Film Club

[Dream Loxley]

A new and special place for our film reviews......... the first being that delightful fim Finding Neverland

If others have not seen it yet.....then please do not read our thoughts on it lest it would spoil your enjoyment.

I thought Depp played the part well, I have not always been a fan of his...except Edward Scissorhands.....that was a great performance.

I had not realised Finding Neverland was about the Author...and was suprised to find out it was very true to his life. What an amazing man he was...such a vivid imagination, and yet somewhat tormented I fear. So many people with talent have an underlying battle they fight....in my humble opinion.

The boys and their Mother were very believable characters.....also played well.......and as I stated before.... the setting was superb, a real insight to those days, and many Theatres I have visited in London are exactly like that.. no different.

Anyway... a great choice for our first review..... very happy and glad I watched it.

I wait with interest for others views and more suggestions.

[Rayven]

I watched it a few weeks ago and truly enjoyed it. I have been a fan of Johnny Depp for years, ever since I saw him in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape".

I thought his performance and that of Kate Winslow, of which I'm also a fan, were flawless and the movie utterly charming.

If you're looking for a scary movie to watch you might want to check out Johnny Depp's Secret Window. Stephen King wrote this short novella. Its not scary in the conventional sense of 'things jumping out at you' on the screen, but it will definately make you check your doors and keep a light on.

[Alita Querida Rosario]

I am so glad that those who watched the movie have enjoyed it. I know I said it when I first selected the movie but I shall say again why I picked this movie on this discussion thread.

I thought it was a lovely period piece done with sensitivity and style. That it was based on a true story added to its charm and realism. Whilst I am sure literary license was used in many places, the basics of the story were based on fact. I have always been partial to biographies and autobiographies so I really liked that.

I thought that the children acted superbly (especially the reserved and serious Peter).

I also thought the movie visited a number of emotional and social demons very well and whilst the world has moved on some things remain the same 100 years later (A strange parallel and I am taking no sides here as I do not know enough about either case : is that the author of Peter Pan had a lot of rumors flying around London why he spent so much time with the children that inspired him to write the play and the modern day Peter Pan - Michael Jackson- is on trial for spending too much time with children).

Ultimately I love the way the movie made me revisit much of my childhood innocence and the belief that laughter, imagination and dreams would save the world. I do not think that is so far off the truth in essence. Laughter is a cure all. Imagination helps you unlock many mysteries as inventors need to imagination to invent. And finally dreams, because if you dare to dream you can make your dreams a reality and find true happiness.

I left this movie feeling good and I was entertained from start to finish. For the few guys out there who did not watch it because they thought it was a chick flick. I think you may be surprised how much you will enjoy this movie if you give it a chance.

[Dream Loxley]

It was a lovely film Alita.... and a great choice for us to watch............ What's the next one we are going to all watch?

[Halethala]

I adored Finding Neverland, but I wasn't surprised since I'm also a huge Depp fan. I found Chocolat truly enchanting, and would also like to see The Secret Window.

If you're looking for suggestions, did anyone else see Kingdom of Heaven?

[Lady Edfeil]

I loved "Finding Neverland". A beautifully done movie, with many nuances, and great artistic directing. It reminded me slightly of the equally great 'Big Fish', by Tim Robbins, another director that Johny Depp has worked with in the past.
I will admit to being a Johny Depp fan for years, even when he was still in that cheesy teen series called 21 Jump Street.

There are several things I liked about Finding Neverland: the way they focussed on Barry. I've seen a documentary on him a few years back and it's remarkable how much of his known character they've been able to put in. I loved the way they put in small details that anyone who has read Peter Pan would recognise. Some they later used in the movie again (like the kite with the bells on for Tinkerbell) but there are also other passages, for example when the nannies pass with their prams. I also liked the fact that the movie was very nuanced in portraying the marriage of the Barries. She wasn't a witch, making him look good. And he wasn't a great husband, but not a horrible one either....
The acting was superb, especially from the children. IT's rare to see such great childrens actors. At times, the movie was a bit predictable, but not in a way that disturbed me a lot. I did like it very much!

[Dream Loxley]

Gives this a bump

Perhaps as many of you seem to have watched the Kingdom of Heaven... we could have opinions on that one........I will catch it when it comes out to rent, but am happy to read of your thoughts beforehand.

[Lady Edfeil]

Sounds good to me. Anyone else want us to wait before we give our opinions?

[Alita Querida Rosario]

I am going to post on the cinema thread as well but let me answer Dream’s question here on Kingdom of Heaven.

Personally I enjoyed this movie. It was no Gladiator, but it was a beautifully put together movie all the same. Orlando Bloom looked gorgeous in it and there where some very good fight scenes. Also the time period is not that far forward to where Windstorm is set and so you got to see dress and amour and try and visualize what it was like to live in that time. I did find the movie predictable in places but would recommend it to anyone to watch who plays in Medieval. I will watch it again when it comes out on DVD.

What is the next movie we review together? *S*

[Dream Loxley]

Sounds like one I would enjoy Alita..... will catch it on DVD. I think its always great to actually 'see' what life and places would have been like for us Windstormians.

Not too sure of the next film?

[Lady Edfeil]

My review of kingdom of heaven..

I saw it and thought it was absolutely boring. For a more balanced review, let me start with the good points before I lose myself in what annoyed me.


Good
- as mentioned before: neither side is demonised, there are good Christians and there are good Muslims, there are good knights and bad knights, there are good muslim warriors and bad muslim warriors. I'm glad they didn't opt for the all Christians are bad, or all Muslims are bad
- Beautiful cinematography
- good decor and none too overt use of special effect of cgi techniques. They're used, yes of course, you can't do anything else with an epic of these proportions but they're not shoved in your face.
- Decent use of the extras. I know this is often overlooked, but there are too many movies where, if you dare take your eyes off the main character, you can catch an extra in whose eyes you can see the question how many takes this is still going to need before they get supper.

Mediocre:
- Acting. it's not bad... I've seen worse, especially from Orlando Bloom. Though I would still not define him as a good actor, he has improved. Jeremy Irons is good as always, but basically... even he can't do much with the text he is given (see dialogue later)
- Details to costume, props and scenery, etc. Not exactly historic in every matter, there are flaws, but close enough and very pleasant to the eye.
- score: very mediocre: not moving, not memorable, the only thing that saves it from being categorised as bad is that I can barely remember it.


Bad:
- Storytelling techniques.
Horrible use of time! You just rush from one scene to the next in the beginning, then spend the last hour watching people turn eachother into hamburgermeat. Really... we got the point by the 500 body... people died in droves on both sides... we got it... really. I could understand this use of time if they wanted to show the horrible waste of lives in battle, but here the extras are just the medieval equivalent of cannonfodder, or in this case: peliculefodder. (though not sure if this one is still shot on pelicule, but I digress). Though our 'brave hero Balian' of course cares for the people everything is done in such a plastic way it becomes abstract. There are no... feelings... between people that don't seem painted with the largest possible superficial brush.

- Historical mindset.
To the defense of this movie I have to say that there are VERY few historical movies that ever get this right. But the relationships between men and women, the freedom of speech attitude the 'let all men rise as knights and all people are equal' in our hero is just a bit too much of a modern thought introduced in a medieval mind.

-Dialogues and characterisation
Bland and predictable: no wit, no surprise, nothing but platitudes and political correct speeches from the heroes on both sides, with a whiff of traditional hollywood "I'm the good guy with the white hat' inserted, and nothing but "Let's kill everyone in our way, I want a war, and all the other are dogs' from the bad guys." I don't have anything against political correct, but in this case it makes a boring movie. A bit more nuance in the painting of both bad and good guys wouldn't have hurt anyone. It's a movie, not a cartoon.

-Violence:
Too much and too graphic. If a director wants to drive his point home about the nature of violence, the trick is not to add an extra ordinary amount of splashing blood and cut off heads... In between news fragments, videogames and other movies, it's a 'been there, seen that' experience for most viewers. Yes... okay... you've cut his throat... oh... and his too... gosh... there's really a lot of blood splattering up there, must have gotten an artery. After the first fight in the woods, basically, the rest of the movies fights -wich is more than half of the movies screentime- is repeating of more of the same swing, splash and dash... When I was a child my mother used to simply shrug and say 'too much ketchup to my liking'.



Conclusion:
Shrugging is just about all I can do about this movie. It's boring, unless you like twenty minutes scenes of balistae firing at walls, people hacking into eachother, and siegetowers being pushed closer and destroyed. I've seen four siege movies the last two years... too much of the same shots, too much of the same images. The plotline is rushed, emotions are barely touched on any level deeper than a harlequin romance novel, and the dialogues are poor. "Alle Menschen wirden Brüder" might be a beautiful theme, but in this case it gives us a boring movie with too many platitudes both visual and verbal.

[Dream Loxley]

Gollygosh!

[Galor Martek]

Balistae and gratuitous hacking......hmm.....sounds like a good movie for a bunch of sailors......provided we fast forward through all that character developement stuff!

[Lady Beren]

SAHARA

Time for another review perhaps *S*
Today I went to see 'Sahara' and found it most entertaining. I have read quite a lot of the Clive Cussler books ,depicting Dirk Pitt ,and was really curious how they would film it.
It turned out to be a very pleasant passtime. Of course Dirk and Eva (Penelope Cruz, playing a WHO-doctor) and Al Giordino get into the most impossible situations...and get out of them again, causing a few explosions here and there . Not too many, however . Dirk Pitt and his boss , Admiral Sandecker ,are very well personalised...I was less enchanted with Al, and Rudi (the brilliant technician), probably becasue I have a different image of them in my head.

So for the ones amongst you who like a nice adventure-movie, Sahara is certainly worth watching.