Movies Talk Archive January 01 2013 to January 31 2013

 

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28 Jan 2013 19:37:23
So JJ Abrams linked to the new Star Wars film. Opinions?



Not to sure about it, bit annoyed that its coming out in 2015
LP



Probably be later than 2015, 2 years for a brand new star wars film is not enough, plus JJ won't want to rush it either.



I was concerned after the cack he turned Star Trek into, but then realised Star Wars is probably a better fit for him.

I agree with the other guy, 2 years would be an incredibly quick turnaround, most likely 2016 unless they manage late '15.



I heard December 2015
LP



Turned star trek cack? Give me a break he gave it back some credibility it needed everything he has touched so far has turned to gold! {Ed001's Note - I am sort of in between both views, Star Trek was cack, he just kept it there in my opinion. Awful film, terrible acting, story, directing, just terrible, but totally in keeping with the TV series it was based on.}



Lost was total rubbish, half the fans had long since switched off before that god awful finale.

Star Trek if done right, can be very good. Its supposed to be adult science fiction and provide a commentary on various social issues and shizz like that.

JJ just had loads of big bangs and action and forgot the plot. What story there was, well it was total dreck. The casting was good, spot on in a lot of cases. But Roddenbury would have been appalled at the final product.

I question the need to do a Star Trek film in the first place, and to do Kirk reboot overall. Totally unneeded. Trek was, for all intents and purposes, dead and should have been left that way rather than the corpse being rifled for a quick buck.

Ed, ok fair enough that's your opinion, if its not to your tastes then its not to your taste. Like I said when it could be good it was good, but when it was bad it was awful.

As I said he turned into a series of bangs, flashes and running around, with "sci-fi" very much as the back. Its no worse than the last of the next gen films. But its also why I think he might do a good job with Star Wars which has always been more of a kiddy friendly action heavy franchise anyway.

Incidentally I like both franchises but I can recognise the flaws in both.



 

 

23 Jan 2013 23:21:55
ed managed to watch ip man. Caught her by surprise by not putting the football on and talked her out of some soap crap. She enjoyed it, apart from shouting adrian at the end of the boxing match, you know when donnie is on the mike. You reckon they'll do part three? Set it up at the end. {Ed001's Note - they are already doing it mate, in 3D and Donnie Yen is starring again. I am really looking forward to it, I just hope it lives up to the other two!}



Ok cool, I think it'll be good, i'm looking forward to it as well. Trying to talk the mrs into the Bruce Lee story... {Ed001's Note - tell her there will be lots of fit blokes with their tops off, not sure if there are but it tends to work to get them to watch it!}



Not sure if I want the inferiority complex ed... {Ed001's Note - does it matter who she is thinking of, so long as she is giving you the night of your life at the time??}



Whoa Ed I was just talking about watching the film. Haha. {Ed001's Note - *shifty look* yeah me too, honest.}



Nah I know what ya mean, Ol Bruce was pretty ripped though. {Ed001's Note - I know, he was nearly as fit as me! Well he is nearly as fit now as I am anyway.}



I'll get ed2 to confirm that. {Ed001's Note - jealousy might make them say otherwise!}



 

 

23 Jan 2013 19:49:28
Ed did you see that Ip Man wa son film4 last night? Think 2 is on later this week. {Ed001's Note - yes mate, Ip Man 2 is on tonight. I do love those films, especially the first one, Donnie Yen is one of the better martial arts actors.}



I enjoyed Ip Man 1 when I bought it, but couldn't really stay up too late, probably be the same tonight. Snow hasn't helped by doubling travel time to work. {Ed001's Note - I have them on DVD, though I never seem to get a chance to watch them again.}



I need to acquire 2. Its always a hassle trying to find time to pop on a good dvd. Might have to convince the mrs to get a night job haha. {Ed001's Note - well times are hard, so the extra money would come in useful.....}



Yeah I can imagine the reaction....A week of soaps would be the least. {Ed001's Note - Ed025 would love a week of soaps, I fear for that man!}



Really? Not sure how anyone can sit through them, EastEnders is so depressing its unreal, if that was a real neighbourhood they'd all be on suicide watch, Corrugated Street isn't much better, and then you have dodgy teen soaps like Hollyoaks and Neighbours where everyone looks perfect. So unreal. {Ed001's Note - Ed025 is just a big girl though, comes of supporting Everton I guess!}



23 Jan 2013 00:45:43
really wish they had made alien2 sequel (follow on story, which happens between alien2 and alien 3)
maybe have it as the same story line as the new game which is coming out.. where after 4 weeks they send a search and rescue team to find Ripley and the others..



I've longed for this film!



20 Jan 2013 18:26:52
anyone watch the discworld adaptations?



Going postal was pretty good, I can't understand why the rights to pratchetts books haven't been snapped up? The wee free men would make a class cgi kids film, there's everything in those books.
Liono74



I've seen the 3 so far and they've all been good.

Going Postal was probably the best.
Hogfather had a very impressive cast.
Colour of Magic is good despite the dodgy casting (David Jason!)

Look forwards to more.

As for the rights Liono, i'm not sure you would think it would be a hit, millions of fans world wide. Maybe it doesn't translate properly to an American film studio?



I know what you mean, it is very british humour at the end of the day. I suppose it would be difficult to make one without making the previous ones, plus I wouldn't trust the yanks to respect the source material! I do think the witches trilogy would make a great series of films if handled properly.
liono74



Yet if you look on internet message boards like on imdb there do seem to be a few American fans that get it. Maybe not enough for a film studio to justify splashing the money needed, if it had a bad start in America that would be it it would be curtains, even if it made money everywhere else.

I wouldn't trust them either with source material, look what one of them tried to do with Harry Potter, merge the 1st 3 books into 1 film.

Also could you imagine an American studio's idea of casting? Didn't one of them want Hugh Grant for the Red Dwarf movie?

I think the Witches would be ace, although I think they'll probably head for the Watch before the Witches.



I agree that the watch would make a class series of films, but what about wizards they could do it in a hobbit style which would rock!
Liono74



Haha they could. The hadest part is always the casting.

Nexttime they need to get Rincewind right.



Rincewind would be tricky to cast, I suppose everyone would have a different idea of who could play him. I personally have no idea!
Liono74



As much as I like David Jason he just didn't feel right for the part, it is tricky to suggest alternatives though.



Aren't they doing Unseen Academicals next?



15 Jan 2013 22:16:50
it must be hugh grant rom com week, notting hill tonight, love actually last night, the mrs loves it. Brownie points.



Bum sex for u then mate



A gentleman never answers...



15 Jan 2013 22:13:50
so tarantino, genius or over rated hack? Personally started ok but too smug and thinks he's more clever than he is. Hasn't made anything good for years.



Mate, django was quaity i like all his films apart from jackie brown

Spanner {Ed001's Note - I have hated every film he has ever done. Absolute dog turd dressed up. Especially the Kill Bill films, the single worst martial arts films ever made.}



I liked Pulp Fiction when i first saw it, was less keen on Res Dogs, and hated Jackie Brown, since then its just been a downward spiral, have to agree with Ed on Kill Bill, all style and no subtsance. Didsn't like Inglorious. {Ed001's Note - I thought I was the only person who hated Inglourious! I thought it was terrible, I couldn't even watch it right through, I had to switch it off.}



I thought bits of it were alright and bits of it were terrible.

I think in a lot of films, stuff like Kill Bill for example he's more bothered about putting together the sound track than actually doing the film, its almost like paint by numbers.



I have to disagree with you guys I have massively enjoyed his films over the years, you can see how much he loves movies in his work, I think he suffers from lucas syndrome. It is easy to criticise his films because they break the mold and make people uncomfortable. Django is a work of pure genius everybody should see it!
Liono74 {Ed001's Note - how does he break the mould? Most of his films are just 'tributes' (read copies) of earlier films that he is ripping off.}



Ed he breaks the mold by taking a well established framework from a particular genre and then applies it to a different genre. Like kill bill he took a western format and applied a martial arts style to it, I personally think that each of these genres had become stale over the years and that he has reinvigorated them to an extent.
Liono74 {Ed001's Note - he did no such thing at all. The western/martial arts film was a well established genre, long before Tarantino copied it. He has never ever changed things, he has only copied. The man is a fraud.}



I didn't say he was the only director to do that, every director steals from his heroes. Also I know the western/martial arts format was well trodden but I personally felt he added something different to it. If you haven't seen django you should give it a try ( it might change your mind about him!)
Liono74 {Ed001's Note - I might watch it when it comes to the movie channels, but I won't be going out of my way to see it. I don't see what he added to it, poor acting, ridiculously over the top martial arts and crap storylines were already a common feature. Unless you are referring to having someone so utterly useless at performing the moves as Uma Thurman playing the lead? That was a departure from the norm for sure. Normally they have people who can actually at least pretend to do the moves and carry them off. Uma Thurman's attempts were little short of embarrassing and completely ruined any hopes of it ever being a worthwhile film in my opinion.}



If anything I think the martial arts scene has gone from strength to strength, some great stuff has come out of China and then you have the Korean and Thai stuff as well.

I've only seen KB1 and I wasn't that impressed with it to be honest.

I agree that the western genre has become stale but I think that's more of a cultural thing. When my dad was growing up it was all war films and cowboy films. Big fan of John Wayne, Gary Cooper and the other fellow who's name escapes me. Poor old mum got dragged to the cinema to sit through western double bills when they were dating. By the 70's the old stars like Wayne and Cooper had retired and audiences had tired of seeing the same formulaic stuff. Plus the space age had dawned, and the cold war/ Vietnam was at a high and tastes were changing. The only big cowboy star of the 70's/ 80's was Clint and he's just as well known for his war films and cop films. There has been attempts to reboot the genre periodically, Clint tried, so did Costner in the 90's. Then we had that spate of remakes a couple of years ago.

Problem is cowboys are no longer cool. I grew up in the 80's on the back of Star Wars, so sci fi, action-adventure were the staple of the day and remained so through the 90's. Sci-fi, fantasy and action-adventure are very much my bag.

And kids today, well the closest they get to a cowboy is Woody from Toy Story. Proper western fans like dad won't go to a multiplex.

Thats my take anyway.



Agreed Ed she was terrible not very convincing at all. I was just glad that wasn't a real sword, I was worried she was going to slice her own leg off a number of times. At least with the Asian martial arts films, you know that they can do the moves. {Ed001's Note - it is a shame, with that one choice of actor, the whole thing was rendered as dross.}



Its not a bad story in principle, has potential, maybe it needs a remake, Chinese style lol.

I'm just not sure what possesed him to cast her in that role. I think its purely on her working with him on Pulp Fiction, but she was one of the weakest things about that film. Awful actress all round.



I agree with what you are saying about that fight scene, i'm not really a fan of uma thurman but some of the other actors are spectacular in both kill bills. There is a lot of focus on that scene which is a shame because the second film is superior imo. I personally don't think they are martial arts per se. In uma thurmans defence she had given birth only a few weeks before filming the fight scene in kb1 but to say she wasnt doing the moves correctly is a little harsh. Its tricky because he needed to have someone who could act well enough to carry the project but still be able to perform action scenes. I grew up watching jackie chan films and still enjoy them today, but with respect he cannot act at all. I do agree that martial arts films have improved over the lsst few years, but I felt they were getting tired during the 90s.
Liono74 {Ed001's Note - have you seen The Shinjuku Incident? If so, then you would see Jackie Chan can act. Whereas Uma Thurman is just awful. She is a dreadful actress, that is why she could not even carry off the martial arts scenes at all. Simple things like the scene where she is punching a wall or board (I forget which) should have been easy for her. She couldn't even make them look like she had a clue what she was doing.}



Alright ed will give that jackie chan film a watch. The only reason thurman get into tarantino films is because he was desperate to give her one and she has huge side show bob style feet! She was ok in pulp fiction but everything else has been meh.
Liono74 {Ed001's Note - I hated Pulp Fiction, thought she was terrible in that too. Vile looking woman too, strange eyes. Ugh.}



There's no accounting for taste is there. I mean Hollywood director/ producer with decent budgets and all that talent around and he's after Uma Thurman??



I've also gotta say, the ad at the top of the page is for netflix, and the film they are advertising? Kill Bill vol 1, haha. {Ed001's Note - wow, that's made me rush to sign up!}



I take it Uma Thurman is your dream girl then Ed001?

KiwiRed {Ed001's Note - did it show?}



QT does great dialogue admittedly, but often seems high on his own knowledge of exploitation/B-movies. I'm constantly distracted by trying to work out what film he's doing an impression of next. Okay, he does pretty good impressions, and I find his films entertaining at times, but no more than that.



15 Jan 2013 16:42:18
What's peoples opinions of Bronson and Lawless? I was thinking about checking them out as Tom Hardy is one of my favourite actors!



Despite not being able to really get into it I did think Hardy was good in it and although the reviews weren't great I really enjoyed Lawless even though there is no way he could have survived in real life after being attacked. I agree with you, Tom Hardy is one of my favourite actors especially his role as Bane but that might just be because I'm a big batman fan!
sparky



14 Jan 2013 23:04:13
ok confession time. First time the mrs made me watch love actually i hated it. Too much going on, too many characters, kept forgetting who was who and with whom. Moaned afterwards and refused to watch it again. Few years later get suckered into watching it again and it wasn't that bad. Now we've seen it a few times and its grown on me. I think it just nudges four weddings and is miles better than notting hill. Mort



14 Jan 2013 18:38:13
Which films are people most looking forward to seeing this year? There's so many top films, I'm struggling to decide... Django, Gangster Squad, Thor, Star Trek, Iron Man, Hangover Part 3, Hobbit 2, WWZ, Fast and Furious and Man of Steel. And of course being an animation fan there's Monsters Inc Uni and Wreckit Ralph



Thor, Star Trek, Lincoln, Hobbit 2, Iron Man, Fast & Furious for me.



Monsters inc and flight and kick ass 2 and the wolverine



The hobbit 2.. oblivion and after earth.

JK92 {Ed039's Note - Die Hard 5, Hobbit 2, Kick Ass 2, Wolverine, Iron Man, Star Trek, and being from Glasgow, The Wee Man)



Don't see gangster squad I thought it was awful. It's just your typical American cliche ridden film.
Sparky



Transformers 4, pirates of the Caribbean 5 and expendables 3 of course! Or is this a list of films that they should stop making new ones off, I should probably add ice age too
LP {Ed001's Note - if it is a list of films not to make, I would add Hangover (the second was dog turd being nice), Star Trek (never been any good) and anything made by Quentin Tarantino, who should just give up making dross.}



The new Anchorman for me

Kev Darko



13 Jan 2013 21:37:58
film for ed001 to watch, ruroni kenshin. more swordplay than owt else. its a live action version of the anime and its not bad if you dont mind subs till an english dub comes out.
hudz red {Ed001's Note - I will check it out mate, cheers.}



I'll look for that as well thanks, i don't mind subtitles probably better thna dubbing it. Mort



09 Jan 2013 18:29:42
i'm guessing that life of pi is this years the artist? Over hyped and over rated tut that the critics and luvvies fawn over but isn't all that good.



07 Jan 2013 21:24:33
i'm gonna come straight out and say it but i like terminator three. Good film, plenty of action, bit of humour. Doesn't mess the other films up.



07 Jan 2013 21:12:18
ed1 been enjoying reading the lord of the rings chat and learned a few things. Just wanted to ask who everybody's favourite character was. You said you liked Aragorn in the book but not the film? Personally i like Sean Beans version of Boromir and Gandalf. {Ed001's Note - I just didn't think the film managed to really get over his menace and power, he just came across as an ordinary bloke. Sean Bean was ok, but he just didn't look like Boromir as I imagined him, so I wasn't impressed. Has to be Gandalf for me, I just wish they had used him more.}



I've got to say Aragorn in the books is a lot better than the films. In the films he comes across as almost wimpy. Book Aragorn is a lot more decisive and whilst well aware of his responsibilities and what he must do doesn't seem to worry about it so much as he does in the films.

Not sure on your take ED?

McKellen's Gandalf was spot on, and i'd have liked more. As i said i'd love to see his Nazgul fight on Weathertop, or even more of his pursuit of the Balrog.

Boromir, well Sean Bean was competant enough as you'd expect but I don't think you get to see enough of him to properly get the full flavour of Boromir. And yeah he's not quite as i picture him either.

Personally one of my favourites is Theoden. I think Bernard Hill was top notch. Theoden had the best speeches over the 2 films he was in, (TTT: At the Hornburg his little speech about where is the horse and rider etc & RotK when the Rohirrim arrive at the Pelennor), and having read the books and knowing what was coming i was still genuinely upset at his death. {Ed001's Note - I have to agree on your assessment of Aragorn, in the book he was powerful and strong. In the films, he was tall and lanky and lacklustre. I had forgotten about Theoden, he was quite good.}



Sort of an Emo-Aragorn?

Like his strop in TTT at Helms Deep?

Mind you Legolas annoyed me a lot in that as well. Think out of the 3 Gimli was the better one.



06 Jan 2013 17:33:08
king kong is crap, drags on for far too long and most of its unnecessary.



I like it, i also prefer long movies.

JK92



It takes an hour to get to the island, most of that isn't needed. Then it wastes another 10 minutes tossing the ship around the rocks. Then the dinosaur stampede, that giant insects eating people, non of it needed. Its just too bloated by far and is an example of all whats wrong in Hollywood, endless remakes, too much cgi and just letting directors chucking money at stuff they don't need without actually thinking how it affects the film. The pacing is ridiculous. {Ed001's Note - I am with you, I was bored and switched it off without ever seeing King Kong!}



Haha ed, Kong is by far the best and was well done as you'd expect from Jackson, but he really needed reining in a bit on this. then i found out there's an extended edition as well! {Ed001's Note - I am not a Peter Jackson fan, his films always drag on and never really do it for me.}



No he does seem unable to keep anything below 3 hours. I could understand Lord of the Rings, even with all the stuff they cut out or altered. Not sure how he's managed to turn the hobbit into a trilogy of about 9 hours when its a quarter of the size.... {Ed001's Note - I think Lord of the Rings needed to be longer and have less of Liv Tyler in personally. Why cut out so much and then lengthen a tiny part like hers, when it has no relevance to the story? I am not even planning to go see Hobbit, even though it was my favourite book as a child.}



I'll probably rent the Hobbit as i have really gotten to dislike seeing films in cinema's. Its not just the prices either but the whole experience just isn't all that good.

As for the Lord of the Rings i agree with some of what they chopped out like Tom Bombadil which just slowed the story for me, but i would have liked to see more of some other bits.

I totally agree with Liv Tyler as well, she's in the books for like all of 5 minutes towards the end at the coronation/ wedding.

What would you have liked to see more of instead of Arwen? {Ed001's Note - I would have preferred to just see more of the battles, they seemed a bit rushed in the end. I am glad there wasn't too much of Frodo and Sam though, I found they slowed down the story in the books as well as Bombadil. I never really understood the point in the Bombadil bit to be honest, it just didn't make sense. I would have liked more of Aragorn, he was a great character in the novels, not so good in the films.}



Bombadil was one of Tolkiens oldest creations and he wanted him in there somewhere, he didn't want to leave him out so kind of crowbarred him in, from what i've read on the subject. Its the weakest part for me and i always struggle on that bit when reading. My mate who never reads but was encouraged to read the books after seeing the films got as far as Bombadil and abandoned it as it was too confusing.

I also agree on Frodo/ Sam, i get that they are the heroes but i preferred reading about events in the west and the battles like Helms Deep and the Pelennor and hated it when it kept cutting back to Frodo.

I feel they should have included the bit where Aragorns fellow Rangers from the North joined up with him, was some good bits there.

I also would have liked to see Gandalfs fight with the 4 nazgul on Weathertop and drawing them away from Frodo. In the book it wasn't really recounted and Frodo and the hobbits/ strider only saw flashes on the horizon as they were still on the way to Weathertop. I bet that would have been an awesome fight though and i bet Gandalf was more than a bit peeved after escaping Isengard and missing Frodo. There was a brief hint at it when Arwen said to aragorn 5 Nazgul persue you, where the other 4 are i do not know.

Also at the siege of Minas Tirith i never got why the chief Nazgul, the witch king was so confident of beating Gandalf, when asked by the orc general what of the wizard he just shrugs and says i will break him matter of factly. I really doubt he woould have and that just bugs me a little. Also Gandalf when talking to Pippin seemed a little aprehensive of the Witch King, not sure why after he beat the Balrog.

Sorry waffled a bit. {Ed001's Note - you have some great points there. Lord of the Rings needed a trilogy for each book really, with Bombadil still left out though!}



Apparently Peter Jackson has more unused footage he's planning on putting in for the special 25th anniversary releases. I am curious as to if thats true and what the footage is. Was there anything added for the blu ray releases?

Yeah leave Bombadil out. He even cops a mention in RotK as Gandalf escorts the hobbits most of the way home then leaves them saying i must go have a chat with Bombadil. Puzzles me really. {Ed001's Note - have you ever read the Silmarrillion? It is awful too, it reminds me of the Bombadil bits in LOTR.}



I have, parts of it are good and parts of it are shocking. But a proportion of it was done by Chris Tolkien of his dads notes so may account for some of the rougher bits.

I do like his account of the creation myth, and the whole Melkor poisoning the trees, theft of the silmarils and the revolt of the Noldor and their doomed war. And some of the other stuff like what happened at the end of the first age and the potted history of Numenor and its downfall and his take on the Atlantis legend.

What i don't care much for was all the stuff with Turin in, to me its a poor stab at tragedy and i don't feel anything for him at all, no sympathy what so ever.

Its totally unfilmable anyway, Jackson could probably do it in, oh, 20 parts lol. {Ed001's Note - now that would be worth him doing, just to keep him away from ruining anything else!}



A good point. I don't think it would work as film series as there's just too much going on and it would be too confusing to the casual viewer who can follow something like the hobbit, bit wouldn't have the patience to keep going to the cinema every few months to try and follow it.

It would however make a great tv series as i think as a book it would lend itself to a tv adaption as you could start it part way through and then tell the important parts in flashbacks, that way people can keep up with it. God knows what budget you would need though, pitched battles of elves and orcses and Balrogs. But at least we'd get a villain with a proper threat and get to see Sauron. {Ed001's Note - a lot of books would work better as TV series really, a film just can't do them justice. I think the Harry Potter books are a case for that treatment, they missed out so much and my daughter would love a new Potter series!}



Hmmm that would be a challenge, doable but a challenge. Might help to get kids who can act first. {Ed001's Note - that is the biggest challenge! Kids are always awful in films.}



I'm not a Peter Jackson fan, i thought King Kong was one of the worst films ever made, they just didn't do the film justice
LP



One theory on bombadil is that he is in fact the 'GOD' character within the series of books.
As far as i am aware he was included to show how the hobbits had a connection to a higher power, and that the shire was protected from the evil of sauron. He is often talked as being the 'oldest and fatherless' by the elves and costant references to his elemental powers are littered throughout the books.

For more info and theories you can check this page out

lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Theories_about_Tom_Bombadil

Paso



True Paso i have heard that theory before that its Eru himself who has popped into his creation to see for himself how things are.

The other idea is that he is just a Maiar gone native.

Either way its still the worst part of the book lol.

But thanks for the link will have a look.



Ed yes thats always a challenge. Not saying all the kids in Potter were bad and some of them definitley improved as they grew up and the series went along. Just that the lead was pretty poor to begin with and never really improved. {Ed001's Note - he is a terrible actor, I agree completely, he must have got the role because of how he looked. Meaning like the boy from the books, not like as in being good looking, just to be clear.}



Yeah i think he was close to the conceptualised vision of Potter, but had all the acting range of a lump of wood.



03 Jan 2013 16:12:26
watched the hobbit last night and thought it was very good, actually preferred it to LOTR1 and i love LOTR..



02 Jan 2013 23:19:00
ok hands up, who recognised andy serkis and david bowie in the prestige?



I knew it was Andy serkis straight away, didn't recognize David Bowie though..

JK92



Yeah Bowie wasn't at all obvious, didn't know he could act either.