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Film criticism and recommendation

Enter here to talk about books, art, literature, film, TV and anything else to do with popular culture.
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Ken H
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Re: Film criticism and recommendation

#21 Post by Ken H » January 7th, 2013, 12:03 am

Latest post of the previous page:

(quoted myself again!)
This is one of the great social functions of science - to free people of superstition. - Steven Weinberg

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Dave B
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Re: Film criticism and recommendation

#22 Post by Dave B » January 7th, 2013, 9:28 am

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!
"Look forward; yesterday was a lesson, if you did not learn from it you wasted it."
Me, 2015

thundril
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Re: Film criticism and recommendation

#23 Post by thundril » February 27th, 2013, 12:44 am

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.

etoile
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Re: Film criticism and recommendation

#24 Post by etoile » May 15th, 2013, 4:52 pm

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.

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Tetenterre
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Re: Film criticism and recommendation

#25 Post by Tetenterre » May 16th, 2013, 8:03 am

etoile wrote:Donnie Darko.
+1
Steve

Quantum Theory: The branch of science with which people who know absolutely sod all about quantum theory can explain anything.

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Dave B
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Re: Film criticism and recommendation

#26 Post by Dave B » May 16th, 2013, 9:41 am

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

stevenw888
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Re: Film criticism and recommendation

#27 Post by stevenw888 » May 16th, 2013, 12:26 pm

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"

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Alan H
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Re: Film criticism and recommendation

#28 Post by Alan H » May 16th, 2013, 1:15 pm

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.
I think the book is better, but the film is still very good.
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?

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Dave B
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Re: Film criticism and recommendation

#29 Post by Dave B » May 16th, 2013, 1:23 pm

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.
OK, Steven, have ordered that - be a bit of a contrast to "Dredd"! :smile:
"Look forward; yesterday was a lesson, if you did not learn from it you wasted it."
Me, 2015

etoile
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Re: Film criticism and recommendation

#30 Post by etoile » May 16th, 2013, 7:44 pm

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.

Maria Mac
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Re: Film criticism and recommendation

#31 Post by Maria Mac » November 20th, 2013, 8:09 pm

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.

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pantodragon
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Re: Film criticism and recommendation

#32 Post by pantodragon » November 21st, 2013, 4:36 pm

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.)

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Altfish
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Re: Film criticism and recommendation

#33 Post by Altfish » November 22nd, 2013, 7:57 am

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.
A 'Don't miss' film.
The killer line for me was what Philomena says to the old nun at the end of the film. (I won't spoil it)

Maria Mac
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Re: Film criticism and recommendation

#34 Post by Maria Mac » October 16th, 2015, 7:56 pm

Bump.

Just returned from seeing Suffragette. Thought it was excellent. Saw MacBeth a couple of weeks ago and that was pretty good too.

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animist
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Re: Film criticism and recommendation

#35 Post by animist » October 16th, 2015, 8:28 pm

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!

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Dave B
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Re: Film criticism and recommendation

#36 Post by Dave B » October 17th, 2015, 12:37 pm

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!
I sort of agree, animist, but...

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

chuff
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Re: Film criticism and recommendation

#37 Post by chuff » October 20th, 2015, 2:17 pm

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.
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.
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!

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Tetenterre
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Re: Film criticism and recommendation

#38 Post by Tetenterre » October 21st, 2015, 12:24 pm

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.

chuff
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Re: Film criticism and recommendation

#39 Post by chuff » October 21st, 2015, 2:04 pm

+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" .

Compassionist
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Re: Film criticism and recommendation

#40 Post by Compassionist » October 27th, 2015, 8:03 pm

+1 for 'The Martian'. Also see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx5NZw5jSNA

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Alan H
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Re: Film criticism and recommendation

#41 Post by Alan H » March 19th, 2016, 11:48 pm

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?

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