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[Spoiler Alert] Film reviews and ratings

Discussion in 'TC Media' started by Fancy Pants, Apr 1, 2009.

Discuss Film reviews and ratings in the TC Media area at TalkCeltic.net.

  1. Graeme1888

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    Just watched * or High water, really good movie. Jeff Bridges was good in it and Chris pine pretty good too. 8/10
     
  2. cfcturbo

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    Hustle 9/10 .brilliant
     
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  3. cas79

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    Aye that was good heard uncut gems is supposed to be good to no watched it yet tho

    Sent from my M2007J17G using Tapatalk
     
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  4. stew37

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    The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent - 8/10

    Enjoyed this, some really funny parts.
     
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  5. scootz

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    Top Gun 2

    Went begrudgingly as I thought the first film was utter bilge, but I'm glad I did.
    Solid entertainment and the flight sequences are worth the ticket price alone.

    8/10
     
  6. KRS-1888 Scott La Rock

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    Toy Story 2 (for the first time since 1999).

    Cool movie,not as good as the first though.
     
  7. NakamuraTastic

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    The Hidden Blade - 2004

    Watched this yesterday (Bought for £6 from Amazon). Good film. I liked it 7/10 (I'm biased as I love Samurai films)

    The trailer does it no justice, so I'll let this random bloke sum it up much better than the trailer.

    BTW, the Twilight Samurai is great too.

    Other reviewers have correctly stated that there is a remarkable similarity between the plots of 'The Twilight Samurai' and 'The Hidden Blade'. Indeed the plots are so similar that a person who had seen both movies may feel compelled to accuse the director and the creative team in general of a certain artistic laziness. However you would be wise not to rush to judgement.

    The Twilight Samurai is about a low ranking 'Squire' who has chosen to lead a 'miserable' life as a lone father, rather than marry and have the help around the house and with the children that would give him a more dignified appearance. He's in love with a lady from a higher ranking family, who is also in love with him, but societal norms of the time prevent them from being together. This goes on until Seibei (the protagonist of TTS) is ordered by his clan to kill a renegade. He will be rewarded for this service by a higher stipend and rank, which would enable him and his beloved to be together. This is the single plot-line that runs through this film.

    'The Hidden Blade', is about a Samurai and a servant girl from a low ranking family, who were once a much higher ranking. The father of the main character, Squire Kategiri, had to commit hari-kiri due to 'mistakes' he has made (in fact he had done nothing wrong) still, it was done so the rank of his family was lowered as a result.

    The servant girl and Kategiri are in love but societal norms of the time prevent them being together. This goes on until Kategiri is ordered by his clan to kill a renegade, with the help of 'uncivilised' riflemen. The renegade is a close friend, and it turns out he was not a renegade in the true sense, but rules are rules.

    The similarities between the films are only on the surface, it is the differences which are fascinating. The titles of both the films are cleverly instructive in this regard. 'The Twilight Samurai' is about change, in fact the 'hour' of change.

    'The Hidden Blade' is about status vs value. Kategiri's father may have had a blackened name, but he was honorable to the death. The senior official who ordered the death may have been highly ranked and highly respected, but he was rotten.

    Kategiri's friend may have been the better swordsman, but the technique of the 'Hidden Blade' was passed down to Kategiri rather than his friend, by their teacher Toda, a man who also renounced his status as a Samurai to be a farmer, and who appears (to dazzling effect it must be said) in the film.

    The technique of 'The Hidden Blade' was given to Kategiri because he was the wiser, more honest (as the rebels wife attests), more just man (it seems to me), and their sword fight aptly highlighted this fact. The power to dispatch whoever one wants without the possibility of getting caught is great indeed and in the wrong hands catastrophic, but Kategiri proves himself to be that rare man who is worthy of it.

    The lesson of 'The Hidden Blade' is the importance of qualities 'beneath the surface' which worldly constructions seldom take account of, tending to focus more on apparent and essentially transient values that are linked to custom (meaning that men like Kategiri's father and his friend ended up 'disgraced', while the senior officials in the film were 'respected'). However, these hidden qualities are more closely linked to the nature of man and thus survive the waning of tradition and custom and are more important to the human condition.

    In may ways, this is a typical western message but the main protagonist Kategiri exhibits a temperance and (for want of a better word) wisdom that is rarely celebrated in Western cinema. His moments of courage do not occur when he has the sword in his hand but when he repeatedly questions the high officials in public and when he effectively walks into another household and 'kidnaps' the maltreated bridge for her own safety. These actions are from a man who exhibits nothing but a kind of measured ordinary temperance throughout the rest of the film. Indeed for much of the film Kategiri is almost indistinguishable from the his friends and colleagues and there is no 'flame of nobility' behind his eyes, all his outstanding qualities are almost completely 'hidden'. This is in sharp contrast to The Twilight Samurai where Seibei has a dignity, despite his dishevelled appearance, that none of the other men in the film possess. Western cinema seldom offers us such nuanced characters.

    'The Twilight Samurai' is underpinned by a beautiful message, but that message is eclipsed by that of 'The Hidden Blade' in my opinion. However, the Twilight Samurai is more clearly defined and better acted (but maybe I think this because I am western). Even the camera work seems superior to that of 'The Hidden Blade'. I was quite surprised to learn that the 'Hidden Blade' is the later film. Sometimes, particularly self-aware artists feel the need to distance themselves from the affectation and artifice that is a necessary component of making art; actors want to act without acting and directors want to direct without directing. This may be the reason for the 'failings' in The Hidden Blade that I've mentioned.

    However, I feel that the subtle difference between these two very similar films tells us a lot about the subtlety and refinement of old fashioned Japanese artistic sensibility.



     
  8. NakamuraTastic

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    Cool - I'll catch that when it's released online. Looks super cheesy fun! I've given up the flicks now, too many idiots on phones and being twats nowadays.
     
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  9. Taz Blind Justice Gold Member News Writer

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    Jurassic World: Dominion

    Utter garbage. The writing/story is laughingly terrible - really it comes across like an afterthought. It's not like it was a rush job either - they had 5 years to come up with something after the last movie, assuming they didn't already have some ideas in place before then. Indeed, it's like the studio said here is a budget of $100m (or whatever it cost), dedicate this much to cast, this much to CGI/effects etc, and hey we have a tenner left over, can either tip the pizza delivery guy or pay someone to churn out a script, and produced this load of crap.

    There is no tension, no fear that any of the cast are ever in even the slightest danger - barely a bruise or even a scrape to show for the stroll through the proverbial park. It is literally a monster movie, where the monsters elicit no sense of danger or fear, but are barely incidental to the big bad pseudo-scientific corporation. Honestly, don't bother. :87:
     
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  10. Wllm Gold Member Gold Member

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    Watching the first JP the now and the drop off in quality between the two films, or indeed over the entire franchise is absolutely frightening.
     
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  11. paulo123

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    Just watched this, excellent film. Sandler is churning out some decent films.
     
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  12. Jacob knows Gold Member Gold Member

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    Hustle. Not a Sandler fan by any means but a really good watch.
     
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  13. Callum McGregor The Captain Gold Member

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    A fantastic film. There are a lot of subtle Asian culture references in there too that a lot of people will miss out on, especially regarding family relationships.
     
  14. Saul Goodman Gold Member Gold Member

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    Watched Hustle. Not a bad film at all but a bit cringey at times I thought. Probably give it a 7/10.
     
  15. Double Dutch

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    Watched Pulp Fiction again tonight. Big Samuel L is the * MAN.
     
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  16. jj81

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    The ledge

    No bad 6/10
     
  17. Jacob knows Gold Member Gold Member

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    Thought the relationship he had with Ben Foster was a bit overplayed. The way back with Ben Affleck is a far superior movie for me.
     
  18. NakamuraTastic

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    Getting back into Japanese learning (got to be able to understand our Japanese greats!) so I resigned up to the SD £6.99 version Netflix (perfect on a laptop) as there is a ton of Japanese content on it.

    Asakusa Kid
    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13528562/

    I really enjoyed this one. Based on the memoirs of Japan's most famous celebrity Beat Takeshi, it looks at his early years on the Japanese comedy scene before he became a super famous actor and director.

    I also watched a pretty ok Yakuza film about a bloke getting into the Yakuza and then trying to get out of it.
    'A Family or Yakuza and the Family' - It has two titles.

    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13356884/
     
  19. Taz Blind Justice Gold Member News Writer

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    Lightyear

    Dull and devoid of any of the wit and charm of the first 3 Toy Story movies, and even the 4th is so, so much better than this. Indeed I'd go so far as to say this is amongst the worst films Pixar has made, along with the likes of Cars 2 & 3 and the Good Dinosaur. What a waste.
     
  20. Colin Robinson Gold Member Gold Member

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    The Black Phone

    Was pretty decent, but quite shallow. Which is a shame as the potential was there. Acting was solid. 7/10

    A guy did have a pretty brutal seizure in our screening so it was interrupted by a good 30 mins. Vue were great though. Staff handled it really well and gave everyone vouchers to see another film at any time.