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Old 07-23-2014, 06:24 AM   #851
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I watched Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

Was much better than expected.

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Old 07-27-2014, 01:57 PM   #852
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A chilling vision of a possible future? Or a bit wet and tricksy?
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Old 07-30-2014, 04:19 PM   #853
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So Planet of the Apes is well made and fairly well acted, the apes being almost entirely CGI aside, but absolutely nothing happens.
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Old 08-01-2014, 06:15 PM   #854
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Saw Guardians of the Galaxy. I had some issues with it, but overall I still think the movie was good. It had a lot of heart.

Armchair Criticism:
Spoiler: show
Most of the problems I had were the differences between the movie and comics. I know some things will change, but some of the stuff was just completely wrong or silly.

I will go down the list from order of character appearance I guess.

Peter Quill. Star-Lord. I actually thought they would use his new revised origins with minor changes. It would have had been more exciting! He comes home. Aliens attack his house. His mom dies. Peter blows up his house to stop the aliens. Then he goes into space. Finds out his dad is an interstellar Emperor. And an asshole. So he decides to run off and become an interstellar rogue in defiance of his father. He uses his title of Star-Lord ironically. Instead he was a boy abducted by aliens and becomes a space jerk looking for his big payout. They didn't even need to say any of the space king business. Up until the Ravagers had him and Gamora and they revealed that they were the ones who picked him up, I thought the whole "I know I'm a space prince dicking around" thing was going to come in. Maybe he joined the Ravagers to disgrace his father. And so forth. Instead he's the son of some ancient cosmic thing no one apparently knows about. Fuck that.

Next is Gamora- the "deadliest woman in the galaxy." Yet when she's wrestling with Peter Quill, who is essentially a man-child in this film, she can't avoid his space bolas or even properly knock him out before trying to run away with the goods. She just straight up loses to his blaster. She should have the strength to basically go toe to toe with Drax and somewhat fight Thanos, but she couldn't even handle simple squishy Peter Quill.

Secondly, why is Gamora betraying Ronin and Thanos? Because she realizes Thanos is going to perform genocide? Didn't you say Thanos murdered your family in front of you as he took you in? Brutally trained you and brainwashed you into becoming his tool of death? Then what broke the brainwash? You were his assassin- his FAVORITE assassin. You should know what horrors he does. And now suddenly for no reason, you decide you can't keep working for Thanos?

A better way to do this would have had been to have Gamora as a faithful assassin to Thanos attempt to kill Peter Quill, but then have him win her over in the same prison scene involving Drax. She was someone who never knew kindness and now her failed assassination target is saving her life. She then owes him or she finally understood kindess or WHATEVER. I didn't like that she just had this heart of gold for no reason. That's not Gamora.

Rocket and Groot. There wasn't much to complain about here really. I guess when Groot said something other than "I am Groot" and Rocket not explaining that while his whole language is "I am Groot," it was actually a bunch of unique sounds most humanoids can't pick up.

Drax. Drax is hard for movies. I understand that. So really, I can make a bunch of complaints, but I'll let this one slide. I didn't perfectly like how he was a simpleton since Groot kind of already filled that role.

Not Main Cast Stuff:

Why did they have a Kree Emperor? Why didn't they just use the Supreme Intelligence like it is in the comics. Is the title of Supreme Intelligence so foreign that the audience can't understand that the it is the SPACE ALIENS' leader? It has to be an Emperor or a King or something? Really?

Knowhere. Where to begin. First they explain it's a Celestial's head. Right. Then they say there are no rules. What? Knowhere was a super highly regulated space colony because it was a giant space deity's head. It was ruled by a council of super smart space scientists who wanted to unlock the mysteries of the beings which created our galaxy. Saying it has no rules was pretty pointless overall. It had no impact on the story and just made another thing comic nerds will complain about.

The Collector felt out of character here. He collects unique species. We see that with his 'zoo.' We even see Cosmo the Kosmonaut Dog. But he does nothing when he sees Star-Lord. We don't seem to have many humans out in space. Doesn't care about Gamora, last of her kind (which isn't explained in this). Doesn't care about Groot. Doesn't care about Rocket. Rocket STRAIGHT UP CLAIMS he is unique in all the galaxy. The Collector doesn't feel compelled to collect? I understand. He wants the Infinity Stone. But the whole scene would have had been better if he tried to capture them, then his slave girl rebelled and they made their escape. There wasn't really any reason why they shouldn't have let him keep it. He has another stone already according to the end of Thor 2. Clearly if he can keep one, he can keep the other one safe. If he wasn't going to pay (which is hinted, but didn't really happen) and was going to keep them in his zoo, fine. Get out of there. But if he was going to pay, then what difference did it make who kept it? Gamora wanted to give it to the Nova Corps. but they're a space empire too. What if they use it against someone? Why can you trust anyone over anyone else?

I guess the Nova Corps. weren't given their special powers because they were too.... uh... Green Lantern-y? A planet with a power giving artifact that made an army of super powered space militia. Instead they couldn't even fight off one crashing ship. Seriously, when the ships wrapped Ronin's ship in the shield, why didn't they have a small group fly around back and destroy the engines?

And all the 9/11 imagery. Kamikaze attacks and then a giant plane taking down large buildings. I'm a bit sick of seeing 9/11 everywhere. Avengers. Man of Steel. Star Trek Into Darkness.

I know 9/11 was a big thing that we shouldn't forget, but don't shove it down my face in every action movie as the climatic bad thing happening.


Don't look at this giant list of problems and think it's a terrible movie. It isn't. It is still a good movie with a lot of fun and action.
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Old 08-01-2014, 10:21 PM   #855
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Watched: Guardians of the Galaxy
SPOILERS WITHINNNN
Spoiler: show

This movie deserved its 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Great movie, combining the serious nature of a superhero movie with plenty of comedy. Rocket and Groot were such lovable characters, and Peter/Starlord as well. Heck, what am I saying, all of them were lovable. Thee scene towards the end where the Ravager captain singlehandedly kills about 50 enemies and their ship with his telepathic needle? Glorious. The barricade on the Kree ship? Glorious. Seeing Groot begin to grow back at the end? Glorious.


On par with How To Train Your Dragon 2. No questions.
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Old 08-05-2014, 11:45 PM   #856
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This movie was amazing on so many levels. Like The Big White, this is another example of a great dark comedy. It was so fucked up and twisted, yet I couldn't stop laughing. There's some bits that don't make much sense, but I don't think the movie was meant to be taken that seriously anyway. Feel the wrench of justice! It's almost like Bioshock.
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Old 08-06-2014, 09:45 AM   #857
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Shut up, Crime!
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Old 08-13-2014, 02:20 PM   #858
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Originally Posted by Loki View Post
Saw Guardians of the Galaxy. I had some issues with it, but overall I still think the movie was good. It had a lot of heart.

Armchair Criticism:
Spoiler: show
Most of the problems I had were the differences between the movie and comics. I know some things will change, but some of the stuff was just completely wrong or silly.

I will go down the list from order of character appearance I guess.

Peter Quill. Star-Lord. I actually thought they would use his new revised origins with minor changes. It would have had been more exciting! He comes home. Aliens attack his house. His mom dies. Peter blows up his house to stop the aliens. Then he goes into space. Finds out his dad is an interstellar Emperor. And an asshole. So he decides to run off and become an interstellar rogue in defiance of his father. He uses his title of Star-Lord ironically. Instead he was a boy abducted by aliens and becomes a space jerk looking for his big payout. They didn't even need to say any of the space king business. Up until the Ravagers had him and Gamora and they revealed that they were the ones who picked him up, I thought the whole "I know I'm a space prince dicking around" thing was going to come in. Maybe he joined the Ravagers to disgrace his father. And so forth. Instead he's the son of some ancient cosmic thing no one apparently knows about. Fuck that.

Next is Gamora- the "deadliest woman in the galaxy." Yet when she's wrestling with Peter Quill, who is essentially a man-child in this film, she can't avoid his space bolas or even properly knock him out before trying to run away with the goods. She just straight up loses to his blaster. She should have the strength to basically go toe to toe with Drax and somewhat fight Thanos, but she couldn't even handle simple squishy Peter Quill.

Secondly, why is Gamora betraying Ronin and Thanos? Because she realizes Thanos is going to perform genocide? Didn't you say Thanos murdered your family in front of you as he took you in? Brutally trained you and brainwashed you into becoming his tool of death? Then what broke the brainwash? You were his assassin- his FAVORITE assassin. You should know what horrors he does. And now suddenly for no reason, you decide you can't keep working for Thanos?

A better way to do this would have had been to have Gamora as a faithful assassin to Thanos attempt to kill Peter Quill, but then have him win her over in the same prison scene involving Drax. She was someone who never knew kindness and now her failed assassination target is saving her life. She then owes him or she finally understood kindess or WHATEVER. I didn't like that she just had this heart of gold for no reason. That's not Gamora.

Rocket and Groot. There wasn't much to complain about here really. I guess when Groot said something other than "I am Groot" and Rocket not explaining that while his whole language is "I am Groot," it was actually a bunch of unique sounds most humanoids can't pick up.

Drax. Drax is hard for movies. I understand that. So really, I can make a bunch of complaints, but I'll let this one slide. I didn't perfectly like how he was a simpleton since Groot kind of already filled that role.

Not Main Cast Stuff:

Why did they have a Kree Emperor? Why didn't they just use the Supreme Intelligence like it is in the comics. Is the title of Supreme Intelligence so foreign that the audience can't understand that the it is the SPACE ALIENS' leader? It has to be an Emperor or a King or something? Really?

Knowhere. Where to begin. First they explain it's a Celestial's head. Right. Then they say there are no rules. What? Knowhere was a super highly regulated space colony because it was a giant space deity's head. It was ruled by a council of super smart space scientists who wanted to unlock the mysteries of the beings which created our galaxy. Saying it has no rules was pretty pointless overall. It had no impact on the story and just made another thing comic nerds will complain about.

The Collector felt out of character here. He collects unique species. We see that with his 'zoo.' We even see Cosmo the Kosmonaut Dog. But he does nothing when he sees Star-Lord. We don't seem to have many humans out in space. Doesn't care about Gamora, last of her kind (which isn't explained in this). Doesn't care about Groot. Doesn't care about Rocket. Rocket STRAIGHT UP CLAIMS he is unique in all the galaxy. The Collector doesn't feel compelled to collect? I understand. He wants the Infinity Stone. But the whole scene would have had been better if he tried to capture them, then his slave girl rebelled and they made their escape. There wasn't really any reason why they shouldn't have let him keep it. He has another stone already according to the end of Thor 2. Clearly if he can keep one, he can keep the other one safe. If he wasn't going to pay (which is hinted, but didn't really happen) and was going to keep them in his zoo, fine. Get out of there. But if he was going to pay, then what difference did it make who kept it? Gamora wanted to give it to the Nova Corps. but they're a space empire too. What if they use it against someone? Why can you trust anyone over anyone else?

I guess the Nova Corps. weren't given their special powers because they were too.... uh... Green Lantern-y? A planet with a power giving artifact that made an army of super powered space militia. Instead they couldn't even fight off one crashing ship. Seriously, when the ships wrapped Ronin's ship in the shield, why didn't they have a small group fly around back and destroy the engines?

And all the 9/11 imagery. Kamikaze attacks and then a giant plane taking down large buildings. I'm a bit sick of seeing 9/11 everywhere. Avengers. Man of Steel. Star Trek Into Darkness.

I know 9/11 was a big thing that we shouldn't forget, but don't shove it down my face in every action movie as the climatic bad thing happening.


Don't look at this giant list of problems and think it's a terrible movie. It isn't. It is still a good movie with a lot of fun and action.
Agreed on all accounts, really enjoyed the film, super glad it's so successful. I want to see more of Marvel's cosmic side in the movies, but they really do need to find a better way of conveying so much space jargon and politics to the uninitiated.
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Old 08-15-2014, 09:04 AM   #859
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Enjoyed GOTG. It was a good movie, with nice throwbacks to the 70s and humour. The best part was Groot, the tree. He stole the show, for me.

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Old 08-25-2014, 09:42 PM   #860
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Saw Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Amazing film.
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Old 08-28-2014, 02:47 PM   #861
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Off to see a double feature of The Giver and Lucy. I've read the book for the former, I'm really excited for the latter, so expect a post later on tonight/tomorrow.
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Old 08-28-2014, 03:54 PM   #862
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Having somehow gone 23 years and never seen Die Hard, I decided to fix this today. Great film! Watching one man gun down dozens of enemies at a time without taking a scratch gets boring after a while, enjoyed the relatively small group of bad guys and that they didn't come across as individually incompetent.
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Old 08-29-2014, 02:26 AM   #863
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The Die Hard trilogy is pretty excellent, a great genre. Sadly they then did two additional and fairly crap generic action films that starred Bruce Willis.
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Old 09-20-2014, 08:18 PM   #864
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I finally saw Edge of Tomorrow. I heard from a lot of people it was good movie and it was, as they put it "something you will enjoy." or "definitely your type." Well, when every other person said that, I did a bit of investigating and figured out why. It was originally a Japanese novel, then a manga series.

Overall it was a fairly enjoyable movie, but I will say it had a few simple problems. Firstly, Tom Cruise's character is supposed to be a coward at the start. Someone who literally ran away when he was told to simply be on the front lines. Tom Cruice is an action man. He is type cast as an action superstar. It's hard to believe he was a coward in the whole war.

And...

Spoiler: show
Romance angle kind of broke character for the female lead, although it was understandable that Tom Cruise's character might fall in love with her because of how much he's been through with her, she's relatively only known him for a day. It doesn't make much sense that she would reciprocate such feelings, even if she does know he's repeated the same tomorrow for years.

Also, the ending is way too sappy. I have a big feeling it's an American thing to always end movies in a somewhat happy and hopeful way, but I think if everyone died to save the world, it still qualifies as a happy ending rather than a cheat death ending.


It didn't do well in box offices because of the whole killer set of releases this summer. Add in the general dropping popularity of Tom Cruise in the United States since the whole Scientology thing, it isn't hard to understand why it was kind of a flop here. If you ever do get a chance to watch this movie, it's definitely pretty decent. The pacing and action were all well done.
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Old 09-22-2014, 01:08 PM   #865
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Yeah the ending was severely mediocre
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Old 10-05-2014, 01:39 AM   #866
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A Fault in Our Stars

I like this movie.
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Though, I also dislike the concept of lamenting the current day while wishing to re-experience the past. At least, my modern attitude is to try and make each new day magical even if it's not, since exclusively reminiscing about the past is too pathetic.
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Old 10-05-2014, 07:49 AM   #867
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House on Haunted Hill (1959)

Watched this last night on a whim. It happened to be on YouTube for free -- hooray, films actually entering the public archive instead of being copyrighted eternally! For a campy horror film of the 1950s, this was surprisingly well done. The way people spoke and acted is from a bygone era of American cinema, and that alone made the film fun to watch. The plot was decent; it wasn't great, but it did enough to keep you watching. A huge plus in its favor was its running time: at only 75 minutes, the story did exactly what it needed to do without overstaying its welcome.

I wouldn't describe Frederick Loren as Vincent Price's greatest role ever, but he does a good job filling the shoes of a bizarre and twisted millionaire whose idea of a fun weekend is to submit people to threats on their lives. Richard Long, the actor who plays Lance Schroeder, deserves a special mention for his perfect encapsulation of what a leading male actor was like in 1950s cinema.

The special effects are pretty bad. But the film was made in 1959. And it only had a budget of $200,000. Even if you double that for inflation, that's still only $400,000 to be split between seven actors, a writer, a director, stage fees, and so on. For these reasons, I'm able to forgive the special effects. Just be warned that if you do decide to watch the film the horror effects are going to be pretty poor by modern standards.

Overall, I'd describe the movie as fine. Check it out if you like, don't if you don't.
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Old 10-05-2014, 11:04 AM   #868
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Surprise double post.

Twice-Told Tales (1963)

YouTube recommended a number of other horror films from the 1950s and '60s as well as a number of other films starring Vincent Price. This one caught my interest more than the others so I decided to go with it. I only watched the first two-thirds (the first two of three stories) before dropping it, but I didn't rage drop it or anything. It was just kinda boring and with weak payoffs. I could've easily finished it if I felt like I had all the free time in the world, but I don't and so I quit while I was ahead not too far behind.

The first story is about two elderly friends in the 1850s, one of whom has been a widower for the past thirty-nine years, the other of whom never married. The widower lost his bride on the evening they were to be married; he remained devoted to her all these years, never remarrying, and still has her portrait above his mantle. A storm and a loud noise results in the two men investigating the nearby crypt where the widower entombed his bride-to-be. There they discover that her coffin has fallen, the supporting rock beneath it destroyed. As they lift the coffin, the lid comes loose and reveals that the body looks just as it did thirty-nine years ago. The story proceeds from there. Don't want to give everything away in case you decide to watch it. I guess for those who won't, I'll tell more below.

Spoiler: show
They discover a crack in the ceiling through which rainwater steadily drips. They also discover a hole in the coffin lid. The hole shows signs of having been the result of years of water dripping on it. This suggests that the water somehow made its way into the coffin and had an effect on the woman's body. But since it would have taken years for the water to accomplish this, they reject the hypothesis that the water preserved her. It has to be something else.

So they take some samples of the rainwater from the crypt. And the widower, who happens to be a scientist or doctor of some sort, begins to examine the samples under a microscope. He finds nearly no bacteria present, suggesting germocidal properties. (Even though it's the 1850s and Pasteur's work hasn't reached America yet, most likely, and ... yeah. ^^; ) But this still wouldn't explain why his fiancée's body is in such good condition -- not if it would've taken years for the rainwater to reach her! So he has a crazy hunch that the water might actually be a youth elixir. And he tests it on a long-dead rose he's kept inside of a book all these years. Sure enough, the water restores the rose to life! The widower drinks some of the water himself and ... rejuvenated! He offers some to his friend and ... rejuvenated! They celebrate.

The widower injects some of the water directly into his bride's corpse. For whatever reason (it's not explained), coming into contact with the water was enough to make her young again but not bring her back to life. Whatever. Well, once he injects it directly into her bloodstream, she comes back to life.

After some conversation, the widower excitedly runs upstairs to fetch his bride's bridal gown, leaving the other two alone downstairs. They take the opportunity to privately converse, revealing to the audience that:
  • the two were actually lovers, unbeknownst to the widower
  • the woman wanted to marry him, but the man didn't want to be tied down by marriage
  • she accepted the widower's marriage proposal but seems to have not really been happy about going through with it (uhhhhhhhhhhhh, okaaaaaaaaaaay ... )
  • and her lover, unwilling to let any other man have her, poisoned her the night she was to be married, killing her
For whatever fucked up reason, she's willing to forgive him for this and still wants to be his. The friend is torn but doesn't get too much time to think it over: the widower returns with the bridal gown. He sends his fiancée off to try it on. Meanwhile ...

The widower pulls a knife on his old friend. He's heard it all! And he will have his revenge! The friend begs for his life and genuinely doesn't seem to want to harm his old buddy any more than he's already done. But they get into a scuffle and in the end the friend ends up turning the knife against the widower, stabbing him in the gut. It proves to be fatal and the widower soon drops to the ground. The fiancée returns and sees this, shrieking.

As the friend examines the doctor's body, he notices that it has reverted to its original (non-youthful) state. He then looks at himself and notices that he too has reverted. Which can only mean ...

He turns to face the bride. She's now a skeleton wearing a wedding dress. She collapses on the spot into a pile of bones.

The sole survivor, the friend heads off to the crypt to look for more rejuvenating liquid. But the storm has ended and there is no more water flowing through the crack.

And the story ends just like that. No explanation as to why he couldn't go on top of the building and pour some water through the crack to create more elixir. No explanation as to why he couldn't wait for the next rain storm. I think the film tries to imply that the crack isn't just dried up but has become stopped or filled in somehow? But it's vague enough to warrant a clearer explanation.

The second story is about a 19th-century Italian college student attending university in Padua. He gets an apartment that happens to be next to a luxurious garden. And one day he spies a beautiful young woman in the garden. Enchanted, he has to know her name and get to know her better. He soon learns her name but also learns some other mysterious things. One, that no one ever enters that property. Two, that no one has ever actually seen the daughter except for him. Three, that her father used to be a professor of chemistry at the university but that he then became a recluse after his wife left him for another man.

In an early scene, the father begins to cough violently as he nears this one plant in the garden, complaining of its "acid" and "radiation." The daughter is able to handle the plant with her bare hands. This suggests some sort of mad science experiment. But what? Watch the film to find out! Or just read on.

Spoiler: show
The plant is remarkably poisonous. The father infused his daughter with an extract from the plant, somehow converting her blood into the cyanide serum of the plant. Now, in order for her to live, he must regularly administer her plant extract; and if she comes into contact with any living creature, she will poison it, killing smaller creatures dead on the spot. The plant exhibits the same property.

The father deliberately made his daughter an untouchable because of his wife's betrayal. He says that he did it out of love for his daughter, not spite. He explains that he wanted her to "know no sin," to be pure in both body and spirit. By making it so that no man could ever touch her, she would forever remain virginal and would never be guilty of infidelity.

The story goes on for a bit with the college student trying to find out why the daughter won't return his love despite her clear interest in him. Eventually, we reach a point where she tells him the truth about her horrible powers. He feels very sorry for her and does not abandon her. Instead, he pockets a lizard that she infuses with her poison and takes it to the university for his chemistry professor to examine.

The chemistry professor discovers the poison and begins to work on an antidote. He advises the student to not return to the mad scientist's house in the meantime. Of course he does anyway. ~.~ And when he does, he's greeted by the girl's father. He plays the (largely honest?) part of a father vetting a suitor for his daughter's hand in marriage, and he makes absolutely sure that the young man wants to marry her and be faithful to her. When the young man swears that he does, the mad scientist suggests that he has a way that the two of them can be together forever. The dialogue misleads both the audience and the student into believing that the father can reverse the transformation he's done on his daughter. But instead ...

... The college student awakens, after having been drugged, and discovers that he's been transformed by the mad scientist! Now he too has the poison touch, just like the daughter! The mad scientist seems pretty happy with the arrangement. He explains that this way he can be absolutely certain that they'll never cheat on one another -- because they'll have no one in the world they can touch except for one another! The student is distressed and, after wasting time elsewhere, returns to the university seeking help from his professor.

The professor has prepared a prototype antidote. He explains that he'd rather approach the matter cautiously, telling the student that it will take two to three years of tests before they can be sure about safely administering it to the two lovers. The student says that he can't possibly wait that long and demands the professor hand over the prototype. The professor does so reluctantly. The student assures him that no matter what happens, he and the daughter are eternally grateful to the professor for all his help.

Returning to the garden, the student calls for the daughter. The father listens from the shadows. The student brings forth the antidote, tells the daughter what it is, and begins to down half of it. The father runs forth, screaming "NO!", but it's too late. The boy begins to die on the spot. The father explains to the daughter that the antidote is doing its job of counteracting the toxin -- but the problem is, the toxin has become the two youths' very blood. So it's as though the boy just imbibed an antidote to blood itself! Of course it would kill him! When it becomes clear that there's no saving the student, the daughter grabs the antidote and drinks the remaining half. Together, she and the student die.

The father is distraught at having lost his daughter. It's clear that he really did love her, and now that she's dead -- not to mention the matter of the dead college student in his garden ^^; -- he gives up on life and kills himself. And he does so by placing his hands on the poisonous plant in the garden.

Both stories were mildly entertaining. But after spending seventy minutes combined on them, I felt like enough was enough. They weren't amazing by any means (plot-wise, acting-wise, any of it), but I want to stress that they weren't terrible either. If you're a huge fan of old-timey films and old-timey Rated G horror stories, then sure, go ahead and check this one out. (Frankly, I feel like neither story I saw can even be called "horror" so much as "science fiction thriller with ghastly elements tossed in.")
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Old 11-07-2014, 12:22 AM   #869
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So I just finished Snowpiercer, a Korean film with a weird mix of actors including Chris Pines, Octavia Spencer, Song Kang-Ho, Tilda Swinton and Allison Pill, among others. It was pretty phenomenal.

Spoilers because this plot is twisty.

Spoiler: show
So I am a ridiculous sucker for dystopias - 1984 has long been my favorite novel - and boy does this one deliver. Anyone who's played Bioshock will immediately recognize some pretty elegant parallels (likely not intentional) DOUBLE SPOILER FOR Bioshock!

Spoiler: show
Crazed commercial genius creates self-sustaining fantastical paradise sealed off from the rest of the world that crashes down around him, leads protagonist into his grasp by subtly controlling him before being betrayed and having his plans fall to pieces.


The subtle bits of worldbuilding done nearly constantly were insane, including the amazing characterization done with every little word. No chance at building a character or the world as a whole is missed - every word is used, not a single wasted. The sets are amazingly constructed with a lot of conscious detail to make you feel like you're on a train but still giving it this sense of over-the-top grandeur, sort of this place between claustrophobia and agoraphobia that leaves you in wonder and unease the entire movie. And boy, some of the cars, the schoolroom car in particular, are just so beautifully done and really portray the craziness that is this car.

It also really leaves you wanting more. It builds extremely well without showing its hand, leaving you to guess for yourself how the train began, how the tail car population started, and the engineer's rise to power. It makes me really want to read the graphic novel it's based on.


10/10 must see
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Old 11-08-2014, 02:34 PM   #870
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I got through half of Snowpiercer and felt the whole thing felt a bit too silly. I'll probably go through the rest of it later this week.

Also, the original graphic novel is very different from the movie as I'm told.
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Old 11-29-2014, 09:18 AM   #871
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Watched several movies this Thanksgiving holiday.

The Giver: Apparently they turned one of my favorite books from childhood into a movie. Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit's ... okay. My parents (who had never read the book) quite enjoyed it. My sister and I (who has each read the book) liked it okay but agreed it was inferior to the book.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: Hadn't seen this film in some 10-15 years. But have seen it literally 50+ times, probably 100+. Had fun. Raiders is still my favorite of the bunch.

Kickboxer 4: The Aggressor: Only saw part of this. Really cheap film. I was surprised by its familiar-from-eromanga plot though. O_o

Casino Royale: Hadn't seen this in some 2-4 years. Quite enjoyed it. Easily my favorite Bond film of the ones I've seen. Gotta see Quantum of Solace and Skyfall still.
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Old 11-29-2014, 10:31 AM   #872
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I forgot to gush about Interstellar here yesterday!

This movie is fantastic! One of the most engaging and scientifically accurate movies I've seen in a long time. If you liked Gravity but were cheesed off by all the artistic license, Interstellar is the movie for you!
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Old 11-29-2014, 11:59 PM   #873
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Saw Gone Girl a month late. Weird movie, but interesting characters. Except Ben Affleck, he sucks. 8/10.
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Old 12-01-2014, 10:28 PM   #874
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Talon's SW thread reminded me that I need to complain about Jurassic World, although my comments seem rather petty compared to the silliness of the SW trailer.

I thought Jurassic World started out with an interesting enough premise. Perhaps Amagi Brilliant Park, which packs a similar plot of trying to rekindle interest in an amusement park on hard times, helped open me up to the idea. I'm a little disappointed that John Hammond's vision was reduced from the safari exhibit grandeur to little more than SeaWorld style entertainment shows, as well as the iconic colour sceheme, logos and apparel of Jurassic Park having been forgone for World's look, but that's minor.

I think what bothers me most about the film is it's a dinosaur, metaphorically. When the movie came out, most people didn't know jack about genetics and cloning and whatnot. Computer graphics were exclusive to movies. Facts were not easily attainable as now on the internet, so it was easier to get away with exaggerating dinosaur traits or giving them fictitious adaptations (Dilophosaurus spitting/frills).

But since Walking with Dinosaurs, more faithful documentaries have taken huge steps forward in closing the gap between television and the theatre. Walking with Dinosaurs was arguably pretty Jurassic Park-esque in how it exaggerated the fudge out of a lot of things to create drama, but as time has gone on that's less of an issue.

The Liopleurodon scene was what bothered me the second most in the trailer. Liopleurodon is a short-necked plesiosaur and it's depicted eating a dead great white in a single chomp, like an orca show. Liopleurodon was never that big: its first CGI appearance ever was in Walking with Dinosaurs where they depicted it as the size of a blue whale. Jurassic World ran with that exaggeration, which makes the movie feel more fake because no animal that size could eat enough to move with any mobility.

Since the somber revelation that theropods have feathers, I've found that any interest I've had in ancient animals has focused more on the ocean: the oceans of the prehistoric had more diversity and interesting adaptations than land animals, and speaking as a human feels a lot more hostile than the land. Humans aren't evolved to handle water, so the idea of creatures that are perfectly maneuverable, fast and adept at killing in the water is way more frightening than a T-Rex is today. There was no reason for JW to exaggerate the size of Liopleurodon: it was already plenty big, it was already hugely dangerous to a human, so why not stick a bit more to realism? It's more believable, to misappropriate an answer Spielberg gave to justifying Jaws dying to an exploding air tank.

Surprisingly, the velociraptor K-9 unit didn't upset me that much. My number one beef with the film was, after the premise of trying to bring back guests (which seems odd given how novel a dinosaur park is) they genetically engineer Godzilla to rampage on the park and eat the tourists, a mere fourteen months after he saved San Francisco from the MUTOs.

Legendary Pictures is producing both films, but really aside from the "Jurassic" half of "Jurassic World" I wouldn't be able to cognitively connect this one to the 1992 film. What we've got is a generic monster movie masquerading with Jurassic Park branding and hoping childhood nostalgia ropes the rabid fans back. That plot twist, along with all the corny dialogue and cheesy situations, were like a reality check to me that I wasn't watching a trailer for a "retro" movie from the '90s, but the same lowest common denominator filth that dominates commercials every summer. Yes, I realize LCD-type movies have been made forever, but the ripe fruit hangs lower than ever before, too.

It's shameless and stupid. And it'll make buttloads of money. I'm adult enough to not care about making money in any way possible, but the idea that there are still legions of tasteless boors out there who would pay, sing praise or worse engage in internet defense of such a movie has me wishing that they'll go temporarily mad and ritually cut off their tongues. It's just a formality at this point anyway!
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Old 12-01-2014, 10:41 PM   #875
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Honestly while I'm a huge fossil nerd myself I actually liked the Jurassic World trailer. Yes the science doesn't hold up but they knew that when the first film was made and it didn't hurt. Admittedly the 'genetic hybrid dinosaur' part of the trailer made me think it was going downhill, I'm going to wait until a) longer trailer comes out and b) see what the reviews are like, and even then I'll probably go and see it anyway because dinosaurs. That and I go to see movies because I want some escapism. If everything was hard science then there'd hardly be any fun films aside fomr Interstellar (upon which note I agree with Jeri go watch that).

Also pretty sure that wasn't a Liopleurodon but a Tylosaurus, which could reach around three times the length of an average adult Great White. From the shots I saw in the trailer I thought the shark looked a little small and was probably a juvenile rather than a fully-grown adult, making the Mosasaur even larger by comparison. Though I thought the scene of it acting like an Orca was a bit dumb, again, the movie's for fun.
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