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- Thread starter Rustam
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ChaosTheory
Active Member
42nd Street - 
Fitzwilly -
Jane Eyre (2011) -
Fitzwilly -
Jane Eyre (2011) -
Meadow337
Former Moderator
Curse of the Golden Flower
I liked it but it really lacked the depth and subtlety of his other films. It was made specifically to appeal to a Western audience which means that all the layering usually present in a Chinese movie (and particularly in a Zhang Yimou movie) was missing.
For layers: Hero - this must be his most layered film and needs multiple viewings to fully appreciate. He really takes the fine nuances of colour symbolism to the limit in this film.
Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles - a beautiful finely crafted and subtly nuanced film. Here Zhang Yimou allows the silence of the vast landscapes to speak volumes.
Shanghai Triad - Zhang Yimou says this movie was not one of his best but I really like it. A look at at the end of Triad mob boss through the eyes of the child. Multi-layered story telling with sub plots being told through song (pay attention to the lyrics) and colour.
House of Flying Daggers - love, duty and betrayal in fine Wuxia style. Again colour symbolism plays an important part of the story telling.
753C
Active Member
Man of Steel 3 stars (I think photo bucket hacked B&R. All the star ratings on my screen are showing up as photobucket adds)
The good : Henry Cavill looked the part of Superman and Michael Shannon made for a very menacing general Zod. The action.
The Bad : The script. The acting. the action.
The action sequences looked amazing, but (and maybe I'm getting old) there was tooooooooo much of it. My mind began to numb at about 2/3 of the way through the movie. The entire last third of the movie was one monumental CG action sequence after another and it was just too freakin long.
But it was better than the last one.
The good : Henry Cavill looked the part of Superman and Michael Shannon made for a very menacing general Zod. The action.
The Bad : The script. The acting. the action.
The action sequences looked amazing, but (and maybe I'm getting old) there was tooooooooo much of it. My mind began to numb at about 2/3 of the way through the movie. The entire last third of the movie was one monumental CG action sequence after another and it was just too freakin long.
But it was better than the last one.
Meadow337
Former Moderator
Virtually anything would be better than the last Superman
ChaosTheory
Active Member
That's par for the course with Zack Snyder. Still, the word-of-mouth for this has been better than I expected. I'll probably go see it when it hits the second-run theater.
I watched the JOHN ADAMS miniseries over the weekend.
I loved it! McCollough's book is probably my favorite biography and the cast was superb. (I wish they'd make a Jefferson miniseries with Stephen Dillane.)
ChaosTheory
Active Member
Les Miserables (2012) - some iffy casting and it would've helped if someone else had directed - Tom Hooper used way too many close-ups and tilts, musicals are supposed to use their sets - but I liked it for the most part
Cloud Atlas (2012) - it was....interesting. I had trouble getting into it at first but once I started figuring out the connections I liked the story. This was a real mixed bag; I thought the supporting actors were a lot stronger than Tom Hanks & Halle Berry and some of the "reincarnated" makeup was more distracting than convincing - specifically the New Seoul storyline (which is too bad b/c Sonmi's story was the one I found most engaging). I'll say this for the Wachowski Sibling movies though, you never know what they're going to do next. I don't really have a ranking for it.
Cloud Atlas (2012) - it was....interesting. I had trouble getting into it at first but once I started figuring out the connections I liked the story. This was a real mixed bag; I thought the supporting actors were a lot stronger than Tom Hanks & Halle Berry and some of the "reincarnated" makeup was more distracting than convincing - specifically the New Seoul storyline (which is too bad b/c Sonmi's story was the one I found most engaging). I'll say this for the Wachowski Sibling movies though, you never know what they're going to do next. I don't really have a ranking for it.
Meadow337
Former Moderator
Seen last night:
Pirates of the Caribbean 1 - Curse of the Black Pearl - best of the series IMHO but I haven't seen the latest one.
Seen recently:
Water for Elephants - actually does the book justice, only a few important things left out but on the whole a pretty good adaptation (this is rare praise from me)
Scents and Sensibility - DON'T say it's based on Jane Austen when the only connection is the pun in the title and the name of a character! Fluffy, not well told, plot holes you could drive a Mack truck through.
Love Eterne - OK lol this one is going to come with an explanation - Hong Kong films started out by making film versions of well known and popular Chinese Operas. Often with the same sets and actors as the stage productions with some nods to the new medium. Love Eterne was a 'new' kind of film adaptation of a popular style of Opera called Huangmei. Huangmei Opera was different from the traditional operatic styles in that it was largely performed by roving opera troupes thus the songs are short and catchy and do not have elaborate sets or costumes. In adapting these operas to film it was easier to make them more 'film-like' even though they are still entirely filmed on set with painted backdrops (as this one is). This film is based on the opera The Butterfly Lovers, and is regarded as the Romeo and Juliet of Chinese Opera. The film was the highest grossing movie in 1963 and songs from the film are still popular today.
I absolutely loved the movie. The songs are more accessible to a Western ear (even though I do listen to a lot of Asian music), the story is very sweet and ends 'happily ever after' as all good romances are supposed to (even with the tragedy). The hit song 18 Miles Away - is a hysterically funny enactment of complete misunderstanding. (This is what happens when you dress up as a boy and then fall in love). Highly recommended!
Pirates of the Caribbean 1 - Curse of the Black Pearl - best of the series IMHO but I haven't seen the latest one.
Seen recently:
Water for Elephants - actually does the book justice, only a few important things left out but on the whole a pretty good adaptation (this is rare praise from me)
Scents and Sensibility - DON'T say it's based on Jane Austen when the only connection is the pun in the title and the name of a character! Fluffy, not well told, plot holes you could drive a Mack truck through.
Love Eterne - OK lol this one is going to come with an explanation - Hong Kong films started out by making film versions of well known and popular Chinese Operas. Often with the same sets and actors as the stage productions with some nods to the new medium. Love Eterne was a 'new' kind of film adaptation of a popular style of Opera called Huangmei. Huangmei Opera was different from the traditional operatic styles in that it was largely performed by roving opera troupes thus the songs are short and catchy and do not have elaborate sets or costumes. In adapting these operas to film it was easier to make them more 'film-like' even though they are still entirely filmed on set with painted backdrops (as this one is). This film is based on the opera The Butterfly Lovers, and is regarded as the Romeo and Juliet of Chinese Opera. The film was the highest grossing movie in 1963 and songs from the film are still popular today.
I absolutely loved the movie. The songs are more accessible to a Western ear (even though I do listen to a lot of Asian music), the story is very sweet and ends 'happily ever after' as all good romances are supposed to (even with the tragedy). The hit song 18 Miles Away - is a hysterically funny enactment of complete misunderstanding. (This is what happens when you dress up as a boy and then fall in love). Highly recommended!
Hedwig
Member
I've seen this only once, maybe that's why I didn't quite get the gist ... but I do remember that it was absolutely gorgeous visually.
Meadow337
Former Moderator
Incredibly gorgeous due to the incredible camera work of Christopher Doyle. Hero is told from different perspectives. Each perspective has its own colour supersaturating the screen. Each colour has its own symbolic meaning which ties into the over-riding story arc - the tale of the hero.
I love the movie, it is one of those you can watch over and over and appreciate some part of it anew each time. However for me it is the two fight scenes - in the courtyard and on the lake that are the most poetically beautifully choreographed and filmed. The only other I have scene that compares although the tone is far more violent is the fight scene in Kungfu Hustle where the twin assassins face the old kung fu warriors and they fight with music.
I know every one references the fight scenes in the Matrix and Corey Yuen did an amazing choreographing them as well as the fight scenes in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon but for me those stand out far more.
And that was far more than you wanted to know right?
Meadow337
Former Moderator
is there such a thing as NOT being in a martial arts phase?
753C
Active Member
Jack Reacher
Really not too bad after all. I took a friends advice and tried to totally suspend any knowledge of the character, and that helped out a lot. While Tom Cruise has been annoying to me on and off throughout his career, I have never considered him to be a terrible actor. What you get is basically a fast moving, intelligent, crime/action drama with some well done fight sequences. I wouldn't be too upset if they made another one...
Really not too bad after all. I took a friends advice and tried to totally suspend any knowledge of the character, and that helped out a lot. While Tom Cruise has been annoying to me on and off throughout his career, I have never considered him to be a terrible actor. What you get is basically a fast moving, intelligent, crime/action drama with some well done fight sequences. I wouldn't be too upset if they made another one...
Meadow337
Former Moderator
Scott Pilgrim vs The World
Finally! Been meaning to see it for years. Loved the comic book format. Action scenes are brilliant but then I expected them to be as the stunt choreographer for the movie was Bradley James Allan and he was head of JC Stunt Team for many years before he got married and branched out on his own.
Finally! Been meaning to see it for years.
Loved the comic book format. Action scenes are brilliant but then I expected them to be as the stunt choreographer for the movie was Bradley James Allan and he was head of JC Stunt Team for many years before he got married and branched out on his own.
beer good
Well-Known Member
No One Lives is a crap slasher that tries to be Nietzschan horror about psychopaths but is, for all intents and purposes, a remake of a Friday the 13th sequel without the hockey mask. It should be shown to all kids who dream of growing up to be a serial killer, though, since it's a brilliant opportunity to show just how much hard work goes into being a nutjob mass murderer; you can't just kill your victims, oh no, you need to hide inside dead bodies to catch a free ride rather than using your own car, slit your own throat to make a point and hope they're dumb enough to save you, suspend people over wood chippers, have smoke machines and laser shows available for the big showdown... it all looks positively exhausting and not remotely worth the effort, which would excuse the poor acting, I guess. 