The 'Last Film I Watched, And Next Film I Want To See' Topic

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Re: The 'Last Film I Watched, And Next Film I Want To See' Topic

Post by JimboKudo »

Well, I think I enjoyed the phychological aspects of the last two episodes of the series until I saw The End of Evangelion. That movie took ALL of the phychological aspects from those two episodes and it also concluded the series. I agree that the EOE wasn't as spectacular as it could have been, but I thought that the gore and sex was done tactfully for the most part. And when it was done graphically, there was a reason. For instance, Shinji is in the hospital room with Asuka in the beginning and he does something (I'll try to keep this PG rated), but after he was finished he says, "I'm so F*ed up." That wasn't done on a whim, it was supposed to show how pathetic and self-serving he was.
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Re: The 'Last Film I Watched, And Next Film I Want To See' Topic

Post by Spike »

JimboKudo wrote:That movie took ALL of the phychological aspects from those two episodes and it also concluded the series.
Well, I totally agree on the first part, but as for the second...
Spoiler:
Yui tells Shinji everybody could get back their bodies if they want to, but only Asuka decided to do it ?! Was everyone on Earth suicidal or something ?
JimboKudo wrote:EOE wasn't as spectacular as it could have been
EOE (at least, its beginning) was filled with stunning action (the Japanese army attack, EVA-02 VS. Mass-Produced EVAs).
JimboKudo wrote:the gore and sex was done tactfully for the most part.
I really felt as if Hideaki Anno was taking his revenge on otakus who hated the ending of the series. ("You thought there wasn't enough sex and blood in the series ending ? Well, [grabs otakus by the neck and plunges their heads in a mix of tits and guts] here's a TON of it. Enjoy !" :evil: ) There's really an overdose of it.

But I know the film is close to what he originally planned to do for the TV series ending, but couldn't, being given the lack of budget.
JimboKudo wrote:it was supposed to show how pathetic and self-serving he was.

I know, and it's kind of coherent to the psychological state he is at this point.
I also guess it's a criticism of otakus (again) : "You know, that's what the fan service you desire so much really is."
But it's not really part of the scenes that "disgusted" me...
Spoiler:
The whole cast horribly dying, Rei losing her arm, Gendô plunging his hand into her body, a lot of scenes happening while the complementarity is occuring, ...
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Re: The 'Last Film I Watched, And Next Film I Want To See' Topic

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Hmm, I don't really remember when
Spoiler:
Yui said that everyone could get their bodies back (which part was that?), but it sounds familiar.
I really haven't watched it for a while, but that's mainly because I don't own the series yet and I don't think it would be cool to watch the movie again without even watching the series first (it would ruin the linearity).
EOE (at least, its beginning) was filled with stunning action (the Japanese army attack, EVA-02 VS. Mass-Produced EVAs).


But don't you think that the overall ending was pretty good? The first part of the movie was basically winding up to the big finish, which was well done. I have to admit it was REALLY weird.
Spoiler:
I thought when Rei was ALL over the place and made everybody die that was pretty cool, I like it when they kill off main characters. What did you think when Asuka died? Do you not usually like it when main characters die? Or did you just not like HOW they died?
I really felt as if Hideaki Anno was taking his revenge on otakus who hated the ending of the series. ("You thought there wasn't enough sex and blood in the series ending ? Well, [grabs otakus by the neck and plunges their heads in a mix of tits and guts] here's a TON of it. Enjoy !" :evil: ) There's really an overdose of it.
Okay, that was really funny :smile: . I have to admit that there was a TON of sex and gore, but it's a very dark storyline and I think it fits. Some of it was completely unnecessary, but I think most of it was for a purpose. Even the TV ending had a lot of (feigned) nudity.
Spoiler:
The whole cast horribly dying, Rei losing her arm, Gendô plunging his hand into her body, a lot of scenes happening while the complementarity is occuring, ...
Spoiler:
The part where Gendo sticks his arm into Rei's body was really strange, but I'm sure it meant something philosophical (I'm just not sure what it was). I know that's not a solid arguement, and I might be able to argue my point, except, as I said, I don't remember the movie all that well.
Anyway, I don't know if you've read it, but there's an excellent book on the theorized theories in Evangelion. Here's a link to the book: http://www.dvdvisionjapan.com/ngebook.html
Definetly worth checking out. Some of the theories I disagreed with, but others were quite enlightening. If you're a big fan of Evangelion you'll probably like it a lot.
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Re: The 'Last Film I Watched, And Next Film I Want To See' Topic

Post by Spike »

JimboKudo wrote:Hmm, I don't really remember when
Spoiler:
Yui said that everyone could get their bodies back (which part was that?), but it sounds familiar.
Spoiler:
If I remember well, it's just before Shinji gets his own body back (near the end of the movie).
JimboKudo wrote:
Spoiler:
I thought when Rei was ALL over the place and made everybody die that was pretty cool, I like it when they kill off main characters. What did you think when Asuka died? Do you not usually like it when main characters die? Or did you just not like HOW they died?
Spoiler:
Well, I didn't like the way the characters died : it was a bloody hecatomb ! Sure, the show's called Evangelion, so it ending by the Apocalypse shouldn't have surprised me.

I don't like Asuka, so her being killed off didn't bother me. Plus, I felt her death was a way to mock heroism : she managed to disable almost all the Mass-Produced EVAs in 5 min., but got a dummy Lance of Longinus in her head. Then, despite such a fatal wound, she gathers all of her strengh, screaming "I'm going to kill you all !", just to get more lances in her head, effectively being killed. :lol:
JimboKudo wrote:
Spoiler:
The part where Gendo sticks his arm into Rei's body was really strange, but I'm sure it meant something philosophical (I'm just not sure what it was).
I think that's because the stomach is the "throne of the soul" for Japanese people (hence the samurais' "hara-kiri").
JimboKudo wrote:there's an excellent book on the theorized theories in Evangelion. Here's a link to the book: http://www.dvdvisionjapan.com/ngebook.html
Okay, thanks for the info. I recently discovered that site, which is quite interesting and touches about EVA subjects I'd never heard before.
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Spike wrote:From the few Kurosawa films I've seen, I must say Yojimbo is the only one I didn't like. It felt kind of... pointless. Same with its remake, For a Fistful of Dollars.
Just had to respond to this. Read any good bit of film criticism about Yojimbo, and you'll see the film is far from being just escapist entertainment. It was a commentary both on feudalist and current-day Japan. I'm not the best person to go into great detail of the film's critique of merchant classes and Japan becoming a more westernized capitalist society, but I can assure there's much more beneath the surface than what merely appears at a glance.
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Re: The 'Last Film I Watched, And Next Film I Want To See' Topic

Post by Henry Spencer »

Regarding that; I've just seen Ran for the first time, and that's now my favourite Kurosawa movie. It was the last of Kurosawa's work I hadn't seen, and well, I feel like I've gotten a big hole in my heart, since I'll miss having the anticipation of seeing his next movie, since I've seen them all now. The same thing with Stanley Kubrick; I've only got Barry Lyndon and Killers Kiss left to watch, and I'm hesitating to, since I know that when I do, I won't have that wonderful feeling of the first time viewing of any film by him ever again. It sucks, but I'll have to watch them eventually. :mrgreen:
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Re: The 'Last Film I Watched, And Next Film I Want To See' Topic

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As far as Kurosawa goes I have to say my favorite of his films is Seven Samurai(yeah, I know I bashed it at one point, but I really hadn't seen it then). I've seen it about 11 times and it gets better and better with each viewing. Movies with that much richness, depth, grace and heart are really hard to find. The samurai are so well developed that I feel like their
some of my best friends whenever I watch it! Not to mention the awesome action. Every time I see one of his movies I know I'm getting quality but they all constitute one body of work to me. Don't get me wrong, I love his films. He's one of my favorite directors, but all his stuff seems to me, to make up a whole. This film's got its own pare of legs, if you know what I mean. It stand apart from the rest of his filmography as not only his supreme masterpiece, but the greatest of all Japanese films!
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Re: The 'Last Film I Watched, And Next Film I Want To See' Topic

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So you've seen every Kurosawa film, from his earliest (The Most Beautiful, The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail) to his very last (Madadayo)? Kudos to you if that's the truth, and I can understand your regret (I had similar feelings seeing all the works of Bresson), but there's so many great films left out for discovery that you'll never possibly run out of things to view. If you're looking for more Japanese visionaries, might I suggest the works of Kon Ichikawa, Ko Nakahira, Kaneto Shindo, and Nobuo Nakagawa for starters.
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Re: The 'Last Film I Watched, And Next Film I Want To See' Topic

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Renaissance is what I saw last, and what drew me to it was that it looked like killer7, ahah... Well-rounded CG, lots of eye-candy, and honestly, I don't understand how films like this get made. The story isn't experimental enough to jar my mind out of action-movie skeletons, but the visual style is entertaining to softer senses, a kind of pleasure to see how the monochromes treat the beautiful renders and motion acting... (Pic of main character: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/e ... _Keras.png ) Trying to please two very different audiences, but it doesn't fail in any stroke as a film... Some information to swallow, dynamic achieved between characters, good drama, action... I certainly recommend it to anyone who likes cyberpunk and gunplay with a touch of intellegence.

Before that was the 1962 Kubrick Lolita, which was deliciously objectionable... Disgustingly real characters, grey, grey areas... Certainly lost in its time-period... What to say of it safely, I wonder.
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Re: The 'Last Film I Watched, And Next Film I Want To See' Topic

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Just saw the new Hulk. It was okay, better than the first
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Re: The 'Last Film I Watched, And Next Film I Want To See' Topic

Post by ratperson665 »

I saw Videodrome today. I have NO Idea what I thought of it or what to think of it!
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Re: The 'Last Film I Watched, And Next Film I Want To See' Topic

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ratperson665 wrote:I saw Videodrome today. I have NO Idea what I thought of it or what to think of it!
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Re: The 'Last Film I Watched, And Next Film I Want To See' Topic

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ratperson665 wrote:I saw Videodrome today. I have NO Idea what I thought of it or what to think of it!
I think this is really a visionary film, which touches upon topics (virtuality among others) that became an integral part of our society nowadays.
Too bad the last part of the film feels a bit repetitive. Anyway, one of Cronenberg's best.

Blade Runner (Final Cut)
I had previously only seen Blade Runner (the '92 "Director's Cut" version) twice or thrice in a cropped format. I liked the film, but didn't love it : I thought it dragged quite a bit, I didn't understand all the progress of Deckard's investigation, Harrison Ford seemed bored, ...
Well, in short, I didn't "get" the film. I read articles and so on about it, but I didn't make me change my mind.

Yesterday I finally saw the Final Cut (widescreen format).
It was beautiful, like a detective movie in the future with themes such as artificial life and what defines us as human beings on top of it. I guess everything about it has been said or written, so I'll keep it at that. I was eventually able to see the little details (like the orange glow in Replicants' eyes, for example) that make the film so fascinating.
Spoiler:
But I'm not too fond on the "Deckard is a you-know-what" interpretation.
I know there are several important elements that tend to establish it as a fact (the unicorn dream and Gaff's origami, Deckard's piano and old photographs, an orange glow in Deck's eyes, ...), it works in certain scenes (the love scene with Rachel, ...) and it's a relevant plot point (what is a human being, since the hero is a Replicant, but didn't seem any different than a - cold - human being ?).

I mean, I like the idea in itself, but it creates a few plotholes :
- How come a Replicant could have become a Blade Runner ?
- Deckard is implied to be a (recent) prototype like Rachel, but he knew (and worked with) Bryant and Holden seemingly a long time before the beginning of the film...
- Even if Deckard had implanted memories of being a Blade Runner, how come Bryant, who can't help but call Replicants "skinjobs", could have worked with one of them ?
- How come the hunted Replicants can't see he's one of them ?
- Leon, then Roy, when confronting Deckard, remind him of his own mortality.
It works better if Rick's a human (Human beings are not so different as Replicants) and not a Replicant.
The Final Cut changed several elements, mostly for good (continuity errors have been amended, Deckard is awake during his dream, bloody cuts have been reinserted, ...).
I also felt they trimmed down the beginning of the film. And Vangelis's music seems less omnipresent.
Too bad Ridley Scott felt like he needed to follow the 2000s film trend by adding a Matrix-like green filter. I really miss that peculiar orange sunlight.
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Re: The 'Last Film I Watched, And Next Film I Want To See' Topic

Post by The Prince II »

The Dark Knight aka "Joker Begins":

4 and a half stars

Great film. Ledger completely stole the show, Bale is even shown up by Eckhart and Oldman. And it did feel a tad rushed.
Spoiler:
Wish Two-Face had survived though :sad:
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Re: The 'Last Film I Watched, And Next Film I Want To See' Topic

Post by jcgamer60 »

Attack the Gas Station was the last film I watched; really funny Korean film. I've been watching mostly Asian films as of late. I also recommend "The Chaser" and "Failan".
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Re: The 'Last Film I Watched, And Next Film I Want To See' Topic

Post by JimboKudo »

I recently watched a Korean film called Save the Green Planet, which I would probably give 4 stars. I would've given it five, but the really weird humor put me off a bit. Also, it tried to have a philosophical message at the end, and I think it fell a bit flat. So, 4/5.

The other movie I watched was the Dark Knight, and has been mentioned, it was very good. No more must be said to describe the movie. VERY GOOD.

Next movie I want to watch is called Escape from New York. Most of you probably know, but Snake takes on the name of the main protagonist in that movie: Snake Plissken. I've had the movie for quite some time now, but I'm only now planning on watching it.
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Re: The 'Last Film I Watched, And Next Film I Want To See' Topic

Post by Marc »

The Dark Knight. Just wow. I loved the whole Long Halloween vibe. Roll on B3.
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Re: The 'Last Film I Watched, And Next Film I Want To See' Topic

Post by Henry Spencer »

Yeah, Ledger went out on a high note all right, his performance was simply amazing. Aaron Eckhart was incredible as well,
Spoiler:
you really felt for the guy when he went mad I think.
Definitely the best movie of the year by a long shot.
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Re: The 'Last Film I Watched, And Next Film I Want To See' Topic

Post by Spike »

I'm not as enthusiast about The Dark Knight as others.

I guess it's partly due to the fact that I had to watch the French-dubbed version, so the film "lacks" the actors' perfomances (especially Heath Ledger's).

But anyway, even if the film is better than its predecessor (Batman Begins, which I liked), it's still flawed :
- average film direction, at times
- unmemorable music (except the two tracks we already hear in the trailer)
- a few lame plot devices (i.e. Gordon's alleged death ; obese prisonner full of explosives ; Two Face shooting Batman ; ...)
- Rachel is still shallow.
- Two Face is awful, save for the SFX.
- The last part of the film starting with the Joker's final scene is really subpar.

However, The Dark Knight counts many qualities : an overall very good script, with lots of attention to the characters (I think Bruce Wayne/Batman and Harvey Dent were wonderfully defined) and their relationships (for instance, the Joker/Batman one, straight out The Killing Joke) as well as great action scenes (the Hong Kong scene, the chase, the Bat-sonar hostage situation).

Despite its imperfections, I'll still give the film a 8/10 (maybe 8,5/10 when I'll watch the original version).
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Re: The 'Last Film I Watched, And Next Film I Want To See' Topic

Post by The Prince II »

Hm. I agree with Spike's rating apon seeing TDK a third time. But my critisisms are not the same as his. My main gripe is that it's a long movie that's too short. The Harvey Dent-to-Two Face ratio is weighted heavily in favour of Dent, and while I thought Dent was a great guy and Eckhardts performance was excellent; deep down the main reason anyone was even remotely exicted for the character was to see Two Face. Another 20 minutes to half an hour of run time would have been a great addition IMO.

I don't think it would have made the film too long, seeing as the 2 1/2 hours I spent watching it flew by each time.
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