Competition - post a photo you've taken of nature >>

Film Fanatics - Chat Thread II

Scroll to see replies

So, Brave opening to just lukewarm reviews. One review says it doesn't take any risks, which basically means it isn't very innovative. Pixar in decline? :holmes:

I wonder if critics are being overly harsh because of expectations from a Pixar film. Even though it is not a typical Pixar film, it seems like it might be at least as good as Disney's Tangled.

Though we also had Cars 2 last year... I wouldn't say it's in decline, it's more that they aren't getting the production and creative process right, like they have with previous films. Maybe this was an experimentation process for them. Even when they were making awesome films, I wouldn't say Finding Nemo or Cars were as good films as people, generally and in this thread, make them out to be. They were pretty average animated films and certainly not up there with Toy Story, Ratatouille, Wall-E, Monsters Inc and Up. Though quite a few people would disagree with that so the quality of their catalogue does lend to some debate.

We have Monster University (prequel to Monsters Inc) next year too.

Reply 6761

Phalanges

Original post by Abiraleft

I won't claim to be knowledgeable at all about SFX, but the ones in Tron: Legacy really didn't do anything for me. I was actually really underwhelmed. :nothing:

Agreed, I wasn't very impressed with the look of Legacy. Individual elements were clearly designed well, but as an ensemble it all looked so bland and uninviting. It also really wasn't helped by the 3D, because it didn't appear that the filmmakers gave too much consideration to the film having that extra dimension so it all looked very flat, particularly when compared to Avatar. Underwhelming is a very good word for it.

Reply 6762

Mister Dead

Original post by Revent

Tron: Legacy? :erm:

yeah there was a certain *SPLUTTER*... NEW MONITOR PLEASE down my way also. I went to see it twice because the soundtrack was very decent and because, well, I just love most things Tron. It was a bit of a stinker though - not the worst film I saw that year, but definitely not much good either. I find the main problem was that they just didn't break ground from the original. A movie for computer geeks in '82 that pointed torwards where computers and movies would take us. It was dazzlingly inventive back then and while it probably alienated so many people it would never be a great success or even considered a great film, it did light the way. Problem is, Legacy just followed in its footsteps. sure, it looked great (to my untrained eye!) and sounded great, but it didn't quietly go about breaking new ground. For that reason I reckon you have to drag yourself back to '82, or do some research if you weren't about then (I guess most weren't) and watch the original.

And on that note I gotta say that i'm surprised at how many really great sci fi films are missing from the above lists. There's some great ones up there, but they're almost all post '95, and the seventies and even 80's produced many if not most of the greatest sci fi films I know of.

I've yet to come across one in the last few years that felt really, really great. But many of those mentioned above were really good.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 6763

Ape Gone Insane

Original post by Mister Dead

Tron was inventive and it broke ground, yes, so it's interesting to examine it from that perspective. But it's an absolutely terrible film to go back now and watch. It has not aged well, which is a stark contrast to a lot of other science fiction films from that time and before that time.

Reply 6764

zjs

Been watching the Viggo Mortensen back catalogue over the last few days (well, more backlog of his films that I'd been meaning to see); The Road, A History of Violence, Eastern Promises. I would say that the man needs more leading roles, as he does, but - at the same time - he tends to only play central roles (or, at least in the '00s and since) in interesting, good, films. Wouldn't want him to buck that trend.

Though, having said that, The Road definitely has one of the single worst endings in recent cinema history.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 6765

Mister Dead

Original post by Ape Gone Insane

But it's an absolutely terrible film to go back now and watch. It has not aged well, which is a stark contrast to a lot of other science fiction films from that time and before that time.

Hmm, I think that's especially harsh. It was a resonably dispassionate, techie film when it came out and that certainly alienated the majority of a general audience. And it was very much of its age. So to say that it's aged terribly feels a little obvious. I guess an example of a similarish film that will probably age much better is 'The Social Network', a film that's very much of its time but sets out to be anything but dispassionate, closely examining human behaviour throughout and as a story, structured and told excellently. Tron will never age well in that respect because by comparison it's so heavily based on the technical. I think tron is a film that i'm also a little biased about as I do get quite sentimental when I watch it.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 6766

Mister Dead

Original post by zjs

Though, having said that, The Road definitely has one of the single worst endings in recent cinema history.

If I can recommend anyone one thing, it would be do not drink two double espressos and go to the cinema to see The Road. Tough, a very tough, frustrating experience. Such was the bleakness of that film, i'm amazed I was allowed even a chair to sit in. I tried to buy some popcorn and fizzy drink and they would only serve me muddy water and some old twigs.

Reply 6767

aja89

Filled up my wall, very happy with it! Also, I will NOT apologize for the inclusion of Titanic and various other questionable films, they all hold a certain sentimental value for me. :h:

stand by me.

YEAH

Original post by Mister Dead

It didn't have a strong story, and there wasn't enough character depth, the protagonist is a guy who constantly sabotages his fathers companies stuff or something like that. :dontknow:

I would've thought the son of some super rich guy would've been...more? :erm:

Parallel I can think of is Bruce from Batman, sorta similar, but he's so much more. :lol:

Reply 6770

Mister Dead

Original post by Revent

It didn't have a strong story, and there wasn't enough character depth

this is an accusation that can also be leveled at the original, but i'm more prepared to accept that because of its fixation with the technical. It didn't seem to care too much for character depth or story (for obvious reasons). Whereas Legacy apparently did, but the quality of characters and script was poor.

Reply 6771

Mister Dead

A few sci fi films/tv that I have seen and enjoyed and that haven't been mentioned yet are:

Silent Running
La Jetee
Brazil
The Last Train
The Quiet Earth
Threads
Dark Star
Repo Man
Collossus: The Forbin Project
Blakes 7
The Twilight Zone
The Prisoner
Mad Max 2

they're mostly 70/80's. I didn't bother to list any 90's/00's as everyone seems to be fairly up on those already. There are hundreds of decent sci-fi/dystopia from the 70's but these are just a few of the better known ones I enjoyed.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 6772

Na-dia

The Repo Man
I really loved it

Reply 6773

Mister Dead

Repo Man (not to be confused with Repo Men) is one of the funniest cinema films i've ever seen. One of those film that's best watched in a cinema full of merry people on a saturday night. Just a really fun, silly film.

"Ordinary ****ing people, I hate 'em"

love it

Reply 6774

Na-dia

I apologise, I did confuse it with Repo Men.My bad :frown:

Reply 6775

Mister Dead

Yeah its a very easy mistake to make but they are definitely not the same film! Repo Man Is early/mid 80's and stars a young Emilio Estevez. Its usually after i've drunkedly mis-quoted several lines and drooled for about fifteen minutes on about how sorely underated it is that the person i'm talking to says 'oh I think we're talking about different films.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 6776

Mess.

Just finished watching the newest Star Trek film. I found it quite enjoyable except for the attempts at slapstick and horribly forced humour :colonhash:

Reply 6777

Ape Gone Insane

That bald tattooed villain was so bad: he wanted revenge for something which technically didn't even happen. :colonhash:

Reply 6778

Mess.

Original post by Ape Gone Insane

That bald tattooed villain was so bad: he wanted revenge for something which technically didn't even happen. :colonhash:

He was just, needless... Also, was he Sucre out of Prison Break?

It was a good start to what should hopefully be a decent franchise though :h:

I do sometimes wonder which Star Trek is more popular though, original or Next Generation :beard:

The only thing original has over NG for me is Spock. If Spock was to be in NG, then I think the cast of NG was far stronger :holmes:

And the stories were better to me as well.

Reply 6779

ahq

Original post by Mister Dead

Brilliant, thanks! :biggrin:

Did a quick Wikipedia run-through of those; the ones that seemed most interesting to me were La Jetee, Threads and The Prisoner. I'll be looking out for these.

I've only seen Mad Max from that franchise, and remember thinking it was all right (a couple of years ago); is Mad Max 2 much better?

Also, re-watched Alien yesterday. I must say, a couple of the characters aren't especially well-written, are they? Still really like the film, though. (On a broadly related note, I glimpsed a review of Prometheus the other day and saw that the reviewer had said that 'Scott has ensured that the setting feels less claustrophobic (than in Alien)'. Yeah, because the claustrophobic setting is really a problem with that film, isn't it. :rolleyes: