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Which movie did you watch today and how would you rate it?

I just watched Mystery Road which was OK in a slow paced, nicely filmed sort of way. 7/10


The advertising said it starred Hugo Weaving. I don't now whether it is the greater advertising value of a celebrity or racism that Aaron Pederson didn't get a mention.
 
I just watched Mystery Road which was OK in a slow paced, nicely filmed sort of way. 7/10


The advertising said it starred Hugo Weaving. I don't now whether it is the greater advertising value of a celebrity or racism that Aaron Pederson didn't get a mention.

I would say the former, as Hugo Weaving is a well known actor, but I have never heard of Aaron Pederson.
 
99 Homes 8/10

Story about the housing collapse. This is the intimate side of the story. Set in Florida, it follows a residential construction worker who looses his job, looses his home, and ends up living in a motel with many others in similar situations. When he discovers some of his tools are stolen by the crew that set his possession out on the street, he goes to recover them and ultimately ends up working for the individual that evicted him.

So then, what would you do to get yourself, your mother, and your son out of this motel? What kind of person would you be, working for this money centered individual?

I liked the realistic and as I mentioned, intimate approach taken with this film. It is the individual representing the bank and the sheriff knocking on doors and physically moving people out, young and old alike. They do a good job of hitting home emotionally without overdoing it. The film did lack important detail of the process. There seemed to be an assumption on the part of the evicted as to having more time, through appeal (30 days) or on word from their lawyer. I would have liked to have known more about this. Similarly, the less than honest methods of taking advantage of Fannie Mae and the larger banks were kind of glossed over. I think there should have been more detail on this.

Well worth watching.
 
I just watched Mystery Road which was OK in a slow paced, nicely filmed sort of way. 7/10


The advertising said it starred Hugo Weaving. I don't now whether it is the greater advertising value of a celebrity or racism that Aaron Pederson didn't get a mention.

I would say the former, as Hugo Weaving is a well known actor, but I have never heard of Aaron Pederson.

Racist.
 
Olympus Has Fallen

6/10

One of two "dueling movies" from 2013--the other being White House Down--which could both be basically summed up as "Die Hard in the White House." Aside from the obvious movie influence, I'd suspect that both these films also drew at least indirectly on Vince Flynn's novel Transfer of Power. Anyways, this is the one with North Korean terrorists as the bad guys and Gerard Butler as the heroic Secret Service agent/one-man army. Antoine Fuqua directed, so the action is in good hands; otherwise it's pretty routine, with a by-the-numbers plot that has, I would guess, about the normal number of holes for a film of this sort.
 
Cloud Atlas

7/10


Beautifully filmed, very lyrical movie, a who's who of casting. The story is not as disjointed as the criticism I'd heard when this movie first came out. I found it easy to follow as much as it was possible to follow.

Sadly, the sex scenes are muted and chaste and the camera averts its eye while the scenes of violence are shown in all their goryness which is actually jarring. It's long, but I didn't see any part that could be excised without losing the storyline.

I enjoyed it.
 
Cloud Atlas

7/10


Beautifully filmed, very lyrical movie, a who's who of casting. The story is not as disjointed as the criticism I'd heard when this movie first came out. I found it easy to follow as much as it was possible to follow.

Sadly, the sex scenes are muted and chaste and the camera averts its eye while the scenes of violence are shown in all their goryness which is actually jarring. It's long, but I didn't see any part that could be excised without losing the storyline.

I enjoyed it.

I thought it was a thoughtful exploration of the nature of race and identity, using a reincarnation conceit to sell the ideas.
 
I gave these two movies a shot;

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), 2/10; Stars Michael Keaton, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu who just won an Oscar. I didn't last more than 20 minutes. The movie is filmed like it's in a single shot. I just found this to be annoying and bailed.

There Will Be Blood, 4/10; Stars the always excellent Daniel Day Lewis as a California silver prospector turned oil magnate. A slow burn with really annoying music. I had to bail after about 40 minutes. It's very dark and intense but not very entertaining.
 
Murder, My Sweet

9/10

A very good adaptation of Raymond Chandler's novel Farewell, My Lovely. The title was changed since RKO feared that audiences would think it was a musical; Dick Powell, who starred as Philip Marlowe, was a musical and light comedy specialist making his first film noir. Although both Humphrey Bogart and Robert Mitchum were later to give notable performances as Marlowe, Powell may have come the closest to bringing Chandler's PI to life onscreen. He had a strong supporting cast: the towering Mike Mazurki as a great Moose Malloy, the man too strong for his own good, Claire Trevor a good femme fatale although a trifle overwrought at times, Anne Shirley (in her final film role) as a "nice girl" with some spice and spunk, Don Douglas as hard-bitten homicide cop, and Otto Kruger as a slimy psychologist-blackmailer. Essential viewing for any film noir fans.
 
I just watched Mystery Road which was OK in a slow paced, nicely filmed sort of way. 7/10


The advertising said it starred Hugo Weaving. I don't now whether it is the greater advertising value of a celebrity or racism that Aaron Pederson didn't get a mention.

I would say the former, as Hugo Weaving is a well known actor, but I have never heard of Aaron Pederson.

The "racist" idea wouldn't even have occurred to me if it hadn't been for the controversy around the Oscars at the same time.

Weaving has worked in the US a fair bit. To my knowledge, Pederson hasn't, so you would be unlikely to have heard of him unless you seek out Australian films. But locally Pederson is popular and a drawcard. The film is about his character. The Weaving character is in maybe 4 scenes.

Even if it was "only" the pulling power of a better known actor, I would hate to star in a film and have the cameo role get the kudos.
I would say the former, as Hugo Weaving is a well known actor, but I have never heard of Aaron Pederson.

Racist.

:D
 
Recently re-watched Ender's Game (8/10). One of my favorite sci-fi books and a damn good movie.

Normally books and movies with a major plot twist at the end have no re-watch value for me, but I can watch/read this again and again and the plot twist still punches me in the gut every time even though I know what's coming.

Minor gripe: I know that movies have to cut a ton of material out when translating books to another medium, but they didn't explain the significance of the "As-salamu alaykum" line. In the book, that was an emotionally powerful moment for me. If they weren't going to explain why that line is so important, then why include the line in the movie at all?
 
The Dictator 2012. 8/10

Sasha Baron Cohens weakest film IMHO. Only a couple of laugh out loud moments. Mostly non-clever real dumb humour. But having Busty Heart as a security guard using her boobs as a weapon is pure genius. I was in stitches that entire scene. Could not stop laughing. The pokes at leftist cultural relativism were a little bit clever. But mostly meh.

I think the problem with making fun of absolute dictators is that they already are a parody of themselves. It's like making fun of a fundamentalist Christian. They already are a joke. How can you make that any funnier?
 
Recently re-watched Ender's Game (8/10). One of my favorite sci-fi books and a damn good movie.

Normally books and movies with a major plot twist at the end have no re-watch value for me, but I can watch/read this again and again and the plot twist still punches me in the gut every time even though I know what's coming.

Minor gripe: I know that movies have to cut a ton of material out when translating books to another medium, but they didn't explain the significance of the "As-salamu alaykum" line. In the book, that was an emotionally powerful moment for me. If they weren't going to explain why that line is so important, then why include the line in the movie at all?

Perhaps because they are trying to appeal to people, like yourself, who have read the book, and so understand its significance.

Or perhaps because they shot the expository scene(s), but they were cut from the final release, and they didn't bother going back an re-shooting the scene which they left in; or they meant to edit it too, but didn't.
 
The Dictator 2012. 8/10

Sasha Baron Cohens weakest film IMHO. Only a couple of laugh out loud moments. Mostly non-clever real dumb humour. But having Busty Heart as a security guard using her boobs as a weapon is pure genius. I was in stitches that entire scene. Could not stop laughing. The pokes at leftist cultural relativism were a little bit clever. But mostly meh.

I think the problem with making fun of absolute dictators is that they already are a parody of themselves. It's like making fun of a fundamentalist Christian. They already are a joke. How can you make that any funnier?

I call that the Spinal Tap problem of comedy. It's exceedingly difficult to parody something that is already ridiculous. Spinal Tap pulled it off, but few others have managed the same trick.
 
Zootopia - 7/10

A very clever kids movie talking about prejudice and getting along with each other. I took my kids and figured I'd nap through it but instead was engaged and interested for the whole thing.
 
I just saw "The Band's Visit." 8/10

To my knowledge, this is the first Israeli film I've seen, and strangely it's kind of a tribute to Arab music. The story goes is that a band visiting from Egypt is stranded in a desolate Israeli town. It was a very sensitive film, and I rather liked the music, I only wish there was a little more music.
 
The Dictator 2012. 8/10

Sasha Baron Cohens weakest film IMHO. Only a couple of laugh out loud moments. Mostly non-clever real dumb humour. But having Busty Heart as a security guard using her boobs as a weapon is pure genius. I was in stitches that entire scene. Could not stop laughing. The pokes at leftist cultural relativism were a little bit clever. But mostly meh.

I think the problem with making fun of absolute dictators is that they already are a parody of themselves. It's like making fun of a fundamentalist Christian. They already are a joke. How can you make that any funnier?

I call that the Spinal Tap problem of comedy. It's exceedingly difficult to parody something that is already ridiculous. Spinal Tap pulled it off, but few others have managed the same trick.

The Great Dictator (1940, Charlie Chaplin), however, is absolutely brilliant.
 
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