Last Movie You Watched

[aligreto]

Calvary





An excellent film which also incorporates some of the wonderful landscapes of the north west coast of Ireland.

[Madiel]

Calvary





An excellent film which also incorporates some of the wonderful landscapes of the north west coast of Ireland.

Haven't seen that one, but have consistently heard very good things about it.

[Karl Henning]

Will certainly keep on eye open for it.

[Draško]

The overarching story line and all of it strains I though are very good, but there are so many corny, sugary and just plain bad moments. And some unexpectedly poor directing and flabby editing. 

[Todd]

Deadpool 2.  Rather enjoyable.  The portion where Deadpool puts together his own X-Force and then leads them into action is good stuff.

[NikF]

The overarching story line and all of it strains I though are very good, but there are so many corny, sugary and just plain bad moments. And some unexpectedly poor directing and flabby editing.

I watched it too, more out of a sense of having seen the first Star Wars film (1976? 1977?) as a child and so feeling misplaced sentiment over seeing Luke Skywalker etc for probably the last time. I thought for the most part  it was awful. But it's over now and I never need to view it ever again.

---

For anyone with a couple of minutes to kill... This probably isn't the right thread, but I'm waiting for my train and want to save my book for the journey.

The original three Star Wars films - regardless of director - and their use of primary and secondary rhythms along with editorial rhythms - compared to the later titles in the series.

Imagine a bird gliding as it moves across the sky - there's a primary source of rhythm. Take the same shot but have the bird's wings flapping - the secondary rhythm. The difference between the two is obvious and defined. This is all simple, basic stuff. Lets move in closer and see those wings, their shape, size, colour, then closer still to the bird's head as it shifts a little, finally back out as it dives and swoops. Now employ editorial rhythm (and people with an understanding of music should recognise this) where each cut imposes a beat or an accent. These beats and accents will be weaker or stronger (or increasingly familiar and so lessening their impact) depending on how often they're repeated and the visual contrasts and affinities between them. Put it all together and you create editorial tempo. And right there is the difference between the original Star Wars trilogy and this film. In both cases the editor is being asked to create and maintain the structure of a story within a scene or a series of scenes within a story. But in the new film these pieces are being almost forced or crammed into a form where they don't naturally fit. The studio knows what the audience thinks they want to see, but you can't simply make a list of ingredients and serve it up like slop in a bucket.

A choreographer doesn't have free rein to just throw together a series of forms and movements for a dance, without understanding how motion is changes in position over a period of time, and how when observing it that the audience must be able to create a frame of reference. These things have a relationship. Its like looking at amateur photographers who shoot lenses wide open because they're trying to isolate an element from a foreground/background and they do it unthinkingly "Yeah, that's what pro shots look like, that shallow DOF" - bollocks. The unsubtle results are invariably clichéd and clumsy.

Find a film you love and watch it uninterrupted with the volume turned off. As soon as it finished, repeat the process. You'll experience more than you have ever before. As I said, it's simple stuff and there's reward in learning to appreciate it.
Really, give it a try. Or don't. 

[Karl Henning]

I watched it too, more out of a sense of having seen the first Star Wars film (1976? 1977?) as a child and so feeling misplaced sentiment over seeing Luke Skywalker etc for probably the last time. I thought for the most part  it was awful. But it's over now and I never need to view it ever again.

---

For anyone with a couple of minutes to kill... This probably isn't the right thread, but I'm waiting for my train and want to save my book for the journey.

The original three Star Wars films - regardless of director - and their use of primary and secondary rhythms along with editorial rhythms - compared to the later titles in the series.

Imagine a bird gliding as it moves across the sky - there's a primary source of rhythm. Take the same shot but have the bird's wings flapping - the secondary rhythm. The difference between the two is obvious and defined. This is all simple, basic stuff. Lets move in closer and see those wings, their shape, size, colour, then closer still to the bird's head as it shifts a little, finally back out as it dives and swoops. Now employ editorial rhythm (and people with an understanding of music should recognise this) where each cut imposes a beat or an accent. These beats and accents will be weaker or stronger (or increasingly familiar and so lessening their impact) depending on how often they're repeated and the visual contrasts and affinities between them. Put it all together and you create editorial tempo. And right there is the difference between the original Star Wars trilogy and this film. In both cases the editor is being asked to create and maintain the structure of a story within a scene or a series of scenes within a story. But in the new film these pieces are being almost forced or crammed into a form where they don't naturally fit. The studio knows what the audience thinks they want to see, but you can't simply make a list of ingredients and serve it up like slop in a bucket.

A choreographer doesn't have free rein to just throw together a series of forms and movements for a dance, without understanding how motion is changes in position over a period of time, and how when observing it that the audience must be able to create a frame of reference. These things have a relationship. Its like looking at amateur photographers who shoot lenses wide open because they're trying to isolate an element from a foreground/background and they do it unthinkingly "Yeah, that's what pro shots look like, that shallow DOF" - bollocks. The unsubtle results are invariably clichéd and clumsy.

Find a film you love and watch it uninterrupted with the volume turned off. As soon as it finished, repeat the process. You'll experience more than you have ever before. As I said, it's simple stuff and there's reward in learning to appreciate it.
Really, give it a try. Or don't. 

Right thread or no, I enjoyed your chat.

[aligreto]

The Temp





Entertaining, and the aforementioned temp is stunningly dressed [just as a by the way].

[NikF]

Right thread or no, I enjoyed your chat.

Cheers. 

[SimonNZ]

[Draško]

Compulsion is eurotrash erotic thriller/horror of the kind I thought nobody made since the 80s. It seems they still do. It's as if Argento and Brass co-directed extended cut of the orgy scene from Eyes Wide Shut with the sparkling of Salo. It thoroughly doesn't make much sense, either story or the characters actions, but I still quite enjoyed it. Watch at your peril.

Most of the film is shot at this beautiful medieval castle near Torino.  They obviously shot it during winter as in some indoor scenes you can see actors breath, and poor Analeigh is rarely in more than that black silk slip.  

Funnily both lead actors I've previously only have seen in stuff that is thematically light-years from this. The quite gorgeous Analeigh Tipton in Whit Stillman's Damsels in Distress and the Swedish actor Jakob Cedergren in very plain vanilla Swedish detective series The Sandhamn Murders (Sandhamn archipelago outside Stockholm, where the story of the series takes place, is so beautiful).

[Mirror Image]

I know I'm beating my drum too loudly, but Karl and Jeffrey (Vandermolen) have you guys watched the Sam Barber documentary Absolute Beauty yet? Inquiring minds want to know.

[arpeggio]

I am normally a big fan of the Marvel Studio Movies but I ended up hating Infinity Wars.

An essential component of all great science fiction is "suspension of belief".  Suspension of disbelief is the ability of a writer to make a fantasy/science fiction story believable.  Even the Lord of the Rings must be believable within its fantasy world.  I am sure many of you dear readers can state this better that I can (I know I am going to catch it from some because of my poor ability to express myself).

Hollywood is just as great at messing up science fiction as they do with history.

Two of my favorites gaffs are in the movies Pearl Harbor and Armageddon.

In Pearl Harbor there is the scene where they are cutting into the hull of a capsized ship in order to save trapped sailors.  They cut a hole in the hull above the water line and the cabin the sailors are trapped in fill with water and they drown. (I know Pearl Harbor is not suppose to be fantasy but the only thing they got right is the date of the attack.  With all of the other gaffs is might as well be a fantasy.)

In Armageddon it starts raining on the asteroid just before Bruce Willis blows it up.

Even with the problems with Asgard in the Thor movies I still enjoyed them.

The worst one with Infinity Wars were the seven infinity stones.  I have read that the latest estimate by scientists is that there are at least three trillion galaxies in the universe.  Our galaxy has between 250 and 300 billion stars and I think that it is slightly above average.  Andromeda I think as over a trillion stars. 

According to Infinity Wars the seven infinity stones were created in the big bang.  These are like the size of large gems.  Well guess what?  All of them were in our galaxy and two of them were on earth.  What the??? For me this was a bridge too far in the believability department. 

[aligreto]

The Hoax





An amazing [based on a true] story about a guy who is backed into a corner, creates a false story and the lengths that he goes to to maintain the lie.

[TheGSMoeller]

I am normally a big fan of the Marvel Studio Movies but I ended up hating Infinity Wars.

The worst one with Infinity Wars were the seven infinity stones.  I have read that the latest estimate by scientists is that there are at least three trillion galaxies in the universe.  Our galaxy has between 250 and 300 billion stars and I think that it is slightly above average.  Andromeda I think as over a trillion stars. 

According to Infinity Wars the seven infinity stones were created in the big bang.  These are like the size of large gems.  Well guess what?  All of them were in our galaxy and two of them were on earth.  What the??? For me this was a bridge too far in the believability department.

The reason two were on Earth is because one was lost on there centuries ago (Space Stone) and the other one (Mind Stone) was given to Loki to use as a weapon to obtain the Tesseract. 

Have you read the Infinity War comic? It's even more unbelievable, but entertaining, just like the movie. 

Plus keeping the Infinity Stone count to 6, and limiting the area of space where the stones could be located kept the film at a healthy 2 hours and 30 minutes.  Otherwise we would've needed a mini-series.

[Todd]

An updated Fahrenheit 451.  It looks slick, has Michael Shannon playing a heavy (always a plus), and ridiculously good looking stars in Michael B Jordan and Sofia Boutella, but it just kind of comes and goes, with no real impact. 

[Draško]

Ok, but not one of Argento's best.

[TheGSMoeller]

There is a new Criterion edition of The Color Of Pomegranates (1969) from Russian filmmaker Sergei Paradjanov, but I still have this not-so-good-looking DVD release from 2001. It's a poetically fascinating film, would love to see a remastered version.

[Moonfish]

There is a new Criterion edition of The Color Of Pomegranates (1969) from Russian filmmaker Sergei Paradjanov, but I still have this not-so-good-looking DVD release from 2001. It's a poetically fascinating film, would love to see a remastered version.

Wow! That looks intriguing, GSMoeller! I have never heard of Paradjanov!

[lisa needs braces]

The Hoax





An amazing [based on a true] story about a guy who is backed into a corner, creates a false story and the lengths that he goes to to maintain the lie.

Did you see the movie "Arbitrage" starring Richard Gere that came out a few few years ago? It's a somewhat understated drama/thriller I found captivating.