After watching all of Paranoia Agent (and loving it) last month, I had to check out more of Satoshi Kon's work. I really, really enjoyed it. It's a very interesting look on fame and what it is to be a celebrity. It also loves to blur the line between fantasy and reality just like Paranoia Agent.
Atonement - So beautifully shot that it kept me engaged from start to finish. I feel the ending might have worked better in novel format then how it was executed here. But it was still nice in a bittersweet way.
Last night I went to the UK premier of Battle Royale 3D.
This is one of my favourite films ever. I have seen it about 5 times since it first came out and enjoyed it just as much every time.
This was the director's cut on show - my first time seeing this particular cut - which adds a bunch of scenes to the film for added effect. I felt that this extra material was very welcome, as it helped to create a greater attachment with some of the characters. The slut girl for example
saw some extra development with a scene in which she kills an old paedophile at a young age. Due to it being a new HD transfer, we also see some very grisly detail in the aftermath of her seduction of two classmates.
Inserted throughout the movie are also some basketball game flashbacks showing the entire class in happier times.
The final one of these scenes at the end of the movie really helped frame how sad and senseless the entire thing was, and also shows how quickly good friends can change in the face of death. And again, we see that even the slut girl just wanted to fit in sometimes despite her hatred of the others.
Usually I hate content added to a classic, but they nailed it here and actually made it a better movie.
Now, in terms of 3D, this was actually one of the most enjoyable I have seen. For a 2D -> 3D conversion it is brilliant, and being in HD too makes it look like it was made yesterday. The first real standout of the 3D is the subtitles - they 'float' in mid-air and create a better impression of depth in the image. Things like lens flare coming off helicopter searchlights and a few outdoor shots also benefit from the 3D depth.
Thankfully the 'in your face' stuff does not feel out of place - the film originally not being made with 3D in mind helped in this regard. There are some things like bullets, fire embers and debris flying towards you, but it is kept to such a relative minimum and their inclusion makes the movie feel more immersive than it would have been without. The ultimate feature of the 3D though is the blood - it sprays towards the screen and 'splats' all over it, as if it is covering your glasses. The scene in which Kiriyama
kills the two girls with the megaphone is incredible with all of the 3D splatter and the depth that is added to the drop behind them.
The scene near the beginning in which
the neck bomb explodes sending blood spraying
is also fantastic as you may have already suspected.
The surround sound in the theatre added a lot to the movie too - you could really hear the blood gush and all the dialogue sounded crisp. I never realised before that I actually quite appreciate the soundtrack as well.
10/10, and the best possible way to see the movie imho.
Yeah what blows me away more is the way they did it. Its not CGI, its all physical effects.
Dawson said, "Using CG is really the easy route because it's so prevalent and the tools are great. What it did was really force us to come up with creative solutions to solve a lot of our problems."
"One creative solution was uncovering Peter Parks, a specialist in macro photography, who had retrieved deep-sea microorganisms and photographed them in 3-D under partial funding from the Bahamas government. Parks brewed chemicals and bacteria together to create reactions that Schrecker and Dawson shot 20,000 feet worth of film of over eight weeks.[39] To create the effects, Peter Parks took advantage of fluid dynamics, which affected the behavior of the substances that he photographed. "When these images are projected on a big screen, you feel like you're looking at infinity. That's because the same forces at work in the watergravitational effects, settlement, refractive indicesare happening in outer space," Parks said. The specialist's talent convinced the film's creative department to go beyond computer-generated imagery and follow Parks' lead. Instead of millions of dollars for a single special effects sequence, Parks generated all the footage for the film for just $140,000"
Sorry to get back to you on this a couple of weeks later, but no, the guy is right: 88 minutes is a terrible film. The kind of film only your parents in law could take home from that video rental place in the mall. Ugh.
88 Minutes surely is one of Pacino's worst movies, next to Righteous Kill.
I do have to say it's been over a year since I've seen it so maybe it's more horrible than I remember. Though if I sat through it it can't have been that bad.
Last night I went to the UK premier of Battle Royale 3D.
This is one of my favourite films ever. I have seen it about 5 times since it first came out and enjoyed it just as much every time.
This was the director's cut on show - my first time seeing this particular cut - which adds a bunch of scenes to the film for added effect. I felt that this extra material was very welcome, as it helped to create a greater attachment with some of the characters. The slut girl for example
saw some extra development with a scene in which she kills an old paedophile at a young age. Due to it being a new HD transfer, we also see some very grisly detail in the aftermath of her seduction of two classmates.
Inserted throughout the movie are also some basketball game flashbacks showing the entire class in happier times.
The final one of these scenes at the end of the movie really helped frame how sad and senseless the entire thing was, and also shows how quickly good friends can change in the face of death. And again, we see that even the slut girl just wanted to fit in sometimes despite her hatred of the others.
Usually I hate content added to a classic, but they nailed it here and actually made it a better movie.
Now, in terms of 3D, this was actually one of the most enjoyable I have seen. For a 2D -> 3D conversion it is brilliant, and being in HD too makes it look like it was made yesterday. The first real standout of the 3D is the subtitles - they 'float' in mid-air and create a better impression of depth in the image. Things like lens flare coming off helicopter searchlights and a few outdoor shots also benefit from the 3D depth.
Thankfully the 'in your face' stuff does not feel out of place - the film originally not being made with 3D in mind helped in this regard. There are some things like bullets, fire embers and debris flying towards you, but it is kept to such a relative minimum and their inclusion makes the movie feel more immersive than it would have been without. The ultimate feature of the 3D though is the blood - it sprays towards the screen and 'splats' all over it, as if it is covering your glasses. The scene in which Kiriyama
kills the two girls with the megaphone is incredible with all of the 3D splatter and the depth that is added to the drop behind them.
The scene near the beginning in which
the neck bomb explodes sending blood spraying
is also fantastic as you may have already suspected.
The surround sound in the theatre added a lot to the movie too - you could really hear the blood gush and all the dialogue sounded crisp. I never realised before that I actually quite appreciate the soundtrack as well.
10/10, and the best possible way to see the movie imho.
WOW. Battle Royale 3d? How have I not heard of this? I'm not a big fan of 3D but Battle Royale is a great film and I'd love to see a HD transfer in theaters, 3d or not.
Is this coming to all of Europe? Time to fire up google..
WOW. Battle Royale 3d? How have I not heard of this? I'm not a big fan of 3D but Battle Royale is a great film and I'd love to see a HD transfer in theaters, 3d or not.
Is this coming to all of Europe? Time to fire up google..
All I can find is this. America will get a release at some point courtesy of Anchor Bay. Dunno about the rest of Europe (there is a list of possible countires in that link), but I know that Berlin has had it already and the UK just got it as part of a film festival.
Yeah what blows me away more is the way they did it. Its not CGI, its all physical effects.
Dawson said, "Using CG is really the easy route because it's so prevalent and the tools are great. What it did was really force us to come up with creative solutions to solve a lot of our problems."
Other than thinking how amazing this film would look on blu-ray, I had no idea.
I just naturally assumed it was cgi and didn't think much past it.
I have very little respect for people when they treat projects like its something to get over with just to get to the next bit. (basically, using cgi as an easy solution).
It's great to see the amount of effort put into this film.
Fantastic sound track, emotional story and amazing effect.
I recommend this film to anyone.
What a masterpiece. The little girl narrating was just perfect. As many have said before, every shot can be made into a portrait. I loved how the camera drifts away, or how in many instances you cant hear what the characters are saying. Bravo Senior Malick.
Badlands
What and beautiful and eerie movie. The music was very haunting. I was overwhelmed with sadness while watching this movie. Another masterpiece. I cant imagine what it feels like to have Badlands as your first film.
I'm going to watch all other Terrence Malick films tomorrow.
p.s I just re watched the Tree of Life trailer, and i am willing to bet my life it will be one of the greatest cinematic achievements of mankind.
What a masterpiece. The little girl narrating was just perfect. As many have said before, every shot can be made into a portrait. I loved how the camera drifts away, or how in many instances you cant hear what the characters are saying. Bravo Senior Malick.
Badlands
What and beautiful and eerie movie. The music was very haunting. I was overwhelmed with sadness while watching this movie. Another masterpiece. I cant imagine what it feels like to have Badlands as your first film.
I'm going to watch all other Terrence Malick films tomorrow.
p.s I just re watched the Tree of Life trailer, and i am willing to bet my life it will be one of the greatest cinematic achievements of mankind.
Only watched it because the girlfriend is into that kind of thing. I admit, as a fan of realism I was into the whole fake-real shaky cam horror movie trend, but with Last Exorcism it has hit it's saturation point. It basically goes down the checklist of boring predictable shit that this kind of movie has to cover. It goes full retard in the final scene, but it was far more comical than shocking or whatever the fuck it was supposed to be. It's worth watching just to talk shit about it, but my time would have been better spent just watching fake exorcism videos on youtube instead of paying five dollars to watch a full, shitty fake exorcism movie. So it was pretty shitty, but still obviously not the shittiest movie of 2010 since A-Team came out in the same year.
lol your comment just reminded me of that ridiculous interview where he was complaining about Malick's methods and wanting New World to be the next Titanic. Just the tone of it.
What a horrid selection of movies to pick from, it's like having to pick from the least painful torture device...I'd maybe go with The Losers, but only if forced. Although I did have fun making fun of The Wolfman with a group of fellow cynics.
Lol, I had a feeling the movies were bad (but that feeling was based only on their tomatometer scores).
It's still up in the air what I watch with my dad tonight. Might even just be the Canucks vs Bruins game. That or maybe I will re-watch a movie that I already love.
About The Strangers. Does that movie really not have any redeemable qualities? I thought it would at least be good for some shock scares.
I don't mean to talk shit about people, but all of these new guys have horrible fucking taste...I mean just look at that review of Hall Pass. I feel like how Swoon and Cosmic Bus probably feel when they read my posts.
I dunno, I've already blocked everything about it from my memory but I suppose if you're super desperate you could probably find a decent freeze-frame of Anne Hathaway to fap to, for what it's worth. + 1 for Get Smart
About The Strangers. Does that movie really not have any redeemable qualities? I thought it would at least be good for some shock scares.
I thought the set-up was kinda spooky, nothing special, but once it gets going it just turns into yet another predictably shitty and unnecessary horror flick. If you've already seen a few slasher/murder horror flicks, you've already seen Strangers. The only memorable thing about it is that Dennis from It's Always Sunny has a small part
I don't mean to talk shit about people, but all of these new guys have horrible fucking taste...I mean just look at that review of Hall Pass. I feel like how Swoon and Cosmic Bus probably feel when they read my posts.
Let's just be clear about this and say that you do not know what my tastes are just yet, as I haven't given any opinion on any movie in this thread. I say this only because I feel my post may have triggered this response from you.
I don't mean to talk shit about people, but all of these new guys have horrible fucking taste...I mean just look at that review of Hall Pass. I feel like how Swoon and Cosmic Bus probably feel when they read my posts.
Went to see Unknown today. I can't decide if it was the smartest dumb movie I've seen, or the dumbest smart movie.
It reminded me a lot of Polanski's Frantic. They even used a lot of the same locations. It lacked the raw tension of Frantic, but the action scenes were surprisingly well done. Bruno Ganz and Frank Langella are far and away the highlights of Unknown, it's a shame they're mostly ancillary.
I dunno, I've already blocked everything about it from my memory but I suppose if you're super desperate you could probably find a decent freeze-frame of Anne Hathaway to fap to,.
Went to see Unknown today. I can't decide if it was the smartest dumb movie I've seen, or the dumbest smart movie.
It reminded me a lot of Polanski's Frantic. They even used a lot of the same locations. It lacked the raw tension of Frantic, but the action scenes were surprisingly well done. Bruno Ganz and Frank Langella are far and away the highlights of Unknown, it's a shame they're mostly ancillary.
I recently watched The Social Network. I expected to hate it, seeing as how I expected it to be about a bunch of over-privileged college students, but I actually really enjoyed it. The dialogue was great, and the entire movie was really entertaining.
Yeah I was dragged to it blind and was pleasantly surprised when I saw the credits roll on screen.
Their stuff together made me wish for a completely different movie all about their characters. Not that the rest of Unknown is bad by any means though.
It is his best film fo sho. But I would still probably put Heat just above it in a list (if that makes any sense).
Probably because I dug the overall atmosphere of Heat more. But man The Insider is masterful. And it's an embarrassment that American Beauty beat it out at the Oscars.
I mean, normally Id have a personal preference/bias for the more action oriented movie, but in this case, I find The Insider to be just as riveting as even the bank heist in Heat.
The scene with Crowe sitting in his hotel room...fuuuuuuuuuuu
.
