Movies discussion

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Shinobody
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Re: Movies discussion

Post by Shinobody »

So, there's a chance we'll get movie that combines best sides of them both (great visuals, good pacing and staying true to original from Snyder, with new refreshing take on old mythos and great script by Nolan).
Fun fact: Nolan wrote and directed Memento too, apparently. I didn't even know.
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Great_Mage_Atari
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Re: Movies discussion

Post by Great_Mage_Atari »

Just got around to watching Pulp Fiction, and I've gotta say, I think Quentin Tarantino is one of my new favorite directors. Kill Bill and Reservoir Dogs were great, but Pulp Fiction pushed it over the edge for me. Tarantino adds so many continuations into his movie that you'd have to watch all of them again ten times to get them all. Every single one of his movies is supposedly in the same universe, with Kill Bill being a "movie in a movie". He's truly a genius of the big screen, if you ask me.
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Dunno
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Re: Movies discussion

Post by Dunno »

Great_Mage_Atari wrote:Just got around to watching Pulp Fiction, and I've gotta say, I think Quentin Tarantino is one of my new favorite directors. Kill Bill and Reservoir Dogs were great, but Pulp Fiction pushed it over the edge for me. Tarantino adds so many continuations into his movie that you'd have to watch all of them again ten times to get them all. Every single one of his movies is supposedly in the same universe, with Kill Bill being a "movie in a movie". He's truly a genius of the big screen, if you ask me.
And he works on so many details, you can never get bored. I watched Pulp Fiction only twice, but I'd gladly watch it a third time. These dialogues are so tasty... I even have a quote in my signature from Pulp Fiction, in case you didn't notice :mrgreen:
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hathouty12
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Re: Movies discussion

Post by hathouty12 »

The most favorite movie of mine is The Reader. It was nominated for The Oscar and it won the same for the best movie of the year. Not because i like this movie as it was nominated for the oscar but i do like it for the acting of Kate Winslet. Her Acting in this movie is outstanding.
Cooley
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Re: Movies discussion

Post by Cooley »

My favorite genre is action movies, so I enjoyed Avengers, all the parts of Iron Man recently. I like when there is a happy end and all the planet is successfully saved and the main hero gets a beautiful girl in the end. Good thing is that after you finish watching such a movie, you are always in a great mood.
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Re: Movies discussion

Post by Blarumyrran »

I thought the flying machine in the avengers looked nice! Otherwise i didn't really enjoy the film. all the fighting was terribly imagined and directed
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cookie
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Re: Movies discussion

Post by cookie »

Did anyone watch the new edition Godzilla?
I found it
Spoiler:
Bye says the cookie.
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Dunno
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Re: Movies discussion

Post by Dunno »

cookie wrote:Did anyone watch the new edition Godzilla?
I found it
Spoiler:
I was pretty sure it's going to be crap, since it's one of those movies people will go to watch anyway, regardless of their quality. However I've heard a couple of positive reviews and that this movie is surprisingly good. So which is it, finally :hmm:

But like I said, I'll probably go see it anyway.
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Limabean
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Re: Movies discussion

Post by Limabean »

Just saw Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, the sequel to the excellent Rise of the Planet of the Apes from 2011. I never much cared for the older apes movies, but these two have given new life to the series.

Anyway, Dawn was even better than Rise. The pace slower and the story was darker. Everyone should go and watch it.
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Question about Age of Ultron

Post by max_torch »

I don't get why cracking the rock that Ultron brought high up into the air into bits was able to prevent the impact the rock would have had if it fell to the ground from its height, because isn't it that that is the same reason why we can't nuke an asteroid to save the earth if it comes, because all of the mass of the object will still impact the earth and the energy it carries will still create a shockwave in the atmosphere?
So what asking is do you think that the movie is realistic on this point or have I spotted a science goof?
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StandYourGround
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Re: Movies discussion

Post by StandYourGround »

Since the land mass basically exploded, most of the mass was converted to energy which was released in the atmosphere. While that may have had a temporary effect on the climate (such as after a large volcanic eruption), it would have definitely reduced the potential damage done, optimally to within the limits of the city that Ultron was based in, which was essentially destroyed anyway. :eng:

Of all the science goofs that could possibly be found in a Marvel franchise film, it's interesting which one you picked.
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Hulavuta
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Re: Movies discussion

Post by Hulavuta »

I'm so late here, but I'm gonna weigh in my opinion on Godzilla and Age of Ultron

I don't think I've honestly ever seen a movie get as much polarizing reception as Godzilla, people either love it or hate it. At Dunno specifically: I wouldn't write it off as something that is "going to be crap but people will see it anyway" as that seems pretty disrespectful to me. Godzilla isn't exactly a low-effort cash cow franchise like the Michael Bay Transformers films (which I'm assuming you were comparing it to) and there hadn't been a Godzilla movie for 10 years before this one came out, so it's fair to say that people could be legitimately excited for it, especially with how good the trailers looked.

Besides that, it's clear to see a ton of effort was put into the movie, and whether it worked or not, it was definitely worked hard on. I'm in the camp of people who liked this movie, which I was honestly surprised by, as I found the fighting in Pacific Rim somewhat tedious (although I liked the characters) and found Transformers 2-4 almost offensively terrible (the first was good though), and those are the two main things that came out in this genre recently.

If you had to sum up the film with two words, it would be: wasted potential. I'm honestly kinda saddened because with a few very painfully obvious changes it could've been a near perfect film, and yeah I'm going to back up that claim.The two biggest problems people had with this movie were that A: They kept building up to Godzilla with very little payoff, and B: the human characters weren't quite that interesting.

Personally, I thought this movie still had a ton of exciting big moments even without Godzilla fighting, like the tsunami scene when Godzilla arrives, the stuff at the ocean and the bridge, the MUTO terrorizing Hawaii, the amazing HALO drop scene, and others. However, again I can understand that while these scenes were great, they were not the big Godzilla smackdowns people expected for the movie. I think adding actual fights into the scenes where Godzilla encounters the MUTOs, rather than cutting away, would have solved this issue fine. That's kind of a simple thing that everyone has suggested, but I did say that the problem was painfully obvious! The fight scenes that were in the movie were well done and fun to watch so I wouldn't have a problem with them adding more fights, even if they were only a few minutes. There was still plenty of time between that scene and the climax that it wouldn't have hurt the build-up to the climax of the film at all.

Fixing the problem with the human characters is a bit trickier. You never really cared about Ford and his family or any of that, because the characters never really evolve past their roles so they're not interesting. Ford is a soldier and a father, his wife is a doctor and a mother and that's all there is to them, it's not that interesting. And it's almost kind of sad because in the first thirty minutes they perfectly set up Bryan Cranston to be a character you really did care about. So it's like they proved that they could do it, and then immediately said that even though they could, they weren't going to. And it wasn't like Bryan wanted too much $$$$ for them to keep him for more than 30 minutes, the screenwriters, director Gareth Edwards and even Bryan Cranston himself for some reason thought the character couldn't do anything else for the movie. I disagree with that, I think the movie should've focused on the relationship between father and son rather than husband and wife. Bryan's arc would be about realizing that he has been a terrible father and so obsessed with that power plant incident to the point of completely neglecting his son. That's something that was already established as part of his character that you want to see resolved, and in turn it would make Ford a more interesting character by proxy, because he is not really that interesting on his own.

Speaking of making other characters interesting, he would've made Ken Watanabe's and Sally Hawkins' characters much more interesting too, as the script didn't really give them much to do, which is a shame because they are both great actors. Bryan's craziness playing against Ken and Sally's characters would've made the human scenes much more interesting. There would be great conflict between them because they revere Godzilla as a force of nature and a god, while Bryan would probably see him as a monster and lump him together with the MUTO that killed his wife, perhaps before realizing that Godzilla wants the MUTO dead just as much as he did. Even if they didn't do all that though, it would've been nice to see Ford at least have some lines about his father and mother when he's around the MUTOs in the climax, as they did happen to kill both of them...

Despite all that, like I said, I did like the movie, because it did have a lot of good things going for it too. The designs of the monsters were awesome, the new monsters, the MUTOs, were really great, and the new look for Godzilla is my favorite design for the guy so far. The CGI was really good and the reaction shots of the people were great, which is very important in these so called "creature-features" for you to not get the overwhelming feeling that everything is fake. The cinematography was also amazing, it was shot in a way that really aided the escapism and made you feel like if you were around when Godzilla and friends struck, this is what it would look like to you. When I watched the bonus features I was really pleased to find out that that was exactly how they intended it; they purposely always shot from ground level or from a building or rooftop or any other place you could actually get a camera to give a better perspective on it without resorting to that ridiculous found-footage type of movie that I absolutely despise (and personally feel takes you out of the movie more than puts you in it). The action, when it does happen, is really great too, and again I didn't expect it as I found the action in Pacific Rim and Transformers to be boring and tedious. I literally cheered in the theater at the first atomic breath scene!


----

As for something NOT a year old: I also loved Age of Ultron, the same way I liked The Avengers: I thought the set-up was extremely rushed and I really disliked it as it began, but once it started to pick up I really really enjoyed it. Everyone turned in a solid performance, which was great. When I saw that the twins were going to be in this movie at the end of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, I was kinda disappointed 'cause they weren't really my ideal casting choice and I didn't think they would fit in the movie and would make it too crowded, but wow did they prove me wrong. Elizabeth Olsen was amazing as Wanda, she really made a random and unneeded addition earn its spot in the movie.

I also like how they made Hawkeye a cooler character, obviously making up for how he was snubbed for the first film. But they did it in a way that was legitimately nice and didn't feel forced. That inspirational speech he gave Wanda was really awesome!

I thought the action was really creative too. The scene with the runaway train where Pietro has to run in front of the train and move the civilians out of the way was really creative and well shot. I guess the climax was kind of just more of the same but the other action was great. I really love how they showed the heroes going out of their way to save civilians, a nice break from all the dark and gritty stuff reminding us of the classic idea of a superhero who swoops people off their feet in the nick of time. Just nice to see :)

Finally, the main part of this is obviously the villain, and I'm ready to make another bold statement: James Spader as Ultron was a comparable performance to Heath Ledger as the Joker. I obviously don't mean comparable as characters (they couldn't be more different if they tried) but comparable as in how great the performances were and how well they owned the characters. He probably won't be immortalized and remembered as much as Heath's Joker as Age of Ultron isn't really getting great critical acclaim compared to The Dark Knight, but he just owned the role so hard and is my favorite villain of all Marvel movies so far.

The only issues I had with Ultron (his naivete and silliness) I realize are only issues because of our preconceived ideas of AI and how AI are commonly portrayed in film. I thought it was weird how he became evil so quickly (pretty much instantly after birth, never going through the phases of completely compliant and then progressively deciding humans are part of the problem, like other AI) and how he was so humorous, whether intentionally or unintentionally. But that's just because we're used to AI being cold, calculating, and emotionless in films, it's never stated in the movie that Ultron is supposed to be like that. He is a part of Tony Stark's personality and therefore he is (and should be) very emotional. He gets very offended when people compare him to Tony Stark, he is legitimately concerned when he loses control of his anger and slices off Klaw's arm, and then (humorously) tries to comfort him. He is also very distressed and upset when Wanda and Pietro defect from his side. As a character, he is more like a human brain put into a mechanical body than a completely synthetic sentience. As The Vision says, "Ultron is unique, and he is in pain." It's just a real shame that he was killed by the end of the film, because similar to Electro from The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Ultron was never made fully unsympathetic and never crossed the threshold into becoming irredeemable. I didn't feel like he needed to die and that he couldn't be redeemed, and it's even stranger that Vision is the one who kills him considering he is the one most sympathetic to Ultron (unless he just absorbed him or something, it was done off screen if I remember, with only a flash of light).

But yeah, all in all, I found Age of Ultron very enjoyable, even if it was only for what they did for the characters (especially Ultron).

Also max_torch I agree you shouldn't really be too concerned with the physics of these movies, they always take some artistic license. For example, the Helicarrier should technically obliterate everything under it with the kind of force it exerts to lift all of that weight and should be creating massive windstorms everywhere it goes (and yeah, it runs with propellers, not anti-gravity or magnetic device). Accounting for all of the scientific accuracy would mean that a lot of the most fun parts of these movies wouldn't be able to happen so we all just accept it when it happens every now and then.

Sorry for the huge wall of text, I am very passionate.
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max_torch
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Re: Movies discussion

Post by max_torch »

Hulavuta wrote:Also max_torch I agree you shouldn't really be too concerned with the physics of these movies, they always take some artistic license.
It has nothing to do with my enjoyment of the movie, I love the Marvel movies. I just want to get my physics right since I am an engineering undergrad.
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Hulavuta
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Re: Movies discussion

Post by Hulavuta »

max_torch wrote:
Hulavuta wrote:Also max_torch I agree you shouldn't really be too concerned with the physics of these movies, they always take some artistic license.
It has nothing to do with my enjoyment of the movie, I love the Marvel movies. I just want to get my physics right since I am an engineering undergrad.
Ah, fair enough if you're just analyzing it as a fun side exercise. It is pretty fun to look at some of these moments and say "no, they all died." :lol:
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Xara
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Re: Movies discussion

Post by Xara »

Two Japanese movies I recently watched and enjoyed:

1. 武士の献立(Samurai Cooking - A True Love Story):
A story about the lives of chief samurais, who cook to serve their lords. I always like how Japanese reserve their emotions, restrained however therefore more expressive.

2. In the Hero:
A story about the lives of suit actors, a story of an old man's dream. The protagonist is starred by Toshiaki Karasawa, one of the most charming actors I've ever known. If you are interested in TV dramas, he also starred two drama series based on Yamasaki Toyoko's social novels — 白い巨塔(The White Tower) and 不毛地帯(The Waste Land). The former is about an ambitious doctor who tried his best to win a Professor's prosition, and the latter is about a former WW2 military officer who started a new career of fighting commercial war after returning from Siberian prison camp. Thanks to the great works of the original author Yamasaki, the two dramas are highly enjoyable with their unmatched plot complexity and reasonable depiction of characters' thoughts and emotions. Karasawa performed well in both dramas, he showed me the charm of a man in 40s and helped me envision what I want to be like in 20 years.
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