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Post by Pulpmariachi on Dec 8, 2007 17:54:32 GMT -5
How funny you watched THAT in preperation for "The Golden Compass", considering their morals are vastly different. I hate "The Chronicles of Narnia," both the movies and books, stupid homophobic, xenophobic, dogmatic, sexist, fearful, racist pieces of junk.
But I did see...
The Golden Compass (Chris Weitz) -- the flaws: it's really rushed, not rushed in the same regards as the first Harry Potter since some scenes are given more time to develop, though there's still this uneven feeling that they just wanted to get to the end before two hours passed. Then, they cut out the best part of the novel: the ending. It's a huge cliffhanger and it leads perfectly into the next part, but yes, it's gone. Bye. Adios. Why? I don't know.
The strenghts: decent performances all around and it's definitley a wonderfully imagined world. Yes, the Church became the Magisterium, but the same basic principles are there, and the action scenes are, when they are let out, really quite good (see: the bear fight). I'd give it a B.
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Post by Heineken Skywalker on Dec 9, 2007 1:55:16 GMT -5
How funny you watched THAT in preperation for "The Golden Compass", considering their morals are vastly different. I hate "The Chronicles of Narnia," both the movies and books, stupid homophobic, xenophobic, dogmatic, sexist, fearful, racist pieces of junk. I actually didn't see anything in preparation for anything else. I only mentioned GOLDEN COMPASS and NARNIA together because I belive they're both Walden Media productions or something like that. It keeps getting mentioned in the ads. Seeing as how I'm so late in seeing NARNIA, I'll probably finally see COMPASS just as the next CHRONICLES movie is being released in theaters. And to the rest of that quote all I can say is, "What??". You're obviously reading way more into it than I am. And here I thought it was just an entertaining kid's fantasy book/movie. |
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Post by ZapRowsdower on Dec 9, 2007 3:10:51 GMT -5
How funny you watched THAT in preperation for "The Golden Compass", considering their morals are vastly different. I hate "The Chronicles of Narnia," both the movies and books, stupid homophobic, xenophobic, dogmatic, sexist, fearful, racist pieces of junk. I actually didn't see anything in preparation for anything else. I only mentioned GOLDEN COMPASS and NARNIA together because I belive they're both Walden Media productions or something like that. It keeps getting mentioned in the ads. Seeing as how I'm so late in seeing NARNIA, I'll probably finally see COMPASS just as the next CHRONICLES movie is being released in theaters. And to the rest of that quote all I can say is, "What??". You're obviously reading way more into it than I am. And here I thought it was just an entertaining kid's fantasy book/movie. Agreed. I really didn't see that anywhere in the Chronicles of Narnia.... the movie, anyway. I haven't read any of the books. Although, examples would be great. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised. Isn't the Chronicles of Narnia filled with a bunch of metaphors for the Bible? |
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Post by Pulpmariachi on Dec 9, 2007 10:07:53 GMT -5
How funny you watched THAT in preperation for "The Golden Compass", considering their morals are vastly different. I hate "The Chronicles of Narnia," both the movies and books, stupid homophobic, xenophobic, dogmatic, sexist, fearful, racist pieces of junk. I actually didn't see anything in preparation for anything else. I only mentioned GOLDEN COMPASS and NARNIA together because I belive they're both Walden Media productions or something like that. It keeps getting mentioned in the ads. Seeing as how I'm so late in seeing NARNIA, I'll probably finally see COMPASS just as the next CHRONICLES movie is being released in theaters. And to the rest of that quote all I can say is, "What??". You're obviously reading way more into it than I am. And here I thought it was just an entertaining kid's fantasy book/movie. I wish I was because I liked those books as a kid. But I'll give you a few examples, oh there might be spoilers: 1.) Susan, in the conclusion of the novels, suddenly becomes "no friend of Narnia" after she discovers lipstick, nylon, and invitations, things that happen to girls whilst growing up, correct? She's basically discovering sex and suddenly she's totally excluded from this land all because Lewis didn't like the idea of sexual maturity. Then look how the White Witch was portrayed, as inherently beautiful and manipulative, though that could be applied to the witch legend in general, so that argumentative point is not especially strong. 2.) The racism hits from the Calormenes, who are essentially the Islams of the novel world. Usually they are portrayed in the stereotype that Arabians are put in, and then they are played for laughs at their expense. They're all dark-skinned and inherently evil, while all the fair-skinned British kids are pure and good and on. Then there's the fact they all die at the end, just disappear into blackness while all the good people go on. (I actually didn't notice this at first; I read an article on it a couple years ago and went, "Oh yeah.") 3.) "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" is basically a retelling of the Christ story for kids. You have this wicked world perpetuated by evil and then comes in this hero who was around before (who created the world) to sacrifice himself, then return from the dead to do some major vengence. (Yes, with Christ, when he's ressurected, he spread his word but, according to Christian lore, when the time of the Apocalypse comes, the final Judgement Day hits, then there will be blood all over, which I also have a problem with because it doesn't really keep with the peaceful nature of Jesus altogether.) The novels go further into the exploration of how Christianity is all good and their ideas hold up the laws of the Perverse children in the Golden Age. 4.) Then the whole death is better than life angle. Their entire existence works up to the point where they die. And you know what, raised Catholic, I do understand the nature of our afterlife and everything, but at the same time, being purposefully miserable in life doesn't make much sense. You can't say one or the other is better, depending upon your belief, unless you've experienced both. It's the same when you're arguing something. You can't be going, "Oh this book is a proponent for atheism!" and not have read the book (I'm looking at you Catholic Defamation League). Even as a kid I was always bugged by how everyone just dies at the end ("Don't worry kids, you can come with us because the train crashed and NOBODY SURVIVED") and that's that. Of course, these are all interpretations and it's easy to find pieces that support and distract from the arguments I've made, which I probably stole from somebody else (and agreed with). I challange anyone to find any creative piece of work out there without an agenda, and then I guess it's a matter if you agree with it or not. But that's how I see Narnia and I hate it. |
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Post by Termination on Dec 9, 2007 16:56:18 GMT -5
Galápagos (2007) (Blu-Ray)
HD Video - 10/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 7/10
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Post by Termination on Dec 10, 2007 4:32:28 GMT -5
Reign Over Me (2007) (Blu-Ray)
HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 8/10
HD Audio LPCM - 9/10
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Post by slayrrr666 on Dec 10, 2007 11:10:31 GMT -5
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Post by ZapRowsdower on Dec 10, 2007 17:00:27 GMT -5
The Golden Compass (2007, Chris Weitz)
To be completely frank, there were only two things about this film that didn't completely suck: the bear, because he was voiced by Ian McKellen and had a pretty cool fight scene, and Sam Elliott, who, let's face it, never sucks. Apologies for the run-on sentence. The special effects were decent, but Transformers had better effects by far. This film was rushed - I knew little about the characters, and didn't really care for any of them. Nicole Kidman wasn't intimidating at all. I'm very disappointed in Weitz' writing - you'd expect someone like him to allow character development to take place in the film, but unfortunately, there was none. Sorry, New Line. No Lord of the Rings for you this year. 4/10
A note on the controversy: Catholics have a pretty good reason to protest. The atheists now have a pretty good case against religion: what kind of God would allow movies like this to happen?
Thank you, try the veal.
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Post by Pulpmariachi on Dec 10, 2007 22:44:32 GMT -5
The Golden Compass (2007, Chris Weitz) To be completely frank, there were only two things about this film that didn't completely suck: the bear, because he was voiced by Ian McKellen and had a pretty cool fight scene, and Sam Elliott, who, let's face it, never sucks. Apologies for the run-on sentence. Let's clear up the fact that you can keep a sentence running as long as you could possibly like, pages and pages even, over entire books, after all, James Joyce closed "Ulysses" with a 40 page sentence-long monologue called the female soliloquy [sic], which, granted, didn't have proper punctuation, but look at Faulkner, because I think "A Light in August" has the longest sentence in recorded literature; all that matters, you see, is that you keep it grammatically correct because in theory, a sentence doesn't have to end. |
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Post by ZapRowsdower on Dec 11, 2007 0:12:53 GMT -5
The 'Star Wars' Holiday Special (1978, Steve Binder, David Acomba) with Rifftrax. Oh... my... GOD. Greedo shooting first? Minor flaw. Casting Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker? A mere faux pas. Darth Vader's anticlimactic "NO"? Cult classic. The Star Wars Holiday Special - the biggest mistake George Lucas has ever made in his career, period. The man is wise to not want to rerelease this. It's poorly shot, poorly acted, breaks fourth wall without regret, and watching Bea Arthur and Princess Leia break into song, as well as Harvey Korman destroy his career is not something I wish to remember the series by. The Riff, on the other hand, was one of their best. They even riffed the commercials! For those of you who wish to view the film with the Riff, the good folks over at Rifftrax have left an encoded message telling you where you can find the Star Wars Holiday Special. It's pretty obvious if you think about it. Film: 1/10 Riff: 10/10
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Post by Heineken Skywalker on Dec 11, 2007 0:36:29 GMT -5
I hate "The Chronicles of Narnia," both the movies and books, stupid homophobic, xenophobic, dogmatic, sexist, fearful, racist pieces of junk. Having only read THE LION, THE WITCH & THE WARDROBE, I can't really comment on anything that happens in future books/movies in the series. But any veiled racism, stereotypes, sexism, etc, I'm going to let slide on the basis that it was first published in the Fifties. If it had been published a year ago, I might be right there with you. But in the Fifities? Just a different time. If I were to hold all older works of art by those standards, I wouldn't even watch Looney Tunes cartoons anymore. Some of the racial overtones and stereotypes in those are far more blatant, and negative, than anything I saw in this movie, but I know that the writers and artists at Warner Brothers weren't trying to purposefully hurt people. Humor was different then and they were just going for the joke. Things are a lot more politically correct now and stuff like that obviously wouldn't fly. The only really religious thing I saw in this movie was that Aslan the lion's sacrifice and ressurection were obviously representative of Jesus, and the White Witch could be perceived as the Devil with her deceit and lust for power. None of that bothered me either. Anyway, to each his own, I enjoyed the movie. |
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Post by Heineken Skywalker on Dec 11, 2007 0:55:57 GMT -5
The 'Star Wars' Holiday Special (1978, Steve Binder, David Acomba) Ah, the Holiday Special. (This really should be in the tv section, but whatever.) Exactly "one" good thing came out of The Star Wars Holiday Special. The animated cartoon that first introduced Boba Fett. That's it. What's that, about 10 minutes of this whole debacle? Zap didn't even mention the musical stylings of Jefferson Starship or Mark Hamill looking like he's wearing about an inch of makeup. (Gosh, he was pretty!) Yes, I saw it's one and only tv broadcast back in the Seventies and yes, I own the damned thing on a bootleg dvd. Lucas is completely right to not want to ever release it legitimately. It's not even "Plan 9" bad. "Plan 9" is bad in that, so bad it's good, kind of way. Not this. No, not this. I watched: CAPOTE (2005) The true story of how writer, Truman Capote, came to write his masterpiece, "In Cold Blood". Phillip Seymour Hoffman gives a stunning performance as Capote. A role that could easily become an exagerrated impression, given Capote's very distinctive voice and mannerisms. I remember seeing the real Truman Capote as a guest on talk shows in the Seventies, and Hoffman pretty much nailed it. The movie itself is pretty good, but is mostly just characters talking with each other, so it could be slow going for some audience members. 8/10 |
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Post by ZapRowsdower on Dec 11, 2007 2:51:51 GMT -5
The 'Star Wars' Holiday Special (1978, Steve Binder, David Acomba) Ah, the Holiday Special. (This really should be in the tv section, but whatever.) Exactly "one" good thing came out of The Star Wars Holiday Special. The animated cartoon that first introduced Boba Fett. That's it. What's that, about 10 minutes of this whole debacle? Zap didn't even mention the musical stylings of Jefferson Starship or Mark Hamill looking like he's wearing about an inch of makeup. (Gosh, he was pretty!) Yes, I saw it's one and only tv broadcast back in the Seventies and yes, I own the damned thing on a bootleg dvd. Lucas is completely right to not want to ever release it legitimately. It's not even "Plan 9" bad. "Plan 9" is bad in that, so bad it's good, kind of way. Not this. No, not this. Oh, Mike Nelson and Co. had some wonderful things to say about the Jefferson Starship scene (I was rolling, it was hilarious), and a couple of jabs at Mark hamill's makeup. And damn, he WAS pretty. |
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Post by Termination on Dec 11, 2007 17:48:29 GMT -5
28 Days Later (2002) (Blu-Ray)
HD Video - 5/10
HD Audio dts - 9/10
28 Weeks Later (2007) (Blu-Ray)
HD Video - 8/10
HD Audio dts - 10/10
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Post by Termination on Dec 12, 2007 20:44:32 GMT -5
IMAX: Africa - The Serengeti (1994) (Blu-Ray)
HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 8/10
IMAX: Alaska - Spirit of the Wild (1997) (Blu-Ray)
HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 8/10
IMAX: Antarctica - An Adventure of a Different Nature (1991) (Blu-Ray)
HD Video - 8/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 8/10
IMAX: Australia - Land Beyond Time (2002) (Blu-Ray)
HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 8/10
Ultimate Force (2006) (Blu-Ray)
HD Video - 6/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 7/10
BCI's first film released in HD. How does it look? Well there is minor improvement from SD, mainly exterior shots benefit from the increased rez however there are just so many other issues which make this disc barely passable as high-def. The biggest issue is excessive motion blur & ghosting throughout. Minor contrast wavering & edge enhancement is present. Noticeable print damage & noise. Minor color pallet fluctuation with bleeding reds & blues. DNR is also thrown in as well. Should also mention that around the 19 minute mark the aspect ratio changes from 1.85:1 to 2.35:1 for around 10 seconds or less & than resumes in the correct OAR. Very odd. Happens only once thankfully & no it isn't an intentional choice, just a dumb flaw with the transfer. Audio wise, the 2.0 Dolby track has rare a/v sync dropouts, heavy LFE presence & poor dynamic range but never was dialog muted or washed out.
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