TV/Movies Megathread

[celedhring]

Oh, absolutely (though it maybe tried a bit hard at being as weird as the 2001 ending).

I hear a remake is in the works. I wonder how that will be.

I would be surprised if that ever gets done. Disney seems to be abandoning big budget live action films now that they own Marvel and Lucasfilm. John Carter certainly didn't help the cause.

[Ideologue]

Joe Kosinski, the best (other than Duncan Jones?) new SF director was attached to the Black Hole remake for a long time, but I think he and Disney are pouring their energies into Tron 3 right now.  I'm conflicted.

Like, I loved Tron: Legacy, which is one of the best things ever despite being misunderstood by snobs and old people with a lack of appreciation for colors and action.  But I dunno where you could go now with its premise, which is of course not terribly open-ended.

Anyway, Gone Girl?  The only reason I'm even the tiniest bit hesitant to call it the best Fincher movie since Fight Club is that I've never seen Benjamin Button.  I can't imagine it's better or even close, though.  Anthony Lane, true to his snobby/dumbassed/lame tastes, unfavorably compared it to The Social Network, which because it was about a topical issue and is less fantastic and is significantly more boring obviously must be superior.

[Savonarola]

Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003)

Two things bother me about the film; first is the voice-over narration.  I'm not a fan of that unless it's done by The Amazing Criswell.  The second is that there isn't a build up to the battle at the House of Blue Leaves the way there would have been in a similar Sonny Chiba Yakuza movie.  The film establishes the characters of Lucy Liu and Uma Thurman, and we know why the conflict exists; but it's missing the series of street fights before the final battle.

The final battle at the House of Blue Leaves is incredible.  I think it's one of the best brawls in martial arts cinema.

[celedhring]

Joe Kosinski, the best (other than Duncan Jones?) new SF director was attached to the Black Hole remake for a long time, but I think he and Disney are pouring their energies into Tron 3 right now.  I'm conflicted.

Like, I loved Tron: Legacy, which is one of the best things ever despite being misunderstood by snobs and old people with a lack of appreciation for colors and action.  But I dunno where you could go now with its premise, which is of course not terribly open-ended.

Anyway, Gone Girl?  The only reason I'm even the tiniest bit hesitant to call it the best Fincher movie since Fight Club is that I've never seen Benjamin Button.  I can't imagine it's better or even close, though.  Anthony Lane, true to his snobby/dumbassed/lame tastes, unfavorably compared it to The Social Network, which because it was about a topical issue and is less fantastic and is significantly more boring obviously must be superior.

I think The Social Network is utterly uninteresting. Could have been a TV-movie and nobody would've made a fuss of it. Heck, "Pirates of Silicon Valley" was a TV-movie and was a FAR more enthralling tale of asocial geeks unleashing a tech goliath.

[Syt]

The final battle at the House of Blue Leaves is incredible.  I think it's one of the best brawls in martial arts cinema.

Agreed. And with KB2 it's a bit of a return to putting the exciting climax at the middle of the movie(s) - many accuse pt. 2 of not being as exciting and flashy as the first one. But think of Ben Hur. How much do you remember of what happened *after* the race?

[celedhring]

I'll admit that while I've seen KB1 many times, and I really love it, I've never seen KB2 after I saw it in theatres and was rather disappointed by it. I probably should give it another go.

[Syt]

It's a huge denouement from the previous movie, but I don't think it's that bad. It's the weaker of the two parts, but a decent, more quiet wrap up of the story.

[celedhring]

It's a huge denouement from the previous movie, but I don't think it's that bad. It's the weaker of the two parts, but a decent, more quiet wrap up of the story.

Yeah, I admit that I was expecting the same deluge of action and inventiveness that the first one served up, and I felt a bit deflated. Probably not doing the same flick was the right choice, dunno, I really have to watch it again.

[Admiral Yi]

Watched Casablanca last night.

The scenes with only men are all great; the scenes with Ingrid Bergman are all kind of painful.

[Capetan Mihali]

Gonna go see Gone Girl tonight.

That's next on my list.  Might have to drive 45 minutes to catch it, though. 

Actually, it's in town after all.   May try to go tonight.

[celedhring]

Saving Mr. Banks. Hey, that was unexpectedly decent; well crafted, well acted (Emma Thompson is excellent). Sure, it's the kind of film where you can tell more or less everything that will happen after 20 minutes in, and one of those where Disney insidiously revels in its own marvelousness (AFAIK Thompson's character actually hated the Mary Poppins film), but almost everyone involved is at the top of their games so it's hard to dismiss it, and the whole affair is harmless enough.

[mongers]

Saving Mr. Banks. Hey, that was unexpectedly decent; well crafted, well acted (Emma Thompson is excellent). Sure, it's the kind of film where you can tell more or less everything that will happen after 20 minutes in, and one of those where Disney insidiously revels in its own marvelousness (AFAIK Thompson's character actually hated the Mary Poppins film), but almost everyone involved is at the top of their games so it's hard to dismiss it, and the whole affair is harmless enough.

Yes, I enjoyed it too.

I quite liked the theme about the character being the author's child/resolving-self in the light of blighted childhood.

[celedhring]

Saving Mr. Banks. Hey, that was unexpectedly decent; well crafted, well acted (Emma Thompson is excellent). Sure, it's the kind of film where you can tell more or less everything that will happen after 20 minutes in, and one of those where Disney insidiously revels in its own marvelousness (AFAIK Thompson's character actually hated the Mary Poppins film), but almost everyone involved is at the top of their games so it's hard to dismiss it, and the whole affair is harmless enough.

Yes, I enjoyed it too.

I quite liked the theme about the character being the author's child/resolving-self in the light of blighted childhood.

Yeah, she conveys the character's pathos damn well. Loved how they are able to portray the fact she's so anal about the film is because those are her sublimated memories from her unhappy childhood, and she still clings to them.

Hanks' Disney is a bit too tame, but it would probably distract from Travers being the center of the film if they had tried too hard with his character. The rest of the supporting cast is excellent.

I'm also happy of being able to watch a decent Oscar-bait film with a prominent role for an aging actress that's NOT Meryl Streep.

[Savonarola]

I saw some of a short film festival today in Titusville.  As always there were some good, some bad and some very bad.  The best one was called "Orion Slave Girls Must Die!" about a pair of Star Trek fans who have a woman come between them.  Unfortunately I can't find that one on line in its entirety.

This one was one of my favorites:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYw8HjN21bk

Largely because the film goes in such an unexpected direction.

[Sheilbh]

Watched Casablanca last night.

The scenes with only men are all great; the scenes with Ingrid Bergman are all kind of painful.

I mainly see it as a film about a beautiful friendship. In my head there are sequels were Rick and Renault road trip round the world laconically beating the Nazis.

Peter Lorre's in every film.

Edit: Admittedly Renault's always been a personal hero and, for me, the real heart of that film.