Movie review thread...
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[quote name='Nepia'][COLOR="red"][SIZE="4"][/SIZE][FONT="Verdana"]WARNING SPOILER Boy in the Striped Pyjamas WARNING SPOILER[/FONT][/COLOR]<br />
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Apologies I don't know how to work spoilers.<br />
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The ending really pissed me off as basically you're manipulated into feeling sad at the death of the little German boy, despite throughout the movie in the camp people are getting killed all the time.[/QUOTE]<br />
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I came away thinking about the irony in his death. Exactly the point you make about the death all around and then this seemingly minor one. Its supposed to annoy you I think. Also it highlights that one death should be no more important than another and the only way Bruno's(german boy) father would learn this is by basically killing his own son in the manner he disposes of all the jews. Though obviously the movie ends abruptly so I've drawn my own conclusions. Also I haven't read the book. -
Shutter I sland. Thought I'd read reviews here but didn't come up when I searched.<br />
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Had read and heard good things about this but frankly I was a little disappointed. Not beccause it was bad because it isn't but it didn't deliver on the hype.<br />
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It's a homage to film noir/Hitchcock I guess and works reasonably well as such, but it just seesm like everyone is going through the motions a bit from Scorsese down.<br />
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Ben Kingsley in particular hams it up. It's all a bit predictable - the lighting, the music, the plot developments are all telegraphed well in advance.<br />
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Also at 2 1/4 hrs started to drag. 6.13 -
[quote name='dogmeat']Shutter I sland. Thought I'd read reviews here but didn't come up when I searched.<br />
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Had read and heard good things about this but frankly I was a little disappointed. Not beccause it was bad because it isn't but it didn't deliver on the hype.<br />
<br />
It's a homage to film noir/Hitchcock I guess and works reasonably well as such, but it just seesm like everyone is going through the motions a bit from Scorsese down.<br />
<br />
Ben Kingsley in particular hams it up. It's all a bit predictable - the lighting, the music, the plot developments are all telegraphed well in advance.<br />
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Also at 2 1/4 hrs started to drag. 6.13[/QUOTE]<br />
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Sexy Beast and House of Sand and Fog were his last good turns but not dick all since.<br />
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Still Im looking forward to seeing this movie. I haven't really read into it too much so maybe it'll play well for me. -
[quote name='dogmeat']Shutter I sland. Thought I'd read reviews here but didn't come up when I searched.<br />
<br />
Had read and heard good things about this but frankly I was a little disappointed. Not beccause it was bad because it isn't but it didn't deliver on the hype.<br />
<br />
It's a homage to film noir/Hitchcock I guess and works reasonably well as such, but it just seesm like everyone is going through the motions a bit from Scorsese down.<br />
<br />
Ben Kingsley in particular hams it up. It's all a bit predictable - the lighting, the music, the plot developments are all telegraphed well in advance.<br />
<br />
Also at 2 1/4 hrs started to drag. 6.13[/QUOTE]<br />
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It's doing boffo box-office, already Scorsese's biggest money-maker ever. <br />
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It seemed to me that the past bunch of years Scorsese, who has been an insecure shorty since childhood, has been shamelessly, pathologocally lusting after validation in the form of an Oscar gong and making, by his own earlier high standards, mediocre movies that hit the cliche "Oscar-worthy" paint-by-numbers and suffer for all of it. They finally gave him what he wanted for The Departed, which wasn't a tremendous film by any stretch, but I thought, good, now maybe he can go back to making his absorbing, uniquely signature movies.<br />
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I thought Shutter Island might be the one, his homage to his idol Val Lewton. <br />
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Mistake. I watched it and thought it like a mediocre overlong episode of Twilight Zone. And it wasn't scary in the slightest. It certainly doesn't help things that the TV commercials for the movie are promising a "surprise shocking twist ending." Errrr, publicist dumbarses, if you promise a surprise twist ending, then the twist is kinda spoiled when the audience is expecting and waiting for it. <br />
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Worth a watch, but save your dollars for the dvd rental.<br />
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6/10. -
Edge of Darkness - Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone - crime/conspiracy action thriller<br />
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Not bad, 6.5/10, lost half a point for saddo Hollywood ending.... -
[quote name='taniwharugby']Edge of Darkness - Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone - crime/conspiracy action thriller. Not bad, 6.5/10, lost half a point for saddo Hollywood ending....[/QUOTE]<br />
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Thanks for that. I was tossing up whether to go and see it at the movies or wait for the dvd to come out. Dvd it is. <img src='http://www.daimenhutchison.com/invision/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' /> -
[quote name='Razbra']I came away thinking about the irony in his death. Exactly the point you make about the death all around and then this seemingly minor one. Its supposed to annoy you I think. Also it highlights that one death should be no more important than another and the only way Bruno's(german boy) father would learn this is by basically killing his own son in the manner he disposes of all the jews. Though obviously the movie ends abruptly so I've drawn my own conclusions. Also I haven't read the book.[/QUOTE]<br />
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[quote name='Nepia'][COLOR="red"][SIZE="4"][/SIZE][FONT="Verdana"]WARNING SPOILER Boy in the Striped Pyjamas WARNING SPOILER[/FONT][/COLOR]<br />
<br />
Apologies I don't know how to work spoilers.<br />
<br />
<br />
The ending really pissed me off as basically you're manipulated into feeling sad at the death of the little German boy, despite throughout the movie in the camp people are getting killed all the time.[/QUOTE]<br />
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After thinking about it for a while I think I agree with both of you now. It's one of those movies that gave me a lot to think about and it took a while to process it. The little boy dying at the end just proved how incredibly wrong the whole war was when it took his father experiencing it himself to realise that what he was in charge of was wrong. -
[QUOTE]It seemed to me that the past bunch of years Scorsese, who has been an insecure shorty since childhood, has been shamelessly, pathologocally lusting after validation in the form of an Oscar gong and making, by his own earlier high standards, mediocre movies that hit the cliche "Oscar-worthy" paint-by-numbers and suffer for all of it. They finally gave him what he wanted for The Departed, which wasn't a tremendous film by any stretch, but I thought, good, now maybe he can go back to making his absorbing, uniquely signature movies[/QUOTE]<br />
I haven't seen Shutter Island so can't comment on it as yet - I have read the book though so am interested to see what he does with it.<br />
But I completely disagree re: the Departed which I think is one of his best films and a return to top form after the so so Aviator and the completely crap Gangs of New York. -
[quote name='Kirwan']I really enjoyed Aviator, but I'm also interested in Howard Hughes and that period so it was right up my alley.[/QUOTE]<br />
I didn't mind Aviator, not a bad movie just not up to Scorsese's standard. The story was interesting(I had little knowledge of Hughes previously) but my enjoyment of it was not helped by the fact that Cate Blanchett used to annoy the hell out of me - interestingly enough she doesn't annoy me any more. -
[quote name='Kirwan']She was awesome as Hepburn, not an easy character to pull off.<br />
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How cool was Hughes to pitch up in his boat plane thing and ask her out?[/QUOTE]<br />
I've always thought she was a bloody good actor, but she just annoyed me for ages. <br />
Hughes was batshit crazy, but in his early days he was pretty suave. -
Re: Aviator. There was some okay stuff there, but it's sub-standard Scorsese, and I've seen better PBS documentaries about Hughes. (Heck, even Melvin & Howard was better.)<br />
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re: The Departed, again, it was a good movie, yet it reminded me a little too much of The Friends of Eddie Coyle, FWIW, and I prefer the Mitchum film. I also have grown weary of Scorsese pulling out "Gimme Shelter" (used in Goodfellas, Casino *and" Departed, enough already!!!) and other cliche Hot Rocks 'Stones songs he's employed in many of his movies, IMO it's obvious & lazy.<br />
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One positive I will note about Shutter Island is he's somewhat restrained himself from the excessive classic-rock playlist crutch he's fallen into the past decade, and uses more original compositions. <br />
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That's my pet-peeve however, as I understand many people love hearing the same limited playlist songs they hear on classic rock format radio stations employed endlessly in movies. -
Cool site for movie fans:<br />
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[url]http://www.artofthetitle.com/[/url]<br />
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I may have to give Strange Days a chance! -
[url]http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/paramount/ironman/[/url]<br />
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Second trailer is out, and is much better than the first trailer. Looks like they have same sense of fun and tone that made the first one so enjoyable. -
Brothers; JAke Gyllenhall, Toby McGuire and NAtalie Portman.<br />
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Gyllenhall is the family deadbeat just back from prison, McGuire is a Marine and goes back to Afghanistan, McGuire is married to Portman (as unlikely as that is) McGuires chopper gets shot down, they have a funeral etc. <br />
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While grieving the bond between Portman & Gyllenhall grows, only problem is McGuire aint dead.<br />
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Pretty good film actually, some good acting and story line moves along well enough for what it was, 7.5/10 -
Leaves of Grass; Edward Norton, Melanie Lynsky, Richard Dreyfuss<br />
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NOt sure how you'd describe it, guess a black comedy...<br />
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Norton is a brilliant Classical Philosopher, and he also plays his brillliant twin brother who is a hick master weed grower...<br />
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Good film, some funny bits, soe darker bits, but all in all a good watch! 7.8/10 -
[quote name='Milk']I saw it and was expecting good things due to the reviews. Personally, I found it boring and just couldn't get it into it. I still found there were a few good scenes though.[/QUOTE]<br />
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Finally watched it. I wasn't expecting an action movie, maybe you were Milk? But I enjoyed it quite a bit. The scenes where JCVD is by himself are stand outs. His major monolog shows he has real acting range. Potentially the guy could go far if he gave away the action movies. I can't believe how much he gives himself over into destroying his image. <br />
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8/10 This is NOT an action film. -
Zach Galifinakis interviews Ben Stiller:<br />
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[url]http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/60072add5a/between-two-ferns-with-zach-galifianakis-ben-stiller?rel=player[/url] -
[quote name='allblackfan']Saw Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief last week...it was crap. Special effects were okay but the lame story line and the lead chicks acting were both terrible. And saw From Paris With Love yesterday....am having a bad run at the movies 'cos this one was crap too. Rhys whatever his name is can't act for shit, he's a poser. Am looking forward to the Clash of the Titans though, looks good.[/QUOTE]<br />
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Saw Percy Jackson last night, I think they had the basis of a good movie, possibly 2, but tried to jam it all in and rush through it.<br />
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OK for pre-teens Id say, but nowhere the Potter, Spiderwick, Toy Story type movies that adults can enjoy too.
