What was the last movie you watched? III

[BlairCo]

On that note, it's a Spielflick, so why were the Germans not speaking German, why were the French not speaking French? And why did they all have such horrible accents? I generally dislike it when films have people who speak one language most of the time in real life end up speaking English for most of their time in the movie. But I understand why it's done, considering the audience is normally mostly English speaking, but I am surprised Spielberg fell into this too. Unless this was intended to be a family film. It's still unfortunate though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxja0YhOUTM&feature=player_detailpage#t=14s

[GunRanger]

[size=200] Like when

Ben Cum's character is captured and it's all treated very casually by the Germans like they were playing tag or something.

How was it treated casually? They had him trapped, and the commander yelled at him for how stupid he was for still using calvaries against the new machine guns. That's why it's a big deal when he throws his rapier into the ground. WW1 was the death of those antiquated war tactics.

On that note, it's a Spielflick, so why were the Germans not speaking German, why were the French not speaking French? And why did they all have such horrible accents? I generally dislike it when films have people who speak one language most of the time in real life end up speaking English for most of their time in the movie. But I understand why it's done, considering the audience is normally mostly English speaking, but I am surprised Spielberg fell into this too. Unless this was intended to be a family film. It's still unfortunate though.
.

Yes, he intended the film to be for families (it is a children's book afterall), hence no subtitles. I don't really get the complaints about the accents though. Most of the major speaking roles for the Germans (the brothers) are actually German except for, and Arestrup is actually French. (Buckens is not however.)

[Vader182]

What about it seemed superficial or forced? The film isn't conventional, it's deliberately old-fashioned, calling back to John Ford and the old epic. It may seem semantical, but it isn't, there's a fine distinction.

On that note, it's a Spielflick, so why were the Germans not speaking German, why were the French not speaking French? And why did they all have such horrible accents? I generally dislike it when films have people who speak one language most of the time in real life end up speaking English for most of their time in the movie. But I understand why it's done, considering the audience is normally mostly English speaking, but I am surprised Spielberg fell into this too. Unless this was intended to be a family film. It's still unfortunate though.

This is the case for nearly every American made film, not just Spielberg's, and I think it's safe to say if he had them speak in their native tongues you'd lose half the audience. This was a big consideration for Schindler's List, but the average individual can't connect as well emotionally to a narrative that isn't in their native tongue, it's an unfortunate truth, it isn't something he 'fell into' it's a fact of how people work. This is a film that relies on the emotional investment of the viewer, any obstruction to that would damage the film, so it damages it less to have them speak in english than it would otherwise.

Additionally, what are you talking about horrible accents, the French, German, and English actors were cast primarily from their native countries, meaning those were there actual accents, so this criticism strikes me as very odd.

Lots of films that focus on animals at least personify the animal to a certain extent, making them seem like they have some sort of connection to humans. They at least show that the animal cares about what the hell is going on. War Horse does not seem to have this.

As someone who has been around animals consistently for most of my life, the behavior of them was spot-on aside of a few admittedly cartoonish moments

(namely Joey 'standing in' for his friend)

.

An example is towards the beginning of the film when Albert is saying bye to Joey being sent off to war, Albert is fucking pouring his heart out and saying he'll find Joey, and the camera-work or whatever never even showed how this is of any importance to the horse.

I apologize for my bluntness, but this is actually plainly incorrect.

Not only is Joey only particularly obedient and responsive to Albert, he grew a bond to him through him being the sole trainer, something that any animal would respond to with affection and loyalty. Joey did respond badly to being taken away, he freaked out and jutted around to move towards Albert again, and was restless for the scenes that followed. Additionally, throughout the film, Joey reacts with bravery and fear, something any animal would.

EDIT- oh and about the playing tag comment,

he had nowhere to run, they weren't going to fire on him and thrust him down into the ground needlessly, he was a commander, it's well documented historically commanders and occasionally general troops were treated with vague respect outside of the latter wars, occasionally including World War II given what nazi Germany stood for, but for WWI and the wars that immediately preceded it, it happened often.

-Vader

[DoubleD]

Gladiator...................10/10


Unstoppable...............7.5/10

[Cilogy]

What about it seemed superficial or forced? The film isn't conventional, it's deliberately old-fashioned, calling back to John Ford and the old epic. It may seem semantical, but it isn't, there's a fine distinction.

The emotions of characters did not feel genuine and did not seem to unfold naturally. These aspects made the film seem very "directed".

My thing about it being conventional is not a big deal. Movies like this tend to be like that, it was just something I pointed out.

This is the case for nearly every American made film, not just Spielberg's, and I think it's safe to say if he had them speak in their native tongues you'd lose half the audience. This was a big consideration for Schindler's List, but the average individual can't connect as well emotionally to a narrative that isn't in their native tongue, it's an unfortunate truth, it isn't something he 'fell into' it's a fact of how people work. This is a film that relies on the emotional investment of the viewer, any obstruction to that would damage the film, so it damages it less to have them speak in english than it would otherwise.

Well it fails in that regard, because it did not engage me. As I said, I understand why the language change was done (and is done in many films) but it stands out, especially when you have the juxtaposition of British soldiers, then Germans in the next shot. It's distracting.

Additionally, what are you talking about horrible accents, the French, German, and English actors were cast primarily from their native countries, meaning those were there actual accents, so this criticism strikes me as very odd.

Didn't sound like it when I was watching. But my point about languages still stands.

As someone who has been around animals consistently for most of my life, the behavior of them was spot-on aside of a few admittedly cartoonish moments

(namely Joey 'standing in' for his friend)

I'm happy for you.

I apologize for my bluntness, but this is actually plainly incorrect.

Not only is Joey only particularly obedient and responsive to Albert, he grew a bond to him through him being the sole trainer, something that any animal would respond to with affection and loyalty. Joey did respond badly to being taken away, he freaked out and jutted around to move towards Albert again, and was restless for the scenes that followed. Additionally, throughout the film, Joey reacts with bravery and fear, something any animal would.

Nah I don't buy it.

I'm not talking about what the animal does for itself or it's own survival, that was done well. What I'm saying is that for films like this to work, they tend to have unrealistic and personified qualities injected into the animal's "character" that connect it to the human characters in the film. That wasn't there.

[Vader182]

Wait, you actually wanted the movie to be unrealistic and cartoony?

...sorry, can't help you there.

-Vader

[Addicted2Movies]

Moneyball- Fantastic acting, great directing, and just an all around great film. Brad Pitt does an excellent job and Jonah Hill shows off why he's now an Oscar nominee. The film isn't revolutionary nor is it a completely unique concept, but despite this it still brings something new and fresh to the sports movie genre.

i loved that this wasn't your typical sports underdog success story, but instead a story focusing on the game's rare situations of true loyalty and the idea of being content with building success while dealing with the adversity of failure. The protagonist doesn't win the ultimate prize of a World Series in the end and despite him being the opportunity of joining a team with a legitimate chance at the title he spurns the offer to remain close to his family and continue chasing his goal with the team he built.

9/10

[Cilogy]

Wait, you actually wanted the movie to be unrealistic and cartoony?

...sorry, can't help you there.

-Vader

No.

Look at every movie that has some sort of focus on animals. The animal usually has some larger-than-life qualities that seem natural and special. Qualities that animals in real life don't have (just as humans in films have these qualities, I mean it's a movie after all). War Horse may have tried to touch on the larger-than-life stuff but it didn't feel genuine. It felt like the story was trying to force it down my throat. "Oh wow, that horse is special". "That is some horse". Shit like that was repeated over and over again in the film and never seemed to mean anything.

And don't give me that example of

when Joey was caught in the wires between the trenches. That whole ordeal was comical, cliched, and forced. It was like the urgency or the threat of a fucking war was completely pushed to the side. I get it, it was supposed to be a touching moment when two opposing forces put aside their differences and stop to admire something beautiful, blah blah blah. But that was also pushed into my mouth like it's the only medicine that could save me seconds before death.

I should say, however, it's a very well done film technically. The actual battle scenes are well directed. One that stands out is when the film is cutting between shots of the English charging on horseback while being fired upon by Germans, and then shots of just the horses passing by the Germans. That was very, very well done.

[mchekhov]

Told you, rifa

[Dodd]

a dangerous method - 7.2/10