Agreed. I have a lot of respect for directors who get really inventive and innovative, Alien is a perfect example of that (the guy on a skateboard underneath the table when the famous chest-burster scene happens who has the alien on a stick, the fact the face-sucker is comprised of different seafood). Peter Jackson invented a lot of his own material too, esp in his early works like Bad Taste...

Haha, I confused Noriko and the youngest daughter for the longest time, and was tremendously confused. As for what you said (being a bit vague because typing in white is a pain), I don't think there's a break in the film: here it is this emotion, here it is that. I agree with you about the tremendous sadness of the first hour and a half. And I agree with you that the actions at the end are thoroughly logical. But it's precisely that sadness that makes it logical, and precisely that logicality that makes those actions carry such weight. It almost seems like you're suggesting that because their actions are so understandable, you can sympathize with them too much. I agree up until the "too much". I can't really figure out how to express it but the very understandability of what they're doing is huge part, for me, of why it's so painful to watch. Everything is expected; everything is in a rut. No one is able to get past where they were before (except perhaps the youngest daughter—she is the only character whose path is still open-ended when the film ends, I think).

yeah, delving mad into horror from pre-21stC decades really made me appreciate the fuck out of animatronics, miniatures, make-up and genius fucking art direction that you see in those horror/sci-fi/fantasy movies.


So you're saying that you find the weight of the film towards the end so great because you're presented with a logic and a reality that you find sad irl and you had rather not be faced with this unpleasant reality but you appreciate the film all the more because it doesn't shy away from making you face that sad fact of life and in doing so brilliantly it ends up being one mother of a movie? aight aight

I'm saying it would be easier if the film let me simply resent them. But it won't let me take that easy way out, and that's why it's frustrating and powerful.

Jim Cameron invented quite a bit on The Terminator, The Abyss and T2. I remember watching the special features on my T2 DVD as a kid and being absolutely fascinated by the scale models work.

Yes it does.

The one redeeming thing about rewatching old slashers (aside from unintentional hilarity) is some of the brilliant special effects that were performed on such small budgets. Tom Savini really was some kind of evil genius.

Aaron hit the nail on the head, the characterizations of the children are drawn so fully as to not make them seem flat, which would be far easier and far too manipulative for an already somewhat didactic movie. Not sure what you're getting at tm about the logicality of things, I mean should they all get into an orgy or something when the mother dies? If anything the characters react all differently in each of their own distinct way. It almost sounds to me that you felt more emotional impact of the 1st half because of a kind of sympathy of good being oppressed by a bad. For me this never is the case the more I watch it because it is never so cut n dry like that. The kids are trying to get by in postwar Tokyo having the mediocre jobs they have and to have the parents come over, would seem like a nuisance, so it's not like they're a Bresson donkey. The father is suggested to have a past of being a heavy drinker and even comments at the end if he knew his wife we're going to die, he would've been nicer to her. There's also a scene which I can't help but bawl over every time in the bar of him discussing with his friends who are also dads about being underwhelmed about their children's status in life. So it's never as simply logical as the mom died, therefore the ignorant kids are now sad and should feel regret as humans should. But instead reaches a truth that's so fully achieved by implementing so many characters' viewpoints, and all this is done from an entirely objective viewpoint (only Rules of the Game in terms of non-Ozu has achieved this conviningly for me). It is absoultely profound how complex it really is. THis is why I think that the more you watch it, the more you will derive emotion (happy and sad) out of different scenes every single time because the viewpoints are presented at odds with each other and wants you to take the time and understand each person out of the choices Ozu is showing you. I actually find the first half to be fairly comic these days. If you get more emotion out of more clear cut good vs evil setups and you want to see a similar story (which also inspired Ozu's screenwriter for the idea), go watch McCarey's Make Way for Tomorrow. For me, the realism and the way it presents life's complexities helps me identify more with the situation. It's definitely one of Ozu's most melodramatic films, but Ozu still doesn't dip down to putting up easy tearjerkers. So if you didn't cry much at Tokyo Story, I don't fault you, Ozu's cinema grows slowly after the fact until it becomes essential to your very being because of how complex it really is, and yet he's able to make it look so effortless and simple.

I watched Tokyo Story the day my main nigga, Spicey the cat, died. Cried like a bitch.

The first time I saw it I was very disappointed. The 2nd time I saw it I started to like it more and more. Now after seeing it a 3rd time I absolutely love it.

Prometheus - 8/10 (who the fuck is Logan Marshall-Green? THAT IS TOM HARDY. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON -- in the credits they call him Logan, even on IMDB)

My review is going to be in white because it's so full of spoilers. It's also going to be very long...

Everything was going smoothly, even beautifully at times... until Elizabeth Shaw stumbles onto that old guy. GODDAMNIT.
As a huge fan of the Alien series (Ressurection did not happen) I have been looking forward to this movie for a while now.
The beginning --- huge, gorgeous sweeping shots of the planet's scenery (to be pedantic, I would have slowed these down, and taken my time with each shot. I felt the cuts were too quick. Letting the audience sink into the atmosphere is important). I think more effort could have been put in to clarify the ship's mission and intent, but I let that pass by. By the time Prometheus had landed and was exploring, I was thoroughly enjoying this film. The homages to Alien and Blade Runner were many but well appreciated (the hyper-sleep pods, the mucus David discovers on the hieroglyphics etc). H R Giger clearly had gone all out because the designs were magnificent, dark and haunting. The collective state of emotions was flowing well, the actors were enjoying their characters (particularly Charlize Theron and Michael Fassbender) and the questions the movie posed were genuinely intriguing. Not to mention the consistently stunning cinematography, heightened considerably in 3D.
Why did David infect the Doctor? What are the hostile alien species doing on the planet? These are the questions I thought would be clearly answered in the latter part of the film. That's how they were set up, anyway. The caesarian scene was absolutely blood-curling. As a woman it made me feel even more nauseous. 100% terrifying. From just this scene the film established, in my eyes, that it was now descending into horror--which, imo was the most appropriate route.
But... but.... it did not go that way. The film did something stupid. The last arc was full of gaping holes and seemed to distract from the questions, overall theme and emotional journey of the characters. It overloaded. Instead of delving into the terror the passengers of the ship would experience, it just kept adding: the old guy in charge is revealed to be on the ship the entire time, weird relationship moments between a goblin-esque Guy Pearce and his blondebots, a live alien in a pod that turns out to be evil, alien vs alien showdown... No no no no. The emotional reaction was forgotten save for Elizabeth and it was just a complete mess.

In my opinion, a movie should not NEED a sequel. Movies that are magic in my eyes are ones that tie all their own knots and are satisfying as an isolated piece. You did not need to see Aliens to enjoy Alien. It is a finished package.
What Should Have Happened According To Nina:

Scotts' strong lead heroine is clearly running into the same evil Ripley does. What seemed to be coming together in the film was the creation of the Alien. With Holloway's infection and the spawn inside Elizabeth and the white worms that killed the geologist and his skeptic pal, there are clearly enough ingredients here. What would have made sense is Elizabeth, like Ripley, against the Alien. In fact ending on a chestburster scene after the "this is the last survivor" line would have been appropriate. Good films know how to be vague--and I think the decision to make the albino alien men evil was silly---keep it a mystery. The Nostromo receives a distress signal, which well could have been Elizabeth using the alien technology to reach out with the help of David. I think once the film turned dark, it should have kept getting darker and more suspenseful instead of laying on the CGI, until the bitter end. I think Prometheus crashing into the alien ship was premature and didn't quite make sense---it could have happened closer to the end, or not at all. In fact another idea would have had everyone dying on Prometheus, with David and Elizabeth escaping to the alien ship and crashing due to the chestbursters, instead of a ship crashing into another ship. The 'hopeful' ending, in my opinion, ruined it. At first I thought it was cool, but on deeper inspection its as if the character is literally flying away from the actual plot.

So yeah. Amazing amazing amazing and then wtf.

I liked the hell out of Moonrise Kingdom

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/ar ... miere.html

and Logan has a twin?!

Yup. Loved the movie even though it seriously has issues towards the last forty or so minutes. Director's Cut is needed and a sequel would be very nice, too.


Tree of Life is almost perfect.


So did I. Finally another movie with Edward Norton that doesn't suck balls.

Watched The Shining for the first time in three or four years. I used to think the movie had pacing issues, that there wasn't a strong enough contrast between "normal" Jack Nicholson and crazy Jack Nicholson and that his descent into madness happened too quickly, but watching it again, I have no idea where I got that. He's not a stable individual from the start, which is the point and is why he was targeted by the hotel in the first place. Regardless, gorgeous movie. Great imagery. I really love more atmospheric horror films that don't go for the jumpy scares (or god forbid the gore). Really very well done on the whole. I remember one "chapter" in which we see two shots, I believe - one of Danny and Wendy happily playing outside in the snow, and the other of Jack Nicholson staring out a window (at them, possibly?), not working, with a look of tortured confusion on his face. Says so much with so little.