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Gingerpele

Films of 2011!!

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I went to see Cowboys and Aliens the other day - it''s ok, but of fun, not particularly serious film.

Daniel Craig was excellent and Harrison Ford was good, Olivia Wilde did well in her role.

 

Made me laugh when walking out of the cinema my cousin heard someone say "well it was a good but a bit farfetched for me" - you went to see a film with the words Cowboys and Aliens in the title - what were you expecting?  a biography?   :)

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[quote user="San Miguel"]

I went to see Cowboys and Aliens the other day - it''s ok, but of fun, not particularly serious film.

Daniel Craig was excellent and Harrison Ford was good, Olivia Wilde did well in her role.

 

Made me laugh when walking out of the cinema my cousin heard someone say "well it was a good but a bit farfetched for me" - you went to see a film with the words Cowboys and Aliens in the title - what were you expecting?  a biography?   :)

[/quote]

I probably see where he was coming from though, there''s a nit-picking element amongst hardened SF fans that want their stories to be believable, which is hard because none of us knows how we would react when encountering an alien for the first time. Given that all SF is far-fetched perhaps there was a plot element (I have not seen the movie) that did not ring true?

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I realise the dates don''t quite match up, but this thread seems to be central for discussing films.Watched swathes of films over the past few months; the best from the past month in particular being Gran Torino and In Bruges.In Bruges is a truly wonderful film set in Belgium (... in Bruges), starring Colin Farrell, Ralph Fiennes, and one of the greatest performances from the past 5 years in cinema, from Brendan Gleeson. The plot in brief is Irish two assassins are sent to a hide out after a mission gone awry, with little or no idea of their objectives out in Belgium. After some ''sight-seeing'', their boss gets in contact, and the whole dynamic of the film is shaken. As emotions of hate, self-loathing, and prevailing love and compassion become apparent, the film spirals into a grandiose ''Tarantino'' esque enccounter.The action takes awhile to come in, meaningfully fitted into the narrative, and unlike so many other modern day pictures, never needs to be excused for. There''s plenty of gripping, intense, and highly emotianal scenes, at it''s apex felt in one of the most poigniant moments of the past decade in film, involving Brendan Gleeson and a perfectly chosen track from the Dubliners. Whether it''s the soundtrack or cast, this film has Celtic blood coursing through it''s veins, and no matter how alien the surroundings are, this iconic scene couldn''t have been more pertinent with regard to the over-arching theme. I may just have had a tear in my eye.And whether it''s midgets in dream-like art house productions in the cobbold streets of Bruges, or fat snooty elephants, or ''Americans'', walking up a narrow staircase, the dark humour is great, and will certainly satisfy those in hunger of satire amongst the morbidity bursting at the seams of the piece. For anyone who''s seen Sexy Beast, Fiennes is the Ben Kingsley equivalent, the rabid mob boss with a bloodlust, but not without a conscience. This film is too clever to deal in the absolutes, ''Good vs Evil'', of traditional Hollywood; the moral compass wavers throughout, and becomes a confrontation based on outlooks over complex subjects like retribution and punishment, grounded where no one is of the divine.The cinematography is breathtaking, and the whole plot feels very Shakespearean, as a modestly sized ensemble of characters are weaved into the film, always with a purpose.And perhaps most of all, i finally ''got'' Colin Farrell.

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[quote user="Joanna Grey"][quote user="San Miguel"]

I went to see Cowboys and Aliens the other day - it''s ok, but of fun, not particularly serious film.

Daniel Craig was excellent and Harrison Ford was good, Olivia Wilde did well in her role.

 

Made me laugh when walking out of the cinema my cousin heard someone say "well it was a good film but a bit farfetched for me" - you went to see a film with the words Cowboys and Aliens in the title - what were you expecting?  a biography?   :)

[/quote]

I probably see where he was coming from though, there''s a nit-picking element amongst hardened SF fans that want their stories to be believable, which is hard because none of us knows how we would react when encountering an alien for the first time. Given that all SF is far-fetched perhaps there was a plot element (I have not seen the movie) that did not ring true?

[/quote]

despite not being a particularly serious film it did have a ''beliveable'' element to it in that the aliens were here for the gold, being an extremely rare element in the Universe, and that made sense for them to visit Earth in the Wild West era when the gold rush was booming.

i still maintain that if you see a film with that title you can''t expect too much.  it would be like going to see Snakes on a Plane and expecting Samuel Jackson to put in an Oscar winning serious performance.

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[quote user="San Miguel"][quote user="Joanna Grey"][quote user="San Miguel"]

I went to see Cowboys and Aliens the other day - it''s ok, but of fun, not particularly serious film.

Daniel Craig was excellent and Harrison Ford was good, Olivia Wilde did well in her role.

 

Made me laugh when walking out of the cinema my cousin heard someone say "well it was a good film but a bit farfetched for me" - you went to see a film with the words Cowboys and Aliens in the title - what were you expecting?  a biography?   :)

[/quote]

I probably see where he was coming from though, there''s a nit-picking element amongst hardened SF fans that want their stories to be believable, which is hard because none of us knows how we would react when encountering an alien for the first time. Given that all SF is far-fetched perhaps there was a plot element (I have not seen the movie) that did not ring true?

[/quote]

despite not being a particularly serious film it did have a ''beliveable'' element to it in that the aliens were here for the gold, being an extremely rare element in the Universe, and that made sense for them to visit Earth in the Wild West era when the gold rush was booming.

i still maintain that if you see a film with that title you can''t expect too much.  it would be like going to see Snakes on a Plane and expecting Samuel Jackson to put in an Oscar winning serious performance.

[/quote]

''believable''? I see why you put it in quotation marks. There is more gold in your average asteroid than will (or can) be mined from the Earth. Our planet has nothing that can not be had easier and in more abundance elsewhere.

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[quote user="Joanna Grey"][quote user="San Miguel"][quote user="Joanna Grey"][quote user="San Miguel"]

I went to see Cowboys and Aliens the other day - it''s ok, but of fun, not particularly serious film.

Daniel Craig was excellent and Harrison Ford was good, Olivia Wilde did well in her role.

 

Made me laugh when walking out of the cinema my cousin heard someone say "well it was a good film but a bit farfetched for me" - you went to see a film with the words Cowboys and Aliens in the title - what were you expecting?  a biography?   :)

[/quote]

I probably see where he was coming from though, there''s a nit-picking element amongst hardened SF fans that want their stories to be believable, which is hard because none of us knows how we would react when encountering an alien for the first time. Given that all SF is far-fetched perhaps there was a plot element (I have not seen the movie) that did not ring true?

[/quote]

despite not being a particularly serious film it did have a ''beliveable'' element to it in that the aliens were here for the gold, being an extremely rare element in the Universe, and that made sense for them to visit Earth in the Wild West era when the gold rush was booming.

i still maintain that if you see a film with that title you can''t expect too much.  it would be like going to see Snakes on a Plane and expecting Samuel Jackson to put in an Oscar winning serious performance.

[/quote]

''believable''? I see why you put it in quotation marks. There is more gold in your average asteroid than will (or can) be mined from the Earth. Our planet has nothing that can not be had easier and in more abundance elsewhere.

[/quote]

 

umm... not really.

 

the heavier the element the rarer it will be, as it takes enourmous energy to make it.  physics and chemistry are universal and we know that the same elements that exist here on Earth also exist trillions of light years away as we can see it in the radiation from their stars.

 

gold is extremely rare which is why we place so much value on it despite it being a crappy metal in all aspects other than appearnace.  so the theortical storyline of aliens seeking out this rare element is beliveable - the quotation marks were there as we are talking about a story with aliens and cowboys!

 

most asteriods are made of iced water or gas elements and whilst it''s not unlikely there will be gold in some of the rocky asteriods, everything sceintists have learned about the Milky Way and the Universe suggests that what is common or rare in our solar system is more than likely to be the same in any other system.

 

sorry we were talking about films so let''s move back to that - anyone seen Warrior yet?  i really like Tom Hardy as an actor so am keen to see this one - i don''t usually bother with boxing films

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Sorry folks, this is about gold but not a film.I have moved the pc and internet connection from floor to floor.Georgian houses should be cable free so it is up with the floorboards and bung it through the ceiling to the floor below. So this is a bit of a rambling test.... I can receive e-mail but not send .just wondered if this would work.My gold comment runs along the tube lines to Heathrow. Pretty quiet carriage. An Indian young business girl had joined us at KingsX. By the time we got well out of local Londonshe started dressing up with gold bangles, necklaces, watches, rings. It was mesmerising.That is my off topic for today. See if it arrives. I think I might have to re-login.Hex

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Oh .Well sorry to bore but that seemed to work.I''d like to see Tinker Tailer. Trouble is I can almost remember the original script. So I''ll be watching for all the nuances.hex

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Thanks Shrimper. Incoming (as they say in Camp Bastion),works fine. and I can obviously send to this site.I think live e-mail must have changed their format over the last few days, whilst I was faffing about under the floorboards.I have been googling forums, but after a while you get bored and go and do something useful, like TV! I am sure I will sort it.  Again totally off topic but spent a great day yesterday with daughter on the open house sessions.Went to a new Jamie Olivers in Islington. I think I had choice envy after tasting her plate!To cut a long ramble short we took a stroll down to where I was married in Finsbury Town Hall, 1974.I took a photo of myself at the wedding. They were impressed.The building manager popped out to talk to us and showed us the WW2 bunker below.Not open to public at all as it is flooded. The group" "28 Days Later" (Google). Who try and get into locked up places for photography mostly,have never been allowed access. I think we scored with that one. I would rather have been blown to pieces than go down those stairs.Popped into "Filthy McNastys". A pub I used to pass by in 1974 , changed to a music venue with Pogues as regular drinkers......Sorry to digress.hex

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Nothing at all.... I read others trying to decide problems regarding digital stuff , which is beyond me.Just frustration I guess. I made 95% of the change over successfully and the last bit niggles.Anyway, nobody wants to listen to me.........."going down the garden path eating worms."Hex

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I''m going to see Tinker Tailor, Soldier, Spy this evening. Not sure how much i will enjoy it, but the reviews i have read say its a very good film...

Seen Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Inbetweeners Movie and Captain America this summer, Planet of the Apes definatly wins. Wasn''t expecting it to be so good, while Captain America disappointed me slightly, i think their are mean''t to be a few Captain America films made (seem to remember something about Chris Evans signing up to do so many films, which person writing the article thought was a bad idea at his age...). The Inbetweeners was funny, well worth a watch if you enjoy the TV show, if you don''t enjoy the TV show, its pretty much the same kind of humour but built around a longer story line....

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What did you think of Tinker,Ginge? I am reading the book at the mo and it''s a wee bit confusing.

Watched Blitz,another Statham film,with him as a hard cop trying to stop a serial killer

Not bad but with some large plot-holes that you can''t help but notice.Some strong violence,which you get used to in Statham''s films.Him with a hurling stick is a good opening scene!

Great turns by Aiden Gillen (The Wire) as the bad guy and Paddy Considine,who is always good.

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Took me at least three tries to get through the book herman. I think the tv serial was great, but will not be going to see the film.

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It looks like i am going to have to read it a couple of times as well.It is good,but there are so many characters that i am getting confused as to who is who.I will carry on till the end.

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After reading the comment,Herman I decided to give it another airing.The pages are a little aged, as am I.Still there is a laconic subtext everywhere that no one will ever tell the truth.What must it have been like in the real world of Philby,Mclean, Blunt.Burgess and others who may have slipped the net?Some of them were morons in their lifestyle. Hardly keeping a low profile.Seems as if they didn''t give a fig.hex.

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I wasn''t going to give the game away about the rather ditzy Beryl Reid.There is always someone who remembers.I doubt if I will have the energy to finish the trilogy."The Honourable Schoolboy" is a bit of a doorstop.

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the only one I have seen is Submarine, so that it my favourite, but it was good mind!

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Late reply, but Tinker was really really good.

Very confusing, probably needed to see it again but didn''t manage that. Going to try and read the book at some point, but i''ve got abut 5 books to read before i think about anything else. Even though I knew the film was going to require a lot of focus to really keep up with at at all, it was still quite different, not used to seeing films like that at the Cinema, probably wouldn''t have been quite as bad if had been watching it in a Uni lecture....

Talking of Uni lectures, we watched Cassavetes'' film Shadows, that was weird anyone seen it?

We''ve got to watch a D.W.Grifith film at 9:00AM on wednesday (Not Birth of a Nation, as its 3 hours long, can''t remember which one were watching of the top of my head) and then a Fedirico Fellini film on Thursday afternoon/evening. I''m sure we weren''t watching this many full films last year, although I suppose our time table now for the theoretical lectures is set up pretty much like this: 2 Hour lecture on a theory, screening of a film, then seminar discussing the theory applied to the screening. And were mean''t to read all the stuff they have set as well. I suppose its then up to us when it comes to the essays and then exam revision which topics we find most interesting to dig deeper into. I''m looking forward to the indie-wood section of the American Independent Cinema module, because we get to watch Blood Simple, then i can write an essay about the Coen Brothers :)

(Not that any of that is relevant to Films of 2011 :P)

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Glad you enjoyed the film Gingerpele. After all the excitement and Herman starting to read the book too.I started as well, it is jolly hard work. I keep having to go back a few pages,sometimes chapters!And I thought I knew the story.       I suppose things like that are all Bourne or Bond now.3 hour D.W.Griffith @ 09.30....Isn''t that your bedtime?(sorry). I just watched  a short piece of "Shadows".It reminded me of the Rodin  in Paris and the Guggenheim in Venice..Best wishes for your course. I have just had a graduate in Political Journalism staying on a 3 month internship in Westminster (Unpaid), Worked very hard but has gone home with not the job of a lifetime.He hopes for work at the new BBC centre at Salford ..hex

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SUNSHINE[Y]

Watched this last night and it turned out to be really good sci-fi.I am sure sci-fi pedants will find faults with it but i really liked it and would recommend. Danny Boyle does know what he is doing.7.8/10

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