Film Review & Discussion

[polerberr]

I've met my share of people who claim that they didn't like Frozen, but after digging a little deeper I've always found that they had no problem with the film itself, they all seem to have a problem with the mass hype that came with it. I don't think that's fair basis to judge the film itself. Usually the people who claim that they don't like Frozen end up admitting that they actually thought it was alright, or that they never actually watched it. Personally, I can't stand the minions hype, but I still love Despicable Me, and I still think the minions are kinda cute.

I really love the Coen Brothers' adaptation of No Country For Old Men. To be fair, I did read the book after I'd seen the movie a few times. I was surprised at how close the two works were. The book is extremely straightforward and has a rather fast paced style, so I suppose it's cheating since it seems to me like it would be very easy to translate into a movie. I found that the film slowed the pace down so that people wouldn't mistake it for an action film, since it's a drama/thriller at heart and has philosophical ideas that are not instantly obvious and would be lost in an action flick. I think that the reason why I believe the film's execution was better than the books is because I thought that the books had an awful writing style which doesn't come through in the film, and I love the style of the Coen Brothers. The book is full of running sentences. "He did the think and picked up the item and went to the car and got in and put on his seat belt and drove away." Eh.

Though my best example of a film exceeding it's book counterpart would have to be The Shawshank Redemption. Considering that it was written as just a short story by Stephen King that could easily have been drowned out by his larger works, it was incredible that a director took that story and spun it out into the film we have today. I recommend that film to absolutely everyone because I don't know a single person who hasn't enjoyed it. I mean, it's at the top of IMDbs Top 250 Films list for a very good reason.

Usually it's films that drive me to read books. I'll watch a great movie and then learn it was a book adaptation, and then I feel compelled to read the book. I have a nice little book collection growing with my DVD collection. Next on my to get list would be the book One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, and for DVDs I'm waiting for my local store to order in a Steven Spielberg box set that I've asked for. It has Jaws, which I don't have on DVD yet.

[Physical-Pancakes]

Books that are better than the movie... I think I've already mentioned Stardust because I think the film's tone is better than the books, Lord of the rings, I enjoyed Total Recall (the Schwarzenegger original, of course) more than the short story, We can Remember it for you Wholesale, that it was based on, mainly because the movie found a way to create a fun movie, with an ambiguous ending, from a story that with no to very little ambiguity at all, and a quite flat one at that. Now, the movie was no cinematic masterpiece, but it was a lot of fun to watch and enjoy the cheesy lines, special effects, and just have a good time watching a movie.

[Amber44]

i watched lone survivor the other night on netflix i read the description and thought yeah this is going to be epic and then about into the movie the soldiers are taking about 3 shots each and fall down mountains crashing into trees at like 20 mph and gettinng up and carrying on fighting the stupidest film ive seen in a while

[polerberr]

Amber44, it's always annoying when a film that's supposed to be taken seriously stretches the rules of physics a little too far. I haven't seen Lone Survivor, so I can't really comment on it, but I always find it annoying how the typical action movie will have a bad minion-type character get shot at once, and he's down, and then the hero gets shot but he just keeps on going. I guess we shouldn't expect too much from those kind of movies, though. You're really supposed to switch your brain off and enjoy the ride.

My favorite example of "this guy should definitely be dead by now" in a movie is in Home Alone, but that's ok because it's a family comedy. In Home Alone 2, when Kevin is dropping bricks on Marv's head, I always loose it. How is he still alive?! Gotta love those movies.

[Trilobite]

Today's the Oscars!!!! Can't wait!

[Simon]

Books that are better than the movie... I think I've already mentioned Stardust because I think the film's tone is better than the books, Lord of the rings, I enjoyed Total Recall (the Schwarzenegger original, of course) more than the short story, We can Remember it for you Wholesale, that it was based on, mainly because the movie found a way to create a fun movie, with an ambiguous ending, from a story that with no to very little ambiguity at all, and a quite flat one at that. Now, the movie was no cinematic masterpiece, but it was a lot of fun to watch and enjoy the cheesy lines, special effects, and just have a good time watching a movie.

I agree. I watched Stardust two days ago and that is still one of my all time favorites. The movie has such a whimsical feeling and the ending is very touching, I enjoyed the movies ending over the book.

Also I am very excited for the Oscars tonight. I simply can't wait to see who will win. There is a lot of hype and speculation about Leo too. I wonder if he will win. The revenant was amazing and Leo did a phenomenal job. I'm really iffy on if he will win or not.

edit;; Looks like Leo won!

[polerberr]

I hope everyone got to watch The Oscars live! I had to search deep into the internet to find a dodgy streaming service, but it was so worth it. I'm pretty happy at the results, though I'm not sure if talking about them constitutes as spoilers? Let me know if you think so.

I do want to say that I was so thrilled about who won Best Soundtrack, because I saw him conduct his music live only last week, including two of his now Oscar winning scores. I love that guy so much.

That, and yesterday I sent out my application to my country's most prestigious film school. Hope I get in. x3

[Trilobite]

I hope everyone got to watch The Oscars live! I had to search deep into the internet to find a dodgy streaming service, but it was so worth it. I'm pretty happy at the results, though I'm not sure if talking about them constitutes as spoilers? Let me know if you think so.

I do want to say that I was so thrilled about who won Best Soundtrack, because I saw him conduct his music live only last week, including two of his now Oscar winning scores. I love that guy so much.

That, and yesterday I sent out my application to my country's most prestigious film school. Hope I get in. x3

Yes, I thought the Best Soundtrack was a good win. I loved the music and the character that composed it. Such a wonderful fellow.

Finally he got his Oscar. #spoilernotspoiler

Good luck to you! I hope you get in!

[Physical-Pancakes]

I was personally really glad that Ex-Machina won for visual effects. I don't know if it actually deserved it over some of the other nominees, but it was one of my favourite movies of the year, and I'm honestly just glad that it won something.

Also, I love Alicia Vikander as an actress (she stars in ex-machina, actually) but I was really hoping that Rooney Mara would get best supporting for Carol, because I thought that she was amazing in that movie.

[mothlight]

I recently watched Anomalisa after I heard about it on the Oscars. The stop motion is magnificent! It looks real! The plot was kind of dull though... It was okay, not great, but okay.