The Film Corner

[JarlWolf]

While reading is grand, good and healthy, a good viewing of films is also very invigorating from time to time.

Post about any short film, film, movie, even TV show (but do not post about reality TV, news or sports, only story based shows and maybe a few documentaries) and discuss. I felt this thread was needed because film is a big part of our lives and like writing or painting or videogame design, or music/dance, it is an art form within itself.


Watched The Nameless Man Trilogy again, which included the films: A Fistful of Dollars, A Few Dollars More, and The Good, The Bad, And the Ugly.

I love the cinematic style and near mythological theme it has to it, and they are probably my favourite Westerns. I think only White Sun of the Desert or The Fiery Miles, and maybe a few others can really compare in my like of them.

[Lord Avalon]

*trilling whistle* wanh wanh wanh - Spaghetti Westerns 


As people may know, Fistful of Dollars was a remake of Kurosawa's Yojimbo.  Back in the day, when one rented videotapes, my friends and I were on a Kurosawa kick, and one exclaimed, "Hey! This is a ripoff of A Fistful of Dollars!"  And I corrected him.


Clint Eastwood is one of my favorite actors (q.v., the Dirty Harry series, High Plains Drifter, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Hang 'em High, etc., etc., etc.).  I like the Man with No Name movies, especially The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.  Did you see the extended version, where a couple deleted scenes were put in?  The original sound was lost, so they had Clint & Eli Wallach reread their lines and dubbed it in.  But they were old men with thin, weak voices compared to their younger days, so it doesn't quite fit.


I recently rewatched The Great Escape, about Allied POWs engineering an escape from their camp.  Good stuff.  And the TV comedy "Hogan's Heroes," also about Allied POWs in a Luftstalag (except they only left the camp to do espionage and sabotage), was a favorite in my youth.

[Buster's Uncle]

And run the last two together, and you've got Stalag 17...

[JarlWolf]

Recently watched Warriors of Heaven and Earth again, Chinese film.

Here's part 1 if you want to watch it online, the other parts you can find in related video's I think.

Warriors of Heaven and Earth p1

[Lord Avalon]

And run the last two together, and you've got Stalag 17...

Well, actually, Stalag 17 came first ('53), then The Great Escape ('63), then "Hogan's Heroes" ('65-'71).

[Unorthodox]

Caught the 2006 'live action' remake of Charlotte's Web over the weekend, and was pleasantly surprised.  There are things it does better than the animated film, none of the annoying song routines, for instance.  However, the whole relationship with Fern really doesn't play out as well here, and her budding romance/crush really falls flat.  Other attempts to add humor would have been better left out as well.  Still, far better than I expected (which was for it to be utter garbage).



This was sandwiched in between Exorcist III (where you expel the demon by disemboweling the posessed aparantly) and The Wall.  How's that for ecclectic?   

[Valka]

I haven't watched TV this year since The Borgias ended its last season (still annoyed that we won't get a 4th season to wrap everything up). Since then, I've been catching up on about 3 and a half years' worth of General Hospital. The current storyline keeps referring back to events from years ago, when I wasn't watching (due to not having a TV). So I've been OD'ing on this soap opera stuff. Thank goodness for YouTube and uploaders who deleted the commercials.


The last movie I watched was The Hunger Games, just out of curiosity to see why it's so popular.

[Buster's Uncle]

Any conclusions?

[Valka]

Well, the actress who played Katniss is undeniably cute, and appears competent with bows. The "love story" doesn't come across as completely contrived, and I can see an attempt on the part of the filmmakers to create a dystopian future with elements of the upcoming French Revolution thrown in (the silly hairstyles and makeup on the despots running the Games).

As a dystopian movie, it's better than some I've seen, but certainly doesn't rank with the more adult ones. I must admit I haven't read the books.

[Unorthodox]

King Kong, the Peter Jackson remake, is on AMC right now. 

God this movie pisses me off to no end.  There is SO MUCH superb work here that just gets drowned out because Jackson doesn't know what the word "edit" means. 

Granted, the original ranks somewhere in my top 10 horror movies, so I'm all kinds of biased and openly admit to that.  Further, unlike most reviewers who said the movie drags UNTIL you get to the island, I find it doesn't BEGIN to drag till you get into the insert peril scene that goes on way too long here.  That background stuff was mostly in the original.  The slight changes were actually masterfully done, as was the homage to the originals.  Jack Black was an inspired casting choice, and there are real moments of brilliance...

And then we have the idiotic scenes that DESTROY our pacing and drag on too long.  Kong vs 3 Trex's, for instance, falling down through vines forever.  Once they hit the ground and it's down to 1 Trex, it's well done, and all we really needed.  The bug/slug scene replacing the spider scene was an abysmal choice.  The dino stampede is just so ludicrously awful it's almost B movie. 

There's enough elements here, it could have been a top 5 movie, really, but it ends up as a horrendous dud.  And thus began my hatred of Jackson...

[Unorthodox]

Don't go in the Woods.

I don't think it's supposed to be hilarious...but it sure is.   

[Buster's Uncle]

Mylochka just watched Snow White and the Huntsman.

Really?  Kristen Stewart is supposed to be playing someone 'fairer' than Charlize Theron?  How much cocaine did they have to consume to come up with THAT non-starter?  Hey!  To play a character whose defining characteristic is beauty, let's go with that mediocre-looking girly whose defining characteristic is facial paralysis!
Sometimes the world just saps my will to live.

[Unorthodox]

The Sigourney Weaver's Snow White: A Tale of Terror is the one to watch. 

[Valka]

I found the Disney version scary enough. I used to have nightmares about it back when I was 8 or so, and that was just from the book. I didn't see the movie itself until it was re-released many years later.

[Rusty Edge]

Mylochka just watched Snow White and the Huntsman.

Really?  Kristen Stewart is supposed to be playing someone 'fairer' than Charlize Theron?  How much cocaine did they have to consume to come up with THAT non-starter?  Hey!  To play a character whose defining characteristic is beauty, let's go with that mediocre-looking girly whose defining characteristic is facial paralysis!
Sometimes the world just saps my will to live.

While I don't watch many movies at this time in my life, that was one I did happen to see in the theater. I thought Charlize acted particularly well. That's my lasting impression of that movie, Charlize in a great villainous role.