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deej
Tol Eressea
Dec 31 2012, 2:13pm
Post #1 of 81
(1036 views)
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Happy New Year! What movies did you watch this weekend?
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Tell us about there here.
Wishing you all a very safe and happy New Years. 
"The Hobbits bowed low. 'Most gracious host', said Frodo, 'It was said to me by Elrond Half-Elven that I should find friendship upon the way, secret and unlooked for. Certainly I have found no such friendship as you have shown. To have found it turns evil to great good."
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Otaku-sempai
Immortal
Dec 31 2012, 3:42pm
Post #2 of 81
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I decided to re-watch our DVD of The Hogfather
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It seemed appropriate as we are still in the midst of the Yuletide season.
Now, what is the status of that big-budget Discworld movie?
'There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world.' - Gandalf the Grey, The Fellowship of the Ring
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Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven
Dec 31 2012, 4:01pm
Post #3 of 81
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I'd always been scared to go to a 3D movie, because I'd heard too many stories of people getting headaches. But I didn't get one twinge!
We'd already seen TH in 2d/24 fps, so I knew generally what to expect, and was able to enjoy the increased depth and clarity of this version. The movie has some epic moments, some cringe-worthy moments, and quite a few places where it should have been trimmed. But the actors are so good, especially Freeman and Armitage, that I'm willing to overlook the flaws.
Funny how many little bits of business are similar to bits of business in the LotR movies. You'd think they had the same director or something
The only problem with TH is that it's not LotR, which I read first, many years ago, and which has always been my favorite.
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Dec 31 2012, 4:10pm
Post #4 of 81
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That's one of my favorite Yuletide movies. :-) //
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century."
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"A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories
leleni at hotmail dot com
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Dec 31 2012, 4:20pm
Post #5 of 81
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Tinkerbell and the Great Fairy Rescue, Pride and Prejudice (2005), The Christmas Story, The Muppet's Christmas Carol
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Uncle Baggins loves fairies, so I got him couple of the Tinkerbell movies for Christmas. We've watched three of them so far. They're very fluffy, but the animation is nice and we love the fairy gadgets. In the Great Fairy Rescue, Tinkerbell befriends a human girl and gets into peril. The whole little-people-in-peril-among-humans trope is not my favorite; it makes me too anxious. So this wasn't my favorite of the series. I think I like the first one, "Tinkerbell" the best.
He gave me the P and P movie for Christmas and we watched it together. We saw it as a family in the theater when it first came out. Lovely. He was in the mood to go see the new James Bond movie, but stayed home and watched this with me instead. What a great guy.
And on Christmas Eve our grown kids were with us and we watched two of our family's traditional movies for that night, The Christmas Story and the Muppet Christmas Carol. Both wonderful, of course.
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"For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century."
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"A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories
leleni at hotmail dot com
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Hamfast
Rohan
Dec 31 2012, 4:23pm
Post #6 of 81
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Well, since i'm on vacation...
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it's more like what movies didn't I watch this week 
Vacation to me means rest....and lots of it. Other than leaving the house to see The Hobbit 5 times ( 2D, 3D 24fps, IMAX 3D 48fps x 3) I have grown roots in my couch watching movies
I would like to mention first that the IMAX viewings of The Hobbit are completely spectacular, and the superior way to view the film. The clarity,colors, special effects, and 3D work best in this format, and this is coming from someone who was a curmudgeon regarding all of this 3D stuff, but I went in with an open mind, and now i'm hooked. With all the movies coming out this year that are must see properties ( thinking Iron Man 3, Pacific Rim, Star Trek, and The Desolation of Smaug here....) I can't imagine seeing these movies in standard 2D anymore. Now I will do a cartwheel off my soapbox and mention all the other viewing pleasure of late....
I have used my vacation to catch up on a bunch of tv blu ray seasons that I normally don't have a lot of time for like....
Game Of Thrones - Finally viewed season 1 in its entirety, and loved it. I struggled through the first book, and this is one of the rare occurences where I think the show is superior to the source material. Excellent acting from the entire cast, glorious visuals, and a compelling fantasy universe. Looking forward to season 2 !
Star Trek The Next Generation Season 1 - I watched quite a bit of this show when it first aired, but the blu ray transfer is so good it's like discovering it all over again. CBS put a ton of money behind the transfer to blu ray and it shows. Captain Picard , Data, and crew have never looked this good on screen before, and even if you're only a casual Trekkie, you owe it to yourself to check out this spectacular presentation.
I also finished watching season 4 of Fringe ( which i'm sad to see go after season 5 ), and finished watching season 5 of The Big Bang Theory.
I also watched Paul ( good silly fun ), Captain America (again), The Avengers (again), The Dark Knight Rises ( again), and copius amounts of Futurama on netflix.
Happy New Year everyone !
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BoromirOfWinterfell
Rohan
Dec 31 2012, 4:33pm
Post #7 of 81
(551 views)
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Peter Jackson stabbing Simon Pegg's hand, Martin Freeman and Bill Nighy all make a geeky combination. Good film.
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Magpie
Immortal
Dec 31 2012, 5:21pm
Post #8 of 81
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My husband and I had a holiday-days-off marathon of Falling Skies on streaming tv. I really enjoyed it. I thought the characters were developed well and the plot kept me intrigued. Noah Wylie did a great job of playing a father. I don't think we see a lot of great father characters on TV these days. I enjoy the comedic take that some shows do but it's nice to just see it played straight and not for laughs.
We're expecting the first disc of the most recent season of Justified in the mail today. I feel lucky to have gotten it on the day of its release. I still have Homeland listed as "very long wait" and I think it took me more than 6 months to get Season 1 of Game of Thrones sent to me.
LOTR soundtrack website ~ magpie avatar gallery
TORn History Mathom-house ~ Torn Image Posting Guide
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Kimtc
Rohan
Dec 31 2012, 5:24pm
Post #9 of 81
(573 views)
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Trying to watch other work of dwarves
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Watched some eps of Being Human (Aidan Turner), Jekyll (James Nesbitt), and all of North & South (Richard Armitage). It's fun to see them outside the dwarf zone (and watching Armitage in N&S, I can see why people are calling him "Thorin Smokinshield").
Plan to see AUJ again tomorrow!
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Kimi
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Dec 31 2012, 8:16pm
Post #12 of 81
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I think there are several movies of the same name, but this one's from 1989 and is about an Italian family running a small café in London. Utterly charming; part love story, part family drama, with just a touch of magical realism. There are a few scenes of the absurdly, exuberantly lovely San Gimignagno, too.
We saw this in a local cinema back when it first came out, and have often talked about it and quoted from it. Just recently we found that it was available via the DVD equivalent of print-on-demand, and we bought a copy. It's just as lovely as I'd remembered.
This movie, by the way, is the reason we searched out and bought our very own bella macchina.
The Passing of Mistress Rose
My historical novels
Do we find happiness so often that we should turn it off the box when it happens to sit there?
- A Room With a View
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Radagast-Aiwendil
Gondor
Dec 31 2012, 8:36pm
Post #13 of 81
(523 views)
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I watched a great old 70's film called 'The Wilby Conspiracy'
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Brilliant plot and a great cast. Sidney Poitier is perfectly matched by Michael Caine, but it's Nicol Williamson's racist security cop that steals the show. A shame the film isn't very well known.
Reliable Radagast rides his sled of Rhosgobel Rabbits round and round Rhovanion.
Tongue twister copyright Radagast-Aiwendil 2012.
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Kimtc
Rohan
Dec 31 2012, 8:46pm
Post #14 of 81
(521 views)
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I will have to watch MI5, it is sporadically on PBS here. It is always amazing to me how many British TV shows are out there, since they only show up here on PBS occasionally (and out of order), or on BBC America cut to shreds for commercials.
Being Human a comedy? I guess sporadic amusement takes it out of the horror category. Now, I would consider the American version horror, but for other reasons...
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N.E. Brigand
Half-elven
Dec 31 2012, 9:11pm
Post #15 of 81
(540 views)
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THE HOBBIT, which is much better looking in 2D.
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I saw the 3D 48fps version a few weeks ago, and it looked hideous. As some others have said, it looks like bad 1970s television or View Master slides, with foreground characters way too bright and disconnected from the dark blurry backgrounds. Yesterday I saw the film in 2D and in that format, The Hobbit is a fine-looking film. Not as great as Michael Collins or Evita, both 1996 and pinnacles of cinematography in my book (though the films overall are middling affairs), but better-looking than the merely-decent photography of the Lord of the Rings films.
Overall, The Hobbit is still poor as an adaptation and fair as an action film. Better than Prometheus and The Amazing Spider-man, but no better than the vastly overrated Avengers. The singing of "Far over the misty mountains cold" remains the best scene, which is disappointing since that part has been familiar to viewers for so long because of the trailers.
I also saw The Dark Knight Rises, which was better than I expected, since I thought The Dark Knight had been praised out of all proportion to its modest achievements.
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Discuss Tolkien's life and works in the Reading Room!
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How to find old Reading Room discussions.
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Magpie
Immortal
Dec 31 2012, 9:11pm
Post #16 of 81
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MI5 had a number of seasons (series)
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Richard was in few of the later ones. Another actor I like, Matthew Macfadyen, was in the first few seasons. To be honest, I didn't watch all the middle ones seasons. But I think the seasons with those two actors are very much worth it.
Caveat: It can have some really brutal and violent scenes. But then, so can Being Human so if you're okay with that, you'll probably be okay with MI5.
re: the comedy label for BH. The first tv show listed in the SciFi/Fantasy category is Sponge Bob. So much for their labeling system!
The most recent UK series, Robin Hood, is also available for streaming. This show has some bright moments but is, overall, kind of bad. However, if one is jonesing for more Armitage, it might be worth watching. I think the first two seasons were better than the third. The third was kind of a hot mess.
LOTR soundtrack website ~ magpie avatar gallery
TORn History Mathom-house ~ Torn Image Posting Guide
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Kimtc
Rohan
Dec 31 2012, 10:43pm
Post #17 of 81
(507 views)
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Peter Jackson stabbing Simon Pegg's hand, Martin Freeman and Bill Nighy all make a geeky combination. Good film.
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Kimtc
Rohan
Dec 31 2012, 10:46pm
Post #18 of 81
(519 views)
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Of course Robin Hood was middling
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Or else it wouldn't make it into heavy rotation on BBC America (they seem to think Americans who seek out BBC have pedestrian tastes. Totally counterintuitive.
Thanks for the MI5 tips. In the queue now!
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batik
Tol Eressea
Dec 31 2012, 11:29pm
Post #19 of 81
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I *think* he's the only "Dwarf" whose work I checked out prior to the release of The Hobbit.
Nesbitt and Liam Neeson have the lead roles in 5 Minutes of Heaven.
No silliness here (at least of the intentional kind) --- this one is pretty gritty.
(This post was edited by batik on Dec 31 2012, 11:29pm)
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Sunflower
Valinor
Dec 31 2012, 11:37pm
Post #20 of 81
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Lol, you and me both--what didn't I watch?:)
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let's see. I was on vacation all week, spending time at my uncle's with assorted cousins and such drifting in and out. They live in a suburb about 15 mi north of NYC, and very close to a HUGE mall with a big multiplex (that Palisades monstrosity, for those familar with the area.) Four and a half glorious days of lying around the house and mall-crawling with aforementioned long-lost cousins and siggie others.
At the house:
1)The Last Airbender--never seen this, and I found it fascinating.
2)John Carter--I stayed away from the theater when this came out (being labeled one of the great flops of all time will do that:), I'd rented it from the library when it came out on DVD just out of curiosity, by the time I got to trek though the desert with that priestess/seer alien person, then they went otheir rafting trip, my eyes glazed over. Too slow, too "period", (jumping was a great superpower circa 1890, but now?!)..plots and subplots just dizzil whipped through with no explanation whatsover, the aliens were sloppy CGI...and what can you say about an actor named Taylor Kitsch? I fonf all the criticism spot on,...but had to watch it b/c my uncle LOVES it... We watched it one verylate night and he took me through it step by step and explained everything...(and I still didn't get it, but was polite enough not to say anything:)...he loves old-fashioned, classic sci-fi, he says they don't make'em much anymore, and for him John Carter (Of Mars) was that rare gem done in this vein. Hey, to each their own...what can I say?!
3)AUJ for the 4th time, this time in 2D..(having seen it once in HFR--that gave me a huge headache, not doing that again! And I was perpared to love HFR too, my reactin to that I wrote last week)...2nd and 3rd time was regular 3D, and now 2D. Out of my viewing times I can't decide if I liked regular 3D or 2D best. 3D is nice for landscapes and pretty cgI, but for me M-e is supposed to be a real organic, lived-in place, with even the monsters looking real. if I want great spectacle, I'll take 3D. But for character close-ups, character scenes and indoor interaction, 2D is still the best. People just look real.
As for the film itself--I like it more and more each time, but Peter's prediliction for extended action scenes remains my only sticking point. "Fifteen birds" scene continues to look ridiculous, IMO, a flaw engendered soley by the decision to split up film 1 and change the ending, so they needed something dramatic to end with..but really? The last tree? the last branch? THE LAST PINECONE?!?! Makes the Moria sequence look like drama school. Riffing way too much on Boromir's death too...too much is deux ex machina...but I'm willing to overlook all this, as DoS is going to be a much better movie.
I just ordered the Deluxe Score, Barnes and Noble was sold out so I have to wait until the middle of the week to finally hear the Official soundtrack, what was up with the music? Apparently what we heard in the film is different in many places?? You mean there's even been contention over the SCORE!?!
On the other hand, Santa was very good to me. I finally have all the Complete LOTR Recordings, Doug's LOTR book (can't wait for the TH one), a Hobbit 2013 Calender, plus now the Hobbit AUJ Deluxe coming, and just bought the Les Miz soundtrack too. Which brings me my last film.
4)Les Miz, (twice). This I had been following, reading reviews and tracking its Oscar prospects. Overall, can I say, mightily impressed, and the critics are (mostly) full of #$*@.  Some of those reviews are politically motivated too, I've found out--for example, Lisa Schwartzbaum of Entertainment Weekly has a personal grudge against Cameron Mackintosh b/c he didn't cast Sarah Brightman in the Phantom movie. (Hello? How old is Sarah Brightman now? In her 50's? Hollywood wouldn't have had her even 5 yrs ago. Like Les Miz, the Phantom film was made too late for theater purists to be satisfied. Live with it. I've learned to. Colm Wilkinson as just the Bishop? We can all cry over what could have been, but be glad this is made at all, it was Development Hell for 27 yrs...hey be glad that Colm is going to be immortalized onscreen for all time, even in a cameo, in a movie that is going to be at least a Best Picture nominee. I couldn't be happier for him, I just wish he'd tour the U.S sometime, dang it. )
My review, since I haven't written about it yet:
--THE GOOD: First and foremost, I am delighted beyond words at how Tom Hooper stayed true to both the look and the spirit of the origional work. I love the musical, of course, but it did "Disnify" the story a bit. But being a theatrical production, there was only so much realism you could put in. I refer not to the gorgeous melodies, but..it's difficult to explain. I always wanted any film version of the musical to not pull any punches, and try to fully replicate Victor Hugo's unlikely yet mesmerizing combination of beauty and squalor, Romantic melodrama and the grittiness of Realism. Unbridled tears amidst the unrelenting misery. And those tears being tears of joy as well as sorrow, epiphany as well as despair. I couldn't be happier at all the over-the-topness of some of the performances, b/c the period squalor successfully offsets it and contains it without minimizing it . If done right, being Earnest with a capital E works, and the more the better. I'm sick and tired of post-modern, 21st-century irony and slickness, that wink-wink that comenda you to step back and not take it very seriously. The great works of art always teeter on the verge of being corny, whether it's LOTR ot Les Miserables.
As for the over-the-topness? Hey, in 200 yrs nothing's changed....we all live lives just as over-the-top as theirs, (okay, no insurrection is brewing, but the daly conflicts and struggles are the same. I can read the headlines or point to people I know, going through the same stuff. And just b/c our way of expressing ourselves is (to put it mildly) more Realistic than Romantic in this day and age doesn't change that.
Example: Fantine's death. Onstage, if you step back and look at the scene, it's ridiculous (a woman on her deathbed from TB, singing? really?) but the lyrics and melody of the Fantine/Valean duet are so beautiful I was willing to overlook the Disnification. This was one of my main sticking points with the film;;how were they going to replicate this?! But it WORKS.
Second, I am amazed at how much of the novel was squeezed into this film, some things that we didn't see in some older versions. brief suplot with Marius's grandfather, Fauchelevent (!?), Eponine walking into Marius's room, the 2 kids Gaveroche shelters in the Elephant (very briefly seen), Valjean telling Marius about his past, Thenardier and Marius/the ring...though I'm glad they switched that around to the Thenardiers crashing the wedding to tell him, and Valjean's death taking place the night of the wedding and not long after, though like the timeline in FOTR with Frodo, you had to shorten that there was no way you couldput that in a movie....little things like the doll, etc (THE DOLL!!) ...okay, I have to go now, I'll continue this review later on....more coming...
(I'll get to my critique of the performances, as well as the BAD (there really isn't an "UGLY" for me here...)
Later
(This post was edited by Sunflower on Dec 31 2012, 11:46pm)
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Kimtc
Rohan
Dec 31 2012, 11:56pm
Post #21 of 81
(483 views)
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Hope it's on AP or Netflix.
I *think* he's the only "Dwarf" whose work I checked out prior to the release of The Hobbit.
Nesbitt and Liam Neeson have the lead roles in 5 Minutes of Heaven.
No silliness here (at least of the intentional kind) --- this one is pretty gritty.
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sevilodorf
Tol Eressea
Jan 1 2013, 12:02am
Post #22 of 81
(478 views)
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The Hobbit for the second time. Catching more of the details now especially since reading the AUG chronicles book .... all the effort that went into designing packs and kits for each dwarf and then them losing them .... sheez how many times.
Lincoln... Daniel Day Lewis terrific.... David Strathairn as Seward recognized from Alphas (which I'm wondering if they will be bringing back for another season or not.) David Constabile as Ashley who was on Suits ....
Congress in those days was I think a bit more interesting than Congress today simply because they didn't mind calling each other names.... the political intrigues were interesting to watch but a bit on the slow side.
The stories and demeanor of Lincoln were done exceedingly well. And the idea that the people had taken the Gettysburg Address to heart so quickly.... though many people were disappointed when the speech were first given as they didn't think Lincoln had spoken long enough.
Suits... seasons 1 and 2 on demand prepping for season three.
Fourth Age Adventures at the Inn of the Burping Troll http://burpingtroll.com
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batik
Tol Eressea
Jan 1 2013, 12:04am
Post #23 of 81
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Yep, caught it on Netflix streaming :) //
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(This post was edited by batik on Jan 1 2013, 12:04am)
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entmaiden
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Jan 1 2013, 2:04am
Post #24 of 81
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Nesbitt has a good role in The Way
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which I saw last year.
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MistyMountain
Lorien
Jan 1 2013, 2:54am
Post #25 of 81
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Great movie! Everyone deserves an Oscar!
Also saw Hobbit for the 4th time today. My first viewing was in 2D which looked perfectly fine to me then. Then I saw it in HFR 3D and didn't think there was much difference in clarity and I really hate 3D. There always seems to be an outline (noticeable mostly around text/subtitles) or am I sitting in the wrong place in the theatre? My third viewing was in IMAX HFR 3D and the experience wasn't that different from the 2nd viewing. I thought a different theatre might make an improvement. Today I purposely went back to the 2D version and, wow, was I surprised! The 2d version was much blurrier. There really IS a distinct difference with the HFR. Everything is SO much clearer that it is hard to imagine how I didn't see it before. Now, I still do not like having to wear 3D glasses so I would be most curious to try 2D HFR. I hope they offer it next time as those glasses always give me a headache.
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