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Film criticism and recommendation
Re: Film criticism and recommendation
This is one of the great social functions of science - to free people of superstition. - Steven Weinberg
Re: Film criticism and recommendation
The Hobbit seems to have had mixed reviews - some like it for what it is, the Hobbit purists complain that it does not follow the book well enough. Is there a chance that this is a "two episode" film stretched to three for marketing reasons? Like a lot of TV documentaries are often a good half hour programme stretched to an hour by repetition and the insertion of superfluous stuff?
I have to admit that others are a good two hour's worth rushed through, missing out loads of "back detail" that would have enriched the subject!
I have to admit that others are a good two hour's worth rushed through, missing out loads of "back detail" that would have enriched the subject!
"Look forward; yesterday was a lesson, if you did not learn from it you wasted it."
Me, 2015
Me, 2015
Re: Film criticism and recommendation
Just watched '5 Broken Cameras.'
Incredible. Nominated for an Oscar for best documentary. The others must have been bloody good, is all I can say.
This is about a Palestinian West Bank village that takes non-violent protest to its limits and beyond. Watch it as soon as you get the chance. And tell everybody else.
Incredible. Nominated for an Oscar for best documentary. The others must have been bloody good, is all I can say.
This is about a Palestinian West Bank village that takes non-violent protest to its limits and beyond. Watch it as soon as you get the chance. And tell everybody else.
Re: Film criticism and recommendation
A lot of the film suggestions in this thread are gory or ultra violent. That has it's place but I've lost my taste for that on the whole although Dark star and dark City both excellent. If it's si-fi in particular but without gruesome then try Primer and Donnie Darko. Both may require more than one viewing! A more recent suggestion Looper. Now it does have Bruce Willis in it and the levels of horror in the first half hour unnerved me ( I have a low thresh-hold I'm told) but I found it thought provoking at the end.
- Tetenterre
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- Joined: March 13th, 2011, 11:36 am
Re: Film criticism and recommendation
+1etoile wrote:Donnie Darko.
Steve
Quantum Theory: The branch of science with which people who know absolutely sod all about quantum theory can explain anything.
Quantum Theory: The branch of science with which people who know absolutely sod all about quantum theory can explain anything.
Re: Film criticism and recommendation
I am not normally a fan of gore but watched the second "Dredd" movie with pleasure. Gory yes, but there is so much tongue-in-cheek humour in it that the balance was good.
"Look forward; yesterday was a lesson, if you did not learn from it you wasted it."
Me, 2015
Me, 2015
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Re: Film criticism and recommendation
May I suggest "The Time Travellers Wife"? Both sci-fi and a little bit chick-lit, the film is spellbinding from beginning to end. I enjoyed every minute of it.
"There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots." - From the film "Top Gun"
Re: Film criticism and recommendation
I think the book is better, but the film is still very good.stevenw888 wrote:May I suggest "The Time Travellers Wife"? Both sci-fi and a little bit chick-lit, the film is spellbinding from beginning to end. I enjoyed every minute of it.
Alan Henness
There are three fundamental questions for anyone advocating Brexit:
1. What, precisely, are the significant and tangible benefits of leaving the EU?
2. What damage to the UK and its citizens is an acceptable price to pay for those benefits?
3. Which ruling of the ECJ is most persuasive of the need to leave its jurisdiction?
There are three fundamental questions for anyone advocating Brexit:
1. What, precisely, are the significant and tangible benefits of leaving the EU?
2. What damage to the UK and its citizens is an acceptable price to pay for those benefits?
3. Which ruling of the ECJ is most persuasive of the need to leave its jurisdiction?
Re: Film criticism and recommendation
OK, Steven, have ordered that - be a bit of a contrast to "Dredd"!stevenw888 wrote:May I suggest "The Time Travellers Wife"? Both sci-fi and a little bit chick-lit, the film is spellbinding from beginning to end. I enjoyed every minute of it.
"Look forward; yesterday was a lesson, if you did not learn from it you wasted it."
Me, 2015
Me, 2015
Re: Film criticism and recommendation
Chronicle is another recent one worth viewing supposedly made on a shoestring budget. It's not overly long or deep. Seemed to me a boy version of the Craft.
Re: Film criticism and recommendation
I can recommend Philomena, mainly because of Judi Dench's delivery of Steve Coogan's superbly funny script, which stops it from being just another story about the unbelievably inhumane treatment of a young Irish girl by a bunch of bloody nuns, albeit a slightly more engaging one because of who her long lost child turned out to be.
OTOH, it's annoying to discover that the film's character is a misrepresentation of the real Philomena Lee. In the film she's shown as someone who retained a strong devotion to the RC church and respect for the nuns because Coogan wanted to make the film about intuition v intellect (the intellect belonging to journalist Martin Sixsmith, played by Coogan himself). In reality, she had turned away from the Church because of her traumatic experiences and, while retaining a faith in a god and hereafter, never sets foot in Church and did not raise the family she eventually had, as Catholics.
There's an interview with the real Philomena here but don't read it if you want to see the film because it's full of spoilers.
OTOH, it's annoying to discover that the film's character is a misrepresentation of the real Philomena Lee. In the film she's shown as someone who retained a strong devotion to the RC church and respect for the nuns because Coogan wanted to make the film about intuition v intellect (the intellect belonging to journalist Martin Sixsmith, played by Coogan himself). In reality, she had turned away from the Church because of her traumatic experiences and, while retaining a faith in a god and hereafter, never sets foot in Church and did not raise the family she eventually had, as Catholics.
There's an interview with the real Philomena here but don't read it if you want to see the film because it's full of spoilers.
- pantodragon
- Posts: 883
- Joined: March 21st, 2013, 4:19 pm
Re: Film criticism and recommendation
I think just about everything I can think of has been has been mentioned except Tarkovsky films: Solaris and The Stalker. You have to like Russian/eastern european slow and lingering. But the atmosphere created by their techniques is unrivalled, in my opinion --- compare e.g. the George Clooney Solaris.
......oh, and there's the Planet of the Apes series where I definitely think the original Charlton Heston version (the music is particularly good) tops the more recent Tim Burton where the bleeding hearts and moral breast-beating and weeping takes over from the story......
.......and that reminds me of the 2 films of the book which I think was called I Am Legend: again I much preferred the original Charleton heston version The Omega Man to the more recent Will Smith version "I Am Legend".
I don't know if anybody's mentioned The Forbidden Planet, but that's another I liked a lot.
As to Shakespeare: has anyone done any Shakespeare better than the Russian, Kosintsev, version of Hamlet? Nothing that I've seen surpasses it. (Made in the 1960s with a blond Hamlet.)
......oh, and there's the Planet of the Apes series where I definitely think the original Charlton Heston version (the music is particularly good) tops the more recent Tim Burton where the bleeding hearts and moral breast-beating and weeping takes over from the story......
.......and that reminds me of the 2 films of the book which I think was called I Am Legend: again I much preferred the original Charleton heston version The Omega Man to the more recent Will Smith version "I Am Legend".
I don't know if anybody's mentioned The Forbidden Planet, but that's another I liked a lot.
As to Shakespeare: has anyone done any Shakespeare better than the Russian, Kosintsev, version of Hamlet? Nothing that I've seen surpasses it. (Made in the 1960s with a blond Hamlet.)
Re: Film criticism and recommendation
A 'Don't miss' film.Athena wrote:I can recommend Philomena, mainly because of Judi Dench's delivery of Steve Coogan's superbly funny script, which stops it from being just another story about the unbelievably inhumane treatment of a young Irish girl by a bunch of bloody nuns, albeit a slightly more engaging one because of who her long lost child turned out to be.
OTOH, it's annoying to discover that the film's character is a misrepresentation of the real Philomena Lee. In the film she's shown as someone who retained a strong devotion to the RC church and respect for the nuns because Coogan wanted to make the film about intuition v intellect (the intellect belonging to journalist Martin Sixsmith, played by Coogan himself). In reality, she had turned away from the Church because of her traumatic experiences and, while retaining a faith in a god and hereafter, never sets foot in Church and did not raise the family she eventually had, as Catholics.
There's an interview with the real Philomena here but don't read it if you want to see the film because it's full of spoilers.
The killer line for me was what Philomena says to the old nun at the end of the film. (I won't spoil it)
Re: Film criticism and recommendation
Bump.
Just returned from seeing Suffragette. Thought it was excellent. Saw MacBeth a couple of weeks ago and that was pretty good too.
Just returned from seeing Suffragette. Thought it was excellent. Saw MacBeth a couple of weeks ago and that was pretty good too.
Re: Film criticism and recommendation
actually I hate films. The one I like most is "The Jerk", as I identify with the named character, but they often distort not only reality but books on which they are based. Maybe there should be a law against producing a film with the same name as a book but substantially different from it - on the grounds of misrepresentation: thus, in the mediaeval tale "The Name of the Rose" one expects, if one has read the Umberto Eco book, a sad ending, but what you get in the movie is a happy one - yuk!
Re: Film criticism and recommendation
I sort of agree, animist, but...animist wrote:actually I hate films. The one I like most is "The Jerk", as I identify with the named character, but they often distort not only reality but books on which they are based. Maybe there should be a law against producing a film with the same name as a book but substantially different from it - on the grounds of misrepresentation: thus, in the mediaeval tale "The Name of the Rose" one expects, if one has read the Umberto Eco book, a sad ending, but what you get in the movie is a happy one - yuk!
The David Lynch's version of "Dune" paid only a passing semblance to the book. The TV three parter was far more fsithful. The former got a slating IIRC but, IMHO, was far superior in casting, direction and cinematography - well worth watching in its own right.
That is the version I kept.
Otherwise I mostly prefer hooks to films anyway, prefering my own mental imagery to some other person's perception.
"Look forward; yesterday was a lesson, if you did not learn from it you wasted it."
Me, 2015
Me, 2015
Re: Film criticism and recommendation
I'm a huge Dune fan, the film had a lot going for it(and also quite a lot wrong with it) but I really felt the tone that David Lynch achieved felt just right.Dave B wrote: The David Lynch's version of "Dune" paid only a passing semblance to the book. The TV three parter was far more fsithful. The former got a slating IIRC but, IMHO, was far superior in casting, direction and cinematography - well worth watching in its own right.
That is the version I kept.
Otherwise I mostly prefer hooks to films anyway, prefering my own mental imagery to some other person's perception.
But it's all about the books, I've read my battered old copies many times and despite absorbing all kinds of literature since I still think that Frank Herbert's description of the human condition in these books is absolutely exquisite.
I'm a huge movie nerd, particularly sci-fi - Will see if I can think of some good suggestions!
- Tetenterre
- Posts: 3244
- Joined: March 13th, 2011, 11:36 am
Re: Film criticism and recommendation
My son saw The Martian last evening - said it was one of the best films he's seen for a while. There have been interviews with the author in recent Science in Action and Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcasts, if anyone is interested.
Steve
Quantum Theory: The branch of science with which people who know absolutely sod all about quantum theory can explain anything.
Quantum Theory: The branch of science with which people who know absolutely sod all about quantum theory can explain anything.
Re: Film criticism and recommendation
+1 for The Martian
Very entertaining movie that manages to have a big emphasis on the science while avoiding becoming tedious.
I felt it delivered such a positive message (and I've stolen this from somewhere else as it sums it up perfectly for me):
"Science and technology are freaking cool, we need scientists and engineers to understand and solve humanity's issues, but no matter what path you take, always stay positive to achieve your goal, be a team player, and have fun in the process" .
Very entertaining movie that manages to have a big emphasis on the science while avoiding becoming tedious.
I felt it delivered such a positive message (and I've stolen this from somewhere else as it sums it up perfectly for me):
"Science and technology are freaking cool, we need scientists and engineers to understand and solve humanity's issues, but no matter what path you take, always stay positive to achieve your goal, be a team player, and have fun in the process" .
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- Joined: July 14th, 2007, 8:38 am
Re: Film criticism and recommendation
+1 for 'The Martian'. Also see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx5NZw5jSNA
Re: Film criticism and recommendation
Alan Henness
There are three fundamental questions for anyone advocating Brexit:
1. What, precisely, are the significant and tangible benefits of leaving the EU?
2. What damage to the UK and its citizens is an acceptable price to pay for those benefits?
3. Which ruling of the ECJ is most persuasive of the need to leave its jurisdiction?
There are three fundamental questions for anyone advocating Brexit:
1. What, precisely, are the significant and tangible benefits of leaving the EU?
2. What damage to the UK and its citizens is an acceptable price to pay for those benefits?
3. Which ruling of the ECJ is most persuasive of the need to leave its jurisdiction?