Adventure Gamers - Forums

TimovieMan - 12 October 2015 08:11 AM

Well, I thought The Mist was superb and its ending was simply magnificent (as well as being quite possibly the most evil ending ever).
And nobody ever seems to mention The Majestic, which is one of the most underrated films of the past 20 years.

Totally agree with all of that.  The ending of The Mist blew me away.  I think it was a good movie anyway (including one of the most despicable movie characters of all time), but that ending made sure I will never ever forget that film.  I can totally understand why Stephen King regrets he didn’t come up with that ending himself. One of the most evil endings indeed. Reminded me of watching Angel Heart for the first time, which I consider being right up there when it comes to evil endings.

I have not seen The Majestic for some years, but I remember that I liked it a lot. When it comes to the actors, I was particulary impressed by Martin Landau.  To me, The Majestic (despite of the other subjects that were touched) felt like a touching love letter to the magic of cinema. I rank Shawshank Redemption higher, but that certainly doesen’t mean The Majestic didn’t feel like a very good movie to me. It’s a shame that it bombed at the box office.

And I f#@%ing HATE George Lucas for nixing Darabont’s Indiana Jones 4 screenplay in favour of Lucas’s own drivel.
I still hope that Disney goes knocking on Darabont’s door for that screenplay once their Indy development gets underway…

I heard that story many times, and while I don’t really know what Darabont’s screenplay was about, I have no doubt that he would have given us an Indy movie that actually would have felt like an Indy movie. Unless we ever see that Darabont version on the screen, which seems unlikely, there will only be three Indy movies to me! 

its my 1st time to visit this thread, but The Mist ending subject caught my attention, and being a SK hardcore fan who read everything he wrote, i must say, he was always weak over endings, but for that he had always said he cared about the journey more than the ending itself.

Whoever read The Dark Tower series, would remember last 10 pages, when he ended the almost 30 years epic before those 10 pages with a happy ending, and asked the reader to not go on, but i am sure everyone turned that page and read the 1st two lines where he makes a joke at us not listening to his last words, and when i read the Dark ending of The Dark Tower epic, i was in awe for half an hour (maybe also for days to come) remembering the story events, but ended up doing what SK wanted, is to take Book.1 and get into the loop again.

The point wether The Mist ending was one of the greatest or not, SK will always remain the most writer who had me turn his pages with joy, even if its at the 1st boring 100 pages of his books.

For some strange reason I haven’t read any books by Stephen King in years.  I did read quite some of his stuff when I was younger, though, and I will always have a lot of admiration for him. 

A while ago I bought the Rolling Stone magazine because it contained a HUGE interview with Stephen King.  It was extremely interesting to get a more precise idea of his life, his thoughts concerning writing, his struggle with drugs, Kubrick’s version of The Shining and many other things.

I just had a look, and saw that it’s possible to read it online.  Highly recommended for all the Stephen King fans out there!

The Martian - 4/5

It may lack the intensity and stylishness of Gravity, and it may lack the thought provoking ideas of Interstellar, but The Martian is of very similar quality as those other recent great space movies. It’s basically a more entertaining version of Apollo 13 - just as tense, but a lot more fun.

It’s great to finally see astronauts represented not as a bunch of dead-serious professionals, but as a bunch of highly skilled geeks. Nearly everybody in this film gets a moment to “get his geek on”, culminating in a very meta “council of Elrond” reference with Sean Bean in the room.
Also, yay for having Zork II and Leather Goddesses of Phobos mentioned!

Amazing cast as well with Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sean Bean, Michael Peña, Kristen Wiig, Aksel Hennie, etc.
Always nice to see Chiwetel Ejiofor in a high profile role. I’ve been following his career rather closely ever since Dirty Pretty Things. Top notch actor! And nobody can resist Sean Bean in his native Sheffield accent.
Also, bonus points for Sean Bean NOT DYING!!!!!!

Watching Matt Damon “science the shit out of this” makes for a very good film, true blockbuster fare. It’s more than enough to clear the bad aftertaste that Prometheus left, so well done, mr. Scott!
Highly recommended!

Match Point by Woody Allen.

Very cool movie with a neat punchline and a strong cast (including Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Scarlett Johansson).  I didn’t have the slightest idea of how dark this movie actually is… turned out to be something entirely different than what I associated with Woody Allen in the past. Having said that, I’m anything but a Woody Allen expert, so that doesen’t mean much.  Anyway… neat film!

Ingmar - 28 October 2015 02:14 PM

turned out to be something entirely different than what I associated with Woody Allen in the past. Having said that, I’m anything but a Woody Allen expert, so that doesen’t mean much.

That’s more or less the general consensus: it’s an atypical Woody Allen movie. He surprised a lot of people with it.

TimovieMan - 28 October 2015 03:05 PM

That’s more or less the general consensus: it’s an atypical Woody Allen movie. He surprised a lot of people with it.

Ah, ok. That’s interesting to know. I must say, though, that - as atypical as it may be - Match Point makes me want to check out more of his work. I have seen only very few of his old movies, but that was ages ago. Haven’t seen any of the other ones - despite of Match Point. I realized, though, that a couple of the newer films are on Amazon Prime.  Do you have any recommendations when it comes to his later movies?

Ingmar - 28 October 2015 03:49 PM

Do you have any recommendations when it comes to his later movies?

He was in a bit of a lull at the end of the 90s and early 00s with a bunch of weaker films. ‘Melinda & Melinda’ was the first that was better again, and then he made ‘Match Point’ and ‘Vicky Christina Barcelona’, both very atypical for him but a lot better than what had come before. I really liked ‘Whatever Works’ too, but that one was more “traditional” Allen. And then there was ‘Midnight in Paris’, and ‘Blue Jasmine’ which needs to be seen for Cate Blanchett’s performance alone.
The quintessential Woody Allen movie is after all these years still ‘Annie Hall’, though…

TimovieMan - 28 October 2015 06:26 PM

Ingmar - 28 October 2015 03:49 PM

Do you have any recommendations when it comes to his later movies?

He was in a bit of a lull at the end of the 90s and early 00s with a bunch of weaker films. ‘Melinda & Melinda’ was the first that was better again, and then he made ‘Match Point’ and ‘Vicky Christina Barcelona’, both very atypical for him but a lot better than what had come before. I really liked ‘Whatever Works’ too, but that one was more “traditional” Allen. And then there was ‘Midnight in Paris’, and ‘Blue Jasmine’ which needs to be seen for Cate Blanchett’s performance alone.
The quintessential Woody Allen movie is after all these years still ‘Annie Hall’, though…

Thank you very much! I checked German Amazon Prime Video to see which of your suggestions are available. I found Whatever Works and Midnight in Paris, so these two movies are up next.

Regression - 2/5

Surprisingly weak film by Alejandro Amenábar. Starts off with an interesting premise, slowly builds and builds up to an obvious climax and then… fizzles out completely.
There was this beautiful ambiguity whether or not the events were supernatural/Satan or mundane/cultist, and when the film finally picks a side, the entire thing collapses on itself…

Ethan Hawke gives a very focused performance, though, and David Thewlis is always solid. Emma Watson on the other hand didn’t convince me of her acting abilities. And at 25 she’s getting too old to still play 17-year-olds…

I should have pushed the missus more towards Crimson Peak instead of this one.
Then again, until now, director Amenábar had a spotless track record…

Spectre

Just got back from seeing this. Overall, I think it was a solid Bond movie that suffers some pacing issues here and there. Without spoilers, this felt very much like the end of Daniel Craig’s time as Bond and I’d be surprised if he returns despite being contracted too.

subbi - 03 November 2015 03:52 AM

- The title song is absolutely dreadful and so unfitting for a Bond movie. This is very very far off from the brilliant Skyfall theme. Where on eath did they find Sam Smith? And more importantly, Why?

It’s probably total coincidence, but for some reason my three favourite Bond songs were for my three favourite Bond films, and one of the worst Bond songs I can think of was for one of the worst Bond films I can think of.
When I heard the generic song here, I already started fearing for the film.

But on the other hand, I have faith in Sam Mendes - he has never disappointed before…



How big is Mr. White’s role in this, btw? Jesper Christensen totally nailed that part in Casino Royale and especially Quantum of Solace, so the larger his role, the better, imo.

I know this doesn’t really matter, but I’m just curious as to how people see the 007 role? I know they say Daniel Craig’s Bond is a reboot and there’s plenty of reasons to think that, but the amount of callbacks from the older ones make me think otherwise. To me, it makes more sense that 007 James Bond is entirely a codename and when that actor leaves, that Bond retires and another takes his place.