get the plot. Um... well... there is one but I've never been struck by such an unengaging bit of twaddle like this did. It manages to have 2 enemies that have no menace at all, and both are hideously underdeveloped. The big bad has literally a 15 second back story that ties into some more backstory they don't even bother with, which amounts to 'He's evil', And the other one, played by Peter Sarsgaard, is supposed to have a little of the 'polar opposite of our hero' with a dash of daddy resentment and while they actually do bother to set this up it doesn't work, mostly because they really don't ramp up either aspect by, you know, giving any more than one 1 minute scene for each. When Sarsgaard actually does become a proper baddie, he is more comical than anything, he looks like a beluga whale. And despite the big bad being some incredible threat to the galaxy, he actually isn't threatening at all.

The plot spends far too long getting going, it feels like it's spending far too long getting Hal to be the Green Lantern, and when he finally does they do exceptionally little with it. There isn't a single great action scene in the entire 2 hour long film. Arguably there are.... 7 or 8 perhaps, action scenes, but all are short, lacking in spectacle, and returning to the one thing the film does well, daft. The final fight, against.... a cloud, basically, that eats peoples fear (which apparently will kill you?), is a prime example. Hal takes on this cloud, and bear in mind that he is powered with the ability to conjure anything, his solution is this - he flings a petrol tanker at it and magics an anti-aircraft gun to shoot it with, causing a suitably Hollywood explosion. Of course that doesn't work but *BING* a really curious moment in the training montage that isn't a montage that we saw an hour ago that everyone in the audience immediately went 'I'll remember that, because it's obviously going to be important' inspires him on how to win. Which he does... and again the daft element comes in. The finale involves large amounts of gravity and space. In an effort for that gravity to not pull him in, Hal has the genius idea of conjuring 2 jet fighters to tether himself tothat gun away from the gravitional pull and hold him safely in place. In space.

It's a wholly curious film. At times it plays like a kids film, but it's far too dull and at times a little too adult for that. It has some good actors putting in run of the mill performances. At times it feels like there was a good film in there and someone **** up. Mark Strong is curiously good as the good guy who so obviously would become a bad guy in coming films that even if you'd never heard of the comic you only need look at him and you'd know. Ryan Reynolds looks the part but then only succeeds in the goofy elements that undermine everything. Peter Sarsgaard plays a good creep but in a character that is paper thin and ultimately serves as no threat and too pathetic for the characters own good. Blake Lively is decidely unlively in a role that expects her only to look pretty, which she can manage with her face thats out of proportion with her head. Tim Robbins er... got paid I guess.

It's **** daft. And not in a good way.

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a hotshot test pilot with tragedy in his past is chosen as the first human to join an intergalactic army/police force who all possess a ring able to conjure the physical manifestation of their will' date=' and they fight bad guys[/quote']

Once you've played Mass Effect, you begin to realise how puerile the premise above really is...

*runs*

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Ehh......you'll have to explain that one to me. Sorry :P

In a stereotyped strong Irish accent, Mass Effect could sound like someone saying 'Massey's ****', i.e. the (popular tractor manufacturer) Massey Ferguson is broken.

And now that joke is stone dead.

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Rewatched Chinatown last night. It really is a fantastic film.

My favourite Nicholson movie, and coincidentally my favourite Polanski movie too. Pretty much flawless.

I love the fact that Faye Dunaway got so 'pissed' off with Polanski during the filming that she threw a cup of pee in his face.

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In a stereotyped strong Irish accent, Mass Effect could sound like someone saying 'Massey's ****', i.e. the (popular tractor manufacturer) Massey Ferguson is broken.

And now that joke is stone dead.

No way I could have got that joke anyway, you think Massey Ferguson has a presence in Singapore? :lol:

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I watched the Green Lantern last night. In fairness to me, I only bought it because I took advantage of Amazon's 3 for £17 offer and could only find 2 movies I really wanted.

Blimey.

Where do you start with it. As most probably know now I'm a bit of a comic geek, but I can't say I actually care for the Green Lantern. It's a character that suffers from 'DC back catalogue syndrome', something that afflicts every DC character that isn't Batman or Superman. The affliction leaves the character feeling just a little shit to everyone who isn't a fan. The base idea behind the Green Lantern isn't bad (in fact it's pretty decent comic book fare - a hotshot test pilot with tragedy in his past is chosen as the first human to join an intergalactic army/police force who all possess a ring able to conjure the physical manifestation of their will, and they fight bad guys), but theres something about the way it's done that feels incredibly wank.

The film doesn't really get away from it. Watching the Lanterns in the film conjure solutions to their problems feels like you're watching the result of what a 5 year old would think of to solve the problems characters face. A huge group of Lanterns try to capture the big baddie - their solution is to conjure a comedy net. Hal, our hero, is faced with preventing a helicopter crash, as the aircraft falls out of the sky he conjures a race car chassis under the wreckage and a HotWheels track for it to run around to safety, complete with jump. It really says something that they manage to take a fairly daft idea, but one you just about are prepared to run with, and make it so daft you snigger. I mean... you're given the ability to conjure anything your will desires to solve a problem like stopping a helicopter crash hurting some bystanders, and your solution is obviously going to be to make it into a race car with track leading to safety, isn't it? The comedy net would probably be less ridiculous.

It isn't helped by the fact the powers that be behind the film seem to have decided that the objects conjured by the Lanterns (always in green transparent shiny-ness) should have a very Bugs Bunny style to them, a very cartoon-y bold exaggeration to them that serves only to make it look all the more daft. It's not even that the CG is bad, throughout it's pretty decent, but every single piece of art design is shite. Hal's suit is a case in point. The Green Lantern suit isn't difficult - it's green, has the silly symbol on it, black accents, white gloves, a green domino mask and the ring. The film makes it even simpler, they just give him an all green suit. But it's a CGI suit and looks shit, you never believe it's real, and the mask is even worse, it looks like someone has fired some radioactive silicone at his eyes.

And all thats before you even get the plot. Um... well... there is one but I've never been struck by such an unengaging bit of twaddle like this did. It manages to have 2 enemies that have no menace at all, and both are hideously underdeveloped. The big bad has literally a 15 second back story that ties into some more backstory they don't even bother with, which amounts to 'He's evil', And the other one, played by Peter Sarsgaard, is supposed to have a little of the 'polar opposite of our hero' with a dash of daddy resentment and while they actually do bother to set this up it doesn't work, mostly because they really don't ramp up either aspect by, you know, giving any more than one 1 minute scene for each. When Sarsgaard actually does become a proper baddie, he is more comical than anything, he looks like a beluga whale. And despite the big bad being some incredible threat to the galaxy, he actually isn't threatening at all.

The plot spends far too long getting going, it feels like it's spending far too long getting Hal to be the Green Lantern, and when he finally does they do exceptionally little with it. There isn't a single great action scene in the entire 2 hour long film. Arguably there are.... 7 or 8 perhaps, action scenes, but all are short, lacking in spectacle, and returning to the one thing the film does well, daft. The final fight, against.... a cloud, basically, that eats peoples fear (which apparently will kill you?), is a prime example. Hal takes on this cloud, and bear in mind that he is powered with the ability to conjure anything, his solution is this - he flings a petrol tanker at it and magics an anti-aircraft gun to shoot it with, causing a suitably Hollywood explosion. Of course that doesn't work but *BING* a really curious moment in the training montage that isn't a montage that we saw an hour ago that everyone in the audience immediately went 'I'll remember that, because it's obviously going to be important' inspires him on how to win. Which he does... and again the daft element comes in. The finale involves large amounts of gravity and space. In an effort for that gravity to not pull him in, Hal has the genius idea of conjuring 2 jet fighters to tether himself tothat gun away from the gravitional pull and hold him safely in place. In space.

It's a wholly curious film. At times it plays like a kids film, but it's far too dull and at times a little too adult for that. It has some good actors putting in run of the mill performances. At times it feels like there was a good film in there and someone **** up. Mark Strong is curiously good as the good guy who so obviously would become a bad guy in coming films that even if you'd never heard of the comic you only need look at him and you'd know. Ryan Reynolds looks the part but then only succeeds in the goofy elements that undermine everything. Peter Sarsgaard plays a good creep but in a character that is paper thin and ultimately serves as no threat and too pathetic for the characters own good. Blake Lively is decidely unlively in a role that expects her only to look pretty, which she can manage with her face thats out of proportion with her head. Tim Robbins er... got paid I guess.

It's **** daft. And not in a good way.

vqYuG.gif

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dr no in HD, starting my bond session, was going to watch from russia with love straight after but went to bed

its probably up their with for your eyes only as the bond film ive seen the least, not because its a bad film but because its a bit dated, its great in HD, the car chase scene was the only bit that looked really shite, its still a good film where IMO very little happens, the build up for Dr No isnt as good as the character himself as he doesnt get enough screen time, the dinner scene is probably the best (after the obvious one) but isnt long enough or repeated (i spose thats achieved in the man with the golden gun) and his demise is really weak

i agree with whoever a few pages back said that they were surprised at his treatment of women, i hadnt remembered it but noticed it last night when he was dragging the secretary to bed

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Watched that film Mike promised to watch again last night. The Green Mile. Sky, please stop showing this movie so regularly, it makes me go to bed really really late. 2am last night.

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