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Film Thread.
I thought a trio of themed threads about other entertainment media might be good. If you're not interested, please just ignore the thread and pick some threads that interest you from here: http://celephais.net/board/view_all_threads.php

Anyway, discuss films...
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The Prestige 
is probably my favorite Nolan movie after Memento. 
 
Easy A
Incredible hot Emma Stone (if you like her type) in an incredibly dumb movie. Should have known by seeing the image alone, those kind of colours/setting usually mean one thing... 
The American 
Interesting, if amazingly badly marketed, movie. The blurb on the back of the DVD had me expecting a Bourne identity type thing, and while the plot is actually not that far from that type of film, everything else is utterly different. Well shot and well acted, but also quite cliched. 
Source Code 
Wow! What a headfuck. Totally loved it. 10/10. Must see. 
Really? 
Looked kinda dumb. I'll torrent it. 
Yeah 
not a huge fan of Moon (idea was good, execution was not) but will give this a shot. 
BSG 
about halfway through Season 1.

Still liking this quite a lot, but I wish they had retained the cinematic visual style of the miniseries (long tracking shots, strobing cameras etc) rather than the standard tv style adopted for the series proper (basically alternating close ups and establishing shots). 
The Prestige., 
Good film, great book. Great film if you haven't read the book. 
More On Source Code: 
The only thing about the film really is the title. It doesn't have much to do with source code. Its does, but 'source code' is just a name for something else, which would probably be called 'quantum consciousness displacement process' or something really complex-sounding, so they just went for 'source code'. But the film itself is great! 
Source Code (possible Spoilers) 
i kind of enjoyed it but several things bugged me:

- the inventor was rather annoying and unconvincing, and his explanation of how (the inexplicably named) 'source code' worked was cringeworthy; not to mention completely at odds with the plot (and, indeed, general common sense). it isn't clear whether he actually believes that is how it is supposed to work or whether he is simply lying to colter, but neither really makes that much sense (there didn't seem a reason for him to be lying)

- the ending felt thrown-on. the freeze-frame seemed like the perfect point for the film to end at but it couldn't resist descending into hollywoodesque schmaltz after that point. it also (as alluded to above) makes a mockery of the initial explanation. granted, it makes some sense if you ignore everything about brain afterglows and 8-minute memory periods etc, and instead run with a standard time travel / multiverse theory (where you somehow return to the present / original universe whenever you die in one of the forked timelines) but it took me a while to get round to that. maybe it needs a second viewing

- no thought is given to the consequences of the ending; ie. how someone is simply able to slot into someone else's life in an alternate reality and live happily ever after. not to mention the moral side of things; at least when something similar happened in the thirteenth floor it's the bad guy who eventually loses out, whereas in this film, 'sean' is merely an innocent bystander, who either gets killed by the bomb or has his life taken over by colter depending on the timeline.. tough break!

still. there were some poignant touches and some entertaining groundhog day style moments. gyllenhall was decent too. not an awful film by any means providing you don't think about it too much 
 
and speaking of alternate reality headfuck movies i recently saw eXistenZ (1999) (small e, capital x, capital zee). now that shit is fucked up. very squeamish in places but had a slightly offbeat feel which i loved, as well as working on several allegorical levels. ultimately very similar to the aforementioned thirteenth floor in terms of theme & plot (including obvious twist) but with a totally different feel and much better chemistry between the lead actors (sexiest lead character ever? discuss. and no i'm not talking about jude law)

i need to check out more cronenberg films.


also saw the machinist (2004). decent film ruined by a terribly out-of-place score - i read afterwards the screenwriter wanted trent reznor to do the music, which would have been awesome, but alas the director opted for some corny hitchcock imitation; just felt a bit wrong considering the film's grimy/industrial nature 
Archer 
anyone else watching this? Loving it pretty hard - it's an animated comedy, kinda like Arrested Development meets James Bond being a dick to everyone. 
Archer Is Awesome 
I watched the first season on netflix the other day, hilarious. 
 
Yes Archer is pretty great. I watch it on Hulu when they're posted. Makes me want to get into more of those Adult Swim style shows, I hear good things about Venture Bros, Super Jail is pretty fucked up, etc. 
 
Venture bros. is great, i actually plan on buying the first four seasons. Superjail is fucking weird, but also funny. Same goes for squidbillies, athf, robot chicken, &c. They're all i watch anymore. 
Rj 
start with The Fly and then Videodrome for old school Cronenberg. Then follow up with A History of Violence and Eastern Promises and ask whether its still the same guy who made the latter two :) 
 
Nitin... which do you prefer, his old horrors or his new dramas? 
I Like Both Eras 
Eastern Promises is great, as is anything with Jeff Golblum (The Fly).

I've still NEVER seen videodrome, which is crazy now that I think about it. 
Kona 
I like both. I think the last two are more mature works but his earlier stuff is more zany and provocative. 
Zany And Provocative 
in a good way though.

The Brood, for example, has some very interesting ideas. But something like Spider is a much more mature film. 
Spider 
I remember really not being into that. Mature, yes, but kind of boring and with a not-particularly interesting or surprising twist... maybe I'd feel differently now. 
 
spider is the only other one i've seen. it struck me as the kind of film you'd write a university paper on, analysing it as a study into mental illness along with the bleakness/loneliness/confusion that surrounds it. well made in that respect but it had absolutely zero entertainment value

cheers for the recommendations nitin.. heard much about the fly but never given it a go 
Spider 
is very good IMHO, its obviously not a popcorn film but surely you dont expect that going in. 
Well Obviously 
but by entertainment value i don't necessarily mean popcorn factor - i didn't expect action, explosions, special effects and all that jazz - but it never really presented itself in a dramatised film format, i guess. i respect it for that as it sensitively captured the cold, bleak, depressing realism of the situation, but there just wasn't anything to [i]enjoy[/i] about it. that doesn't make it bad, obviously, and i did feel kind of better for having seen it but i wouldn't watch it again 
Fair Enough 
I guess 'enjoy' is subjective. The ones I suggested dont have this issue though so come back and post your thoughts! 
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