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Critical Mass
Dynagrip
destroy everything you touchRegistered User, ClubPA regular
destroy everything you touchRegistered User, ClubPA regular
I have recently started writing reviews again...and well, matthasaproblem got me The Critic for the Secret Satan thing...anyhoo, I thought that we could start a thread where we share various reviews. Movies are probably easiest.
Now this isn't a what are you watching, or going to watch/read, whatever thread. Provide a preview.
Here are some samples of my "work".
[quote=SW Ep III]George Lucas is a giant fat head. He's got the Death Star of skulls. The only thing larger than his bulbous head is his ego. The man is hubris incarnate. Hell, I bet Zeus would masturbate frenetically at the thought of Lucas's eventual comeuppance. All of that aside, Mr. Fathead has finally made another Star Wars movie that is worth watching. Some people might even call it excellent. Shocking, I know.
As Episode III opens, we see the Republic locked into a bitter struggle with the Separatists. General Grievous, an asthmatic and possibly Russian super cyborg has kidnapped Chancellor Palpatine. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker charge off to save the day, as Jedi often do. Anakin's rescue and interaction with Palpatine then sets off a series of unfortunate events, culminating in his transformation into the clad in black badass we all know and love. Oh, and Padme is preggers.
The action, space and landbased, was much more enthralling than what we were exposed to in the other prequels. Lucas finally gives us a great starship battle and he puts it right at the beginning of the movie. Thanks, Fathead! Even better, it's not ruined by an irritating little shit precociously saving the day. Fuck, I hate little kids in movies. I do like watching capital ships blast each other with abandon as their crews are sucked out into the void. The vacuum of space is a harsh mistress and we'd all be wise to learn this lesson. There are Wookies and they do kick some ass, but don't worry, Lucas practiced some restraint and you won't have to endure an hour long furry fanservice festival.
The light saber brawls were impressive, most impressive. Obi-Wan is quick to chop a limb off. I would have enjoyed seeing a few more examples of offensive use of the Force, but that's a little nitpicky. One thing I've wondered about is why don't the Jedi turn off the other guy's light saber during a duel? Do they have anti-Force locks on the suckers? I think it'd be a great move. "Nice block... if I hadn't switched off your saber, chump!" It is kind of silly watching the Emperor fool around with a light saber. He looks more like a greeter at Wal-Mart than a fearsome fighter. Maybe if he used a light walker to fend off his opponents. Yeah, I'd buy that.
The acting and the dialog are not the best that you will ever catch on the big screen; however, McGregor has improved upon his performance as Obi-Wan and you can really see what a wily bastard he is. I love how although he's not the strongest or the best fighter out there, he makes up for it in trickiness. Hayden Christensen is still pouty as Anakin, but he's no longer courting Padme so there's little talk of sand and how it is unlike human skin. I think Portman may have been pumped full of Valium during shooting. Her acting in the prequels has been a remarkably spot on impersonation of a two-by-four. I really have to wonder what Lucas does to his actors before he begins shooting. CG Yoda was actually a cool character this time around. Sure, he once again busts out with Super Force Kung Fu, but it wasn't nearly as laughable as the stuff in Episode II. Perhaps the technology has improved or maybe it was the choreography. Difficult to say, it is.
I thought the nods to the vehicles of the original trilogy were great and added a lot for fans of the original trilogy. Space fighters bear a distinct resemblance to X-Wings and TIE Fighters. Troop transports are clearly evolving towards AT-AT impressiveness/foolishness. It was a fairly subtle homage, especially for Lucas. The opening battle provides a great showcase for the ancestral designs. I hope they make a space fighter simulator from this movie. I loved the old X-Wing and TIE Fighter games.
It's refreshing to not cringe for two and a half hours as I watch a new Star Wars movie. Don't get me wrong, this movie is not flawless, but there are far fewer "What the fuck were you thinking, Lucas?" moments. See this in theaters you must. [/quote]
[quote=Hackers]
My Catholic upbringing surfaces in odd ways from time to time. One such way is the desire to serve penance for real and imagined sins. I have no fucking idea what I must have done to have felt the need to watch Hackers from beginning to end.
Bad does not begin to describe this movie. Gut wrenchingly awful is closer to the reality, but even then, I don't think I'm doing the movie justice. There are many things wrong with this movie. Its use of slang is appalling, the age of the cast is woefully inappropriate for highschool students, and the costumes are uniformly stupid. It's as if some grossly retarded refugee of the Paris fashion circuit escaped with a secondhand account of Xtreme sports' outfits and set about to make his mark on the Hollywood costume scene.
The promised glimpse of Angelina Jolie's breasts is inadequate to maintain interest in this movie. The actors/actresses are horrid with Lorraine Bracco and Matthew Lillard being the worst of the bunch. Lillard is awful as usual. He plays a shrill-voiced, whacked out technoprophet named Cereal Killer. I would pay good money to spend some quality time with Lillard and a baseball bat, but I digress. The use of flashy graphics to describe the hackers' intricate computer world is annoying and trite. There is no emoticon that adequately expresses my disgust at watching a virus labelled "Cookie Monster" chomp down on doughy bits of data.
Despite it's mountainous pile of flaws, Hackers does have one good feature and that's the soundtrack. So kudos to whoever put that together, assuming that they haven't killed themselves out of shame for being attached to this project.
With all of its faults, it's hard to pick out one thing that is especially bad, but that won't stop me from trying. The dialog earns the honor of most godawful thing that weaves this pile of shit into one spectacular tapestry. Peppered with phrases such as "elite" and "hacking the Gibson," you'll wish you had never learned the English language. I can only hope that Hackers has not been translated into too many other tongues. If it has, our politicians will have their hands full in trying to contain the damage. [/quote]
Now this isn't a what are you watching, or going to watch/read, whatever thread. Provide a preview.
Here are some samples of my "work".
[quote=SW Ep III]George Lucas is a giant fat head. He's got the Death Star of skulls. The only thing larger than his bulbous head is his ego. The man is hubris incarnate. Hell, I bet Zeus would masturbate frenetically at the thought of Lucas's eventual comeuppance. All of that aside, Mr. Fathead has finally made another Star Wars movie that is worth watching. Some people might even call it excellent. Shocking, I know.
As Episode III opens, we see the Republic locked into a bitter struggle with the Separatists. General Grievous, an asthmatic and possibly Russian super cyborg has kidnapped Chancellor Palpatine. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker charge off to save the day, as Jedi often do. Anakin's rescue and interaction with Palpatine then sets off a series of unfortunate events, culminating in his transformation into the clad in black badass we all know and love. Oh, and Padme is preggers.
The action, space and landbased, was much more enthralling than what we were exposed to in the other prequels. Lucas finally gives us a great starship battle and he puts it right at the beginning of the movie. Thanks, Fathead! Even better, it's not ruined by an irritating little shit precociously saving the day. Fuck, I hate little kids in movies. I do like watching capital ships blast each other with abandon as their crews are sucked out into the void. The vacuum of space is a harsh mistress and we'd all be wise to learn this lesson. There are Wookies and they do kick some ass, but don't worry, Lucas practiced some restraint and you won't have to endure an hour long furry fanservice festival.
The light saber brawls were impressive, most impressive. Obi-Wan is quick to chop a limb off. I would have enjoyed seeing a few more examples of offensive use of the Force, but that's a little nitpicky. One thing I've wondered about is why don't the Jedi turn off the other guy's light saber during a duel? Do they have anti-Force locks on the suckers? I think it'd be a great move. "Nice block... if I hadn't switched off your saber, chump!" It is kind of silly watching the Emperor fool around with a light saber. He looks more like a greeter at Wal-Mart than a fearsome fighter. Maybe if he used a light walker to fend off his opponents. Yeah, I'd buy that.
The acting and the dialog are not the best that you will ever catch on the big screen; however, McGregor has improved upon his performance as Obi-Wan and you can really see what a wily bastard he is. I love how although he's not the strongest or the best fighter out there, he makes up for it in trickiness. Hayden Christensen is still pouty as Anakin, but he's no longer courting Padme so there's little talk of sand and how it is unlike human skin. I think Portman may have been pumped full of Valium during shooting. Her acting in the prequels has been a remarkably spot on impersonation of a two-by-four. I really have to wonder what Lucas does to his actors before he begins shooting. CG Yoda was actually a cool character this time around. Sure, he once again busts out with Super Force Kung Fu, but it wasn't nearly as laughable as the stuff in Episode II. Perhaps the technology has improved or maybe it was the choreography. Difficult to say, it is.
I thought the nods to the vehicles of the original trilogy were great and added a lot for fans of the original trilogy. Space fighters bear a distinct resemblance to X-Wings and TIE Fighters. Troop transports are clearly evolving towards AT-AT impressiveness/foolishness. It was a fairly subtle homage, especially for Lucas. The opening battle provides a great showcase for the ancestral designs. I hope they make a space fighter simulator from this movie. I loved the old X-Wing and TIE Fighter games.
It's refreshing to not cringe for two and a half hours as I watch a new Star Wars movie. Don't get me wrong, this movie is not flawless, but there are far fewer "What the fuck were you thinking, Lucas?" moments. See this in theaters you must. [/quote]
[quote=Hackers]
My Catholic upbringing surfaces in odd ways from time to time. One such way is the desire to serve penance for real and imagined sins. I have no fucking idea what I must have done to have felt the need to watch Hackers from beginning to end.
Bad does not begin to describe this movie. Gut wrenchingly awful is closer to the reality, but even then, I don't think I'm doing the movie justice. There are many things wrong with this movie. Its use of slang is appalling, the age of the cast is woefully inappropriate for highschool students, and the costumes are uniformly stupid. It's as if some grossly retarded refugee of the Paris fashion circuit escaped with a secondhand account of Xtreme sports' outfits and set about to make his mark on the Hollywood costume scene.
The promised glimpse of Angelina Jolie's breasts is inadequate to maintain interest in this movie. The actors/actresses are horrid with Lorraine Bracco and Matthew Lillard being the worst of the bunch. Lillard is awful as usual. He plays a shrill-voiced, whacked out technoprophet named Cereal Killer. I would pay good money to spend some quality time with Lillard and a baseball bat, but I digress. The use of flashy graphics to describe the hackers' intricate computer world is annoying and trite. There is no emoticon that adequately expresses my disgust at watching a virus labelled "Cookie Monster" chomp down on doughy bits of data.
Despite it's mountainous pile of flaws, Hackers does have one good feature and that's the soundtrack. So kudos to whoever put that together, assuming that they haven't killed themselves out of shame for being attached to this project.
With all of its faults, it's hard to pick out one thing that is especially bad, but that won't stop me from trying. The dialog earns the honor of most godawful thing that weaves this pile of shit into one spectacular tapestry. Peppered with phrases such as "elite" and "hacking the Gibson," you'll wish you had never learned the English language. I can only hope that Hackers has not been translated into too many other tongues. If it has, our politicians will have their hands full in trying to contain the damage. [/quote]
Dynagrip on
Posts
Very professional.
Fun to read.
Like any great author, Michael Swanwick's work is hard to pin down. On its surface, Stations of the Tide is clearly a science fiction novel. Yet it reads like a fever dream. Vivid, bright, and at times hard to follow. It may take a bit of concentration to follow its convolutions but diligent readers will be well rewarded.
Miranda is a water world, periodically drowned by what are known as "Jubilee Tides." The planet has a tragic past, shrouded in mystery and lore. Tricksters, shapeshifters, and rogue wizards intermingle. Are they as they claim or merely the product of an overtaxed mind? The bureaucrat is plunged into this world to track Gregorian, a man believed to have smuggled contraband technology planetside. The bureaucrat remains nameless, a diligent servant of a monolithic institution with more layers than a wedding cake. His beliefs, sanity, and mettle are tested at every turn as he must overcome the obstacles Gregorian tosses into his path as well as the seductive charm of this moribund world.
The writing is amazing. Swanwick exhibits an easy mastery of the written word as he paints a canvas of amazing complexity concealed in the murk of history. The book is surprisingly short considering how much ground it covers. Religion, madness, identity, freedom of information, megalomania, and technology gone buckwild are a few of the highlights. My only complaint with Stations of the Tide is that was over far too quick. Right as I felt that I had gained a cursory understanding of this shimmering world I hit the back cover and the sociopathic portrait of the author. Parts of the novel are confusing, especially the interulude in the Puzzle Palace, a vast construct that serves as a governing body and data center for an untold number of satellites and outposts. However, this ambiguity does make Swanwick's novels ripe for multiple readings.
If you couldn't already tell from my giddy review, I think Stations of the Tide is a brilliant piece of fiction and worth the effort involved in finding a copy. It's a shame that a Nebula Award winning novel of only a few years ago has been pushed out of print as Robert Jordan singlehandedly deforests a continent. Then again, many people enjoy safe, comfortable tedium, something that Michael Swanwick is ill equipped to provide. [/quote]
[quote=Transformation]Transformation was recommended to me by a girl...A girl that asked me out on a date on my birthday. Afterwards, she promptly ceased talking to me. So, if during this review, I call the author a whore, I'm sure it's merely a slip of the tongue.
Anyway, Transformation is your basic escapist fantasy written by girls for girls. The main character is incredibly effeminate. The wonderful and to be emulated society is matriarchal. Hey, ladies, if that was the way to go how come no 1st world nations use that system? Oh, I know, because it wouldn't fucking work. Well, whatever. The writing is somewhat competent. It's overly florid and descriptive and there's certainly better to be found out there. George R. R. Martin for instance writes amazing fantasy. Then again, he's not trying to appeal to fat, depressed housewives or introverted teenage girls, which if I had to bet, are Carol Berg's target demographic.
So, the basic plot is thus. Seyonne is a powerful magician. He gets captured, enslaved, and seemingly has his powers stripped from him. He then becomes the plaything of the haughty prince Aleksander. After some misunderstandings and homoerotic situations, they bond and overcome a dangerous threat from demon invaders. Pretty basic. As hinted at previously, Carol Berg can't write male characters for shit. Seyonne is pretty much a girl, except he happens to have a cock. The combat scenes are pretty silly and flowery. That's to be expected when they take place on the battleground of the human soul....ooooooheeeewhooooo!
Well, this book is very flawed. If you're a lonely girl and you find yourself strongly attracted to guy on guy bondage, chocolate, and trite fantasy plots, you'll love it. If you have more than half a brain, you're probably better off checking out any of a number of authors that are actually competent. For instance, George R. R. Martin, Raymond E. Feist, Anne McCaffrey can actually write. They don't resort to guys shackling each other up to a wall and establishing kinked relationships to bring in the readers. This review was brought to you by alcohol and bitterness.[/quote]
Maddie: "I am not!"
Riley: "You're a marsupial!"
Maddie: "I am a placental mammal!"
Broken Arrow was an affront to cinema, but I liked Face/Off, in spite of Travolta's legendary suckage.
Okay, and the whole face-wiping thing as a gesture of affection was the epitome of dumb.
Maddie: "I am not!"
Riley: "You're a marsupial!"
Maddie: "I am a placental mammal!"
[quote=Kicking and Screaming]Kicking and Screaming is a low-budget movie about a group of friends entering into a different phase of life. Written and directed by Noah Baumbach, it's filled with great dialog and characters that come across as real people. No Kevin Smith-style zany monologues here. It's funny and definitely worth an hour and a half of your time.
The movie opens at a senior banquet of some sort. It's the last night Grover (Josh Hamilton) and his girlfriend Jane, played by Olivia D'Abo, will see each other. She's headed off to Prague while he's going to while away the year stuck in a rut with his friends. You've got Otis (Carlos Jacott), a bit of a doofus that is eager to please. The bartender/perpetual student is played by Eric Stoltz. He also serves as a font of wisdom from time to time. Parker Posey the Indie Queen plays Miami, the girlfriend of Skippy (Jason Wiles). Her part is pretty small but it serves as a catalyst to the group's inevitable disintergration. Chris Eigeman plays Max, a really sarcastic and bitter bastard. I must say he was easily my favorite character in the movie. I guess that's because I identify with him and some of the crap he pulls is similar to my shenanigans.
This is a pretty sedate movie. There's no flashy cinematography or amazing sets. If you're expecting explosions and gunfire, you'll be sorely disappointed. The soundtrack doesn't really stand out, except for the final song by Freedy Johnston, Bad Reputation. There are some emotional moments here and there, but they're pretty understated. It's basically a group of people clinging to each other out of habit. There's a lot of sitting around at bars, in apartments, wherever. School's ended, they need to start growing up, but they're trying to delay it as long as possible. Grover finds respite from adulthood by sleeping with freshmen. Otis takes up a job at a videostore. Skippy tries to hang onto the college life by taking random classes and spending an inordinate amount of time in his girlfriend's dormroom. Kicking and Screaming is also intercut with backwards flashbacks of Grover and Jane's time together. They add a bittersweet air to the movie and flesh out Grover nicely. The dialog really works well in this movie, which is a good thing considering how much of it there is. The scenes with Max and Otis are particularly funny as are the embarrassing moments shared between Grover and his Dad, played by Elliot Gould.
I really enjoyed this movie. I've probably seen it close to 5 or 6 times, all on televsion. For some reason it's not on DVD yet, which pisses me off. I suppose I liked it because in some ways it mirrored my experience in college. Mostly the stuff that happened with Max. If you happen to rent this one and enjoy it, I'd recommend Metropolitan and Mr. Jealousy as well. [/quote]
[quote=Homeworld 2]
Majestic capital ships in a slow dance as their main cannon pound at each other. Bombers zipping around picket ships to deliver their lethal payload. Energy arcing through nebula and cascading off ships. With Homeworld 2, you too can set up your own naval engagements in the vacuum of space.
Homeworld 2 is the sequel to the groundbreaking game that uh, preceeded it. It doesn?t feel like a true sequel however, more like an expansion. Anyone familiar with Homeworld will be able to instantly jump into Homeworld 2 with only a cursory glance at the manual. Despite it?s lack of innovation, it?s still a solid game with some welcome additions, such as the ability to target subsystems on the larger ships. The graphics are also noticeably improved but not as much as you?d expect when compared to 1999 precursor.
Homeworld 2 is not without its faults. For one, the story is pretty much garbage. We?re given no decent characters to sympathize with, most of the cutscenes are crap and repetitive. For instance, it always seems like your fleet is making a clandestine assault on an impregnable stronghold, but wait, your fleet intelligence has identified a weak spot! There?s also much in the plot that?s not explained. I?ve heard that if you had spent your time surfing the official HW2 forums that all of those apparent plot holes would make sense, and the story would come together. That sounds like the fucking Donnie Darko of videogames to me. The missions are also quite uninspired. In Homeworld there were moments of genuine suspense. Nothing delivers that "oh shit" feeling like watching a large, alien ship of unknown capability bear down on your fragile mothership. There?s nothing in this game that matches that.
Even with the flawed single player experience, the multiplayer portion of the game makes this a worthwhile purchase. Much fun is to be had in watching your fleet hyper out behind your enemy?s flagship as your battlecruisers let lose with beams of deadly coherent energy. There?s also a fairly intricate research tree and numerous build orders that you can use as you try to keep your ships from becoming drifting hulks. It appears that for the most part, I haven?t gotten the hang of this, but I still like to watch the colorful explosions as my previously impressive armada gets mowed down.
Homeworld 2 is not the game it should have been. It?s predecessor is clearly the superior game. However, it?s still one of the prettiest games on the market and considering Lucas?s bullshit insistence on not putting epic space battles on the bigscreen, it?s the only way you?ll be able to scratch that itch for hot cruiser-on-cruiser action.[/quote]
Here is my Life After God review.
I have the feeling you are forgetting the most important complaint about this game. It has everything to do with the "progressive difficulty" they opted for. It comes down to the following:
Based on how much ships you have at the end of a mission, the strength and numbers of your enemies in the next mission are determined. This would all be fine and dandy if it worked. It didn't, if you won one mission and had a few Ion Cannons parked around, you would face such a fierce enemy in the next that you would loose. The only way to counter this was to destroy a few of your ships at the end of your missions.
Maybe the biggest flaw in the whole system was that it was so obvious; you would completely own the first mission, get your ass handed to you a lot in the second mission, barely survive and then have a cakewalk in the third mission. This would continue to be the case until finally the difficulty was so high that it was not possible to even try to beat the next mission.
I needed a nemesis. Cool.
Maddie: "I am not!"
Riley: "You're a marsupial!"
Maddie: "I am a placental mammal!"
Oh hells yes.
More material to come later.
[quote=Collateral]I didn't go into this movie with very high expectations. With Michael Mann at the helm I was hoping for Heat-Lite and that's pretty much what I got.
Tom Cruise plays Vincent, a mechanical contract killer with a packed schedule. Jamie Foxx is Max the cab driver, who ends up along for the ride. I'm not a huge Cruise fan, but he did a good job in this movie. Much has been made of Foxx's growth as an actor. I can't really speak to that. His character was sympathetic and he provided adequate comic relief, but the development towards the end seemed rather jarring.
Like Heat, Michael Mann spends some time developing the bad guys as well as the cops that are trying to catch them. In Collateral's case I'd say he didn't spend enough time with the cops, maybe they should have been cut out altogether. Their scenes were wedged into place with a crowbar. Much of the movie takes place in a cab, so it does get a little slow. The highlight of the movie was the scene in the nightclub. I wish I had been paying more attention to it because I kind of lost track of some of the action.
The soundtrack was rather odd, almost like it was a parody of actual music. Some of the product placements were a little too blatant. Like the long slow shot of the Barcadi Silver ad on top of the cab. They also snuck in a 3 minute Mercedes Benz commercial.
Although not without its flaws, Collateral was worth the price of admission. My biggest complaint would be that it didn't feel like Michael Mann really exerted himself. It was as if he just threw together some of his signature moves. On the bright side, time I spent watching this was time that I didn't spend yielding to the awful temptation that is AVP. [/quote]
Here is one for Troy. Kusuguttai hated it. I loved it.
[quote=Leonidas of Two Bit]I was real excited when I first heard about this move. I love the Greek epics and the Iliad is right up there for me. This movie had a great cast, beautiful trailers and enticing gossip about its production mishaps. Once it came out though, only a steady stream of negative feedback reached my eyes and ears. What the hell, internet people? I loved this movie.
Troy stars Brad Pitt as the Prima Donna Achilles. He is as deadly as he is beautiful. Brian Cox is the biggest pain in Achilles' heel, the great king Agamemnon. Orlando Bloom is the pretty bow-wielding Paris of Troy and Eric Bana plays his bad ass brother, Hector the Protector, Prince of Troy and my favorite character by far in the movie. Sean Bean appears as Odysseus but his role is so damn minor. Oh, and Peter O'Toole played King Priam. O'Toole is one of those guys that I have assumed died at some random point over the past 15 years. The dude is still kicking. Wolfgang Petersen of Das Boot directed this epic swords and sand flick.
I do not wish to go over a plot synopsis. I mean, I can, but the thought of a reader that has no idea of what Troy is already about, well, that saddens me. Ok, girding my loins like Hector did prior to facing off against Achilles. Troy is the story of two empires colliding and the men that surge up to the surface or get crushed utterly in the maelstrom of this conflict. Homer tells us that the Trojan War started because of an unfaithful wife, Helen, running off with handsome but not so bright, Paris. This movie sticks with that basic frame story, but adds real life rationale for the war such as Agamemnon being a greedy prick. Anyhoo, war starts, Achilles kills, sulks, kills some more and Hector stays a total awesome guy throughout.
Now, as to why I liked it. Ok, Troy looked great. The use of CG was understated and I only caught it noticeably in the scene with the Greek ships making towards the soon to be torched Troy. The fight scenes were really pretty damn good, even if Achilles' bouts got somewhat repetitive.
For a movie about one of the most massive/greatest wars ever, it didn't rely on battles alone to carry it along. There was a fair amount of character development. Sure, it wasn't all that subtle, but it worked more than well enough. The cinematography was quite alluring, though I would have preferred to see more of the Trojan countryside. I am not sure what the place was like back then but somehow I do not think so many men would have taken up swords over a semi-arid coastal kingdom.
So, the too long; didn't read version of my Troy review. I really liked the movie, the main actors were good and none of them were distracting from the rest of the movie and the cinematography worked well, although it wasn't innovative or anything. If you like watching near naked men hack away at each other with various objects, then check this one out, like slowly all up and down.[/quote]
Anyone want to write a review of that movie?
faceoff is a Snakes on a Plane movie. it's just to awesomely terrible. my ex and i took up the Face/Off "facewipe" after we saw it, 'cause it's too sweet not to.
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i don't want to rip my own spine out of my body, so i haven't ventured out to see that one.
EDIT: will review The Prestige or something tomorrow.
I am tired and about to recrash, so like, the formatting is all fucked.
Speaking of marketing...
Troy... was OK. I like Rose Byrne, because I am a patriotic Aussie, and I like Eric Bana for the same reason. Personally, though, I would have liked something that stuck a bit closer to Homer... particularly, the Gods are everywhere in the Homeric version; I would've liked Gods in the flick, too. And maybe... I dunno. I feel like one of the greatest works of literature in English deserves to be made into a film that isn't just swords and sandals but has some actual writing in it, or something.
EDIT: Actually, through most of Feral's review, I'm thinking, "Exactly. Awesome, right? Wait... you're saying that isn't good?"
Want another one? Your writing style is offensive. I've seen ten year olds produce more coherent papers, and with far less gratuitous profanity. gtfo!
In English?
The Ilias is for a sizeable part "person A impales person B, person C slices person D", etc. I agree that some important parts of the book were left out/changed unncessarily, but the focus on battles was valid.
[quote=Leonidas on City of God]There are times when I'm really glad I was born middle class and white in a developed country. I'd like to think I could handle overwhelming odds and discrimination and still do well, but I'd much rather not put that theory to the test. Also, I've got a thing for the finer things in life such as electricity and indoor plumbing. City of God is the kind of film that makes you realize how much you have compared to so many others. It's also a great fucking movie.
City of God is the story of two boys, Rocket and Lil' Dice. They start from the same place, but their paths quickly diverge. Rocket uses his brains and camera to lift himself up while Lil' Dice is more partial to swift and blinding violence as a means to an end. I suppose both methods have their (dis)advantages. Photography is fun, but it would be cool to have your own fiefdom fueled by drugs and blood. Oh well, I guess I'll stick with playing Grand Theft Auto.
For some reason I expected this movie to be somber and dramatic. I knew the basic outline of the plot so I figured that would be the most sensible approach. The film makers disagreed, and man were they right. City of God is beautiful, vibrant, and visceral like a punch to the gut from a... uh... ballerina? I think that analogy works. I guess I shouldn't write the vocabulary section to the SATs. The actors were damn good although they're all unknown to me. Maybe they're up and comers in the Brazilian movie scene. I didn't even know there was a Brazilian movie scene until I watched this film.
I've got a high tolerance to violence in entertainment, but City of God pushes even my limits from time to time. It's not that it's particularly gory, it's just that the perpetrators are so fucking depraved and evil. They run the gamut from cops casually gunning down the wrong man to cuckolded husbands beating their wives to death with shovels. It's clear that City of God is a shit vacation spot and has no place on postcards.
City of God is never saccharine or boring, in spite of the basic triumph of humanity storyline. That's a major achievement. An American studio would have been tempted to play up the melodrama and cue the orchestral music to jerk some tears. City of God dismisses those cheap kind of bullshit tactics and cheerfully goes about its way, hopping from foot to to foot as it grooves to salsa music.
This movie definitely belongs in the canon of great Latin movies, along with Amores Perros and Motorcycle Diaries (which I haven't seen, but I hear it's great). Watch this flick, even if you have to gun down a priest and pry it from his still warm grasp... or go to a Blockbuster. [/quote]