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06-02-2014, 01:04 AM | #791 |
Big Bad Wolf.
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Raiding tombs.
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Rewatched Dredd over the weekend in 3D on my new TV. Review to follow.
Dredd was the film that made me believe in 3D. In 2012 I put it at number three on my best of the year list, and watching this again I believe this is a solid contender for my "favourite movies of all time" list. And although not quite a box office smash, the critics went wild for it and it's since become a cult classic with a home viewing release so strong a second film is now being considered. Yay! Speaking specifically of the Blu-Ray, my TV has passive 3D so I cracked out my 3D specs just like when I watched this at the movies and my God did I have a great time. The 3D seems to lower the quality of the picture somewhat, but honestly a lot of the effects don't do well under HD scrutiny anyway so you may as well just kick back and enjoy those Slo-Mo sequences. Although Dredd is basically one long piece of ultra violent pessimism, Olivia Thirlby's Anderson gives us a much needed reprise. Don't get me wrong, this is still Dredd's film and Karl Urban proves how great an actor he is again by giving us the Dredd we've always wanted on screen, but in the very nature of his character you can't really do a lot with him. A character like Anderson on the other hand, is much more malleable, and although the story of a rookie thrown into a trial by fire and finding themselves through adversity is nothing original, it's the quality of how the cliché is used where the film shines. This movie seemingly takes place over just a few hours and yet Anderson goes through more character growth than other characters have done in movies that take place over decades and the badass she ends up as by the end is glorious. Who says Anderson hasn't got it cut out to be a judge, huh? Huh?! Some may be pretty disappointed, and fairly in my opinion, with the scale of the film. This is a British movie, and in terms of costs for us Brits this movie's price was ludicrous. For you US folks however, an action movie made for less than fifty million is probably considered "micro budget" these days. To get around the budgetary issues and to get as much money put into the action, Dredd quickly swaps the Mega-City for a Mega-Block and what this basically means is the whole movie takes place in the same three or so sets which are subtly redressed over and over again. It doesn't break the movie or anything, but since Dredd isn't a household name in the US and they've come to expect certain things from the comicbook genre I can see a lot of the audience being disappointed that we're introduced very quickly to a world we barely ever actually get a glimpse at. The bigger disappointment with the locations for me though, is that despite the wonderful Slo-Mo sequences a vast majority of Dredd's native 3D filming is wasted with so much of the film taking place in such incredibly claustrophobic environments. Now 3D is dying down as a novelty and filmmakers are trying to legitimise it, what I realised with 3D is the potential isn't in the money shots but instead in the depth it adds to a film. The lines between reality, and the movie, are only further blurred when 3D makes an image pop in dimensions that feel real to life but you don't ever really get a sense of that in a film made up largely of dimly lit, cramped corridors. At the same time however, Dredd's set up works very well in context. Dredd and Anderson literally have no choice but to fight their way up 200 Floors of the Mega-Block which gives the narrative all the excuses it needs for constant, and unrelenting brutality. Dredd isn't a character that really works all that well outside of shooting things, so they found a pretty good excuse for him to basically shoot things for almost two hours straight. With any other film, the complete lack of tangible plot might have killed it, but Travis and his team of writers make us realise that action can tell us information just as precisely as any doorstop novel, or Shakespearean piece of dialogue can. By the end I felt I knew Dredd and Anderson very personally, especially after we survived such an ordeal together, despite the film giving us barely any information on either of them. Perhaps the only real disappointment is the lack of a tangible villain. Ma-Ma is our main villain, but despite being portrayed by the wonderful Lena Headey they honestly don't give her a lot to do and she feels wasted. About the most memorable thing about her is the way the 3D makes her scars look, and how they make her bad teeth pop. Later in the film a bunch of corrupt Judges enter the fray, worn down by years of service that ultimately achieves nothing, but again they ultimately do very little and lack any real sense of memorability which once again takes a potentially awesome moment and ruins it. I don't think I've ever watched a film before where the goons provided more thrills than the actual villains with names. Overall, watching Dredd in 3D in my bedroom, it wasn't ever going to compare to when me and my Dad went to see it in 3D in theatres towards the end of 2012. That said, after spending so long away from this film, it's blown me away all over again by being even better than I remember it being. Why is this not on your shelf yet?
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06-02-2014, 02:27 AM | #792 |
Man with a plan
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 4,297
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Gundam 00 Awakening of the Trailblazer.
I loved this movie. Come at me haters! But seriously, I'll have a super long post about it in the anime section once I finish up my long ass 00 summary. |
06-02-2014, 09:00 AM | #793 |
Banned
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Englewood CO
Posts: 10,893
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Dredd is an incredible movie and feels like it is one of the comic's storylines.
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06-02-2014, 02:57 PM | #794 |
Big Bad Wolf.
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Raiding tombs.
Posts: 9,529
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Also rewatched The Last Stand - review also to follow.
With cinema taking a detour into a sea of 80s nostalgia I cringed a little, but films like The Last Stand proved that you can make a great film out of 80stalgia if you don't simply rely on that to carry the film on its own. At least, that is what I thought when I came out of the cinema in January of last year. Over the course of that year it found itself from my favourite of the year to sliding off of my top ten all together. Watching it again, I think I made the wrong decision taking it off of my list and will be adding it back on as soon as this is posted. This is a damn fine movie that deserves to be on your shelf. Critically The Last Stand's fun factor seemed to outweigh its pulpiness and managed to largely win out the stuffy critics who might have decried it otherwise. It's pretty rare for critics to accept a film for what it is trying to do, and not to compare it to things it could never compete against and was never intending to in the first place. Speaking firstly about the Bluray, damn this movie is GORGEOUS. Crisp, clean image packed full of texture and detail, on my big ass full HD TV this was a joy for my eyes. It also helps that Jee-woon is a very strong visual director. Jee-woon clearly has a rich understanding of scene composition, all of the action sequences are really well staged and he knows how to add lots of personal style touches to his film, without rubbing your face in it. Honestly he had me the moment he unveiled an action sequence with a mostly steady camera where I could follow what was happening. With the way the film was marketed, Peter Stormare chewing the scenery in the opening moments and Arnie being a giant cardboard cut out of himself it quickly establishes expectations of the film, that the film then focuses on deconstructing and full on ripping down for a very engaging experience. The 80s actioner has largely been revisioned as a comedy genre, with all of its cheesy bombast and just well...the sheer 80sness of it all. It was never intended to be seen that way though, those films take themselves very seriously, for better or worse. The Last Stand however is pretty much the polar opposite, an oddly restrained action film with a heavy emphasis on character, and action sequences that are largely brief and self contained. There is a whole other movie underneath the surface and between the lines here that only becomes more apparent the more you watch it, with a narrative of thematic depth not usually seen in movies like this. It's actually a very bleak film with a lot of emotional resonance and a firm anchoring in a movie logic reality. Death is not a glorious thing in this film, it's presented as messy, painful and sad. 80s action films, for all their violence, existed largely in a Tom and Jerry world whereas The Last Stand, although still cartoonish in places, gives a much harsher sense of reality to it's action. Hell in the first fight Owens really gets to sink his teeth into results in his Deputy, Jerry, bleeding out on the backseat of his truck in a messy, painful and insanely bleak death for a character who up to this point was just a harmless comic relief character. I know a character always has to die to raise the stakes, but damn. Most of the indulgences in the film are saved for the last stand which the film is seemingly named after, which is fine with me. Owens is given near superhuman abilities "don't worry it's just glass" he says nonchalantly, as he pulls a shard of glass out of his shredded thigh with barely a wince. I laughed out loud in the theatre, and I laughed out loud this time around too. Armed with "Vicky the Nazi-Killer" he's a hellish force of nature and after so much pent up angst, it's so nice to see the movie let loose. This is also where Stormare gets to shine. His masterful scenery chewing is pretty out of place throughout the movie, but during the final action sequence he just gets so many great lines and seems to be having such a wonderful time (or is just high as shit, I really can't tell) that he is just so enjoyable to watch. Other highlights include the numerous chase sequences in the movie, all made awesome by the gorgeous Chevrolet corvette zr1. A hilariously brutal kill with a flaregun and the brilliant Mrs. Salazar and her surprising moment of extreme violence, "Put the hurt on 'em, Ray!". Probably the biggest disappointment is Jaimie Alexander's character, Sarah. Alexander is by far the best actor in this thing and she gets to be more than just the pretty face of the movie but during the point of the movie where she should get to be her most badass she gets a stupid romantic subplot dropped in her lap and that is the end of her importance to the movie. Because of course girl characters need to be kissing boys, rather than shooting guns, shooting guns is for men! Ultimately, at the end of the day, The Last Stand was an excuse to get Arnie back to doing what he does best, spouting one liners while beating people to death with charm and charisma. It more than succeeds at that while also providing an above average production and a narrative slightly more thoughtful than you've probably come to expect from these sorts of films. Why'd I ever take this off of my best of 2013 list?
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06-07-2014, 05:44 PM | #795 |
Yokai trainer
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Alola
Posts: 9,659
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Mathilda, god damnit i want every single character in this movie dead except Mathilda and her teacher.
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06-07-2014, 05:51 PM | #796 |
Big Bad Wolf.
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Raiding tombs.
Posts: 9,529
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Both The Frighteners and Alien are very disappointing bluray releases. Did check out the pretty decent Blue Ruin though:
Jeremy Saulnier clearly has a rich understanding of how to make a quality product, on an indie budget. This film feels like a labour of love, and is as much a neo-noir as it is exploitation film as it is an art house experiment. That might sound almost impossible to have so many conflicting thematics sharing the same space but Saulnier has the talent to make it work. Dwight is a man of few words and so bringing in an actor like Macon Blair who can tell so much through the physicality in his performance is a treat. His eyes betray his dialogue, and his eyes give the truths the dialogue is missing. Looking truly like an every man, it's satisfying that his moments of cool are restrained and natural within the diegesis. I really loved how, even in the violent climax, Dwight is still the same small and scared looking middle aged man, fumbling his way around words and a gun. The way this film makes us care for him, puts back in the punch the strained budget may not be able to add in itself. Sadly it's everything on paper that lets the film down, or rather the lack of it. It acts like it has something interesting to say, stringing you along with a dense mystery and although we get our answers, the answers just aren't particularly satisfying. Even with a few curve balls thrown here and there. The film keeps you in the dark for way too long, and snuffs out any real potential of its third act developments in the process. You end the film feeling more jerked about than anything else. Overall though Blue Ruin is a legitimately gorgeous movie that makes up for being so underwritten thanks to the incredible filmmaking talent of Saulnier, his camera and some fake blood. It's certainly worth seeing once, even if you never come back again after.
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06-07-2014, 06:29 PM | #797 |
Man with a plan
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 4,297
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X-Men Days of Future Past
This was an amazing movie. Firstly, I love the new minor characters. Bishop, Blink and Quicksilver all had great action scenes. The story was fucking amazing. They literally thought about almost every potential loophole in this story and covered it up in order to keep the plot going. I like Wolverine's development (although it will reset for the next movie), I like the future sequences with the X-men 1-3 cast, I love the action. Also, did anyone notice that in that grainy 70s footage of Mystique and Beast, the suits looked really fake compared to the actual movie? I thought it worked the other way around LOL. Also, Wolverine ass. |
06-07-2014, 06:40 PM | #798 |
Big Bad Wolf.
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Raiding tombs.
Posts: 9,529
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Days of Future Past is probably second only to ASM2 in terms of my favourite sueprhero flicks of the year (and my third favourite overall). Although Quicksilver was pretty superfluous to the plot, that breakout sequence was a highlight of the movie as was pretty much any sequence set in the future where the creators were free to do whatever they hell they liked without fear of upsetting status quo.
Wolverine was certainly the worst part of the movie for me though, normally the emphasis put on him pisses me off anyway, but this is the first time where the movie was made all about him and yet gave him absolutely nothing to do. Every time he was relevant, was a moment so painfully contrived it wreaked of studio interference.
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06-07-2014, 08:09 PM | #799 |
Banned
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Englewood CO
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06-07-2014, 08:20 PM | #800 |
Big Bad Wolf.
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Raiding tombs.
Posts: 9,529
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Considering Jaws had a from the grounds up remaster with about seven hours worth of extras (so its basically four films in one) Alien with its dated looking master and barebones extras is pretty inexcusable in my books. Even The Frighteners, which is looking pretty dated too and could do with a remastered touch up, at least came with a FOUR HOUR long making of.
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