[Focker]

  I like the little twists at the end of Whiplash... I don't know what's the point of Birdman. The acting is solid, for sure, but the film is boring. I could still stand it (and finished it), but it's like 2 hours I lost for nothing.

 
I agree...I thought the ending of whiplash was much better than the one for Birdman. 
 

  I thought Birdman was good but not awesome.  Nothing to talk about.  Sort of like, meh/10

 
So true...I didn't really care about any of the characters, and nothing really happened that I have had much interest in discussing. Other than the fact that film is overrated, that is lol

 

[Sattelight]

Seven: 4/5
Cloud Atlas: 4.5/5
V For Vendetta: 4.5/5
Mr. Peabody And Sherman: 3.5/5
Mystic River: 3/5
Philadelphia: 3/5
Badlands: 3.5/5
The Prestige: 4/5
The Wild Child/ L'Enfant Sauvage: 3.5/5
Goon: 2/5 (I couldn't finish it so maybe it gets better)

 

[WilliamLeonhart]

  Seven: 4/5
Cloud Atlas: 4.5/5
V For Vendetta: 4.5/5

Seven is a great movie, but IMO the ending makes 80% of it. I didn't like Cloud Atlas at all, it drags on for too long and even though there's some recurring theme, as a whole I think it's pretty pointless.

 

[thatBeatsguy]

Penguins of Madagascar: 8/10
Came for the Penguins silliness I know and love, stayed for the wordplay and script writing.

 

[tdockweiler]

Chappie - 8/10
 
Was really looking forward to this but took a quick peak at it's score on Rottentomatoes beforehand. Big mistake. That site ruins the fun of movies and doesn't mean much.
 
Anyway, I liked this one, but it's not as fun to watch as it should be. The director's films are always 10x more serious than required and sort of heavy handed (not so much "District 9"). Maybe this one a little less. When I was watching Elysium I found myself not having any fun.  It was kind of a downer and that ruined any chance of being entertaining. I WANT to be entertained, but yet still want to have something to think about.
 
Only characters I liked at all in the movie were of Deon and Chappie himself. I actually was sad when poor Chappie got hurt and actually cared about him

For some reason the movie's characters remind me of cheesy 80's SCI-FI movies.
 
I think my experience would be a little better if I didn't see it in IMAX. I think the movie soundtrack is really not as overdone as it seems. It's just the IMAX speakers overdo it.
 
BTW I'd give "District 9" a 10/10 for sure. Elysium I think I gave a 6 or 6.5/10.
 
Oh and "Chappie" would be better if it was a drama and had less action. It's certainly no "Short Circuit" clone.

 

[mutabor]

  Chappie - 8/10
 
Was really looking forward to this but took a quick peak at it's score on Rottentomatoes beforehand. Big mistake. That site ruins the fun of movies and doesn't mean much.

 
Was very surprised to see a low score ( currently 31%) for such an entertaining movie. But when I read extracts from reviews about the movie it is clear to me that there is something wrong with (mostly) American critics not the film. The negative reviews call the movie clearly and undoubtedly dumb and positive reviews talk about how it's also bad but there is some good stuff in it. I feel there is an obvious example of butthurt expressed by the mass of American critics. 
 
RogerEbert's site also participated in hounding of Chappy. A reviewer wrote about Elysium: "Elysium" was another attempt at a science-fiction allegory, this time about the importance of universal health care 

 Poor Blomkamp.
 
Just read their moronic comments:
 

 What a load of rubbish (or more accurately, scrap metal) - cowriter (with wife Terri Tatchell)/director Neill Blomkamp ("District 9," "Elysium") has made an ugly, noisy, horribly acted movie so derivative of other films ("Robocop" and "Short Circuit" just to name two) that, after his last rehash, "Elysium," it's beginning to look like "District 9" was Blomkamp's only creative idea. 
 
"Chappie" makes the "Transformers" look charming in comparison.

 

 This offering not only suffers from a severe case of derivativeness, but sheer stupidity and an overall inability to engage the viewer beyond an occasional moment. 

 

 If Chappie director Neill Blomkamp's potential sinks any faster he'll be in M. Night Shyamalan territory before too long.

 

"Chappie" is as subtle as a sledgehammer. The latest sci-fi action spectacle from "District 9" and "Elysium" director Neill Blomkamp is also sprawling, bombastic, deafening, ugly and ultra-violent.

 

[Hutnicks]

Whats really grinding on me (particularly after the Elysium fiasco with Foster doing the worst Kate Hepburn impression ever rendered) is Blofelds obstinate refusal to make  the film everybody actually wants to see. The D9 sequel was in the bag and then all of  a sudden it's like he pulled a Guy Ritchie and married Madonna and his talent went into stasis.
 
*** Neil get off the pot and make the "sure thing" film while you still know how to say "action"

 

[mutabor]

I should watch his D9 because I don't understand what American audience is anticipating from him. From his last two films I see that he wants to shoot sci-fi through the prism of social conflicts on Earth which not too many directors do. I think that Blomkamp's worldview belongs rather to the third world. We don't see anything particularly wrong in his films.

 

[Hutnicks]

  I should watch his D9 because I don't understand what American audience is anticipating from him. From his last two films I see that he wants to shoot sci-fi through the prism of social conflicts on Earth which not too many directors do. I think that Blomkamp's worldview belongs rather to the third world. We don't see anything particularly wrong in his films.

The thing that has me scared about Chappie is that Elysium was just sooooo overly derivative of other films it hurt to watch. If you have not seen D9, get to it. It is in my humble opinion an absolute must see film regardless of genre. It is incredibly poignant when you know South Africa's history and unravels a story at perfect pace and timing. It is also of note that no Box Office (Americano Variety) were in it so it is really character driven exposition at it's very best.

 

[metalsonata]

Leviathan (2014): 10/10
 
*******. Not sure how to coherently respond to this film at the present moment, but I do know that I'd love to see it again. Speaking broadly, I wish I could lay my finger on what exactly it is about some Russian art (or at least that which I've been exposed to) that feels so monolithic--so vast that it pushes everything else in my world away and demands my complete attention and participation. I look at my DVD shelves and see Tarkovsky, at my bookshelves and see Chekov, and even in my music library, where modern Russian bands like Auktyon and Elderwind patiently wait. All require a commitment and an eye for subtlety or cross-medium intertextuality that I think most of us fail to exercise in our day-to-day lives, even if they hew closely to established genres or archetypes. For me, all require distraction-free loneliness.
 
At any rate, I don't mean to overly generalize, because obviously not every Russian cultural export has the same effect on me, and obviously non-Russian art is perfectly capable of generating the same ego-shrinking, heart-expanding sensation (that I haven't really described, but eh).  Getting back to Leviathan: it will eventually make its way to my shelf. It's the best film I've seen on the big screen this year, and easily one of the very best films of last year. I don't believe that the audience I saw it with was as receptive to it as I was, but if you generally find that your sympathies lie close to mine, you may find much of worth here.

 

[mutabor]

Interesting trend in Russian cinema last year was that the majority of nominees in the Best film category at the biggest Russian film festival "Kinotavr" were shot by female directors ( 8 out of 14). The best director award also went to a female Anna Melikyan ( film Zvezda).
 
Trailer of Zvezda ( The Star)
 

 
The most talked about Russian films of 2014 were Leviathan, The Fool ( Durak) and Hard to Be a God ( one of the most disgusting films of all time). 
 
Trailer of The Fool
 

 

 
Best film of 2014 - Test ( there is no conversations in it)
 

 
Best Debut - Corrections Class
 
 

 

[mutabor]

The best of contemporary Russian cinema 
 
Director Aleksei Mizgiryov. Three excellent films in his filmography. 
 

 

 
 

 

[mutabor]

The best of contemporary Russian cinema
 
Director Vasiliy Sigarev. Two films in filmography.
 

 

 

[mutabor]

District 9 ( 2009) 9/10
 
I've read that the story of the film is an allegory of apartheid in South Africa. I don't think so. It does coincide with it but if you look at all three Blomkamp's films it's clear that they all the same thematically. Chappy's environment could be regarded as post-apartheid South Africa but it is still the same violent police state. There was an hierarchy between aliens in District 9 and they had very developed weapons. Elysium takes place on the territory of USA and again the main theme is an hierarchical gap between elite civilization ( reminding the First World) and another world ( the Third World).
 
Another word describing Blomkamp's movies I hear often is dystopian. He actually talks about current social affairs rather than some hypothetical future. And he also sees the problems from different perspective than it is in typical American sci-fi dystopia. The latter preaches you the values of democracy, equality and personal freedom of expression in contrast to dictatorial regime ( Western antidote to communist collectivist utopia). In Blomkamp's films hierarchical state of society survives and is regarded as an inherent human's flaw. In D9 and Chappie main heroes become outlaws and remain outlaws. In Elysium the gap between elite and underdogs narrows but it doesn't disappear.
 
The third aspect of Blomkamp's movies I want to touch is lack or even absence of political correctness paradigm. Blacks are always criminals. There is no positive female's roles. Evil is not defeated and surprise-surprise is not cured being human's inherent flaw.
 
Elysium and Chappie showed that Blomkamp's worldview is not in accordance to contemporary American values and priorities. It shows in reviews where American critics express dissatisfaction in how things develop in the South-African director's films. American perception of what is a role model in Chappie is shaken ( it is more painful because the protagonist is a role model for youth where heavy-handed moralization is a rule). This ideological dissonance was interpreted as dumbness or as illogical flaws of the script or just unpleasant humiliating experience. 

 

[Hutnicks]

I think you miss a lot of the points that defined apartheid which Blokamp built into D9. The use of the term prawn instead of kefer, the ghetto emulating Soweto, the police relocation and raids and the ultimate taboo having sex with an alien. The us vs them delineations are clear and the example of what happens to a white who dare cross those lines is spot on. There is a lot in there that was lifted directly from the previous governing system in SA. Look at the metaphor of the alien ship hovering over their heads. That awesome technology that was effectively useless in liberating the aliens is a less than subtle dig at the policy of embargo that the all mighty and powerful US led against the regime at a time when they broke their own embargo to put in Gerald Bulls advanced artillery and mercenary troops to fight out of SA against the Cubans in Angola.
 
 Certainly Blokamp does not adhere to the American political doctrine in his films. However you really need a decent understanding of the political climes in Africa to make a rounded assertation on what in fact the formative ingredients were for his thinking.
Soweto
 
 


District 9