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Post by SueFB on Sept 13, 2014 21:09:48 GMT -5
It is pretty rare to see Australian movies here, even in art houses, unless you really look for them. I took my daughter to see The Sapphires last year (at Hugh's suggestion, lol) and enjoyed it quite a lot. That was an unusual case.
Moving off the Australian theme, we went to see The Trip to Italy (Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon's latest "travelogue") at our local art house this evening. We hadn't seen the first one, and my husband had no clue what we'd be seeing and knew nothing of these guys but loved it, if mainly for the Italian scenery and food. But truly, these guys are hilarious. It's pretty insane that they are practically unknown in the US. I only knew Coogan via Philomena.
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Post by klenotka on Sept 15, 2014 15:34:50 GMT -5
I finally got to watch The Impossible. It is very disturbing, the first hour is very difficult to watch. Reality always beats fiction. No matter how many movies about disasters there will be, the reality is always...well, real. I had to close my eyes a few times during some of the hospital scenes. There are about five minutes of very...well, some sentiment but it is almost immediately crushed by an intense scene with Naomi Watts *under* the water during the tsunami... Very, very strong stuff. One of those movies which is very, very good but I will never watch it again because it is just too disturbing.
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Post by eve on Sept 15, 2014 17:48:13 GMT -5
I finally got to watch The Impossible. It is very disturbing, the first hour is very difficult to watch. Reality always beats fiction. No matter how many movies about disasters there will be, the reality is always...well, real. I had to close my eyes a few times during some of the hospital scenes. There are about five minutes of very...well, some sentiment but it is almost immediately crushed by an intense scene with Naomi Watts *under* the water during the tsunami... Very, very strong stuff. One of those movies which is very, very good but I will never watch it again because it is just too disturbing. This movie has been on my 'to watch' list for a while now...ever since the movie came out in fact. But never really was into the 'mood' to watch it when I stumbled on it again. I can imagine it's really disturbing, that's probably why I keep postponing it and always find something else to watch instead, because it is a very heavy subject. But then ...I actually want to see Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts in a movie together. Haha Might put this movie on the top of my list again and then never watch it again after I watched it.
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Post by SueFB on Sept 15, 2014 19:29:07 GMT -5
I saw The Impossible about a year ago. It was indeed intense, and the depiction of the tragedy was amazingly realistic. Even though it told the story of this one family of tourists, it made me think also of how this disaster impacted so many many people, including whole villages that got wiped out and people whose stories will never be known. Naomi definitely deserved her Oscar nomination.
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Post by klenotka on Sept 16, 2014 14:28:50 GMT -5
I was also waiting to "get into the mood". I was at home for two weeks with a flu, so I got terribly bored by the end and this movie was on my disc forever. Naomi was great, but so was Ewan McGregor (the phone call scene made me cry). Some nic kids´ acting there as well. Tonight, I watched " Conspiracy" after a long time. It is about a conference in Wannsee, where Heydrich and others decided about Jews...it is chilling and just so terrible to watch because it happened and sadly, most of the people present were released due to lack of evidence (wtf?). Kenneth Branagh was really very convincing and I thought a few times: "It is a good thing that Czechs got the privilege to kill him." (even though we paid the price) Some of the best (not only) British actors. Colin Firth, Kenneth Brannagh. There is even a glimpse of very young Tom Hiddleston in a few scenes.
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Post by SueFB on Oct 6, 2014 17:56:50 GMT -5
Next month our local art house will have Tracks www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tracks_2013/. Rave reviews and a true story about a 2,000 mile trek across the Australian Desert. Might as well get acquainted with a big chunk of the continent. I saw a "coming soon" trailer for Tracks at our art house last night, it looks wonderful. Will have to make a point of getting to it. The cinematographer is Mandy Walker, who was the Director of Photography on Australia. I thought I read someplace where she mentioned that some of the same locations were used for the two films, but I can't find that article. Here's another: www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/behind-lens-tracks-cinematographer-describes-619400
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Post by SueFB on Oct 12, 2014 20:41:20 GMT -5
Jamie, did you ever see Tracks? My husband, son and I went to see it this evening and very much enjoyed it. Beautifully filmed, amazing story.
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Post by Jamie on Oct 12, 2014 21:46:10 GMT -5
Jamie, did you ever see Tracks? My husband, son and I went to see it this evening and very much enjoyed it. Beautifully filmed, amazing story. Yes I saw it yesterday and really enjoyed it. It makes me want to read the book from the 1970s. The scenery was amazing and wanted to know so much more about the woman who needed to make the trip.
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Post by SueFB on Oct 13, 2014 6:31:54 GMT -5
Jamie, did you ever see Tracks? My husband, son and I went to see it this evening and very much enjoyed it. Beautifully filmed, amazing story. Yes I saw it yesterday and really enjoyed it. It makes me want to read the book from the 1970s. The scenery was amazing and wanted to know so much more about the woman who needed to make the trip. I was glad they showed the original photos from National Geographic in the credits. Yes, the scenery was great, definitely some of the same flavors as "Australia" with even a hint or two of "Paperback Hero". I loved how she stumbled across the friendly old couple scraping out a stark existence in the midst of, essentially, a desert and when she told them where she grew up, the old man says "Oh, that's hard country". Ha.
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Post by cath112 on Nov 2, 2014 17:38:39 GMT -5
Birdman. Go see it. So good in so many ways. One caveat: if you are prone to motion sickness, take ginger capsules or your med of choice beforehand. Wish someone had told me...
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Post by klenotka on Nov 8, 2014 7:37:20 GMT -5
Interstellar....I knew Christopher Nolan before it was cool to know him I really didn´t like Inception and his last two Batman movies were too long, each 30 minutes longer than it should have been. So I was surprised that despite this being almost 3 hours long, it didn´t drag at all. It was visually great, the idea was pretty simple, the twists were normal and made sense (in the sense of science-fiction, of course) and it was properly ended (for once . I really had a difficult time to understand Matthew McC, what accent was supposed to be that? I didn´t think he fit the role too much but well, I got used to him int he course of the movie. I thought female roles were finally properly written, normal characters and Anne Hathaway had some nice scenes. I think I believe her when she plays a normal (almost) present day woman instead of any historical figure. I am not sure why. There is something interestingly "present" about her
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Post by SueFB on Nov 8, 2014 8:00:04 GMT -5
Interstellar....I knew Christopher Nolan before it was cool to know him I really didn´t like Inception and his last two Batman movies were too long, each 30 minutes longer than it should have been. So I was surprised that despite this being almost 3 hours long, it didn´t drag at all. It was visually great, the idea was pretty simple, the twists were normal and made sense (in the sense of science-fiction, of course) and it was properly ended (for once . I really had a difficult time to understand Matthew McC, what accent was supposed to be that? I didn´t think he fit the role too much but well, I got used to him int he course of the movie. I thought female roles were finally properly written, normal characters and Anne Hathaway had some nice scenes. I think I believe her when she plays a normal (almost) present day woman instead of any historical figure. I am not sure why. There is something interestingly "present" about her It's a crappy cold day, and I don't really have anything pressing to do. I'm really considering going to it. It definitely seems like one that would be best suited to watching on a big screen. (oh, and sure, I'm oddly interested in seeing the Chappie trailer on a big screen, too, heh).
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Post by klenotka on Nov 8, 2014 9:33:39 GMT -5
Interstellar....I knew Christopher Nolan before it was cool to know him I really didn´t like Inception and his last two Batman movies were too long, each 30 minutes longer than it should have been. So I was surprised that despite this being almost 3 hours long, it didn´t drag at all. It was visually great, the idea was pretty simple, the twists were normal and made sense (in the sense of science-fiction, of course) and it was properly ended (for once . I really had a difficult time to understand Matthew McC, what accent was supposed to be that? I didn´t think he fit the role too much but well, I got used to him int he course of the movie. I thought female roles were finally properly written, normal characters and Anne Hathaway had some nice scenes. I think I believe her when she plays a normal (almost) present day woman instead of any historical figure. I am not sure why. There is something interestingly "present" about her It's a crappy cold day, and I don't really have anything pressing to do. I'm really considering going to it. It definitely seems like one that would be best suited to watching on a big screen. (oh, and sure, I'm oddly interested in seeing the Chappie trailer on a big screen, too, heh). It is definitely a movie for big screen. I am convinced that to watch it later on DVD (or even on computer screen) will take 50% from the experience. Not surprisingly, my week off is over and the weather got better today. Sun shines, it is really warm...typical. Well, I am going to watch the sunshine from my office window next week
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Post by narrows101 on Nov 12, 2014 6:24:14 GMT -5
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Post by SueFB on Nov 12, 2014 7:54:31 GMT -5
Great. I saw a trailer for "American Sniper" and was totally creeped out by it and at this point have no interest in seeing it. Maybe if I learn more about it, I'll change my mind. I don't dislike war movies either, the trailer was before "Fury", which I enjoyed quite a lot. Intense and well-acted, if horrible at times, as is any good movie about war. And I liked "The Hurt Locker", which seems similar to this one in some ways. Maybe my repulsion is because I just don't like Cooper much - the characters I've seen him play seem superficial and unlikable, I don't know if it's the scripts or the acting - and I especially didn't like seeing this character debating whether to shoot a child.
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Post by jean on Nov 12, 2014 11:52:25 GMT -5
No disrespect, but it sounds like a very American movie mainly for an American audience. I don't think that a movie about an American sniper is so well received here and elsewhere. I understand that he did his job that he had to do and that he is hailed as hero by the army and probably many Americans, but to me it sounds a bit disconcerting. It's not even exactly his job as sniper but his apparent self-complacency afterwards how he sold his story (Iraqis are bad people and all bad people have to die. Really??). Maybe they show an inner conflict and a more nuanced point of view of the story and try to call it into question in the movie, but still ... And a third Oscar nod for Cooper, because he plays an American hero, no please!
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Post by klenotka on Nov 18, 2014 16:48:31 GMT -5
I saw Fury this weekend. It was overdone in a few places but it was still a very good movie. It didn´t hold anything back so I think to show that Americans were not much better "conquerers" than Russians must have been surprising for some. The scene where the girl hides under the bed to avoid a possible rape reminded me a story my grandmum told me - she had to hide in the house before Russians. I will never, ever understand this behaviour and it sadly proves that women and children are the easiest targets - and basically turns those men (considered heroes) into cowards because to overpower someone who is weaker is not strenght. I was fascinated by the nature of those men, who spent three years in the war. I can´t imagine how weird and mentally damaging it must have been when they returned home. Also, to see that whole Europe turned into a "playground" where people kept shooting each other, buildings and whole cities destroyed....really, nobody can blame Europeans that we are hesitant to enter any war. We had it here, only 70 years ago. I think it is also very brave to finally show in a movie that not all Germans were nazis and that some of them even disagreed and were forced into doing things. I felt in some places that those soldiers just wanted to go home...but, as it was said int he movie "Why do they keep fighting?"..."Would you stop?"...answered it all. Too much blood lost to give up now. Sad and hopefully, it will never, ever repeat. Basically, that movie made me think and it is always a good thing Brad Pitt was, for the first time, really different and I felt he was not "Brad Pitt trying to act". I was impressed by his German as well - he obviously knew *what* he was saying, instead of learning just how to pronounce it. But I am not German, it has to be judged by native Germans Also, I was surprised by Shia LeBouf. When I think about his behaviour lately, I wonder what happened. My favourite Jason Isaacs was not much in it, but he is always good in everything.
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Post by SueFB on Nov 18, 2014 17:20:51 GMT -5
I saw it a few weeks back, and I also liked it a lot. I wondered what Europeans might think of it so thanks for that perspective. Americans are by now very used to seeing depictions of the misbehavior of soldiers (including American soldiers), so the scene you mention in the apartment was not at all surprising to me. It was quite a taut and intense scene, by the way, such a respite .... sort of .... from their daily life inside the tank. What I took from it was that war makes strange bedfellows - that none of these five guys would share the time of day in the normal world, but living in this constant state of trauma they depend so strongly on one another that they actually develop a sort of love to the point of being willing to die for one another. I thought young Logan Lerman (Percy Jackson) did a really nice job, and Shia Labeouf was practically unrecognizable (in a good way). And Brad was Brad. But good Brad. (oh, and I also like Jason Isaacs, who was underused but also good as "the old man", lol).
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Post by SueFB on Nov 18, 2014 17:32:37 GMT -5
I saw Whiplash this past weekend. Speaking of good young actors, Miles Teller was really great in this. Now that I know who they've cast as "Reed Richards" in Fox's next Fantastic Four movie, I'm sort of interested. The fan boys are dissing that left and right, but I'm curious. And Kate Mara, too. But this movie (Whiplash) about a heavy-handed instructor and his young protege really belonged to JK Simmons. He's just perfect as "creepy but charismatic", and I really hope he gets an Oscar nomination for supporting actor. Ah, looking at Gold Derby, he seems to be the critics' darling at this point. It's a perfect case of a journeyman character actor who's never really been recognized suddenly getting the role of a lifetime, and Oscar voters love that story line. www.goldderby.com/awardshows/experts/oscars-2014-nominations-nominations/best-supp.-actor.html
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Post by Jamie on Nov 26, 2014 17:42:30 GMT -5
Just subscribed to Acorn which is a monthly on line service similar to Netflix except that it is British and Australian series. Currently watching ANZAC Girls about the nurses in WW I. Very well done.
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