[Closed] Recent Viewing Part III

This off YT, fascinating, I wish I could see the whole documentary.

WARNING: contains footage of genuine GENIUS

No I haven't. Thanks Thor, I'll definitely give this a watch later

A note on a recent viewing. The Great Gatsby. I don't go to the movies often now -- the choices faces me on DVD at home are usually far better than what I find at the local multiplex. I must say though -- if I saw more $200m literary adaptations playing at the movies, I'd be there in a shot, because on the evidence of this, all that money means a lot more when it's anchored by a story that has stood the test of time. (Although I guess Wrath of Khan has stood the test of time, but they're not exactly advertising that connection.)

I had a headache at the end -- like an intense sugar headache... the over-stimulating 3D gangs up on you by the end. But that's a good headache to have. DiCaprio is as good as he was in Shutter Island -- Gatsby is another of his 'deluded hopers' that he plays so well. The film is a universe of its own in look and energy -- designed to the hilt, but never in that modern Tim Burton way which just leaves the story off playing in the corner on its own while the production designer hogs the camera. Baz Luhrman's soundtracks are beautifully welded together in the mixing room -- the stretch that covers Gatsby's big party must utilise up to 50 different musical tracks along the way, but so nicely brought into a collage. (Sadly, the soundtracks as heard in the film are impossible to recreate later, strong though the album is.)

I did have quibbles. But when I think of the crap that this $200million could have been spent on instead, I'm just happy something interesting got a look in at the top end.

If you hear what Shatner originally planned (and even after the first couple of rewrites. Basically just before the financial crunch that was finally imposed), it would have made one hell of a great movie!

Yeah! And another question is what do you guys think of Shatner's directing?

Well, frankly I think it doesn matter too much who dircects such films. The ways to film people standing on a "bridge" soundstage while starring into nothing are limited. I believe screenplay, effects and overall production value are factors das matter much more. And the score, and of course the score!
I mean these people had played their parts so often already that it wouldn't make much difference if Nimoy, Shatner, Frakes or Nicholas Mayer's cute little best girl grib poses as director.

Just saw the final 20 minutes of STAR TREK The Undiscovered Country that aired on TV here tonight.

God, that final sequence always moves me. The ship vanishing in the sunlight, the signatures, some of these good people long gone by now, "Sign Off" by Cliff Eidelman, that is too much for me ...

Such a great film!

Volker

Yes, major shock -- although I've come to expect shocks from the series. I assume most people have seen the first season here and how that ended. So it's a series [spoiler]designed to undermine traditional Hollywood conventions, which I love.[/spoiler]

It is a great film! One of the best in that franchise.

I thought about seeing it after the preview, but changed my mind after reading reviews. I doesn't sound like something that I would enjoy. I'm glad you did though

I love that too, but I also hate it. [spoiler]I think these traditional Hollywood conventions have been established because they appeal to people's sense of justice and the hope for a jubilent resolution, so when something like this happens it's bound to feel unsatisfying on some level. I think it's more important to break the conventions though than sticking to them, so overall I approve, but I can't deny that a part of me wanted things to go differently.[/spoiler]




Hehe, [spoiler]Red Wedding time[/spoiler] indeed.

Btw, you don't watch the show then?

Peter

I thought the 2nd season was excellent.....eventually, took some time to get going for me. The last two episodes I thought were spectacular.

HANSEL & GRETEL

A South Korean horror movie, it started promising with car crash man lost in forest taken to house in woods by young girl meets her sister and brother and "parents" but finds he can't escape the endless forest or the endless house with it's creepy children and a story cribbed from twilight zone the movie*....yadda yadda.....man this film turned into a tedious and at times distressing child abuse story, I couldn't wait for it to end.

The music was very schizophrenic, some nice Chris Young/Elfmanish choral/orchestral to mawkish overly sentimental tosh. I didn't see who composed it because I couldn't be arsed to sit through the end credits.

AVOID!

0/10

*the episode with the kid who can do anything and his scared shitless parents bow over backwards in fear of him.

oops! I forgot all about that. Yes, I'll be back soon.