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afe66
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  #998147 3-Mar-2014 13:29
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The Art of Killing 9/10.

Documentary where old paramillitary "Gangsters" reminisce about killing "communists" after the coup in Indonesia in 1966; under the premise of making a film about the events.

Chilling.

Had scenes where they would sit around talking about how they killed people with no insight to what they had done and then do reenactments...

Analogous to a world were Nazi Germany defeats Russia and 40 years later members of the SS gather round having a beer talking about murdering and raping and try to out do each other with more horific tales of what they had done.

One of the particularly distressing scenes involves them reenacting the slaughter of a village and joking about raping 14 year old girls or the time they went on a killing spree of chinese people including killing one participants father in law because he was chinese.

Then there were the scenes of modern politicians speaking a rallies of the para millitary organisation, glorifying their deeds in the past. ie up to vice president of indonesia.

Bali and the rest of indonesia is off my visiting list.



blakamin
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  #998157 3-Mar-2014 13:46
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Dirty Wars. I can see why it's up for an oscar!

33coupe
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  #998307 3-Mar-2014 17:57
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Rush 8/10

Great film. The only thing I was a bit dissapointed with was the racing scenes. I would have liked footage of them racing (helmet camera or something) rather than footage of their faces, or the camera down by the pedals.

Gravity 5/10

Probably should have seen it at the cinema for full effect but I did sit close to 50inch 3d Panny with 5.1 Wharfedale blasting!

Not sure what all the hype was for. I found the story very linear, a bit Hollywood, and Clooney playing another confident character.

****Potential Spoiler*****

The scene where she made it to the pod annoyed me. A lot of time (long scene) spinning around looking hot, when you thought she would try and save friend.

Also the last scene, standing up, with that music. Very cringe worthy!!

Good 3d effects though



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  #998348 3-Mar-2014 19:17
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Dredd.

Have had it backed up in my "I must watch this some time" pile, ever since it premiered on Sky. Spent Saturday in bed, a bit under the weather, so tackled some of the watching backlog.

7/10. Not as good as it could have been. Not as bad as I had feared, given the normal experience of Hollywood strip-mining my childhood memories. Pretty average fare, but worth watching. Karl Urban was OK in the title role, Lena Headey made an above average villain, but the other judge (I can't remember the name) was a pretty daft addition - and her "oooh look, I've got mental powers" bits were just cornball nonsense.

blakamin
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  #998354 3-Mar-2014 19:31
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JimmyH:  but the other judge (I can't remember the name) was a pretty daft addition - and her "oooh look, I've got mental powers" bits were just cornball nonsense.


Judge Anderson? She was in the comics doing exactly that!

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  #999224 5-Mar-2014 08:33
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blakamin:
JimmyH:  but the other judge (I can't remember the name) was a pretty daft addition - and her "oooh look, I've got mental powers" bits were just cornball nonsense.


Judge Anderson? She was in the comics doing exactly that!

yes she was...in fact I seem to remember reading a copy of 200AD where she had graduated and was a full judge doing her mind-reading thing...

I am still wating with anticipation for a movie starring some of the more famous droids from 200AD - such as Robojaws.




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  #1000964 7-Mar-2014 18:52
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Knuckle.
A doco about bare knuckle fighting "traveller" families.
And they're all related. :/

9/10

Lizard1977
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  #1003140 12-Mar-2014 09:18
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Upside Down - 5/10

I saw the trailer for this a while back, and the premise looked really interesting - twinned worlds with opposite gravities, meaning that a person from one world would "fall up" on the other world.  It introduced the concept of inverse matter, which when it comes into contact with matter from the opposite world would cancel out the other's gravity, effectively allowing it to float, with the downside that it would combust after a few hours.  Based on the trailer, I thought the core concept was really cool.  So I was really disappointed when it was effectively subsumed by a third-rate Romeo and Juliet knock-off with virtually zero character development.

 

The leads are played by Jim Sturgess and Kirsten Dunst - neither of which turn in particularly noteworthy performances.  Timothy Spall, as one of the supporting characters, redeems it slightly but only just.  The plot, which already requires a hefty suspension of disbelief, then makes convenient hops around inconvenient situations, and the audience is expected to just accept that things work out.  The "science-fiction" seems to be pushed aside to make way for the romance side of the story: that's fine, if the romance was actually interesting or well acted.  It isn't, though.

What should be a vividly-realised world of opposites, suffering under a tyrannical and oppressive society, comes across as cartoonish and skeletal.  The society that seems to be driving the main characters to act in a certain way is never really explored, and big leaps are made throughout the film.  The resolution of the film seems forced and unrealistic.

To be honest, most of the five marks I give this film are down to the premise.  Take that away, and I'd barely give it 1 or 2.  In fact, I'm still wondering why I watched it all the way through...


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  #1004380 12-Mar-2014 16:14
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Lizard1977: Upside Down - 5/10

I saw the trailer for this a while back, and the premise looked really interesting - twinned worlds with opposite gravities, meaning that a person from one world would "fall up" on the other world.  It introduced the concept of inverse matter, which when it comes into contact with matter from the opposite world would cancel out the other's gravity, effectively allowing it to float, with the downside that it would combust after a few hours.  Based on the trailer, I thought the core concept was really cool.  So I was really disappointed when it was effectively subsumed by a third-rate Romeo and Juliet knock-off with virtually zero character development.

The leads are played by Jim Sturgess and Kirsten Dunst - neither of which turn in particularly noteworthy performances.  Timothy Spall, as one of the supporting characters, redeems it slightly but only just.  The plot, which already requires a hefty suspension of disbelief, then makes convenient hops around inconvenient situations, and the audience is expected to just accept that things work out.  The "science-fiction" seems to be pushed aside to make way for the romance side of the story: that's fine, if the romance was actually interesting or well acted.  It isn't, though.

What should be a vividly-realised world of opposites, suffering under a tyrannical and oppressive society, comes across as cartoonish and skeletal.  The society that seems to be driving the main characters to act in a certain way is never really explored, and big leaps are made throughout the film.  The resolution of the film seems forced and unrealistic.

To be honest, most of the five marks I give this film are down to the premise.  Take that away, and I'd barely give it 1 or 2.  In fact, I'm still wondering why I watched it all the way through...



Completely agree..I only saw it a short(ish) while ago and can't even remember how it finished.

Agree that Timothy Spall is the key character in this, in that he's the only one that's interesting...




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Handsome Dan needs to stop adding three dots to every sentence...

 

Handsome Dan does not currently have a side hustle as the mascot for Yale 

 

 

 

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Lizard1977
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  #1004386 12-Mar-2014 16:22
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The ending... ugh! I'm not surprised you don't remember it; such a cop out and devoid of any meaningful connection to the previous 100 minutes of "story". Just thinking about it makes me want to revise the score downwards by 1 point...

Demeter
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  #1004392 12-Mar-2014 16:33
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Lizard1977:  In fact, I'm still wondering why I watched it all the way through...



For the same reason anybody (certainly myself) sits through any bad movie: a desperate display of the triumph of hope over experience. *sigh*

 
 
 
 

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Lizard1977
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  #1004394 12-Mar-2014 16:35
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You're absolutely right. Sigh indeed. I've only ever abandoned watching one film in my life - Tomb Raider 2: Cradle of Life. No regrets...

Demeter
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  #1004396 12-Mar-2014 16:36
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Lizard1977: You're absolutely right. Sigh indeed. I've only ever abandoned watching one film in my life - Tomb Raider 2: Cradle of Life. No regrets...


I confess, I sat through even that because Angelina Jolie. >.>

freitasm
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  #1004418 12-Mar-2014 16:50
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Only movie I left halfway was Thelma & Louise. Too predictable.

Watched Her last night. Good premise, bad execution so it gets 6/10.




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DarthKermit
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  #1007425 17-Mar-2014 16:33
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(Most of) White House Down. I only watched it because the Mrs hired it. Pretty dumb summer action flick.




Whatifthespacekeyhadneverbeeninvented?


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