Film Fanatics - Chat Thread II

Original post by The Stig

Just watched the first three HP films in two days (that's right, I've never seen them before) - Got another four to go and then I'm off to the imax to watch the final one sometime midweek :smile:

Not seen you around much lately.

How does it feel watching them together? Do you find the tone and feel vary a lot on an extreme level? Since there was after all different directors involved which makes the overall experience and flow disjointed.

Apparently Del Toro was rumoured to direct Half-Blood Prince which would have been fantastic. Alas...

Original post by aja89

My only gripe was the fact that the 'killer blow' was delivered to Voldemort with nobody watching. And then no jubilation afterwards. :colonhash:

I did however, enjoy the addition of him turning into a sort of ashy mess. It was almost as though he had already been dead inside for some time and this was just the final layer of his life being stripped away.

In Voldemort's case, I could see it making sense. To have your soul ripped in several pieces, to have each piece destroyed and then to have the killing curse rebound on you must really weaken any tether to a physical existence. Hence being slowly 'dissolved'. Also to see the spell slowly embedding itself in the Elder Wand, in the sense of rebounding, was pretty cool.

Bellatrix however...that was a bit meh. It felt like a 'these are bad guys so they burst into little pieces when they get defeated' approach.

Original post by Roobsa

Snape, or rather Alan Rickman, was by far the best thing about HP7.2. Neville was pretty badass too.

He was. In many ways, it felt like his film to be quite honest. I really like the soundtrack (Lily's theme) that played in his sections. And in reflection, Alan Rickman was born to play that role. A bit like McGonagall. Same can't be said for a lot of the other characters.

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Anyone here seen A Scanner Darkly?

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Original post by Aj12

Anyone here seen A Scanner Darkly?

That Keanu Reeves one with rotoscoping?

(Not that there is another adaptation)

(edited 12 years ago)

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Original post by Aj12

Anyone here seen A Scanner Darkly?

Yeah.

Original post by Ape Gone Insane

The Keanu Reeves one with rotoscoping?

If "rotoscoping" means the cartoon-like, cel-shaded, technique; then yes.

Assume you're looking for an opinion on it, Aj?

If so, I'd say that it was certainly good as a film exploring paranoia and the state, even if it did feel like a comic take on 1984's idea of the police state. The way it was captured was worth it alone, as were Downey Jr and Harrelson's performances. Worth a watch, but does leave something to be desired. A good concept with a fair few flaws.

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Original post by zjs

Yeah.

If "rotoscoping" means the cartoon-like, cel-shaded, technique; then yes.

Assume you're looking for an opinion on it, Aj?

If so, I'd say that it was certainly good as a film exploring paranoia and the state, even if it did feel like a comic take on 1984's idea of the police state. The way it was captured was worth it alone, as were Downey Jr and Harrelson's performances. Worth a watch, but does leave something to be desired. A good concept with a fair few flaws.

Pretty much, just wondered what other's thought of it. I really enjoyed it found it a good film that was very true to the book. Very strange technique they used but it certainly made the film unique.

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Original post by Aj12

Pretty much, just wondered what other's thought of it. I really enjoyed it found it a good film that was very true to the book. Very strange technique they used but it certainly made the film unique.

Haven't read the book. Worth it? :beard:

There were a few areas that didn't really "work" as the film left them, to my mind. Not too sure what I thought of the ending either. Good in many ways, but a bit "huh" in others.

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I thought it was mediocre. Neither horrible nor particularly good. And extremely disappointing as the adaptation of the novel itself. Not the strongest Philip K Dick story anyway.

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Original post by zjs

Haven't read the book. Worth it? :beard:

There were a few areas that didn't really "work" as the film left them, to my mind. Not too sure what I thought of the ending either. Good in many ways, but a bit "huh" in others.

Very similar to the film, even to the point of dialogue, I'd say it is worth reading though. Been awhile since I read it though, so can't comment on exact differences

I think it was huh because of the author. Philip K Dick had a very strange style, partly due no doubt to all the drugs and things he did.

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Spoiler

Welcome to the society and chat thread. Feel free to discuss, erm, films. :h:

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Original post by Aj12

Might give it a look, though I generally find things that are written by an author who seems to be under the influence of the same things as the characters are often hard to follow (i.e. anything Hunter S Thompson ever wrote).

It was more the ending that I thought was "huh", because although I liked it, I wasn't entirely sure why they'd arrived at it or where that would have left the characters. Can't remember it in enough clarity to really discuss it. The strange style in the rest of the film was good because it's what set it apart and gave it its character.

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Falcon91

Aha, thanks!

Going to be seeing HP later tomorrow (sunday doesn't end till i sleep :sexface:

) I do believe, hopefully good judging by people's reaction.

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Original post by zjs

I always thought the ending was very very harsh. Took me a second watch to fully comprehend just what they had done to him. Will put it in a spoiler just in case anyone wants to watch it comes across this.

Spoiler

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Original post by Aj12

Spoiler

Falcon91

Seeing the new HP... hopefully good

It was good, but I thought it was a little anti-climactic overall, given that they'd had an entire film to tee up the dramatic ending. It was certainly dramatic, but it felt as if they glossed over certain scenes in order to reach the final, climactic, showdown; that then turned out to be not all that climactic.

It certainly featured a lot of epic battle scenes interwoven with a tense, fast-paced, storyline, but the length of the film made it feel like they didn't spend enough time covering the battle between Voldemort's supporters and Harry's supporters. Obviously, this was always cursory, but it would've been nice to focus on it more, and certainly enough to at least see the main characters death sequences.* The final showdown itself didn't feel as epic as it could've been, especially as the entire series had been leading up to it. All the teeing-up of the final showdown and it just didn't feel like the most powerful wizard ever had been vanquished.

*Point to make about this, which I'll spoiler for those that haven't yet watched it.

Spoiler

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Original post by zjs

Spoiler

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