movie recommendations

[mandru]

I had a chance to screen a 10 minute preview of Tintin which I hadn't too keen on checking out when I heard some of you discussing it here on OWG.

It turned out the segment I was able to see appeared to be well done so this evening after checking the local Best Buy online I found the DVD on sale for $14.  It was a movie that both of us enjoyed and was well worth the purchase.

Thanks for the tip guys.  :-X

[PZ]

Thanks for the feedback, mandru - the Tintin story is familiar to me from when I was a child almost 5 decades ago.  There was a series that ran for a short time as well as a movie or two, and I loved them.  I still have PDF versions of the comic series on my PC.  :-X

[mandru]

Sorry if that seemed a bit tight lipped of a review but I didn't want to give too away for anyone who hasn't seen it.  ;)

I've never before said to Mrs. mandru go buy this movie so we can watch it tonight and it was fortunate that my suggestion fit perfectly into her plans of a nice evening home together.

There was no need for an understanding of the movie's characters previous histories required to to be able to jump right into the action and action is definitely a key word here.  I was concerned that coming from an unfamiliar comic strip the pace of the movie might turn out to be a bit ponderous and stodgy but there was none of that.

Motion capture animation and brilliant scenery graphics along with fluid character interaction showed that the production company cared enough about the project to do it right.  Lots of eye candy and enough loose clues to give the viewer a chance to build their own theories on the fly and anticipate how they will eventually come into play in the story line.

[PZ]

 :-X  I'm sold - will get the DVD the next time I'm at Costco

My wife and her good friend managed to convince their husbands to go to the theater for [imdb]The Hunger Games[/imdb], and I didn't even fall asleep!

[Binnatics]

Glad you enjoyed Tintin Mandru. I'm looking forward to the sequel.  :-X :)

[fragger]

I went to rent Tintin from my local DVD rental but all their copies were out already, and it was only just released that day :D

Picked up Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes instead as I was curious to see how they'd handled it. It was surprisingly good for the most part until it got far-fetched in the latter stages before settling into a typical formularic action affair towards the end. But excellent CGing and intelligently handled, for the most part.

Also got Puss In Boots for a laugh, which was quite funny and entertaining. I love some of those Pixar-style things. Humpty Dumpty talks Puss into stealing the magic beans from the villains of the piece, Jack and Jill (they're hilarious) and using them to grow a beanstalk to get into the clouds and rip off a few of the goose's golden eggs from the Giant's castle (Humpty: "Don't worry, the Giant's been dead for years - he fell off the beanstalk and took a giant dirtnap"). Antonio Banderas' voice acting as Puss is great, he can be a pretty funny guy :-X

[PZ]

Watched Tintin the other night and found it delightful - so much so that I checked my video rental place and found a couple volumes of the old Tintin cartoon.

[Fiach]

Avengers Assemble.

Bloody good movie, good story, good acting, great SFX. It was interesting to see so many superheroes in one movie and each one was given their chance to strut their stuff. The Thor guy (imo) has been watching too many Kenneth Brannagh movies for his own good, but he still carried off the character pretty well, The hulk was the best representation I have seen so far other than that, a great ensemble cast.

Some nice subtle humour, like Tony Stark wearing a Black Sabbath T-Shirt, shows that a fair degree of thought went into this movie.

You know when you have seen a good movie, when you walk out of the cinema, wondering how they will top it all in the next movie.

[PZ]

I saw that one advertised - looks good  :-X

Isn't the character that plays Thor the same one who played the character in the relatively recent movie, Thor?

[Fiach]

Yes same guy, that movie was directed by Kenneth Brannagh, best known for his Shakespearian movies.

[fragger]

I watched Tintin earlier tonight, it was a barrel of fun :-X Superb CG, some great laughs, terrific entertainment. An added bonus for me was that the Captain Haddock character was a perfect caricature of one of my best mates - he could have been modelled on him :-()

For sure there's gonna be some piss taken next time I see him >:D

[mandru]

Grabs an RPG - doesn't notice the sight is on the wrong side of the tube when he fires it.   

[Binnatics]

Captain Haddock is priceless :-X :-X

If you decide to make fun of that friend of yours, you could sure make him happy with an original Loch Lomond whisky (Haddocks fav.):

[smg id=4380]

Somewhere in one of the Tintin stories, I believe it's the one called The Black Island, Snowy shows his love for that particular whisky as well. He finds a wagon of whisky that has a leak:

[smg id=4381]

Before Captain Haddock was introduced to the series, Snowy was the big jokemaker ;)

[PZ]

  :-X

[Jim di Griz]

Great thread - okay, I'm still working my way through it but had to post concerning a recent film I saw last night.

On page one or two there was talk of the HP films and how good it was to see the same actor growing up throughout. Well, Daniel Radcliffe has definitely grown up now.

The Woman in Black is a very Edgar Allan Poe type story and Daniel Radcliffe did a good job. What I didn't know beforehand was that Hammer was making this film. It was like taking a trip back to the 70s as the film made me feel exactly like the old Hammer films did at the time, but was better at it. There were some seriously good fright moments in there, plus it was full of Japaese style horror subtleties that make you question if you had in fact just seen what you thought you had.

As a side-note, it's interesting how a few actors involved in prolonged portrayals of goody-good characters do something at the polar opposite, straight after - just think of Elijah Wood (Sin City, Green Street) Mr Radcliffe suits the dark and moody, so hopefully there will be other tales like this in future.

(Now back to reading the rest of this thread... :))

[PZ]

Haven't seen that yet so I looked it up in Netflix - turns out it is already in my queue! 

[Fiach]

Green Street was good and I dont even like soccer....well there is no soccer I suppose, but yes, a good movie. I think there was a sequel and I'm pretty sure I saw it, but I think the main characters from the first were not in it.

[Jim di Griz]

My brain has melted from reading this thread - well, okay it melted last night when I'd reached the end of page 8!

So many good films I agree with, others I don't - but hey  :) I've never heard anyone mention The Bothersome Man before - nice one Art  :-X

So I suppose I should add to this discussion by dropping in a few that (I don't think) haven't been mentioned yet.

Moon - David Bowie's boy wrote and directed this because he loved Silent Running and felt that SF had gone too glitzy. It's no good looking up Zowie Bowie though as he uses Duncan Jones. Sam Rockwell is superb in this and it's definitely a lovingly created 70s style space-is-weird type drama. It really surprised a lot of people I think. The clip looks pretty much business as usual until right at the end. Kevin Spacey does a great computer voice  :) and the emoticons are a great touch.

Moon trailer

Nightwatch was mentioned briefly, there has been one of the two sequels released now Daywatch, though I think the director Timur Bekmambetov has been distracted a lot by Hollywood offers and producing other worthy projects - the third still hasn't been released outside of Russia. I seem to remember mention of a screening in Moscow around 2006, but still no film; it's also not mentioned on imdb. These are really quite unique stories in their treatment of traditional tales - I like his stuff, the man has vision.

The Thing it was mentioned also briefly - this isn't a remake but a prequel, following what went on at the Norwegian camp before the original - they did a fine job and even used the same compelling theme elements in the music  :) It was also good that the Norwegians spoke Norwegian and so subtitles were used for about half of the film - for the rest it was English because of the American scientist and supply chopper crew.

Desperado - Antonio Banderas was mention due to Puss in Boots which does look like fun. I'm sure you all know he has been in quite a few other films, including an Almodovar and also quite a few of Robert Rodriguez' films - look into Spy Kids for more humour and you also get to see Steve Buscemi in a comedy role too  :) Even Danny Trejo is in it, scary as he looks, and of course Cheech Marin  :-X But yeah, Desperado is a glorious B-movie, cheesy gore-fest that has some serious cult credibility behind it - plus all of the above actors and Tarantino even acted in it - then of course there's Salma Hayek. It is the sequel to El Mariachi, possibly one of the cheapest production budget films made ($7000) Once Upon a Time in Mexico being the third film in the trilogy was even more over the top and Johnny Depp seemed to really love his role in that - puts me in mind of an FC2 buddy, retrospectively.

Clerks anyone? Kevin Smith's first, also very cheap and a heap of fun - but I'm sure you all know this  :)

Unleashed aka Danny the Dog proves that Jet Li can act. Again, not a new film but some fine visual w@&k in there alongside Morgan Freeman and Bob Hoskins.

Vexille A solid CGI SF story with absolutely glorious visuals and atmosphere - it's pretty much the usual Japanese eco-lesson plot but this one really stands out.

A Scanner Darkly Another PK Dick adaption Richard Linklater's second rotoscope animation - probably a love hate film for most but I thought it was great. Robert Downey was brilliant.

Tropic Thunder Talking of Robert Downey Jr he got an oscar nomination for this one, not bad considering it was the same year as Iron Man. Having thoroughly enjoyed Zoolander I wanted to see Ben Stiller do his stuff again. Okay it wasn't as good as Z but it was still a very good comedy of errors and like I say, RD Jr was brilliant as a method actor in extremis - quote: I only come out of character after the DVD extras have been cut.

As there are too many more to mention: Eden Log, .Rec plus sequel, K20 The Legend of the Black Mask, One Missed Call the original Japanese film and Sky Crawlers a figher plane anime - I'll leave it there for now; otherwise you'll all be having a brain melt moment too...

EDIT: actually, talking of brain melting, I forgot to close with Troll Hunter (says it all) and Rare Exports the truth behind Santa Claus...

Rare Exports trailer

[Art Blade]

Excellent post :-D :-X

I like A Scanner Darkly a lot, by the way ^-^ and I'll check out Moon, thanks Jim  :-X

[Jim di Griz]

A pleasure - judging by you stated film preferences and the types of SF you like, Moon should satisfy.

I've another to add, just finished watching it  :): A Prophet is French about a young muslim arriving in prison and his involvement with the Corsican Mafia inside. It's long, extremely gritty and gripping. I would have added it to the European film thread but most of it takes place inside the prison...so no point really  ;)

It really is an excellent character study and Tahar Rahim, the main actor does a really excellent job of portraying that development over a six year period. Luckily there is also humour and some thought provoking elements in there to even out the pace.

[Art Blade]

After your recommendation, I got my BR disc of Moon today and I am already rubbing my hands in anticipation  :-() :-X

[Art Blade]

Alright, just finished watching the film and I still have a smile on my face :)

Reminds me of 2001: A Space Odyssey only this time H.A.L. 9000 is replaced with GERTY and instead of a red eye the computer has a little screen the size of a saucer that displays his emotions with smiley emoticons (very nice touch). It also reminds me of Mission to Mars but just a little.

Something they always get wrong is.. sound. Sound in the vacuum of space. There is none  ^-^

At first I thought, oh no.. this might going to be cheesy at best and boring at worst. Kind of takes a bit to speed up but hey.. eventually it does  :) Clever story and basically a show-off for Sam Rockwell's acting skills as he plays several roles at once. Not action type but subtle :-X

Overall.. slow-paced but interesting enough to keep you watching it in a single go without really feeling the need to get up to fetch a snack. I did that after the film  :-()

[Fiach]

Moon was just to slow moving for me, but I do like the directors movie Source Code, its kind of a groundhog day movie, but each replay is different enough to maintain interest.

[Art Blade]

Absolutely, Source Code is brilliant and worth watching twice in a row because after you watched it you really may want to see it again with that knowledge  :-X

[Jim di Griz]

That's another one I forgot to mention - that was a surprising film - again, quite an old feel to the plot, something akin to an Outer Limits episode I thought. Mind you, Jake Gyllenhall has rarely disappointed - even Prince of Persia was a pleasing bit of fun  :)