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Post by pablo on Jul 11, 2011 10:46:20 GMT -5
[/quote]
Help was for fans only and doesn't stand up to time (the racism alone...ack!) [/quote]
Where is there racism in Help ?
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Post by inlovewithcrow on Jul 11, 2011 11:57:22 GMT -5
Leo McKern's performance and the suggestion people from India sacrifice human beings in their religious rituals. It's like Amos and Andy humor, but pointed at Indians. And it's a bunch of white Brits making the film. In that case, I'd feel marginally more comfortable if the evil cult were, say, Irish Catholic, and it was Catholic human sacrifice being depicted as Ringo ran from laughable Irish people played broadly by actors who were not actually Irish. Made today, it'd get protested.
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Post by TheNewMads on Jul 11, 2011 14:06:28 GMT -5
[Lester also directed the Michael york/Oliver Reed Musketeer movies, which were great fun as well. not to mention "petulia," which was total genius. broke ground in the motif of the cinematic flashback not telegraphed by a visual transition.
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Post by pablo on Jul 11, 2011 15:49:00 GMT -5
Leo McKern's performance and the suggestion people from India sacrifice human beings in their religious rituals. It's like Amos and Andy humor, but pointed at Indians. And it's a bunch of white Brits making the film. In that case, I'd feel marginally more comfortable if the evil cult were, say, Irish Catholic, and it was Catholic human sacrifice being depicted as Ringo ran from laughable Irish people played broadly by actors who were not actually Irish. Made today, it'd get protested. what about leo mckern's performance? and depicting people from India sacrificing human beings in their religious rituals-this was not a depiction of the average Indian religion-this was a depiction of an evil group apart from the average Indian. so it's not like amos and andy humor at all.
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Post by TheNewMads on Jul 11, 2011 21:10:17 GMT -5
Hamlet 2 (2008). not bad if you go into it with carefully regulated expectations. i'd say the jokes hit about half the time, but a lot of times it just gets too broad and a bit embarrassing. although "raped in the face" was SO over the top and bizarre it felt a bit like art. fun elizabeth shue cameo, though a bit implausible -- i can believe that she would abandon acting to become a nurse, but i can't believe that she'd do it in tuscon, arizona.
i wanted it to be better, i'm kinda an andrew fleming fan, having really enjoyed "dick" and "the craft." but i like fleming because he's quirky, not necessarily because he's good.
also, "hamlet 2" IS TOTALLY RACIST!!
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Post by Mighty Jack on Jul 12, 2011 6:24:55 GMT -5
And Lester also directed Superman III --- Woo Hoo - hooo - uh.... hoo? Ah well, every rose has its thorn I think Help is mad, flawed fun, it's very Goon Squad (an ancestor to Python). As part of the swinging 60s colorful, over the top, pop, style of film- I think it has actually aged better than many of its kindred (ala Lester's own "The Knack.... and How to Get it" or "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"). And while not the classic "A Hard Days Night" is, it's such crazed fun -and damn do I laugh a lot- that I always feel happy after I see it (which is more than I can say of their "Magical Mystery Tour" - which, aside from getting to see and hear the Beatles, is a taxing experience) ----- As for what I watched? I tried to get through DogvilleI failed.
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Post by TheNewMads on Jul 12, 2011 7:31:52 GMT -5
And Lester also directed Superman III --- Woo Hoo - hooo - uh.... hoo? Ah well, every rose has its thorn also, superman II! which i think is arguably better than the first one. yeah, though, if i were mr. lester i'd probably leave III off my CV. I think Help is mad, flawed fun, it's very Goon Squad (an ancestor to Python). As part of the swinging 60s colorful, over the top, pop, style of film- I think it has actually aged better than many of its kindred (ala Lester's own "The Knack.... and How to Get it" or "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"). And while not the classic "A Hard Days Night" is, it's such crazed fun -and damn do I laugh a lot- that I always feel happy after I see it (which is more than I can say of their "Magical Mystery Tour" - which, aside from getting to see and hear the Beatles, is a taxing experience) ----- As for what I watched? I tried to get through DogvilleI failed. ah, the masterpiece from mr. "i'm not a nazi, i just like hitler!" i liked dogville, but i also liked "funny games," and am just generally in a bad mood all the time. i'd love to see lars von trier and michael haneke in an MTV celebrity death match.
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Post by TheNewMads on Jul 12, 2011 7:41:51 GMT -5
incidentally, i'm convinced the recent lars von trier scandal is the result of a misguided attempt on von trier's part to make a sly "my dinner with andre" reference. there's this part in "dinner" where andre says all this stuff about admiring hitler that's almost identical to the comments that got von trier in such hot water...
because my suffering must be legendary, i added "antichrist" to the top of my netflix queue. it's supposed to be perfectly abysmal, i'm sure i'll love it.
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Torgo
Moderator Emeritus
-segment with Crow?
Posts: 15,420
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Post by Torgo on Jul 12, 2011 15:55:14 GMT -5
Got my region 1 (finally!) release of [REC] 2 in the mail the day before release! As cool as that was, I wasn't able to watch it until today (I devoted last night to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, seeing how I'm building up until the double feature of Deathly Hallows 1 & 2 at my local theater on Thursday). I'm a big fan of the original (it's American remake, Quarantine, is decent but fumbles the ball in several ways) and have been hyped for a sequel ever since it was announced. Time passed and it was given a limited theater and on demand run last year, which I was unable to attend (Idaho gets shafted on most limited releases) and waited for its release on a home video format......and waited.........and waited...... Apparently Sony had home video distribution, like the original, and Magnet films only had theater rights. [REC] 2 finally comes out as Sony's own direct to video horror flick Quarantine 2: Terminal ( not based upon [REC] 2 is right around the corner. Coincidence? I don't think so. I actually cheated earlier this year and found a streaming copy of the film on the net earlier this year. Illegal, I know, but it tided me over as I waited for the long delayed release. I loved it, and I wanted to add it to my shelf ASAP. Since I had today off, I watched the original and the sequel back to back, one of the wildest horror marathons this side of the Evil Dead trilogy in one sitting. First following the news crew into the quarantined building where they become trapped on the inside with an unknown supernatural element taking place. The sequel makes a rather good move in showing the flip side of the situation instead of just following more citizens who don't know what the hell is going on. A SWAT team and a priest head into the building to retrieve a blood sample of the demonic Medeiros girl who attacked the protagonists at the end of the first film, whose blood can be used for a potential antidote for the spread of the mutated virus. The use of the camera is ingenious, and at times [REC] 2 becomes what could be considered the very first First Person Shooter film (not including Doom's FPS sequence, which was very poorly realized). Unfortunately it grinds to a halt halfway through as it switches to a normal camera and we follow civilians on the outside, who sneak in for kicks. Not a very original or smart idea, but it serves it's purpose. The two films are very much the flip side of each others' coin. The first film gave us the point of view of those on the inside, the second gives us that of those on the outside, both professional and clueless civilian. The professional portion is handled better than the civilian, but on the whole, like the original, it's fast and intense. Both films hold up well on their own, but put them both together, you have a marvelous horror epic that doesn't even slow down as you change discs. Of course, it ends with the cliffhanger, setting up not just a third film, but a fourth as well, acting as both prequel and sequel to the events of this ill-fated apartment building in Spain. I don't think I've ever been more hyped for any other horror films in my life, especially after the groovy teaser poster of a bride, crying blood, with the Spanish tagline that translates into "The Happiest Day of My Life." Here's hoping I don't have to wait for Sony to make a Quarantine 3 and 4 just to see them.
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Post by inlovewithcrow on Jul 12, 2011 18:55:40 GMT -5
Inside Man. To quote Tony? Pepper? MJ?, "meh"
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Post by Mighty Jack on Jul 12, 2011 23:38:16 GMT -5
Inside Man - I have that in my que. The trailer looked good. Though I didn't have great confidence in it since I'm not that hot for Spike Lee movies. Oh, and I'd like to kick Michale Haneke in the nuts... just so he'd know what I feel whenever I watch one of his movies.
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Post by TheNewMads on Jul 13, 2011 8:19:46 GMT -5
Oh, and I'd like to kick Michale Haneke in the nuts... just so he'd know what I feel whenever I watch one of his movies. i think feeling like you've just taken one in the yarbles is the feeling mr. haneke's movies are *meant* to evoke. if you racked michael haneke and told him "that's for your f$&%in' movies, @#%@hole!", i think he'd probably take it as a compliment. he's just not someone anyone can reach.
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Post by Mighty Jack on Jul 14, 2011 2:03:20 GMT -5
They should put this tag line on his posters -- "Michael Haneke: For people who want a good swift one to the grapes.". I pretty much figure he wants his audience to feel like crap, but I'm not into the game. I'm going to try Caché and if that's just another excuse for using his characters as punching bags, I'm washing my hands of the guy. If your going to disturb me, at least make it meaningful (like the non-Haneke directed, "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 days" did)
The Chorus (Les Choristes) - 2004 Teacher goes to school filled with troubled children and makes their lives swell, through the power of song. This story has been told many times (ala To Sir With Love and more directly, Mr. Holland's Opus) but you know, it's just a damn good subject, no matter how often they tackle it. The cynics who groused about the optimism be damned, I enjoyed it.
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Post by TheNewMads on Jul 14, 2011 7:41:12 GMT -5
i saw cache with my folks a few years ago, before i knew who haneke was. i remember liking it, but i couldn't tell you much of anything about it so i must not have liked it THAT much. i don't think haneke is a timeless master or anything, but i appreciate his willingness to take on some sacred cows. "funny games" being a revenge film without the revenge part really foregrounds the artifice of the conventional rape-revenge movie and ever since i saw it i feel a lot less absolved of responsibility for the blood-lust those movies tend, by design, to evoke in me. i also recently saw "benny's video", the movie itself was middling -- not for its horrific violence as much as its glacial pacing -- but there's an interview with haneke as an extra that's pretty interesting stuff. i didn't think benny's vid or cache were anywhere near as strong or disturbing as dogville or funny games. i haven't seen "432." i've heard good things.
just saw Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine ('03). kind a summary of kasparov's career as well as an exploration of the conspiracy theory that IBM may have cheated during the 1997 tournament that marked the ceding of humanity's status as earth's dominant species to our robot overlords. i think chess gearheads tend to be disappointed by this movie because it doesn't get much into the nitty-gritty of the formal chess strategies -- you know, king's gambit declined, sicilian defense, book openings, end games, there's not much of that stuff. instead it's mostly about kasparov's slow breakdown as he gets more and more suspicious that IBM is actually supplementing big blue with a human chess player behind the scenes, with the premise that a machine-human combination, even if the human is a middling chess player, could likely beat a chess master on his own. a lot of interesting turing-test stuff about the nature of human thought and intuition vs. mechanical, computerized "thought." the idea that IBM cheated is almost less interesting than the idea that big blue was able to create such a seemingly real ghost in the machine in kasparov's mind. i'd have liked to see more AI experts and epistemological philosophers talk about some of those possibilities, that seemed like a missed opportunity on the moviemakers' part. they seemed more content to speculate about the possibility of a conspiracy on IBM's part. but it was still a pretty interesting movie; if you understand it as more a speculation on the nature of thought and knowledge than a chess fanflick, you'll be less likely to be disappointed.
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Post by Joker on Jul 14, 2011 23:33:05 GMT -5
The Human Factor (1975)
George Kennedy is John Kinsdale, an American electronics expert who works at a NATO security base in Naples, Italy. One night he comes home to find his whole family slaughtered for no apparent reason. His sadness becomes rage-fuelled determination to find the killers after another American family is killed. Using his expertise in using the high-tech (for the time) equipment to find the identities of the killers he uncovers a terrorist cell murdering Americans to get their fellow comrades released from prisons around the world. When he finds them he's going to kill them, even though a computer simulation at his work has predicted that he only has an 8% chance of success...
George Kennedy is a jolly kind of actor and can't really pull off an action hero role because of it. Even in the satisfying ultraviolent ending it doesn't seem to work. Most of the movie leading up to this conclusion has to do with people just working on old computers. The last ten minutes wind up being the best part, but it takes too long to get there.
Virus (1980) a.k.a. Day of Resurrection
In East Germany a U.S. covert mission goes wrong when a virus stolen from the USSR is unleashed upon the world. Because it can bond with the flu virus and make it lethal the world gets infected with "Italian Flu." A dying U.S. President (Glenn Ford) warns the U.S. and foreign stations in Antarctica not to leave since the virus goes dormant in sub-zero temperatures. A multinational federation is formed and has to deal with the survival of the human race. After a woman gets raped they decide that the 8 women there must become brood mares for the 855 men there for the good of humanity. But they have other problems as an earthquake from oil drilling will cause the nuclear security protocols in Washington, D.C. to launch warheads on all cities - which will lead to the Soviet Union to launch all their nukes at major cities - including the Antarctic last bit of humanity. Now a brave U.S. soldier (Bo Svenson) and a Japanese scientist (Masao Kusakari) must venture into the plague land of Washington, D.C. to shut it down and save mankind from a second final annihilation.
This is a sort of above average star-studded disaster film directed by Kinji Fukasaku (The Green Slime (1968) and Battle Royale (2000)). The film only takes a few minutes for exploring ideas of putting aside morality in favor of survival. Also people don't really try to put on accents for their respective countries that well. Chuck Connors plays the captain of an uninfected British submarine and Olivia Hussey as a Norwegian survivor of a massacre who doesn't sound like she's from anywhere close to Norway. It is a neat apocalyptic film anyway though.
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