The movie version of Angels & Demons was pretty enjoyable. The plot differs from the book a good bit, so you really need to judge them separately. Of course, neither of them are good, but they're both entertaining.
Amadeus. It's one of those perfect movies and one that every breathing, sentient human needs to see. Sad that Hulce (I like to call him Pinto) didn't go on to anything else amazing.
Amadeus. It's one of those perfect movies and one that every breathing, sentient human needs to see. Sad that Hulce (I like to call him Pinto) didn't go on to anything else amazing.
See, I don't take reccomendations like this. I mean, everyone said Avatar was all that, A packet of chips, and a particularly nice blowjob, but when I saw the movie, it was just kinda meh. Extremely pretty, but not really anything more than average beyond that. I found it far more worthwhile looking at how they made it than watching the actual movie.
I saw Greenberg with my mother yesterday. It was very, very good. It strongly illustrates Ben Stiller's incredible range as an actor.
I also watched Away We Go, which was well worth a watch as well. (Don't watch it without someone to hug, though.) The two best lines of the movie are: 1) Even if you get so fat I can't find your vagina, I will still love you. 2) (A small child says this) Babies like to breathe, and they're good at hiding it. I put a pillow over a baby. I thought she wasn't breathing, but she was. She was sneaky, but I'll try again.
Amadeus. It's one of those perfect movies and one that every breathing, sentient human needs to see. Sad that Hulce (I like to call him Pinto) didn't go on to anything else amazing.
See, I don't take reccomendations like this. I mean, everyone said Avatar was all that, A packet of chips, and a particularly nice blowjob, but when I saw the movie, it was just kinda meh. Extremely pretty, but not really anything more than average beyond that. I found it far more worthwhile looking at how they made it than watching the actual movie.
Looking back, I admit that you are right and it was just nothing more than my semi-usual gushing about a movie. So I think I'll revise it with a better review than that.
Amadeus is a rare example of a movie where the music is practically an actual character and has just as much importance as any of the human characters in the movie. Biopics are very difficult to pull off successfully because there is only so much about a person that you could fit into a 2-3 hour time slot without bogging down the actual movie and there are usually many alterations made to someone's story, so you really can't please everyone. If you want to see an accurate depiction of a person's life, go see a documentary.
I am well-aware this is not by any means an accurate depiction of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's actual life (it's kind of hard when you have varying accounts of what it was), but then again there is the point that this is based on a play and very rarely do they value the truth over believability of performances. In my opinion, what makes this movie work so well for me is the absolutely wonderful performances (Tom Hulce as Mozart and F. Murray Abraham as Salieri in particular), the gorgeous and beautiful costume design, and the near perfect accuracy of the set design (Prague was nearly unchanged for over hundreds of years so little work needed to be done).
The fact that it was also directed by Miloš Forman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The People Vs. Larry Flynt, Man on the Moon) also lends more credibility to the film because he has proven in the past that he is a director who knows what his vision is and how to make it a reality. If you are looking for a movie to watch on a rainy day or when you really do not have anything else to do, I highly suggest you see this, you will not be disappointed.
Looking back, I admit that you are right and it was just nothing more than my semi-usual gushing about a movie. So I think I'll revise it with a better review than that.
Good man, thankyou. Reading that, I'll propably check it out. Have you ever thought of doing a film review blog, or something?
Looking back, I admit that you are right and it was just nothing more than my semi-usual gushing about a movie. So I think I'll revise it with a better review than that.
Good man, thankyou. Reading that, I'll propably check it out. Have you ever thought of doing a film review blog, or something?
Matter of a fact, I do have one. It's right here. However I update it sparingly.
Looking back, I admit that you are right and it was just nothing more than my semi-usual gushing about a movie. So I think I'll revise it with a better review than that.
Good man, thankyou. Reading that, I'll propably check it out. Have you ever thought of doing a film review blog, or something?
Matter of a fact, I do have one.It's right here.However I update it sparingly.
Hmm. That thing you do? Do that more. It's good. Or, in other words, post more, it's good stuff.
Looking back, I admit that you are right and it was just nothing more than my semi-usual gushing about a movie. So I think I'll revise it with a better review than that.
Good man, thankyou. Reading that, I'll propably check it out. Have you ever thought of doing a film review blog, or something?
Matter of a fact, I do have one.It's right here.However I update it sparingly.
Hmm. That thing you do? Do that more. It'sgood.Or, inother words, post more, it's good stuff.
Thank you very much, I'll start one right now. I did understand what you mean
I recently just finished watching Oskar Fischinger's Motion Painting No. 1. Needless to say, my mind has been warped and expanded and I am in awe. I'll see everything this man has ever put on celluloid.
So, as I said I would a few weeks back in this thread, I went and watched The Fifth Element again to see if I would like it any better than I did the first time. Answer: No. And since it's just one those things I do, a list breakdown.
Things I liked: 1) Bruce Willis' character is very likable even if somewhat unrealistic (this is an action flick, I have to accept that). 2) The costume design was really good throughout, even if it is all a bit garish. 3) I do have a thing for films where there are several groups all fighting to get the same thing, wherein chaos ensues (exactly why Lock Stock and Snatch are two of my faves).
Things I Disliked: 1) Every other character with the exception of one who will be mentioned below. 2) The plot in general, everything was either vastly cliche or just didn't really make any logical sense. 3) More specifically, I really don't feel like any character has any true motivation to do anything whatsoever. 4) This isn't really a knock against the movie itself, I just don't like sci-fi with aliens period. It can be acceptable if they add a unique element to the story, but none of the aliens in this did at all. It comes off more as just, "Hey, we can make these crazy alien designs!"
Things I Hated: 1) Chris Tucker. I said it before, and it still remains true. 2) The concept of the Fifth Element. Let's just go beyond the initial problem with there being no explanation as to why the great essence of evil exists, or why the five elements are necessary to defeat it, or why it cycles every five thousand years. It's a movie, whatever. So, there's this weapon thing that just happens to be the only way to stop this great evil. And I can even understand why the duck statues took the pieces away, so that way stupid humans wouldn't mess with them. But, you had 300 years to go back and put it in place. It's not like you didn't know this shit was going to happen. But no, let's go ahead and wait until the evil is there and mere days from destroying shit before we bother to go set up the weapon. Durrrrrr.
OK, so we have this Fifth Element, the "supreme being", made of utter perfection. We find out that this element is actually a living creature. A female humanoid creature at that. Why female? Why humanoid? No reason really, it's just easier to cast a human female for the part. So, this female humanoid creature... she's perfect right? For someone so perfect, she sure acts an awful lot like a child for most of the movie. One could argue that she's never been exposed to humans before, not to mention the fact that she did get mostly obliterated at the beginning of the movie. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the concept of perfect usually mean that she should be completely impervious to anything that could damage that perfection? She should be immortal and invincible. I would also argue that a perfect creature would also be omniscient, but that would be a little harder to prove, so I won't.
Small aside: This is more a jab at the writer, and I'm going to just assume that it's perfectly logical for the Fifth Element to have zero knowledge of human culture and history, and can also learn things at unrealistic speeds. I'm sorry, but just having someone watch a screen with words flying by doesn't actually teach anything. At least in Short Circuit, the robot read actual books.
Anyway, let's skip to the end of the movie, when we have all four stones in place and they're activated. It becomes glaringly obvious that the Fifth Element is basically Ma-Ti without the monkey. And there's a horribly written, drawn out scene where Korben tells near-death (hello, invincible?) Leeloo that he loves her. Um, seriously? Love? Love. You actually watch the movie and put together the amount of time those two actually talk? I'm too lazy to do so, but I'd be surprised if it was more than ten minutes. The whole scene in the taxi, she can't speak English, then she passes out. Same when she wakes up. Next time they meet, it's in his apartment and that lasts about two minutes before the priest hits him over the head. Then they might have five minutes while boarding the ship to the hotel. The next time they meet again, she's near-death in the ventilation shaft. Then there's the trip to Earth, but that's kind of moot since at that point he already loves her. The whole thing is just... ugh. It's honestly hard to say which movie did this whole thing worse, The Fifth Element or The Matrix.
I'm done venting. I gave it a second shot, and I still think it's a bad movie.
I'm done venting. I gave it a second shot, and I still think it's a bad movie.
It isn't a "good" movie; it is a fun movie. If you can't have fun with it, then that is fine. I can't stand Slayers because that particular type of fun show grates on me, but I can see why others find it fun.
Your opinion is wrong. Kindly die in a fire. kthxbye.
I kid, I kid.
Mostly.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the concept of perfect usually mean that she should be completely impervious to anything that could damage that perfection?
Or the legend about her being "perfect" was wrong. The fifth element is love, dude, not a person. Sure, it's hokey and cliche, but it works. Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, and Heart. The aliens are Captain Planet.
Saw Hot Tub Time Machine over the weekend. Fun as hell movie. In the same vein as The Hangover, but I'd say they are equal in terms of hilarity. Hangover had more all around comedy, while HTTM had more surprises to it. John Cusack, Rob Corddry and Craig Robinson are all hilarious together and make a solid cast, especially since the last two finally have a movie now to strut their stuff. Cusack has some great lines, Corddry is all around insane, and Robinson can swear with authority. There are also gross-out jokes in this, but they actually WORK and are funny. Great payoff at the end as well.
My wallet will be crying though, since lots of movies are now coming out that look really entertaining with Iron Man 2, Kick-Ass, The Losers, I Love You Phillip Morris, Harry Brown...
The end of Hot Fuzz is like the end of the Sixth Sense It's the reveal where you finally see everything lurking under the surface exposed to daylight.
Sometimes, though, a sudden turn like that can be a shock. I was just reading a sci-fi novel called Black Star Rising, which was on track to be one of my favorite tales ever. It was set in a post-apocalyptic Louisiana where the Han Chinese moved in, basically enslaved American survivors in communes, and after several generations had impressed Socialist culture on the South. There was lots of character-building. Then, half-way through, the space cockroaches showed up and ruined everything. It was like the author (the normally amazing Frederik Pohl) wrote two stories and smashed them together in the name of expediency.
I can't believe it's taken me this long to see this movie...but it took me a long time to see Blade Runner, so there it is. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. They never assigned this book in my class so I never got to read it, although after reading production notes; I am now aware the two are very different in terms of narrative. As a side I've spent the last month and a half going over every movie that ever made a significant impression on me and started with a top 100 list. I then proceeded to boil that list down to 75, 50, and finally 20 (5 were scratched off). I felt awful for a day after seeing that movie because it just warped me heavily. SPOILERS: Just seeing those lobotomy scars on McMurphy's head after that extremely long still shot of his face and all Chief did was roll his head over a little, just broke me into pieces. Nobody won in that movie: Nurse Ratched lost her most power tool (her voice), McMurphy was stopped in his justified and brave crusade, and the inmates are back to where they were now. Before this movie, I never thought I could hate a character; I now can. Nurse Ratched is quite possibly the most hated character in any movie ever made because of how cold, tyrannical, and unrelenting she was. I can elaborate a bit more on this claim in this way: she doesn't have any clue in her mind that she is causing harm in the very least, she truly believes that she is these people's savior. An avatar of justice is to her an icon of destruction and an obstacle that will destroy all progress in her "treatment"; she will do everything she can to break him. You can tell in her eyes she is saying "I will fucking break you. You hear me, I will break your kneecaps and you will fall and beg to me for forgiveness and my aid."
Another thing of note is that many actors got their start here, while many other phenomenal actors just got left in the dust which is truly a shame.
Actors whose careers began and their roles
Christopher Lloyd - Max Taber Danny DeVito - Martini Jack Nicholson - Randle McMurphy Scatman Crothers - Turkle Brad Dourif - Billy Bibbit Vincent Schiavelli (Sad-Eyes) - Frederickson
People who got left behind or could not continue
Louise Fletcher - Ratched (I won't even dignify her by calling her Nurse) Sydney Lasseck - Cheswick Dale Redfield - Harding (died a year after filming which is a damn shame) Will Sampson - Chief Bromden
They never assigned this book in my class so I never got to read it
No free will?
All I knew about this book was that it was assigned to everyone right around freshman year, but that was it. The thought of reading it never crossed my mind until after I saw Amadeus and I noticed Miloš Forman directed this as well. I liked the latter, and thought maybe I would like this too. I like them both immensely for very different reasons. What is your take on the movie, I'd like to hear your thoughts and opinions as well...please?
They never assigned this book in my class so I never got to read it
Comments
Kung-fu treachery is my new favorite kind of treachery.
I also watched Away We Go, which was well worth a watch as well. (Don't watch it without someone to hug, though.)
The two best lines of the movie are:
1) Even if you get so fat I can't find your vagina, I will still love you.
2) (A small child says this) Babies like to breathe, and they're good at hiding it. I put a pillow over a baby. I thought she wasn't breathing, but she was. She was sneaky, but I'll try again.
I highly recommend them both.
Amadeus is a rare example of a movie where the music is practically an actual character and has just as much importance as any of the human characters in the movie. Biopics are very difficult to pull off successfully because there is only so much about a person that you could fit into a 2-3 hour time slot without bogging down the actual movie and there are usually many alterations made to someone's story, so you really can't please everyone. If you want to see an accurate depiction of a person's life, go see a documentary.
I am well-aware this is not by any means an accurate depiction of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's actual life (it's kind of hard when you have varying accounts of what it was), but then again there is the point that this is based on a play and very rarely do they value the truth over believability of performances. In my opinion, what makes this movie work so well for me is the absolutely wonderful performances (Tom Hulce as Mozart and F. Murray Abraham as Salieri in particular), the gorgeous and beautiful costume design, and the near perfect accuracy of the set design (Prague was nearly unchanged for over hundreds of years so little work needed to be done).
The fact that it was also directed by Miloš Forman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The People Vs. Larry Flynt, Man on the Moon) also lends more credibility to the film because he has proven in the past that he is a director who knows what his vision is and how to make it a reality. If you are looking for a movie to watch on a rainy day or when you really do not have anything else to do, I highly suggest you see this, you will not be disappointed.
Have you ever thought of doing a film review blog, or something?
Things I liked:
1) Bruce Willis' character is very likable even if somewhat unrealistic (this is an action flick, I have to accept that).
2) The costume design was really good throughout, even if it is all a bit garish.
3) I do have a thing for films where there are several groups all fighting to get the same thing, wherein chaos ensues (exactly why Lock Stock and Snatch are two of my faves).
Things I Disliked:
1) Every other character with the exception of one who will be mentioned below.
2) The plot in general, everything was either vastly cliche or just didn't really make any logical sense.
3) More specifically, I really don't feel like any character has any true motivation to do anything whatsoever.
4) This isn't really a knock against the movie itself, I just don't like sci-fi with aliens period. It can be acceptable if they add a unique element to the story, but none of the aliens in this did at all. It comes off more as just, "Hey, we can make these crazy alien designs!"
Things I Hated:
1) Chris Tucker. I said it before, and it still remains true.
2) The concept of the Fifth Element. Let's just go beyond the initial problem with there being no explanation as to why the great essence of evil exists, or why the five elements are necessary to defeat it, or why it cycles every five thousand years. It's a movie, whatever. So, there's this weapon thing that just happens to be the only way to stop this great evil. And I can even understand why the duck statues took the pieces away, so that way stupid humans wouldn't mess with them. But, you had 300 years to go back and put it in place. It's not like you didn't know this shit was going to happen. But no, let's go ahead and wait until the evil is there and mere days from destroying shit before we bother to go set up the weapon. Durrrrrr.
OK, so we have this Fifth Element, the "supreme being", made of utter perfection. We find out that this element is actually a living creature. A female humanoid creature at that. Why female? Why humanoid? No reason really, it's just easier to cast a human female for the part. So, this female humanoid creature... she's perfect right? For someone so perfect, she sure acts an awful lot like a child for most of the movie. One could argue that she's never been exposed to humans before, not to mention the fact that she did get mostly obliterated at the beginning of the movie. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the concept of perfect usually mean that she should be completely impervious to anything that could damage that perfection? She should be immortal and invincible. I would also argue that a perfect creature would also be omniscient, but that would be a little harder to prove, so I won't.
Small aside: This is more a jab at the writer, and I'm going to just assume that it's perfectly logical for the Fifth Element to have zero knowledge of human culture and history, and can also learn things at unrealistic speeds. I'm sorry, but just having someone watch a screen with words flying by doesn't actually teach anything. At least in Short Circuit, the robot read actual books.
Anyway, let's skip to the end of the movie, when we have all four stones in place and they're activated. It becomes glaringly obvious that the Fifth Element is basically Ma-Ti without the monkey. And there's a horribly written, drawn out scene where Korben tells near-death (hello, invincible?) Leeloo that he loves her. Um, seriously? Love? Love. You actually watch the movie and put together the amount of time those two actually talk? I'm too lazy to do so, but I'd be surprised if it was more than ten minutes. The whole scene in the taxi, she can't speak English, then she passes out. Same when she wakes up. Next time they meet, it's in his apartment and that lasts about two minutes before the priest hits him over the head. Then they might have five minutes while boarding the ship to the hotel. The next time they meet again, she's near-death in the ventilation shaft. Then there's the trip to Earth, but that's kind of moot since at that point he already loves her. The whole thing is just... ugh. It's honestly hard to say which movie did this whole thing worse, The Fifth Element or The Matrix.
I'm done venting. I gave it a second shot, and I still think it's a bad movie.
I kid, I kid.
Mostly. Or the legend about her being "perfect" was wrong. The fifth element is love, dude, not a person. Sure, it's hokey and cliche, but it works. Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, and Heart. The aliens are Captain Planet.
Saw Hot Tub Time Machine over the weekend. Fun as hell movie. In the same vein as The Hangover, but I'd say they are equal in terms of hilarity. Hangover had more all around comedy, while HTTM had more surprises to it. John Cusack, Rob Corddry and Craig Robinson are all hilarious together and make a solid cast, especially since the last two finally have a movie now to strut their stuff. Cusack has some great lines, Corddry is all around insane, and Robinson can swear with authority. There are also gross-out jokes in this, but they actually WORK and are funny. Great payoff at the end as well.
My wallet will be crying though, since lots of movies are now coming out that look really entertaining with Iron Man 2, Kick-Ass, The Losers, I Love You Phillip Morris, Harry Brown...
Sometimes, though, a sudden turn like that can be a shock. I was just reading a sci-fi novel called Black Star Rising, which was on track to be one of my favorite tales ever. It was set in a post-apocalyptic Louisiana where the Han Chinese moved in, basically enslaved American survivors in communes, and after several generations had impressed Socialist culture on the South. There was lots of character-building. Then, half-way through, the space cockroaches showed up and ruined everything. It was like the author (the normally amazing Frederik Pohl) wrote two stories and smashed them together in the name of expediency.
Sudden turns can throw you.
Another thing of note is that many actors got their start here, while many other phenomenal actors just got left in the dust which is truly a shame.
Actors whose careers began and their roles
Christopher Lloyd - Max Taber
Danny DeVito - Martini
Jack Nicholson - Randle McMurphy
Scatman Crothers - Turkle
Brad Dourif - Billy Bibbit
Vincent Schiavelli (Sad-Eyes) - Frederickson
People who got left behind or could not continue
Louise Fletcher - Ratched (I won't even dignify her by calling her Nurse)
Sydney Lasseck - Cheswick
Dale Redfield - Harding (died a year after filming which is a damn shame)
Will Sampson - Chief Bromden