198 replies to this topic

[Christian U]

Fox must've put up a recent record in rising to stardom and disappearing off the screens again.

[steveuk]

For some reason I watched Jennifer's Body, it's meant to be a sexy horror-comedy but it's not funny, scary or sexy in any way.

And if you thought the one role Megan Fox could manage convincingly is a vapid teenage airhead - you'd be wrong!

I thought it was damn close to working, but the miss was as bad as a mile in the end. More than anything it can't decide whether it's about Jennifer, Needy or the Band.

I mean really? The Band??? They're a f***ing plot device. I don't need to spend all that time with them, or even with Jennifer. This is Needy's story and its incompetent that the filmmakers don't know that.

In a completely different kind of movie, 'Avatar" is on TV right now.

Even on TV, even in 2D its an amazing achievement. Just incredible work.

[Mike]

I'm watching it thinking that it is a triumph of technology over soul. It looks like a computer game.

[Arjan Dirkse]

The Scroty McBoogerballs episode of South Park.

KILL JOHN LENNON!!

[steveuk]

I'm watching it thinking that it is a triumph of technology over soul. It looks like a computer game.

Cameron will be disappointed.

"No matter how much art and technology we threw at this thing, if it wasn’t in the eyes of the characters – if you didn’t see a soul there – it would just be a big clanking machine."

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/BrentSprecher/news/?a=10603

[Mike]

I was vaguely impressed in the cinema. On a flat TV screen it has to stand far more on its merits as a story ... and it's not that strong.

EDIT: And the more I watch, the clunkier it seems. I think I must have been more impressed by the 3D on the big screen than I realised.

[al-x]

Hello:

It was a late night on cable TV, so I saw
Lost in Translation. It was an OK movie,
but I didn't really buy the relationship between
Murray and Johannsen. Also, Scarlett's
photographer husband would take off
on assignment and ignore her throughout
the movie. This is Scarlett Johannsen here!
Further, they seemed so bored by Japan and
found solace in being together as bored outsiders.

Still it was nice movie in some areas. Sofia Coppola
won an Oscar from it for the screenplay, if that makes
up for her role in Godfather 3.

I still would like to figure out what Murray whispered in
Scarlett's ear at the end.


Al...

[steveuk]

A friend of mine (watching 'Avatar' at her house) has just rung me to ask if Sam Worthington is the son of Jean Claude Van Damme?

He's not is he...?

Van Damme got about a bit in his youth.

[Christian U]

Hello:

It was a late night on cable TV, so I saw
Lost in Translation. It was an OK movie,
but I didn't really buy the relationship between
Murray and Johannsen. Also, Scarlett's
photographer husband would take off
on assignment and ignore her throughout
the movie. This is Scarlett Johannsen here!
Further, they seemed so bored by Japan and
found solace in being together as bored outsiders.

Still it was nice movie in some areas. Sofia Coppola
won an Oscar from it for the screenplay, if that makes
up for her role in Godfather 3.

I still would like to figure out what Murray whispered in
Scarlett's ear at the end.


Al...

I liked Lost in Translation a lot, but I do agree with a lot of that - especially where her husband is concerned. He was such an incredible dick that I didn't understand in the least why she should have married him, or hang about waiting for him to get his head out of his arse instead of just buggering off.

[garjones]

Yeah it's a good documentary.

Sad how Western diplomats (or the Bush administration, I guess) missed the boat wth Putin.

It's actually a great education for me on Eastern Europe. We had a set of geography quizzes based on continents in work a year or so back and I fared worst on Europe, despite being European, because half those countries didn't exist when I was in school. While we were free and democratic I don't think anywhere is immune to propaganda and Russia and the Soviet Union were portrayed as a homogenised grey depressing lump.

Travelling to couple of ex Soviet states revealed them to be more like a fantasy Disney town, unbelievably beautiful. This programme has shown more of the differences between them, culturally and politically. Very worthwhile and why the BBC is worth every penny.

[steveuk]

I was vaguely impressed in the cinema. On a flat TV screen it has to stand far more on its merits as a story ... and it's not that strong.

EDIT: And the more I watch, the clunkier it seems. I think I must have been more impressed by the 3D on the big screen than I realised.

Some people become reactionary old gits as they get older (Frank Miller) but Cameron's becoming an old hippy.

[Steve Sensible]

Very worthwhile and why the BBC is worth every penny.

Which is why it's all the more depressing when they try to go head to head with ITV in the trash TV stakes.

But yeah, it's a first class documentary series, and great TV at the same time - every bit as dramatic as a good movie in the way the story is told.

Glad you're enjoying it Gar.

[steveuk]

It's actually a great education for me on Eastern Europe. We had a set of geography quizzes based on continents in work a year or so back and I fared worst on Europe, despite being European, because half those countries didn't exist when I was in school. While we were free and democratic I don't think anywhere is immune to propaganda and Russia and the Soviet Union were portrayed as a homogenised grey depressing lump.

Travelling to couple of ex Soviet states revealed them to be more like a fantasy Disney town, unbelievably beautiful. This programme has shown more of the differences between them, culturally and politically. Very worthwhile and why the BBC is worth every penny.

There's still one regime in Europe that's hung onto the old ways;

[garjones]

Which is why it's all the more depressing when they try to go head to head with ITV in the trash TV stakes.

Yes but sadly I know why they do it. The greatest accusation would always be if nobody watches their channels then why fund them? Ideally you get something like Doctor Who which gets the ratings and the critical plaudits but it's not an easy formula to repeat. ITV drama have managed it with Downton Abbey but that's their best effort in 20 years of trying.

[Arjan Dirkse]

It's actually a great education for me on Eastern Europe. We had a set of geography quizzes based on continents in work a year or so back and I fared worst on Europe, despite being European, because half those countries didn't exist when I was in school. While we were free and democratic I don't think anywhere is immune to propaganda and Russia and the Soviet Union were portrayed as a homogenised grey depressing lump.

Travelling to couple of ex Soviet states revealed them to be more like a fantasy Disney town, unbelievably beautiful. This programme has shown more of the differences between them, culturally and politically. Very worthwhile and why the BBC is worth every penny.

Yeah I haven't been to any ex-Soviet country yet...inexcusable really.

The Baltic countries, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania are easy to go to now, they're part of Schengen and so you don't need a visa. I believe the Ukraine dropped all visa requirements for tourists, so that's an option. Georgia has as well, and Tbilisi is by all accounts a very pretty place. Like you say, in the 80s we were all taught it was one grey waste land, which obviously isn't the case.

I'm pretty good with European geography, I think I'd get all the countries and capitals right, but I still get confused with Central Asian Soviet republics, all those stans, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tadzhikistan...and Georgia almost always falls of the European map, but it is part of Europe.

[Dave Wallace]

I was vaguely impressed in the cinema. On a flat TV screen it has to stand far more on its merits as a story ... and it's not that strong.

EDIT: And the more I watch, the clunkier it seems. I think I must have been more impressed by the 3D on the big screen than I realised.

I think that the entire appeal of Avatar lies in its technical achievements. Story-wise, it's about as complicated as your average Disney cartoon.

That's not to diminish its status as a landmark - I'm really not sure that CGI has ever been more advanced or well-integrated, aside from maybe the LOTR trilogy. But once you get past that, I really don't think there's any substance to support it as a good movie.

[Mike]

Nope.

Anyway, have given up on that and am watching the final episodes of Transformers: Prime's first season. If I'm going to watch a cartoon, might as well watch one that does it right.

[Dave Wallace]

I liked Lost in Translation a lot, but I do agree with a lot of that - especially where her husband is concerned. He was such an incredible dick that I didn't understand in the least why she should have married him, or hang about waiting for him to get his head out of his arse instead of just buggering off.

I'm not sure - I think that the time period in which the movie takes place marks the beginning of a new phase of understanding for her. I think it's perfectly plausible that she could have been won over by his looks, lifestyle, glamorous job etc. - but I think that what we see in the movie is the beginning of her understanding that there's a lot less to him than she thought, and that she's made a mistake in marrying him.

It taps into a lot of her other preoccupations that she discusses with Harris - her future, career prospects, family life etc. It's about her beginning to think seriously about her life as an adult, and realising that perhaps she hasn't made all the right choices. Which is pretty much what Harris feels about his own life (and perhaps has felt for some time).

I think it's a wonderful movie - I loved it when it first came out, and I rewatched it just a few months ago and I think it still holds up. The character work is beautiful and it just creates an amazing vibe that really affects me every time I watch it.

That's maybe partly because I lived in another non-English-speaking country for a while (some time ago), and can identify with some of the culture-shock, alienation, homesickness and bonds with fellow countrymen that result from being transported into a different country.

And Al, I disagree - I think the movie would be ruined if they revealed what was "really" whispered - the point (for me, anyway), is that you can read whatever you want into that whisper.

[steveuk]

I think that the entire appeal of Avatar lies in its technical achievements. Story-wise, it's about as complicated as your average Disney cartoon.

That's not to diminish its status as a landmark - I'm really not sure that CGI has ever been more advanced or well-integrated, aside from maybe the LOTR trilogy. But once you get past that, I really don't think there's any substance to support it as a good movie.

Mike's right, it's a very clunky film. I thought that (as did many others) in the cinema, watching it in 3D when the image was 40 feet high and we all had a good moan about its flaws here on MW and other places, but...

No way was the movie's success entirely down to the technology. That was the mistake that the movie studios made, which is why they've given us so many pointless 3D movies since.

'Avatar' was spectacle, but it did reach something inside people too. Maybe not us reading and writing in this thread, but an awful lot of other people. Hundreds of millions of them worldwide.

[Mike]

So did Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist. It's still trite rubbish.