Last film watched

[onlynameleft]

So I watched '71 instead which was a film 4 production I found on Amazon. Young soldier accidentally abandoned during a Belfast riot. No idea about authenticity but also not concerned about that; reasonably well acted and overall quite entertaining (although dark in more than one sense).

Not a bad filum, but I thought the end was a kop out.

Agree. Perhaps not easy to believe but the proximity of the 'hard' areas was well done.

It was good to know that the location team had to go to Sheffield to find somewhere that was as convincingly shit as Divis in the 70s.

I went to Uni in Sheffield and thought it looked familiar...

[cashead]

Location substituting is not uncommon. You'll be surprised at how many films and TV shows set in the US are shot in Vancouver. Directors that are tied to a location and actually film there like Woody Allen and New York, or Martin Scorsese and New York/Boston are an increasingly rare breed.

It's either that, or compositing together a virtual setting while shooting on a massive set like in The Avengers or The Hobbit movies.

[SerjeantWildgoose]

Location substituting is not uncommon. You'll be surprised at how many films and TV shows set in the US are shot in Vancouver. Directors that are tied to a location and actually film there like Woody Allen and New York, or Martin Scorsese and New York/Boston are an increasingly rare breed.

It's either that, or compositing together a virtual setting while shooting on a massive set like in The Avengers or The Hobbit movies.

They shot the 'Philadelphia' scenes for World War Z in Glasgow. No shortage of extras capable of playing zombies in Glasgow; just round them up outside the East End methadone clinics.

[WaspInWales]

Just read the synopsis. Sounds a bit cliche.

Very much so.

Started off well enough, but the big reveal and ending ruined it.

The film caused a little controversy for the casting of a black British actor in the lead role. Many in the US complained that there were plenty of black US actors who would be better placed for the role and would have a better understanding of the racial nature of the film.

I thought Kaluuya did ok tbh.

I lost count of the times a critic praised the film and gave it a 'must watch' status so I gave it a go. Little disappointed after watching it though.

[morepork]

Location substituting is not uncommon. You'll be surprised at how many films and TV shows set in the US are shot in Vancouver. Directors that are tied to a location and actually film there like Woody Allen and New York, or Martin Scorsese and New York/Boston are an increasingly rare breed.

It's either that, or compositing together a virtual setting while shooting on a massive set like in The Avengers or The Hobbit movies.

They shot the 'Philadelphia' scenes for World War Z in Glasgow. No shortage of extras capable of playing zombies in Glasgow; just round them up outside the East End methadone clinics.

The scene with the cars in the beginning was definitely Philly....Broad St. right out the front of City Hall.

[SerjeantWildgoose]

Maybe they only filmed the bits in Glasgow to reperesent Philly after the bejaysus had been kicked out of it?

[cashead]

Exterior shots and interior shots are very often at varying locations. For example, the fire station in New York that appeared in Ghostbusters as their digs in the film was only used for exterior shots, with the interiors being filmed elsewhere.

[morepork]

Maybe they only filmed the bits in Glasgow to reperesent Philly after the bejaysus had been kicked out of it?

Glasgow....like Philadelphia after the bejaysus has been kicked out of it. To be fair, a short stroll outside the radius of city hall would very much resemble the Glasgow you describe.

[rowan]

A Christmas during WWI when soldiers emerged from the trenches, embraced one another and shared cigarettes. Common men fighting a war on behalf of governments and corporations whose interests intertwined.

Washington & London colluding with the Saudis on arms deals, politicians easily bribed in a world run according to the principles of greed in a Machiavellian system known as 'capitalism.'

Heads of governments at the center of the arms trade. Tony Blair to the fore, blocks investigation as the Saudis threaten bloodshed on the streets of Britain. ANC buys state-of-the-art weaponry as thousands die of preventable diseases.

US interventions to destroy rival systems and ideologies, notably socialism; hence Operation Condor and support for genocidal regimes in Central America. A system run by oligarchs by crushing, mass-murdering, imprisoning and oppressing the common people.

US arming both sides in the 8-year Iraq-Iran war, instigated by the former with Washington's encouragement; chemical weapons included. More than a million killed, mostly young men.

Dick Cheney regarded this as good business practice. Cheney's company Halliburton to the fore of the military industrial complex, picked up lucrative contracts, 16 years worth of business in Afghanistan - and counting. Trillions of dollars of US government funds unaccounted for.

Fake CIA claims of connections between Iraq and Al Qaeda, and of Saddam Hussein harboring weapons of mass destruction. Ensuing war would also lead to more than a million deaths - and counting.

Ukranian, Syrian and Gaza conflicts also highly profitable to the weapons manufacturers. Israel's 2014 bombing of the latter, leaving 2000 dead, mostly impoverished civilians (a quarter of them children) was a trade show for the American arms dealers. US mainstream media acts as Washington's mouthpiece.

War on terror both illogical and perpetual, provides America with a pretext to enter any country in the world. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton embraced all this. Drone strikes killed more civilians than militans in Pakistan, which is fiercely opposed to the program.

US-Israeli warmongering against Iran, Tehran's peaceful overtures ignored, Washington seeks regime change war that will be worth trillions of dollars to the military industrial complex, but which will inevitably kill millions more and leave the Middle East in an even bigger mess than it is now. US marines already operating inside Iran's kurdish region.

Israel requires existential threat to justify multi-billion dollar annual funding from the US. But in fact they were the ones who instigated the arms build-up in the region - and already have nuclear weapons.

US-Saudi's regime change plans in Syria were taken straight from the 1980s Afghanistan play-book, arming terrorists such as Osama bin Laden to oust the Soviets from Afghanistan. (The Soviets were there because American-backed Mujahideen had overthrown a progressive Socialist government which gave full rights to women).

One of the best documentary films I've seen for a while, in fact. I'd certainly recommend it.

[SerjeantWildgoose]

[cashead]

He quoted himself quoting himself.

[Vengeful Glutton]

So I watched '71 instead which was a film 4 production I found on Amazon. Young soldier accidentally abandoned during a Belfast riot. No idea about authenticity but also not concerned about that; reasonably well acted and overall quite entertaining (although dark in more than one sense).

Not a bad filum, but I thought the end was a kop out.

Agree. Perhaps not easy to believe but the proximity of the 'hard' areas was well done.

It was good to know that the location team had to go to Sheffield to find somewhere that was as convincingly shit as Divis in the 70s.

The locations were excellent, as was the photography, acting and the script was ok BUT it was a bit too, ahem, black and white for me. I guess it tried to portray both sides and the piggy in the middle in an fair and even handed manner, but I thought the rosary brigades came out of it smelling of frankincense. No way is that ending realistic. NI was far too grim for happy endings.

Unfortunately, I don't think we'll ever get to see a realistic portrayal of the intelligence war in NI. Wounds are still a bit sore, and liable to fester again.

Cal was pretty good, as was Hidden Agenda, although the latter's plot pushed the boundaries of credibility.

[SerjeantWildgoose]

Cal was pretty good and true to MacLaverty's book; Mirren was superb in it, Lynch pretty good and the music by Knopfler fecking brilliant.

Mirren and Lynch starred again in Some Mother's Son, which is about the Hunger Strikes and was pretty taught. Not nearly as gripping as Steve McQueen's Hunger, which if you haven't seen it you should.

On the Int War, 50 Dead Men Walking is pretty good and there is always Harry's Game aff of the tally.

[Mikey Brown]

The last half hour or so of Pacific rim. Genuinely one of the shittest things I've ever seen in my life. I can't believe Del Toro was behind this.

Idris Elba and plenty of other decent actors either really phoning it in or just not having a fucking clue what was going, which would make sense as it must be about 98% green screen.

Truly awful. 0/10.

[WaspInWales]

War for the Planet of the Apes.

Dreadful. By far the worst film of the series which is a shame as I enjoyed Rise and Dawn.

Woody Harrelson woefully miscast. The CGI was mixed. The ape effects were good, but the avalanche scene near the end was abysmal.

The plot was poorly thought out too. I get the point of giving the ape characters basic human qualities to highlight just how shitty the human race has become, but by fuck it got ridiculous.

I even felt the soundtrack to be completely out of place. Some nice enough pieces of work, but just didn't fit the film.

[rowan]

I may have mentioned this one before, since this is the third or forth time I've watched it, but I again found myself sitting through the bizarre and macabre Danish production 'The Act of Killing' last night. This is a documentary film in which a bunch of geriatric former gangsters re-enact (and cheerfully brag about) the manner in which they murdered countless suspected communists during the Suharto dictatorship in the 60s and 70s - all with Western support. Just being ethnic Chinese was enough to get you strangled to death with fence-wire. The amazing thing is how these guys still walk around the streets today, admired by some, feared by others, but evidently held accountable by no one.

http://putlockertv.ist/watch/ox0bp5de-t ... lling.html

[Mikey Brown]

I've been told by some that is an essential watch, but I'm not sure I can bring myself to do it.

On a slightly different note. Anybody have any thoughts on the new blade runner?

► Show Spoiler

Obviously would never be able to live up to the oroginal but I'm very unsure about it. Aspects of it were done brilliantly but a lot of didn't click for me. If the original hadn't improved so exponentially the more I thought about it and rewatched it, I might have dismissed this one. I may have to see it again, though it did really drag at points.

[rowan]

I've been told by some that is an essential watch, but I'm not sure I can bring myself to do it.

The shock factor is entirely conceptual, of course, not visual at all. There isn't a drop of blood in it. You're just sitting there watching these retired old mass murderers light-heartedly reminiscing away about the multitudes they butchered, and acting out how they did it - and a few of your brain cells are exploding as you acknowledge the fact they really did actually do all this, and no one seems to care.

[rowan]

War for the Planet of the Apes.

Dreadful. By far the worst film of the series which is a shame as I enjoyed Rise and Dawn.

Woody Harrelson woefully miscast. The CGI was mixed. The ape effects were good, but the avalanche scene near the end was abysmal.

The plot was poorly thought out too. I get the point of giving the ape characters basic human qualities to highlight just how shitty the human race has become, but by fuck it got ridiculous.

I even felt the soundtrack to be completely out of place. Some nice enough pieces of work, but just didn't fit the film.

The original Planet of the Apes TV series with Charlton Heston (too bad he turned out to be an asshole in real life) is one of the best things I've ever seen, either on the box or in the cinema. I think only Roots sticks in my mind so vividly. Both based on books that were works of pure genius, of course.

[rowan]

The media's silence on Weinstein is deafening. This really ought to blow Hollywood apart. Why did so many of these brave actresses remain silent for years or even decades, only to come forth with complaints now that he's no longer useful to them? What of the Italian model who was taken apart by the tabloid press after filing a complaint against Weinstein with the NYPD two years ago? Why didn't anyone speak up then? Why is everyone from Hillary Clinton to Quentin Tarantino pretending they're heart-broken when Weinstein's antics have been an open secret for some time? Apparently Russel Crowe and Matt Damon were among his enforcers. Meanwhile the man himself has apparently gone AWOL - possibly following the Roman Polanski trail?

[WaspInWales]

The media's silence on Weinstein is deafening. This really ought to blow Hollywood apart. Why did so many of these brave actresses remain silent for years or even decades, only to come forth with complaints now that he's no longer useful to them? What of the Italian model who was taken apart by the tabloid press after filing a complaint against Weinstein with the NYPD two years ago? Why didn't anyone speak up then? Why is everyone from Hillary Clinton to Quentin Tarantino pretending they're heart-broken when Weinstein's antics have been an open secret for some time? Apparently Russel Crowe and Matt Damon were among his enforcers. Meanwhile the man himself has apparently gone AWOL - possibly following the Roman Polanski trail?

It stinks.

It's just another scandal though. I'm sure lessons will be learned, changes will be made and it'll be another rinse and repeat.

[WaspInWales]

War for the Planet of the Apes.

Dreadful. By far the worst film of the series which is a shame as I enjoyed Rise and Dawn.

Woody Harrelson woefully miscast. The CGI was mixed. The ape effects were good, but the avalanche scene near the end was abysmal.

The plot was poorly thought out too. I get the point of giving the ape characters basic human qualities to highlight just how shitty the human race has become, but by fuck it got ridiculous.

I even felt the soundtrack to be completely out of place. Some nice enough pieces of work, but just didn't fit the film.

The original Planet of the Apes TV series with Charlton Heston (too bad he turned out to be an asshole in real life) is one of the best things I've ever seen, either on the box or in the cinema. I think only Roots sticks in my mind so vividly. Both based on books that were works of pure genius, of course.

Can remember watching the original film series as a lad. It was certainly good for its time, but Heston was indeed a massive arsehole. Massive, massive arsehole.

Kinda like how the latest movie gave a nod to Nova, but why the fwck was she blonde? Nova was a brunette.

[rowan]

The media's silence on Weinstein is deafening. This really ought to blow Hollywood apart. Why did so many of these brave actresses remain silent for years or even decades, only to come forth with complaints now that he's no longer useful to them? What of the Italian model who was taken apart by the tabloid press after filing a complaint against Weinstein with the NYPD two years ago? Why didn't anyone speak up then? Why is everyone from Hillary Clinton to Quentin Tarantino pretending they're heart-broken when Weinstein's antics have been an open secret for some time? Apparently Russel Crowe and Matt Damon were among his enforcers. Meanwhile the man himself has apparently gone AWOL - possibly following the Roman Polanski trail?

It stinks.

It's just another scandal though. I'm sure lessons will be learned, changes will be made and it'll be another rinse and repeat.

This is also the guy who put out the campus rape educational film series, which was accused of grossly exaggerating the danger (I've never seen it personally) and creating undue paranoia. Talk about a male feminist camouflage!

[rowan]

War for the Planet of the Apes.

Dreadful. By far the worst film of the series which is a shame as I enjoyed Rise and Dawn.

Woody Harrelson woefully miscast. The CGI was mixed. The ape effects were good, but the avalanche scene near the end was abysmal.

The plot was poorly thought out too. I get the point of giving the ape characters basic human qualities to highlight just how shitty the human race has become, but by fuck it got ridiculous.

I even felt the soundtrack to be completely out of place. Some nice enough pieces of work, but just didn't fit the film.

The original Planet of the Apes TV series with Charlton Heston (too bad he turned out to be an asshole in real life) is one of the best things I've ever seen, either on the box or in the cinema. I think only Roots sticks in my mind so vividly. Both based on books that were works of pure genius, of course.

Can remember watching the original film series as a lad. It was certainly good for its time, but Heston was indeed a massive arsehole. Massive, massive arsehole.

Kinda like how the latest movie gave a nod to Nova, but why the fwck was she blonde? Nova was a brunette.

Yes, I was a kid when I saw it too. Not sure it would've had the same effect on me as an adult. I did watch one of the sequels films, when the chimps came back to Earth, and that was just downright silly. Obviously the success of the original series owed to the genius of the book itself - which is often the case.

[cashead]

I've been told by some that is an essential watch, but I'm not sure I can bring myself to do it.

On a slightly different note. Anybody have any thoughts on the new blade runner?

► Show Spoiler

Obviously would never be able to live up to the oroginal but I'm very unsure about it. Aspects of it were done brilliantly but a lot of didn't click for me. If the original hadn't improved so exponentially the more I thought about it and rewatched it, I might have dismissed this one. I may have to see it again, though it did really drag at points.

I saw both the original (well, Final Cut) and 2049 within a 7-day span on the big screen with my partner, and I'd say I preferred the original. I appreciated the fact that it

► Show Spoiler

ignored the whole "Deckard is a replicant!" idiocy that Ridley Scott has insisted on, because it's stupid, and that it continued to expand on the central premise of the first film - that something that is essentially inhuman is able to demonstrate more humanity than their human creators. The Nexus series showed they were capable of procreation, and even the modified skinjobs like Officer K start to show evidence of being "human." I also really, really appreciated that they didn't go the obvious route of "Joe was Deckard and Rachael's kid all along!" route, because that would have ruined the film for me.