Review by FinFan
"Nice stopwatch." "You want one, they're italian."
I am a car nut. I follow motorsports since the early 1980s up to today and I love the history of it. So this one was highly anticipated. And I was not dissapointed.
The movie is great. I'm sure they added or altered some things like they allways do but the basic story is right. This was one of the greatest moments in motorsports. The dawn of a new era. The racing footage is great and I was surprised to find out that it was all done practical because I expected a lot of it to be CG. However I don't think it depicts the excitement of racing like Le Mans or even Grand Prix did. I was much more immersed in those. Matt Damon was allright but I was awestruck by Christian Bale's performance. Bernthal seemed like an odd choice to play Iacocca because it is so far away from The Punisher, which is imprinted on my mind, but it works.
What can I say ? You like motorsports watch it. But this is also about friends & friendship. About facing impossible odds to accomplish your goals. And it tells the story not too clichéd. After all, this is how it went down. If there are clichès then they were probably born here.
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@dulneth-p If you've already watched it the warning was too late anyway. Ferrari just focused on the wrong things. The man was an interesting character but they choose to show the really boring parts.
Review by FinFan
"Nice stopwatch." "You want one, they're italian."
I am a car nut. I follow motorsports since the early 1980s up to today and I love the history of it. So this one was highly anticipated. And I was not dissapointed.
The movie is great. I'm sure they added or altered some things like they allways do but the basic story is right. This was one of the greatest moments in motorsports. The dawn of a new era. The racing footage is great and I was surprised to find out that it was all done practical because I expected a lot of it to be CG. However I don't think it depicts the excitement of racing like Le Mans or even Grand Prix did. I was much more immersed in those. Matt Damon was allright but I was awestruck by Christian Bale's performance. Bernthal seemed like an odd choice to play Iacocca because it is so far away from The Punisher, which is imprinted on my mind, but it works.
What can I say ? You like motorsports watch it. But this is also about friends & friendship. About facing impossible odds to accomplish your goals. And it tells the story not too clichéd. After all, this is how it went down. If there are clichès then they were probably born here.
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@dulneth-p Thanks for the reply.
Well, there are the aforementioned "Le Mans" and "Grand Prix" which were made in the 60/70s. The racing footage in those is great and was actually filmed during a real race. But they do lack on the story side an can be considered a bit boring by some. "Rush" which depicts the 1976 F1 Season and the rivalry between Lauda and Hunt is worth a look for sure. There is the 1990 "Days of Thunder" with Tom Cruise which is basicall Top Gun but with cars.
There are biopics about Lamborghini (Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend) and the relatively new "Ferrari". But those are more about the men and less about the cars.
I personally wouldn't recommend "Driven" or the recent "Gran Turismo". I thought those were really bad. Then again it's just my opinion. But don't say I didn't warn you. :grin:
I think I've written comments to most of these movies so if you like let me know your thoughts there.
I'm surprised to find that I don't believe this movie holds up to modern audiences. It has some good cinematography and is good for its time, but not that watchable today. Only Kubrick fans who want to be educated on his early work should watch this. Kubricks previous movie, Paths of Glory, is a much easier recommendation and a much more reasonable length as well.
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@jidar I find it intersting that you point out Kubrick fans should watch this while he himself disowned the movie and did not include it as part of his canon
Starts out interesting with Bond going on a personal vendetta but it hits a wall the moment he meets the woman pilot. It becomes increasingly boring after that with bland and boring characters througout and that includes the women. The character of Sanchez seems to be written with Davi in mind but he is unfortunately as dull as the rest. The finale is explosive (literally) but it can't save the movie as a whole. Pretty generic and you could easily replace Bond with a Joe Smith. Giving "Q" a bit more to do than usual and a very young Benicio del Toro are some saving grace but that's ultimately not why I watch the movie.
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@noodlebrain So, this is your favorite Bond movie ? I actually think this movie is boring. Well made but boring. Can't help it. And the title is wrong. Fun fact: Director John Glen said in an interview he wanted to name the movie "Licence Revoked" (more fitting I think) but the studio was against it. Reason ? They actually said to him no one in America would understand "revoked". Go figure. :laughing:
Unfortunately I don't like the song either. My favs are "Skyfall" and "For Your Eyes Only".
Appreciate your reply.
Shout by SinanOnline
VIPEP7Really liked this because it feels very realistic for multiple reasons, but I have a problem with one single thing: Why the hell don’t they send another person to verify it? The machine didn’t break or anything. Other than that phenomenal. Will definitely read the book.
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@sinanonline I read the book a long time ago. It's much more detailed but it's also different in some places. But I liked it even better then the movie.
So it follows the traditional Bond theme.
Bond girls are the normal "hotness". Although this is the first time I remember actually catching brief nudity in a Bond movie (at the beginning when he takes the bikini top off of the first woman).
Cheesy effects but it is the 70s.
Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd are quite funny in an odd kind of way and it's hard to tell if they are really just odd or if there really is a homosexual aspect of them. Violent and murderous regardless.
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@cary99 >Although this is the first time I remember actually catching brief nudity in a Bond movie (at the beginning when he takes the bikini top off of the first woman).
If you do a picture by picture at the scene in Dr. No where they got decontaminated in the shower you can see that Ursula Andress was totally naked in that scene. Just before the guy gave her the bathrope there are one or two frames where you can spot that. Not that anyone would have notice back than but I was surprised it made it to Disk. I have the Special Edition DVD btw.
Shout by VWFringe the Pervy Sage from TVMuse
F*ckin' love that movie poster...even more after seeing it!
One thread of, "Inglorious Bastards," fleshed out to fill a film, but that thread carrying a singular meaning (a Finnish word with no direct translation?). Wow, hahaha!
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@vwfringe Thanks again for bringing this to my attention. Enjoyed every minute of it.
This is neither good or bad - it's just boring. I don't even know how to rate it. It may be interesting if you've seen the movie, which finally got made in 2018. Otherwise you can skip this.
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@the_argentinian On the contrary, I do like behind the scene stuff a lot. There isn't a movie Thatcher hasn't an problems. But I found the way it was presented boring. Sorry, but that's how it felt.
Yes, the car chase is what sets this movie apart from similar ones. Althought I remembered it to be longer. But the rest of the movie isn't bad either. It's a thriller in the truest sense of the word with convincing portrayals from, both, McQueen and Vaughn alike.
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@andreas1138 Oh, he's amazing. Did a lot of Clint Eastwood movies and Starsky & Hutch theme if i remember right.
I enjoy those movies much more today because they focus on story and acting and not on CGI and SFX.
Yes, the conspiracy at the base of this movie feels rather small considering what is happening in the world now. But keep in mind when this was written.
Althought I must admit I was thinking about a certain President a lot while watching this now.loading replies
@brok21k Of course I did. It's been over four years since I wrote that comment but I'm pretty sure I was thinking about a more recent president.
Zero content, this is an one hour ad.
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@mailkaze I was thinking what to write about this but you already did. It really sums it up.
@finfan: a bit dishonest of you to quote out of context mmm ? The full quote on IMDb is:
Pratchett has said: "May I also add that the film 'The Return of Captain Invincible', which is a series of bad moments pasted together with great songs and a budget of fourpence, is also a regularly-viewed video in the Pratchett household."
Which is actually just the opposite of what you're putting into Pratchett's mouth.
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@rxb1 To be honest I can't remember why I choose to put just the partial quote in. Doesn't change the fact that I think this is a terrible movie. That's my personal view.
Review by FinFan
If you made a movie that is making $ 544k domestic and a little over $ 1m worldwide it tells you something. There wasn´t much interest in the first place (no, honestly how many movie goers are that? 100-110k maybe?) Anyway, if you haven´t seen it I don´t think you´d missed out.
Yes, the story is - or rather could have been - interesting. I think it is to superfical. You have the innocent little girl that one day sees the monk burning himself and suddenly she went haywire and becomes anti-everything. From there on the story jumps through the years with little explanations or deeper investigation. It´s the father not wanting to give up on his daughter and the mother trying to move on. You could have easily jumped from Merry´s disapearance to the day her father found her because all what happened in between isn´t really meaningful. I don´t blame McGregors directing, I think he did a good job and since he didn´t wrote the script you can´t lay blame on him for that. I haven´t read the book, maybe it isn´t even a bad adaptation. Maybe the origin is as sketchy.
All the actors did a very good job and it is what keeps this movie above water so that you get through it. But that is just it, you get through it and after the end you just forget. If this was supposed to be a critical lock into that time in history it failed.loading replies
@ramindustan In general I agree and If you like the movie I´m happy for you. But I didn´t for the above stated reasons. In that context I thought it was interesting to add the fact about the box office numbers as I found them quite shocking tbh.
Reboot this as much as you want Maguire was the best Spider-Man.
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@morphinapg Like I mentioned in my reply to captainandrew, it all comes down to personal taste. I understand your argument and I liked the version with Garfield a hell lot more than the current one, that's for sure.
Thanks for the reply.
Reboot this as much as you want Maguire was the best Spider-Man.
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@captainandrew It's all a matter of personal taste.
Technically the first live action Spiderman was Nicholas Hammond way back in 1977 but this was straight to TV if I remember correct. There also was a Japanes Spiderman Version in 1978 but that's a whole other thing.
Sam Raimi did this series with Maguire and Marc Webb did two movies with Andrew Garfield. That counts as a re-boot for me. Than came the current version with Tom Holland (next re-boot) which I don't like for the fact that Spidey has become a bit too much Iron-Man like with a talking suit and the ability to fly and do stuff. That simply isn't Spiderman for me.
But, like I said. Personal view. I respect your opinion that you Like Holland better. Thanks for the reply.
Movie is OK. The story is lacking a, bit though. I thought it odd that she went over to France to find her love and after finding out what happened to him she soon falls in love with another one. That´s to convenient story writing.
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@lezelmaz It's been some time since I watched this but you might be right. As for the second part - well let's just say I'd prefer Cate :wink::relaxed:
Thanks for the reply.
I thought it was fantastic, but I'm really curious to know what people who aren't already familiar with the story think, I know who all these characters are and what their relationships are. I know what a mentat is (unlike my spell check apparently). I wonder if it is as awe-inspiring to someone coming into the universe for the first time.
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@gamerdave69 I only know the 1984 movie. I tried to read the book back then but if I'm honest I couldn't crasp the complexity. Don't know why I never picked it up again.
I completely enjoyed the movie and didn't felt as lost because they are taking more time to let the story come to the surface. It didn't felt too long to me. On the contrary I was engaged from start to finish. Which, for me, is very rare nowadays as most moivies are very generic and have me bored fast. If they can keep up the quality I wouldn't mind if it takes another three movies to complete it.
Is there going to be a 2nd movie? Feels unfinished compared with the 1984 film. All-star cast of actors. I completely enjoyed the movie.
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@cocodavos From what I've read Villenueve and Warner both want to continue but it all depends on how much money the movie ultimately makes. It's a business after all.
You want my honest opinion ?
- A boring, uninteresting story taken right out of a Bond movie. Shoehorned in between events we've already seen.
- Humor that isn't the least bit funny.
- About 45 minutes too long. All the family reunion stuff did absolutely nothing for me.
- Generic action scenes with at times below average looking CGI
- Zero emotional investement
- Hilarious Russian accentsConclusion: dissapointing
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@stryjewski yeah, that pretty much sums it up.
On a scale of 1 to ridiculous, I'd rate this f**kin bonkers! Even our teenager was calling out some of the stunts as nonsense.
It's as if the Producers said, "We want a cross between Fast and Furious, Highlander, and the Matrix." Sadly, Mark doesn't disappear into the character like Keanu or Christopher did and all I can see is "Marky Mark" performing the same role he always does. He becomes a distraction to the overall story and that's too bad because this had the potential to be what everyone wants these days, a "Franchise".
Oh well, I guess everything really is a remix.
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@itswilder a cross between Fast and Furious, Highlander, and the Matrix
Those were the exact movies I had in mind while watching this. Doesn't mix that well.
Shout by FinFan
The problem I usually have with the Marvel movies is that while they where something special when they started they´ve become a common thing in cinema today. So I´m not as thrilled today with every new one coming out, I watch them, they were quite average to me lately. I found this to be quite entertaining though. Story was good, I like that we see more of where the x-men came from and how they got together. Visually it is good too. As I said, it´s a good and entertaining movie.
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@andreas1138 I think I even changed my rating from 8 to 9. As far as superhero movies go this is one of the better ones in my eyes. Interestingly I get more out of the x-men series on second watch than I did with The Avengers. The later ones in that series were really bad. I do like the new shows, though.
Anyway, as I said I like this earlier time of the x-men as it gives really good background. Especially the relationships of the characters is explained. The cast is great, too. Good chemistry.
But like every movie it's all personal. Some think it's great while others hate it.
Shout by FinFan
Much better than the first one. I can't point on single thing out that I like better. It's just that the whole movie felt like something carved from a solid billet instead of put together from several pieces. I am sure the experience from the first helped as much as the fact we didn't have to introduce every character. The additional runtime helps adding depth and detail and the climax really felt dramatic.
It's a lot of things all over that makes this a step up from X1.loading replies
@andreas1138 Good to hear from you.
Yes, I totally agree. I, too am watching all the movies again and must say they do stand a better test of time as the story still has meaning today. I even rated a couple of them up. In general I like the newer ones more now as I think the relationships between the characters are worked out better and they have more depth.
This was one of my most anticipated movies this year. It was all I had hoped for. This is, as mentioned by others, not your typical superhero blockbuster action movie. It is not an x-men movie as such. Its title is simply "Logan". You have a story here and then you get this bursts of short intense action sequences.
It´s a great swan song for the characters of Logan and Charles.loading replies
@andreas1138 It's been a while since I saw it and therefore I don't remember many details. Maybe there isn't a big difference between real and artifical. But like you said, it's a movie and you have to take certain things at face value.
The idea with that ending sounds great but would have been ultimately dependend on Jackman wanting to continue the character and I am sure that is something he didn't wanted to do.
I knew Merchant from a lot of stuff he did with Ricky Gervais and it is really quite different what he did here. But like you said, he did great and was absolutely convincing.
I wasn't expecting a lot from this movie, maybe some mid-level doomsday story. So my dissapointment is rather low.
This movie tries to combine a family-drama with said doomsday scenario and it actually works at first. The build up is good, you go through the different stages, like the selection and leaving your friends behind, and you wonder how you would react in this situation. Because something like this is quite possible. I found this very engaging and the athmosphere was really dire.
But right around the middle they seem to be running out of ideas. Things like the kidnapping of the child or the fight that broke out on the truck you could smell coming right away. It could have served for some good character developement but it was basically just filling run time. Especially the accidental killing by John was but an afterthought. The movie just rolls along for quite some time with both of them trying to re-connect and it's ticking boxes along the way. There are no suprises. Towards the end it becomes better again, which suggest a lot of the middle could have left out. But we need to clear the reason for them breaking up so we get that in a short conversation. Didn't do anything for me.
At the end, in the bunker, you get the feeling again that this was all for nothing and that they will die. I would have applauded had they had the guts to do it. But, since this is a movie, there has to be a happy end, and they don't. Here is where it becomes a fairy tale or fantasy, where Hollywood takes over.
Mere hours after a nine mile asteroid smashes into Western Europe, they all come out of the bunker and the sun keeps shining. Those things are called Planet Killers for a reason as there would have been darkness for decades. Ask the dinosaurs. Oh, right.
Yeah, I know, that's what movie's do but it adds up.Everyone is always so eager to help our protagonists while at the same time hundreds if not thousands are left to their own devices. And, boy, Dodge really build tough trucks.
Anyway, alltogether just decent with a big hang-over in the middle. The CGI is pretty good though. Not something I would recommend but also not something I label as "stay away".
Good potential, bad execution. Fife points for the movie plus an extra for the looks.
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@lordnprior OK, I don't recall hearing that but even nine months seems too short. But, it's Hollywood and not NatGeo. And in the end it was but one flaw amongst many.
One Hundred Million Dollar.
That's a lot of money to make a movie that does about nothing. Technically this is really good. It looks great but it's an empty vessel.
There are no surprises in this movie. None ! If you don't see the twists at the end coming from a mile away you're not paying attention (which I could forgive) or have never seen anything similar.
There isn't even hope in the story. Everyone on Earth is dead. Augustine will die, the two astronauts going back to earth will die. And in a best case scenario the couple on the ship will get back to K23, or what the designation was. And after living for who knows how long, they will die, too. Leaving their daughter and possible siblings behind to ....., die. Right ! There will be no new Earth as you can not rebuild a civilization with two people. That's about it. Mankind's dead. And in case I didn't miss it, they didn't really showed why.There was no emotional investment on my part, I stopped the movie five times and when it was running I was looking for stuff on ebay. The story never got to take me with it. And the movie fades into nothingness.
What's the point ?
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@fawlty70 It's not that I did other things from the start of the movie. But I completely lost interest around the midway point and couldn't connect with the characters hence I started doing other things. Could have also just turned it off. But I get your point.
If the box office numbers on imdb are to believed this movie made a meager 222k worldwide. Even without knowing the budget that can only be described as a colossal failure. And I can understand why.
If you have a cast like this my expectations are at a certain level which this movie never reached. A story like this only works if you have emotional attachment to the characters. Is it the writing or the acting ? My level of emotions here was the same as watching a NG documentary. Yes, the end was somewhat powerful but, again, no emotinal connection equals no impact.
In the end the movie left me empty with nothing to take out of it. I understand the intension and the message, I just didn't care enough.loading replies
@philippe-taka sadly he's been dead for 14 years.
I didn´t know this was based on a book when I choose to watch this but the story had youth-novel printed all over it with two young protagonists. Unfortunately this is only the first part of a story that produced 4 novels in total. The movie wasn´t a success though generating below 20m$ while costing 55m$ which in Hollywood closes the door for sequels.
Which is a shame I guess because of all the youth novel movie adaptations I saw this is one of the best with a story that not only relates to children. They didn´t overstress it in making it a 2.5 hour movie and the production in general is really good.
But it works as a standalone movie with an open ending that leaves you with either your imagination or you take the route of reading the books.loading replies
@ajperez81 It's been four years since I watched it so I don't remember details. But as mentioned it works in itself. I didn't knew then this was a whole series of books. Found this out afterwards, so I do understand your view. I had assumed they wanted to produce the whole series but since this weasn't a success it never happened. Never read the books so don't know where this story goes further.
Just watched it because of Soarsie
The main problem with the movie is that if you´ve seen the first two you know what will happen so there isn´t much suspense. On the other hand I wouldn´t recommend watching it at first because than it takes away something from the earlier movies. In itself it is not a bad movie. So there is your dilemma.
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@bluartisteyes I watched them all in succession which probably made some things stand out more to me. But I get what you're saying. Usually I need to watch previous movies in any series again, because I mostly forget what happened. Guess I watch too much.
This is scary? The effects,the vomit, etc are laughable, that image of the demon that shows in some times is not scary at all. If this is scary then I don't know what hereditary is.
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@samekas I agree from todays point of view it doesn't look that scary but did you take into account that this movie is from 1973 ?
Review by FinFan
This movie is great on many levels. First it works as a really good sci-fi/action movie. But there is also a message, intentional or not, and it raises questions. But it's not being put on the foreground. Yet you clearly see the references. And it still works today.
The mix of documentary and cinematic style adds a certain level of realism, as much as this is possible with an alien story, but you are much more drawn into it because of that. The story itself is interesting. You don't have aliens coming to conquer or destroy mankind. They are pretty much a sorry bunch with little hope of existence. I like that angle.
Putting this not into the hollywood realm and not placing it in America also just adds to the positive attributes this whole movie has.
I am on the fence if I would want a sequel to be honest. If that would mean it gets the hollywood treatment I'd refuse. I mean - look at the Terminator franchise for a reference.
In any case, after re-watching this movie I raise my rating from "8" to "9" because I really think it is that good. Unfortunately, from where I stand, Blomkamp hasn't even come close to repeating with any of his other movies following District 9.loading replies
@andreas1138 I understand what you mean. I watch many movies at least a second time after a couple of years. That way I can see if my initial reaction was a fluke of the moment or if the movie really has something going. Or the other way around.
Right now there still are no plans for a sequel. Blomkamp doesn't really have an idea since it was never intended to be a feature movie to begin with. As I said I'm between a rock and a hard place so to say. I am not so much after a happy ending but a continuation in general. But like you said the movie is perfect as it stands and one can fill in the rest with imagination.
