Movies you just recently watched

[Reese Riverson]

Haha, how'd he get them to stay on his head, by taping them onto his head as well?

[technology4617]

No idea, but probably something funny. My brother last year for Halowe'en wore all his pairs (about 20-30) on top of each other, taped together. It looked hilarious.

Holy shit.

[MisterDark'sFanClub]

I just watched The Shawshank Redemption for about the fifth time. Such a great film!

[Adsolution]

Gravity.

With a year so plagued with pretty terrible movies, just within a mere month, two pieces of brilliance shone through, those being Catching Fire and Gravity, Gravity especially. What do I say though, it's absolutely wonderful, it is a vision brought to life, and it reminds us how even just the simplest of concepts and progressions can make for some of the most memorable and excellent works of art.

This is something that could just as well have been a caught-on-video documentary (obviously somewhat exaggerated for the purpose of remaining a movie - and as a work of art primarily, yet at the same time not out of the realms of possibility, simply plausibility), and as such there are no shortcomings to its story and progression. The cinematography is masterful and visionary, it's unique in the sense that due to what the film is, cannot be compared to anything else. Every movement of the camera is an artistic decision, there is no uncertainty, and being a visionary conglomerate as a whole, there is little any critique to be offered. The film easily meets and surpasses all calculable expectation in every regard, something that is very easy to do, but only accomplishable when the director has such a strong vision as a whole and retains a fresh mind constantly, both of which on the other hand are quite rare.

When someone who clearly has such a strong grasp on what makes good art has such a strong vision, there is quite literally no room for error, assuming everything goes according to plan, which I can only assume to be the case here.

The last time I shed a tear in a cinema was during The Lion King 3D, so one could essentially say that since I've obviously done so before when watching the SD version of the movie, it's not something I really do. The scene where [Ryan Stone had finally reached the Chinese Station and had given up hope while talking to the Chinese radio and turned off the oxygen to die quicker tugged at me, but only to the point at which I was completely frozen and shivering a bit. When Matt supposedly returned, I felt so heartwarmed and relieved, I was grinning madly. Then, right before they were about to head home and she turned back around to notice that she was still laying back in her seat and he wasn't actually there, it was only a delusion brought upon by the decreasing levels of oxygen, I instantly welled up. Not only because it was the return of a supposedly dead character, but because, as an astronaut with decades of experience in space who was clearly smart and outgoing, the kind of person who always has a trick up his sleeve - you hoped for it throughout the movie to the point where you would actually start to believe it -, when you realise that he didn't and that with all prior notes taken into account, he was willing to send himself floating off into space, to his death, calmly, without hesitation, and without even showing anything less than a smile while brightly encouraging Stone to reach the airlock, you suddenly feel such immense, outstanding compassion for this (at first) almost seemingly egotistical character.] The best part about it too is that the thing that makes it such a good twist and tear-jerker isn't simply what's shown on the screen, but the emotional tricks the movie can play on you to make you believe something is happening and even highly anticipate it, when it realistically never could have possibly happened, and never did. Even though you're simply the observer to this story, the movie is so immersive and genuine that you feel as if you are the character of Ryan Stone, and every bit of mental disorientation and false hope she experiences through desperation somehow translate directly into you as well.

Breaking away from the mentality of it which still deserves endless praise, see this movie in 3D if you can, and even in IMAX if possible (like I did). The visuals are absolutely marvellous, easily some of the best outer-space shots you have ever seen on-screen. In regards to the 3D, I suggest it highly because not only is it done so well, it's almost essential to attain the highest level of immersion for the film; depth perception is like a sixth sense here, and if you don't have it, it's comparable to walking through a flower shop without a sense of smell. You could say that the 3D adds to the experience not only visually, but more importantly, emotionally as well.

[Skaarj]

last night i watched pacific ring,what an awesome movie
i also watched a quake fan made movie for an great mod,its a great movie,but its really long,if you guys want to watchi it here it is,have fun http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UaiDBJMhjM

[Master]

Watched The Hobbit Part 2 today, t'was aight, still felt a little long but I think they made better use of their time compared to the first 'un. Had to end on a cliffhanger though, didn't it?

[Adsolution]

I'll be watching that next week. I thought that An Unexpected Journey was terrible, it was technically incompetent and a complete mess, so I hope there's imprvements in every regard and not just pacing-wise.

[Dark Lum Lord]

Still haven't gotten around to seeing The Hobbit, but my dad watched it once and from what I've seen it hadn't interested me very much.

[Master]

Something that's bugged me about The Hobbit compared to the LOTR trilogy is the Orcs, how is it that they look more real in the old trilogy compared to in The Hobbit?

[spiraldoor]

Peter Jackson is obsessed with CGI. He doesn't care if it looks real. In fact, they originally filmed The Desolation of Smaug with a real actor playing Bolg under prosthetics. He decided to paste a computer-generated goblin in over him in post-production.

[Keane]

Aww, I liked The Hobbit. I can see you guys criticism though. I really liked the second one but I agree with Master it was too long. I thought the movie was coming to an end and it turned out there was a whole quarter of it left.

[BzzitTheMoskito]

Ahh The Hobbit Desolation of Smaug was good, even better than An Unexpected Journey, even when the movie feels too long something is wrong.


Also am I the only one here who thought that [Smaug's monologue was too frikkin long?]

[sonicbrawler182]

Considering how I never liked the original Lord of the Rings movies, I doubt I'd like the Hobbit series either, going by these last few comments! :V

I cannot remember what the last movie I watched was...

[Adsolution]

I just came back from Frozen, and I really, really liked it. It feels like a return to what I find Disney to excel at most: creating beautiful, artistic, genuine and heartwarming films that anyone and everyone can truly care for.

The story is essentially simple, but plenty solid for it to provide great motivation for the pacing and the adventure. Its setting is that of a classic Disney film, starring a princess, a castle, a kingdom and a wilderness, and while this is certainly a familiar environment and very Classic Disney, it's a fresh take on it in the same way Beauty and the Beast was. In fact, the artstyle and general tone of Frozen is very comparable to Beauty and the Beast, which is a very good thing.

This movie is often compared to Tangled, but one of the reasons I enjoyed it far more than Tangled was due to its clear vision; this is a similar reason as to why I liked Gravity so much, its premise was clear and very well-structured with fresh, solid writing, a brilliant presentation, and a gripping emotional core that remains very human without ever becoming too whimsical or too self-indulgent.

The humour in this movie is extremely different from what you'd expect from Disney, especially after and contrasting to something like Tangled: it's incredibly dry and quirky, in a way that had me actually laughing out loud at how obscure yet utterly organic it was. It was a really great breath of fresh air, especially coming after and starkly contrasting to the self-aware, pop-culture-centric and awkward slapstick humour of something like Tangled.

- Just to clear up my thoughts on Tangled, I thought it was pretty alright, and there were some scenes I really liked such as the ending. However, I despised Flynn, not necessarily just the character, but his purpose and everything he represents when placed into the context of a Disney feature. I actually attribute this 'tone' not only to Flynn, but to the whole movie, Flynn is just a concentrated mass of it, and the driving force behind its existence.

Another note of praise is the music: in many animated features, the musical numbers don't have a lot of reason to be there, they simply exist due to tradition and contrivance, which I honestly found to to be the case with some recent Disney features. In Frozen, there are a lot of songs, but they are all unique and wonderful, and not only are they absolutely gorgeous audio-visual spectacles with great lyrics/instrumentation and atmosphere, they also work as a confirmation or emphasis of where the plot currently resides, always bringing a wonderfully satisfying close to the current chapter. In fact, once again, I can directly compare the function of the music to that of Beauty and the Beast's. The music only adds so much.

Is this film as perfect and as much of a groundbreaking classic as Beauty and the Beast? No, but for what it was it was great, and I would welcome this one into my collection of beloved Disney features. I really like the direction Disney has taken starting with last year's Wreck-It Ralph, and now Frozen, I can almost envision it as a rebirth of a sort of miniature Disney Renaissance. What will they have in store for us next year, or the year after?



On a little side-note, I prefer the style of Walt Disney Animation Studios over Pixar. Obviously, Pixar has made some absolutely phenomenal movies that include some of my favourites of all time, but the two are fundamentally different, and there will obviously be personal preferences to be had everywhere. With Pixar, you usually get a grand adventure of some kind packed with great, memorable, original scenes, settings and stories. With Disney itself at its best, you almost have this more impressionistic, sentimental, timeless 'painting' of sorts that you recall more for its overarching evocation, and that's what I personally treasure more.

[Keane]

Frozen was indeed a solid movie.

Ahh The Hobbit Desolation of Smaug was good, even better than An Unexpected Journey, even when the movie feels too long something is wrong.


Also am I the only one here who thought that [Smaug's monologue was too frikkin long?]

It was, yeah. The movie tricked me into thinking it was about to end 30 times at least, and the battle afterwards lasted ages as well. Though despite the length, I still found it to be an epic section of the movie. But yeah, length is surprisingly much of a problem with this movie.

[MisterDark'sFanClub]

Tombstone. Freaking Tombstone! Oh, how had I not seen this movie.before?! After having educated myself in the affairs of Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp, I finally got.to see the legendary film adaptation of it. Doc Holliday was awesome in real life AND film!

If anyone has heard the song Doc Holliday by Volbeat, you can definitely tell it the creative.essence of it was inspired by Tombstone.

[SegaNintendoUbisoft]

Saw Summer Wars last night. Good movie.

[Bzzit]

Watched the original Funny Games, it was a very disturbing yet great film. I have a somewhat bittersweet opinion on the 4th wall satire that was implemented into the movie. It kind of destroys the eerie realism that the rest of the film evokes, yet at the same time was brilliantly executed and adds a whole new layer of psychological despair to the film.

[OCG]

I just came back from watching Hobbit 2.

[Master]

And what did you think of it, dear OCG?