What was the last movie you watched?

[kimmy]

I reckon it's 'Thor' .. I like the flow of the story.

I saw Thor: The Dark World recently, and really enjoyed it.

I like that they never take themselves too seriously and never lose sight of the fact that they're doing a comic book action movie. Even in the midst of the climactic battle, still manage to fit in comedy bits that say "we're just having fun here."

Chris Hemsworth makes a great Thor, still a brash and bold brawler, but much more grown up than when we first met him in the previous movie. Tom Hiddleston steals the show as Loki. I think Loki has to be right up there with The Joker in terms of movie super-villains. Here, he's not just a maniac set on usurping the throne, he's a son and a brother as well. He's not just some villain, he's an important character with needs and feelings and motivations behind his actions.

Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Rene Russo, Idris Elba also bump around; among the supporting cast the real scene-stealer is Kat Dennings as Natalie's bewildered and possibly insane intern.

This was just more fun than you could swing an uru mallet at. I dub the Thor: God of Funder.

-k

[bleeding heart]

I saw Thor: The Dark World recently, and really enjoyed it.

I like that they never take themselves too seriously and never lose sight of the fact that they're doing a comic book action movie. Even in the midst of the climactic battle, still manage to fit in comedy bits that say "we're just having fun here."

Chris Hemsworth makes a great Thor, still a brash and bold brawler, but much more grown up than when we first met him in the previous movie. Tom Hiddleston steals the show as Loki. I think Loki has to be right up there with The Joker in terms of movie super-villains. Here, he's not just a maniac set on usurping the throne, he's a son and a brother as well. He's not just some villain, he's an important character with needs and feelings and motivations behind his actions.

Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Rene Russo, Idris Elba also bump around; among the supporting cast the real scene-stealer is Kat Dennings as Natalie's bewildered and possibly insane intern.

This was just more fun than you could swing an uru mallet at. I dub the Thor: God of Funder.

-k

I'm glad to hear it. I've gotten a little bit tired of the superhero movies lately....but I liked the first Thor quite a bit, better than most of the rest.

[Moonlight Graham]

I saw Thor: The Dark World recently, and really enjoyed it.

I like that they never take themselves too seriously and never lose sight of the fact that they're doing a comic book action movie. Even in the midst of the climactic battle, still manage to fit in comedy bits that say "we're just having fun here."

Chris Hemsworth makes a great Thor, still a brash and bold brawler, but much more grown up than when we first met him in the previous movie. Tom Hiddleston steals the show as Loki. I think Loki has to be right up there with The Joker in terms of movie super-villains. Here, he's not just a maniac set on usurping the throne, he's a son and a brother as well. He's not just some villain, he's an important character with needs and feelings and motivations behind his actions.

Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Rene Russo, Idris Elba also bump around; among the supporting cast the real scene-stealer is Kat Dennings as Natalie's bewildered and possibly insane intern.

This was just more fun than you could swing an uru mallet at. I dub the Thor: God of Funder.

-k

Saw Thor: The Dark World the other night.

I really liked the first Thor flick, after being not overly impressed with Captain America and Iron Man films I thought the first film would be meh but it was a pleasant surprise so I was excited for this one. Humour was hit and miss, some of the action scenes and effects were downright incredible. The CGI in many good films nowadays is so good that you can't really tell that something is CG (with the exception of humans/animals and other living creatures, which are much harder to animate & match textures 100% realistically). All the villains looked badass (except for one shown during the credits...WTF?), the acting was pretty good all around. The story was decent but had a few weak parts that were not too believable and/or predictable (but also had a few really good plot twists). I really don't like the earth sub-plot scenes, they bore me, give me the sci-fi/fantasy stuff! Luckily there wasn't too much of it in either of the Thor films.

I really liked Loki too, great actor performance and character and villain. Not quite on Joker-level though.

Didn't enjoy the film quite as much as the first, but still a good (not great) superhero flick. 7.5/10 or 3/5 stars.

[overthere]

Saw Dallas Buyers Club a few days ago.

Matthew Mc Conauaghey is terrific and Jared Leto is better than that. There wil be one or two Oscar nominations out of this movie, though not for Best Picture.

[Accountability Now]

I went to Bad Grampa a few weeks back and nearly tore my guts apart laughing. Its definitlely the funniest movie I have seen in a long time but I will say it might not be for everyone.

[Michael Hardner]

Jack Goes Boating - the acting was done so well and directed so well, just wonderful but don't go if you like breakneck plots, twists, or explosions

Dealin with Idiots - Jeff Garlin - you will get to see some great turns from some of your comic favourites including Bob Odenkirk

Moon - Great creepy sci fi that treads down the same aesthetic path as 2001: A Space Odyssey if you switch out 60s LSD mysticism with some run-of-the-mill corporate bad guy stuff.

[cybercoma]

I think the corporate bad guy stuff is really only scratching the surface on the philosophical discussion that's taking place in Moon.

[Michael Hardner]

How so ?

[cybercoma]

I don't want to spoil the movie for anyone that hasn't seen it, but it's more about what it means to be human (as a lot of scifi is).

[Michael Hardner]

Did it do more than Blade Runner to explore these things ?

[Bonam]

Did it do more than Blade Runner to explore these things ?

It doesn't have to do it "more", it just has to do something different.

Anyway... speaking of good sci fi movies, you folks should check out Europa Report.

[Michael Hardner]

It doesn't have to do it "more", it just has to do something different.

Anyway... speaking of good sci fi movies, you folks should check out Europa Report.

I think we're saying the same thing - more insight, more depth, different perspective, different ideas.

How did this movie do more than Alien, Blade Runner and that era in terms of ideas ? I don't see it. It was fine, but in terms of ideas it was a revisiting more than anything.

I did see Europa Report. I liked it, but I was only half paying attention while it was on - Netflicks of course.

[cybercoma]

Did it do more than Blade Runner to explore these things ?

More is pretty subjective, but I think it did it in a different way. I think the bad corp angle was just a symptom of them bigger issues it explored.

[cybercoma]

It doesn't have to do it "more", it just has to do something different.

Beat me to it.

[cybercoma]

How did this movie do more than Alien, Blade Runner and that era in terms of ideas ? I don't see it. It was fine, but in terms of ideas it was a revisiting more than anything.

To be fair, I said the movie was the best in the last 20 years, which puts us at 1993. However, I would put it up there with Blade Runner and Alien.

[bleeding heart]

I can agree with that. All three are fantastic.

[Michael Hardner]

To be fair, I said the movie was the best in the last 20 years, which puts us at 1993. However, I would put it up there with Blade Runner and Alien.

Wait... really ? For Sci-Fi ? That's quite a compliment.

You also said this:

"I think the corporate bad guy stuff is really only scratching the surface on the philosophical discussion that's taking place in Moon. "

I'm just wondering if there's anything really new in 'Moon' that I missed. If not, then fine. If it's just a philosophical revisit to those older films, fine. That wouldn't take away from it. But I'm wondering if I missed anything.

Here's IMDB's top 50 sci fi. I don't agree with it but Moon is in there, at #41.

http://www.imdb.com/search/title?genres=sci_fi&title_type=feature&num_votes=1000,&sort=user_rating,desc

Important to note that most of the titles from the last 20 years were psychological sci-fi movies like Inception, Matrix, ... things that happen inside your head more than in space.

[cybercoma]

I don't put a lot of weight on IMDB's rankings. It's an aggregate of everyone and anyone that votes on these things. If we did this with all art, what would be considered the best works of art then?

In any case, I haven't seen every last sci-fi film. I'm not sure if Moon was just revisiting a bunch of stuff from the past. I'm not sure anything really breaks new philosophical ground, other than to explore the same issues in different ways. Regardless, imho, Moon is better than both Inception and The Matrix. That's not to say the latter two are bad movies. They're a couple of my favourites, but I like Moon that much.

For the record, I'm particularly enamoured with Moon due to its distinct lack of CG. The use of modelling provides a better feel to the sets and effects. It makes the lighting and textures more natural and interesting. At a time when CG dominates cinema, this was a breath of fresh air.

Edited December 11, 2013 by cybercoma

[cybercoma]

Looking over that list, let me give you my favourites over the last 20 years in no particular order:

Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind
Donnie Darko
District 9

Children of Men

Moon

Gattaca

Battle Royale
Dark City

The Fifth Element

Inception

I excluded superhero films like The Dark Knight and Watchmen. Yeah, they're scifi, but I feel superhero movies are in a genre on their own.

[bush_cheney2004]

....I'm just wondering if there's anything really new in 'Moon' that I missed. If not, then fine. If it's just a philosophical revisit to those older films, fine. That wouldn't take away from it. But I'm wondering if I missed anything.

Nothing really new, as Moon is an homage film. It is well done, but the recycled elements from earlier works are obvious. It actually prompted me to screen Silent Running again, which I own on DVD. "Berkshire to Valley Forge. Come in, Valley Forge."

[DogOnPorch]

Nothing really new, as Moon is an homage film. It is well done, but the recycled elements from earlier works are obvious. It actually prompted me to screen Silent Running again, which I own on DVD. "Berkshire to Valley Forge. Come in, Valley Forge."

Silent Running used the Saturn model that was initially developed for 2001: A Space Odyssey...since the movie version of 2001 went to Jupiter.

[bush_cheney2004]

Silent Running used the Saturn model that was initially developed for 2001: A Space Odyssey...since the movie version of 2001 went to Jupiter.

Cool....the 2001 book definitely was Saturn. Googly says that they didn't have decent telescope photos of Saturn's rings, but surely they could have been rendered by an artist. Of course, either would have been blown away by the actual satellite fly-by photos from Pioneer and Voyager that would come a decade or so later.

Edited December 11, 2013 by bush_cheney2004

[DogOnPorch]

Cool....the 2001 book definitely was Saturn. Googly says that they didn't have decent telescope photos of Saturn's rings, but surely they could have been rendered by an artist. Of course, either would have been blown away by the actual satellite fly-by photos from Pioneer and Voyager that would come a decade or so later.

Still...it looked pretty good for 1972. The droids playing poker has to be one of the best scenes in film.

[GostHacked]

For the record, I'm particularly enamoured with Moon due to its distinct lack of CG. The use of modelling provides a better feel to the sets and effects. It makes the lighting and textures more natural and interesting. At a time when CG dominates cinema, this was a breath of fresh air.

The limited actors really allowed for a great story too. I loved the movie for it was not fast action, ADHD all the time. A lot of movies have a lot of action and the camera does not focus on anything for a very long period. With Moon, you had the time to take it in and enjoy it. The limited actors also gave you a sense of isolation and uncertainty.

Some of your other choices for fave movies are mine as well.

[cybercoma]

Favourite scifi anyway.