The Movie Thread

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by hcour, Nov 7, 2005.

  1. Maybe ive covered it before, but this bollywood flic is still amazing.

    "Dont say a word"

    Not for acting, or script, just a really big excuse for

    http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0706787/

    To batt her eye lashes really, but it works even on that basis, 'cause she is unbeleivably hot.

    I didnt really notice the massive plot flaws, nor should i have, this is a bollywood special, and i didnt find i was distracted from the plot, largely due to the heroine's huge batty eyelashes, and remarkable complexion, and general niceness.


    That woman, is sex on stilts, i dont even know what that means, but im sure its true.
     
    #121     Apr 6, 2007
  2. hcour

    hcour Guest

    Children of Men

    From the pre-title scenes on, almost every sequence in this amazing, kinetic thriller has some kind of unusual twist or shock. You think you know where the story is going and then it goes off some place completely different. The audience is as baffled as the main character as to where his journey will take him next. And the pacing is relentless, he barely has time to stop and catch his breath before he's carried along to the next potentially disastrous situation. The story is deceptively simple, the burnt-out hero finds himself thru spiraling circumstances responsible for getting the first pregnant girl on Earth in 18 years to safety. Almost every review describes the film as "bleak", which it most certainly is, but there is also a great deal of cynical humor and an ultimately humanistic and hopeful denouement.

    There is danger in every moment, and it just keeps building and building. There is an extraordinary birthing scene, life among carnage and utter desolation, and then that is topped by an even better, deeply moving scene where the baby is carried thru a building literally being torn apart by bullets and bombs and then into the street; as the mother and crying baby make their way among the violence, everything stops, an impromptu ceasefire, and never has the tragedy of war seemed so absurd as both the victims inside the building and the soldiers outside reach out in awe to touch the miracle child and its mother as they pass by, only to then resume the battle as they finally pass. Even here there is a touch of cynical humor as the hero asks the mother, bullets tearing up walls and flesh all around them, how the wailing baby is. "Annoyed", she replies w/perfect concern and sarcasm.

    There are wonderful small touches throughout in the characterizations. The hero lost his child to sickness yrs ago, this deepens his empathy to the mother and child and provides believable motivation besides his inherent decency. And several times throughout the film animals are drawn to him, as if they can sense his goodness even if he no longer believes in it himself. (At one point he tries on different discarded shoes for the best fit, a metaphor for his own confusion as to where he fits into this whole mad scenario he has found himself involved in.) The "terrorists" who seek to exploit the child and murder innocents in order to do so are the "bad guys", but they are not one-dimensional, rather they believe they have a noble, greater cause, and perhaps they do in a world gone quite mad. When the mother spits in the face of their leader, we can see he is genuinely dismayed and hurt by her contempt. This is also a political film, and one of the question it asks is "What is a terrorist?"

    The action sequences are thrilling, and like everything else, unique. There is a scene where a motorcycle is chasing the car (going backwards) carrying the mother and several other main characters, and one of them is killed. As we (and they) are still recovering from the shock and wondering how they'll get away w/no weapons, one character kicks the car door open to hit the cycle and it goes flying. It's very quick, beautifully filmed and edited, horrific and perfectly believable. In the long sequence when the apt building in the war zone is being bombarded from the outside, it seems to be disintegrating piece-by-piece, as do the the people themselves inside as they are also torn apart bit-by-bit. When the main characters make a getaway from the terrorist compound in a stolen car, they first disable the other cars, but then their car won't start and there is a chase sequence where they roll down a shallow incline, periodically trying to jump-start the car, as the terrorists chase after them on foot, shooting. It's both funny and full of tension, the most unlikely of getaway scenes.

    The film is also a character study. The physical journey the hero undertakes is also a journey of his soul. A bitter, former activist who has lost his "faith" to the unforgiving "chance" of life (as one character puts it), he finds that faith again: In the people who continually surprise him by risking and giving their lives throughout their plight, in the mother and her courageous devotion to her child, and then ultimately, at the end, in himself.

    Harold
     
    #122     Apr 6, 2007
  3. hcour

    hcour Guest

    She is known as being "the most beautiful woman in the world", which is silly of course, but she is babe-o-lucious, fer shure.

    H
     
    #123     Apr 6, 2007
  4. She is known as that? Damn, i have good taste.


    There's just something about a darkish complexion, black hair, and blazing green/blue eyes that does it for me, what can i say.
    I shall investigate the matter.
    Bollywood films arent everyones cup of tea, but damn, they really do go all out to be entertaining, more than you can say for much hollywood schlock.
     
    #124     Apr 6, 2007
  5. Dead mans chest;

    The second instalment of disney's fait accompli, cornering the market in pirate movies, for the time being.


    Not a bad movie, entertaining enough. Very entertaining, as it happens-im just baffled by the fact i needed to look up plot details on wiki to follow it, not that it was that complicated, i just want to know what's going on.

    Unexpectedly, i loved the first one, a truly fun movie, only to find the second instalment-basically a very long trailer for the third installment.

    It is good to see, they let kiera knightly out of her yelping kelpie mode, to do some actual acting, not that it went far but encouraging and entertaining nonetheless.
    What could have been a great film, was pushed up on the shore as an excuse to reintroduce captain barbossa, something that, given the nature of the movies, could have been accomplished without resorting to the old standby of a television serial cliffhanger, it just wasn't necessary, and no matter which way i look at it, leaves a sour taste in the mouth of this moviegoer/video watcher/person etc.

    Still an entertaining movie, no doubt, but.....pushing their luck, in terms of the practically non-existent plot they had to work with .
     
    #125     Apr 6, 2007
  6. Math_Wiz

    Math_Wiz

    Hi Acronym and all,

    According to wiki, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates_of_the_Caribbean:_Dead_Man's_Chest Dead man's chest was the third movie to gross a billion dollars from theaters worldwide. Wiki doesn't mention the first two movies to acclaim such an honor. Does anyone know what they would be?

    Thanks,
    +-*/ Math_Wiz
     
    #126     Apr 6, 2007
  7. nitro

    nitro

    I have no idea, but I would guess

    Star Wars
    Titanic

    nitro
     
    #127     Apr 6, 2007
  8. Math_Wiz

    Math_Wiz

    You might be right, but my guess is that the billion-dollar movies would have been made in either 2005 or 2006.

    +-*/ Math_Wiz
    .
     
    #128     Apr 6, 2007
  9. Right! Thanks for pointing that out. I finally saw the Departed. Nice movie with plenty of surprises.

    Anyone going out to see Grind House??
     
    #129     Apr 6, 2007
  10. If you were counting US gross, those have to be pretty close, but I dont think any movie US domestic has ever busted the billion mark. You would have to go with the world wide count.

    I would have to say Titanic for sure and one of the Lord of Rings flicks. Harry Potter should be pretty close as well.
     
    #130     Apr 6, 2007