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The Movie You Saw Last


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Trying to get through some of the fantasy/medieval flicks I've picked up lately, so I watched the director's cut of Ridley Scott's Legend.

 

Pretty good movie. The effects are easily some of the best I've seen, particularly Tim Curry's costume as the Lord of Darkness, especially for a pre-Jackson LotR fantasy flick. The script was a bit weak at times, but it was generally pretty solid. Acting was also pretty good, with Cruise giving a surprisingly enthralling preformance and Curry being... well, he's Tim Curry, he steals the show in everything.

 

The direction was pretty nice too, though I can't really rank it amongst Scott's other works since I haven't seen nearly enough of his work to. It really did set the mood, though, mixing a sense of wonder and the whimsical with a sinister, eerie vibe. I also can't compare it to the US cut with Tangerine Dream's score, since I don't own that version. Goldsmith, however, did provide an excellent score to the film and helped establish the 'dark fairy tale' tone that Scott intended.

 

Solid watch, especially if you're into fantasy films. Gonna try and watch, I dunno, Time Bandits or Flesh + Blood tomorrow, If I don't end up glurging on video games or Game of Thrones.

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About 3/5 of The Dark Knight.

TheGeekIgnika, the caffeinated cyber-ninja.  Or just some idiot with a computer.  You choose.


 


If I sounded like a geek in this


 


post, you are correct.


 


"Being a geek is all about being honest about what you enjoy and not being afraid to demonstrate that affection.  It means never having to play it cool about about how much you like something.  It's basically a license to proudly emote on a somewhat childish level rather than behave like a supposed adult.  Being a geek is extremely liberating." - Simon Pegg


 


99% of BZPower has grown out of this pointless fad. If you're part of the 1% willing


to cling to it out of an irrational pseudo-nostalgia, copy and paste this into your signature!


 


Everybody is entitled to an opinion.  Even me.

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So I FINALLY got a chance to see The Lego Movie, and I loved every second of it. It moved me to tears. Kind of.

 

Of course, I only caught one Bionicle reference through the whole thing, so I may have to rewatch it to find the others. Maybe on the 4K version.

 

Also, it's cool that they got Shaquille O'Neal, Anthony Daniels and Billy Dee Williams in the cast as well.

~ CHTrilogy

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god bless america

 

its just terrible. and i mean that content-wise, it's actually a decent movie. but just...vile. and also a little heartwarming in a really twisted way...not real sure how i feel about this, its a real mixed bag of emotions

 

 

before that was the lego movie and that just blew me away, its so good

only in dreams.

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I saw Guardians of the Galaxy Friday night (really fun movie with great dialogue I thought for the most part) and saw Lucy today (was kinda fun if you ignore the way they try to explain and give meaning to anything :P ).

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Credit to Pohuaki for the awesome banner! ^_^

 

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The Black Cauldron- Ted Berman, Richard Rich

 

Despite the many varied projects that come out of Walt Disney Animation Studios, I think we can say there are least a few things we've come to expect from them: technical prowess, sweeping music, and strong stories. The Black Cauldron does two of those in spades, but the third... not so well. The story is about a boy named Taran, who learns that the evil Horned King is going to use the magic of the Black Cauldron to raise an army of the dead and take over the world. He sets out to prove himself a hero by stopping him, and along the way meets several other characters who aid him in his quest.

 

Admittedly the animation itself is nothing special, but the backgrounds themselves are rather rich and visually attractive. The voice work is fantastic, with the standout performance being John Hurt as the voice of the Horned King, and the music works by engaging all the emotions for fear and terror to love and loss. But I guess when your movie is being scored by Elmer Bernstein getting a grand musical score is pretty much a given.

 

But, unfortunately, this can all come to naught if the elements are wrapped in a story that doesn't work, and The Black Cauldron is the quintessential example of a movie undone by a bad script. With almost all the plot points driven by contrivances the movie because an incredibly silly one to follow. I understand that the movie was an adaption of a book series (The Chronicles of Prydain), and I can't help but wonder if that's the reason why there are so many contrivances. Things that got explained in the book had to inevitably be cut to fit an 80 minute film, and as a result nothing gets any background. This extends to the characters as well, at least one of which is given literally no role in the films's plot and pretty much just tags along for... reasons. The other protagonist characters aren't quite worth writing home about either. There was potential between a developing relationship between the protagonist Taran and a sidekick named Gurgi, but it was sidelined in favor of attempting to develop a relationship between Taran and the love interest, Eilonwy. But even that gets hardly any attention that isn't a cliche, and the result is a lot of boring characters. Ironically, the evil Horned King is the saving grace in this problem, but he hardly has any screentime.

 

It's worth pointing out that Jeffrey Katzenberg, when he was Disney studio chairman at the time, edited 12 minutes out of the film to reduce the dark nature of the film. While what was cut would have definitely drive up the already dark and intense film (there are three cels which show flesh melting off a person in graphic manner), it would not have saved it. So even though I do want to see the complete version one day, I don't think anything short of a complete remake, or least adding a lot of new material, can save the script.

 

Meet the Robinsons- Stephen Anderson

 

Meet the Robinsons is an important film in the WDAS canon. It follows Home on the Range and Chicken Little which are, as of August 2014, two of the most maligned films in the canon. The latter film made money, sure, but they both left a sour taste in the mouths of many.

 

Enter Meet the Robinsons. I don’t know much about the film’s production history, only that it was the first WDAS film to have John Lasster’s influence. What I do know is that it almost seems like a response to the last two films in the sheer amount of Disney tributes that appear in the film. Even the central theme, “keep moving forward” is from a quote by Walt Disney (helpfully shown at the end of the movie). I don’t know if its intentional or coincidental, but it really felt like this was WDAS saying “we’re going to get back on track and do better.” But in order for that message to be relevant, the film needs to actually deliver.

 

Meet the Robinsons is about an orphan named Lewis who likes to invent thing. Inspired by the idea that he might be able to remember his mother’s face, he invents a machine to help read his thoughts. After this project is sabotaged by the mysterious Bowler Hat Guy, he gets caught up in a time traveling adventure to try and thwart the villain’s plan.

 

It sounds complicated, and it is. And ultimately that is the film’s downfall. The screenplay, appropriately, doesn’t allow itself to be bogged down by the mechanics, rules, and paradoxes of time travel, but at the same time it doesn’t seem to follow any rules that make for a helpful roadmap for the viewer, and I often found myself asking “how is that supposed to work?” instead of just allowing myself to be caught up in the story. Additionally many of the sets look rather artificial, though I’m not sure if that’s more attributed to the directors choice or the limitations of CGI animation of the time.

 

In spite of all this, though, more often than not I did find myself caught up in the story. It’s messy, but it’s always sweetly sentimental and inspiring when it needs to be, and flat out hilarious almost every other time. The humor, fortunately, is derived from the many memorable and distinctive personalities of the Robinson family as opposed to the bathroom humor and slapstick that dominated Home on the Range. And despite the large shift in the mood spectrum throughout the film, there is no awkward mood whiplash. Is it a solid film? No, but after Home on the Range it’s the kind of fresh start that the company needed.

 

Next up: The Lady and the Tramp. I can barely contain myself from singing Bella Notte...

Edited by Vorahk1Panrahk2
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Guardians of the Galaxy: I forgot I was watching a movie until it was over. Incredible experience. One of the most unique, entertaining movies I've ever seen, if not the best. Just lovely, so lovely. 

Hercules: Whole time I was watching it I was predicting the predictable plot before it unfolded, and internally complaining that I could be watching Guardians again. Sort of entertaining movie, definitely watchable I guess, but if it weren't for John Hurt, I'd prolly hate it completely. 

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Hercules: Whole time I was watching it I was predicting the predictable plot before it unfolded, and internally complaining that I could be watching Guardians again. Sort of entertaining movie, definitely watchable I guess, but if it weren't for John Hurt, I'd prolly hate it completely. 

 

John Hurt has this great way of bringing something good to even the worst films. That said, I have no plans to see Hercules and not even his presence can make me.

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Hercules: Whole time I was watching it I was predicting the predictable plot before it unfolded, and internally complaining that I could be watching Guardians again. Sort of entertaining movie, definitely watchable I guess, but if it weren't for John Hurt, I'd prolly hate it completely. 

 

John Hurt has this great way of bringing something good to even the worst films. That said, I have no plans to see Hercules and not even his presence can make me.

 

I don't really like any of brett ratners films so I'm not really interested in Hercules 

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

 

Having seen that Michael Bay was involved in this, and having loved all four Transformers movies, I expected better.

 

It was quite cheesy, and Shredder had almost no personality. The action sequences were decent. A certain scene midway through the movie left me scratching my head a little, and everything the Turtles were able to do that actually worked against Shredder seemed forced. It would have been quite ineffective had the Shredder's competence not been fluctuating.

 

Still, the characters did stay true to the originals. Many people had expressed fears about that, and the movie proved their fears quite unfounded.

 

The overall package was...ok...but not quite good.

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Transformers: Age of Extinction

 

Don't bother watching. I couldn't follow the story. And that comes from someone who coidl follow the plot of the previous three films.

 

After that, HTTYD 2. Awesome. A little short though.

 

Yeah, my brother dragged me along to Transformers 4. I honestly can't describe how bad that film was without violating BZPower's language guidelines. I'd still like to see HTTYD2, though. It came out later in the UK so hopefully I haven't missed it.

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Mullholland Dr. 

 

Trailer here:

 

 

Mullholland Dr, made by master writer and director David Lynch, took me into a world where a actress gets sidelined and where another

rises to the top, but the real selling point for me is how great how David Lynch uses the last 20 minutes by completley fooling the first

part of the movie. 

 

It is the best films of 2001, because of how it fooled me into believing the insomniac actress part and the rising star of the other

actress when in the other part, the actress (that we think is going to rise) actually is sidelined and the other is rising.

 

I won't spoil anything...but if you see it, it shall enter your brain and won't leave.

 

Mullholland Dr is a 10/10 from me.

Edited by IonXtreme

Favorite Film of All Time: Fight Club

Favorite Television Show of all Time: The X-Files

Favorite LEGO Franchise of all Time: BIONICLE

Favorite BIONICLE year of all time: 2006

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Finished watching Divergent a few hours ago. I went into it expecting nothing really.It wasn't mind blowingly great, but it could have been a lot worse. Struck me as being very similar to The Hunger Games, but with slightly better acting, slightly better storyline, and a hugely better camera crew (tell me I wasn't the only one experiencing motion sickness in THG!).

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Transformers: Age of Extinction

 

Don't bother watching. I couldn't follow the story. And that comes from someone who coidl follow the plot of the previous three films.

 

After that, HTTYD 2. Awesome. A little short though.

 

Yeah, my brother dragged me along to Transformers 4. I honestly can't describe how bad that film was without violating BZPower's language guidelines. I'd still like to see HTTYD2, though. It came out later in the UK so hopefully I haven't missed it.

 

The more and more I think about transformers 4 I grow to dislike it like it even more. I can stand maybe first 3 including the terrible 2nd one but that 4th one was just to long and unenjoyable to watch.

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In theaters: Guardians of the Galaxy

Drax... oh my gosh, how do I describe this guy. I gotta go watch it again just for him.


On TV: Air Force One

How did Harrison Ford go from still looking relatively young, to what he looked like by Indiana Jones 4?

Soon to come: Star Wars 7.

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After many a recommendation from friends, I finally watched the first Harry Potter movie. Then the second. And the third. And I'm going to watch the fourth tomorrow. Suffice to say, I'm really regretting not watching these earlier. I plan on finishing the series by the end of next week.

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"Why can't I dream that I'm alone?" "That is not a dream, that is a substitute for reality"

"So where is my dream?" "it is a continuation of reality"

"But where is my reality?" "It is at the end of your dream"

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X-Men: First Class.

 

Really good movie. Probably my favorite X-Men movie.

 

Now I just need to see Days of Future Past, which I've been told is very good.

 

-TNTOS-

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt

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X-Men: First Class.

 

Really good movie. Probably my favorite X-Men movie.

 

Now I just need to see Days of Future Past, which I've been told is very good.

 

-TNTOS-

DofP was amazing. The scene with Quicksilver is the best part

 

anyway, Bionicle: Mask of Light (for about the 100th time)

Add me on Steam!: Bionicdeadpool Productions TTV: Bionicdeadpool Twitter: Avenging_Odin


 


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The Fisher King. I find it hard to describe this movie, but I loved it.

I occasionally return to BZP for a nostalgic trip back. Hit me up on discord if you need anything. 
 
BZPRPG Characters that I will possibly revive, Mons-Shajs-Tarotrix-Aryll Vudigg-Jorruk Yokin-Senavysh Angavur

 

 

 

 

 

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The Fisher King. I find it hard to describe this movie, but I loved it.

 

This one blew me away the first time I saw it, especially Robin Williams' performance. I actually had to go take a walk after I saw it in order to process it. Definitely an experience.

 

Anywho, the last movie I watched was Treasure Planet. When the premise for a film adaption usually adds "... in space!" at the end, usually you can expect schlock at best. But despite the premise for this one being Treasure Island... in space!, it actually works very well. Admittedly I've never read Treasure Island so I don't know close it is to the source novel, but the design elements of the film, and it's complete disregard for real life physics, give it a unique charm and visual aesthetic that makes the film fun to watch. The characters are fun to watch, and I love how the relationship between Jim Hawkins and Mr. Silver develops. The latter could have been a really one dimensional villain, but the way he's fleshed out gives the audience good reason to care about him.

 

My only real complaint is the pacing toward the end and the introduction of a less-than-amusing comedy robot character. It picks up again quickly, though, leading to a legitimately exciting climax. It's not a top 10 Disney film, but it's stronger than a lot of other material that came out in the post-Renaissance years, and a good Disney film in general.

 

Next up: The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.

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