Movies You Have Seen Lately

[Judge Hades]

I liked Advent Children and how the hell can someone say Firefly sucks. Firefly was one of the best sci fi shows done in a decade. Better than Starhunter, Andromeda, Farscape, Enterprise and Voyager, that is for damn sure. There is only two sci fi shows I like better than Firefly and that is battlestar galactica (remake version) and Doctor Who (new and old).

 

The new Doctor Who rocks as well. Rise of the Cybermen is a kickarse episode and I am looking forward to tonight's Age of Steel.

Edited May 20, 2006 by Judge Hades

[Baley]

Everything is Illuminated

 

Plot Outline: A young Jewish American man endeavors to find the woman who saved his grandfather during World War II in a Ukrainian village, that was ultimately razed by the Nazis, with the help of a local who speaks weirdly funny broken English.

 

 

 

The Soul is our most important dominion. It is that which guides our every move, our every thought, our loves, our hates, our in-betweens, apathy. That which discovers its origins inside our memories. That which takes shape before our eyes, molded by our dreams, through our dreams. Our dreams, our plans, our schemes, our machinations, we play and play and though we do not always win, and though we do not always lose, we take refuge inside the game itself. The game and the soul are always linked. And we survive along that link. And we move along that link. We search and we create. The Soul never lies to us. It never cheats us. It will forever tell the truth. All we have to do is hear it, be open to its words. Understand. Accept.

 

Civilization dances around the Soul's words, around its melody. The Soul is of our making, always of our making. We share its faults. There is the Soul of man, there is the Soul of nations, there is the Soul of humans, separated by invisible borders. And when a nation's Soul gets corrupted by an ideology we all pay for it. Our individual souls grow ever colder, battered, abused, beaten to the pulp of insanity, miles beyond recognition. A broken spirit wasted by guilt. And we move on. We forget. We change our clothes and wash our faces. We look for guidance elsewhere. We leave our souls behind. And they die. All but the greatest of souls die. It's nature's way.

 

1930. Romania. An entire generation seduced by an ideology. Brotherhood, Christianity, nationalism. They killed. They raped. They stole. All in the name of order. The motherland rising. Jews, Gypsies, banished, murdered, those in power laughing. The people murdering the people. An entire generation bathed in guilt. A nation left soulless.

 

I watched this movie with little elation at first. It seemed fake, bogus, hollow. Caricatures running around. Ukraine is a lot like Romania. The same disease floating through it's veins. Clinching to religion, abandoning the Soul. Living a lie. The Holocaust is real. We're still dealing with its implications. It will forever be a stain upon the Soul of all those who deny it.

 

And then there's this movie, so beautifully Eastern-European, never perfect. It's humour is Eastern-European. It's heart, it's beat are Easter-European. And to truly enjoy it one must accept the past. In it we are reflected. In it we find ourselves again and again. Our parents. Our grandparents. Billions of humans lives, their souls, their details.

 

This movie has a gigantic soul. It talks to us so clearly, it makes us laugh, it makes us cry, it makes us rejoice and mourn. It's sensible and harsh. It's honest. Even when it fails, it keeps its honesty, pretension here is in the mind of the viewer and in it alone it shows itself.

 

Liev Schreiber's debut is perhaps the most personal movie I have ever had the pleasure of seeing, and there it's greatest triumph lies, the music, the countryside, the people. They're honest. It's honest. There's no bull**** at its core. And that my friends, that is riveting! Remarkably riveting!

 

And I shall now stop spilling my usual garbage and leave you with the lyrics of Gogol Bordello ( the band's leader Eugene Hutz plays one of the leading roles), the Gypsy punk band that made some contributions to the film's score and overall mood.

 

Illumination

 

Don't believe them for a moment

For a second, do not believe, my friend

When you are down, them are not coming

With a helping hand

Of course this is no us and them

But them they do not think the same

It's them who do not think

They never step on spiritual path

They paint their faces so differently from ours

And if you listen closely

That war it never stops

Be them new Romans

Don't envy them my friend

Be their lives longer

Their longer lives are spent

Without a love or faithful friend

All those things they have to rent

But we who see our destiny

In sound of this same old punk song

Let rest originality for sake of passing it around

Illuminating realization number one:

You are the only light there is

For yourself my friend

There'll be no saviors any soon coming down

And anyway illuminations

Never come from the crowned

Illuminating realization number one:

You are the only light there is

For yourself my friend

Edited May 20, 2006 by Baley

[Plano Skywalker]

I watched "The Ring" for the first time last night.....well, it was definitely right up there with the 6th Sense in terms of a QUALITY scary movie.

 

One of the best films I have ever seen.

[Volourn]

The New World - Boring. I so wanted to like this movie. The actors did good for what they got, and the story (of course) is good; but it was just... boring... It's so sad that a friggin' cartoon did more justice to the Pocahontas drama.

 

WOWSERS!

 

 

Grandma's Boy - A fun little m ovie with a typical story. Soem gross out moments. One that video agme geeks might enjoy for the 'inside look' (lol) at the inside a development house; but definitely not a must watch.

Edited May 20, 2006 by Volourn

[Musopticon?]

Two Towers extended edition.

 

lol elves

[Dark_Raven]

Star Trek First Contact.

[Blank]

Baley, that was like a TOMBS report.

[Laozi]

Two Towers extended edition.

 

lol elves

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

 

I especially liked the chubby elf in that one. He must have gone to town on the lembus bread and the milk & honey.

 

I just got through watching King Arthur. This movie was a steaming pile, but there was some concepts that I kind of liked in the film. I guess leave it to Buckheimer to really do things by the numbers, each hero had their own "signature" weapon, Knightly spent the last half of the movie barely dressed, the main villian was unmercifully evil, the plot seemed to go around it circles, some of the knights were in a band, you know typical cookie cutter stuff.

[Musopticon?]

I watched Arthur with my friends family.

 

They didn't get why I was in stiffs half the movie. I never forgave them.

[Surreptishus]

The Da Vinci Code.

 

This is like the recent Star Wars films - the magnitude of hype is inversely proportional to the quality of the movie.

 

Also the actors seem over qualified for the film.

[Laozi]

11:14 - I was really put off when I read the review of the movie's plot, seemed like overly done crap, but it was actually implemented quite well.

 

Next up -- Kung Fu Hustle

[kalimeeri]

Not really a movie but I watched the pilot and first episode of "Firefly" and I hate it. More phasers and space battles and less cowboys plz.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Think 'Freelancer' and watch a couple more eps. It is very good. I particularly like the action/consequence aspect of Whedon's writing, but that only develops over time, as do the characters.

 

I don't care for cowboys, but I do buy into the common-folk side of space settlement. Phasers cost money; and not everyone is a starship commander.

[Plano Skywalker]

Think 'Freelancer' and watch a couple more eps.  It is very good.  I particularly like the action/consequence aspect of Whedon's writing, but that only develops over time, as do the characters.

 

I don't care for cowboys, but I do buy into the common-folk side of space settlement.  Phasers cost money; and not everyone is a starship commander.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

right, or think former Conderate soldier who doesn't want to kiss the ring of the conquering Union forces during Reconstruction and heads out West to carve out his own life.

 

the premise is basically 19th century Western but the writing is very good.

[SteveThaiBinh]

I watched "The Ring" for the first time last night.....well, it was definitely right up there with the 6th Sense in terms of a QUALITY scary movie.

 

One of the best films I have ever seen.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I liked it too, and I recommend you try the Japanese original as well. I've heard it said that people either liked it or didn't depending on whether the video sequence resembled how they remember their own nightmares. For me, it kind of did.

[Baley]

Baley, that was like a TOMBS report.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You think so, eh?

[LadyCrimson]

The Da Vinci Code.

I'm not hearing great things about it, like it's slow/talky/boring. I'll probably still go see it however...I'm curious. I haven't read the book, is it bad enough I won't 'understand' the movie if I haven't?

[Judge Hades]

How can one bad book and movie make this much of an uproar. Silly Christians.

[Dark Moth]

Because the asswipe claims to base all his material on fact, even though it's mostly a bunch of BS. Although I will say that anyone with half a brain should know that's the case anyway and shouldn't make a big deal about it.

[LadyCrimson]

The words 'novel' and 'fiction' usually clue me in....

[Judge Hades]

Yeah, a novel labeled FICTION is a good indicator that iti s um... FICTION.

[Surreptishus]

Reading the book is not required to watch the film. Then again I wouldn't recommend watching the film.

With regards to pacing it starts off well but there is a point at which the film runs out of steam and continues to drag on.

[Dark Moth]

Yeah, a novel labeled FICTION is a good indicator that iti s um...  FICTION.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah, but the author starts it out with a nice paragraph labeled FACT:, then rambles on about the priory of sion, etc. He bases a lot of his "facts" on the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail, which most scholars agree is rubbish anyway. That's why it caused so much controversy. But as I said, anyone with any intelligence should know it's all a sham anyway.

Edited May 21, 2006 by Mothman

[Kelverin]

The Jacket

 

History of Violence

 

Terminator

[thepixiesrock]

Pulp Fiction. I watched it with two other guys, and they got into an argument halfway through the movie when all the really graphic stuff starts to happen, because the one guy said he doesn't understand how anyone could watch this, he said it was so well written, but the stuff they showed was too much for him, and was making him sick.

 

I liked it a lot though.

[Dark Moth]

I went over to the video store earlier to pick up Scarface. Then to my surprise, they didn't have it! I had to go to somewhere else. Come on! What kind of video store doesn't have Scarface??? It's a classic!