Movies you've recently watched

[saskganesh]

I think little things like *Tanks* and *Artillery* would have helped out the Space Marines. things like that.

this week I finally saw Mongol. Gorgeous but slight. Poor Temjan just keeps getting captured. Let's pray to the Wolf God. Maybe he will help. and 10 years later, something happens!

Frost/Nixon. Great performances. Loved Langella's delivery of Nixon. and loved Rebecca Hall ... on her own merits.

[saskganesh]

CGI sometimes does more harm than good.

good for buildings/landscapes. and just bad for armies and depictions of warfare.

[Neil]

I think little things like *Tanks* and *Artillery* would have helped out the Space Marines. things like that.

You know what would have been even better?  Nuke 'em from orbit.

Frost/Nixon. Great performances. Loved Langella's delivery of Nixon. and loved Rebecca Hall ... on her own merits.

Langella was great in that movie.  He really brought out both the weakness and the majesty that was Nixon.

[Darth Wagtaros]

CGI sometimes does more harm than good.

good for buildings/landscapes. and just bad for armies and depictions of warfare.

I meant that it is being used as a substitute for quality acting, writing, and directing.

I love quality special effects.

[Queequeg]

Yeah, good old Doogie was fevershly working on getting bug regime change to work out.

Bunch of materialistic, empty-headed white kids off to join the army in an increasingly militarized, anti-intellectual society until they are radicalized by a terrorist attack on their city, at which point they all sign up for military service to attack the source of the terrorist attack (which is apparently a massive security threat to Earth, even though it is a long ways away on an obviously largely barren, poor environment). 

I guess you have to buy into the critique of modern Neoconservatism as basically addicted to warfare.  Which I think is largely true, even if the term Neoconservatism is often misused as "very conservative and very mean".

[Queequeg]

Well Queegs, they should have used power armor and tactics and the Arachnids should have been sophisticated and technologically proficient.

I think the bugs are extremely proficient, and while the idea of a totally biological inter-stellar "species" is not totally farfetched.

The way I see it, the brainbugs effectively domesticated all these other species through some means, and then effectively bred them to fill different ecological and military niches.  I don't totally see how they evolved interstellar travel, but I don't see why, EXACTLY, they couldn't spread to nearby planets after billions of years of focused evolution by the intelligent brainbugs.

When you get a director and producer who think flashy and hyper violent are preferable to plot this is the result.

The satire saves it, though Robocop has satire and acting and it makes sense. 
   

[Capetan Mihali]

Germany, Year Zero, 1947, Roberto Rossellini.   This was one of those movies I had to watch based on the title alone.   A little jarring since I'd never seen any other Rossellini or Italian neorealist pictures, but pretty breathtaking.  Post-Nazi pedophiles, starvation, prostitution, patricide, and the graphic suicide of a 12 year old child. 

[HisMajestyBOB]

Starsip Troopers for the gazillionth time.

It sucks, the book is far superior.

[Razgovory]

Starsip Troopers for the gazillionth time.

It sucks, the book is far superior.

Which also sucks.

[The Larch]

I liked that movie the first time I saw it right when it came out.  After having read the book I can't figure out how they used the same title; outside of the idea of vampires and the characters' name it was almost completely different story.

It's a fantastic and well-made movie.  Even despite Keanu Reeves.  It's not a horror movie, it's a love story. 

Yeah, I guess the movie itself was still good, I was just Shocked and Appalled at how different it was from the book.

Different =/= Bad. I personally love the movie to bits, despite the changes to the basic storyline. The cinematography is gorgeus, the soundtrack is awesome, the characters, even if bombastic and cliche'd are memorable, what's not to love?

[Caliga]

I saw the new Bob Zemeckis Christmas Carol yesterday in the theater.  I enjoyed it, though it was alot darker than I would have expected.  I certainly didn't enjoy sharing the theater with some trailer trash lady and her brood of kids who could not stop talking or stay seated. 

[The Larch]

"The Illusionist"

Pretty good movie.  Though I think Paul Giamatti gave the superior performance over Ed Norton.

And even if it wasn't a good film, Jessica Biel's ass in the last scene made the time worthwhile.

I saw its twin, "The Prestige", last night. I liked the idea of the rivalry between the two magicians, but felt cheated with the twist ending, as in a cheap M Night Siamalamadingdong movie. Scarlett Johansson in frilly victorian dresses at least makes up for a lot of the let down.

[The Larch]

Il Divo

Can you give a more detailed report than ""?  I've been meaning to get it for months, but never have the time.

[The Larch]

The Boat that Rocked- A film so average it seemed to delight in its own mediocrity

It's a funny little film, with a great soundtrack and goofy characters. Nothing mediocre about it, even if it should be trimmed down by at least 15-30 minutes.

[The Larch]

Germany, Year Zero, 1947, Roberto Rossellini.   This was one of those movies I had to watch based on the title alone.   A little jarring since I'd never seen any other Rossellini or Italian neorealist pictures, but pretty breathtaking.  Post-Nazi pedophiles, starvation, prostitution, patricide, and the graphic suicide of a 12 year old child. 

Now you have to watch Bicycle Thief, Rome Open City, Bitter Rice and Stronboli.