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it got straight to the point and didn't mess around. watched it for the second time recently and enjoyed it every bit as much; admittedly no classic but great for what it is, to coin an old clich�...
too late for proper reviews so a few short comments on what i've seen recently: 127 hours (2010) - full marks to boyle for making a decent film out of this. gripping (...) mystic river (2003) - brilliant acting, plot and atmosphere. ending went on a bit too long though tropic thunder (2009) - hangover material. i err.. fell asleep, so can't comment dead man's shoes (2004) - awesome gritty english low budget revenge thriller, recommended! dark city (2004) - how was this not a massive hit a la matrix? can only assume a lack of keanu. the 'strangers' were a bit cheesy, but otherwise loved it Dark City was advertised really badly. Partly because they tried to sell it as a horror movie rather than a mystery thing.
Beats the pants out of the Matrix really. The fantastical elements allow it's plot to make a lot more sense. Plus the idea of the 'One' makes a lot more sense too. And kicks a lot more ass. it's still one of my favourite movies. atmospheric as hell. would make a good quake map. nice vaguely lovecraftian scenario, theme of memory, vitalism, personality, etc.
thinking DC was great when it came out (I was 13), and watching it recently and feeling like it aged sort of badly. very nineties, sort of obvious, way goofier than I remembered.
Strangers were the worst. Definitely would have been much better if they'd REALLY made the 'strangers' more strange, more unfathomable, and without a giant evil layer with a metal head in it. similar to the matrix - I find it decent but overpraised. Like the ending very much though. the new DC of Dark City is a better movie.
As for Taken, I was disappointed. The action was generic and unimpressive, too much jerkiness and handheld camera nonsense. The rest was forgettable. I suppose it was shot well (apart from the action) and Neeson was decent. On another note, I really enjoyed the new A Team movie, wasnt expecting that but found it to be a lot of fun. 9/10 Samuel L. Jackson. Was supposed to be a big name release in threatres but got caught up in some sort of legal snafu. Most of you will be uncomfortable with the subject matter --- do you torture a guy who has 3 nuclear bombs set to go off? What about kill his wife? One life to save millions? Interesting social commentary.
The Taken. It was good. You got what you expected Pirate Radio was some imaginary lefty movie of "how it wasn't". Reminded me of the MTV-made "Around the World" movie where 60's hippies were all great looking young men, instead of very average looking 1960's people with bad teeth (a la Austin Powers). I'm not saying Pirate Radio was bad A feel good action movie
Taken made me feel quite sick actually. Count how many times the fucking wanker leaves girls who don't happen to be his precious american daughter to fucking die or continue being raped. Or when he shoots the perfectly fucking innocent wife of the corrupt policeman. His character is a completely immoral twat. Did have to laugh at the set up though "omg don't go to Europe, it's full of criminals" :p An excellent movie even (though not as good as The Man From Nowhere).
But I agree with ZQF about Neeson's character doing a lot of immoral stuff. He is ruthless in his actions throughout. Still that element of the movie was realistic - anyone who seriously would consider attempting to go against organised crime syndicates of the most heinous kind on their own would have to be prepared to do immoral things. Taken made me feel quite sick actually. Count how many times the fucking wanker leaves girls who don't happen to be his precious american daughter to fucking die or continue being raped.
His character is a completely immoral twat. it's about desperate father going to whatever lengths necessary to try and save his daughter (ie. part of his immediate family, not some random american girl) before the window closes. ignoring the fact he actually rescued another one of the girls during the quest, i'm struggling to see how choosing not to do the same for every single girl in the film is remotely immoral? shooting the wife i can agree with but you're way off on the first point! I'd accept the point if his character was, say, the main character in Children of Men. ie a realistic human being.
But he's not, he's a badass super killing machine with "special skills". The main character in Deathwish is more upstanding :p zqf on the (im)morality, not that it bothered me that much at all since I wasnt expecting much else from Luc Besson.
But at least it didnt try to be moral like Man on Fire which was all the more worse for it. A bit late on this, but I thought it was good. I preferred No Country for Old Men a bit more, mainly because I actually got a bit of meaning from it. This movie, as far as I can tell, seems to be about an asshole oil tycoon who goes bonkers and destroys his life and the lives of the people around him. Not sure if there's a message that I'm missing or if it's just kind of a bummer of a story.
At the very least, the production was top notch and the shots were very well done. Score was great too. the main theme IMHO was the similarities between capitalism and religion and their willing to exploit the weak.
Valhalla Rising
This will be one person's pretentious bore and another person's masterpiece. I personally found it to be more towards the latter, a hypnotically shot and scored, but largely plotless and wordless, film which feels like a Terence Malick take on the viking movie but with dosages of Herzog thrown in. Moments of brutal action, but they are few and far between. Centurion Is this really made by the same guy that made The Descent (or even Dog Soldiers)? Terribly written and with extreme OTT action that's so cartoony and with so much dodgy looking CGI blood, that you have to wonder whether anyone actually saw the final cut before release. Only saving grace is some stunning shots of the Scottish highlands. didn't enjoy it quite as much as No Country For Old Men, but it's kind of apples and oranges, though the overlap in bleak setting/bleak message does beg some comparisons.
I loved the portrayal of the main character losing his mind, one of the most alone characters I've seen on film. His rage at the preacher seemed to be based on the idea that whereas he sold something real, using lies, the preacher sold only lies. In other words, Plainview was offended that his hard work and dark genius which exploited stupidity, could be interfered with by someone who was neither brilliant nor hardworking, but simply exploited stupidity. Looking forward to that one! Not sure how that's gonna go - really don't get why all the fucking tuff people I know loved Bronson so much - super mediocre... not that it has much to do with VH, I guess
Hope to see it soon. As well as Black Death - looks nice and grim, and Triangle was totally not bad at all. Nitin, any other good films on that 'bleak, depressing medieval horror-eque' tip? going to get Black Death for sure, looks interesting.
Other medieval stuff, I take it you've seen Name of the Rose, not that bleak but very good medieval type thriller/horror. Apocalypto too although that's more medieval action. Also, even though it's a bit of a mess, Brotherhood of the Wolf. And havent seen Bronson although was considering it after VH. Not good? Tedious bollox. Pointless, badly put together, incoherent waste of a decent premise.
NOTR is a favourite.
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