Law Abiding Citizen - 7/10 - I can't remember seeing a film have such a misunderstanding of it's audience as this when Butlers character dies to give the film a "Hollywood happy ending" which in reality spoilt the film for the majority.
What film did you watch last night?
- Thread starter Richeh
- Start date
Hmm, not sure about that. The ending embodies the saying "Before embarking on a journey of revenge, first dig two graves". Yes, we see terrible things happen to Butler's character and his family, but Hollywood often uses that as an excuse to have the protagonist do even more terrible things for revenge. We tend to cheer them on in their vengeance because we empathise with what has happened to them, and the fear of what if that happened to us. These movies blur the line between hero and anti-hero, and the moral lines those characters cross all the time.
I'm not against seeing the anti-hero die, because in the end he's crossed over the line, and is just as bad, if not worse than the bad guys, despite the justification we give them.
Associate
- Joined
- 28 Feb 2014
- Posts
- 513
- Location
- High Peak
Yesterday - 9/10
What a brilliant film. Loved it. Hit all the right spots for me.
Just realise how old you are when you look up who played the old woman and found out it was Sarah Lancashire
Anyone else just want to hear Wonderwall on the end credits though? Wheres my Oasis CD's....
What a brilliant film. Loved it. Hit all the right spots for me.
Just realise how old you are when you look up who played the old woman and found out it was Sarah Lancashire
Anyone else just want to hear Wonderwall on the end credits though? Wheres my Oasis CD's....
I agree, but my issue was more along the lines of this - the ending of film nullifies everything that the audience were made to think about through-out the film. So Butlers character definitely isn't a "good guy" in any way, but by presenting him as an anti-hero the audience starts to empathise with him, to listen to his viewpoints and maybe even agree with them (if not with his methods) and then the kicker is that the movie ends with "none of it matters, everything goes back to the way it was, nothing you just saw makes any difference in the end whether you agreed or not" and it was that ending that I felt hurt the film.
All it needed was another 5+ minutes showing that the events Fox, as the new DA, had been through had even the slightest amount of effect on his character, just to give the audience a better feeling that the death of the anti-hero wasn't for absolutely nothing.
Well thats my take on it anyway
I agree, but my issue was more along the lines of this - the ending of film nullifies everything that the audience were made to think about through-out the film. So Butlers character definitely isn't a "good guy" in any way, but by presenting him as an anti-hero the audience starts to empathise with him, to listen to his viewpoints and maybe even agree with them (if not with his methods) and then the kicker is that the movie ends with "none of it matters, everything goes back to the way it was, nothing you just saw makes any difference in the end whether you agreed or not" and it was that ending that I felt hurt the film.
All it needed was another 5+ minutes showing that the events Fox, as the new DA, had been through had even the slightest amount of effect on his character, just to give the audience a better feeling that the death of the anti-hero wasn't for absolutely nothing.
Well thats my take on it anyway
All good points, but maybe it's the bleaker ending that nothing changes and in the end, and taking the law into your own hands for the sake of revenge doesn't change anything except to get you killed too. Live by the sword, die by the sword, no matter what your motivations are, and all for nothing.
I was in Thailand part of the time this was being filmed and it always reminds me of happy times.
Apparently the locals were quite upset how they transformed the island it was filmed on.
Only a small part of the movie was actually filmed at Maya Bay, there was CGI used to make it look enclosed when it's actually open to the sea.
Tourism of course went through the roof and as a result the corals have taken a battering in the area and add to that the tsunami damage, its a bit of a mess.
They closed it off a few years ago to the public to give the coral chance to get back to normal, think it reopens next year.
Yep one of the best actors from his generation. Also thought he was excellent in Nocturnal Animals and The Wall.
Rise of Skywalker.
I'm not a big Star Wars fan, but I thought it was OK. As a non-fan I could tell The Last Jedi was a bad film, and bad entry in the series, but this I thought was pretty much fine. It did seem a lot more like a 2nd film in a trilogy than a 3rd though imo.
I'm not a big Star Wars fan, but I thought it was OK. As a non-fan I could tell The Last Jedi was a bad film, and bad entry in the series, but this I thought was pretty much fine. It did seem a lot more like a 2nd film in a trilogy than a 3rd though imo.
Rewatched Star Wars - Rise Of Skywalker 7/10
It's a decent enough movie but on a second viewing the whole premise is actually quite absurd (rest in spoilers, for the odd person who hasn't seen it)
It's a decent enough movie but on a second viewing the whole premise is actually quite absurd (rest in spoilers, for the odd person who hasn't seen it)
Namely that Rey is Palpatine's grand-daughter. At no time during the original movies, the three prequels and the previous two sequels has there been any indication there was a Mrs. Palpatine or even a Mistress Palpatine. He was obsessed with the dark side and seriously doubt horizontal refreshment featured in his agenda that highly. And if anything, Ian McDiarmid's portrayal of the character with his mannerisms and petulance even hinted that he was more likely to bat for the, ahem, other side. Also assuming humans in the Star Wars universe age at the same rate as our end of the galaxy, if Rey was (say) in her early 20's and Palpatine's son in his early 30's when he sired her that would put the conception of the latter well after the events in Revenge Of The Sith when the Emperor was severely disfigured not to mention diabolical so hardly a babe magnet. Maybe it was the midichlorians again...
Watched it for the first time this evening and it was fantastic. Sure, some plots were a bit empty, but I can justify them simply because the timelines are so far apart that it could have happened, and the movies so long already, it would have taken another trilogy to fill us in on the details. I was hooked for all 2.5 hours; sad, happy and excited and especially during Ben and Rey's performances which I thought were excellent. I'd go a bit higher and give them 8.5/10.
Soldato
- Joined
- 21 Oct 2011
- Posts
- 22,382
- Location
- ST4
The Passion of the Christ.
Little wonder Jesus wept! That scourging and crucifixion were ******* brutal and looked like they might have smarted a bit.
Little wonder Jesus wept! That scourging and crucifixion were ******* brutal and looked like they might have smarted a bit.
Free Fire - very funny black comedy about an IRA group buying guns from a South African arms dealer in America which doesn't go according to plan. Contains the longest shootout in cinema history and I imagine is a lot more accurate about people's aiming abilities than most films! From Ben Wheatley.4/5
1917 - 10/10
Best new film I've watched in a long time, stunning visuals, compelling story and that Atmos sound track.
Some genuine edge of the seat moments and while some of the WWI imagery was probably toned down a bit, that first 20 minutes or so crossing No Man's Land with shattered bodies and machinery embedded in the scorched earth is not something I will forget in a hurry.
And moral of story -
Best new film I've watched in a long time, stunning visuals, compelling story and that Atmos sound track.
Some genuine edge of the seat moments and while some of the WWI imagery was probably toned down a bit, that first 20 minutes or so crossing No Man's Land with shattered bodies and machinery embedded in the scorched earth is not something I will forget in a hurry.
And moral of story -
If a Bosch biplane pilot crashes next to you, leave him to burn in the wreckage...