Movies movies and more movies! Thank goodness for Man Flu

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Movies movies and more movies! Thank goodness for Man Flu

Postby pcwells » Mar 26th, '10, 19:21



I have Man 'Flu.

Luckily, it hit me after my Sunday night gigs and should be sufficiently gone before I start working tomorrow.

Anywho...

Being curled up on the sofa and in total control of the DVD player and Sky box has allowed me to catch up on some movies that I'd yet to indulge in. Hurrah! An old passion is rediscovered!

Survival of the Dead
This one appeared with no fanfare. A NEW zombie flick from George Romero.

Romero has been quite vocal about the stupidity of fast-running zombies in other people's movies. Seems that doesn't stop him putting one of his new zombies on horseback! :)

He's gone down the CGI route with some effects in this one (budget constraints, methinks), and some of them suck badly. There's a death-by-fire-extinguisher moment that would be better suited to a Loony Tunes movie. And the very final shot lays on the allegory with such a massive trowel, I honestly felt my IQ drop at that point.

And the zombies themselves aren't scary anymore. Granted, the horror in Romero's movies always comes from the conflicts that exist between living characters, but in this installment the walking dead seem to be more of an inconvenience than a catalyst for the end of rational social behaviour...

All that aside, it's actually quite good fun. I enjoyed it a lot.

District 9
I wasn't sure whether this would be my kind of film or not. I love sci-fi, and the premise seemed intriguing, but worried that it might be badly dumbed down - or that the social allegory could be layered on with a trowel in the belief that viewers are too thick for subtlety.

Wow. Bloody wow. And it is bloody. Very bloody. It's produced by Peter Jackson, and it shows - it's every bit as splatterfilled as Brain Dead and Bad Taste. But it's the characterisation that makes the movie so tense and horrific.

My only qualm was the way in which the movie's style shifts from 'documentary footage' to more mainstream narrative storytelling without any clear signposts. It gives two perspectives on the story - which is a fabulous device - but left me a bit unsure about whose vantage point we were supposed to be following. It'll probably be clear on the second viewing. And it's likely to get far more viewings that that ove time.

Great stuff.

Pandorum
Two spacemen wake up from hypersleep on a big spaceship. One is played by an unknown actor, who probably didn't cost much. The other is played by Dennis Quaid, who almost certainly has a higher daily fee.

One of those spacemen explores the ship, discovers lots of nice sets and has some well-choreographed action adventures, while the other sits in a small control room, so his scenes can be shot and finished with in under a week.

Can you guess who gets the cushy number?

It's fun though. There are cannibilistic mutants on the ship, a gardening ninja, and a kick-ass scientist lady.

And, just in case you guess the twist at the end, they throw a hundred twists at you at once in the hope that you didn't expect at least one of them.

Good brainless gory sci fi fun.

Now let's see if I can come down with the Lurghi on Monday morning...

:)

Pete

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Re: Movies movies and more movies! Thank goodness for Man Fl

Postby Klangster1971 » Mar 26th, '10, 19:30

pcwells wrote: One is played by an unknown actor, who probably didn't cost much. The other is played by Dennis Quaid, who almost certainly has a higher daily fee.


That 'Unknown' is Ben Foster - one of the busiest actors in Hollywood!!! Check out '30 Days Of Night', '3:10 To Yuma' (The Mangold Remake!), Six Feet Under.. and he was unquestionably the best thing about the third X-Men movie!!

I didn't get on with Pandorum at all... but am totally in agreement about District 9 - what a cracker. Even more impressive is the fact that Sharlto Copley improvised all of his character's dialogue!! (Mind you, he did bag the gig as Howling Mad Murdoch in the upcoming A-Team remake, so I'm sure he's been well rewarded!!!)

Must check out the Romero - I quite like the idea of a horse riding Zombie!!

Sean

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Re: Movies movies and more movies! Thank goodness for Man Fl

Postby pcwells » Mar 26th, '10, 19:55

Klangster1971 wrote:
pcwells wrote: One is played by an unknown actor, who probably didn't cost much. The other is played by Dennis Quaid, who almost certainly has a higher daily fee.


That 'Unknown' is Ben Foster - one of the busiest actors in Hollywood!!! Check out '30 Days Of Night', '3:10 To Yuma' (The Mangold Remake!), Six Feet Under.. and he was unquestionably the best thing about the third X-Men movie!!


Wow... I have been out of the moviegoing game for a while, eh??!!

Next on the list is Red Cliff. Let battle commence! :)

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Postby TheStoner » Mar 26th, '10, 20:06

DISTRICT 9 - best film of 2009, no contest

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Postby spooneythegoon » Mar 26th, '10, 20:11

TheStoner wrote:DISTRICT 9 - best film of 2009, no contest

Truly phenomenal film... :D

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Postby gillows » Mar 27th, '10, 10:04

District 9, best film of last year. Portraying the main protagonist as a witless idiot, while at the same time highlighting the banality of evil through him was a master stroke.

Also, keeping the cgi down to the bare minimum needed to progress the story, helped to keep the focus on the main characters.

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Postby Klangster1971 » Mar 27th, '10, 10:50

gillows wrote:Also, keeping the cgi down to the bare minimum needed to progress the story, helped to keep the focus on the main characters.


The real masterstroke was hiding the fact that there was so much CGI! All of the aliens were CG (apart from the ones laying on the operating table...) but you'd never have guessed!!

Absolutely remarkable film - just a shame that Neill Blomkamp had the chance to make a 'Halo' movie taken away from him!!

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Postby Ian The Magic-Ian » Mar 27th, '10, 16:21

I actually wasn't a huge fan of District 9. It was a cool movie but I didn't think it was hands down the best movie of 2009...

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Postby Grimshaw » Mar 27th, '10, 19:13

Ian The Magic-Ian wrote:I actually wasn't a huge fan of District 9. It was a cool movie but I didn't think it was hands down the best movie of 2009...


Cor blimey nor did i.

What about Anvil, The Wrestler, Milk, Moon, Looking For Eric, Synecdoche New York, Slumdog Millionaire, Up.

I could pick at least 8 of the above that kick District 9's buttocks with a hefty welly.

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Postby Flash » Mar 27th, '10, 20:01

I loved District 9, but I'm with you on UP... How awesome is that film!

On the flipside I watched The Fourth Kind last night and thought it was a pile of poo...

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Postby pcwells » Mar 27th, '10, 20:06

UP was a decent remake. But Russ Meyer's original was very different.

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Postby Flash » Mar 27th, '10, 20:10

pcwells wrote:UP was a decent remake. But Russ Meyer's original was very different.


It certainly looks to use a different style of animation.

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Postby Klangster1971 » Mar 27th, '10, 20:36

I think Grimshaw has it right... Moon was a fantastic movie. Sci Fi the way it used to be!

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Postby pcwells » Mar 27th, '10, 20:58

But why should sci-fi be one way or t'other?

My favourite sci-fi movies include:
Robocop, Seconds, Planet of the Apes (original version), La Mort en Direct, Blade Runner and Battle Royale.

All very different in tone and style.

That's the wonderful thing about sci-fi - there are no hard and fast rules. :)

Pete

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Postby Ian The Magic-Ian » Mar 27th, '10, 23:32

I don't like Sci-Fi much. It seems the ones that I happen to watch thinking they'll be good are the worst movies on the planet.

However there are others I've see that I liked: Star Wars (original three), Star Trek, etc.

My positive experiences with sci-fi are outweighed by the negative experience though so I've just been turned off the whole genre.

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