Movies We've Seen Recently

[Tiny Prancer]

Saw 2001: A Space Odyssey for the first time last night. It's not my favorite movie or anything now but I enjoyed it a lot and found a lot of parts really fascinating, and as someone who came into the experience having read the book, it was interesting seeing what changed between the book and the film. The crowd I saw it with was pretty interesting too, because we all laughed at really inappropriate moments of drama during the second half. I had a lot of trouble with the slowness of the film in a lot of parts though, because I got to a point where I was thinking about the special effects and stuff more than the actual film, especially during the "stargate" sequence at the end. It's definitely impressive how much the film holds up today though, even with how special effects technology has changed and how dated some of its ideas of the future are.

[Tiny Prancer]

just got back from The Shining. God Damn what an experience. Another friend met up with us there and it turned out to be the first time she'd gotten to see the movie as a whole. Despite having to pee for the entire movie and the person behind me kicking my in the butt, it was a pretty amazing experience, and even though I didn't feel exactly "ready" to watch it again I still got a lot out of it and noticed some things I hadn't before. Similarly to when I saw Space Odyssey yesterday, there was a lot of confused and horrified laughter at inappropriate moments, but to the audience's credit they did it a lot less as the movie went on and no one laughed when the n-word was said, which I was worried they were going to do.

As for one of the things I noticed, when Wendy and Halloran go through the snowed-in door of the hotel, they're only able to force the one door open a small amount, but when Jack sees the door after Danny's run outside, both of the doors are wide open. There's no way Danny could or would have forced both doors open, especially since he was running for his life and two different adults had to struggle to get one door half-open... Which means one of the ghosts had to have done it. Whether it was to help Danny escape or to help Jack find him is the real question.

(the other question is how on earth did they fit so much luggage into their tiny volkswagon because there's no way you can fit that much luggage into a car that size and also have two adults and a child fit in it.)

[CormansInferno]

Last night I saw Nacho Vigolando's Open Windows. I was going to post about it in the Halloween thread but ultimately this isn't a horror movie, just a well-plotted action thriller with nonstop twists and doublecrosses. And really funny. The whole gimmick is that the entire movie takes place on a computer screen. Some really top-tier filmmaking went into this one, because the story and plot reveals are so interesting you don't notice the gimmick after about 10 minutes. Elijah Wood plays a horror movie fan who comes into contact with a mysterious online presence that gives him the ability to spy in realtime on his favorite actress (Sasha Grey). Anything else really spoils what the movie has in store, but it's probably one of the best uses of the internet in a movie (though I'm sure if I knew jackshit about computer networks or programming my head would be exploding from all the inaccuracies).

But even better was Confetti Of The Mind, a collection of Nacho's short films that's going to be released on DVD and Blu-Ray soon. Some of the highlights include a Sam Peckinpahesque drama about bumper cars, a lesson in filmmaking using bootleg Batman merchandise, and some incredibly crative shoestring sci-fi (he described one movie as "not Alien Vs. Predator, but Alien Vs. No Budget".

[Locclo]

Saw 2001: A Space Odyssey for the first time last night. It's not my favorite movie or anything now but I enjoyed it a lot and found a lot of parts really fascinating, and as someone who came into the experience having read the book, it was interesting seeing what changed between the book and the film. The crowd I saw it with was pretty interesting too, because we all laughed at really inappropriate moments of drama during the second half. I had a lot of trouble with the slowness of the film in a lot of parts though, because I got to a point where I was thinking about the special effects and stuff more than the actual film, especially during the "stargate" sequence at the end. It's definitely impressive how much the film holds up today though, even with how special effects technology has changed and how dated some of its ideas of the future are.

I actually just saw that as well after reading the four novels. I think there's something to be said for taking it slow, but good God, Kubrick doesn't know how to get to the fucking point. It almost felt like he thought that his viewers would be confused, or would complain about realism if he didn't show every single second of everything that anyone did. The scene with the flight attendant walking slowly around the loop so that she was upside-down, the scene of Bowman killing HAL, even the sequence of Bowman going through the monolith at the end, among others, just went on way longer than necessary.

Also, damn it, I want to live where you live so I can see classic movies on the big screen again. I've got nothing like that anywhere near me. :(

[Tiny Prancer]

I go to art college in an area with two historic theaters that are in almost the same block and are used for nothing but concerts, special events, and one-night movie screenings, and one of the theaters is specifically owned by the college I go to and has a specific student/faculty organization for putting together movie showings, so I get lucky with getting to see things on the big screen. In previous years I haven't paid much attention to what's been showing, but I've managed to catch Laurence of Arabia, Wrath of Kahn and one of the more recent restorations of Metropolis at the theaters before, and since it's my last year I'm trying to catch as many movies as I can while I have the chance. The school often does events for showing more recent films in conjunction with someone who was involved with the film talking about their work on it as well. (this year it was Wreck-it-Ralph and some pixar employees came and talked, I didn't realize it was happening until the day after, through)

[crow]

Saw 2001: A Space Odyssey for the first time last night. It's not my favorite movie or anything now but I enjoyed it a lot and found a lot of parts really fascinating, and as someone who came into the experience having read the book, it was interesting seeing what changed between the book and the film. The crowd I saw it with was pretty interesting too, because we all laughed at really inappropriate moments of drama during the second half. I had a lot of trouble with the slowness of the film in a lot of parts though, because I got to a point where I was thinking about the special effects and stuff more than the actual film, especially during the "stargate" sequence at the end. It's definitely impressive how much the film holds up today though, even with how special effects technology has changed and how dated some of its ideas of the future are.

I actually just saw that as well after reading the four novels. I think there's something to be said for taking it slow, but good God, Kubrick doesn't know how to get to the fucking point. It almost felt like he thought that his viewers would be confused, or would complain about realism if he didn't show every single second of everything that anyone did. The scene with the flight attendant walking slowly around the loop so that she was upside-down, the scene of Bowman killing HAL, even the sequence of Bowman going through the monolith at the end, among others, just went on way longer than necessary.

Also, damn it, I want to live where you live so I can see classic movies on the big screen again. I've got nothing like that anywhere near me. :(

The reason why 2001 is so slow is because Kubrick wanted to accurately portray the slowness and monotony of realistic space travel.

[Tiny Prancer]

I don't mind it as much in a lot of the space travel scenes, since it's obvious that they're scenes that are about how careful and exact you have to be for that kind of thing to work, but the place where it got long-winded for me was the ending stargate scene because it was an extremely long scene of visual noncomprehension.

[crow]

I don't mind it as much in a lot of the space travel scenes, since it's obvious that they're scenes that are about how careful and exact you have to be for that kind of thing to work, but the place where it got long-winded for me was the ending stargate scene because it was an extremely long scene of visual noncomprehension.

Personally, I thought the scenes in the white room and him flying through the tunnel flew by, but that might be because I was so invested in it at that point.  It makes perfect sense, he died and then achieved enlightenment in the color tunnel vision which represents the birth cmonster cock, and he came out the first of the next step in human evolution.

[Goose Goose Honk At Me Now]

Gut (2012) is basically "Torture Porn Creepypasta: The Motion Picture" and it sucks fat donkey balls.

[Locclo]

I recently saw The Maze Runner at a friend's recommendation, and I thought it was pretty good. The whole idea of the Maze was pretty inventive and well-developed, with some pretty intriguing ideas getting thrown around even before the big reveal at the end. One thing I really liked was that the antagonist's motivations and actions are entirely understandable and justified, which can be fairly hard to pull off in any written work. Plus, the ending was really great, did not see it coming (I haven't heard a single thing about the books other than that they're pretty meh).

[chai tea latte]

One thing I really liked was that the antagonist's motivations and actions are entirely understandable and justified, which can be fairly hard to pull off in any written work.

ahaha what


e:

The Maze Runner is the first book in a young-adult post-apocalyptic science fiction trilogy of the same name by James Dashner.

[Locclo]

Maze Runner spoilers below.

One thing I really liked was that the antagonist's motivations and actions are entirely understandable and justified, which can be fairly hard to pull off in any written work.

ahaha what

Well, think about it from Gally's point of view. For three years of being careful and following the rules, few people have died, and the Gladers have lived a consistent, almost happy life, getting supplies every month and being reasonably safe even when they go inside the Maze, so long as they leave before dark. As soon as Thomas arrives, things start going wrong - Ben gets stung in the middle of the day (the Maze isn't supposed to have anything in it until after dark), then when Thomas goes into the Maze at night and kills a Griever, they get an ominous message suggesting that they aren't ever getting more supplies. Then, eventually, the doors to the Maze open at night and a lot of people, including Alby, die when the Grievers attack the Glade. All of it can be tied back to Thomas's arrival. I don't see how Gally isn't justified in wanting to remove Thomas from the equation by the end.

[chai tea latte]

Oh no no no that's not what I was getting at

'consistent characterization' shouldn't be a major point in something's favour, and especially when you're comparing it with literally all things involving creativity and the written word

It's a blockbuster based on a book for teenagers that's directly trying to cash in on the wave from the Hunger Games movies (just like the book did with the hunger games books) and that's fine and enjoyable or whatever but c'mon, if forgettable mass media has the best antagonist characterization you've seen that's kind of embarrassing dude

[Tiny Prancer]

I have too much work to do and can't make it to The Goonies. Sorry everyone.

[Emperor Jack Chick]

Watched Cyborg Cop and Message From Space last night. There is a distinct lack of cyborg cops in Cyborg Cop.