ME TOO! I still remember going to see the original with my Dad.
Best movie you've seen
- Thread starter LiamC
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ME TOO! I still remember going to see the original with my Dad.
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Fatwah on Western Digital
LotR is better off without Tom Bombadil and Tauriel at the very least does no harm to the Hobbit. Her part gives life to an otherwise nondescript Dwarf. Also, her leitmotif in the score ("Feast of Starlight") is a favorite of mine. If all that was filmed was what Tolkien wrote, we'd have six extra hours of just short people walking places.
Stereodude
Not really a
So I watch The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies last night with a coworker after our company Christmas party. It was a big pile of meh. It felt even more stretched out than the first two installments despite being shorter. This is somewhat ironic since there seemed to be at least one gap in the passage of time in the movie. Between Smaug assuming lake temperature and the next scene of some people washing up on shore a day or two was lost since the people of lake town suddenly had a pretty organized looking camp despite no storytelling cues that several days had passed. I think there was even a verbal reference in the film to a passage of several days since Smaug died yet no accompanying visual queues. It definitely is the weakest of the 3 Hobbit movies and certainly couldn't stand on it's own as a movie.
That seems like two really. Can the extensible version be condensed in the menu or is it a fully re-edited version?
Stereodude
Not really a
I'm pretty sure you can't watch the theatrical release from the Extended Edition disc by picking it in the menu. I can't say with absolute certainty since I don't have the EE discs for The Hobbit. But, that's how the LoTR EE discs were.
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Fatwah on Western Digital
"Into the Woods" was... more straightforward of an adaptation than it should have been (Red Riding Hood should have been played by a teenager, not a little girl - the stage version is not particularly subtle about what the Big Bad Wolf is singing about) and at times the lines weren't sung with quite the proper degree of snark, but for those small failings it's also very beautiful, tender and clever.
I very much like this trend of releasing a big budget musical every Christmas.
I very much like this trend of releasing a big budget musical every Christmas.
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Fatwah on Western Digital
The weather has sucked and I have some kind of respiratory infection that makes doing things more challenging than being supine and under blankets too much work so here are TV things I have been watching over the last couple months that I liked.
Black Mirror - kinda like the Twilight Zone, but set in the near future and dealing with dystopian ramifications of trends in technology. I liked these a lot.
Hannibal - The Thomas Harris character who eats people also makes food and hosts dinner parties while making his patients crazy. Beautiful cinematography and set design and strong performances by its lead actors. It's very gory and also, shockingly, a product of network television. Seems to follow the books reasonably well.
Utopia - British mini-series about a group of comic book fans who uncover the secrets to a global conspiracy in the pages of a graphic novel. Sort of X-files by way of 1984 and Brazil (the movie, not the country).
Penny Dreadful - Lurid Victorian mash-up fiction. High production values. Monsters. Also, all the nudity that comes with a premium cable channel product.
Gracepoint/Broadchurch - US/British versions of the same thing. Both about the impact from investigate the death of a child in a small resort town.
The Bridge - Again, murder investigation, this time surrounding a body dumped on the exact US/Mexico border.
From Dusk Till Dawn - I didn't know this needed to be a 10 hour TV series instead of a 90 minute movie. It's fun and silly and it has vampire strippers.
I finally got around to watching some of The Flash and Constantine. Constantine is probably cancelled. It's not a bad show, but it's not really much like the comic book character. It probably seems redundant in that it covers a lot of the same ground as "Supernatural." The Flash isn't as stupid as Gotham (which should have been cancelled after maybe episode 3 in my opinion) and somehow has better production values than Arrow.
Black Mirror - kinda like the Twilight Zone, but set in the near future and dealing with dystopian ramifications of trends in technology. I liked these a lot.
Hannibal - The Thomas Harris character who eats people also makes food and hosts dinner parties while making his patients crazy. Beautiful cinematography and set design and strong performances by its lead actors. It's very gory and also, shockingly, a product of network television. Seems to follow the books reasonably well.
Utopia - British mini-series about a group of comic book fans who uncover the secrets to a global conspiracy in the pages of a graphic novel. Sort of X-files by way of 1984 and Brazil (the movie, not the country).
Penny Dreadful - Lurid Victorian mash-up fiction. High production values. Monsters. Also, all the nudity that comes with a premium cable channel product.
Gracepoint/Broadchurch - US/British versions of the same thing. Both about the impact from investigate the death of a child in a small resort town.
The Bridge - Again, murder investigation, this time surrounding a body dumped on the exact US/Mexico border.
From Dusk Till Dawn - I didn't know this needed to be a 10 hour TV series instead of a 90 minute movie. It's fun and silly and it has vampire strippers.
I finally got around to watching some of The Flash and Constantine. Constantine is probably cancelled. It's not a bad show, but it's not really much like the comic book character. It probably seems redundant in that it covers a lot of the same ground as "Supernatural." The Flash isn't as stupid as Gotham (which should have been cancelled after maybe episode 3 in my opinion) and somehow has better production values than Arrow.
Stereodude
Not really a
You're watching the US remake of The Bridge, not the original European one? Have you watched S1 and S2?
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Fatwah on Western Digital
I watched the US version first. There are actually multiple European versions. Apparently, the series has been produced everywhere one might find a bridge that crosses international borders.
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Fatwah on Western Digital
Powers is a comic book series by Brian Michael Bendis. It's not part of any other extended universe, but it's been running for 15 years or so. It's basically a police procedural set in a world where Super Heroes are are media darlings.
Apparently Sony made it in to an ongoing series and it's going to run on Playstation consoles, but the first episode was posted on Youtube yesterday, if you want to watch a 53 minute pilot episode. It has production values probably about on par with a typical episode of Arrow or the Flash.
Link
Not only do we have Netflix and Amazon and Hulu making decent content. This year we're adding Sony and Yahoo to the mix as well.
Apparently Sony made it in to an ongoing series and it's going to run on Playstation consoles, but the first episode was posted on Youtube yesterday, if you want to watch a 53 minute pilot episode. It has production values probably about on par with a typical episode of Arrow or the Flash.
Link
Not only do we have Netflix and Amazon and Hulu making decent content. This year we're adding Sony and Yahoo to the mix as well.
I watched the documentary named Atari: Game Over last night on Netflix and I found it to be enjoyable. I've discussed the myth of the one million-plus E.T. game cartridges being buried but never thought that someone would actually investigate and try to dig them up out of a landfill. There was a bunch of other fun and interesting facts discussed during the film and if you're of the age where you may have grown up with or had been introduced at an early age to an Atari, you may enjoy the nostalgia of the film.
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Fatwah on Western Digital
This is just a reminder that Marvel's Daredevil will begin streaming on Netflix at 12:01am PDT tomorrow.
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Fatwah on Western Digital
The first five minutes of Daredevil probably sell the whole thing, but I have to say that the fight scenes are top-notch. Like Winter Soldier, everything is paced slowly enough to see every blow and you see the lasting impact of DD's lifestyle on his body. There's something interesting about primary colors in the lighting design and I have to say my favorite thing so far is Rosario Dawson as Night Nurse. I love it when obscure characters show up.
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Fatwah on Western Digital
Chewie, We're Home.
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Fatwah on Western Digital
Today was Avengersmas and so I went and I saw it. And I'll see it again tomorrow and also Saturday because I can't ever get all my friends in the same place at the same time.
A tiny, special classical music nerd moment: the Kyrie from Arvo Part's Berliner Messe is the plaintive, gorgeous choral piece that plays near the end of the movie. He's my favorite composer and apparently someone else on the Avengers production agrees.
One of the big knocks against Marvel movies is that villains tend to be forgettable. Ultron is not. Ultron has a voice filled with menace and dry, sarcastic wit that matches Tony Stark's own.
For the rest, the movie primarily follows Hawkeye, Black Widow and the Hulk over and above the ones who get their own movies. A lot of time is spent explaining why and how a guy with a bow gets to stand next to gods and monsters.
This movie has plenty of funny, but it's definitely more of a big-spectacle action movie. I'd say the super heroes do more super things this time, but the mood is definitely darker this time.
The level of violence is actually probably lower than Guardians of the Galaxy, but at one point early on there's a pretty clear incident that might not be good for a little one.
A tiny, special classical music nerd moment: the Kyrie from Arvo Part's Berliner Messe is the plaintive, gorgeous choral piece that plays near the end of the movie. He's my favorite composer and apparently someone else on the Avengers production agrees.
One of the big knocks against Marvel movies is that villains tend to be forgettable. Ultron is not. Ultron has a voice filled with menace and dry, sarcastic wit that matches Tony Stark's own.
For the rest, the movie primarily follows Hawkeye, Black Widow and the Hulk over and above the ones who get their own movies. A lot of time is spent explaining why and how a guy with a bow gets to stand next to gods and monsters.
This movie has plenty of funny, but it's definitely more of a big-spectacle action movie. I'd say the super heroes do more super things this time, but the mood is definitely darker this time.
The level of violence is actually probably lower than Guardians of the Galaxy, but at one point early on there's a pretty clear incident that might not be good for a little one.
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Fatwah on Western Digital
Update: Having seen it in every permutation of IMAX, 3D and not: Stick with not. The 3D actively makes the movie harder to follow.
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Fatwah on Western Digital
I went to a real-deal IMAX at Chicago's Navy Pier for one of the screenings. For those there isn't a non-3D option. I'd very much like for 3D to die but I think theaters like the justification for increased ticket prices.
ddrueding
Fixture
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Fatwah on Western Digital
I suspect the bigger problem for some people is having to wear another pair of glasses in the first place.
Are the 3d glasses still bi-color, do they use polarization, or both?
ddrueding
Fixture
There are three main techs that I know of:
Bi-color
Polarized
Active Shutter
The active shutter are the coolest, technologically speaking. They have LCD screens in each eye and alternate which one is blanked out in sync with a master IR signal built into the theater.
Bi-color
Polarized
Active Shutter
The active shutter are the coolest, technologically speaking. They have LCD screens in each eye and alternate which one is blanked out in sync with a master IR signal built into the theater.
So it depends on the theatre?
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Fatwah on Western Digital
I haven't seen anyone talking about it but Sense8 is a Netflix series by J. Michael "Babylon 5" Stracinzski and the Wachowskis (formerly brothers but now not so much) that seems to live up to its pedigree. It's an original property, not part of any long-standing continuity. If it draws inspiration from any other media property, it's probably closer to Heroes and the Tomorrow People, but with all the sex (surprisingly little of it is heteronormative but then one of the producers is a transperson) and violence of a premium channel show.
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Fatwah on Western Digital
Ant-Man is very much in the same vein as Guardians of the Galaxy. It's consistently funny, albeit in a different way from GotG. It's self-aware of how ridiculous its premise is but it runs with it anyway. Ant-Man is fun. It's funny and works in part because of the physical comedy and in part because Paul Rudd is genuinely likable though the whole movie. It's the opposite side of the super-hero spectrum from the awful Zack Snyder movies and that is to its credit. It's also clearly grounded in Marvel's world, with Peggy Carter and Howard Stark in the opening scene and mentions of (and appearances by!) Avengers in various places. There are two stingers at the end and the last frames before the second does in fact say that Ant-Man will be back.
What's wrong with Ant-Man? This is another villain who is a bit of an afterthought to all the other stuff that's happening. The fight itself is really enjoyable and has some great comedy beats though. You will cheer for the weirdest damned stuff you've ever cheered in a movie. I wish there had been some sort of call back to Agents of SHIELD like there was for Avengers 2, but that didn't happen. I guess there's also the MST3k matter of comic book physics involved but I don't think anyone is really sitting in the theater actively worrying about it.
Besides the usual action movie violence of punching and shooting, there's also on-screen mammal liquification. You have been warned.
What's wrong with Ant-Man? This is another villain who is a bit of an afterthought to all the other stuff that's happening. The fight itself is really enjoyable and has some great comedy beats though. You will cheer for the weirdest damned stuff you've ever cheered in a movie. I wish there had been some sort of call back to Agents of SHIELD like there was for Avengers 2, but that didn't happen. I guess there's also the MST3k matter of comic book physics involved but I don't think anyone is really sitting in the theater actively worrying about it.
Besides the usual action movie violence of punching and shooting, there's also on-screen mammal liquification. You have been warned.
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Fatwah on Western Digital
Mr. Robot is very enjoyable. I don't know who they got to do their tech consulting, but when they talk about hacking and show off computer screens, the details are actually right.
The TV show right? I only ask because this is the "best movie" thread.
Hell yeah, Mr. Robot is an excellent TV show. I missed a bunch of the beginning episodes but the 3 or 4 I did see are very good. Definitely not the typical "hacker" movie/tv show. I agree with Merc there's no, "that's BULLSHIT" moments as far as the actual computer details go.
Stereodude
Not really a
I'm still waiting for Elliot to hack the Gibson myself.
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Fatwah on Western Digital
It's kind of "Things that are worth watching" at this point.
The new Minority Report is kind of interesting too, from the pilot that's been leaked all over the internet for a couple weeks.
But anyway, I like that Mr. Robot acknowledges that there are different OSes and graphical interfaces. The security guys mostly use *nix and Every time I see output from a terminal session, the commands basically make sense in context and frankly so does the "Let's hack this uber secure facility with a Rpi using their shitty vendor-supplied networked climate control system."
Though I will say that every time I've been in a high security datacenter-type facility, that shit has been underground and people who don't need to be where the secure bits go aren't allowed.
I'm not sure it's the greatest drama in the history of time, but it's actually clued in to most aspects of IT and Information Security in a way I was not expecting. That's pretty damned cool.
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Fatwah on Western Digital
That's not my speed, LM. Jonathan Demme apparently gave up proper movie making after Philadelphia and IIRC everything he's done since has been one concert movie after another.
A new Star Wars teaser, scored to a new orchestration of the Imprerial March and ending with the reveal of a blue lightsaber, was released today on Instagram. I didn't see a way to embed it, but you can watch it here with music
Also, there are some new studio art for Captain America: Civil War, which reveals the two sides.
Yes, that *is* Ant-Man on Hawkeye's shoulder, and Peggy Carter's (grand?)daughter Sharon, last seen in the first Captain America movie.
And that's Black Panther.
Not pictured, but still in that movie: Spider-Man. A Marvel-approved, not-actually-British-hipster version.
A new Star Wars teaser, scored to a new orchestration of the Imprerial March and ending with the reveal of a blue lightsaber, was released today on Instagram. I didn't see a way to embed it, but you can watch it here with music
Also, there are some new studio art for Captain America: Civil War, which reveals the two sides.
Yes, that *is* Ant-Man on Hawkeye's shoulder, and Peggy Carter's (grand?)daughter Sharon, last seen in the first Captain America movie.
And that's Black Panther.
Not pictured, but still in that movie: Spider-Man. A Marvel-approved, not-actually-British-hipster version.
Yeah, that is a bit sad. Does almost everything you watch involve fantasy and people in tights or funky uniforms? No romantic films or dramas?
ddrueding
Fixture
Despicable Me is playing for about the 30th time in the last couple months. This and the sequel are the only films to feature at our house in years.
Stereodude
Not really a
In 3D?
ddrueding
Fixture
Our projector does 3D and we have the 3D glasses, but the kid doesn't like to wear them.
Stereodude
Not really a
Well, if the 4th dimension is time, movies have that covered by default.What, no 4D yet?