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DVDs and Films You Have Watched Recently 3 - The Final Insult


Devon Malcolm

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6 minutes ago, ColinBollocks said:

On Jackson films not aging well, I had to give up on his King Kong because I found the CGI to be frustratingly awful throughout. Particularly the bit where they're getting chased by dinosaurs.

I thought that was the best scene in that whole endless film. I'm not arsed about CGI quality in general though.

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1 hour ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Re: LOTR. I saw the first two at the cinema and liked them but I couldn't be arsed to see the third one. I've never had any inclination to return to them either. Peter Jackson should go back to doing stuff like Braindead.

Same here. Had no interest in seeing the last LOTR or The Matrix. Funny how they were the two big film series at the time and couldn’t finish either of them

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Watched Song of the Sea this afternoon, has anyone else seen any of this Cartoon Saloon's films? I watched The Breadwinner last week and it was great but this was beautiful. Absolutely loved it, really looking forward to see what they do next and catching The Secret of Kells. Great voice work by the greatest man alive Brendan Gleeson, too.

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1 hour ago, Devon Malcolm said:

I thought that was the best scene in that whole endless film. I'm not arsed about CGI quality in general though.

As thrilling as it is, it looks really ropey. In particular the way they use shadow on the actors when a dinosaur is running beside them. Technically, it just doesn't work because it only highlights that Brody is running in front of some green screen.

I suspect if the film was up to it, I probably would have persevered. I know reviews for it were very good, but I was always put off by the run time. Turns it's not much cop.

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I was channel flicking the other night and happened to stumble across Changing Lanes. I watched it the first time around, and I remember I wasn't very impressed. I think I wrote it off as a poor man's Tin Men. Yet, now I have a new found appreciation of it. Ben Affleck is always better being a heel, and he's pretty great in this. Samuel Jackson is also acting his tits off, playing a recovering alcoholic who gets pushed to the edge. There's some really good stuff going on in this film, it's just a shame it kind of peters out towards the end. You don't quite get the fireworks the narrative did a good job of putting in place. It's kind of a forgotten film now, but nevertheless one worth checking out. 

Edit: Although! Thinking about it, I rather like the fact it petered out and didn't go for the more obvious conclusion. I wish more films like this were coming out. 

 

Edited by Brewster McCloud
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Tomb Raider

I can’t remember if I’ve seen any of the Jolie ones, and I never played the games, but I thought this was pretty fun.

Alicia Vikander was really good, and suited the character really well, decent supporting cast (I always enjoy Dominic West’s massive face, although I can’t stand Jamie Winston), few nice chase scenes, and despite falling asleep for a good 15 minutes as I was knackered, this was a really easy watch. Would definitely watch a sequel.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona 

This was, despite starring Rebecca Hall, Scarlet Johansson, Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz, utter fluff. 

Hall seemed to be trying to play Woody Allen, obviously quite easy when you’re saying his words, but it was really jarring.

Marked out for Joel from Seinfeld though.

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I'm a Peter Jackson apologist (because all I do on UKFF is go against the grain) but I can't stand up for King Kong. It needs at least half an hour lopped off it, and needs 100% less Brody.

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10 minutes ago, Onyx2 said:

I'm a Peter Jackson apologist (because all I do on UKFF is go against the grain) but I can't stand up for King Kong. It needs at least half an hour lopped off it, and needs 100% less Brody.

I started watching it on TV but got interrupeted and had to abandon it. I observed a few things: the period detail was great, Jack Black wasn't the insufferable cunt he usually is, and it just seemed like quite a good blockbuster. Maybe one of these days I'll finish it, but I'm in no rush. I don't need giant CGI monkeys in my life at this point.

Edited by Brewster McCloud
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12 hours ago, ColinBollocks said:

As thrilling as it is, it looks really ropey. In particular the way they use shadow on the actors when a dinosaur is running beside them. Technically, it just doesn't work because it only highlights that Brody is running in front of some green screen.

I suspect if the film was up to it, I probably would have persevered. I know reviews for it were very good, but I was always put off by the run time. Turns it's not much cop.

It is terrible.  It's also an all-time classic example of the big problem with CGI from that era (that still exists today in fact) - lots of chases where things narrowly miss the protagonists.  One of the hardest things to do is key in CGI into contact with actual people, so the alternative is to have your actors run around and have things fall down near them or snap at their heels or just miss them.  See also - all the Transformer movies.

Films where the CGI still look good (or at leas maintain the illusion) are actually the exception.  The first Jurassic Park, Terminator 2.  I suspect that's because there's a lot less CGI than we realise in those films, and a lot more physical props for the close ups and interactions with actors.

The worst VFX moment of all time in a major movie has to be in League Of Extraordinary Gentleman, near the start where that building blows up.  Here it is

http://www.cap-that.com/league-of-extraordinary-gentlemen/images/lxg(2013)_0785.jpg

It's like something out of Ray Harryhausen.  

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4 minutes ago, Loki said:

It's also an all-time classic example of the big problem with CGI from that era (that still exists today in fact) - lots of chases where things narrowly miss the protagonists.  One of the hardest things to do is key in CGI into contact with actual people, so the alternative is to have your actors run around and have things fall down near them or snap at their heels or just miss them.  See also - all the Transformer movies.

Oh God, 'narrowly missing things' is my most hated trope of modern movies. All those big disaster movies like 2012 or, as you say, the Transformer series, use every action set-piece on people running at the camera while shit falls down behind them, narrowly missing them. Hate it, hate it, hate it.

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49 minutes ago, Astro Hollywood said:

Oh God, 'narrowly missing things' is my most hated trope of modern movies. All those big disaster movies like 2012 or, as you say, the Transformer series, use every action set-piece on people running at the camera while shit falls down behind them, narrowly missing them. Hate it, hate it, hate it.

It totally destroys any tension, doesn't it?  The worst example in modern times was, yes step forward again Jackson, the barrel scene in The Hobbit.  It was a cutscene from a video game.

As the old adage goes, the reason disaster movies were better in the old days was because they were harder to make.

Edited by Keith Houchen
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I watched Jaws for the umpteenth time again the other day. It probably gets two or three viewings a year and every time I see it I'll spot something I'd forgotten about or appreciate a little detail I'd not noticed. This time I watched it with my six year old son. I'd woken up super early and he wandered down around the point that the shark swims in to the pond and Brody's son goes in to shock. I was about his age when I first saw it and I've been fascinated with sharks since. He was captivated and not remotely scared, even at Quints death when he was keen to ask me how they did the blood effects and point out to me that "That shark is definitely made of rubber".

It always feels like I've grown with that film. As a kid I was fascinated by the shark, it eating a bunch of people and then the big climax. Everything else was padding. As I've grown up and now have my own kids it's the relationship between Brody and his kids but also how Hooper and Quint's relationship grows is what resonates the most with me, the shark is secondary to all these human stories going on. I could probably waffle on about Jaws all day, it's such a wonderful movie. MIght even watch it again Christmas Eve whilst we're putting all the presents under the tree.

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1 hour ago, Keith Houchen said:

As the old adage goes, the reason disaster movies were better in the old days was because they were harder to make.

100%. I'm firmly of the belief that limitations make art better. If you've got no restrictions on what you're able to depict on screen (which is effectively the case with CGI), you never have to stop and think, never have to consider things from a different angle, and it's those "right lads, how are we going to pull this off?" moments that create greatness. When you end up with a George Lucas or a Peter Jackson at the helm, where they're so successful that no one dares tell them that something's a bad idea, it gets even worse, because they just have carte blanche to throw any old shit on the screen.

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