- Posts: 1478
- Thank you received: 609
Bugs: Recent Topics Paging, Uploading Images & Preview (11 Dec 2020)
Recent Topics paging, uploading images and preview bugs require a patch which has not yet been released.
Please consider adding your quick impressions and your rating to the game entry in our Board Game Directory after you post your thoughts so others can find them!
Please start new threads in the appropriate category for mini-session reports, discussions of specific games or other discussion starting posts.
What MOVIE(s) have you been....seeing? watching?
I've been avoiding this thread since the discussion about ARRIVAL popped up a while back but I've given up since Netflix still hasn't sent it yet, setting a new record on Long Wait. I've never had to wait over a month for a damn movie. Grr.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
Hex Sinister wrote: Man, LIFE looks bad. As a big fan of ALIEN and The THING I want to punch this movie in the nutts. Also, what a shitty title.
I thought the same, but the reviews I've heard were surprisingly good... meaning, they were surprised how good it was. So I'll probably catch it soon. I agree about the title, though.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- Black Barney
- Offline
- D20
- 10k Club
- Posts: 10045
- Thank you received: 3553
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- Posts: 1478
- Thank you received: 609
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- Black Barney
- Offline
- D20
- 10k Club
- Posts: 10045
- Thank you received: 3553
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- Posts: 1897
- Thank you received: 1268
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- Posts: 1700
- Thank you received: 786
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- Black Barney
- Offline
- D20
- 10k Club
- Posts: 10045
- Thank you received: 3553
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- hotseatgames
- Offline
- D12
- Posts: 7162
- Thank you received: 6270
Yes, if you have seen Alien, you have a general idea of how this will go. But it doesn't feel like a rehash of that. In fact, I think Life is more terrifying than Alien in certain ways. It is a good film, and I actually don't want to see it again. It was too much and I can't quit thinking about that....thing....
I will say one thing that makes Alien a much better film... in Alien, you actually care about the crew. In Life, they don't go out of their way to personalize anyone, other than one or two characters. It's just full blast the whole time. They could have spent 20 more minutes throughout, adding some character depth.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- Erik Twice
- Offline
- D8
- Needs explosions
- Posts: 2300
- Thank you received: 2650
What bothered me and my companions the most was the characterization which is heavily toned down or flanderized. Maurice is now serious and dignified, LeFou being in love with Gaston simplifies their relationship and The Beast is given the freudian excuse of his father being a cruel man. There's less back and forth between Lumiére and Cogsworth in this film and more scenes with the wardrobe, which feels like a step down.
There's a new subplot about Belle's mother being dead, which is of no real importance and there are four new songs, all forgettable. "Be Our Guest" is interrumpted by "they aren't letting Belle eat" jokes and Gaston's song is cut at several parts, to its detriment.
The cinematography was painful too. I've never seen a film with so many scenes in which the camera turns around more than 180º degrees, often first in one direction and then another and sometimes even whole circles. It uses and abuses deep focus in the early city scenes only to rely on ultra-fast cuts in the dancing and fighting ones. There are scenes that are downright blurry and the servant's designs are so busy that they blend with the rest of the scenery and makes them hard to emote. Weirdly enough, most of these issues are concentrated in the first half of the film, with the second half being much cleaner and easier to follow.
It's a big damn shame because I think it could have been much better with some work. Gaston's actor tried to bring a Marvel-like tone to the character, which was fun and the idea of fixing some of the minor issues of the original fun was not at all bad. I liked how Maurice's "madness" was handled and some small kinks, like the strange passing of time of the original film. There's some good stuff in there but, ultimately, I kept wishing I would have seen the original and not this one on the big screen.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- Black Barney
- Offline
- D20
- 10k Club
- Posts: 10045
- Thank you received: 3553
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
The first scene is the big difference with the cartoon. It is like a prelude to Eyes Wide Shut's party, albeit one that goes awfully wrong and instead of a big orgy the guests leave disappointed or (spoiler) converted into a number of household objects and one beast. Big bummer.
Everything else is pretty much like in the cartoon, but with awkward photography and some added elements, 90% of which are not necessary. All the new musical numbers are instantly forgettable. The old ones sometimes work and sometimes don't, but imho are never better than those in the original.
My biggest disappointment was Gaston (he is my favorite character by far in the original version). The problem here is twofold. On one hand, Luke Evans is just not Gaston enough. He not as flamboyant and self-unaware as he should be, not enjoying himself as much as he should. On the other hand, Gaston is just not written properly. It is like the writer did not understand the character, and made him smarter, more cunning and more subdued. And he squints his eyes too much. Jafar squints eyes, Gaston is a big-eyed villain. La Fou is good, though, and I like how they changed the character and made him less pathetic, but who cares about La Fou?
Good thing is that Gaston is the only big misfire in terms of characters. I liked both Maurice and Lumiere better than the originals, but above all, the main characters. Emma Watson just kills it as Belle (I was kind of on the fence about her before, but this movie cements Watson's standing, she's a good actress), and I found her relationship with the Beast to be far more believable and engaging. It is still a story of Stockholm Syndrome on steroids, but the evolution of their relationship is more organic and I kinda bought into it (I didn't in the cartoon...).
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- Black Barney
- Offline
- D20
- 10k Club
- Posts: 10045
- Thank you received: 3553
Compare this to the 6-minute clip of Covenant which was just really boring. I'll still see it anyway but casting James Franco as the captain and Danny McBride as the pilot... i just don't get it
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- SuperflyPete
- Offline
- Salty AF
- SMH
- Posts: 10733
- Thank you received: 5119
Easily Hugh Jackman's best hour. He clearly loves the chaaracter and this was him pulling out all the stops to end his run as The Wolverine.
The audience was fucking speechless.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.