[Closed] Recent Viewing Part III

...but Pawel and I part ways on Trek 1.
Ye Gods, to consider that ponderous, overblown, underscripted, overintellectualized, narratively hyperextended, pompous whale of a film "one of the VERY best SF movies I have ever seen" is a little disturbing to me (and every single other critic in the world!).

Goldsmith's score though is the inverse opposite of every single other factor in the film: utter brilliance and a landmark in every respect.

I love TMP for its sense of awe and wonder. I never fail to be awestruck with that film, and a lot of that awe comes from Jerry's brilliant score. But the visuals, how dated they are now, are still wondrous to look at. The producers clearly wanted a 2001: A Space Odyssey kind of visually stylistic sci-fi film instead of the campy adventures of the series.

The new director's edition has the best sound and picture this movie has ever had, to see it much improved from the way it was shown theatrically also helps my enjoyment.

And it just occured to me that Trek III has my favorite line in all three movies I've seen:

Kirk after stealing the Enterprise: "Gentlemen, your work today has been outstanding and I intend to recommend you all for promotion... in whatever fleet we end up serving."

That was pretty good too, I failed to precise that I meant humour.

BTW, William Shatner is even better than that. About reality against series. He goes on how he has a normal life and then adds this:

"And yes, I did go where no man went before, but I was in Mexico and her father allowed me!"

CHLOE

Unusually numb - for an Atom Egoyan film. sexual thriller that has the optimism to walk on the lines of success of his previous film, WHERE THE TRUTH LIES, but it's not up to that league. It's slow and a bit unfocused, but at least it futures a decent story, a great moody score by Danna and strong performances by the lead duo, to deserve at least a viewing.

Robin Hood (2010)

I have mixed feelings about this one. It is not a fun movie as most of the Robin Hood movies are but it's not a problem for me, I love serious movies. But it is not as dramatic as for instance Braveheart or The Last Samurai. I mean, emotionally it is quite flat and that's something I don't like. I really missed emotional, strongly dramatic scenes from this movie.
The last third of the rather long movie became a bit more dramatic and more action-packed than the rest and I think Scott's visual style could only be noticed here.
As for the music, it sounded very generic but by the end when the big battle scene arrived it became more alive and achieved that the melody stayed in my head when coming out of the cinema.

I watched Let The Right One In the other night.

"Interesting" is probably how I would sum up the film. A bit slow and I almost threw in the towel half way through it. It was the interaction between Oskar and Eli that kept me going till the end.

I'm glad that I heard the score before I saw the film though. I thought that the music was way too intrusive in 2-3 occasions; particularly when the score became all emotional.

Not a film I'll be returning to.

I think Marc Streitenfeld has improved considerably with the Robin Hood score though. After the quite dull Body Of Lies score, I think his orchestral writing in this one was much better than what I expected. Despite being an RC composer there were almost no synths/electronics here and the orchestrations were very good, the mixing of the brass and strings was crystal clear. I hope he keeps getting better with future projects.

Moon

Boy am I glad I knew nothing about this one, except it was sci-fi, it was set on the moon and featured only one principal character, that was more than enough to get me intruiged. I don't think I even saw the trailer, or I must've forgotten everything because this film suprised me in a good way.

It's not a modern classic IMO, but it's definitely worthy of its place in the genre as a wholly original sci-fi film with a thought-provoking plot. Visual design is top notch, I really felt the story took place on the moon sometime in the future. But I was dumbstruck how the director made the story progress as it does. I mean, this guy has serious talent, apart from being David Bowie's son. If he can maintain the same quality in future projects, he'll surely make a name for himself without the son of ... addition. Sam Rockwell is very believable as well, performing on the edge of sanity and insanity and doing it without exaggerating. And Kevin Spacey's droid Gerty was very appropriately unemotional during the whole film so no faults there either.

The score by Clint Mansell has its purpose in the film, but it's not something I'll be listening to much outside of it. But I may get to revisit this film in the future, because it's that good.

So, for someone who loved Gladiator (also due to the music indeed), is this a film of equal pleasures or the uninspired cousin?

Thanks, what i suspected. The music is no different either, except for the main theme, first heard at Fate has smiled upon us...the recording sounds a bit dry and shallow though.

I agree too. An Uninspired Cousin.

But I find it very entertaining.

On cd it sounds awful mate; it's just boring auto pilot chords here and there. the Persia score by HGW is much much better.

I'll say it another way: the variations of the heroic theme, with the visuals, are really good. Not a score I'll return to though. It is indeed a RC on autopilot kind of score.

I haven't watched the film yet, i have to admit. But i doubt i will. It's got nothing to draw me there, especially the reviews i've read and its music that i've heard.