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Post by Mrs H on Aug 20, 2008 12:01:59 GMT -1
I was getting confused because Liv Tyler has done one that's about to be released called The Strangers which is fairly similar from what I gather. One line plot synopsis from the IMDb for 'The Strangers'..... "A young couple staying in an isolated vacation home are terrorized by three unknown assailants."Well there's certainly a similarity there! ;D On the trailer the 'assailants' had covers over their heads much like they have done in the picture you posted, so basically it's a rip off!
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Post by Travis on Aug 20, 2008 12:07:20 GMT -1
One line plot synopsis from the IMDb for 'The Strangers'..... "A young couple staying in an isolated vacation home are terrorized by three unknown assailants."Well there's certainly a similarity there! ;D On the trailer the 'assailants' had covers over their heads much like they have done in the picture you posted, so basically it's a rip off! Ah, but that's one of the victims who has their head covered in my picture, and in this new film there's THREE assailants.......so it's a totally new concept!! ;D Couldn't really tell from the description which film it's ripping off more; Funny Games or Straw Dogs!
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Post by Mrs H on Aug 20, 2008 12:10:10 GMT -1
So where does Liv Tyler come on your hierachy of starlets? ;D
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Post by Travis on Aug 20, 2008 12:12:51 GMT -1
So where does Liv Tyler come on your hierachy of starlets? ;D She was the glaring ommission from the last list, almost certainly top 3. Hell, she even looks hot with elf ears! ;D She's possibly the reason why I'm one of the few people on Earth who really likes Jersey Girl!
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Post by Travis on Aug 25, 2008 19:29:50 GMT -1
PERSEPOLIS A child of 1970s Iran, Marjane grows up in a time of great social upheaval; the defeat of the hated Shah in the Iranian Revolution of 1979 brings great hope to many, but the new Iran, under the rule of Islamic Fundamentalists soon becomes a repressive tyranny of its own. Persepolis is Marjane's 'coming of age' story as she first struggles to cope in the hugely restrictive environment of 1980s Tehran, and then attempts to make a life for herself in Vienna. Bearing in mind the subject matter and the relatively primitive nature of the animation, Persepolis is a bit of a tough sell, which is such a shame as it offers so much. Where it's most effective is as a vehicle that educates the viewer on the nature of religious repression; it showcases the extraordinarily restrictive rules that women have to cope with in terms of appearance and conduct, the general fear of expressionism and the intolerance of anything of 'Western' origin. That it does so with great humour is the strength of the film. Secret parties where adults dance and drink wine out of view, men in long coats selling Abba, Michael Jackson and Metallica albums to children on the street, and moments of insolence in classrooms vividly show that while these people were repressed, they weren't brainwashed and closed to the concept of free thinking. Persepolis challenges many preconceptions and consistently surprises. The film is certainly not without its moments of melancholy either; under Fundamentalist rule executions were still commonplace and the conflict with Iraq brought many more deaths and the consequences are not glossed over. However, the overriding feeling is one of enlightenment and admiration for the characters. 8/10 _______________________________________ OF FREAKS AND MEN I don't really know where to start with this film. In a nutshell 'Of Freaks And Men' traces the early history of the fledgling porn industry in the bourgeois households of Russia at the turn of the 20th century. The story centres on two families who look to exploit the new cinematic technology to create their own feature films. Shot in such a style that it looks like a 'What the butler saw' film, 'Of Freaks And Men' focuses on the production of 'spanking shorts' where an array of women are punished by being birch whipped. To make matters a little more strange, musical accompaniment is provided by 10 year-old Siamese twins, who in turn enjoy the same success in theatres as the home made films do. As the film progresses people die or are murdered, one of the twins becomes a raging alcoholic and one curious innocent becomes addicted to the antics performed. Although it's a bit reminiscent of early Lynch, I'm not entirely sure what the writers are trying to say, however, being that it's a little unhinged and incomprehensible, I kinda liked it! 6/10
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Post by Mrs H on Sept 3, 2008 19:55:42 GMT -1
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not
Audrey Tatou plays the French Glen Close in this stalker thriller. Angelique (Tatou) is in love with a doctor, a married doctor, a married doctor who’s wife is pregnant. We see how he treats poor Angelique badly as he keeps her dangling but all isn’t as it seems. The doctor doesn’t even know Angelique and she is stalking him.
It’s a very clever narrative and the twist in the plot half way through is very entertaining but I just don’t buy Audrey Tatou as a stalker. She’s far too sweet a character. In fact in a couple of scenes I just looked at her and thought she looked like the cat out of Shrek, looking up with those little innocent eyes. Not the best but still worth a watch.
7/10
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Post by Travis on Sept 7, 2008 16:25:16 GMT -1
But she's lovely so I rounded my mark up to a 9! ;D
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Post by CmonYouSpurs on Sept 12, 2008 12:52:44 GMT -1
The Counterfeiters
language German/Subtitles English
The film centers on a Jewish counterfeiter, Salomon Sorowitsch, who is coerced into assisting the Nazi operation at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Operation Bernhard, a secret plan by the Nazis during the Second World War to destabilize the United Kingdom by flooding its economy with forged Bank of England currency. Also they were trying and succeeding to forge the US Dollar.
At first, self-preservation appears to guide Sorowitsch, but his motives for forging for the Nazis are complicated by his growing concern for his fellow prisoners, his awareness of their role in the wider war against the Nazis, and his professional pride in counterfeiting the United States dollar, a currency he was previously unable to forge.
I really enjoyed this film but generaly do with any film of this genre
8/10
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Post by Travis on Sept 21, 2008 8:56:57 GMT -1
[• REC]Angela (Manuela Velasco) is a young reporter for a regional Spanish television station. Charged with producing features for a late-night show, Angela and her cameraman Pablo visit a local Barcelona fire station to document what a typical night shift entails. After setting the scene by meeting some firemen and touring the facilities, Angela is soon struggling for content for the report, so when she has the opportunity to accompany a small crew on a fairly routine ‘call out’ – an elderly woman has locked herself in her apartment and has been yelling and screaming – she happily accepts. Upon arrival at the building though it’s soon apparent that there is nothing routine about this ‘call out’; the woman in question is found to be hysterical and feral, and takes several bites out of a policeman’s neck, a fireman is then attacked and thrown from the landing area – both require urgent medical attention, but suddenly there is no way out of the building, it’s been quarantined by health officials. Just what is going on? Although compared primarily to ‘The Blair Witch Project’ on the grounds of being a low budget horror filmed with a hand-held camera, [•REC] actually has far more in common stylistically with ‘Cloverfield’; the direction is very similar and very impressive, again generating a tangible sense of confusion, panic and authenticity. Manuela Velasco also makes for a very effective lead, as the night progresses her enthusiasm and ambition for getting the story suddenly becomes overwhelmed by her desperation just to survive, and as the film reaches a climax there are some genuinely unnerving scenes. Probably the most pulsating horror flick since ‘Switchblade Romance’. 8/10
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Post by thales on Oct 7, 2008 11:41:31 GMT -1
am awaiting arrival of 'MONGOL' in next day or two, really looking foward to it!!
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Post by ovechkin8 on Mar 15, 2009 9:12:47 GMT -1
Goodbye To LeninJust caught this late last night and what a treat from Wolfgang Becker. The central plot revolves round the collapse and falling into a coma of the matriarch and fervent socialist Christina Kerner. When she reregains consciousness the doctor warns her son Alexander any shock may cause her to suffer a second fatal heart attack. He immediately decides that the fact that the GDR has disappeared would be that terrible shock and fabricates a situation whereby she will remain unaware of these facts. He ropes in his friend Denis to cococt TV broadcasts, turns their flat back into its old drab DDR state ,even trying to find foods ie Spreewald pickles that are no lnger sold. His sister Ariane goes along with the charade but reluctantly and her new boyfriend Rainer a Wessi. Other old colleagues and kids take part in the deception ie as Young Pioneers. This might be another twee comedy apart from the fact that Becker brings his focus onto the changes occurring in the former East Germany by seeing the effect it has had on various individiuals from the former respected teacher Klapprath and the invasion of trash TV from the newly installed satellite TVs that Alex and Denis install with Ganske complaining of the lack of ballet on the box. The capitalist system and the Wessis (West Germans) are mocked ever so gently ie the scene with the crowd in a West Berlin porn booth and turning a promising student Ariane into a burger shop attendant, the flight of doctors to the West. But so is the socialist system with its ridiculous pioneer indoctrination , waiting for a car for three years and the limited choice of food at your local corner shop. Through his friend Denis broadcasts Alex who aimed to be a cosmonaut in the footsteps of his hero Sigismund Jahn (who crops up in the film as a taxi driver, whilst a pop singer has clutched the hearts of many) recreates the ideal state he had in mind as a child. But the web of lies he has been building up takes its toll on his relationships inc.his girlfriend a trainee nurse from Russia. Interspersed throughout are references to events of the time inc. Germany taking the World Cup cleverly popping up on the TVs Denis and Alex set up and the use of real life footage reinforces the realism of the film, ie the use of old DDR cartoons. The denoument is surprising with the mother revealing she has been living a lie (told at the films start )about why Alex and Arianes father left them. He turns out to have been no 'traitor' at all. All the themes in the film are wonderfully interlinked by cinematic motifs, the launch of a rocket, the use of bikes and one scene in particular is worthy of Bunuel. Mother Christine (played wonderfully by the beautiful Katrin Kass) has escaped the confines of her room only to confront the sight of a statue of Lenin slung under the belly of a Mi-8 helicopter his arm outstretched almost beckonng to her, perhaps pleading with her to save the nation. Magical. Glad I stayed up to watch this and a DVD purchase is on the way. 9.5/10
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