Lavinda Past
Well-Known Member
It is. It's timeless. The funniest film made since Laurel and Hardy packed up.
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Last Film You Saw
- Thread starter FantasyIreland
- Start date
It is. It's timeless. The funniest film made since Laurel and Hardy packed up.
Lavinda Past
Well-Known Member
Have you ever watched them? If not how can you judge them?
I had to take the kids to see every LOTR film.
I honestly fell asleep in every one. Haven't managed to sit through a full one when they watched it at home. Awful stories, awful film making imo.
Don't even get me started on that Harry Potter shite....
Bigga
Well-Known Member
Very interesting post. I had problems with the film and understand your reservations (I don't rate Kirsten Dunst as much of an actress, for example). But I think if the movie had a message, it might have been to to do with the manner in which the media and the camera in particular turn us into passive voyeurs.
So it didn't make me think of Apocalypse Now (Civil War lacks a Kurtz) and the Dennis Hopper character so much as the photographer in Antonioni's Blow Up.
Would be interested to know what real life war correspondents/photo journalists made of it.
The one I know best is the veteran Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk, who is no longer with us. He was an avowed pacifist who claimed that we all would be if the TV channels showed what he had seen up close and personal.
Here's an example of his writing from his book Pity The Nation about the Lebanese Civil War. It describes the immediate aftermath of the Sabra & Shatila Massacre. Be warned - it's very graphic.
SABRA AND SHATILA By Robert Fisk
www.countercurrents.org
Reading it didn't make me pro-Palestinian. But it did make me realize that the IDF reside in exactly the same moral sewer as the PLO, Hamas, Islamic Jihad et al.
Those scenes with Jesse Plemons, by the way. It's worth seeing just for those.
So, I watched "Civil War" the other day and I got a little bit biased with the commentary in the thread saying there was no story and it was shit.
Interestingly, I agree with your viewpoint on the film when I had a think at what I saw, after stripping away the comments mentioned.
It seemed to me the 'civil war' was mostly about the journey of the journalists, past and present (the viewer sees this played out between the two females at the start and end of careers). Inner emotions of what they do, how they cope and how anything deeply emotive is 'put away' to go again for the next ride. The coping mechanisms catch up though and I think that's the 'civil war' within them buried inside the chaos of the film's capturing of the civil war ongoing.
It's hard to see cos it's messy and a thinker of a film, but yeah, the actual civil war is in and around the journalists.
Mayor West
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Tried 'The Fall Guy', gave it an hour, turned it off. What an incredibly dull 'action' movie.
Kippax Street 1880
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Watched a good few films last few days.
In the land of saints and sinners 8/10
Enjoyed it a lot, best Liam Neeson film since Taken, excellent supporting cast aswell. Good to see Joffrey from Game of Thrones back acting again! Very well paced, interesting plot that doesn't hit many flat spots.
Sleeping Dogs 5/10
Russel crowe playing retired cop with alzheimers going back to an old case. It's alright but it's a bit TV movie and relentlessly depressing.
The Dry 6/10
Australian drama with Eric bana going back to his hometown after a murder suicide of his childhood friend. Passes an evening.
Late Night with the Devil 7/10
Clever film how its set as a 70s talk show, found it very watchable, would have a higher rating but the ending was stupid as fuck.
In the land of saints and sinners 8/10
Enjoyed it a lot, best Liam Neeson film since Taken, excellent supporting cast aswell. Good to see Joffrey from Game of Thrones back acting again! Very well paced, interesting plot that doesn't hit many flat spots.
Sleeping Dogs 5/10
Russel crowe playing retired cop with alzheimers going back to an old case. It's alright but it's a bit TV movie and relentlessly depressing.
The Dry 6/10
Australian drama with Eric bana going back to his hometown after a murder suicide of his childhood friend. Passes an evening.
Late Night with the Devil 7/10
Clever film how its set as a 70s talk show, found it very watchable, would have a higher rating but the ending was stupid as fuck.
The only films worse than LOTR are Star Wars, WTF, how anyone can take them seriously is beyond me.I had to take the kids to see every LOTR film.
I honestly fell asleep in every one. Haven't managed to sit through a full one when they watched it at home. Awful stories, awful film making imo.
Don't even get me started on that Harry Potter shite....
Great point. Although with that said I thought both characters seemed paper thin in terms of what led them there or drove them. Both seemed more interested in capturing the prize of a really cool photo than in telling the truth. If the purpose was to convey their struggles I think they could have done a better job. But I still thought that it was a very decent war journalism fiction.So, I watched "Civil War" the other day and I got a little bit biased with the commentary in the thread saying there was no story and it was shit.
Interestingly, I agree with your viewpoint on the film when I had a think at what I saw, after stripping away the comments mentioned.
It seemed to me the 'civil war' was mostly about the journey of the journalists, past and present (the viewer sees this played out between the two females at the start and end of careers). Inner emotions of what they do, how they cope and how anything deeply emotive is 'put away' to go again for the next ride. The coping mechanisms catch up though and I think that's the 'civil war' within them buried inside the chaos of the film's capturing of the civil war ongoing.
It's hard to see cos it's messy and a thinker of a film, but yeah, the actual civil war is in and around the journalists.
Thanks for the heads upBlazing Saddles on BBC4 tonight at 10pm.
Haven't watched it in a good while.
Interesting to see if its as funny now as when it first came out.
Bigga
Well-Known Member
Great point. Although with that said I thought both characters seemed paper thin in terms of what led them there or drove them. Both seemed more interested in capturing the prize of a really cool photo than in telling the truth. If the purpose was to convey their struggles I think they could have done a better job. But I still thought that it was a very decent war journalism fiction.
I agree it could have been done better, but I think the director has intentionally hidden the story within a story.
The more I think of it, the more I'm convinced about it. The 'main' story is an intentional distraction. We don't know the president's name, what side he's on or what the war is about at all. I think this bit is the bit confusing people.
The director has to address the war through the crazy interaction on the ground with different types of 'soldiers'. He doesn't give a fuck about that. It's filler, but that's what sold the audience through the trailer, so he fucked it for himself, really.
Character development came in that short spell of growth and despair travelling; what made them now, not went before. Before doesn't matter anymore and that's clear in the 'Lee' character's arc continued through to 'Anya' (?); kind of phoenix-like.
Again, just what I see/ saw.
Like I say, it's too clever for itself, but I understand the decisions made.
Bigg Bigg Blue
Well-Known Member
So after all the bits the BBC don't like are cut out it will be on for about 30 seconds.Blazing Saddles on BBC4 tonight at 10pm.
Haven't watched it in a good while.
Interesting to see if its as funny now as when it first came out.