|
Post by htmb on Oct 31, 2013 19:53:46 GMT
I would like to see this film. It looks very interesting.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 31, 2013 20:50:05 GMT
It doesn't have any international release dates yet except for the Netherlands (next April), but I cannot imagine that it will not be picked up by a lot of countries if only because it takes place in the same universe as "The Triplets of Belleville" even if it is not animated.
Just for an idea of the plot, the main character has not spoken since the age of 2 when he saw his parents die. He was raised by his maiden aunts and plays the piano at their dance school. But one of the neighbours in the building helps people find memories of the past with psychedelic tea...
|
|
|
Post by nycgirl on Nov 1, 2013 21:10:50 GMT
I saw 12 Years a Slave recently. It's a powerful, devastating film with terrific performances.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2013 17:47:02 GMT
Today I saw Snowpiercer which is quite an oddity. I wouldn't really classify it as science fiction because really, who is going to build a train that circles the world endlessly? So I would say that it is a fantasy that takes place in the future, like Terry Gilliam's Brazil.
Anyway it is a Korean movie adapted from a French graphic novel (Le Transperceneige) by the amazing Joon-ho Bong who also made The Host.
It stars Chris Evans (so nice to see him as someone other than Captain America!), Tilda Swinton, John Hurt, Jamie Bell, Ed Harris as well as some Korean stars. There is an amazing progression from the horrible squalor in the back of the train through rail cars with sushi restaurants, swimming pools, discos, classrooms, old style railway compartments and just about everything else imaginable. Blood flows freely, because you have to kill your way to the front.
There is a ton of philosophy, but that's normal for this kind of movie. No release dates yet for most of the world since it has only been released in South Korea and France so far, with Russia coming up next.
Anyway, I thought it was a refreshing change from traditional movies.
|
|
|
Post by bjd on Nov 3, 2013 19:54:37 GMT
On the plane the other night I watched Fill the Void, an Israeli movie. I didn't have earphones but not a big deal since I don't speak Hebrew, so I read the subtitles.
|
|
|
Post by lugg on Nov 4, 2013 19:58:03 GMT
Philomena - a really brilliant film that I guess appeals to most people, -although the majority of people that were in the cinema with us were 40 plus years. ( We went with our 85 year old mother / mother in law who really enjoyed it) Laughed , cried , got mad and felt humbled. Judi Dench was wonderful, as always, and Steve Coogan also very good as Martin Sixsmith. I am sure that there must have been some dramatic license but generally the film is based on Martin Sixsmith's novel 'The Lost Child of Philomena Lee' which is a true story about a mother's search for her son who was forcibly removed from her whilst living as an unmarried teenager in an Irish convent in the 1950's .
|
|
|
Post by htmb on Nov 5, 2013 4:06:27 GMT
I think I would like to see the movie, Lugg, but was looking into reading the book first. A warning to anyone who might have the same idea: the summary on amazon, of which I read a couple of lines, spoils some of the story.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2013 21:32:58 GMT
Okay, I went to see Ender's Game today, and it isn't bad, although I have plenty of reservations about it. A lot of them have to do with the traditional complaint about the book being better than the movie, but since they kept the movie well under 2 hours (which is to their credit), obviously they had to abandon huge amounts of detail along the way, so I can imagine that people who haven't read the novel might be quite confused about some of the characters and their motivations. Now that Asa Butterfield is 16 years old (15 when he made the movie), he is considerably older than the original character, but that is a plus as far as I'm concerned -- one of the main things that I couldn't buy in the book was how young the children were. Ages are never mentioned in the movie and the young actors are totally desexualized, so I'm sure that viewers can imagine just about any age that suits them.
I may have to add Harrison Ford to my "actors who can't act" list if he is not already on it. It's not actually that he can't act -- it just that he plays exactly the same person in every movie now. The man has no range.
Special effects are of prime importance in a movie like this, and I must say that I liked them very much. Although the weightless sequences were not as good as I would have liked them to be, the battle scenes were stunning and were depicted with totally different visuals than we have ever seen in space battles.
I haven't read any of the other Ender books, but obviously the film left plenty of room for one or more sequels if it turns out to be a blockbuster.
|
|
|
Post by htmb on Nov 8, 2013 21:09:35 GMT
Last night I watched Renoir, which I thought was a beautiful film. However, I doubt it would be to everyone's taste.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2013 21:27:29 GMT
The husband picked Agora because he is a fan of the beautiful Rachel Weisz. It was interesting. Highly suspect historically, but with a great deal of Acting With Accents from an international cast.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2013 21:31:02 GMT
Last night I watched Renoir, which I thought was a beautiful film. However, I doubt it would be to everyone's taste. Renoir is the movie representing France for the next Oscars, but it was chosen simply because it was the biggest French box office success in the United States this year. I confess that I did not see it -- I have seen too many movies about painters in recent years.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 16, 2013 17:54:02 GMT
I went to see the new Polanski film Venus in Fur today. Although he has made a lot of his movies in France, this is the first time he has made a movie in French. It is very perverse, which is only normal, being based on the writing of Sacher Masoch, via the play by David Ives.
Definitely one of his best films, even with only two people on screen the entire time.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2013 21:34:54 GMT
Okay, I saw Hunger Games 2 today, and it was good. Naturally it ends at the most intense time to make you need the next film.
|
|
|
Post by rikita on Nov 27, 2013 21:49:49 GMT
i am listening to the second part as an audiobook right now. wanted to watch the movie last weekend with my brother and his gf, but then mr. r. got sick so i had to stay home.
|
|
|
Post by htmb on Nov 27, 2013 22:33:37 GMT
I suppose I'm just pathetic when it comes to my knowledge of the film industry. I rarely go to the movies, and thought the recently released version of Hunger Games was #1, not 2.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2013 22:59:38 GMT
#1 came out about a year and half ago.
|
|
|
Post by htmb on Nov 27, 2013 23:11:33 GMT
Could have fooled me. See #797 again
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Nov 28, 2013 4:19:45 GMT
Saw "Catching Fire'' last night (Hunger Games #2) last night. Really good, although I might have enjoyed #1 a teensy bit more. #2 really provoked lots of conversation among the five of us who went to see it. That was three people who'd seen the first film + two who had not.
|
|
|
Post by htmb on Nov 29, 2013 16:44:26 GMT
I watched Jayne Mansfield's Car last night and came away from it with many different thoughts. I found the film thoroughly engrossing, and of course, the acting was superb. I've always liked Robert Duvall. I have seen variations of my father in some of the characters Duvall has played, but especially related to his character in this story, though not some of the specific behaviors. I liked following the various themes and relationships in this film that felt like it was a real story of how various extended family members are linked together, and how circumstances can continue to wreak havoc in their lives.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2013 18:34:26 GMT
Today I saw James Gray's The Immigrant which received mixed reactions at the Cannes film festival. The performances (Marion Cotillard, Joaquin Phoenix, Jeremy Renner) were excellent, but I didn't much like the movie which somehow did not convey much about immigration at the beginning of the 20th century even though Ellis Island was used as one of the main filming locations. I think the main problem for me was that the movie was too concentrated on the tiny microcosm of what Marion Cotillard was experiencing when I needed to see more of New York during that period. However, from what I have been reading about the filming of the movie, it is quite possible that the extreme focus on such a small aspect of such a vast subject was due to budget problems.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2013 15:10:03 GMT
La Grande Bellezza
A gorgeous evening at the cinema.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2013 16:25:28 GMT
Yes, that was good, wasn't it?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2013 17:47:00 GMT
Well, I saw The Desolation of Smaug this morning, and it was definitely much better (more interesting) than An Unxpected Journey. Special effects are getting more and more sophisticated as the years go by, but I have to say that they went too far in the climactic scènes at the end of the movie -- we basically entered video game territory rather than any situation with which you can identify. Nevertheless, it ends on a high point that makes you curse having to wait another year to see the final episode.
One thing that seemed very obvious at the 9:20 a.m. showing -- there must have been a hell of a lot of young men missing from their high school classrooms or university lectures today. And some young women, too.
|
|
|
Post by fgrsk8r1970 on Dec 11, 2013 18:59:22 GMT
Just finished "Mandela: Long walk to Freedom" …… very very powerful and not easy to watch! Definitely an Oscar contender.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Dec 12, 2013 5:17:00 GMT
I admire you for watching it. Went to the movies today & one preview was for The Iceman and the other for 12 Years a Slave. Both movies are based on real people and events & I'm too lily-livered to watch either of them. The movie I saw was The Girl -- trailer in The Current Cinema thread (#207). The movie was okay, but possibly more enjoyable for people who know the Texas/Mexico border and Mexico. All around us were chuckles of recognition at various times, including from us. Really, it was pokey, with hardly any suspense. What I most enjoyed was testing myself on recognizing locales, which probably wasn't the point of the movie -- also mildly confusing at one point when the action was supposed to be in Nuevo Laredo & it was obvious that the portion was filmed in Oaxaca. Abbie Cornish is not a terrible actress, but neither is she a terribly good one. Her character was depressed and tense to exactly the same degree throughout the film. Will Patton, who plays Cornish's father, yells all his lines, to the point I covered my ears when he was on screen. The little girl is great, very natural & believable. If you saw the trailer, you'll have noticed that it resembles an Instagram -- bleached out & slightly yellow. That's how the movie looks, whether on purpose or for lack of skill or judgment, I know not. Other than that, everything looks very authentic. The movie isn't a big waste of time, but not a must-see, either.
|
|
|
Post by fgrsk8r1970 on Dec 12, 2013 13:41:55 GMT
We received "12 Years a slave" Tuesday night but I am not sure if I can watch it. Mandela was difficult enough and as you said - since these are events/movies about real life experiences I have a hard time with it most of the time as well Bixa. But I make myself watch some of them because it is real and it's important to not forget what happened (even if in the case of the above 12 years a slave - it's not even my history - still important) On a brighter note we received "Saving Mr. Banks" and "Frozen" last night so I am totally looking forward to watching those this weekend, as well as "Rush" (even though Nikki Lauda is Austrian I remember the terrible accident he had when I was a very little girl, as it was covered in Germany big time…. and of course F1 is very popular in our whole family) I'll report back (Saving Philomena with Judi Dench for the Plane next week…. Hubby already watched it and thought she did an amazing job)
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Dec 12, 2013 17:46:53 GMT
Looking up to the top of this page, I see that Kerouac saw Prisoners way back in mid-October. It's only now arrived here. Also, NYCGirl reported on 12 Years a Slave back at the first of November, with no acknowledgment. Htmb reported on Jayne Mansfield's Car, which I saw on the small screen & reported on here, #1290) Well, I'm not going to be embarrassed about not seeing 12 Years, because I did read the book. The story of the reemergence of the 1853 memoir is fascinating in itself: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Years_a_Slave. In other picks from reports further up the page, I'd love to see La Grande Belleza and The Immigrant. It's not that I'm discounting Kerouac's lukewarm review, simply that the theme of the movie interests me, plus it has superb actors. Please do report back, Skater! I really want to see Saving Mr. Banks. But the movie I'm dying to see right now is American Hustle. Have any of you big-city kids seen it yet?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2013 18:04:32 GMT
It's not scheduled until February 2014 for France.
|
|
|
Post by fgrsk8r1970 on Dec 12, 2013 18:38:31 GMT
Bixa - hoping to get that one soon as well (hopefully before we leave next week). Just watched most of "All is Lost" with Robert Redford with my husband during lunch. Very interesting movie. It's just him - almost no dialogue …. shipwrecked at sea. It kept my attention for the almost hour I watched…. pretty amazing for a movie with only one actor and minimum dialogue LOL. Cowboy started to watch 12 Years but couldn't get past the first 10 minutes…. just too violent even for him. I am sure it is a really well made movie! I will definitely report back as we are hoping to do a movie marathon this weekend
|
|
|
Post by fgrsk8r1970 on Dec 13, 2013 14:07:36 GMT
So we watched "Saving Mr. Banks" and "FROZEN" yesterday afternoon/evening and I loved both movies. Tom Hanks is solid of course but Emma Thompson is absolutely fantastic in SMB!!! The interesting thing is the back story we see in the movie of where Mary Poppins comes from - and it takes quite some time to pull it together which makes the movie very interesting as these "flash backs" interlace i think quite nicely. It's very well done and since it is based on a true story gives a whole new insight to the Mary Poppins movie that I had no idea even existed. What can you say about FROZEN… it's a an animation marvel, fun story inspired by the Ice Queen by Hans Christian Andersen and has just a right amount of quirky, fun, drama, laughter and…. for this figure skater … amazing animation of ice, sparkle etc. LOL I am a huge fan of Idina Menzel (I know the Wicked soundtrack by heart … saw it on Broadway) and she delivers of course as the voice of Elsa, but I was really impressed with Kristen Bell as the voice of her sister Anna. I am not the biggest fan of Kristen Bell (I don't really know why…. never watched Veronica Mars) so I had no idea that she could sing like that. Amazing voice. Anyway - we enjoyed both movies very much
|
|