Schoolio's Movie Corner

[ThatGirl]

Zack Snyder will never direct anything noteworthy aside from the first 10 minutes of Dawn of the Dead. Sucker Punch, which was his greatest period of freedom, was a fucking abomination.

I agree that the introductory scenes in Dawn of the Dead are legendary. So well executed. Great soundtrack and sequences.

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

Just got back from The Hobbit in IMAX 3D. It was amazing! I know there has been a lot of griping about this movie, but honestly I thought it stood up to the LOTR trilogy quite well. Yes, some of the action was a bit over the top, and there was more humor, but you need to keep the source material in mind. Martin Freeman is great as Bilbo, and all the returning cast puts out solid performances. Can't wait to see this trilogy play out.

It was highly entertaining., though it feels super long. But the second half is quite a treat, especially the goblin city. 48fps was somewhat jarring though. I'd be curious to see it again at the normal framerate to compare.

[TomServo]

The Hobbit was mostly terrible from a storytelling perspective, but it was cool to look at the HFR 3D. For me, it felt like everything was moving in fast forward and I never completely got used to it, but god it looked great, super-sharp.

Regarding the storytelling - damn, I'll never complain about how retarded something like "Wanted" or "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" (or apparently anything with Angelina Jolie) is again after seeing all the ridiculous close calls these dwarves went through. Not to spoil anything - the end of "Fellowship" had a lot of REAL DRAMA going on, characters lost, dead, captured, etc... and every battle felt like it could end in the death of a primary character. In "Hobbit", there's no real drama... ever. It's just crazy CGI nonsense for three hours on par with those other absurd modern films. I think the fact that Fellowship was based on the book (and the natural stopping point of the original book) while Hobbit is cut into artificial parts may have contributed to the lack of anything significant happening, but at the end I felt like I'd watched a cartoon/videogame... while Fellowship left me drained (with Gandalf and Sean Bean's, etc).

It was otherwise extremely similar to the original films. I would have lost the riddle battle with Golem or Bilbo. I suck at that, apparently.

[KungFuJoe]

Any Ernesto Diaz Espinoza fans on this board? I enjoy his movies quite a bit. Here's his latest.

http://api.indieclicktv.com/page/add...5d3/index.html

[wmgaretjax]

there were some supremely mediocre chunks of the hobbit, but none of that really bugged me. it was entertaining. my complaints about the weakness of the original source material apply here.

definitely on board with more HFS releases. it was the first time I've had 3D work properly for the full length of a film without concentrating or straining on forcing the image to resolve. like always, 3D excelled where it was used to subtle effect as opposed to overly dramatic focal range or objects flying at the audience.

HFS had a wealth of appeal for me outside of the 3D as well. that said, I hope it is obvious to Jackson et al. now that you can't simply shoot a 48FPS film like every other film you've shot prior. clear choices have to be made about lighting, editing, and camera language (especially along the z-axis) distinct from traditional approaches. given the uphill battle that adoption will face, I imagine it is unlikely we will see a feature length film that really tackles these problems end to end any time soon.

it's also pretty shocking that a film that requires so much suspension of disbelief would be the first HFS film... given the crucial role that a slow frame rate has played over time in making suspension of disbelief effortless in film, you'd think it would happen for a film where it plays a less significant part in roping the audience in. kudos though... it made a fairly run of the mill film really interesting to watch.

[iv3rdawG]

http://www.criterion.com/films/28406-badlands

[Miroir Noir]

Amazing that they got a Warner title.

[tyles]

Alas, still no blu-upgrade for Hoop Dreams.

[JorgeC]

why didn't the eagles talk in The Hobbit. It's like they're racist against eagles or something.

[ods..]

Alas, still no blu-upgrade for Hoop Dreams.

Ehhhhh I mean the footage isn't even that good quality to begin with, would bluray really help? I love that movie though, one of my all-time fav Criterions

[Miroir Noir]

ods is right, Hoop Dreams was shot on analog video. It would be an essentially pointless Blu-ray.

[cutterbutter]

Excited about Badlands, but TERRIBLE cover.

[SoulDischarge]

Still probably my favorite Malick I've seen (which is everything but The Thin Red Line). But yeah, what they were going for with the cover could work, but the execution is horrible.

[Grandma]

just release the fucking trailer already

[AlecEiffel]

I'm surprised to see that Criterion is already putting out Monsieur Verdoux when they still have some big(er) gun Chaplin movies they haven't released yet. Looking forward to it, though.

[schoolofruckus]

For those of you looking to be disappointed by Cristi Mungiu's follow-up to 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, it appears thatBeyond the Hills will roll out in the spring - it opens at the Laemmle Royal on March 8th.

[tyles]

ods is right, Hoop Dreams was shot on analog video. It would be an essentially pointless Blu-ray.

Analog video doesn't look any better on blu, and there's really no way to fix that, as far as I know.

If you want to see what analog video can look like, the blooper reel on the Star Trek: The Next Generation blu-ray is from what's got to be VHS (and maybe even 2nd generation VHS to boot), and while I love the content, it looks HORRIBLE (The rest of set of increbible-looking, btw).

[tyles]

I also wonder if they'll ever bring Ghost World to Criterion Blu-Ray.

[xanman86]

I'm still holding onto hope we will see Lost Highway on Criterion Blu someday

[zircona1]

I also wonder if they'll ever bring Ghost World to Criterion Blu-Ray.

It's an MGM title FWIW. Also, one of my favorite movies ever.

[ThatGirl]

Best scene.

[xuclarockerx]

Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie = WTF

and i only watched 30 min

[iv3rdawG]

To the Wonder trailer:



Patiently waiting for a 1080p version.

[ods..]

That looks gorgeous.

So i've been watching the first season of that mini-series Black Mirror... Very awesome, brutally dry satire on the technology/information age from Charlie Brooker. Well scripted and acted with compelling/weird plots that make me think for hours after watching. The second one in the first season (there's only three episodes) is absolutely amazing. You can watch them individually, plots/characters don't carry over.

If you can't find it in better quality, which I def recommend, here's the second episode with hardcoded subs on youtube



and the teaser/trailer

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie = WTF

and i only watched 30 min

have you ever seen the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie? It's like watching jazz.

[xanman86]

To the Wonder trailer:



Patiently waiting for a 1080p version.

Can't wait! Hopefully Criterion acquires this title as well.

That looks gorgeous.

So i've been watching the first season of that mini-series Black Mirror... Very awesome, brutally dry satire on the technology/information age from Charlie Brooker. Well scripted and acted with compelling/weird plots that make me think for hours after watching. The second one in the first season (there's only three episodes) is absolutely amazing. You can watch them individually, plots/characters don't carry over.

http://www.coachella.com/forum/showt...-Thread/page42

[ods..]

Yeah, i mean I guess. It's a miniseries with 3 hour-long episodes. But yeah.

[xanman86]

Yeah, i mean I guess. It's a miniseries with 3 hour-long episodes. But yeah.

Ah cool, just sounded like a TV show. I will check it out.

[JorgeC]

I'm watching Flying Swords of Dragon Gate on Netflix streaming right now and loving it. Wish I had caught this in 3D. Way more entertaining than Thai Chi Zero.

Just want to highlight this recommendation. Caught it last night and thought it was an excellent action flick. Anyone that's a fan of kungfu movies should watch.

[schoolofruckus]

Anyone who digs martial arts films should check out the Cinefamily's Shaw Bros. retrospective in January. I'll definitely be there for 8 Diagram Pole Fighter, if not many more.