What was the last movie you watched? III

[Cilogy]

That's whole point. The horse symbolizes hope in darkness. Every character is in some sort of peril or poverty. They're in situations that seem hopeless. War, poverty, death- a horrifying time in the lives of many. Joey is strong, beautiful, and seemingly determined. The people who take "ownership" of him are given the one thing their lives need most- hope. A light in the darkness. The story's so amazing and impactful because one horse was able to give that to so many people. It's a beautiful story. To put it bluntly, you simply didn't understand the film if you kept thinking that "it's just a fucking horse." This isn't Airbud or Babe, and it's not meant to be.

I see what you're saying. I was kinda joking with the "it's just a fucking horse" thing, I wasn't actually thinking those words. My point in that was that the very two dimensional characters and almost fake emotions of the actors devalued the importance of the horse. The "hope" and "light in the darkness" did not feel powerful enough because the war/poverty/death themes weren't shown to such an extent. It's like people were just talking about how bad their lives were or the audience is supposed to just assume it's bad. Well, that just didn't work. The adversity that everyone was facing felt like it was kind a shoved to the side so that there would be more focus on the horse. This made the intended catharsis pretty meaningless. Spielberg is better than that, and I expected him to do better.

Oh and also, War Horse was huge Oscar Bait, probably the biggest of 2011.

[Mason]

The Grey (2012)
8/10



Such a blast. Neeson was absolutely superb, his performance was almost flawless as to what he needed to create with his given character. The film is rather violet in spots, it's extremely "manly", and it's wonderfully paced throughout so your eyes never drop from the action. I loved the camera work, the cinematography was excellent, and the acting from the supporting cast was also pretty good. I didn't like the ending terribly much, some of the dialogue is absolutely awful, and some effects stank.

A pretty plain review there, but I recommend this film to any fan of Neeson, or anyone who just wants to see a great movie to kick off 2012 in style. Great stuff.

[Cilogy]

The Descendants - 8.0

Good, solid film. Clooney was Clooney, as usual. I think the emotional punches in the film didn't really go far enough, and I feel this has a lot to do with his performance. However, there no bad performances.

I loved the relationship between his and Shailene Woodley's characters. It's also nice to see a side of Hawaii that is not just glam.

[Allstar]

Take Shelter- 8.3/10- really good psychological thriller. Chastain was pretty good but Shannon was fucking fantastic.

A Dangerous Method- 7.3/10- pretty dry and boring at a lot of parts. It had a decent amount of stuff in the film compelling though. Viggo transformed, Fassy was very good and Knightley's performance was tough to make an opinion on, it was unintentionally funny at times and did not seem believable even though she was playing the character she was playing.

[Cilogy]

The Artist - 8.5

Dujardin is a real charmer, definitely deserves the praise. This actually felt like a 1920s film, everything was very well done. Black & white and the silence never felt like a gimmick, as I thought it might be before I saw this.

Best film of the year? Eh, I'm not so sure of that. This was more of a one time thing for me. I liked other films better.

[PowerDump]

Alien - 10/10

Greatness

[Vader182]

I see what you're saying. I was kinda joking with the "it's just a fucking horse" thing, I wasn't actually thinking those words. My point in that was that the very two dimensional characters and almost fake emotions of the actors devalued the importance of the horse. The "hope" and "light in the darkness" did not feel powerful enough because the war/poverty/death themes weren't shown to such an extent. It's like people were just talking about how bad their lives were or the audience is supposed to just assume it's bad. Well, that just didn't work. The adversity that everyone was facing felt like it was kind a shoved to the side so that there would be more focus on the horse. This made the intended catharsis pretty meaningless. Spielberg is better than that, and I expected him to do better.

Oh and also, War Horse was huge Oscar Bait, probably the biggest of 2011.

How are any of the characters two dimensional or have fake emotions?

A man's confidence becomes arrogance leads to a huge battalion slaughtered, his friends and fellow shoulders terrified, regressing them to children, utterly terrified, this is hardly cliche, and shows an unflinching look at how bravery can easily become over bravery and have very negative consequences, not two dimensional whatsoever. The two brothers, one fearful for his brother leaving, feeling not just an obligation to his parents but is instantly protective of his brother, something shared by many, yet his brother has matured past his years and was willing to face death, again, hardly a two dimensional arc, and also again, showing how over confidence and bravery (in running away) can have disastrous consequences as it clouded their judgement. Those are just the first two stories after Albert, neither were remotely one (or two) note, each had challenging themes and characters that questioned our comfortable view that brave men succeed. You say we never see how war does much, but it leads to the death or despair of almost every character the story has, often leaving them in ruins. It's unflinching and powerful, Joey and Albert's story is just one of many, and Albert realizing his sense of entitlement may not have been entirely justified upon the realization Joey has deeply affected others lives too. People often have a sense of entitlement to things they romanticize, rarely realizing how others may too, it's a powerful lesson, and a great one for the film to come to a close with.

How people can call War Horse two dimensional (thematically/narratively/and on a character level) is a bit odd to me, as it has significant depth throughout, and that depth coupled with a beautiful story and the amazing technical accomplishments of the film made it what I think it is- spectacular.

A Dangerous Method-

Comfortably effective but to an extreme fault, it rarely ever added up to much. Things happen that feel as if they should be more important than they actually are, and squandered most of its potential given the wealth of rich materiel to draw from. More interesting than it is a fine film, fairly good direction and great performances (Viggo and Kiera are amazing, the former in particular, I wish he took on way more roles) made it a fairly compelling film, and given my personal interesting in psychology, enjoyed it more than I likely should have.

7.75-8/10

-Vader

[Dream-Xtractor]

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - 8.4

Fincher's a great director, and this was a great film. The setting, tone, performances (especially Rooney Mara's) were really thrilling and engaging.

I haven't seen the original film or read the books, but I feel it was a bit too drawn out, and I think the relationship between Lisbeth and Michael didn't feel as developed as I would have hoped. I'm looking forward to the rest of the trilogy, but part of me wishes that Fincher didn't lock himself into this and instead do other films.

Fincher's version is much closer to the source material than the Swedish one.

[Mason]

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
9/10

Still holds up on my third viewing. The ending is so thrilling, the performances are flawless... just amazing.

[Dodd]

9.6/10