What I've Been Watching: The Catch-All Film Thread

I have to say I was pretty puzzled by NCfOM, especially by the ending and found it full of good acting and ideas but depressing. However, it was a serious film done well.

UNLIKE the travesty we rented this weekend—Angels and Demons. What a hack flick! Sad to see Tom Hanks and Ron Howard putting out such pandering two dimensional pop silliness. All I can say good about it is that it was better than the awful book. Even Da Vinci Code was decent in a cheap way compared to this.

(In case you're wondering why we watched it if I hated the book and Dan Brown in general, this was a bow to my husband's taste. Marriage is compromise. ;) )
 
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I have to say I was pretty puzzled by NCfOM, especially by the ending and found it full of good acting and ideas but depressing. However, it was a serious film done well.

The writer behind the novels seems to have a fetish for depressing scenarios without any real purpose in the form of a message, except to say "what sucks really sucks".

I recently finished reading "The Road" and while it was definitely well written, I think it was nothing but the exact same thing repeated over and over again, page by page. No progression or character development.

I suppose that's art :)
 
I read something interesting for a movie maniac:
In July 2009 a complete theater version of Fritz Lang's Metropolis on 16mm film has been discovered in a film museum in Buenos Aires. Metropolis is the only(!) movie in the UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme.
A restaured version with, I think, 60 minutes of material which hasn't been shown since the film's premiere in the mid 1920s will be presented at the Berlinale film festival. In addition an open air cinema event will be helt at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on July 12th. So if anybody is in Berlin at that time, this will be an event you can tell your grandchildren about. ;)
The German/French culture channel Artè will report from the show live and show the movie on the same evening. Artè & Artè HD can be received without a smartcard on Astra satellite in most central European countries.
So this milestone of film history can be seen in the version originally intended by Fritz Lang, on free-TV and in HD!

I'm looking forward to it. I bet the movie totally sucks as a film, but offers totally breathtaking visuals and a unique atmosphere.

edit: It's 25 minutes of new material, cleaned frame by frame. The film is now "very close" to the original cinema version.
 
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Just came back from the cinema. Saw The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Loved every bit of it. Best movie of 2009 for sure imo. It's wonderful and amazing. I recommend it to anyone who loves fantasy movies with some weird twists. It's for sure not for everyone. But I personally am gonna go see it again. (plus the cast is amazing. Christopher Plummer. Tom Waits. Heath Ledger (his last performance). Johnny Depp. Jude Law. Colin Farrel. etc
 
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We watched I Know Who Killed Me last night ... wow that was abysmal ... can we all just agree that any thought of Lindsay Lohan as talented was over-stated ...?
 
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Just watched Sita Sings The Blues. It's a pretty damn good animated version of the Ramayana, from Rama's much abused wife Sita's point of view, with the meat of the matter being 1920's blues tunes sung by an animated Sita. I have a feeling some good folks in India might want to launch a pogrom over it, though.

Best of all, it's free. You can download hi-def (and lower-rez) versions of it here, or watch it streamed.

Amazing what one seriously pissed-off and incredibly skilled and talented woman can do with the software we have nowadays.

06.RamHanuSitaRainReflect.jpg
 
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But last year we watched Nosferatu (Max Schrek) with the kids, and that remains *amazing*.

I second that Nosferatu is still great. Of course nowadays no longer for story (or the incorrectly tacked-on Dracula names in the English version) and suspense, but for the atmosphere and the artistic brilliancy. A true masterpiece.

How did you convince your kids to watch a silent movie? Must have been hard.

A warning for those who haven't seen the film yet: Do not watch a version older or shorter than the 2005/2006 restauration. It's 12 minutes longer than the public domain version and it includes the original colorisations used by F. W. Murnau. They create a stronger atmosphere and fix the problem that Count Orlok was a daywalker. Here's a brand new article showing the differences between the two mentioned versions. Unfortunately only in German.
 
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How did you convince your kids to watch a silent movie? Must have been hard.

They are willing to try stuff, and quickly were entranced by how well done it was. They also liked Metropolis, but my wife wasn't as big on that.
 
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I watched Terminator: Salvation yesterday. Really liked it. I gave it 9/10 at imdb, since it was
a. entertaining pretty much from beginning to end - and not as predictable as other "action-flicks", especially your random comic-adaption, which I generally despise.
b. had no expectations at all (well, almost) and instead I was very touched at the end, that is because
c. the cast was great: The new terminator guy was really cool (in a positive sense) because he was not annoying at all. Christian Bale (no explanation needed). Moon Bloodgood or whatever her name is she was also very cool (and sexy). Believe it or not, I could really relate to the whole "world". Yeah and also "Star" and well the other guy I don't want to spoil it, were really great, it all fit, only Bale's wife seemed a bit uncool, whatever...

So, long story short: 9/10
 
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I believe that would constitute valid grounds for divorce.

hehe ... it wasn't like she hated it or anything criminal like that, but we had watched Nosferatu before, and also some other older stuff, and she just didn't like it as much as the rest of us.
 
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I read something interesting for a movie maniac:
In July 2009 a complete theater version of Fritz Lang's Metropolis on 16mm film has been discovered in a film museum in Buenos Aires. Metropolis is the only(!) movie in the UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme.
A restaured version with, I think, 60 minutes of material which hasn't been shown since the film's premiere in the mid 1920s will be presented at the Berlinale film festival. In addition an open air cinema event will be helt at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on July 12th. So if anybody is in Berlin at that time, this will be an event you can tell your grandchildren about. ;)

That's awesome! Can't wait for the DVD :)
 
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We had fun renting Zombieland (love those $1 Redbox rentals!) last night ... sort of like Left4Dead meets World War Z ... don't think about the plot too much and it is an absolute blast.
 
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definitely, my fave movie of 2009!

Did you see The Hangover?

Nothing against Zombieland, I thought it was entertaining, but after all the hype I received from so many people, I was a bit let down. It started out pretty funny, but then seemed like it was trying to get kind of serious past the midway point with 'the guy meets girl' thing. I ended up feeling a bit confused about how to categorize it.
 
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That's awesome! Can't wait for the DVD :)

Just watched Metropolis for the first time. Visually very impressive movie, and far more enjoyable than expected. The genres defined by Frankenstein, Star Wars, Blade Runner were obviously heavily influenced by some of the scenes Lang created.
I was quite surprised though that Metropolis is not really science fiction. It's about the conflict between society classes. A bit similar to Chaplin's Modern Times. The new material adds a lot of depth to several characters. Everything is fast paced and dramatic, driven by the music which sounds like the typical modern Hollywood blockbuster. The characters are in focus, the film doesn't feel cold and detached, like the critics said about the shorter version. The well known sci-fi scenes are not much more than 5 minutes combined, plus maybe another 5 minutes Frankenstein.
The acting is generally good, but jumps between different styles. While the impressive bad guy - who isn't really bad but rather a dutiful part of the system - is best in calm scenes, others are shown in one dramatic close up after the other. Including the typical silent movie great gestures.

Metropolis is still worth watching when you're in the right mood. It's a true classic. I would rate it one level behind Murnau's Nosferatu though, because Nosferatu is purer. Lang seemingly had endless resources. Metropolis looks very expensive but at times overloaded.
 
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Percy Jackson- Lightning Thief

Although one of the Wild Dogs has read the book, she couldn't/wouldn't give me a compare/contrast between the book and movie so I've got no idea how it stacks up. On its own merits, the movie is OK. I enjoyed the way they rolled familiar mythology into the story, even though they did alter a few myths to fit their needs. The visuals are good enough and the acting isn't all that bad. The script has a few holes, but nothing out of line for an action pic aimed at kids. Overall, good family entertainment. Might be a little much for very young kids--the Twinkies at age 9 got scared a few times. On my traditional scale, this one gets a matinee, although there's nothing that wouldn't play well on the small screen.
 
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My younger son took eight of his friends to see it last weekend for his 12th birthday ... my wife and I thought it was decent ... but as soon as the credits rolled we were regaled by eight accounts of the atrocities perpetrated against the book by the movie ... :)
 
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Did you hang around for the extra scene mixed in with the credits?
 
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Did you hang around for the extra scene mixed in with the credits?

Yes ... and while we thought it was coo, apparently they screed THAT up from the books as well! I like to actually watch at least SOME of the credits ... which is hard since the majority bolt as soon as the credits start ...
 
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