Movies wot I saw 2008

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

RE: Movies wot I saw 2008

JonnyStead · **"I'm Lois!"**

So, the JDK, me and the JDK's little brother all tripped off to see The Dark Night last night and... erm... well....

Oddly - I have nothing to report... how could that be?

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

Is it my fault that you turned up 2 days early? Foolish boy.

Henglegert Rinkerdink · Sorry... I must have the wrong street.

OK, I watched Dragon Wars ... I want my 87 minutes back. All of them. It had soldiers shooting and nothing, helicopter crashes where the pilot got out after flying full tilt into the side of a building ... and THEN they thought "well that's not very realistic" so blew the chopper up ... a fat man in a straight jacket ... a giant snake that only broke glass while climbing a building if filmed from the outside ... who also waited once a car door was open because chasing then would clearly contraviene health and safety rules ... and an end location so random I thought it was a different film.

I also watched I'm Not There, which was truly excellent ... although if you're after a plot, rather than an exploration of charcter with some staggeringly good acting, then look elsewhere.

Monday will be "The Mist" and then later on "Dark Knight" ... I will report back accordingmoly.

Aodan · Teiam Member

Saw Dark Knight last night at the IMAX... holy hell. It was amazing.

If you have a chance to see it in an IMAX theater, I recommend doing so.. it made the whole thing that much more intense.

And I will say.. I love Jack Nicholson.. but Heath Ledger's Joker was superior in every single way.

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

We had an IMAX. It closed down. Now we don't have an IMAX.

I saw Superman Returns at an IMAX. It was quite hard work - the huge screen is lovely, but you find yourself having to crane your neck all the time. It also had dodgy 3D bits that didn't work properly, which didn't help!

HaloBurn · **Dad** Yarrr...

it's very difficult to get time to watch films these days, last trip to the cinema was Indiana Jones and the kindom of the crystal skulls.

There is an I-Max cinema in glasgow the difficulty is getting the wife motivated into going to the cinema or if she does she always wants to go an see films like the wedding planner, which apparently I ruined when I wispered that it was possibly the worst film I had ever had to endure about three quarters of the way through it.

So I'm stuck with renting what I want to see and recently that hasn't been much.

Aodan · Teiam Member

The trick to the IMAX is that depending on the theater, you have to sit in the very last row. There is one in Manhattan where the seats are near vertical so everyone is pretty much sitting in the back row...

If its like the one we went to, with graduated seating (even though it is steep) sitting anywhere but the very back is a crap experience. We went to see I Am Legend there and we started in the middle and before the end of the first preview I thought I was going to be sick. We moved to the back and everything was perfect.

JonnyStead · **"I'm Lois!"**

Aodan wrote:

The trick to the IMAX is that depending on the theater, you have to sit in the very last row. There is one in Manhattan where the seats are near vertical so everyone is pretty much sitting in the back row...

That's probably what killed the Bristol one - it was graded seating and so most people had a ropey view - might have explained why people didnt go back!

Susan · Tickle me, Elmo! I'm Roger Moore's Stunt Double!

Ah - I thought it was just me. I don't think I ever saw more than half of a film in there - the other half was spent with my eyes tight shut trying to avoid throwing up.

Aodan · Teiam Member

It definitely makes a difference. I seriously thought I was going to have some sort of panic attack when I was sitting in the middle. I felt like the screen was closing in on me and it was a horrible experience. I wasn't surprised to see a whole lot of people waiting for their friends in the lobby (we were sitting near an exit and I saw quite a few people heading out mid-movie.)

Graded seating isn't bad if its a true IMAX movie - a nature film, or a space movie, because its not a lot of action happening all at once. Action films, by definition, have a lot of action, and when that's sitting on top of you it can be overwhelming.

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

I don't know if it's the same in the States, but the higher ticket price for an IMAX just isn't justified. It costs over £8 ($16) for a normal movie at our local. When you go to the IMAX you can pay between 50% and 100% more.

I've no idea where our nearest one is now. Probably Birmingham. (Emphasis on the 'Bir', not the 'Ham'!

)

JonnyStead · **"I'm Lois!"**

Susan wrote:

Ah - I thought it was just me. I don't think I ever saw more than half of a film in there - the other half was spent with my eyes tight shut trying to avoid throwing up.

Hmmm - they stopped flashing up images of the JDK early on though...

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

You're not a nice boy.

Aodan · Teiam Member

ddvmor wrote:

I don't know if it's the same in the States, but the higher ticket price for an IMAX just isn't justified. It costs over £8 ($16) for a normal movie at our local. When you go to the IMAX you can pay between 50% and 100% more.

I've no idea where our nearest one is now. Probably Birmingham. (Emphasis on the 'Bir', not the 'Ham'! )

The last time I went to a regular movie it was around $10.50 (£5.27) and the IMAX ticket was about $15 (£7.50) a wee bit more after tax I think.

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

What is it about you lot and not including the tax in the price? Does it change a lot or something?

JonnyStead · **"I'm Lois!"**

I remember when I was in Canada - you had to add tax to the price of something on a shelf. So they just didnt include it until you came to pay - not sure why...

Aodan · Teiam Member

because they are very, very sneaky.

It was like happy wonderland when we came to London and the price it said was the price it was. When I shop I try to keep a running tally in my head but tax screws me up. Especially since not all items are taxed the same. (some food and clothing items have low or no sales tax, other items are taxed higher... different counties have different tax percentages.. its very confusing)

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

Well here, the tax is a standard 17.5% on most products, but because it's included in the display price we don't have to worry about it. You should pop over to do your shopping if it's that difficult. We have nicer stuff than you, too.

JonnyStead · **"I'm Lois!"**

Aodan wrote:

because they are very, very sneaky.

It was like happy wonderland when we came to London and the price it said was the price it was. When I shop I try to keep a running tally in my head but tax screws me up. Especially since not all items are taxed the same. (some food and clothing items have low or no sales tax, other items are taxed higher... different counties have different tax percentages.. its very confusing)

No, YOU coming to London made it a happy wonderland!

Aodan · Teiam Member

JonnyStead · **"I'm Lois!"**

JonnyStead wrote:

So, the JDK, me and the JDK's little brother all tripped off to see The Dark Night last night and... erm... well....

Oddly - I have nothing to report... how could that be?

Right! lets try this again - off we went to see TDK - a really good movie in my view. Looking forward to seeing it again on DVD. Great performance from Heath Ledger and the bike was super cool. I thought the 2face effect was outstanding. I wasnt though a fan of the batman lisp or cape or the fact that the love interest looked like someone's ropey old mum that they'd cast because she looked a bit like Katie Holmes.

Overall though - very cool - highly recommended and deserves the hype in my view.

-- Edited by ddvmor at 08:00, 2008-07-30

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

Hope you don't mind, but I edited your post to hide the spoilery bit in case there's anyone that hasn't seen it! It was particularly good, though!

Bloody great movie, that. Excellent performances all round (Maggie Gyllenhall was fine in the part - she's a better actor then Katie Holmes, despite being a bit funny looking and, contrary to rumor, looks nothing like her at all!), especially from Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart.

Problem is... once you stick the Joker into a Batman movie, it becomes a Joker movie. It happened in 1989 and it happened again in 2008 (it happens when he turns up in the comics too!). It's a real shame we'll never see that portrayal of the Joker again, because it was nothing short of spectacular!

Go see this movie, if you haven't already. It's the best one I've seen this year!

JonnyStead · **"I'm Lois!"**

Nope dont mind the edit - though considering the title of thread, the risk of stumbling across a spoiler or two is kinda implicit. And, if you dont really want to know anything about a particular film, stopping reading at "we went to see TDK last night" is good prevention.

I do though stand by my view that Rachel was mis-cast

This is not 'leading lady' material - 'bag lady' material maybe...

But obviously not cast because she looks a bit like this

No, no... not at all

-- Edited by JonnyStead at 09:43, 2008-07-30

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

Well they both have brown hair. But then, so do you.

JonnyStead · **"I'm Lois!"**

OK - if you cant see the similarities that's fair enough. I can. Also if you look at the TDK wiki page you'll see Holmes was initially going to play the role but pulled out in Jan 07 due to scheduling commitments - which again suggests they wanted a 'replacement'

Aodan · Teiam Member

The casting of Maggie G. was confusing to me... mostly because I had no idea who she was supposed to be. I was trying to think if she had been in the first movie, and I was confused until I read later that it was Katie Holmes (I SWEAR I saw the first one, but for some reason I only remember 3 or 4 moments, and not the movie as a whole..). It was a weird decision...

I like Maggie, but in more indie productions... she didn't feel right in this role.

"Scheduling Conflict" = Tom Cruise was busy eating her soul

-- Edited by Aodan at 14:05, 2008-07-30

JonnyStead · **"I'm Lois!"**

OK so the other day I saw Paradise Alley. Its the film Stallone wrote/Directed and appeared in between Rocky 1&2 - I hadnt seen it before. I always wondered why I never stumbled across it on TV. Now I know why...

Truckman · Old. But wise!

After looking over the entire cast list of the new Batman movie at IMDB, would it hopelessly date me if I revealed that I've only actually heard of four of the cast members?... confused

...Ben

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

Which four?

Christian Bale and Heath Ledger have really only made the big time in the last few years.

You may remember Ledger's turn in (shudder) Brokeback Mountain and obviously the press coverage of his death earlier this year.

Batman Begins was probably Bale's first big movie (being 6 in Empire of the Sun doesn't count!) although if you're looking for a couple of excellent movies, I can recommend The Machinist and American Psycho, both of which show off his talents.

Maggie Gyllenhaal's fairly new on the scene and has mostly been doing independent stuff.

Obviously you know Gary Oldman, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman - who doesn't? I don't think I'd ever come across Aaron Eckhart before. Everyone else is pretty much set dressing!

-- Edited by ddvmor at 22:23, 2008-07-30