Contraband.

Its a mark walburg crime/action movie roughly about conartists that smuggle stuff internationally
Via shipping out of the new orleans port. Its revolves a lot around what I do for a living and I liked how relatively thorough it is about that stuff. I could swear some of the shots looked like they were filmed in the jacksonville fl port areas though.

I've been going to the cinema quite a lot lately. Today I went to see Prometheus. It's not normally something I would choose to see, but there wasn't much else on and Ridley Scott who directed Blade Runner and Alien apparently had made another good movie. So I went to see it, and I saw it in 3D since I have never seen a movie in 3D before. The 3D aspect was kind of cool, maybe it did make me more immersed in the physical aspects of the film. I think I was more engaged with the film than I would have otherwise been due to the alien visuals being rendered like that. This isn't exactly a compliment, because what I mean to say is that it provided an interesting distraction from the extremely weak and shallow script and the hackneyed scenario. So it was a fun gimmick for today but I don't think I need to see another film in 3D. The movie itself is a kind of amalgam of a bunch of things you have seen before in better films, like Alien and The Thing. So if you like those movies this might interest you but will be disappointing. The dialogue and characters are so rote and embarrassing that when there is a lull in the action and the characters are allowed to speak for more than 20 seconds at a time it made me cringe kind of like when a shit uncle comes to dinner and starts telling awful jokes and everyone is just kind of putting up with it. The script wasn't obviously offensive to me or anything, it was just very bad. As a whole the movie was pretty unimaginative and even though I really like space, scary things and aliens I wasn't excited at any point during this.

Me too. Oh well, it can't possibly be worse than Battle LA, so I'll go into it with low expectations and hopefully come out on top that way.

I just watched a movie I picked up from a mention in a forum post somewhere, called Absentia. It's a kind of low-key spooky drama movie, and it was pretty good. It's very low budget and probably made through a network of friends, so at times some of the acting (mostly from the actors playing the cops) feels a bit amateur and it takes you out of the story, but some of the other acting is totally fine so after a little while you kind of settle into it.

It starts off being about two women, one of whom's husband has disappeared and they are about to pronounce him dead. It goes on to expand from there and goes off in a direction I wasn't really expecting but kind of enjoyed.

I will spoil things from now, in case you just want to go watch it - it turns out that the missing husband has been trapped just nearby the house in some kind of hell dimension with this huge spider/insect creature who has been molesting and torturing him for years. There are hundreds of other people in there with him and occasionally they pop out of the place through some kind of trading dynamic I didn't understand in detail, but characters seem to be able to trade with it for things although it can backfire.

So that's the kind of spooky hook to the film, and by the end of it the idea is well realised enough that I got a kick out of it - especially since at the end of the movie this hell place seems to retreat back into obscurity and it doesn't seem like there is any chance of it being discovered. It's just another dark corner of the big city which eats up all the good in people! Apart from that there is a lot of relationship stuff between the two sisters, which is all right. There is a thread of despair running through the whole thing, with the idea that this hell dimension is a kind of attractive idea to people who are depressed at the stupidity and emptiness that is life sometimes getting talked about a little. I appreciated that.

The younger sister character, Callie, is played by the best actress in the thing and is a kind of interesting character who has a few interesting contradictions and I was interested to learn more about her as it went on. The other sister is not too bad either. The Police Cops kind of made me roll my eyes a few times but I was being forgiving since it seemed like the movie really was trying to do something.

So this is basically just a no budget, all unknown actors movie set in LA made by a bunch of people who live in LA not all of whom are talented, but it seems like there was some desire to make something worthwhile here and it kept me interested throughout it. It's always kind of on a tightrope between amateur and professional and the apparent effort and thought put in here helps it edge on the better side in the end. If you like this kind of scary film which is more focused on the sadness of something than the horror then this might be a good thing to stick on if you aren't doing much some day.

I've been going to the cinema quite a lot lately. Today I went to see Prometheus. It's not normally something I would choose to see, but there wasn't much else on and Ridley Scott who directed Blade Runner and Alien apparently had made another good movie. So I went to see it, and I saw it in 3D since I have never seen a movie in 3D before. The 3D aspect was kind of cool, maybe it did make me more immersed in the physical aspects of the film. I think I was more engaged with the film than I would have otherwise been due to the alien visuals being rendered like that. This isn't exactly a compliment, because what I mean to say is that it provided an interesting distraction from the extremely weak and shallow script and the hackneyed scenario. So it was a fun gimmick for today but I don't think I need to see another film in 3D. The movie itself is a kind of amalgam of a bunch of things you have seen before in better films, like Alien and The Thing. So if you like those movies this might interest you but will be disappointing. The dialogue and characters are so rote and embarrassing that when there is a lull in the action and the characters are allowed to speak for more than 20 seconds at a time it made me cringe kind of like when a shit uncle comes to dinner and starts telling awful jokes and everyone is just kind of putting up with it. The script wasn't obviously offensive to me or anything, it was just very bad. As a whole the movie was pretty unimaginative and even though I really like space, scary things and aliens I wasn't excited at any point during this.

you know I kind of had a feeling this would be the case.  I like Alien a lot but after rewatching Blade Runner recently (for the first time in probably six years or so) I found it pretty underwhelming, and I find Ridley Scott in general just kind of blah whatever who cares.  I was really excited for this movie for a while and still kind of am, but earlier today I joked to my friend that he and our other friends should place bets on whether or not I'd come out of the theater and call the movie "underwhelming," and now I think this is a thing that they should do because it seems like someone stands to make some extra cash from it.

then again I'm not really sure if I ever expected anything more than a kind of mindlessly entertaining/pretty movie so we'll see.  still think it looks really cool though

THe Black Cauldron. An old 2d disney film. Poor Eilonwy she doesn't get attention like other disney princesses, she was a good character imo. I really loved the books though i haven't finished the series, and the one that got me to it is The Book of Three (a game based on the 1st book) by Lysander86(creator of  A Blurred Line). So yea it was fun, not really like the book but I think it's pretty good in it's own right.

also chiming in to say that prometheus was pretty fucking bad.  dumb shit happening for no reason with flat characters.

yup just got back from it.  seriously awful and I'm bitter about it because I have to wake up early tomorrow

Thankfully I hated that shit before it was out in the theates, fucking youtube trailer ad

Sunshine Started pretty good but became shit when they intorduced Pinbacker and the god insanity shmuck, this is like apocalypse now in space and only more shittier.

reading through the thread looking for movies to watch, so far got videodrome and stalker, and these posts:

I really liked that deconstruction of Iron Man 2, the first was ok but the second kind of totally repulsed me but it probably is like the best and only accurate distillation of what 2011 is and is totally nightmarish and surreal when you think about it (chops up footage/makes it even BLUEer and YELLOWer than it already was and sets to Venetian Snares - Die Die Die Winnipeg Fuckers Die) I have to like any movie which is sort of secretly about fuck Iphones fuck Apple and I dunno even in Oboma years no movies/etc. seem blatantly anti-corporate/grotesque about it whereas the 90's was full of shit like that/picking on Bill Gates and he like saves babies from burning buildings now. Well I dunno maybe not that good but like what does Steve Jobs do for humanity other than like print money Robert Downey Jr. is actually the greatest troll ever

and

That east by something or something east

Its got that guy with the jerry curls and he's an ex baseball player washed up asshole in south carolina (I think it was south).  who decides to teach gym at a middle school. I love that show its friggen hilarious. Especially the part where he takes ecstacy and goes to shaperon the school dance and then puts a brick through one of will ferrell's character's BMW dealership windows. I'm not a huge will ferrell fan (I like his SNL and old school stuff) but his character in this show is pretty good. Evangel mentioned my captain looking like him in the picture thread but I think he looks more like that old hippy guy with the beard from "The Men who stare at goats" theres another popular movie that guy was in but the title escapes me right now.

are you sure this wasn't a dream you had

also watched the shining, and Inland Empire. I ended up watching the Lynch movie bc like the shining, it features Penderecki's Polymorphia, which I think is significant in both films but particularly the shining

the shining is good. no one liked this movie for a long time, but somehow it has become a classic and kinda the bar for this type of horror movie - I think, idk I don't know anything about the genre. I think there is a lot that could be annoying about this movie if you pay too much attention to the quotable scenes, or expect it to be more dense than it is. otherwise, it does some interesting things and has themes that are still very relevant. it says something about the aesthetics and subjects that continue to intrigue our society, and why those things fascinate us. or so I think, I'm not really willing to look up what anyone else has thought on the matter, partially out of anxiety that it will be some awkward and terrible comparison to psycho or the hills have eyes or something. I'm watching stalker next so maybe I'll be able to say something more intelligent after that

Inland Empire definitely seems like the last film Lynch intended to make. it just kinda muses over his older work, Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive in particular. it does some good stuff on its own too, really any scene with the prostitutes. I don't really feel I'm better off having watched it though. it might be my least favorite of his creations that I've seen. whoa it's the end of the post already and I've said nothing

the show I was talking about was east bound and down btw

you might not like it because its pretty much everything you hate about ignorant ass people put into one incredibly hilarious character. Thats if you find that kind of shit funny. I imagine it would leave alot of people on here grinding their teeth.


you should checkout the three burials of melquiades estrada if you haven't seen it yet. Its really really good. I posted about that movie and it got completely ignored. Thats a great movie. The dude who wrote the screenplay also did 21 grams and babel. I haven't seen 21 grams yet but it looks good but imo babel wasn't all that memoriable.

I knew what you were talking about, I've watched ebnd up to the third season premier. the show jumped the shark almost immediately. as a baseball fan I like the reference to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_rocker and initially found it funny, but the show devolved from being about a guy you're supposed to laugh at while still recognizing his human side, to a show about a badass dude who says and does awful things and that's just inherently funny, and it's all fine because he's actually a sweet guy. that's gross

the first episode was the best one, would have been a decent stand-alone. I found the 3rd season premier to be unbearable and I'm done with the show

I haven't seen that movie tho, I'll look into it

yeah I haven't seen the third season and I pretty much liked the first one the most and the second a little less for the exact same reasons.

awesome quote of ragnar quote