What Movies are you Watching?

[SierraLea]

Just finished "Epic". Does not live up to the name, a lot of cliché plots with none properly developed, but the idea was rather intriguing and there were a few nice touches.

[GhostontheNet]

The main instance of demonic possession I was referring to was Danny, with his "boy that lives in his mouth." The way Tony would just take over Danny's body completely really seemed to be indicating demonic possession to me.... In a lot of ways, Tony reminded me of the kind of "demons" that appear in anime from time to time - not necessarily evil, just neutral spirits.

I think the classic text about what connotes the Christian sense of what spirits are demonic comes in a rather astute bit of reasoning in the Gospel of Matthew. There we read: “But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, ‘It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.’ Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.’” (Matthew 12:24-28 ESV)

Basically, the accuser, the satan, cannot act in a way that undermines his own project. That would mean civil war in which his kingdom could not stand, and therefore defeat by the kingdom of God Jesus heralds as stated in the conclusion. In the narrative world of The Shining, what would Old Scratch want but the death of Danny, Wendy, and Dick Holloran? Lloyd the Bartender shows up in a red suit looking devilishly suave, and the fact that Jack is given the alcohol without charge signals a Faustian bargain that will cost him his soul. Perhaps the ghostly party of the jet set is hell, and its hellishness is fully manifest toward the end (i.e. the ghost with his head split in two who gleefully declares “Great party, isn't it?”).

A modern psychological perspective might see Tony the “little boy that lives in my mouth” in terms of psychological disorders like schizophrenia or multiple personality disorders. And he is compared to an imaginary friend. Except, he conveys key information that Danny could not possibly know, so he is a real spiritual entity in the film’s world. To be sure, Tony gives you the shivers, not least with antics like shamanism or the possession religions of the African diaspora, Pentecostalism included. Just because that man or woman is waving around that ax in a controlled ritual, does not mean he or she is going to murder you. If you watch Tony’s character arc, what he does consistently is to give Danny and eventually Wendy the information they need to survive. Which of course means Tony cannot qualify as a demonic entity by the “house divided against itself” standard.

I think an unfortunate inheritance that lingers into contemporary Christian theology is this sort of tendency toward Manichean dualism, where a spiritual entity is either unequivocally good and holy, or it is demonic and wholly evil. Islam makes the theological innovation that there were certain jinn who converted to the true faith and so overcame their predilection toward evil agency. Many of the tales of the Thousand and One Nights explore how such jinn could be a benevolent force, while others explore how other jinn could be a malevolent force. Anime like Chrono Crusade introduce this theme back into Christianity as an earlier Abrahamic faith. More generally, the recurring theme of wish fulfillment in anime as a potential intrinsic to the medium always finds itself somewhere between Aladdin, Faust, and The Monkey’s Paw. By the terms of The Shining, Danny is the holy child, a Christ figure in literary terms. In that case, may I propose that Tony is a guardian angel, and not a fallen one?

[GhostontheNet]

Weird, I somehow made a post here quoting myself, and saying nothing in response to myself. I've substituted this instead, which can be deleted at a mod's leisure.

[the_wolfs_howl]

Rewatched Star Trek: Into Darkness, TMNT, and the live-action Rurouni Kenshin movie, showing them to my family

[the_wolfs_howl]

Cabin in the Woods - A pretty fun movie, spoofing practically every horror movie ever made. I appreciated the few references I got, but it was a solid horror movie in its own rights too, I think. Also, because Joss Whedon wrote the script, there were some very clever, witty lines thrown back and forth Very bloody and gory and filled with profanity, though, and I didn't actually find any of it that scary because it relied on jump-scares.

[Xeno]

Re-watching the LotR movies in extended formats. I haven't seen any of these since around 2005, and I've never watched the extended cuts despite owning the extended versions of each film for about the last two years.

Also finally got around to watching The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. I really don't know why I waited nearly a year to see it. Everyone who had issues with the movie can go chew on a brick because it was great.

[GeneD]

Saw Gravity on Friday and I and basically everyone I was with thought it was rather overrated. Yes on a technical level is was really amazing and beautiful but idk the story just seemed a little bland. Might've been some suspension of disbelief issues too. SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Like when George Clooney floats away.

[SierraLea]

Saw The Croods yesterday. I really liked the progression of the storyline, and where the confrontational scenes were placed. I do wish we'd gotten to see more of the romantic element, though.

[Crossfire]

Memphis Belle. I tear up every time I watch it.

[the_wolfs_howl]

Also finally got around to watching The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. I really don't know why I waited nearly a year to see it. Everyone who had issues with the movie can go chew on a brick because it was great.

Amen

Rewatched V for Vendetta on the 5th of November, of course

I also watched Thor and Thor: The Dark World in the past couple days, because the only movie in this franchise I'd seen so far was The Avengers, and I figured I might as well. They were fun, though I'm still not much of a fan of Thor as a character. Loki is a really interesting, compelling villain, though, and I always love it when the good guys are forced to join with him against a greater evil. It was really shiny to look at, and had a lot of funny moments throughout. Glad I got to see The Dark World in the theater

Also...this might sound kind of weird, but one of my favorite parts of The Dark World was the previews - especially The Hobbit a;lkdjgs;lkdghjs;dlfkjs;dk

[the_wolfs_howl]

I rewatched Throne of Blood for a paper, and enjoyed it as much as before.

Also for that paper, I watched Maqbool, an Indian adaptation of Macbeth taking place in the Mumbai underworld. It was interesting and really different from the original, of course. I especially liked the music.

Then I watched the ShakespeaRe-told version of Macbeth, which is absolutely amazing and anyone who likes Macbeth at all needs to go see it. It's a modern-day adaptation set in the kitchen of a high-class restaurant. Really unexpected, but impeccably done. Seeing these events in a context much closer to my own really helped me see just how awful and reprehensible they are, rather than just abstractly thinking they're evil in the play.

[MomentOfInertia]

Jack Reacher
Better than I thought. Sort of a modern take on the private eye/noir stories.

Monsters University
By Pixar, so it was good. Not much to say here, if you like Pixar's stuff this is another good one.

Pacific Rim (again)
Watched this for the second time, some of the awesomeness was educed by watching it at home instead of at the theater. On closer inspection some of the writing is a bit cheesier than I originally thought, and the "analog" bit still drives me up the wall for technical reasons, but it's got exceedingly shiny giant robots which are a rare commodity.
Even if you're not into that you should at least watch it for the sheer spectacle.

[drill]

Jurassic Park
Watched this for an English class I'm taking. I wasn't really impressed with character development or the actual story, as it took up so much time explaining what Jurassic Park was that the whole scandal just seemed to be a poor excuse of being locked into the park. So, overall, not a bad film, it just could use a lot of improvement.

[ClaecElric4God]

Jurassic Park
Watched this for an English class I'm taking. I wasn't really impressed with character development or the actual story, as it took up so much time explaining what Jurassic Park was that the whole scandal just seemed to be a poor excuse of being locked into the park. So, overall, not a bad film, it just could use a lot of improvement.

Wait, this is the first time you've seen it?
I grew up with Jurassic Park, watching it at much too young of an age, in my opinion.

[drill]

Jurassic Park
Watched this for an English class I'm taking. I wasn't really impressed with character development or the actual story, as it took up so much time explaining what Jurassic Park was that the whole scandal just seemed to be a poor excuse of being locked into the park. So, overall, not a bad film, it just could use a lot of improvement.

Wait, this is the first time you've seen it?
I grew up with Jurassic Park, watching it at much too young of an age, in my opinion.

Yes, this is the first time I have ever seen it. My parents were very cautious of what I watched, even now, I watched it with clearplay as I don't take bloody scenes too well. I don't know how you could have watched this at 'too young of an age' as it is quite a disturbing film.

[the_wolfs_howl]

It's Thanksgiving break, which means: WATCH ALL THE MOVIES!!!

I started with the ShakespeaRe-told version of Much Ado About Nothing. Just like with Macbeth, it was a brilliant adaptation into a modern-day setting, this time placing the story in the recording studio of a news channel. Again, the impact was a lot easier to feel in this context, and there were some parts that were just absolutely hilarious.

The Prestige was calling my name, so I caved in a watched it for the umpteenth time.

Then I rewatched Amazing Grace, because now I finally know who Benedict Cumberbatch is, and think it's funny that I never recognized him in this movie before.

Ju-On: Black Ghost - Nowhere near as good as the previous Ju-On movies, of course, but still creepy and interesting to watch. It felt closer in style to the first Ju-On than to the second one. (And don't get me wrong; Ju-On 2 is one of my absolute favorite horror movies out there.)

[Crossfire]

Wait, this is the first time you've seen it?
I grew up with Jurassic Park, watching it at much too young of an age, in my opinion.

Yes, this is the first time I have ever seen it. My parents were very cautious of what I watched, even now, I watched it with clearplay as I don't take bloody scenes too well. I don't know how you could have watched this at 'too young of an age' as it is quite a disturbing film.

I don't know. My parents let me watch "violent movies" at a young age, and it's not like it scarred me for life or whatever. I think the first gorefest I saw was the original Robocop when I was six, followed by stuff like Saving Private Ryan, Master and Commander, and Kingdom of Heaven when I was nine. Watched the latter in a public school of all places, multiple times. I loved history class back then.

Going back to Robocop, I would highly recommend viewing it as it does a pretty decent good job of delivering a satirical view of the modern world... but that being said the excessive violence and what not is a pretty crucial part of the atmosphere, so I don't know if it would be worth watching an extremely watered-down version.

[Ante Bellum]

On closer inspection some of the writing is a bit cheesier than I originally thought, and the "analog" bit still drives me up the wall for technical reasons

I swear you've already seen Giant Robo.

[MomentOfInertia]

On closer inspection some of the writing is a bit cheesier than I originally thought, and the "analog" bit still drives me up the wall for technical reasons

I swear you've already seen Giant Robo.

I have seen it. (Ought to watch it again come to think of it...)

And I know the parallel being drawn; my problem is the way the reference is made, I know the point line was supposed to make, and it makes sense that things would work that way within that world*. I take issue with the way the line was phrased, it needed to be buried under at least one more level of technobable.

I think the real issue might be that my popcorn-sci-fi started using terms I know and is using them wrong.


*Headcannon justification:
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Gypsy used a nuclear Fission reactor for power whereas the others were powered by nuclear Fusion systems. When the EMP went off, every electronic system within range crashed. On board Gypsy this was a nuisance, no more, the fusion reactor(fission being a reaction that continues whether or not anyone is watching it) continued to provide power as the computers came back up. On the others though, when the systems controlling the fusion reaction cut out the reaction itself decayed very quickly (fusion being a reaction that is very delicate and contrived at any scale smaller than a star), and there was nothing to restart the computers, or the reaction with.

Mark VI Jaeger's will fix this weakness by a) going back to fission power, b) shielding their power cores, c) fitting a secondary power system with enough energy to cold-start the entire Jeager, or d) some combination thereof.

Either that or the wave shattered all the dilithium crystals in the city, whatever floats your boat. (or should that be 'powers your robot/mecha/Jeager' in this case )

[Crossfire]

Just watched Iron Sky. It was so ridiculous that it was incomprehensibly awesome, and the vehicle designs were pretty neat to boot.

SPOILER: Highlight text to read: We did it! Those ships belong to North Korea!

[Banana Lobster]

I didn't mean to at first, but I ended up watching Red 2, which was cool.

[Ante Bellum]

On closer inspection some of the writing is a bit cheesier than I originally thought, and the "analog" bit still drives me up the wall for technical reasons

I swear you've already seen Giant Robo.

I have seen it. (Ought to watch it again come to think of it...)

And I know the parallel being drawn; my problem is the way the reference is made, I know the point line was supposed to make, and it makes sense that things would work that way within that world*. I take issue with the way the line was phrased, it needed to be buried under at least one more level of technobable.

I think the real issue might be that my popcorn-sci-fi started using terms I know and is using them wrong.


*Headcannon justification:
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Gypsy used a nuclear Fission reactor for power whereas the others were powered by nuclear Fusion systems. When the EMP went off, every electronic system within range crashed. On board Gypsy this was a nuisance, no more, the fusion reactor(fission being a reaction that continues whether or not anyone is watching it) continued to provide power as the computers came back up. On the others though, when the systems controlling the fusion reaction cut out the reaction itself decayed very quickly (fusion being a reaction that is very delicate and contrived at any scale smaller than a star), and there was nothing to restart the computers, or the reaction with.

Mark VI Jaeger's will fix this weakness by a) going back to fission power, b) shielding their power cores, c) fitting a secondary power system with enough energy to cold-start the entire Jeager, or d) some combination thereof.

Either that or the wave shattered all the dilithium crystals in the city, whatever floats your boat. (or should that be 'powers your robot/mecha/Jeager' in this case )

I wasn't expecting that reply, but I like it. Let's watch Robo.

[the_wolfs_howl]

Ju-On: White Ghost - Much scarier than Black Ghost, for some reason, though it followed a similar premise. A wonderful addition to the series.

Othello - Watched this again, great to see Kenneth Branagh as Iago. Somehow, he's absolutely perfect for the role.

Hamlet - A really good adaptation, I thought. Mel Gibson brought out all the confusion and passion that can be hard to grasp when you're just reading the play.

Twelfth Night - Interesting, a bit awkward, and rather funny. It was amazing how much Viola and Sebastian resembled each other.

The Island - Had to watch it again; I just love this movie so much.

Ink - I'd forgotten how much I love this movie, but it's really great. A wonderful message, and a really unique setting. My favorite character is the Pathfinder "One-two-three-branch! One-two-three-branch! Hello, dirt. And how are we today?" "We meet again."

[Xeno]

Just watched The Hunger Games because Netflix won't stop screaming "HEY YOU'RE REALLY GOING TO LIKE THIS (and we paid a lot to license this so please make it worth the cost)!" at me.

Came away with a few impressions. Firstly, it's not that bad of a film. Secondly, I would really like for them to explain something, really anything. Because I don't know anything that is happening in the backstory aside from little tidbits that are dropped throughout. There are scenes that seemingly have no context, and I can only assume that I'd understand this movie better if I'd read the book prior.

That said, I came off it conflicted as to whether seeing the second one is worth it. I was wrong in my assumption that this would be as bad as Twilight (because it is certainly better), but if everything is vague, then I'll just watch Evangelion again.

[drill]

Just finished watching one of the greatest movies of all time, It's a Wonderful Life. The acting, the story, everything is well done in this movie. No wonder I watch it every year.

[ClaecElric4God]

So I succumbed to the 11-hour plane ride and watched a couple movies.

A Midsummer's Equation - This was pretty good. I'll probably watch it with my family, because I know my mom will like it. It was well-done and surprisingly unboring, and I liked how everything came together in the end.

Secretly, Greatly - A 2013 Korean film. I honestly don't know what I think of this movie. All I can say is...watch it. It's awesome and at the same time awful. I love it and hate it. It's really well done, really good acting, really great story and very cool. But it was also really disappointing and frustrating. So basically it was Shingeki no Kyojin. Anyways, I can't explain it without giving it away. I'm probably going to watch it with my sister because it's awesome and our kind of movie, but I'll probably regret it. Ah, well. Life is confusing.

[the_wolfs_howl]

Saw a version of Measure for Measure set in the army, and it was atrocious. The lines, taken directly from the play, clashed horribly with the setting and made no sense in context, and the actors were poor all around. Not recommended in the slightest.

[Panda4christ:3]

The Hobbit: Desolation Of Smaug.

So despite being nothing like the book, I still loved it. Though I'm not completely happy with where their taking the next movie :T

[GeneD]

Watched Desolation Of Smaug too and enjoyed it a lot, moreso than the first one.

[ClaecElric4God]

Watched The Prestige. Hated it. A lot. Would never watch it again. Sorry to all you Prestige fans.
But yeah, an unbiased review would be, it's well done and an awesome and unique story and any normal person would love it.
But I hated it.