Open Discussion – August 19, 2009
Aug 19, 2009 by Vic HoltremanIt’s Wednesday again, time for our regularly scheduled open discussion post.
As usual – talk about whatever you like as long as it’s related to movies, …
It’s Wednesday again, time for our regularly scheduled open discussion post.
As usual – talk about whatever you like as long as it’s related to movies, TV or Screen Rant itself – just remember to play nice.
Around the web:
Loading ...
Sorry, that was meant to be $500 million.
I really like the Thomas Jane Punisher film. It was a fun movie. I have yet to see Warzone, but I think it’s in my Netflix queue.
I finally watched Paul Blart: Mall Cop last night and was actually surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Yup, there was stupid humor, but Kevin James really pulled it off. The mustache kept cracking me up. I just wish he would lose some weight so he doesn’t end up leaving the planet early like John Candy and Chris Farley.
Kevin James is a funny guy, but Mall Cop? It was Awful, really, really awful. What an unfunny, uninspired piece of crap vehicle, and I think its another from Adam Sandler’s production company… ugh crap making crap making crap!!!
The only thing more painful than wasting my life watching Mall cop was watching the equally crappy Obsessed. Why oh why did I do it? Beyonce should NEVER ACT AGAIN!!!!
If you want a good “mall” movie, get Career Opportunities. At least Jennifer Conelly rides a coin-operated pony, now that’s quality entertainment.
In relation to the Walking Dead series coming, has anyone seen the BBC Zombie series “Dead Set”?
It also takes place during a zombie outbreak.
Here is the synopsis
BIG BROTHER gets a NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD makeover in horror spin-off DEAD SET. The action takes place during a fictional series of the reality TV show, with stories unfolding both on camera in the ‘house’ and with the staff behind the scenes. When a zombie outbreak occurs the contestants are blissfully unaware inside their secure little bubble, a bubble which soon becomes a fortress when outsiders seek refuge from the walking undead. Inevitably, the infection spreads into the ‘house’, turning the popularity contest into a scene of carnage, with cast and crew uniting to escape the ultimate ‘eviction’.
Annoying reality show contestants eaten alive by zombies….what’s not to love?!
Here’s the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OErUbThn4pg
Has everyone recovered from District 9? I mean….it has taken a while to process what we have all witnessed. Does anyone else feel this will be an all time Sci-Fi Classic?
Haven’t seen D-9 yet. Want to badly, I’m just scared of the possible vomitorium effects a-la “Cloverfield”. Yeah, I understand _why_ the film was like it was, I just didn’t appreciate it, and the incessant use of the home video effect destroyed my suspension of disbelief. Then there was the end… From what I hear though D-9 has a bit of relief from Handcam Hell with momentary oasis of steady-cam.
If there is one thing I loath in recent cinema it is this “real-life” cam. I go to big budget films to SEE what I PAID FOR. I don’t want a car chase filmed by a head-cam on an epileptic monkey in a three-wheeled shopping cart… Or a fight scene with a 3-legged armadillo hopped on speed with a cam strapped to its back and a slap on the butt released into the midst of wildly swinging morons.
@TIm
Funny stuff and my feelings exactly.
@Joshi, the series was real good. Did you watch the original BSG?
Pitt Man,
Everyone has their own opinion, but when he was trying to act all stealthy I found it hysterical. I happen to like MOST of Adam Sandler’s films, too, so I probably have a different sense of humor than you do. You’re probably more “Pineapple Express” and I am more “Happy Gilmore.” To each their own.
The hand-cam thing annoys me too because most of the time, it doesn’t make a lick of sense. Most film makers say that they use it because it “really puts you, the audience into the movie, makes you feel like you’re there!”. No, no it doesn’t, it makes me feel like someone with a hand held camera is there and I’m watching the footage.
Little test for all you wannabe film makers out there who think the shaky-cam think is just awesome. Grab a digital camera and walk down the street without looking into it, but have it pointing the same direction you’re walking. Now look at the footage. Lots of shaking right? Pretty difficult to make out? But hang on a second… why don’t my eyes see the same thing when I’m walking down the street, my heads bobbing along just the same, why isn’t my vision always shaky when I walk along.
It’s because you have a brain, and your brain compensates for the shaky by essentially giving you an averaged out vision of what your eyes see… whereas cameras just show you what they see, no brain in there. And that’s just it, shaky-cam isn’t an accurate portrayal of what it would be like were you actually there, normal steady cameras that have been used since the beginning of cinema are a much more accurate portrayal of life, steadi-cam moreso.
So please, film-makers of the world, unless it’s an actual documentary (and I’m yet to see Attenborough employ a shaky-cam), just stop.
@790 No, unfortunately I wasn’t even born then so I never caught the original. But I’ve been told that it doesn’t matter, I can still enjoy the newer version without having seen the original one.
Oh, and got home from work today and guess what was sitting on my doorstep?
” Attenborough employ a shaky-cam ”
That’s the best one I’ve read here in quite awhile…
Joshi, I forgot to mention that BSG starts with the Mini_series, that is basically season 1
Then seasons 2.0, and 2.5
Followed by season 3 then Season 4.0 and 4.5. There’s a BSG mini movie called Pegasis that takes place between season 2 and 3. Its availble on the season 2.5 dvds.
Yeah you don’t have to have seen the original. I was just wondering because there’s a lot of references to the original series.
Also District 9 doesn’t have the overall shaky cam like Cloverfield did. Only a handful of scenes were like that.
There was not at all enough action in the Thomas Jane Punisher. That whole middle sequence of him making that plot against that gay guy was downrigh boring and tedius to watch. The action in Warzone was way over-the-top, I wish they would just get someone to direct the film that wants to make a dark, gritty, and violent film. For example, I think the original idea for the beginning sequence, was he kills the mob boss in front of everyone, then while everyone was still in shock, he leaves, and goes to a machine-gun nest he had set up outside and waits for the mob to pour out the front door, then he just mows them all down.
So much more believable and cool than hangin from the light and spinning, that was just dumb… But we got some stupid director that sees the world as a cartoon apparently…
@790
Yeah, it was the Miniseries that arrived at my door today, I’ll be delving into it in a couple of days (honestly didn’t expect it to arrive this early, I’ve got the rest of Angel season 5 to go through yet… another series I got into really late).
As for the other stuff… I’ll look into it as an when I get there. :p
And yeah, District 9, from the trailer and short film it seems like they have a documentary feel without the shaky-cam, which just makes much more sense.
@Joshi
Yeah, in regards to shakey-cam, I’m not a fan, but at least in an action scene it makes a bit of sense. What drives me NUTS is on TV cop shows where it’s just two people in a room talking and the camera is doing that. I don’t know about you but when I’m talking to someone I don’t bob and weave.
Vic
Even in action scenes I feel people need to hold back a little. I think the Bourne series had a decent balance, but really, if I’m just a bystander, watching a bunch of action, I’m certainly not going to be bobbing and weaving. If I’m the guy caught up in the action, my vision won’t be all shaky, so there’s little need for it really.
@790
Glad to hear that District 9 dosen’t have the shakey cam throughout the whole film. That’s what was keeping me from seeing it.
Cloverfield made me want to throw a beating on someone.
Joshi, the first time I really started to notice the shakey-cam was on the series This Life in the mid-`90s. Diorientating at first, but then the way they were using it (no full-on “bobbing & weaving” as I recall, just focussing on odd things in the frame) began to make sense. Not in terms of moving your head, but as in during a coversation you’re not necessarily looking directly at someone the whole time. You might be noticing details about how the other person’s carrying themselves, their clothes, or even something in the background (depending on how much they’re holding your attention I suppose!).
Of course it can be overused for its own sake, and can lead to a few dissatisfied actors. When This Life was first shown and the hand-held camera was still something of a novelty in drama, Jack Davenport said of one of his scenes, “There I was emoting for England, and the camera was on my bloody elbow…”
I found the likes of Cloverfield and the rapid-cut closeups of Transformers worked a lot better for me on a smaller TV screen. I was going to say the same of Blair Witch, but actually that’s better not watched at all.
Luke and Leia’s Love Child, Dead Set was made for E4 – offshoot of Channel 4, which shows Big Brother in the UK. Even had the real host Davina McCall zombied-up! Quite terrifying she was too, in fact… Writer Charlie Brooker is mainly a TV critic (hence the subject matter) with a wonderful turn of phrase. Lots of Romero references, although Simon Pegg had a good-natured dig at it for going with “fast-moving” zombies.
Not just bobbing and weaving, but zooming in and out and going in and out of focus, that type of shooting is just so annoying…
I remember when I first got my friend into Firefly, I’d only ever watched it on small Laptop screens whereas he first watched it on his huge Hi-Def TV (I’m yet to see any Whedon show look good, scaled up to Hi-Def) and even then he felt the shaky-cam nature of it was a little off putting. Happily Joss dialled it back for Serenity so people didn’t even really notice it in the cinema.
But I get what you mean Dentist, I think mine, and most peoples issues tend to come from the actual shaking. Giving a film or TV show a hand held feel (somewhat like a documentarian, where they’re always one step behind with where the camera is meant to be pointed and where to zoom) is, I think, fine if it serves a purpose (like The Office), but I don’t think it’s entirely required to give something a sense of realism and actual shaking as if someone’s holding a camera phone is just plain annoying.
Agreed – no shaking, bobbing, weaving, zooming or drunken focussing!
@Star Wars Love Child, (such taboo).
District 9, starts off with the documentary look, but slowly the lines between documentary and normal film weave in and out.
Its done with such skillful editing that you don’t notice it…
I think the Cloverfield similarity came up in the initial reviews due to the fast paced realism of the film. The shaky cam feeling of nausea doesn’t happen while watching this.
Your safe to see the film!!!!
If anyone is about to pick up Dexter Season 3 on dvd, pick it up at Target. There’s a bonus dvd that contains the 2008 Dexter Comic Con panel. Its over an hour long !!!
Hm, thanks 790, Got seasons 1 and 2, should get 3, although right now I’m strapped for cash…
Don’t wait to long Ken, they won’t have the Comic Con 5 disc dvd bonus editions forever.
Out the door it was $29.62… I suggest you run tomorrow and pick it up.
Won’t have a day off until *gasp* this weekend… Can it be? I have a weekend off?? Hell must be freezing over…
Dexter… another show I’m on the fence about (and likely won’t end up watching until a year or so after it’s ended :p)
@Joshi
Angel is a great show and season 5 is the best of the whole series
enjoy