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  1. An upcoming movie called "The Leviathan" seems different. It looks delightfully odd -- I hope it doesn't suck. Based on a short story. Here's the trailer:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-45NTlgp-o


    EDIT:
    I think that's the proof-of-concept short.
    The views and opinions of Ford A. Thaxton are his own and do not necessarily reflect the ones of ANYONE else.
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      CommentAuthorsdtom
    • CommentTimeMar 24th 2015
    Watched Keye Luke in a film where he replaced Boris Karloff as Mr. Wong to become the only Chinese actor to play an oriental. It includes Wong, Moto, and Chan. There is a bit of trivia you din't know.
    Tom
    listen to more classical music!
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      CommentAuthorSouthall
    • CommentTimeMar 25th 2015
    One Chance

    I thought this was rather odd right from the beginning having braced myself for a harrowing experience. I wouldn't claim any great expertise on the subject but I was somewhat taken aback that a chubby young man from Bristol who worked in Tesco would grow up to be the evil despot behind Cambodia's Year Zero. As the singing became more frequent I realised my grave error - this was not a biopic of Pol Pot, but rather one of Paul Potts.
    • CommentAuthorTimmer
    • CommentTimeMar 25th 2015
    biggrin
    On Friday I ate a lot of dust and appeared orange near the end of the day ~ Bregt
  2. biggrin

    Somehow the film was worth making, just for that.

    Perhaps it's the story as Kim Jong Un sees it.
    A butterfly thinks therefore I am
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      CommentAuthorBregt
    • CommentTimeMar 26th 2015
    THE TRIBE

    Last night I saw a rather brutal and grim film that I missed during the film festival of Gent. The Tribe, an Ukrainian movie by Miroslav Slaboshpytskiy. What is special about it, is that there's no spoken dialogue. All actors/people are deaf (mute?) and have to express their feelings and talk to each other with sign language. The whole 2 hour + movie not a word is spoken. No subtitles either. Everything has to be understood from the context. But it's all quite clear what is happening.

    A new student is not immediately accepted by his peers at school but after impressing others he is accepted in a crime gang of students and teachers. It's a very graphic movie, with violence, sex and [spoiler]a horrific abortion scene (which really took away my breath at some point, just terrible)[/spoiler], and even though what is shown is cold and distant, it feels as if this is part of Ukrainian life because it is shown without any compromise. At the beginning there's also a class room scene which shows the map of Europe and Russia and two flags; the one of the EU and the other of the NATO.

    Interesting too are the small details that show how deaf (mute) people live ([spoiler]a light flashing instead of a school bell ringer[/spoiler]). Also the long scenes without cuts are sometimes rather impressive, since there is no CGI here (unlike Birdman or Gravity).

    Interesting but shocking movie.
    Kazoo
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      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeMar 27th 2015
    Yeah, I saw that film at an early press screening two weeks ago (it doesn't have Norwegian premiere yet). My colleagues have raved about it since they saw it at Cannes last year.

    In any case, it's a really strong film that displays just how much we actually understand from images, characters and situations alone -- even without being able to understand sign language. There's a lot of interesting things in terms of audiovisuals as well.

    Just for the comparison, I'd like to revisit the film at some point, with the sign language translated in subtitles.
    I am extremely serious.
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      CommentAuthorSouthall
    • CommentTimeApr 4th 2015
    Interstellar

    Finally got to see it, thanks to my mate Blue Ray. It's exceptional in many ways, let down a little bit in a couple (the whole Matt Damon thing seemed too predictable and a very Hollywood interlude in a high-gloss film and the final act was probably a bit too 2001) - easily the best blockbuster I've seen in ages. The score is even better in context than I had expected. One of the marks of a truly great film score is that it becomes impossible to imagine the film scored any other way. Ennio Morricone is the only living film composer I think might have done something as special.
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      CommentAuthorBregt
    • CommentTimeApr 4th 2015
    INHERENT VICE | paul thomas anderson

    Hilarious. I was on the floor at the end. [spoiler]The story had become so absurd and I was unable to follow what had been happening. [/spoiler]The surname of the characters, the conspiracy thinking, the odd appearances of some people (with Bigfoot's last unexpected entrance as a highlight), the Shasta scenes, ...

    Joacquin is excellent, really. His role could be compared to The Big Lebowski of course too, but it's done very well on its own. The atmosphere in the movie is great. I loved it. But I can understand people will not like this. Multiple views might help to get all the details. smile

    biggrin
    Kazoo
    •  
      CommentAuthorplindboe
    • CommentTimeApr 5th 2015 edited
    Southall wrote
    Interstellar

    Finally got to see it, thanks to my mate Blue Ray. It's exceptional in many ways, let down a little bit in a couple (the whole Matt Damon thing seemed too predictable and a very Hollywood interlude in a high-gloss film and the final act was probably a bit too 2001) - easily the best blockbuster I've seen in ages. The score is even better in context than I had expected. One of the marks of a truly great film score is that it becomes impossible to imagine the film scored any other way. Ennio Morricone is the only living film composer I think might have done something as special.


    Despite having some guy next to me eating popcorn, for something like a half hour, taking a single piece of popcorn at the time and thoroughly and noisily chewing on every single one of them, this film ended up being my no.1 film experience of all time. It completely blew me away. I also like the fact that it wasn't filled with errors about science, that we get in pretty much all other space flicks. I also dug the concept of a a plant virus being responsible for the impending extinction of mankind. 10 outta 10 for me.
    Peter popcornbazooka
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      CommentAuthorSteven
    • CommentTimeApr 5th 2015
    Southall wrote
    One of the marks of a truly great film score is that it becomes impossible to imagine the film scored any other way. Ennio Morricone is the only living film composer I think might have done something as special.


    Then you've either not seen many films, or have a shit memory.
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      CommentAuthorSteven
    • CommentTimeApr 5th 2015
    plindboe wrote
    I also like the fact that it wasn't filled with errors about science.


    It largely got the principles right (from what I could tell), but took a few artistic liberties. One hour equaling seven years would, I think, require extreme gravitational energy, so much so you'd have to be right on the precipice of an event horizon. Not that I'm complaining really, it was a great story device.
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      CommentAuthorSteven
    • CommentTimeApr 5th 2015
    Also, how did the spaceship travel such vast distances without storing much fuel? What propelled it?
    •  
      CommentAuthorSteven
    • CommentTimeApr 5th 2015
    And why did they need a rocket to escape earth's gravity, but only needed a shuttlecraft to get off the water planet?
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      CommentAuthorSteven
    • CommentTimeApr 5th 2015 edited
    And the idea of a 'time dilation zone' seemed a little unintuitive to me. Surely time dilation, by way of a body of mass or energy (in this case the black hole), is gradual. In which case the guy who was left on the main craft, after Catwoman and Cooper went to the Perfect Storm planet, for what ended up being 23 years presumably should have been slightly less than 23 years given that he was certainly closer to the black hole than people on earth!

    ...I should probably stop.
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      CommentAuthorAtham
    • CommentTimeApr 5th 2015
    No don't stop! It's always fun and educational to read where "honest and real" science/space movies aren't always on the mark. Good when they try though. I have mixed views of this film. Love some of the concepts, visuals and music. I am certainly no fan of that robot(s) that's for sure. Mind-craft meets Marvin with the most boring cybernetic voice in film history. But that's just me I guess.
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      CommentAuthorSouthall
    • CommentTimeApr 5th 2015
    Steven wrote
    Southall wrote
    One of the marks of a truly great film score is that it becomes impossible to imagine the film scored any other way. Ennio Morricone is the only living film composer I think might have done something as special.


    Then you've either not seen many films, or have a shit memory.


    Huh?
    • CommentAuthorAnthony
    • CommentTimeApr 5th 2015
    Steven wrote
    And why did they need a rocket to escape earth's gravity, but only needed a shuttlecraft to get off the water planet?


    That's a good point. I think when they landed there, one of their first comments was how gravity was slightly stronger than on Earth.
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      CommentAuthorSouthall
    • CommentTimeApr 5th 2015
    Steven wrote
    And why did they need a rocket to escape earth's gravity, but only needed a shuttlecraft to get off the water planet?


    Because it's only a film?
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      CommentAuthorSteven
    • CommentTimeApr 5th 2015 edited
    Southall wrote
    Steven wrote
    And why did they need a rocket to escape earth's gravity, but only needed a shuttlecraft to get off the water planet?


    Because it's only a film?


    I know, but that doesn't stop it from being an inconsistency. Though it was more off the back of Peter's comment on the science. I loved the film - but I also love picking it apart. (Particularly as it strives to be so scientific.)

    Southall wrote
    Steven wrote
    Southall wrote
    One of the marks of a truly great film score is that it becomes impossible to imagine the film scored any other way. Ennio Morricone is the only living film composer I think might have done something as special.


    Then you've either not seen many films, or have a shit memory.


    Huh?


    You really can't think of any other living composer beyond Morricone who scored a film in such a way that you couldn't have imagined it any other way? uhm
    •  
      CommentAuthorSteven
    • CommentTimeApr 5th 2015
    Atham wrote
    No don't stop! It's always fun and educational to read where "honest and real" science/space movies aren't always on the mark. Good when they try though. I have mixed views of this film. Love some of the concepts, visuals and music. I am certainly no fan of that robot(s) that's for sure. Mind-craft meets Marvin with the most boring cybernetic voice in film history. But that's just me I guess.


    I actually loved the robots! But I agree, I didn't like their voices. Oddly enough, a robotic voice would have been more comforting. (I get that it was more than just a nod to HAL and the monolith from 2001, and in that sense it was a clever mix of the two.)
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeApr 5th 2015
    Bregt wrote
    INHERENT VICE | paul thomas anderson

    Hilarious. I was on the floor at the end. [spoiler]The story had become so absurd and I was unable to follow what had been happening. [/spoiler]The surname of the characters, the conspiracy thinking, the odd appearances of some people (with Bigfoot's last unexpected entrance as a highlight), the Shasta scenes, ...

    Joacquin is excellent, really. His role could be compared to The Big Lebowski of course too, but it's done very well on its own. The atmosphere in the movie is great. I loved it. But I can understand people will not like this. Multiple views might help to get all the details. smile

    biggrin


    Oh God, I absolutely HATED this film. There are some films you don't like, you're indifferent to, you don't find particularly good etc. And then there are films that actually IRRITATE you. This is one of those -- it's the anti-me in terms of approach and aesthetics (esp. the reliance on literary dialogue and on top of that -- fill said dialogue with information, information, information).
    I am extremely serious.
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      CommentAuthorSouthall
    • CommentTimeApr 5th 2015
    Steven wrote
    Southall wrote
    Steven wrote
    Southall wrote
    One of the marks of a truly great film score is that it becomes impossible to imagine the film scored any other way. Ennio Morricone is the only living film composer I think might have done something as special.


    Then you've either not seen many films, or have a shit memory.


    Huh?


    You really can't think of any other living composer beyond Morricone who scored a film in such a way that you couldn't have imagined it any other way? uhm


    Oh good grief no, that's not what I meant. I meant Morricone is the only other living film composer I can imagine having written such an indelible score for Interstellar.
    •  
      CommentAuthorSteven
    • CommentTimeApr 5th 2015
    Ooooh, I see. Yes, that's far more sane.

    Still, I'm sure there must be at least a few composers that could have achieved the same. (Goldenthal springs to mind.)
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      CommentAuthorSouthall
    • CommentTimeApr 5th 2015
    I say it slightly through gritted teeth, but what Zimmer brings to the table that is rare for Hollywood composers (not so much European ones, particularly dead ones) is a willingness to avoid a linear narrative structure to his music and come up with one or two big ideas and find ways of connecting bits of the film through them. I'm sure I'd have adored a Goldenthal score for it but I guess I know pretty much what it would sound like, which wasn't really true of the Zimmer score before I heard it.
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      CommentAuthorSteven
    • CommentTimeApr 5th 2015
    The way Nolan encourages Zimmer to come up with these ideas also goes a long way I think, not to take away Zimmer's achievement of course. Nolan seems to have tapped into Zimmer's artistic core; give him an idea first, a feeling, then work backwards from there. (As opposed to, say, Elfman's approach of letting the structure of the images strictly influence his music.) Perhaps there are other composers who would benefit from this approach too.
  3. Hans, really, has worked in that format for ages. Nolan just uses it being aware how Hans prefers to work. I think the first staple of working before the movie and later adapting to what he gets (though in case of at least two recent Nolan films apparently Hans wasn't allowed to see the picture, save for dailies, at least in Inception's case) was The Thin Red Line where Malick wanted to hear the music on set (that film had a new score written after the production wrapped though).

    So whether he starts before the production itself starts or during (Gladiator's battle music was written after a visit to the set of the opening) is probably a relatively "new" thing (if 1998 can be called new in 2015, that is), but the suite format has been there for a long time. In case of earlier works notable examples of "idea" suites written and recorded before scoring scenes properly took place are Crimson Tide (Roll Tide) and the final track of Beyond Rangoon.
    http://www.filmmusic.pl - Polish Film Music Review Website
  4. Oh, and Giacchino definitely did on Jupiter Ascending.
    http://www.filmmusic.pl - Polish Film Music Review Website
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      CommentAuthorplindboe
    • CommentTimeApr 6th 2015
    Steven wrote
    And why did they need a rocket to escape earth's gravity, but only needed a shuttlecraft to get off the water planet?


    I'm guessing they used the rocket to escape Earth's gravity to conserve the spacecraft's fuel, as it had a long journey ahead.


    Steven wrote
    I know, but that doesn't stop it from being an inconsistency. Though it was more off the back of Peter's comment on the science. I loved the film - but I also love picking it apart. (Particularly as it strives to be so scientific.)


    All interesting points. Nice to hear about some flaws from a physics student, and yes, it's more fun and challenging finding flaws when the film actually does such a good job with the sciency stuff.

    I guess my perspective as a biology student is a bit different. An issue I had was that they mentioned in the film that the blight used nitrogen from the atmosphere, so I don't get why they didn't simply grow all their food in enclosed greenhouses without N2. Plants get their nitrogen from the soil, via nitrate and ammonia, so they wouldn't be negatively affected.

    Anyway, it's fun nitpicking, but this is still the bestest movie evah made!!!1111111!!!one!!!!!eleven!!!!!

    Peter punk
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      CommentAuthorSteven
    • CommentTimeApr 6th 2015 edited
    I loved the 3-dimensional wormhole. Finally a sci-fi movie that gets that aspect right! And of course the black hole was extremely well done. Although I think there would be a little too much gamma radiation for them to be able get that close given all that material that was swirling around it. And, of course, it went into fantasy realm when Cooper and HAL fell into it. (The representation of a 4-D space was truly amazing though.)

    plindboe wrote
    Steven wrote
    And why did they need a rocket to escape earth's gravity, but only needed a shuttlecraft to get off the water planet?


    I'm guessing they used the rocket to escape Earth's gravity to conserve the spacecraft's fuel, as it had a long journey ahead.


    Perhaps, but then there was no explanation given to how the main craft reached those vast distances considering they were apparently using good old Newtonian-like propulsion. (That being the case, most of the craft would have been taken up by huge containers of fuel, but it appeared to only have retro-fitted rockets.)

    The spinning-for-gravity is always a neat sci-fi trope, but in reality it's far less practical. The size of that craft would need to have been spinning quite a bit faster I think to "simulate" Earth-like gravity. Also, your head would feel less gravity than your feet if I'm remembering the size of the craft correctly, which would surely fuck with your shit. But it did give us the best scene in the film, also proving why rotational force to create gravity is a problem. (This is why the ISS doesn't do it.)