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| bartist |
 Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2013 9:46 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6950
Location: Black Hills
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knox wrote: Bart and Weeds, thanks for the push towards "In a World..."
"Speaker for the Dead" is the Ender book that I liked. The Pequeninos were fascinating. And it puts Ender's actions (SPOILERS?) in perspective, in terms of how humanity comes to see the hive and other races. I enjoyed the use of time dilation, in the sequel, to show us how human culture has evolved and yet still have Ender reappear.
That's the one I meant. Yes, SFTD was driven by some fascinating ideas. Might be hard to fit into a two hour film, though.
I'm not actually boycotting "Ender's Game," just not planning to see it, but I kind of support those who are boycotting it because of Card's highly public anti-gay stance. I've seen samples of his smug intolerance and Mormon piety, and it's enough to make me think maybe I don't want to contribute to his film royalties. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2013 10:24 am |
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I've always cared more about what's on the screen than the off-screen antics of the people involved. If the movie did reflect his anti-gay stuff, that would be a different matter, but I respect a lot of other people involved with the movie and they more than cancel him out.
Besides, I'd like to see someone do "Seventh Son." |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2013 11:52 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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Syd wrote: I've always cared more about what's on the screen than the off-screen antics of the people involved. If the movie did reflect his anti-gay stuff, that would be a different matter, but I respect a lot of other people involved with the movie and they more than cancel him out.
Besides, I'd like to see someone do "Seventh Son."
Normally, I completely agree with "off-screen antics" doesn't matter and I wouldn't want to hammer on Card's anti-gay stuff too hard....but I do feel a kind of disgust and disappointment in this case. This guy is a speculative fiction writer, his SF world is all about alternative cultures, alien perspectives, and so on and....how to put this....I feel like he should know better. He can empathize with an alien hive queen, but NOT with some of his fellow human beings?? This is an emotional thing for some people, Syd, a sense of "do I want to eat fruit, no matter how good, from a poisoned tree?"
I'm probably inconsistent with my usual thinking here. After all, I've lapped up Polanski films right and left, and pretty much dismissed his antics. I guess it's the way Card has stood up on a soapbox and denounced gay marriage and the lifestyle - really disappointing. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2013 12:27 pm |
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| That's good enough for me to avoid the movie. |
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| knox |
| Posted: Wed Nov 06, 2013 12:37 pm |
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Joined: 18 Mar 2010
Posts: 1245
Location: St. Louis
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| I just don't follow IMDB's rating system, when I click on opening films and The Book Thief, with Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson, gets a 16 and some doc about Lance Armstrong gets 285. I must be missing something here. In any case, I look forward to The Book Thief, as one who feels that Emily Watson film appearances are too few and far between. |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 1:22 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Upstate NY
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Steve McQueens's "12 Years a Slave" is a very engrossing movie even if it is hard to take. In its graphic and sadistic violence it most resembles Mel Gibson's "Passion of Christ". Even if some questions are raised regarding the authenticity of every detail, as Eric Herschthal says in the New York Times, "What matters is not the veracity of every detail ... but its emotional truth." Chiwetel Ejiofor is outstanding.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/06/the-passion-of-solomon-northup/?ref=opinion
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| lshap |
| Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 10:30 pm |
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Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4246
Location: Montreal
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Ghulam wrote: Steve McQueens's "12 Years a Slave" is a very engrossing movie even if it is hard to take. In its graphic and sadistic violence it most resembles Mel Gibson's "Passion of Christ". Even if some questions are raised regarding the authenticity of every detail, as Eric Herschthal says in the New York Times, "What matters is not the veracity of every detail ... but its emotional truth." Chiwetel Ejiofor is outstanding.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/06/the-passion-of-solomon-northup/?ref=opinion
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Thanks G. I was thinking of seeing it Saturday night. Wife wants to take kids, my gut says it's a bit too disturbing for 13-year-olds. |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 10:40 pm |
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bartist wrote: Syd wrote: Ender's Game I'm tentatively giving this 9 out of 10. It's an excellent, intelligent movie, has a great and innovative look, and has emotional impact as well. It's about as good an adaptation you could hope for in two hours. I would have liked to see a little more of the family dynamics at the beginning of the movie, which were interesting. I hope they continue with the sequel, which is even better.
Interesting, some people have warned me away from this, saying it leaves out much of importance from the book. But, for me, that might be good....I found the book depressing. I think I read one of the sequels, and liked it more.
I loved the book, which is my usual formula for avoiding the film. I rarely feel the need to overlay an alternate reality on a story I've digested long ago.
As to Card's religious overtones, they only popped out in the sequel. Might've been "Speaker for the Dead". Liked the book, disliked the notion that Christianity (or any religion) wafts across the galaxy like an imperious cloud of truth. That kind of pompous, backwards thinking doesn't fit sci-fi's typical forward-leaning edge. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 10:46 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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lshap wrote: Ghulam wrote: Steve McQueens's "12 Years a Slave" is a very engrossing movie even if it is hard to take. In its graphic and sadistic violence it most resembles Mel Gibson's "Passion of Christ". Even if some questions are raised regarding the authenticity of every detail, as Eric Herschthal says in the New York Times, "What matters is not the veracity of every detail ... but its emotional truth." Chiwetel Ejiofor is outstanding.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/06/the-passion-of-solomon-northup/?ref=opinion
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Thanks G. I was thinking of seeing it Saturday night. Wife wants to take kids, my gut says it's a bit too disturbing for 13-year-olds.
Trust your gut. It's one of the few excellent movies I've ever seen which I have no desire to see ever again. The torture scenes are really truly hard to watch. I flinched and cringed constantly. |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 11:01 pm |
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billyweeds wrote: Trust your gut. It's one of the few excellent movies I've ever seen which I have no desire to see ever again. The torture scenes are really truly hard to watch. I flinched and cringed constantly.
Thanks for the context. Now I'm not sure my wife should go. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 12:20 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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| Dallas Buyers Club is the true story of Ron Woodroof, a sleazoid heterosexual homophobic Texan in the 1980s who tests HIV positive through drug use and unprotected sex and ultimately becomes someone very different. Matthew McConaughey is so wonderful in the role that I've even decided to learn how to spell his name. IMO his is the performance of the year, outstripping Chiwetel Ejiofor, Forest Whitaker, and every other Caucasian so far (haven't yet seen Robert Redford, Bruce Dern, or Oscar Isaac). Jared Leto as a femme gay guy is also shattering. It's a terrific movie with sincerity, passion, and a modicum of dark humor. And, did I mention, McConaughey is completely unrecognizable. The usual hunk has lost a ton of weight. He looks like hell but his performance is from heaven. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 9:32 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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Heard McCon had gone all Xtian Bale in the Machinist on us. I am so there.
LORNE - as my more recent posting indicated, I too find Card's smug religiosity and intolerance of gays really at odds with his being a writer of speculative fiction. You were replying to a much earlier posting, which i wrote before I had more information about Card's antics. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 9:41 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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bartist wrote: Heard McCon had gone all Xtian Bale in the Machinist on us. I am so there.
Good for you! You won't be sorry. MM is wondrous. |
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Mon Nov 11, 2013 1:20 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 6794
Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
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"The Counselor" has to be the most polarising film, ever. On Metacritic, even the repuable critics vary wildly, giving the film scores ranging from 100 to 20, and its also been given a zero...by The Portland Oregon.
I thought it was fantastic, one of my favourite films of the year. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Mon Nov 11, 2013 11:18 pm |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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| THE COUNSELOR will be in my top ten of 2013. |
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