Official Movie Discussion Thread

[papermoth]

Eclipse: Better than New Moon, but still yuck - 3/10

No way you actually paid money to see that 0.o.

What possessed you, child?

 

[NoobyMcNooberton]

I was dragged in kicking and screaming by some of my friends It was horrible!

 

[papermoth]

I was dragged in kicking and screaming by some of my friends It was horrible!

I'm friends with a bunch of twitards too. Their so disgusting I love 'em. Mine tried to make me read the books even!

I read all but 100 pages of the first one before attempting to gouge out my eyes with a rusted spoon.

Usually I like to be well versed in that which I mock but I'm making an exception for Twilight.

 

[B_raja]

don't really follow twilight so can't really comment on that movie but the best movie by far these hols was good old Toy Story 3

 

[godoftoast]

don't really follow twilight so can't really comment on that movie but the best movie by far these hols was good old Toy Story 3

Inception was very good as well. I liked both movies (and this is from someone who usually gets bored from most movies).

 

[papermoth]

Just came back from Inception. It was OK-- a bit obvious though. The script was my main concern. I felt like every plot turn/detail/concept was a little too intricately explained so as to not confuse the audience. This was disappointing. Hollywood needs to stop assuming we're idiots-- we can work it out for ourselves. Well I can at least. I guess I'm not the only one they're catering for though- hmph.

Plus the concept that you wake up when you die in a dream didn't work for me. When I die in dreams I wake up, yes, but within the dream. It was a detail I found hard to overlook. I take myself too seriously sometimes- really I do (and I also abuse the dash- see!).

On a positive note the cast is so damn gorgeous (Tom Hardy? Yes please!) that all shortcomings are easily forgiven. And the cinematography is topnotch too!

On the whole Inception as summer blockbuster (and nothing more)- gets two thumbs up from me.

 

[diametric]

Just came back from Inception. It was OK-- a bit obvious though. The script was my main concern. I felt like every plot turn/detail/concept was a little too intricately explained so as to not confuse the audience. This was disappointing. Hollywood needs to stop assuming we're idiots-- we can work it out for ourselves. Well I can at least. I guess I'm not the only one they're catering for though- hmph.

Plus the concept that you wake up when you die in a dream didn't work for me. When I die in dreams I wake up, yes, but within the dream. It was a detail I found hard to overlook. I take myself too seriously sometimes- really I do (and I also abuse the dash- see!).

On a positive note the cast is so damn gorgeous (Tom Hardy? Yes please!) that all shortcomings are easily forgiven. And the cinematography is topnotch too!

On the whole Inception as summer blockbuster (and nothing more)- gets two thumbs up from me.

lol wtf? Inception was probably the most intelligent summer blockbuster I've seen.

 

[papermoth]

lol wtf? Inception was probably the most intelligent summer blockbuster I've seen.

Yeah I agree as a summer blockbuster it's all sweet (I can't give more than two thumbs up :])

As a film... well the concept was great (not terribly creative though-- with all the secrecy surrounding it I was expecting a little bit more) but imo poorly executed. This was mainly because the script left nothing to the imagination. I like to work things out for myself-- be challenged. I went with my sister who thought it was genius so I guess to each his own.

Pan's Labyrinth now there's an intelligent film! Most of my friends think it's just sadistic haha

 

[Hayden]

Just came back from Inception. It was OK-- a bit obvious though. The script was my main concern. I felt like every plot turn/detail/concept was a little too intricately explained so as to not confuse the audience. This was disappointing. Hollywood needs to stop assuming we're idiots-- we can work it out for ourselves. Well I can at least. I guess I'm not the only one they're catering for though- hmph.

Plus the concept that you wake up when you die in a dream didn't work for me. When I die in dreams I wake up, yes, but within the dream. It was a detail I found hard to overlook. I take myself too seriously sometimes- really I do (and I also abuse the dash- see!).

On a positive note the cast is so damn gorgeous (Tom Hardy? Yes please!) that all shortcomings are easily forgiven. And the cinematography is topnotch too!

On the whole Inception as summer blockbuster (and nothing more)- gets two thumbs up from me.

I think you are looking at it in a very simplistic way. It was very allegorical; the explanations you are speaking of were there for those who just wanted to go along for the ride. The cleverness of the movie was that for those who wanted to think a little deeper, the explanations offered a opportunity to think about the boundaries and possibilities of the 'rules' of dreaming that the film created.

There was also a lot of very subtle psychiatry and philosophy in there. The infinite mirror scene was extremely clever, turning the mind on itself... There's a lot to think about, if you wanted to.

The end was great - for most it was a case of 'Oh was he dreaming or wasn't he???' But really it was a statement - that we necessarily can't know, by virtue of the brain's power to suppress and influence perception. Did the music swell and distort at the end there for emotional effect? Or was it to mirror the way music was used as a dream cue in the staged sleeping earlier in the movie, suggesting he was perceiving music from a different 'level'? Are we even supposed to guess, or is the point simply to question the possibility?

A good movie makes you keep asking these questions. I was very impressed.


NB - an explanation of the death / wake up thing - remember all the sleep in the film is under chemical influence; this cleverly affords the opportunity for the writer to define how sleep and dreaming works in such a situation. Remember the discussion of how dreaming and sleeping is more 'sharp' and satisfying/real when using certain sedating compounds? Hence, under those circumstances, the 'rules' of dreaming are different, hence you wake up from dream death under the influence of one compound, but under the influence of another, you go into a sort of purgatorial coma of the mind.

 

[LottoX]

Just saw Shutter Island a couple of nights ago. Pretty good psychological thriller, although you can see the plot twist from a mile away. Still, I'm really becoming a fan of Leonardo Di Caprio's more recent work.

 

[theillestill]

Body of lies is a great film.

 

[papermoth]

I think you are looking at it in a very simplistic way. It was very allegorical; the explanations you are speaking of were there for those who just wanted to go along for the ride. The cleverness of the movie was that for those who wanted to think a little deeper, the explanations offered a opportunity to think about the boundaries and possibilities of the 'rules' of dreaming that the film created.

There was also a lot of very subtle psychiatry and philosophy in there. The infinite mirror scene was extremely clever, turning the mind on itself... There's a lot to think about, if you wanted to.

The end was great - for most it was a case of 'Oh was he dreaming or wasn't he???' But really it was a statement - that we necessarily can't know, by virtue of the brain's power to suppress and influence perception. Did the music swell and distort at the end there for emotional effect? Or was it to mirror the way music was used as a dream cue in the staged sleeping earlier in the movie, suggesting he was perceiving music from a different 'level'? Are we even supposed to guess, or is the point simply to question the possibility?

A good movie makes you keep asking these questions. I was very impressed.


NB - an explanation of the death / wake up thing - remember all the sleep in the film is under chemical influence; this cleverly affords the opportunity for the writer to define how sleep and dreaming works in such a situation. Remember the discussion of how dreaming and sleeping is more 'sharp' and satisfying/real when using certain sedating compounds? Hence, under those circumstances, the 'rules' of dreaming are different, hence you wake up from dream death under the influence of one compound, but under the influence of another, you go into a sort of purgatorial coma of the mind.

You know the more I think about Inspection I more it irks me :\ Last night I didn't want to admit I had been swindled out of 15 bucks so opted instead to (poorly) critic the most irrelevant aspects of the movie for my own sake. I'm not one of those "chuu look at me I'm so different!" types and honestly I'd rather be in your position- that is contemplating the subtleties of the film, it's deeper meaning, allusions, symbols so on. But I just can't :[ See, imo, the most basic accepts of the film were so fundamentally flawed how anyone could see past them I don't understand. I can't forgive Inception for it's unnecessary complexities, self-contradictory notions, poorly developed characters (this one was a real doozy) and uninspired script (arghh!). Seriously- call me stubborn but this time I'm not jumping on the bandwagon (technically I was on it and decided to jump off). I was willing to let the likes of Avatar slip under the radder 'cuase well... the Na'vi were blue. But this... :[ I did try give me that much.

Anyway, I'm an extreme minority in my views but I did find two critics who articulate my sentiments more eloquently than I ever could (I'm not getting payed to make sense :] ).

Check 'em out (90% of critics are love Inception so yeah this is a novelty)

https://nymag.com/movies/reviews/67155/

https://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/cinema/2010/07/26/100726crci_cinema_denby

Anyway for the record I really like your analysis of the end scene/music. You seem like you'd make a good film discussion buddy! I did have a neat solipsism theory going on at one point but I've long given up trying to justify even pretending like this film got me thinking :\

Oh well.. my loss.

 

[Hayden]

Haha each to their own, if we all liked the same thing it would be very boring

 

[papermoth]

Haha each to their own, if we all liked the same thing it would be very boring

Indeed :]

 

[adomad]

The losers= good movie

 

[LottoX]

The losers= good movie

I heard it was fairly average.

Also, i saw inception last week. Fairly good, but I expected more brain-****ing from a Christopher Nolan film

In other news, Arrested Development movie is going ahead :woot:

 

[_philanderer_]

inception=really bad confusing meaningless movie
SALT=AWESOME!

I agree, with Inception not being as awesome as everyone seems to be making it out to be. I definitely would've enjoyed more/better/SOME character development. By the end of the movie, I didn't really CARE too much about any of the characters. Sure, it's interesting to speculate about the ending, and sure one of the theories for the movie explains the lack of character development, but I would've enjoyed it more if the characters weren't so hollow.

Anyways, the second comment was that I didn't much like Salt at all. I found it boring, too much pointless dialogue and again a poor job of characterisation, her attachment to her husband was her most endearing quality + I didn't much believe Angelina where that's concerned. They revealed the punch line far tooo soon and the ambiguity didn't last very long, the plot line was just too predictable. And I mean as far as eye candy goes, there wasn't any for women (unless you're into women.. and even then I don't think Angelina looks the best in this movie).

So yeah, I've been a bit disappointed this past month, lol I think I'll just go back to watching fantastic German comedies like "Soul Kitchen" (the last movie I truly enjoyed) or else stick to intriguing TV series like Dexter .

 

[papermoth]

Donnie Darko; I'll admit I didn't fully get it. But for me that's half the fun. Also cellardoor.

EDIT; I thought 28 days later was superb!

 

[sMoKeY]

I have salt but have not watched it yet now I want to watch it.
Anyone like 28 days/weeks later?

 

[Syn]

yea 28 weeks later was alright, bit slow though. Anyone seen The Usual Suspects?