Movies you've recently watched

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Big Hero 6 was pretty good. It had everything - comedy, action, touchy/ emotional stuff.
That hipster kid was goddamn funny even with his suit on
If you watch it there's supposed to be something after the credits, I just found out and missed seeing it.
 

Kompozinaut

Sylph Sword
Saw Interstellar over the weekend. It didn't blow me away like I had hoped, but the more I ruminate on it, the more I really like it. I definitely need to see it again to finalize my opinion. For Science Fiction, there's a lot it apparently gets right. I've never seen a movie so heavily discuss
relativity
, and it's such an important part of the narrative, so I appreciated its originality there. There's a few moments where the characters do some questionable things,
and the first/second act is a compound of convenience, granted, it gets explained away later.

Though it's a long movie, its pacing is pretty well done. I could feel the passage of time, but I never got bored. I thought the acting was well done. The more I see of McConaughey the more I like his work; this was no different, though his character in True Detective still remains my favorite thus far.
I thought the robots stole the show. Didn't expect to see Matt Damon show up either. It was a pretty nice surprise, even if his role was fairly small. Also, Topher Grace?? Where the hell has he been since Spiderman 3?

I thought the score was a marked improvement over the last couple titles Hans Zimmer has attempted. Still, at times the music was overpowering, and not in a good way. I'll blame some audio engineer on that. Overall, and maybe I'm projecting here, it seemed to have been influenced by the choices Kubrick used in 2001--at one point I'm confident he used elements of Also Sprach Zarathustra verbatim, and, if I remember correctly, he utilized something akin to a Ligeti sound mass. Phillip Glass was definitely an influence, or at the very least, Zimmer was sharing a VERY similar aesthetic, as well, though I could have sworn I was hearing Koyaanisqatsi at one point.

For what it's worth, apparently Neil deGrasse Tyson gave a lot of the science in the movie a thumbs up.
 
I had a similar reaction to Interstellar was well, I really enjoyed the movie but I was kind of expecting a bit more from it. Some of the twists weren't really that shocking but I feel like it was a solid movie with good acting and an enjoyable story. The music was excellent as well, I liked that Hans Zimmer strayed away from his usual big bombastic scores.

Fury was great though, very gritty and I liked how it showed how dirty and brutal our "good" war was.
My only complaint was the ending battle felt out of place with how video gamey it was. The tank battle with the Tiger 1 was hands down the best scene of the movie, I wished we could seen scenes like that.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Delta Phi said:
Saw Interstellar over the weekend. It didn't blow me away like I had hoped, but the more I ruminate on it, the more I really like it. I definitely need to see it again to finalize my opinion. For Science Fiction, there's a lot it apparently gets right. I've never seen a movie so heavily discuss
relativity
, and it's such an important part of the narrative, so I appreciated its originality there. There's a few moments where the characters do some questionable things,
and the first/second act is a compound of convenience, granted, it gets explained away later.

Finally saw it today myself. It was better than I expected. Easily one of Nolan's best I think, in large part because of the acting and the way the emotions are captured. I could feel for a lot of those characters. Was less of a visual spectacle than I expected though. As for the science, while it didn't spoil my enjoyment or anything, quite a few key elements are akin to magic.

Delta Phi said:
I thought the robots stole the show. Didn't expect to see Matt Damon show up either. It was a pretty nice surprise, even if his role was fairly small.

The robots are the best part of the movie as far as I'm concerned. Exceptionally well done, and you can tell a good deal of thought went into them. The genius of it was to give them human-like personalities. As for Damon, it was a pleasant surprise indeed, though I quickly caught on to what kind of character he was playing. Still, was nice for such a minor role.

Delta Phi said:
I thought the score was a marked improvement over the last couple titles Hans Zimmer has attempted. Still, at times the music was overpowering, and not in a good way. I'll blame some audio engineer on that.

It didn't really bother me, it felt appropriately raw for those scenes.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Aazealh said:
Finally saw it today myself. It was better than I expected. Easily one of Nolan's best I think, in large part because of the acting and the way the emotions are captured.

He likes it, he likes it! Well, now I have to go see it.

BTW, I think that's really how Walter and I decide whether to invest our time in something or not. Too bad it's not always reciprocal. *cough*breakingbad*cough*
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Aazealh said:
Finally saw it today myself. It was better than I expected. Easily one of Nolan's best I think, in large part because of the acting and the way the emotions are captured. I could feel for a lot of those characters.
Griffith said:
BTW, I think that's really how Walter and I decide whether to invest our time in something or not. Too bad it's not always reciprocal. *cough*breakingbad*cough*

Fuckin a, dude. Like I have time to go see a movie? :mozgus: Guess I'll look up a babysitter...
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Griffith said:
BTW, I think that's really how Walter and I decide whether to invest our time in something or not. Too bad it's not always reciprocal. *cough*breakingbad*cough*

It's on my list of things to do! I swear!

By the way, I'll be starting MGS4 this weekend, proof that I do get around to crossing things off that list! Really, much like in Interstellar, it's all about the relativity of time. :void:
 
Super cool to read you liked the movie Aaz since I consider your view on sci-fi related stuff highly. I have to say I liked it the first time I watched it but I liked it so much more the second time. The movie's engaging beginning to end backed with Zimmer's emotional and sometimes triumphant sounding score, perfect for what we see whether it's emotional scenes or scenes in space. I heard a snippet off 2001 in a spot or two and there's a hint of Ligeti when
they're just about to land on the 1st planet
. Nods to 2001 were cool to watch like
the monolithic design of the robot, the spinning-docking sequence much much faster, both Dave and Coop traveling through space and time in the end
. I watched it in IMAX both times and it's amazingly loud which was such a great experience. Read recently of people complaining the dialog was inaudible, I didn't get any of that. It was clear and was loud when it had to be, even a loud score I didn't mind listening to. Like Aaz said, you feel for the characters and everyone has more than a moment to shine,
that scene when Coop comes back and watches the videos sent to him over a span of 23 years got me very emotional, had to remind myself not to tear up cos I was with friends!
I'm not good at reading sci-fi books, though I would love to but I don't know where to start which's always been intimidating for me, so any help in that regard would do (I'll go through the Now Reading topic soon). I do however listen to Tyson's podcasts and all his debates that I have access to. So it brought a smile seeing what scientists discuss/ debate about fleshed out on screen like
relativity in space, black holes and the singularity, the fourth dimension (something you hear about but seeing it was breath-taking).
Every scene in space is gorgeous, magnified by the fact that 95% of the space scenes in the film were filmed in IMAX, so it's massive when you watch it. I did however cringe at two places -
Amelia's monologue about Love and towards the end when Coop figures out a way to send a message he tells Tars love will guide him to pick the exact moment to communicate with Amelia. I guess it can work because it was something that drove him to do what he did in the 3rd act kicking in his instinct to survive.
Another pal might watch it next week, I hope to tag along for another ride on an IMAX screen.

Other movies I've watched recently -

The new The Hunger Games movie (last night) was boring. It's the weakest in the series so far while the other 2 movies aren't good. Flat emotions, flat forced acting, etc. It does set things up for the next one which I figure will open big and make pots of money for the studio.

A Most Wanted Man - Philip S Hoffman is incredible in this one, nice thriller with a less is more direction. Recommended.

Automata - I was thrilled to see a trailer for it a few weeks ago but it was very disappointing to watch. A good thing here and there but overall it was a clunker. I feel like Antonio's acting chops gets better as he grows older but not enough to save this movie.

Dracula Untold - couldn't take this seriously but I think that was the point since it looked nonsensical yet cool in trailers. The movie isn't good but on some level it was entertaining enough for me to see it till the end. Wouldn't watch it again.

Left Behind - only watched it for Nic cage. The movie is just bad.

Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes - wow, what a surprise. I liked Rise a fair bit but Dawn edges past as being better in everything - emotions/ drama, the action and the situation both human and ape groups have to deal with. It's rare to see sequels better the original and this one is.
 

Oburi

All praise Grail
I also saw Interstellar and I agree with what others have said about really enjoying the emotional aspect of the movie while also feeling way more let down with the visual spectacle. I loved what little they did show, but I wish it slowed down when it came to the space travel stuff. As a huge fan of Kubrick's 2001, I was secretly hoping for longer, slower paced shots of space and otherworldly planets. The movie began to get too ... talky? Too much exposition. More show, less tell. I was certainly engaged the whole time though. And I loved score.

I really wanted this movie to just blow me away and although it most likely is one of Nolan's better films ... man, I wish he just cut the dialog down and concentrate on the visuals more. Like imagine if at the end of 2001 when David is entering the next step in human evolution instead all those wonderful visuals the characters just explained everything that was happening.

I also agree the robots stole the show.
 
Oburi said:
As a huge fan of Kubrick's 2001, I was secretly hoping for longer, slower paced shots of space and otherworldly planets. The movie began to get too ... talky? Too much exposition. More show, less tell. I was certainly engaged the whole time though. And I loved score.

I really wanted this movie to just blow me away and although it most likely is one of Nolan's better films ... man, I wish he just cut the dialog down and concentrate on the visuals more. Like imagine if at the end of 2001 when David is entering the next step in human evolution instead all those wonderful visuals the characters just explained everything that was happening.

Keep in mind that the movie is about 2 hours and 40 mins long and in fact, the IMAX reel had no room for trailers to be shown before the movie (the first movie I've watched where they ran out of reel like that). The dialog in my opinion was essential to the kind of plot they handled or the minor explanation of the science the story demanded in this film, including that little easter egg of
Event Horizon
. If we were to take any of that away and put 10 minutes of space shots, while it would be glorious visually, it would add to the confusion of the viewer. The dialog functions as reasons for their decisions or actions in those moments. Also, the only time I could see them do that maybe is when the
Endurance is headed to the first black hole
. At the end of the movie, I heard a bare 10/15 people clap which was good cos I hate the clapping part but I overheard a few people say they didn't understand it. And this's off a Nolan movie that I thought went full circle in explaining it well from opening shots to the end unlike an Inception or since you compare it with - 2001 - sort of open ending discussion. I think you're reaching in expecting an explanation from a sole character left in the 3rd act of the film aka David to explain what he himself did not understand was happening to him.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Off to see Interstellar. :daiba:

=======

That was fantastic. Really a treat, particularly because it worked well both as a genre movie and as a drama. It's been a while since I've seen a movie balance those two elements so effectively.

Just going to be brief and rough on impressions since it's late (caught a 9:50pm showing, and it's now 1:20am).

**Spoilers ahoy!**


Acting was superb all around. Even the smaller roles. I think the fact that they can sell it so well is because of how fleshed out the world the Nolans created was. Also props for them effectively conveying the feelings of isolation, danger and longing that most of us imagine distant space travel involving, without coming across as TOO cliche. Sometimes the emotion felt a bit unrealistically blunt, given this being a mission by scientists; the prime example being Anne Hathaway's minor tantrum about the team choosing the other planet, but even that was properly framed within the context of the story, and later, given significance. I was really impressed with that.

The robot design was fascinating, and provided 90 percent of the laughs (let's dial that back a bit. Maybe 55). The nerd in me also enjoyed the homage the movie offers between Cooper/TARS and Dave/HAL, for those familiar with the later stuff in Clarke's 2001 series. I don't think that was coincidence, nor the fact that the design of the robot somewhat calls to mind the monolith from that series (and of course, all the other 2001 allusions, including the music, which was phenomenal).

I sort of had the whole ghost thing pegged from the start, mostly because I'd heard there some somewhat supernatural elements. However, knowing that didn't take away from the big moment at all.

I felt the weakest part was in the middle, where the entire movie almost becomes adrift with Dr. Mann. The whole scenario mostly serves to add a few scenes of dramatic tension and little else (except to perhaps elaborate on the complications of what a project of this type can do to people, and how the human element can wreck even the best-laid plans.) But I can hardly complain, since they successfully made an action sequence about docking.

I'll admit I haven't fully processed the ending yet. Is the implication that Brand is still out there, having activated Plan B on the other planet (sort of like a soldier who doesn't know the war is over), but hasn't been reached by the modern world yet. And only Cooper can navigate to her, because … of love? Did the technology that allowed him to intervene in the black hole come from a distant future, beyond the one he eventually ends up in?

Closing thought: as the theater emptied, I realized it was almost exclusively populated by guys, and that really bummed me out...
 
Walter said:
I'll admit I haven't fully processed the ending yet. Is the implication that Brand is still out there, having activated Plan B on the other planet (sort of like a soldier who doesn't know the war is over), but hasn't been reached by the modern world yet. And only Cooper can navigate to her, because … of love? Did the technology that allowed him to intervene in the black hole come from a distant future, beyond the one he eventually ends up in?

When he was found drifting in space and they revived him, they said he was over a 100 years old but because time was relative when he was exposed to the tesseract/singularity and the first plus Mann's planets, he didn't age as much. The same relativity would have applied for Hathaway's character who in a 100+ years may have spent only a few hours on Edmonds’ planet. So for him to go back and find her would probably mean a few more hours or days at the most on her side since they seemed close to the black hole he could use to get to her (I think old Murph left the journey to her Dad so he'd find purpose like the drone they found and reprogrammed. In their futuristic world, I wonder how Coop would have fared). He knows she's on Edmonds' planet, so that search wouldn't take too long I assume. I get the feeling that the black hole was created in the future for them to use for interstellar travel, much like his revelation than there is no 'they', it's man themselves who made everything possible by their own actions.
Closing thought: as the theater emptied, I realized it was almost exclusively populated by guys, and that really bummed me out...

Mostly couples for me.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
IncantatioN said:
Read recently of people complaining the dialog was inaudible, I didn't get any of that.

There were times when it was hard to discern for me.

Walter said:
I felt the weakest part was in the middle, where the entire movie almost becomes adrift with Dr. Mann. The whole scenario mostly serves to add a few scenes of dramatic tension and little else (except to perhaps elaborate on the complications of what a project of this type can do to people, and how the human element can wreck even the best-laid plans.) But I can hardly complain, since they successfully made an action sequence about docking.

I don't know, I think it was important to have some plot threads that were actually about visiting the planets. The water planet and Mann's frozen prison served that role, and I enjoyed the fact you didn't know quite what they were going to find each time. It also served to bring the crew to the needed point of desperation and helped expose the truth behind the whole operation (Mann being privy to it all). And it had some action/tension. If I had to choose a weak point for the movie, it'd have to be the "singularity" moment where Cooper communicates to his daughter via magic, etc. I think it's a bit of a reach, even within the context of the movie. I also thought the beginning was a little bit slow/lasted too long, but it didn't really bother me.

Walter said:
I'll admit I haven't fully processed the ending yet. Is the implication that Brand is still out there, having activated Plan B on the other planet (sort of like a soldier who doesn't know the war is over), but hasn't been reached by the modern world yet. And only Cooper can navigate to her, because … of love?

It took the team 2 years to reach the wormhole while they hibernated. When they overstayed on the first planet they let 23 years pass, which brought Cooper's kids to adult age while only a few hours had passed for him. When they used the slingshot effect around the black hole to get Brand to the third planet, they let 51 more years pass. All of that is because of the way a black hole's extreme mass deforms spacetime. So that's a 76 years difference between the expedition and the people on Earth.

When he was inside the Black Hole, he could move through time, and so when he told Murph about the secret of gravity, he was reaching through time. For her it happened around the same time he was on Mann's planet, or at least before he maneuvered around the black hole. In Brand's timeline, when she emerged from that slingshot trick, the giant habitat ships were already in space and the Earth was already abandoned.

Then Cooper wakes up, and he's told he's 124 years old. Now there's a discrepancy here I believe, the numbers don't seem to add up. We don't know exactly how old he was when he left Earth, but given that Murph had become his age, I'd say around 37 (12 + 25). That adds up to 113 years with the years we're told earlier on, so a 9 years difference. But let's ignore this as it can probably be rationalized one way or another. In Brand's timeline, she's just arrived on the third planet. So Coop goes to her and they can be reunited without too long of an interval.

Now, why didn't anyone else go there... Maybe they didn't want to send any more scouts because they had no need for it and/or they figured they'd go all at once. Or maybe the single-seat ships they have are limited in range and they're just reached the point where they could be used, and Cooper just beat them to the punch. The truth is that it suits the purpose of the movie.

Walter said:
Did the technology that allowed him to intervene in the black hole come from a distant future, beyond the one he eventually ends up in?

Yeah of course. He emerges at around the time Brand reaches the Edmunds' planet as far as we can see, conveniently allowing him to meet with his dying daughter and then rush back to run extensive penetrometer measurements on Amelia this newfound world. The 5D beings are from the far flung future. It's implied they might be evolved humans, but they could be anything really. Either way, they're way beyond the time he appears back in.

Walter said:
Closing thought: as the theater emptied, I realized it was almost exclusively populated by guys, and that really bummed me out...

Like IncantatioN, it was mostly couples when I saw it.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
IncantatioN said:
When he was found drifting in space and they revived him, they said he was over a 100 years old but because time was relative when he was exposed to the tesseract/singularity and the first plus Mann's planets, he didn't age as much. The same relativity would have applied for Hathaway's character who in a 100+ years may have spent only a few hours on Edmonds’ planet.

Got it. But I didn't have any trouble grappling the effect of relativity. Rather, I was confused why Cooper himself was uniquely qualified to go out and search for Brand, other than the fact that, like Aazealh said, when Cooper lands they're going to create sex impact craters on the new planet. And I wondered if the future he ends up in isn't yet equipped to know where it is that Brand landed (or which galaxy their initial expeditions took the Endurance), but with the dimension-crossing "power of love", Coop can find her. That would seem a very Nolan ending, to me.

I get the feeling that the black hole was created in the future for them to use for interstellar travel, much like his revelation than there is no 'they', it's man themselves who made everything possible by their own actions.

Of course, otherwise it'd be the only phenomena in the movie that wasn't humans.
 
I saw John Wick the other day and I thought it was really good. It's a very straight forward movie with a very simple plot but it's so much fun. I thought it was really well done. Has anybody else seen it? I'd be very interested in reading opinions from other members.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
m said:
I saw John Wick the other day and I thought it was really good. It's a very straight forward movie with a very simple plot but it's so much fun. I thought it was really well done. Has anybody else seen it? I'd be very interested in reading opinions from other members.

I hadn't even heard of it. I'll keep it in mind though if you think it's worth checking out.
 
Aazealh said:
I hadn't even heard of it. I'll keep it in mind though if you think it's worth checking out.

Yeah, I don't think it has made all that much noise, unfortunately. I went to see it with some guys from work and most of them hadn't heard about it either. I highly recommend it and I'm personally quite glad I got to see it in theaters; it was well worth my time and money.
 

NightCrawler

Aeons gone, vast, mad and deathless
Interstellar made me think that Prometheus is underrated. Both suffer from scientists-turn-stupid for the sake of suspense/action, also some cringing line-reading, and the last 5min of both movies are kinda shit. Nevertheless, it was emotionally engaging, unlike every other Nolan movie, which was the most surprising thing. It worked well as a drama. Probably not top 3 Nolan, but maybe number 4.
The plot was fairly predictable (
in the beginning as soon as the girl says the ghost says don't leave, if you don't immediately realize it's her dad, you haven't seen enough movies
). Acting was overall great, but some characters served zero purpose - the most glaring offender being the son.
Just like Prometheus i suspended my disbelief enough to enjoy the ride and the scope of it. I give it an 8 for ambition, and a 6 for execution.

I think someone said it here before, but the score had some motifs clearly ripped off of Koyaanisqatsi. It was my first thought outside the theatre as i kept humming the tune. Hans Zimmer will probably call it an homage, like the hack he is.

Also saw Nightcrawler. Awesome. It was like a less stylized Drive with better plot. Kinda reminded me of Taxi Driver as well. Best actor oscar nom locked. It will be between him and Keaton. Will likely go to Keaton, since the Academy always loves a comeback.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
NightCrawler said:
Interstellar made me think that Prometheus is underrated.

Ohhh, Nighty! :ganishka:

Acting was overall great, but some characters served zero purpose - the most glaring offender being the son.

I think he served the purpose of a lens to the attitude of everyone else on the planet.
Also, he represents one side of the dichotomy that's laid between the philosophies of John Lithgow's character and Cooper: giving up on the pioneering spirit and living in this world versus looking elsewhere for solutions. Cooper's son adopts Lithgow's philosophy where Murph adopts Cooper's. The fact that the son insists on staying in the infested house even after his son dies is on-the-nose symbolism of this dichotomy. Is it boring? Sure. But it still serves a purpose, since other than Lithgow and Mopey McGee, we get no other non-science personnel glimpses into human attitudes on the circumstances the planet faces.

I think someone said it here before, but the score had some motifs clearly ripped off of Koyaanisqatsi. It was my first thought outside the theatre as i kept humming the tune. Hans Zimmer will probably call it an homage, like the hack he is.

To be fair, Zimmer's been a hack for a decade or so. Anyway, I had the same thought, and while it's totally possible, consider that both involve alternatively meandering and blaring organ instrumentals and both involve space imagery (they also sort of have the same atmosphere...). I haven't compared the scores side by side or anything, but given that conflation, it could be our minds making those connections. But beyond that, the organ blare has been compared to the final seconds of 2001's version of Also sprach Zarathustra (http://youtu.be/QwxYiVXYyVs?t=1m33s) compared to http://youtu.be/k2aJF-oNXlM?t=2m54s). I think that was also deliberate.

All of that being said, I enjoyed the music quite a bit. :ubik:

Also saw Nightcrawler. Awesome.

Damn, want to see that now.
 
It might very well go to Keaton but I'm rooting for Jake cos he's been consistently good. Nightcrawler's been on my radar for a bit so that and John Wick I'll try to hit up this weekend.

Last night I watched Predestination. If you like time travel, this is one to check out. Though not perfect, the narration, the story being more character driven and a bit of a messed up scenario makes it an interesting ride. In the beginning, you see a bomber and a mysterious agent fight and one side loses. Hawke's character's given a mission to stop the bomber, which he believes he can achieve with time travel while trying not to step on any time travel rules or paradoxes.
 
I saw Interstellar myself 8 days ago. I've grown to like it a lot more after ruminating on it for several days. My initial impressions were mixed. With that 3rd arc I couldn't shake the feeling that I had just seen an M. Night Shyamalan movie.

However after reading reviews online I believe I missed some key dialogue in the movie which make the events in question a lot more acceptable.

As others have mentioned, I thought the movie did an excellent job depicting the feelings of isolation and desperation that interstellar travel must invoke. I really liked the focus on
time dilation
but I also thought the movie missed an opportunity to depict phenomena of
spageittification
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Jaze1618 said:
I really liked the focus on
time dilation
but I also thought the movie missed an opportunity to depict phenomena of
spageittification

Didn't we get that during
the "handshake"?

This thread is starting to read like an FBI dossier :ganishka:
 
Walter said:
This thread is starting to read like an FBI dossier :ganishka:

YESSS!
:guts:

Jaze1618 said:
However after reading reviews online I believe I missed some key dialogue in the movie which make the events in question a lot more acceptable.

I liked it a lot better the second time I watched it and the fun part was, it didn't feel stale. You start noticing bits and pieces either shown or things said that come full circle.
 
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