Recent Viewing Part IV

I'm so shocked you have a monocle that I nearly dropped my pocket watch. Luckily I have it on a chain guard.

98 Godzilla: Very funny "bad" movie, both intended and by accident, which is even more funny. Shitty characters, but Reno is a blast. So funny. Bad Godzilla movie, good monster movie. Music is great.

14 Godzilla: Very serious movie and so much better for it. Shitty characters. Missed the Reno-style comic relief. Meh. Music is great. SOUND is spectacular. Honours the mythology a lot better than Emmerich's. Plus, I was really surprised about the fact that [spoiler]it wasn't just about Godzilla. When that other monster came out of that sinkhole at the power plant's ruins, I was on the edge of my seat, thinking, WTF is that?!? I expected a soldiers vs. Godzilla movie, and got a Godzilla & soldiers vs.[/spoiler] Holy Craps. That made it for me.

Swearing = Noise pollution more often than not.
It has its place at certain times but I really miss the days of old where clever, sophisticated comedy concepts and dialogue without the need of profanity was the norm. Now it's TV shows, movies and stand up routines using as many swear words and bottom-of-the-barrel base "humour" as possible thinking it's clever!
Bah!




I know I sound like a raving old man but I'm not! Well, a tad maybe.

The BBC's The Thick Of It is one of the few exceptions. Clever and very sweary comedy at it's finest.

I'm not entirely sure I understand this.

I don't.

FACT!

DEADWOOD was great, but the dialogue was a little too 'literary' at times. Very complex, and almost impossible to understand unless you have subtitles. Didn't really mind the swearing, though.

Deep Impact dir. Mimi Leder

Was on TV last night and thought I'd stick with it, if only just to appreciate Horner's score. The movie is actually a lot better than I remembered, certainly more engrossing than the other meteor disaster movie that year! More touching too since it chooses to focus more on the human story than the need for CGI-driven destruction (even though this is still executed well for the time).

Horner's score has always been one I return to (not his best by any means and it did represent a time when he was a little out of ideas) but it is still deeply effective and the emotional core of the film is incredibly mirrored in the music, as always. The finale scene, Goodbye & Godspeed, managed to bring out tears but this was probably more due to a kind of association with Horner's passing. Gorgeous music. Ok film.

As Lee I prefer DEEP IMPACT. But both, DEEP IMPACT and ARMAGEDDON, have great scores.

Volker

Sorry... but that's just poppycock. He wrote The Mask of Zorro that year, IMO, one of THE greatest action adventure scores of all time and the best score of 1998. He also wrote Mighty Joe young that year, which is also superb! And then in 2000 we get The Perfect Storm. In 2001 Enemy at the Gates. Yeah, sorry...he never ran out of ideas.

-Erik-

Jurassic World. Hated it. The first hour is truly abysmal. Awful writing. Just unbelievably stupid plot. There's an alright 15 minute spell about 1hour 30minutes in. i liked Irrfan Khan and Jake Johnson (i think that's his name) a lot. The death of one character by pteradactyls and watersaur was pretty good. most of the effects were as convincing as stop-motion, but without the charm. It's the biggest film in history. How out of touch with reality am i? i just don't see it.

Yes, stop motion has charm, like, say, tin toys. Both represent concepts of times gone by. Farewell, both of you. See you in the museum.

Volker

I wanted to say that IMO the notion of stop motion having more charm than (well executed) CGI is merely a thing of nostalgia.

Interesting point. It also still has it's place in modern art house animation shorts. I hope. Now that I have typed this I'll have to check whether it's actually true.