Films Recently Watched

  On 5/27/2013 at 11:44 PM, MadameChaos said:

The more I look into Lucas and his story the more I feel disappointed. He made an amazing film THX1138 but then made the Star Wars films which messed him up. Why couldn't he have continued to make films like THX1138? Could have been amazing.

Apparently Lucas is the type of guy who will come up with 100 ideas of which 90% are total shit which is why the first Star Wars films worked as he always had the production company to tell him when something was shit.

With Empire he was only the producer making the biggest sequel of its time however he broke loads of union rules by making the crew work stupid hours due to his obsessively high standard and the budget to pursue it.

Come to Jedi and Lucas had to find a lot of crew who weren't in this film union and unfortunately included Spielberg who was set to direct it after the successful collaboration on Raiders a few years before and is the reason the film is OK but a bit meh next to the previous two. Trivia; the Ewoks were originally intended to be Wookies but Lucas saw the toyline potential of tribal teddy bears to be a more of a money spinner.

More forward 15yrs and a massive toy franchise Lucas now owns his own production company so he is surrounded by a load of 'yes sirr' arse lickers all on his payrole and without anyone to pull the rains he releases the prequel atrocities that he produces/directs all himself after directing no film since episode IV.

Selling to Disney can only be a positive thing (well it can't get any worse) but I fear a bubble gum churnout that won't be terrible but just another ok sci-fi especially with Abrams.

THX1138 is basically 1984 with a more technological and modern social satirical edge to it. To me it looks more like an 80's indie flick rather than something from 1971 and although he bastardised the original Star Wars trilogy with horrendous extra scenes and CGI the rework of THX1138 isn't overdone and the movie benefits as a whole but you can still see elements that filter though into Star Wars especially with the sound design.

the best CGI addition Lucas has ever put into an old film is the jack-off machine in THX1138, fits perfectly into the movie

Will be watching Only God Forgives tonight. Looking forward to it.

  On 5/28/2013 at 1:12 AM, John Ehrlichman said:

the best CGI addition Lucas has ever put into an old film is the jack-off machine in THX1138, fits perfectly into the movie

He did what !! CGafied THX1138 !! No way.... really ?

yes, and the scary part is that it actually made the film look/feel better.

I might ahve to check it out, haven't seen that film since the 90's and on video. Remember it as being dull, but stylized and commendable given the budget a film student would have had to play with.

before midnight

Easily the least romantic of the three. Some great long dialogue heavy scenes, as you would expect. my wife hated celine alot in this installment though. and the appearance of boobs was a little awkward. otherwise it was relatable, realistic and interesting. the fact that they moved from walking around big romantic cities to greek ruins tells you everything you need to know. also if you want to put your spouse off having kids take them to this. the title could be "before (anything)" as midnight doesn't seem to mean much

fast and furious 6

fuck this was way better than it had any right to be. it was barreling along as expected and then it really turned into the best action film of 2013.

  On 5/28/2013 at 1:12 AM, John Ehrlichman said:

the best CGI addition Lucas has ever put into an old film is the jack-off machine in THX1138, fits perfectly into the movie

Ya but everything else that was CGI'd in the film looked like shit and really took the atmosphere away ESPECIALLY the chase

  On 5/28/2013 at 10:34 AM, Squee said:

Will be watching Only God Forgives tonight. Looking forward to it.

  On 5/28/2013 at 2:52 PM, Atop said:

yes, and the scary part is that it actually made the film look/feel better.

agreed up until the escape scene where Lucas superimposes in bad dated CGI monkey mutant creatures in place of the 'wookies' which were guys in suits in the original movie.

yeah that was a dick move.

I just really enjoyed the explosion in the factory and the confession booth moth lizard.

Lucas is such a dick.

Can't wait to punch him.

Watched Inland Empire again yesterday night. I seriously don't get it.. During those three hours, there's maybe 20 minutes that are actually interesting.

Also watched Kill Bill 1 & 2 for the first time last week. Very good and entertaining.

  On 5/28/2013 at 1:12 AM, John Ehrlichman said:

the best CGI addition Lucas has ever put into an old film is the jack-off machine in THX1138, fits perfectly into the movie

WUT??? OK I'm going to go and shoot this SOB now. Later guys1

I really enjoyed Inland Empire but i felt like it could have been much shorter and more effective.

- cut out Rabbits, I already watched the original 40 minute film Rabbits and it doesn't belong in this movie
- cut out some but not all of the Polish footage, doesn't connect enough to the main character to show so much of it

- end the movie when the director yells cut after the screwdriver death scene, take some of the footage they show after like the balloon head guy and move it to before the recut ending

the movie could easily be 2 hours and 15 minutes and it would be stronger

  On 5/29/2013 at 8:32 AM, MadameChaos said:

 

  On 5/28/2013 at 1:12 AM, John Ehrlichman said:

the best CGI addition Lucas has ever put into an old film is the jack-off machine in THX1138, fits perfectly into the movie

 

WUT??? OK I'm going to go and shoot this SOB now. Later guys1

 

yes but surprisingly, when it comes to robots masturbating you in the future Lucas put far more dedication and nuances into the CGI than he has in almost any other cgi shot I've seen him be in charge of.

  On 5/28/2013 at 10:11 PM, Friendly Foil said:

 

  On 5/28/2013 at 10:34 AM, Squee said:

Will be watching Only God Forgives tonight. Looking forward to it.

Was it good?

 

It was alright. Wasn't blown away by it like I was with Drive. I'm not really sure how to describe it, but it was almost as if you weren't allowed to follow the story the movie was telling. I dunno...

Visually it's absolutely gorgeous and the soundtrack was pretty cool.

the place beyond the pines - 7.5/10 - Was not enjoying the film with Ryan Gosling being the lead, great shots and crazy dramatic music, then the Bradley Cooper section starts and it clicked for me, really enjoyed the structuring of the plot and the cinematography. Eva Mendes kind of sucked. Ryan's character was annoying. Bradley was damn good. Dude from Killing Them Softly was great in this.Ray Liotta plays a great prick. The kid from Chronicle is going to become one of the great creepy looking actors. The new Brad Dourif.

Recently spent my day off watching The Tree of Life. Felt a bit like Mr Malick was trying to have his cake and eat it i.e. attempting to make an awesomely aesthetically pleasing montage and attempting a "human interest" storyline. It was all right, but could have done without the overwhelmingly breathy voiceovers.

i could have done without seeing it

so boring, and faces that close to cameras should be banned.

Star Trek into Darkness - was ok until the end where it turned into a cringy predictable parody which spoiled the film for me. A sci-fi with plenty of Trek but little actual conceptual sci-fi to the storyline. Abrams shaky camera style hid the flaws in some flakey action sequences and was not comfortable to watch in 3D which also went for the constant chase sequences which seem to be his trademark on the franchise. Cumberbatch stole the show even if he looked a little like a pterodactyl when ever he talked. Had its moments but not as good as the other one/10.

I've been watching a lot of old British horror films and BBC productions lately, stuff along the lines of the original Wicker Man which is awesome. Not scary as such, but it does really well at establishing a creepy, pagan, wrongness vibe that builds up throughout. Also watched The Stone Tape, a 1972 BBC horror one-off. The premise is cool- that ghosts, etc, aren't supernatural but are traumatic events 'recorded' by the actual building itself- but it really hasn't aged well, and Jane Asher ruins it by chewing the scenery and generally being histrionic. It was still worth a watch though.

On the other hand, the 1968 black-and-white version of MR James' 'Oh Whistle and I'll Come To You' has aged way better. Really understated acting and it actually manages to be genuinely creepy in places. Totally awesome.

About to watch The Blood On Satan's Claw, another gnarly old British folk-horror type film. Really enjoying this type of stuff lately, a lot of it seems to have fallen off the radar

  On 5/29/2013 at 8:36 AM, John Ehrlichman said:

I really enjoyed Inland Empire but i felt like it could have been much shorter and more effective.

 

- cut out Rabbits, I already watched the original 40 minute film Rabbits and it doesn't belong in this movie

- cut out some but not all of the Polish footage, doesn't connect enough to the main character to show so much of it

- end the movie when the director yells cut after the screwdriver death scene, take some of the footage they show after like the balloon head guy and move it to before the recut ending

 

the movie could easily be 2 hours and 15 minutes and it would be stronger

Definitely. The middle hour is boring, first and last hour of the film are excellent.

  On 5/29/2013 at 11:13 PM, Leon Sumbitches said:

I've been watching a lot of old British horror films and BBC productions lately, stuff along the lines of the original Wicker Man which is awesome. Not scary as such, but it does really well at establishing a creepy, pagan, wrongness vibe that builds up throughout. Also watched The Stone Tape, a 1972 BBC horror one-off. The premise is cool- that ghosts, etc, aren't supernatural but are traumatic events 'recorded' by the actual building itself- but it really hasn't aged well, and Jane Asher ruins it by chewing the scenery and generally being histrionic. It was still worth a watch though.

 

On the other hand, the 1968 black-and-white version of MR James' 'Oh Whistle and I'll Come To You' has aged way better. Really understated acting and it actually manages to be genuinely creepy in places. Totally awesome.

 

About to watch The Blood On Satan's Claw, another gnarly old British folk-horror type film. Really enjoying this type of stuff lately, a lot of it seems to have fallen off the radar

If you haven't seen it yet 'A Warning to the Curious' and 'The Signalman' are worth a watch, some of that MR James stuff is fantastic.

Fast Furious 6 - entertaining but waaay over the top, even for Justin Lin. I liked 5 much better.