Last film you watched and your rating

OrangeRKN wrote:

Squinty wrote:Children of Men 9/10

I'd seen this before, but I must have had something on my mind when watching it, because I merely thought it was okay that time.

Stuck it on a second time and I was completely hooked on it. It's a brilliant piece of film, and expertly put together (there's a continuous shot near the end of the movie that was just incredible to behold).

Some really beautiful scenes in it as well. Just a great film.

One of the best. That long shot is incredible.

Tafdolphin wrote:

Corazon de Leon wrote:Rewatched Starship Troopers tonight after talking about it in another thread recently and noticing it was on SyFy.

I genuinely believe it's one of the smartest sci-fi/action movies ever made. From the obvious Nazi parallels(SA/SS uniforms, militaristic, fascist, two tiered society, etc) to the more subtle propaganda nods(the "murderer" in the vignettes, the right wing rhetoric Rasczak spouts in the opening scenes, particularly when he's talking to Rico at the school dance, the Speer-inspired architecture), the film does a damn good job of showing how a fascist society might work.

Its depiction of war in all it's mayhem is excellent as well. The absurdity of the "Mobile infantry made me the man I am today," line, and the fact that for all of the training and natural talent, it's only luck that keeps Rico and Ace alive throughout the film.

And all of this is completely hidden behind a big, dumb action movie with guns and explosions and acting that wouldn't be out of place in an am-dram production.

The take away from it is "Propaganda is an incredibly dangerous thing." It totally strawberry floats Rico, at least.

One other weird thought - this fascist society is one of the most gender and race equal societies I've seen in a movie.

I reckon it's in my all time top ten movies.

10/10

There's been some discussion on this point: although the main cast does include people from various races, the fact that Buenos Aires appears to have a population consisting entirely of lantern jawed, white ubermensch types is either seen as a failure of casting or a subtle hint towards a fascist cleansing of South America. In all likelihood it's the former, but I much prefer the latter interpretation. Thematically, I mean.

Also, the super subtle hints that the asteroid had nothing to do with the bugs (there are long, lingering shots of the Earth defence cannons earlier in the film (which somehow fail to spot and/or stop the rock) and the fact that the humans regard the bugs as stupid yet push ridiculous propaganda that they are able to shoot rocks across the infinite vastness of space at a moving target and pinpoint a minuscule sport on that already tiny location) and that it was either a natural disaster that was allowed to happen or a plan by the Federation to whip up a war.

strawberry floating great film though.

Vermilion wrote:

NBK wrote:The Invitation

Come to this dinner party in the Hollywood Hills organised by your ex-wife, new husband and questionable house guests, they said! It'll be fun, they said!



Slow burn but worth sticking with. 8/10

Sounds like that murder mystery weekend episode of Family Guy.

Ad7 wrote:Darkest Hour 9/10

I wasn't expecting to find this as interesting as I did, but I found it riveting. It's one of those films where nothing really happens so it lives on its performance, and Oldman was absolutely superb. It had the same vibe as downfall to me.

Hime wrote:Are any of the sequels worth a watch?

Moggy wrote:They Shall Not Grow Old - 10/10

The colour/movement/sound recreation in this is incredible. It’s always hard to think of the people in WW1 footage as being real, the black and white, grainy and jerky film kind of makes it seem unreal. This isn’t like that, it’s absolutely real.

I’d imagine the actual reality was several billion times more horrible than shown here, but this is probably as close as we’ll ever get to seeing what it was like and (more importantly) what the people were actually like.

Horrific and inspiring in equal measure.

Corazon de Leon wrote:

Tafdolphin wrote:

Corazon de Leon wrote:Rewatched Starship Troopers tonight after talking about it in another thread recently and noticing it was on SyFy.

I genuinely believe it's one of the smartest sci-fi/action movies ever made. From the obvious Nazi parallels(SA/SS uniforms, militaristic, fascist, two tiered society, etc) to the more subtle propaganda nods(the "murderer" in the vignettes, the right wing rhetoric Rasczak spouts in the opening scenes, particularly when he's talking to Rico at the school dance, the Speer-inspired architecture), the film does a damn good job of showing how a fascist society might work.

Its depiction of war in all it's mayhem is excellent as well. The absurdity of the "Mobile infantry made me the man I am today," line, and the fact that for all of the training and natural talent, it's only luck that keeps Rico and Ace alive throughout the film.

And all of this is completely hidden behind a big, dumb action movie with guns and explosions and acting that wouldn't be out of place in an am-dram production.

The take away from it is "Propaganda is an incredibly dangerous thing." It totally strawberry floats Rico, at least.

One other weird thought - this fascist society is one of the most gender and race equal societies I've seen in a movie.

I reckon it's in my all time top ten movies.

10/10

There's been some discussion on this point: although the main cast does include people from various races, the fact that Buenos Aires appears to have a population consisting entirely of lantern jawed, white ubermensch types is either seen as a failure of casting or a subtle hint towards a fascist cleansing of South America. In all likelihood it's the former, but I much prefer the latter interpretation. Thematically, I mean.

Also, the super subtle hints that the asteroid had nothing to do with the bugs (there are long, lingering shots of the Earth defence cannons earlier in the film (which somehow fail to spot and/or stop the rock) and the fact that the humans regard the bugs as stupid yet push ridiculous propaganda that they are able to shoot rocks across the infinite vastness of space at a moving target and pinpoint a minuscule sport on that already tiny location) and that it was either a natural disaster that was allowed to happen or a plan by the Federation to whip up a war.

strawberry floating great film though.

I thought you might mention that - the casting I think is separate to the societal depiction, but I was always a little uncomfortable with half a dozen white people representing Buenos Aires.

I always thought it was fairly clear that the bugs didn't start, or want the war. There's a bit just before the cameraman dies where he starts posing a more sympathetic view that humans were responsible for antagonising the bugs and Rico cuts him off by basically screaming "I'm from Buenos Aires and I say kill 'em all!" showing that the propaganda campaign has been totally successful on him. The film also shows that Rico isn't very smart - he has a score of 35% in his maths finals.

Skarjo wrote:

Corazon de Leon wrote:

Tafdolphin wrote:

Corazon de Leon wrote:Rewatched Starship Troopers tonight after talking about it in another thread recently and noticing it was on SyFy.

I genuinely believe it's one of the smartest sci-fi/action movies ever made. From the obvious Nazi parallels(SA/SS uniforms, militaristic, fascist, two tiered society, etc) to the more subtle propaganda nods(the "murderer" in the vignettes, the right wing rhetoric Rasczak spouts in the opening scenes, particularly when he's talking to Rico at the school dance, the Speer-inspired architecture), the film does a damn good job of showing how a fascist society might work.

Its depiction of war in all it's mayhem is excellent as well. The absurdity of the "Mobile infantry made me the man I am today," line, and the fact that for all of the training and natural talent, it's only luck that keeps Rico and Ace alive throughout the film.

And all of this is completely hidden behind a big, dumb action movie with guns and explosions and acting that wouldn't be out of place in an am-dram production.

The take away from it is "Propaganda is an incredibly dangerous thing." It totally strawberry floats Rico, at least.

One other weird thought - this fascist society is one of the most gender and race equal societies I've seen in a movie.

I reckon it's in my all time top ten movies.

10/10

There's been some discussion on this point: although the main cast does include people from various races, the fact that Buenos Aires appears to have a population consisting entirely of lantern jawed, white ubermensch types is either seen as a failure of casting or a subtle hint towards a fascist cleansing of South America. In all likelihood it's the former, but I much prefer the latter interpretation. Thematically, I mean.

Also, the super subtle hints that the asteroid had nothing to do with the bugs (there are long, lingering shots of the Earth defence cannons earlier in the film (which somehow fail to spot and/or stop the rock) and the fact that the humans regard the bugs as stupid yet push ridiculous propaganda that they are able to shoot rocks across the infinite vastness of space at a moving target and pinpoint a minuscule sport on that already tiny location) and that it was either a natural disaster that was allowed to happen or a plan by the Federation to whip up a war.

strawberry floating great film though.

I thought you might mention that - the casting I think is separate to the societal depiction, but I was always a little uncomfortable with half a dozen white people representing Buenos Aires.

I always thought it was fairly clear that the bugs didn't start, or want the war. There's a bit just before the cameraman dies where he starts posing a more sympathetic view that humans were responsible for antagonising the bugs and Rico cuts him off by basically screaming "I'm from Buenos Aires and I say kill 'em all!" showing that the propaganda campaign has been totally successful on him. The film also shows that Rico isn't very smart - he has a score of 35% in his maths finals.

Love Starship Troopers, and always thought that the choice of a load of white kids in Buenos Aries was the thematic result of fascist expansion of the Federation rather than ethnically-deaf casting. Adore the final reveal that the whole movie is a recruitment video. Blew my mind at 14.

Corazon de Leon wrote:

Skarjo wrote:

Corazon de Leon wrote:

Tafdolphin wrote:

Corazon de Leon wrote:Rewatched Starship Troopers tonight after talking about it in another thread recently and noticing it was on SyFy.

I genuinely believe it's one of the smartest sci-fi/action movies ever made. From the obvious Nazi parallels(SA/SS uniforms, militaristic, fascist, two tiered society, etc) to the more subtle propaganda nods(the "murderer" in the vignettes, the right wing rhetoric Rasczak spouts in the opening scenes, particularly when he's talking to Rico at the school dance, the Speer-inspired architecture), the film does a damn good job of showing how a fascist society might work.

Its depiction of war in all it's mayhem is excellent as well. The absurdity of the "Mobile infantry made me the man I am today," line, and the fact that for all of the training and natural talent, it's only luck that keeps Rico and Ace alive throughout the film.

And all of this is completely hidden behind a big, dumb action movie with guns and explosions and acting that wouldn't be out of place in an am-dram production.

The take away from it is "Propaganda is an incredibly dangerous thing." It totally strawberry floats Rico, at least.

One other weird thought - this fascist society is one of the most gender and race equal societies I've seen in a movie.

I reckon it's in my all time top ten movies.

10/10

There's been some discussion on this point: although the main cast does include people from various races, the fact that Buenos Aires appears to have a population consisting entirely of lantern jawed, white ubermensch types is either seen as a failure of casting or a subtle hint towards a fascist cleansing of South America. In all likelihood it's the former, but I much prefer the latter interpretation. Thematically, I mean.

Also, the super subtle hints that the asteroid had nothing to do with the bugs (there are long, lingering shots of the Earth defence cannons earlier in the film (which somehow fail to spot and/or stop the rock) and the fact that the humans regard the bugs as stupid yet push ridiculous propaganda that they are able to shoot rocks across the infinite vastness of space at a moving target and pinpoint a minuscule sport on that already tiny location) and that it was either a natural disaster that was allowed to happen or a plan by the Federation to whip up a war.

strawberry floating great film though.

I thought you might mention that - the casting I think is separate to the societal depiction, but I was always a little uncomfortable with half a dozen white people representing Buenos Aires.

I always thought it was fairly clear that the bugs didn't start, or want the war. There's a bit just before the cameraman dies where he starts posing a more sympathetic view that humans were responsible for antagonising the bugs and Rico cuts him off by basically screaming "I'm from Buenos Aires and I say kill 'em all!" showing that the propaganda campaign has been totally successful on him. The film also shows that Rico isn't very smart - he has a score of 35% in his maths finals.

Love Starship Troopers, and always thought that the choice of a load of white kids in Buenos Aries was the thematic result of fascist expansion of the Federation rather than ethnically-deaf casting. Adore the final reveal that the whole movie is a recruitment video. Blew my mind at 14.

I thought the point of the final scene wasn't that the whole film was a recruitment video, but that Rico, Carmen and Carl had "matured" into model troops and fascists by the time they capture the brain bug to the point where they're used in recruitment ads.

Tafdolphin wrote:Yeah, I saw it the same way as Corazon but prefer Skajo's version. I think the point of all this is that this is an ostensibly trashy, B-movie type blockbuster from 15 years ago which is still inspiring debate.

Verhoeven

rudderless wrote:Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

I thought this was a mess. It assumes a familiarity with the wider lore that none of the other HP films does and doesn't bother making sure your average viewer is up to speed, it introduces 12,000 characters and doesn't give any of them enough to do (the Queenie stuff is potentially interesting but it doesn't come close to providing the narrative foundations to make it work), it has one scene where about eight of the cast stand in a narrow room and explain the plot to one another, and the action scenes were all badly lit and edited to ribbons. The best thing I can say about Johnny Depp's performance is that it's not as bad as it could have been, but close your eyes during half his scenes and it just sounds like he's doing Jack Sparrow again.

I was reluctant to see the first and ended up very pleasantly surprised. As a result I was looking forward to this much more and found it a crushing disappointment.

**

Jenuall wrote:You're all strawberry floating nuts, Troopers is bullshit.