What's the Latest Thing You Saw at the Cinema?

Thx - their site threw a thrombie on my search, but I'll go ASAP.

I agree - they were masterful.

AMOLAD is amazing. I remember watching it as a young boy and its visuals just stuck in my head. I couldn't remember, or hadn't grasped, the films structure or meaning, but that staircase scene was there for life!

M

Interesting reading here: http://cavalorn.livejournal.com/584135.html 

Fassbender was excellent, and because of him, I enjoyed the movie. I don't pretend to know what it was all about, but reading that guys blog above sort of makes some sense. I'll be interested to see it again now, and I'm sure the Bluray release will have both cuts when it is released - this may help the film be better understood.

I went to see Prometheus last night.  So much has been said already here on this, and I think that Mr Underhill's lengthy post above covers most of the questions and disappointments.  It did however, provoke a great deal of discussion among myself and my friends afterwards, so you could say it achieved a degree of success. 

My own view (and hope) is that the cinema release got butchered and so a fair bit of detail, especially regarding David and his apparent desire to reek some sort of revenge or cleansing on his own creators (us), was lost.  The film would have been so much better if it had concentrated more on him and his possible motivations.  It could just be that he was purely acting as servant for his "father" and just seeing what might happen if various of the crew were exposed to what they found.  The mission is, after all, soon discovered to be more a selfish search for prolonged life for the old man rather than any great mission for mankind in general.  As such, the crew were just there to be used and sacrificed if need be. 

If I were RS, I'd go back and re-edit the whole thing and then come out with the Directors cut.  For all that, the original Alien was something of a masterpiece in the way the story flowed and the suspense built up to the final crescendo.  Just about impossible to repeat, as has been shown with the numerous Alien sequels.  Only Alien 3 got anywhere close - a film that improves with time, I find.

Hi Frank,

Yes, I thought that was an interesting analysis.

Richard,

I have discussed this film more with friends than any other for years - but we all feel frustrated by it.

You may have seen that Ridley has announced that the BR will have an additional 20 minutes of material.

M

Tut tut Richard...'wreak'.

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.

Mr Underhill,

hmm...  maybe needs more than 20 minutes, but let us hope he uses the time wisely.

Frank, at least you know I'm human.

..more than 20 minutes

As you say Richard, depends how he uses them.

I actually deeply disliked the crew, and how they were used - the less screen time the better; with the exception of David & Shaw.

For me it is the concepts & back story I would like illuminated.

M

Prometheus

Actually quite liked it... agree with some of the curious choices made (a team of "scientists" behaving more like a band of mercenaries, perhaps they are) but love the fact that there are so many questions left unanswered yet the film doesn't obviously contradict itself. Pacing is very different to Alien but much better than Scott's more recent work (Robin Hood, Kingdom of Heaven).

My favorite questions to be addressed in future films or novels (spoilers follow):

- the goo. Is the black goo from the beginning the same as the ship's bioweapon cargo? Is it a bioweapon or catalyst to creation? Both at the same time?

- Could be that the goo was contaminated with the worms - this would fit nicely with the fact that the stuff allowed Shaw to get pregnant, only with a worm/human hybrid. Also explains the xenomorph as a combination of worm, human and alien.

- then again the Engineer was quite insistent on murdering the humans and turning the infected ship to Earth. Why would he do that, unless some rogue member of his kind did something he wasn't allowed to do such as create human life?

-who made those rock paintings with the planets? Must have been the engineers, but why would they show us the way to a biohazard facility?

- why have a biohazard facility with a sun and sufficient environmental room for terraforming? Perhaps to breed worms?

- the big statue was clearly more human than alien. Why?

- No predators? ()

- David. What did he know when he gave Holloway the spiked drink? Why? Was he just being ruthlessly efficient and acting on orders to do more, quicker ("hello dave"), exacting revenge, or attempting to create the squid?

- Was Vickers an android?

EJ

I managed to see Prometheus last night in 2D.

The movie didn't come close the claustrophobic atmosphere RS created in Blade Runner and Alien. It just felt clunky. 

Maybe I wasn't in the right mood... A harsh 2.5 stars from me.

The opening scene was interesting. Reminded of the start to 2001 A Space Odyssey.

Am I right in assuming The Engineer was dumped on earth at a time of an Ice Age and the fluid he drank broke his DNA down, absorbed into the food stream later to become Homosapien?

If this is correct, then why come back to earth to destroy it's inhabitants once Homosapien evolved enough to be able to travel light years? Was it all a game for The Engineers?

Maybe I was missing something. 

EJ.

Vickers is apparently human as she invited The Captain to her room ("my room, give me ten minutes") to examine that question in closer detail.

However if she were an android yet had the female anatomy of a human then The Captain would have his work cut out for him I'd say!  

James,

Interesting, could be that humans evolved to the point where engineers felt they were too advanced. Or the engineer on earth was a rogue, unintentionally left behind. Or, alternatively, the new goo was going to be the next step in human evolution, merging human with worm to create a new type of squid.

On Vickers: why would Weyland refer to David as the son he never had? Suggests he never had any kids. She could be a bastard, but the way she pronounces 'dad' suggests otherwise

EJ

The Amazing Spiderman

OK is how I would sum it up.

The principles are very good, and kept me engaged in a story that was pretty slow moving.

The character has remained, rightly, far lighter than many other super-heroes.

One review summed the film up as '..putting the MEH in aMEHzing..', which is funny - but probably a bit too cruel.

For younger teenagers whose memories of Tobey Maguire may not be so strong this will do fine; for me it was a bit too soon for a retread - after all, the studios were talking Spiderman IV with Raimi last year!

M

The Dark Knight Rises

Satisfying conclusion to Nolan's Batman trilogy, and definitely the best film of the three.

Cheers,

EJ

To Rome With Love

Amusing but not great. Midnight in Paris was better i thought.

The Dark Knight Rises

The best? ...not sure I agree EJS.

I certainly preferred it to No 2, The Dark Knight. Although Heath ledger gave an amazing performance I felt that the violence, and some of the themes, were not suitable for such a fantasy; I simply felt uneasy.

I think this film is remarkable for a Batman film, as it is essentially about Bruce Wayne.

Three wishes: 1. That the soundtrack didn't obscure the acting; 2. That Nolan had covered the charge of the police officers into automatic weapons better, just seemed too unrealistic to me that it pulled me out of the narrative, The Bat could have set the villains back on the defensive, giving the officers time to cover the gap for instance; and 3. That the officers LOOKED like they had been trapped underground for months!

Seen the film twice, second time in IMAX, and I do think it is good, but my vote would probably go to Batman Begins, on points!

M

No amount of points would make me prefer a film without Cotillard!

EJ

• Spiderman - not seen it because I've been put off by the closeness with the more recent Maguire movies.
• Prometheus - brillient in my view. Full of holes but who cares when it's that gorgeous - Weyland obviously had a thing about having a son rather than a daughter for a child. Typical of the nasty sort of being he was. Vickers was no android, just a daughter who could never live up to not being a son.
• 'Rises - I loved this. I did feel the officers attack on the terrorists was improbable - a bit like bringing a knife to a gunfight. But other than that I really liked the way Blake was fleshed out, Cotillard was excellent and I felt sorry for Bane(!). I love all 3 movies. The first is fun but relatively lightweight IMO, the 2nd is deeply saddening because Heath Ledger died so soon after such a brilliant performance, and the 3rd actually had me very engaged indeed given the cleverness of what transpired (there's a reasonably good twist in each movie).

Yes, I'm easily pleased.

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.

Although, for me, I thought that Ann Hathaway was an excellent Selena Kyle - loved her in leather!

M

Yes, an excellent addition to the already impressive list of Catwomen to date

EJ

Intouchables

Highly recoomended: lovely strory, nice pace, good cast: walking outside with a big  On my face.

Fred

Expendables 2

Spur of the moment thing, it was the only film that aired at a convenient time. Brutal over-the-top action with campy heroes who know (are) their classics. Not bad at all!

EJ

"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time"

Brilliant a National Theatre Production direct from the South Bank

Looper

Best film Bruce has done in an age.

The time elements may not quiet work on reflection - but nothing that will distract you in the moment.

Some great emotional moments - with some real gut wrenching.

Thoroughly recommended.

M

..... oh, and good to see that Solomon Kane has been released in the USA, at last. Although maybe too late to allow the production of the sequel.

Shame, thought it was a really good adaptation, with Purefoy yet again delivering.

M

Just been to see a Cinema showing of the remastered MMT. It's on TV at the weekend but I thought I'd try it out on the big screen. Better than I remember, although that was on VHS many years ago.The songs sounded good in 5.1

Next week they are showing the Led Zep show from the 02 on the big screen. I think that will be worth a viewing.

Prometheus, last night, in 3D with glasses and a diffuse headache at the exit.

An astonishingly well made film, a mix of Alien, Blade runner, John Carpenter's The Thing, and something else.

An obvious sequel will come. Very entertaining, only I'd wish advertising (or magazine reviews, for that) wouldn't stress so much on its supposed philosophical content, which is not much more than the one in John Carpenter's Prince of darkness..

P.s: It is obviously a director's choice, but with the amount of digital effects employed, which is huge, why the makeup on Guy Pierce's face, that looks like the silicone things they used 30 years ago? Is it still so difficult to make someone look really old, with today's technology?